Chapter 30 #2
Don’t look at your feet, don’t look at your feet, I urged myself, yet my eyes remained downward because it was still easier than to see the gleaming ones of the people who were stepping aside to make way for us.
What felt like both a blink and a lifetime later, we were at a long table close to the edge of the tiles, and Elida had to literally push and pull us until we were standing in a perfect row because none of us had the capacity to listen to her instructions just now.
It wasn’t just me—all the Hands felt like we were walking on needles, and the fact gave me a slight relief.
It didn’t last, though.
People spoke. The White Queen said something, but my ears were acting like I was underwater, and all sound came to me warped and from a million miles away. Then the crowd of people were moving, all of them going to their appointed tables, and the White Queen went to sit, too, across from us.
There, the Red Queen was already waiting.
Something like a fist squeezed my insides when I saw her face again.
They had the biggest, longest table on the floor, raised on a platform, the tablecloth full of diamonds that looked like drops of water when the light from the candles hit them right.
They had high-backed chairs, white and red, and there was this huge red button right there in the middle of the table, surrounded by roses.
At first, I thought it was some kind of glass dome, maybe a dish or something, even if it did look too big, and too strange—but no.
Because the White Queen went around the table, and the Red Queen stood up, and together, they brought their hands over that red dome.
“And now, for the bestest part of the banquet,” the White Queen said, and it was easy to hear her now when everyone else had fallen silent. “We fly!”
The queens pushed their hands down at the same time, and it was most definitely not glass, but rubber.
It happened slow and fast at the same time. The ground underneath the tiles vibrated, just like it did when we were in a trial. Gears were shifting, and by the sound of it, they were massive.
Hands wrapped around mine—Cook on one side, Helen on the other. The floor began to vibrate—but more than that. It began to rise.
More laughter. More cheers. More applause.
The sound of it was like a monster coming to life, awakening from a deep sleep. Hisses and growls, groans and whistles—it sounded exactly like a living being was somewhere underneath us, below the tiled floor, and it was pushing us up and up and up…
We were flying, indeed.
I thought I screamed, but maybe it was one of the others.
Our feet were strangely glued to the floor, and we couldn’t lose balance and fall if we tried—must have been magic.
None of the guests, and none of the Hands around me budged, and we held on tightly to one another with all our strength, eyes upward at the dark sky, on the stars that were growing brighter and brighter.
Another groan like a cry sounded somewhere beneath us, and then we stopped.
Slight screams and wows and oohs followed from the crowd and the Hands. I was shaking from head to toe, holding onto those two hands so tightly that Cook had to nudge me to get me to let go of him.
We were up. We were in the sky. The tower and the Great Clock at the top of it were so close, and all around us, Neverwhen stretched into a blanket made out of a million lights.
It was breathtaking—and not just because it was beautiful. But because the air was thin. Too thin—and I couldn’t breathe properly.
Nobody could.
“And now, a little magic on top,” said the White Queen from behind her chair, her smile bigger than I’d ever seen when she turned to the Red Queen. “Sister dearest, if you will.”
The Red Queen did not smile.
Just like in my dream—nightmare—her red lips were cast downward.
She raised her left hand and waved her fingers.
Over the red silk glove that covered them came the magic in the very same shade, spreading over her head within seconds.
People coughed, held their throats, watched in awe as the magic spread from over the Red Queen’s head and all the way to ours, wrapping the entire tiled floor into a dome for real, until it sealed around the edges, and the color faded away.
Air slipped down my throat like normal.
My throat no longer ached, and my lungs no longer burned.
The people exploded into more applause, and they bowed to the queens, and they raised glasses to one another. Meanwhile, we still stood there in front of the long table, watching, unsure of what to do next.
Finally, the White Queen urged everyone to stop clapping, and she cleared her throat.
“Tonight is not entirely a celebration of victory.” Her voice was soft but firm, and it carried through the entire floor without effort.
“It is more a recognition for our brave Hands.” Her eyes were on us, and she brought her hands together over her chest. “You have already learned, my little tickers, that unwinning doesn’t necessarily require less effort or precision than winning, that perhaps it requires more.
” She smiled like a mother looking lovingly at her child, and goose bumps erupted all over my arms. “Two trials stand behind us now—and another two are coming soon. Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we undo.” She grabbed a crystal glass from the table in front of her and raised it. “To the Hands.”
Every guest on the floor raised their own glasses, too, and called in unison, “To the Hands!”
I was most definitely going to be sick before this night was over.