Follow the White Rabbit (Beautiful Madness #1)(6)
The sun wasn’t much higher in the sky than before she’d... what? Nothing could explain what had just happened or where she’d just been. Was this some sort of ancient magic? An attack on her mind? She hadn’t been gone long, and she didn’t appear to be hurt, but something had happened.
At the sound of a branch snapping somewhere in the distance, Lucky rolled into a crouch, fighting back a fresh wave of panic. She was vulnerable here. If someone did want to hurt her, she wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight as her fingers continued to shake with nerves. Wherever she had gone, she had left the confidence and bravado that came with being Lucky there. Now all she wanted to do was hide.
With one last look over her shoulder, she sprinted towards home. She couldn’t be Lucky today; even her own shadow was putting her on edge. No, before she did anything else she had to retreat and figure out what exactly was happening to her.
Birchelm was going to have to find another way to combat their shrieking wombat problem.
CHAPTER THREE
INTERMITTENT MADNESS
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“Gwen,” Marc coaxed softly from the sofa.
“It should have happened by now.”
“You don’t know that. Give it time.”
“What if nothing happens? What if I’ve already missed it?” Gwen chewed gently on her knuckle as she peered into the long grass.
She had been leaning on the window frame for an hour, staring out at the forest while uncertainty continued to spread through her mind like a stain. The weight of this day had been pressing down on her for weeks while she relentlessly studied the history books, but today could very well be the day the tension finally crushed her.
Since Gwen had woken up that morning—literally rolling out of her bed—she’d been almost single-minded in her obsession, only pausing to make some quick additions to her ensemble. A special day deserved a special outfit. She hadn’t slept much at all, and her wild red hair looked even more unkempt than usual, but that wasn’t her concern. At first, when she had been too sleepy to notice, her clothing had looked tired and not at all up to Gwen’s usually eclectic standards. Some might even have claimed that her ruffled top matched nicely with her powder-blue skirt! It simply wouldn’t do. After sitting by the window to enjoy her first cup of tea, she’d gone back to throw on a bright orange belt and ruby red party shoes just to keep things interesting.
And then she waited.
And waited...
The sofa squeaked as Marc shifted his weight. “You’re waiting on a rabbit. As in a furry little animal? And you’re expecting it to be keeping a schedule? I can’t say I understand exactly what it is you’re trying to accomplish, but we’ll be laughing about this later. I promise.” He was determined to keep the mood light, and his optimism was incessantly sincere. And annoying.
“You make it all sound so ridiculous.” Gwen looked over her shoulder at her roommate to see if he was teasing her. She needed him to appreciate what was at stake, to agree that seeing a white rabbit today was the most important thing they could be worrying about right now.
She had tried to explain the intricacies of Wonderland’s lore to him—the patterns and tipping points that determined the fate of all her residents—but it was hard to do without coming off as a little unsteady. She could talk endlessly about the books she’d read or the stories she had been told, but that didn’t make her grandmother’s tales of talking animals sound any less ridiculous. If she tried to explain how she knew that the legends were true, he’d think she was as well and truly mad as all her neighbors believed her to be.
At times, Gwen felt as though Marc was the only one who saw any value in her ramblings, and she wasn’t about to lose him by explaining the near silent voices she heard every time she left the house. The land and its inhabitants remembered Wonderland’s history, and whispered secrets to Gwen—secrets Gwen didn’t always want to hear.
So she waited, safely hidden behind stone walls that blocked the murmurs of the forest.
It was nearly time for tea when Gwen caught a flash of white fur in her peripheral vision. She leaned toward the window, pressing her palm to the glass. At last, he had come. It was the sign she had been waiting for—the catalyst that would set everything else into motion.
“He’s here,” she exclaimed in an excited whisper. She heard the tell-tale creak of the sofa as Marc stood up to join her.
The creature paused briefly to sit in clear view of the window.
He was there. The white rabbit. He’d found her.
A feeling of accomplishment pressed at the back of Gwen’s mind.
The animal tilted its head slightly to the left before breaking eye contact and hopping back into the underbrush.
I was right. The thought echoed in her mind as a wave of relief washed over her. Every night spent pouring over ancient texts, each strange look she received from former friends... it was all worth it if her theories were correct.
“There’s nothing out there,” Marc pointed out as he came to stand behind her at the window. His eyebrows furrowed as he locked his eyes on Gwen’s, searching for an explanation.
“He didn’t stay to chat, that’s all,” Gwen teased. The euphoria she was feeling must have shown on her face because a smile quickly burst through Marc’s concerned expression.