Page 36 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
Seth's lips curved a ghost of a smile. "An unusual experience for me. I'm not sure I like it."
I laughed softly, the sound surprising me after days of fear and tension. "You'll survive the discomfort."
He stood with fluid grace, shadows flowing around him like liquid night. "The others are waiting in the main chamber. Are you ready?”
I nodded, pushing myself to my feet. The weakness that had plagued me after the Queen's captivity was almost entirely gone, replaced by a steady strength that flowed from the pattern beneath my skin. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Seth offered his arm, his shadows curling around my wrist in a gesture that felt oddly protective. I accepted the support, letting him guide me through the sanctuary's winding corridors toward the main chamber where the others waited. The space had been transformed since I'd last seen it. Crystalline structures pulsed with opalescent light, arranged in complex geometric patterns across the floor. Vee and Dee stood at opposite ends of the formation, their silver eyes tracking calculations visible only to them as they made minute adjustments to the arrangement. Heart and Chi waited near the center, their expressions brightening when they caught sight of me. Martha and Varik positioned themselves at opposite points outside the circle, their expressions solemn with the weight of responsibility.
"Alice," Heart said, relief washing across his features as he saw me walking under my own power. He crossed to me quickly,his golden patterns brightening as he drew near. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," I assured him, accepting his steadying hand on my elbow. Through our bond, I felt his lingering concern mixed with fierce protectiveness. "The visions are lessening in frequency so that helps with my headache."
"That's a good sign," Vee said, stepping away from the crystalline formation to approach us. "Your mind is already creating the necessary filters. Most bonded individuals take days to reach that level of adjustment."
Chi materialized beside us, his form solidifying as his tail curled protectively around my wrist and taking me away from Seth. "The pattern's integration is accelerating the process," he observed, teal eyes studying the silver and gold light that pulsed beneath my skin.
"We're almost ready," Dee called, making a final adjustment to one of the crystal structures. "The dawn threshold approaches."
I took a deep breath, feeling anticipation build in my chest. "What do I need to do?"
"Stand at the center," Vee instructed, gesturing to a space where the crystalline patterns converged. "The transition will be... disorienting. Focus on the bonds—they'll anchor you through the shift."
Heart squeezed my hand once before releasing it, his ruby eyes reflecting both concern and faith. "We'll be with you the entire time."
I nodded, moving toward the center of the formation. The crystalline structures seemed to respond to my presence, their opalescent light pulsing in rhythm with the pattern beneath my skin. As I took my position, Seth stepped back to join Martha and Varik at the perimeter, making my stomach drop. I hadassumed he would be coming with, I knew he wasn’t bonded with me, at least not a full bond and I just assumed.
"The anchors will remain partially outside the temporal acceleration," Dee explained, noticing my questioning glance. "They'll maintain connection to normal time flow while we exist in acceleration."
Varik gave me a reassuring wink, though I could see tension beneath his usual manic energy. "Don't worry, Alice dear. I've experienced far stranger temporal distortions during my afternoon tea experiments."
Martha's scarred face softened with a rare smile. "We'll keep watch," she promised, her eyes showing the quiet strength that had made her Heart's most trusted lieutenant. "Nothing will reach you while you're in the pocket."
I felt a pang of gratitude toward them both—Varik with his chaotic brilliance, Martha with her steady resolve. They were risking themselves to give me time to heal and learn.
"Thank you," I said, meaning it deeply. "Both of you."
The Tweedles took positions at opposite ends of the crystalline formation, their silver eyes reflecting the opalescent light as they began to synchronize their movements. Heart and Chi stepped into the circle, positioning themselves on either side of me.
"The temporal acceleration begins at dawn's first light," Vee explained, his voice taking on harmonic overtones that seemed to resonate through multiple dimensions simultaneously. "Focus on the bonds, Alice. They'll stabilize you through the transition."
I nodded, closing my eyes and focused on the connections that linked me to those around me—Heart's golden warmth, Chi's silver clarity, and the opalescent flow of the Tweedles' temporal bond. Even the whisper of Seth's void connection provided a subtle anchor, though it remained incomplete.
The air around us began to thicken as dawn approached, reality itself seeming to hold its breath in anticipation. Through my eyelids, I could sense the crystalline formation brightening, each structure pulsing with increasing intensity.
"It begins," Dee's voice echoed strangely, as if coming from multiple points in time simultaneously.
The transition hit like a wave of liquid light washing over my consciousness. Reality stretched and compressed around us, the very fabric of time bending to the Tweedles' will. I gasped, my eyes flying open to witness space itself folding inward, the sanctuary's stone walls dissolving into streams of opalescent light that rewove themselves into something new. The sensation was dizzying, like falling upward through water while simultaneously standing perfectly still.
"Breathe," Heart's voice came from beside me, his hand finding mine as the world continued to shift around us. "Focus on something solid."
I clung to his grip, feeling Chi's tail wrap more securely around my other wrist. The pattern beneath my skin flared brilliantly, responding to the temporal manipulation with pulses of silver and gold that seemed to stabilize the space immediately around me.
"Stay with us," Vee's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once, his form becoming translucent as he manipulated the temporal forces surrounding us. "Focus on the bonds, Alice. Let them guide you through."
The world beyond our circle blurred into streaks of color and light, time itself accelerating around us like water swirling down a drain. I caught one last glimpse of Martha and Varik at the perimeter, their forms already seeming distant and stretched as the temporal pocket separated from normal time flow. Seth stood with them, his shadows flowing upward to help stabilize the boundary between accelerated time and normal flow.
Then everything outside our circle vanished completely, replaced by a landscape I'd never seen before—a meadow of silver grass that rippled like water under a sky that contained both sun and stars simultaneously. Ancient trees with crystalline leaves surrounded the clearing, their trunks pulsing with veins of opalescent light that matched the Tweedles' temporal energy.
