Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Alice
Doc knelt beside Darius and examined the wound. The arrow was embedded deep in his side—deeper than I’d realized.
He pulled a knife from his satchel and cut away Darius’ shirt.
I gasped. My hand flew to my mouth.
Oh god. His entire side was drenched in crimson. Blood everywhere—pooling beneath him, soaking into the stone floor. How was he still alive? How had he carried on this long?
The skin around the wound had turned an angry black, veins of darkness spreading outward like cracks in glass.
The poison. It was already in his blood.
No. We hadn't come this far just to watch him die. I grabbed his hand without thinking, holding on like I could anchor him to life through sheer will.
“This is bad,” Doc said, his jaw tight. “The arrow is barbed. When I pull it out, it’s going to tear tissue. He’ll scream. He’ll thrash.” His pale eyes swept over the group. “I need people to hold him down.”
I'd seen pain before—caused it, even, with my uncontrollable magic. But the thought of watching Darius suffer, of hearing him scream... I wasn't sure I could bear it.
Caterpillar moved first, positioning himself at Darius’ right arm. Chester followed, his grin gone for once, his face grim.
“Someone on his legs,” Doc ordered. “Someone on his opposite shoulder.”
Archer knelt silently beside Doc, pressing his hands against Darius’ shoulder.
I sat frozen, my heart nearly breaking in two. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t die. Not after everything.
Tears slid down my cheeks. “Will he survive?”
Doc didn’t look at me. “Ask me after I pull this arrow out.”
I wasn’t sure which would be worse—pulling it out slowly or fast.
Doc seemed to be wrestling with the same question. He looked at everyone, his face somber.
“If I pull this out quickly, it will rip through muscle and tissue. But if I go slow...” He exhaled. “The pain could send him into shock. Either way, this is going to be brutal.”
He wrapped his slender fingers around the arrow shaft.
“Hold him. No matter what happens—don’t let go.”
Caterpillar and Chester pressed down harder. Archer braced against Darius’ shoulder.
My stomach lurched. I wanted to look away. I couldn’t.
This man had kissed me. Held me. Promised he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
Now he lay pale and broken, poison spreading through his veins, and there was nothing I could do but watch.
My eyes burned. My hands shook.
Please. Please don’t die. Not like this. Not because of me.
“Ready?”
No one answered. No one was ready for this.
I held my breath. Tears slipped down my cheeks.
Doc pulled.
Darius’ scream shattered the silence—raw, agonizing, inhuman. His body arched off the ground. The men holding him strained to keep him down.
I pressed my fist to my mouth, choking back a sob.
Please. Please. Please.
More blood oozed onto the floor.
“Damn it.” Doc’s voice cracked. “He’s going to bleed out before I can stop it. The poison is moving too fast through his blood.” He grabbed a vial from his satchel, hands shaking. “I’m not sure the antidote will have time to work.”
He looked up, his ancient eyes filled with something I didn’t want to see.
“He’s dying.”
No. No. No. No.
The word echoed through my skull like a scream.
I pushed myself off the wall and rushed toward Darius.
“Stay where you are,” Grump commanded.
I ignored him. Done. I was done listening to captors. Done being a prisoner. Done sitting against a wall while people I cared about slipped away.
I dropped to my knees beside Caterpillar and clasped Darius’ hand. Cold. So cold. His skin was gray, his breath barely a whisper.
“Don’t you dare,” I choked out. “Don’t you dare leave me here alone.”
Caterpillar glanced at me, his half-lidded eyes unreadable.
“You stopped time,” he said quietly. “Twice.”
“I can’t. I don’t know how—”
“You stopped arrows. You froze soldiers. You immobilized harpies.” His voice was calm. Steady. “Perhaps... you can stop death.”
A strangled sound escaped me—something between a laugh and a gasp. “That’s impossible.”
“Impossible.” He exhaled slowly. “Such a heavy word. Tell me, Alice—did you believe you could stop time before you did it?”
No. I hadn’t believed. I’d just... felt.
“You have power inside you. Ancient. Waiting.” Caterpillar’s gaze held mine. “But power without belief is like a sword without a hand to wield it. Useless.”
Tears streamed down my face. “What if I can’t?”
The fear was suffocating. But if I did nothing, he was dead anyway. If I failed, we were no worse off than we already were. And if I didn't even try... I'd never forgive myself.
“What if you can?” He tilted his head. “The only question that matters is—do you believe you can save him?”
I looked down at Darius. At his pale face. At the blood soaking through Doc’s bandages. Hatter had protected me, promised me I wouldn’t face this world alone.
Did I believe?
I had to.
I closed my eyes. Pressed my palm against his chest. And reached for that warmth—that deep, dormant power.
Please. Please. Please.
I believe. I believe. I believe.
Heat detonated at my wrist—white-hot.
I cried out, my fingers curling against his chest as the pain blazed through me. When I forced my eyes open, another strand was winding itself around the others on my bracelet, bright and molten.
But that wasn't all.
Something else was forming. Gold pooled and stretched at the center of the bracelet, taking shape—a small medallion, smooth and warm against my skin.
And the cavern… stilled.
Not just sound. Not just movement. Even the air felt held—like the world was waiting to see if I could do the impossible.
Something moved inside me. Like water at first—a trickling stream, hesitant and small. Then it surged, building, rushing, gaining strength until it roared through me like a river breaking through a dam.
My body shook. My back arched. The cavern blurred. Black spots exploded across my vision.
“What’s happening?” Doc’s voice sounded miles away.
“She’s reaching down into herself,” Caterpillar said softly. “Deeper than she knows. Deeper than she thinks possible.” A pause. “Deeper than is safe.”
“Should we stop her?”
“Can you stop a river mid-flood?” Caterpillar exhaled slowly. “Let her go. She’ll either save him... or lose herself trying.”
Lose myself trying... what did that mean? Dying? Meeting my mother? My chest tightened. For a moment, I almost pulled back. Almost let the fear win.
But then I looked at Darius. At the man who'd kissed me like I mattered. Who'd promised I wouldn't face this alone.
If saving him meant losing myself, so be it.
“Dying and losing yourself aren’t the same thing,” Chester’s voice drifted through the darkness. “One is an ending. The other?” A pause. “The other is forgetting there was ever a beginning.”
His words echoed in my skull, growing distant, fading.
The roaring inside me grew louder. The black dots swallowed everything.
I couldn’t see. Couldn’t feel the cold stone beneath my knees. Couldn’t feel Darius’ hand anymore.
All I could feel was the power—raw, wild, demanding everything I had.
And I gave it. Gave it. And gave it.
Until I was spent. Until there was nothing left to give.
Every ounce of energy drained from my body. My breathing slowed. My heartbeat followed—thudding softer, slower, fading like a drum losing its drummer.
My arms gave out. My head fell back.
I braced for the crack of my skull against cold stone—but it never came.
Strong arms caught me. Warm. Solid. Safe.
I blinked, struggling to focus. A face swam above me. Sharp jaw. Dark hair. And eyes—piercing blue eyes that cut through the haze like lightning.
The same blue as mine.
My breath caught. Why did he have my eyes?
“What did you do, Alice Ravencrest?” His voice had lost its edge. Softer now. Almost... gentle. Almost like he was afraid of the answer.
I tried to speak. Couldn’t. My lips wouldn’t move. My tongue was lead.
Grump. It had to be Grump. But why was he holding me like I mattered? Why was he looking at me like—
Like I was someone he’d lost a long time ago.
His face blurred. Those blue eyes—my eyes—faded into shadow.
“Stay with me,” he said. Or maybe I imagined it.
The darkness swallowed me whole.