Page 51 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

My eyebrows furrowed at his sentiment. Was he referring to Allie?

Allie blinked in surprise. “I’m not a ghost.”

The Hatter pointed a crooked finger at her. “She’s no heart. She’s a ghost.”

Oh, for god’s sake. I gritted my teeth. “I carry her heart, preserved in my chest. She’s still alive, Hatter. She’s not a ghost.”

“Prove it.”

Chapter 15 - Ghosts

“Prove what?” I exchanged a confused glance with Allie.

“That it is indeed her heart you carry in your chest. That she is not a mere ghost.” The Hatter folded stubborn arms across his chest. For a little man, he was quite staunch, I’d give him that.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, I motioned Allie closer. “Come here. Give me your hand.”

“Why?” Allie pursed her lips but reached out her hand tentatively.

I clicked my tongue, beckoning her over. “Just give it.”

Allie took a step closer to me and reached one hand out.

I lifted her hand and touched her palm against my throat, just above my chest. The warmth of her fingertips on my bare skin almost seared my neck.

“Does it beat, girl?” the Hatter wanted to know.

Allie almost gasped as the heart in my chest beat faster under her touch. A white light began to glow from my chest beneath her palm. Her wide-eyed gaze met mine in surprise. When she dropped her hand, the white light vanished.

The Hatter gave a satisfied nod. “Only the owner of the heart would be able to call upon it. Fascinating. Then you are not of the beyond.”

Allie scoffed in incredulity. “Yes. I am still alive. Obviously.”

The Hatter approached Allie as if to peer at her closely.

When the Hatter spoke again, my blood ran colder than the weather. “I sense power.” He sniffed the air around Allie, his statement directed at me. “Not your mediocre sorcery. I sense…a significance.”

I clenched my jaw. I knew the Hatter would be able to sense it. But I also knew it wouldn’t do me any good to fight the old man. We were likely evenly matched.

I might be the most powerful sorcerer in Wünder, but it appeared the Hatter held mystical powers of the beyond.

He controlled time and served ghosts tea.

“Look,” I began calmly. “There is no need to take this somewhere neither of us wants to go. We will leave peacefully if you just point us to the tree hollow.”

The Hatter’s eyes held a dark glimmer. “But you ask a favor. In the interest of fairness, perhaps I give you something and you give me something in return.”

Seething, I was going to surge forward to scuff him but Allie caught my arm.

Allie met my gaze for a moment before looking to the Hatter. “Perhaps we could make a deal?”

My expression grim, I growled under my breath, “He’s not taking you.”

“Not me,” she corrected. “The Hatter strikes me as a rational man,” she declared out loud to compliment the Hatter. “A man of science and many other fine pursuits. Surely, there should be something else we can offer him.” She met the Hatter’s gaze again. “Isn’t there, Mr. Hatter?”

“Something else, you say?” Studying the two of us, the Hatter chewed on his bottom lip. “How about a game? Let’s have some entertainment for the lively ones.” He clapped his hands.

I frowned. “What sort of game?”