Read Unhinged: 2 for Free Online

stay here another second.
    “We’re not done,” he says from behind me.
    “Oh, we’re
so
done.”
    In some secluded, private corner of my soul, I care about Wonderlandmore than I dare admit aloud. But if I let Morpheus see that … he’ll convince me to stay and fight. The last time I faced Queen Red, she left a fingerprint of terror on my heart. Judging by what’s happening to the land, her powers are even stronger now than they were then. I suppress another shudder. I’m totally unequipped for a battle of this proportion. I’m only half of the netherling she is, and no match for her.
    I never will be.
    I’m a few steps from the door when one clap of Morpheus’s leather-clad palms stops me in my tracks.
    A sinister rustle grows around me, like leaves raking across graves. I turn, but not fast enough. Vines climb my legs, twisting tight. My calf muscles cramp under the pressure. Using my underdeveloped netherling magic, I try to influence the plants. The ivy pulses but refuses to release.
    “A shame you’ve neglected your better side for so long,” Morpheus baits me as he steps closer. “If you practiced more often, it would be second nature for you to relax … easier for you to coax your powers into submission.”
    I growl. My top half is still free, so I throw a punch at him, nailing his abs. He
oofs
, but his sneer doesn’t waver. With one nod from him, the daisy that I used for a prop earlier reaches out and clamps my elbows. Her hands, both humanoid and plantlike, lock me tight. When I struggle, she hisses a warning.
    Biting back a frustrated yelp, I meet Morpheus’s fathomless black eyes. “I want to go home.”
    He fusses with his shirt, smoothing where my fist wrinkled it. “Keep ignoring your responsibilities and you won’t have a home left.”
    I shake my head. “How many times do I have to say it? My homeis in the human realm, not here.” A half lie. I can’t bear to look again at the destruction all around me. But he doesn’t have to see how torn I am … how torn I’ve been since last year.
    “What makes you think I was referring to
here
?” He leans against a nasturtium stem. The pose shouldn’t be threatening, but his wings rise behind him, black and looming against the storm’s backdrop, and my skin bristles with apprehension. I try to free my elbows. The daisy is too strong. Even through my long sleeves, her frondlike fingers bite into my flesh.
    “I demand to see Queens Grenadine and Ivory,” I say.
    Morpheus barks a laugh. “You 'demand'? So you’re playing the royal card, aye?”
    My chest tightens. “The queens are in charge of the portals to my home, not you.”
    “Oh, but therein lies the problem. Parts of Wonderland have already fallen into Red’s clutches, and she intends to reclaim your throne and overthrow Ivory so she might be in charge of both portals. By your absence and apathy, you’re giving the witch free rein. You know what a powerless and forgetful fool your substitute, Grenadine, is.”
    Lightning strikes again, coating everything in eerie light.
    The mud beneath me starts to soften, and I sink an inch, then two. I’ve triggered one of his black moods. That’s never good. “You’re lying.”
    “The truth is in the blood. Is your artwork lying?”
    I want to lash out at him for spying on me at school, but it won’t change the fact that he’s right. Even though I can’t decipher the violent scenes in my blood mosaics, I can make out enough to know that something is wrong in this world. And that maybe Queen Red
is
behind it.
    My body wavers in the mud. I’m sinking even deeper—literally and figuratively.
    The daisy releases me from her scratchy grip, and the vines suck me down farther. Cold, gooey sludge squishes up around my shins. I rotate at the waist to plead with the giant flower. “You’re my friend. Last time I was here, we played cards, remember? Don’t let him do this …”
    Still silent, the daisy turns her hundreds of eyes toward