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card?”
    “Alice!”
    Startled to hear him call out her name, she glanced up. He was looking at her, his face stone cold, but his eyes held a frantic edge to them.
    “Listen to me.”
    She swallowed hard. His tone held a note of “Stay calm, and don’t panic.” Never a good sign when someone started a sentence that way.
    A long sibilant hiss sounded in her ear.
    She froze. Swallowing hard, she turned her face and came eye to eye with the black, beady eyes of a ginormous snake. A snake unlike any she’d seen before. Its forked tongue came to within inches of her nose. And now that she was aware of it, she wondered why the hell she hadn’t noticed the tree sported purple polka dots.
    “Hatter,” she squeaked and slowly dropped her hand.
    Her branch moved.
    “Hatter,” she hissed, she couldn’t take her eyes from the beast, as if looking at it would somehow prevent it from wrapping its thick body around her own. “Help. Me.”
    Strong hands latched onto her shoulders. Her eyes were still wide and her knees felt locked in place. Hatter pinched her and she jumped, glaring at him.
    “Get behind me,” he said.
    She didn’t need to be told twice. Alice stepped into the shelter of his back. Her fingers clenched the edge of his jacket, watching in horror as he lifted out a hand toward the creature’s broad head.
    “And truly I was afraid,” his deep voice hypnotized her and she buried her nose in his jacket, “I was most afraid. But even so, honored still more that he should seek my hospitality from out of the dark door of the secret earth...”
    It seemed an eternity before she heard a sound other than the wild rush of blood in her ears.
    “He’s gone, are you okay?” He turned, touching her face and she hated that his soft touch felt so good.
    “Does it matter? Do you care?” she snapped, jerking her face out of his hand. Even though that was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to touch him, to remember again the man who’d saved the dying little girl years ago, but she couldn’t forget how he’d been earlier.
    His hand hung in midair for a moment until, with a slow nod, he dropped it. Hatter turned on his heels and started forward again. “Almost there,” he rumbled.
    “Fine,” she said, equal parts wanting to cry and wanting to pick up a rock and throw it at the back of his head. But she did neither; instead she limped along behind him, her gashed heel stinging every step of the way.
    Moments later, Alice was surrounded by a swarm of dancing fireflies. They zipped in and out through trees, lighting the canopy of leaves with their golden liquid radiance.
    Hatter stopped. “Stay here.”
    Their rest stop didn’t look like much. There were trees and glowing mushrooms, the spotted glowing kinds you’d see in cartoons and in an assortment of colors. A large swarm of fireflies congregated in and around them. She wiggled her toes, wanting to moan at the lush smoothness of soft grass beneath her feet. She needed to sit. Now.
    “Whatever,” she groaned and plopped down. Her feet were a mess, covered in dirt and oozing blood. If there was a time to cry, now would have been the perfect time for it.
    Instead she watched Hatter reach out and swipe at one of the bugs. It bounced around in his palm frantically.
    He was saying something. Growling it actually, but she couldn’t hear and really, she didn’t care.
    Mad as a hatter.
    Why had she ever thought that was sexy?
     
     
     

 
     
    Chapter 4

     
    “What kind of black magic is this?” Hatter hissed.
    Danika’s wings fluttered against his palm as she shoved and pushed at him. “Hatter!” she squealed, “for the gods sakes, open your palm! Damn you, man. You’re bending my wings.”
    He shook his fist and eyed the little ball of light hard. “I told you not to bring her. Not only do you bring her, you bring her ! What have you done? She should be old and withered, and yet she looks the same. How is that possible?”
    The muscle in his