Page 11 of Cheshire's Smile
“This isn’t good,” Cheshire announced with a frown, crossing his arms over his chest.
I came to a stop beside him, head cocked. “Where’s the portal?”
The place in which the shimmery white portal to the Between was nothing more than a brick wall now. Pinching my lips together, I stepped forward and placed a hand on the wall. There was no give. The bricks were solid. No one was getting through it.
I spun around with my hands on my hips. “Well... fuck.”
“Cursing now, love?” Cheshire smirked. “You have changed.”
Frustration made me pull on my gloves harder than necessary. “I blame Kat. But this,” I gestured toward the wall, “is a problem. How are we going to get to the Between now?”
There were only a few ways into the Shadow Realm. The UnSeelie Queen had a mirror portal Kat had used to save Dorian and Chess. Unfortunately, Mab was the only one who could activate the mirror and, if the UnSeelie Court was anything like the Seelie Court, the place was a ghost town.
Mab likely already evacuated to the Human Realm.
Even if Mab was still there — unlikely — she wasn’t particularly fond of me. Asking her for a favor to save someone I loved would likely get me laughed out of the castle.
My other option was the door in the Between.
One positive for me was that the dodo bird, Type and Gripe, weren’t running the reception desk anymore. If they were there, there was no way they would let me get in there. I had a feeling they were still pretty upset about my theft of the key from my previous time in the Underground, a key that Kat now had.
It was a moot point anyhow. Since they were missing. Or likely taken by the shadows or even the sickness.
I was betting on it being the shadows since they’ve been gone for over a year now.
My best option was to go through the Between to get to the Shadow Realm. It was the most straight forward path to getting there. There was another option but... I didn’t want to think about it unless I had to.
With the portal out of the Seelie Realm sealed up, there was no way to get to the Between unless I wanted to go the long way around through the UnSeelie Realm first. But, if the queen sealed this portal, then she probably sealed the one to the UnSeelie Realm too, leaving us completely stranded.
“You could always go the back way.”
Cheshire and I tensed, turning toward the voice that had answered my unspoken question. A little orange snout peaked out from behind a building.
I squinted and stepped forward. “Tick? Is that you?”
The orange fox slipped out from behind the building. He adjusted his vest and gave a flourished bow. “At your service, my lady.”
“What do you want, fox?” Cheshire growled and tugged me back to his side. His hand clutched my side possessively.
Tick padded forward with a smirk on his lips. Did foxes have lips? Either way, he definitely was smirking at Cheshire. “I’m here to see my fiancé, of course.”
I did a double take. “Fiancé? Who? Me?” I glanced up at Cheshire and then back to Tick. “I swear I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
Cheshire snarled at Tick, forcing the fox to stop in place his hands up in defense.
“Now, now. We’re all friends here and some more than friends.” Tick leered at me, licking his chomps.
“Back off, fox, or I’ll make you.” The hand on my waist tightened, and a stirring warmed in my lower region. Cheshire’s nostrils flared, his eyes darkening at he looked down at me. “Later, lovely.”
I pulled my lower lip between my teeth before turning a glare at Tick. “Stop making up stories.”
“Oh, my lady.” Tick let out a low growl. “Don’t tell me you have forgotten our time together.”
I stayed silent.
“You wound me,” Tick sighed. “Maybe this will help jog your memory.” His nine tails wrapped around him. His fur receded, and olive, muscular flesh replaced it, his vest straining against his chest as tight brown leather pants encased his legs. A long orange mane of hair flowed down his back as amber eyes crinkled while he smiled. His tails swept back and forth behind him.
Something prickled at the back of my mind. I recognized this fox... or man... fae. I knew him from somewhere. Unfortunately, the memory was lost to me.
