Vow of Deception (The Ministry of Curiosities #9)(39)

"Like it were more than his job," Gus agreed.



* * *



Gus, Seth, Lincoln, Cook and I buried the files in the walled garden at midnight while most of the household slept. We did not use lamps but moonlight to guide our path, and we didn't speak until we entered the secluded area and only then in whispers. Not only did we bury the files, we also buried the copy we'd made, but in a different location. After spreading manure over the entire area to obscure the freshly turned earth, we returned silently to the house and went our separate ways.

I got no further than my bedroom door. A male voice came from Alice's room. A voice I recognized.

Lincoln heard it too and pushed me behind him. He barged inside before I could stop him.

Alice sat up in bed, awake. The white rabbit from Wonderland stood near the window, his nose twitching violently.





Chapter 8





The rabbit's paw tightened around something in his hand. I couldn't see it, but I suspected it was the pocket watch he used to help him travel between realms.

"Wait!" Lincoln said, hands up in surrender. "Don't leave yet. We just want to talk."

The rabbit glanced between Lincoln and me, then back to Alice. He held out his hand to her. "You didn't give me your answer, Miss Alice."

"Answer to what?" Lincoln asked.

"Alice, are you all right?" I said, sidling closer to the bed. "Has he harmed you?"

"Of course I haven't." The rabbit looked horrified. It was not an expression I'd ever seen on an animal before. "What kind of brute do you take me for?"

"The large talking rabbit kind," I told him. "Forgive us, but we're not used to…this."

"I know. Your creatures run around naked. It's obscene. They should be ashamed of themselves."

The conversation had just taken a turn to the absurd. "Alice?" I prompted.

"I'm all right," she said. "We were just talking."

"About?" Lincoln asked.

The rabbit twitched his nose in Lincoln's direction. "Don't tell him, miss. It's between us. No one else need—"

"I beg to differ. Alice lives in my house and I am responsible for her wellbeing. What were you talking about?"

"He told me this is my last chance," Alice said.

"Miss!" The rabbit shook his head in warning.

I sat on the bed alongside Alice. "Last chance for what?"

"To go with him to Wonderland," she said.

"She's not going anywhere," I told the rabbit. "Not to another realm and not with you."

"And if you don't?" Lincoln asked. He had not looked at her but kept his gaze on the rabbit. The rabbit seemed unnerved by the attention, his nose in a constant twitch.

"The queen's army will come for me and take me by force." She clutched my hand in both of hers. Her brow creased into a deep frown. "The last time they came for me they almost destroyed the school."

They'd only stopped because they vanished from this realm when Alice awoke. Since then, the rabbit had learned to remain here after she woke up using a spell. If the army used the same spell…it didn't bear thinking about.

"The queen is desperate," the rabbit told Alice. "Every day you remain here, you anger her more. You must return and answer the charges laid against you."

"She's not going anywhere," Lincoln growled.

The rabbit jumped and swallowed heavily. "Please, Miss Alice. For the sake of your friends here, come with me."

"Perhaps I ought to go," Alice said in a small voice.

I clutched her shoulders and locked my gaze with hers. "No! You can't go to another realm, for God's sake! I won't let you."

"I said, she's not going anywhere." Lincoln's dark snarl had the rabbit backing up against the wall.

He clutched the watch to his chest. "Please, Miss Alice. If you don't come with me, I, as the queen's emissary, will be blamed and punished."

"That's not Alice's problem," I said.

The rabbit ignored me. "Take my hand and we'll return together. If you don't, your aunt will be furious and when she's mad, she—"

"My aunt?" Alice echoed.

The rabbit's nose stopped twitching. "Ah…"

"Is the queen my aunt?"

"Alice has no relatives in your realm," I said.

"Does she?" Lincoln demanded, taking a step toward the bed.

"Stay back!" the rabbit snapped. "Miss Alice, you have to come with me now!" He reached toward her, his hind feet planted on the floor as far away from Lincoln as possible.

My fingers tightened on Alice's shoulders. "You cannot seriously be considering going with him."

She bit her lip and blinked watery eyes at me. "But the army…"

"We'll find a way to defeat them. At least we know what we're up against. If you go with him to another realm, you'll be alone in a strange land, facing charges of treason laid against you by a mad queen."

It was rather telling that the rabbit did not refute any of my claims. So the queen really was mad, and the charges were real. But the news that she was Alice's aunt… That had to be false.