Chapter 2 - My Hero
Alarge flock of birds squawked and flapped upward from a clump of trees on the horizon, a flurry in their efforts to escape the eclipse that blotted out the light like a tidal wave of darkness visibly coming closer and closer to the clearing where the giant mushroom stood.
Letting out a haggard sigh, I rode the air to coast swiftly down, scooping the girl up in my arms before she even noticed I had arrived.
“Whoa—” She grabbed my neck to secure herself against me before she looked up to meet my gaze. “It’s you!”
I was sure she could read the disapproval in my eyes, the wind whipping past us as I flew us away from the forest.
But her cheeks were pink, her smile wide with pleasure.
It was odd. Since I had found her, I’d left her to herself, presuming she required more rest, presuming my companions were more than capable of dealing with her.
Perhaps I should have cared about who she was, why she had been in that cave, where she was from. But my only interest was to solve the puzzle of this mysterious heart.
I had only seen her once while she recovered from her state.
That time I’d had to physically come downstairs to deliver her food. Still bedridden, the expression in her tired eyes when they met mine was most definitely not delight. Apprehension, yes, but not delight.
Definitely not pleasure.
This situation did not warrant the pleasure in her eyes.
Then it hit me.
That damn caterpillar.
“What did you just eat?” I asked in suspicion.
Her pupils dilated, she laughed merrily. “Oh, don’t be such a downer.” She’d clearly sampled some of that caterpillar’s mushroom when I wasn’t looking.
I shook my head again. “Don’t you know what magic mushrooms do?”
“It didn’t look poisonous. It didn’t say poison on it.” Her face fixed into mock sobriety. “Besides, you know what they say. If at first, you don’t succeed, try two more times so that your failure is statistically significant.”
I scoffed in ridicule. “You are so intoxicated right now.”
She smacked her lips out loud. “It tasted like waffles. Did you know everything in this world tastes like waffles to me? Besides, the caterpillar made it sound so fascinating. I was just curious.”
“You are much too curious for your own good,” I mumbled.
“I’m a scientist.” She threw up one hand as if to gesture the obvious.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “How is it that you remember you are a scientist when you don’t remember anything else about yourself?” Even with my arms hooked under her back and legs, I motioned air quotes with my fingers. “Allie.”
Laughing again, she pinched my cheek. “Are you always this surly?”
Flinching in horrified protest, I recoiled away. “Stop that!”
Allie was much too delirious. She looked around, seemingly only then noticing where we were. “Oh, we’re flying! Look, I’m a bird! I can see above the trees!” She threw her head back. “How am I so high up? Where are my feet?”
Fuming in my chest, I gritted my teeth.
My god, she was so annoying.
I was severely tempted to shove her away and toss her against the rocky mountain peaks beneath us to her certain death.
I imagined the feeling of satisfaction at watching her fall, the symphony of her cracking bones, the vivid red gushing of blood from her eyes, her mouth… Not that I enjoyed death. I was rarely capable of enjoying things to begin with. But it would likely be a relief to be discharged of this responsibility.
If only her entire existence wasn’t potentially the answer to my biggest problem.
Out of the corner of my eye, the dark shadow behind us was beginning to engulf Tulgey Woods. Howling animals and stampeding creatures tried to outrun the monstrous wave of sludge that was undulating from beneath the ground as the Jabberwocky’s massive head prepared to emerge to gobble everything up.
In Allie’s hypersensitive state, it was difficult to know what would set her off, especially if faced with such a horrifying view, so I clasped her head against my chest so she wouldn’t see.
Keeping my grip around her, I waved my fingers to cast a spell, blanketing the entire forest with fog before coasting faster on the wind. In the distance, where the forest greens gradually faded into the stark brown of my desert, I could finally sight the top of my clock tower.
Allie’s voice was muffled in my chest. “Wow, you’re like really protective considering we’ve only just met. Are you in love with me or something?”
Glancing down to meet her gaze in ridicule, I groaned inwardly. “Please tell me you took a piece from the other side of the mushroom too.”
“Of course I did.”
“Eat it then,” I ordered.
She mocked-mouthed the same words back before popping the morsel in her mouth.
Before long, I was touching down on the balcony outside the top of my clock tower.
I set her on her feet and pulled my arms away, but she was still clinging around my neck. I pursed my lips. “You can let go now.”
Allie’s face was tilted up toward mine. She was no longer laughing but her cheeks were still flushed. Her body was pressed against mine, and despite the cold wind, her warmth wrapped around me.
I had to blink a few times to keep my wits. My head was getting a tad bit fuzzy as well. Meeting her gaze steadily, I glared down at her. “What?”
She swooned up at me. “My hero.”
Ugh. That was the last thing I was.
Allie regarded me with an appraising look. “I just realized I never caught your name. Do you have one?”
My response was more of a grunt than a word. “Rabb.”
Her honey-colored eyes glazed over as she searched my face, her voice hushed as she proposed, “You know…it’s okay if you want to kiss me, Rabb. I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve been kissed before, so you can if you want.”
I couldn’t help another roll of my eyes.
With her wavy hair fluttering in the breeze, marble-smooth skin, elegant nose, and full lips, I would imagine normal men would have considered her pretty, even beautiful. Her clothing lacked style, which didn’t flatter her figure at all, but her soft, inviting curves indeed rivaled those of my regular companions.
But I had no time for tenderness like kissing or, indeed, love. I did require companionship now and again but I’d never felt anything for those women.
A heartless assassin for the Queen would only be so effective if he had been indeed rendered incapable of feelings.
And being the most notorious assassin serving the Queen of Hearts, who ruled over the land, my sole purpose was to seduce the women of Wünder to complacence in order to steal their hearts to deliver to the Queen for her consumption.
My kisses were weapons. And rarely did I even need to go that far. In the past, kingdoms had fallen from a mere smile from me. Maidens, queens, princesses, and the occasional prince now and again threw themselves at my feet to entreat a kind word from my lips—right before I tore their hearts out.
One look from me would make any female within a ten-mile radius melt where she stood.
Usually.
Not moving an inch otherwise, I glared at Allie some more. “Great, good to know. Now sober the hell up.”
She tilted her head to one side. “I watched you seduce that girl who came by the other day. You were really good at that.”
I groaned again. So she had been spying on me for the last few weeks.
But I didn’t respond. With another even glare, I watched her face for a few moments, waiting as the effects of the intoxicating magic mushroom visibly lifted from her features.
When Allie seemed to get her bearings back, her mouth dropped open a slight. She pulled her arms away from me to straighten herself up.
She shook her head, blinking several times. “Oh. Well.” Clearing her throat, she dusted off her clothes. “That was highly inconvenient.”
“You think?” I huffed and whirled around to stomp through the metal door. “So you’re feeling better, I take it? How did you even get to Tulgey Woods?”
“Well…it was rather odd. Quite inexplicably, I found a door in a tree when I was…” She paused. “Exploring. I’d never seen a door in a tree before so I was curious. I know it doesn’t make any sense but it’s true.”
I merely rolled my eyes again. I didn’t understand why she had deemed it inexplicable. In fact, I should have known. Many trees in Wünder concealed hollows which led to other places. Certain animals used them for migration and hunting food.
Following at my heels, she cleared her throat again and put her hand out. “We haven’t officially met.”
“We don’t need to officially meet.”
“So…you’re some kind of wizard?”
“I’m a sorcerer,” I corrected, miffed.
She wrinkled her nose. “Like there’s a difference.”
“Don’t make me kill you after I just saved your life.” I shot her a dark look. “Do not try to escape again.”
She shifted on her feet. “I wasn’t trying to escape. I just…wanted to take a look around. Aren’t you really overreacting about this whole thing?” She put her hands up in a shrug to drawl, “Besides, I wasn’t in ‘danger’ danger.”
I gritted my teeth again. I seriously wanted to wring her insolent neck. “And yet, I still had to save you. Next time, maybe I should just let the Jabberwocky get you.” I stopped at the top of the staircase leading down to the studio and gestured my arm pointedly for her to descend.
Her forehead creased in confusion once more. “The…what? Ugh, never mind.” Her expression morphed into aggravated, molten disdain and she folded her arms across her chest. “You know what, yes. Of course, I was trying to escape! I’ve been locked up in this tower for weeks. I understand I’ve been sick, and I appreciate your efforts in restoring me to health, but you honestly can’t keep me locked up in here forever.”
Impatient with her stalling, I turned to head back to my desk, my response offhand, authoritative but steady. “It’s for your own safety. Your life is as precious to me as my own.”
Her tone still soured. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“It means—” I whirled around to face her. “You are not to endanger yourself again.”
Eyes wide, the indignation was raw on her face. “I don’t even know where I am! I don’t even know who I am or what the hell I’m doing—”
“What you are is mine,” I pressed. “Now stay downstairs. Stay out of trouble. Be quiet. And don’t make the notion of killing you even more tempting than it already is.”
“None of this makes any sense!” She threw her hands up.
My reply dripped with sarcasm and finality. “Welcome to Wünder.”
She winced as though I’d struck her but she didn’t say anything more. She spun around to storm off, stomping all the way down the staircase.