Feral as a Cat (Sons of Wonderland Book 3) Read online

  Mom’s the same. She used to make clothes for the kids in the foster home down the street, taking notice that their foster parents spent the money on anything but them. That was the kind of people my parents were.

  Now, one’s dead, and the other might as well be.

  Tonight, she’s catatonic. Attie has to place her in her wheelchair and adjust her. She doesn’t even twitch or take notice. She just stares blissfully at the moon above us. I can’t blame her. The moon is full tonight and shines so brightly, it washes everything with its paleness. Combined with the sound of the frogs croaking and the summer bugs, it’s a nice evening. For some reason, it immediately puts me on edge.

  “Calypso.”

  I turn at the sound of my name, the voice definitely not belonging to my mom or brother. Attie turns with me, and we both stare at the man behind us. I sigh.

  “Do I even want to know how you found out my address?” There’s no anger in my words. At this point, it just feels like White is some kind of magical creature following me around. I’m tempted to run inside and hide like I do if the Jehovah’s Witness come knocking on my door. Last time I opened for them, I got a strong lecture on my life choices that lasted an hour. Never again.

  White shrugs at my question, but otherwise doesn’t give an answer.

  “Attie, can you take mom inside?”

  He nods and pushes her a few feet towards the door, but he moves slowly. I don’t chide him for it. White’s eyes flick over to Attie before coming back to hold my gaze. His silver eyes almost seem to glow in the moonlight, and it’s almost enchanting. It would be if there wasn’t this heavy feeling hanging over everything.

  “What can I help you with, White?”

  He glances at the watch around his wrist. I can hear the ticking of its hands which is odd. I shouldn’t be able to hear that.

  “Remember what I told you, about Wonderland?”

  “Are you still going on about this?” I ask, rubbing my temple. “I’ve already told you I’m not interested.”

  “You may not have a choice,” White answers, his voice solemn.

  I glare at him.

  “I always have a choice, White. And I don’t know what freaky shit you’re trying to pull, but I’m not interested.”

  I turn to go inside the door only to run right into Attie’s back where he’d paused with mom.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  I turn at the new voice, searching until I find Cheshire. Where the hell had he come from? White just stares at Cheshire, neither seeming to breathe, as they each fight for the upper hand. I watch in confusion.

  “What are they doing?” Attie whispers.

  “Fuck if I know.” Louder, I ask, “What the fuck are you two doing?”

  In answer, White moves so fast, I can barely follow. His hand twists against his waistcoat, and he pulls a card from his pocket. Cheshire growls.

  “Don’t you fucking dare, Rabbit.”

  My brows skyrocket, looking between the two. I push Attie a little more behind me, making sure my back protects both him and my mom. White throws the small white card at the ground, and all the summer noises stop. The crickets stop chirping. The frogs stop croaking. The trees stop rustling with the wind.

  I watch as a bright light flashes, and I blink hard to clear the sudden blindness, before some force begins to pull me forward. I don’t scream. I don’t think I can. I just turn, and press against Attie hard, attempting to push them away. It doesn’t work. We all slide a little closer, and real fear spreads throughout my body.

  I don’t know what’s behind me, or what’s trying to eat us, but I want no part of it.

  “If she won’t go willingly,” I hear White scream over the sounds of the bright spinning hole, “then she’s going against her will. I can’t let Wonderland die. Not when Jupiter is a part of it.”

  “You asshole!” Cheshire snarls, and I turn just in time to see Cheshire take a step towards him and get sucked towards the . . . I should call it a portal. That thought crosses my mind so confidently that I have no choice but to accept it. “I told you no!”

  “One day, you’ll thank me,” White replies, adjusting his waistcoat and glancing over towards us. I can see the alarm spring to his eyes when he sees me pushing against Attie and mom’s wheelchair. I don’t know what the panic is for.

  “I’m going to rip you to shreds,” Cheshire promises, just before he’s yanked towards the portal.

  At the same time, I feel a hard pull on my body, as if there’s a string attached to me, and someone is pulling it. I try to fight against it, to at least shove Attie and mom out of harm’s way, but the same force grabs onto them, and I’m suddenly falling through open air, my little brother and sick mom right behind me.

  White follows us in as I scream, and the rage that spreads through my body almost tears me apart.

  The snarl that rips through my throat startles even me, and I know, whatever just happened, it’s not going to be pretty when we land.

  It takes me a second, but I realize pretty quickly that White just took us down his rabbit hole, just like in the story books. I’d known he’d been adamant about Wonderland and being the White Rabbit, but I hadn’t believed. Hell, I still don’t. Maybe I’ve been drugged, and this is some extreme hallucination.

  I grind my teeth against the pressure falling puts on my body. It feels like I’m being squeezed mercilessly, and the pressure threatens to force my eyes closed and my body limp, but my anger keeps me from blacking out completely. It doesn’t get rid of the fuzziness around the edges of my eyes though, as if I’m struggling hard to remain awake.

  I can make out Attie and mom above me. Mom’s wheelchair is gone, but her oxygen tank trails behind her. Both of their bodies are completely limp as they fall, their clothing whipping around them. Above them, I see White lounging backwards as if he’s on a couch, completely unfazed. I wiggle in an attempt to move higher up, to strangle him maybe, but it doesn’t seem to work, so I relax again and focus on remaining awake.

  I try not to focus too hard on the things in the walls reaching out for us, the skulls embedded in flashes of dirt. I’m starting to get the feeling that Wonderland won’t be anything like the happy stories from home. They certainly never mentioned the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat kidnapping people.

  I watch the swirling lights for what feels like hours, the green, white, and silver colors blurring together into a kaleidoscope of dizziness. I repeatedly feel my head loll back only to jerk back awake. When the colors start to spin faster, I think it’s just me finally losing the battle, but then a bright light spreads, and I’m suddenly free falling through open air.

  I slam into the ground, hard, and I hiss as all my breath leaves my body. If I didn’t break my tailbone, it’s certainly bruised. I panic when I see Attie start to fall above me, my mother right behind him, but Cheshire swoops in out of nowhere and catches first Attie and my mom as if it’s no big deal to hold their weight. I try to ignore how sexy that is and instead, watch as he sets them gently on the tile away from us.

  I pull myself from the floor, grimacing as pain tingles in my spine, and face Cheshire. He turns at the same moment, his face serious, and meets my eyes.

  “What the fuck did you do?” I whisper, my voice deadly. I take a step towards him. “Where the hell are we?”

  Cheshire scowls, but before he can answer, White slams to the ground behind me in a crouch. I whirl in time to see him stand tall and brush his hair from his eyes.

  “It wasn’t Cheshire. It was me.”

  “How dare you?” I shout, the fury coming right back. I storm up to him and get right in his face. “Take us back.”

  “I can’t.” White’s ear twitches with his words, and my fingers ache for my wrench.

  “I said,” I growl, “take us back.” My lips are pulled back from my teeth, so I can feel the literal snarl on my face. White doesn’t seem to react to it. Instead, his eyes dart to Cheshire’s, and they seem to have a sile
nt conversation.

  “It’s a one-way trip, Calypso. I’m sorry, but Wonderland needs you.”

  “I told you I don’t have time for your nonsense fairytales! I have people who depend on me.” I turn and point at my still unconscious family. “They depend on me. And my mom is sick. She needs medicine. She needs care. And Attie has school on Monday.”

  “It’s too late,” White shrugs. “You’ve just dropped right into the fairytale you refused to believe. And your family being here is unfortunate. I only meant to take you.”

  “Unfortunate?” I mimic. “As if this is just a walk in the park. You brought us to some other world, which I’m not sure I believe yet, and expect me to accept that?”

  “You don’t have a choice,” White growls, finally getting fed up with me, it seems. “You’re here now. There’s no way back until you fulfill your destiny. So, wise up, and direct your anger somewhere else, Calypso.”

  I turn away from White, glaring at the black-and-white tiled room, tempted to kick anything I possibly can in my anger.

  “Fucking rabbit,” I snarl.

  Cheshire laughs, and if I would have grabbed my wrench before we fell down the rabbit hole, I would have thrown it as hard as possible at his face.

  Chapter 13

  Attie and mom are still unconscious. I have no idea how long it’ll take them to wake up. I’d already checked on them to make sure they’re still breathing, and both seem completely okay besides ending up in a magical world after coming through a portal.

  I start to pace up and down the room, the tiles making me dizzy because they don’t seem to be square. If I look at it too long, it’s like someone stuck their finger in the room and swirled it around. It trips me up so much that I come to a stop.

  “What the hell is wrong with this room?” I wrinkle my nose. “And what’s that smell?”

  “Just ignore it,” Cheshire answers, a wicked glint in his eyes. I don’t know if it’s amusement or something else. “You don’t want to know what the smell is.”

  As if in answer, my eyes flick over to the table in the center of the room. I’d been ignoring it, an overwhelming sense of ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ eating at my skin every time I even look at it. The tablecloth has the coloring of flesh, and it sends a race of goosebumps down my arms.

  “This isn’t where y’all flay my skin from my body and wear it like a suit, is it?” I gulp. “I’m claustrophobic. Putting me in a hole and lowering lotion down in a bucket won’t do a damn thing.”

  I eye both White and Cheshire warily. White has the decency to look disgusted. Cheshire, on the other hand, takes that moment to look me up and down as if imagining that very thing.

  “I don’t think you’d fit as a suit,” he says, that slow grin spreading across his lips. “Much too small. But there are other ways I’d like to wear you.”

  I can feel my hysteria wrap around me at his words, and it comes bubbling up my throat. I start laughing so hard, that I have to bend over and brace myself on my knees before falling to the floor, clutching my stomach. Tears run down my face as I laugh and laugh. I can’t stop, and I can’t even breathe anymore.

  “This doesn’t seem normal,” I hear Cheshire say. I take in great gasps of air in an attempt to calm myself, but then it just turns into sobs.

  “Actually, this is the most normal any of the women have acted. Clara compartmentalized her freak out. Jupiter was excited.” He pauses, and I can feel his eyes on me where I sit on the floor. “It seems Calypso is the first to actually lose it when she comes to another world.”

  A harsh sob breaks free, loud enough to echo, and White squats down in front of me, before placing his hand on my shoulder. Cheshire growls, but I ignore him, focusing on the silver eyes in front of me, even if they’re blurred from my tears.

  “Breathe, Calypso,” he urges me. “There’s no use panicking now. You’re here.”

  With his words, my panic morphs to anger, and I slap his hand from my shoulder.

  “You’re the reason I’m here.” White doesn’t look worried as I stand, just following suit, and I take a step closer to him. He watches in fascination as I swell with rage. “If anything, and I mean anything, happens to my mom or Attie, I will skewer you with a spoon.”

  “A spoon?” He smiles.

  “A dull edge hurts worse than a sharp one. And I plan to scoop out your insides and feed them to you.”

  Cheshire perks up. “You’re blood-thirsty. I like it.”

  “Shut up, Pussy Cat. You’re not out of this, either. If one hair on their heads is hurt, I will do so much worse to you than I will White.”

  “Why me?” he growls. “I told him not to bring you.”

  I look him up and down, the sneer still on my face.

  “Because you think this is funny. Even now, you’re holding back a laugh. My family’s safety is not funny.”

  Cheshire straightens up at my words, the twinkle in his eye instantly extinguished. He’s completely different, standing there as if he wasn’t just teasing me a second ago.

  “You’re right,” he says. He bends at the waist, bowing before me, and it catches me so off-guard that I take a step backwards. He looks up at me from his position and meets my eyes. I try my hardest not to let the sight affect me, to not imagine him doing something else while looking up at me. It’s a losing battle. “I vow that no harm will come to your brother or your mother from Wonderland while I’m alive.”

  The air seems to swell in the room and then contract, buzzing with energy until the hairs on my arms stand on end.

  “What the fuck was that?” I breathe, my eyes still locked on Cheshire’s.

  White’s voice is solemn when he says, “Cheshire just swore an unbreakable vow.”

  Chapter 14

  I’m staring at Attie and mom deep in thought when Attie opens his eyes and sits up. I watch as he looks around the trippy room.

  “Where are we?” he asks, pushing his hair out of his eyes. I’d been telling him to cut it for weeks, but he insists on keeping it longer. I think the girl he likes prefers the length. God, what if we don’t make it home? What if he never gets to worry about talking to the girl he likes at school again? The panic threatens to overtake me, so I focus on my words.

  “Wonderland, apparently.”

  “Well, not yet,” White corrects. “We have to go through one of the doors before we’re officially in Wonderland. Think of this just as a train station, or like a purgatory.”

  “Fantastic,” I grumble.

  Attie stands up and immediately starts walking towards the table.

  “No. Don’t touch the table, Attie,” I tell him before he can get too close. “I’m pretty sure it’s wearing rotten skin.”

  “What the hell?”

  “Don’t ask,” I say. “Apparently, it’s not a pleasant story. And watch your language.”

  “We drop into a fictional world, and I still can’t cuss?” He grins. “Where are your priorities, Sis?”

  “Probably left on the other side of the rabbit hole to be honest.” I smile at him. If anyone can bring me out of the panic, it’s Attie. He’s always so level-headed.

  Mom blinks open her eyes then, and both of us rush over to her side. Her eyes are clear for a moment, her dark-grey irises duplicates of my own. We help her sit up, and she touches her hand to my cheek.

  “Calypso?” she says, and I smile.

  “Yes, mom. It’s me.”

  “Everything is going to be okay. Take care of your brother.”

  “What?” I don’t get an answer. Her eyes glaze over, and she slips away again. I blink at the tears in my eyes. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. Normally not one to cry at all, my emotions are all out of whack. Add in all the stress of falling through a portal, and well, it’s thrown my hormones into chaos.

  “The memory thing,” Cheshire says, a frown on his lips. “Is it a disease?”

  I sniff quietly and leave Attie with mom to keep her company. She’s looking around the room now in c
uriosity, but there’s so familiarity in her eyes. Everyone in this room is a stranger to her.

  “The doctors says it’s dementia, even though not all of the symptoms line up.”

  “So, her memories just flit away like that?” He seems to be in thought, going over what I told him. “There could be someone here in Wonderland that could help.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Keeper of Memories. I don’t think he can cure her, but maybe he could allow her to remember? I’m not certain,” he says when he sees the hope in my eyes. “I don’t know if it’s possible. But I just wanted to tell you that there could be something.”

  “Thank you for telling me.” I nod my head and glance back over to my mom and Attie.

  “You worry.”

  “Of course, I do. I’m raising my little brother, and my mom is on her deathbed,” I whisper.

  “You’re handling it pretty well.”

  I glance at Cheshire in confusion. “This is the first time we’ve talked without you making any snide comments.”

  He snorts. “It’s coming, I’m sure. Kind of like you could be.” He wiggles his brow.

  I just roll my eyes and look away. I refuse to entertain him.

  White comes over then and looks between us.

  “Now that everyone is awake, we should get moving. We’re late.”

  “Late for what?” I ask, curious.

  “Everything.” White glances at his watch. “We’re literally late for everything.”

  “Okay, so let’s go through the door.” Cheshire moves over to a pretty door, but White shakes his head.

  “No. The Bandersnatch are guarding that one. And we can’t go through the Dark Lands. There’s too many of us. If a Chimera storm hits, I can’t carry you all, and you can’t fade everyone away.” White runs his hand through his hair. “I think we should go through the white one.”

  I glance at the only white door in the room. It has a pearlescent sheen to it, and painted on it in bright-red paint is a giant X. It’s like whoever painted it, didn’t care if it dripped. The red runs down the door in little rivers.