Page 55 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

No! I screamed in my head.

I couldn’t let myself get overwhelmed. I had to move. I had to save Allie.

I forcibly shook off the paralyzing cold dread. Steeling myself, I willed my consciousness to return to the present.

The frigid snowstorm blowing through the hallway of doors. The merry-go-round of tricks. Allie’s unconscious body lying on the floor.

Help me…

Narrowing my eyes, I cursed under my breath and tried to spot the teak door from amidst the dizzying, spinning colors.

Unaffected by the merry-go-round, the throng of ghosts began their assault once again, pushing, clamoring, wailing. This time, intent on clouding my view and covering Allie in darkness once more.

The Hatter’s cackle rang in the air.

I gritted my teeth in disdain.

Without hesitating further, I scooped Allie up in my arms. With another yell, I summoned another gust of wind. It imploded with a crackle around my form to sweep back another wide circle of the ghostly figures. Then, straining to time my shot correctly, I pointed my finger at the whirling array of doors to target the teak door to my home.

The wooden door shattered into shards, revealing the hollow portal before I jumped backward to fall through it with Allie in my arms.

I caught a glimpse of the Hatter above us, appearing as a tall, looming monster as he watched us from his tea garden. As though we were insects trapped in a giant glass bell jar. He peered down at us—his experiment, with curious eyes.

“Fascinating…” The Mad Hatter’s hollow voice echoed as his mad world spiraled in my view. His green beady eyes turned red, glittering fainter and fainter, farther away, until his form was reduced to a tiny black dot, and then nothing at all.

Chapter 16 - Just a Spell

Icrashed backward against a clump of dried bushes. Glancing around quickly, I was relieved to find that we had indeed arrived back at the barren desert beneath my clock tower.

Groaning, I ignored the aching in my back from the impact and secured my grasp around Allie. Immediately shooting upward to fly us to my loft, a simple spell set the metal door to my loft flying wide open.

I hauled Allie’s icy figure onto my bed to assess her condition. My shoulders slacked in relief to find she was breathing again.

“Allie?” I called to her. “Wake up. We’re back.”

“I wanted—a discovery—I’m sorry—”

“Allie?” I frowned.

Somehow, her temperature was still dropping. Her eyes fluttered open and closed, as if she was floating in and out of consciousness. She tried to shake her head. “It was the only—I had to find—” She mumbled unintelligibly. “Those ghosts—”

I shook my head. “Those ghosts won’t harm you now. You almost froze to death—again. You shouldn’t have gone to the underworld.”

She was delirious. “I’m dead. I died—”

“No, Allie, no. You’re alive.” Shrugging off my cloak, I tore open the neck of my shirt, took her hand, and pressed it against my bare chest. I winced at the ice of her fingers but murmured deep in my throat, “Feel this. Your heart beats beneath my chest. I am alive. You are alive.”

I couldn’t help my eyebrows furrowing in concern as I looked her over.

Her face was pale, eyes closed, lips blue.

Not much different from when I had first found her frozen in the wastes.

Except…

Heat. She needs heat.

My chest heaving, my gaze pinned on her mouth. Allie’s heart pounded harder in my chest as a dull ache tugged at the pit of my stomach. My lips tingled.