Page 57 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

I sure as heck could still feel hers.

I glanced away. “Um…” I debated getting up and walking away if only to escape the discomfort, but this was my loft.

She pushed her hair back behind her ear. Her face flaming red, she cleared her throat. “So…that wasn’t exactly CPR.”

Cracking my neck, I shifted in my seat. “It was a healing spell. Sorry if I—”

“Oh, no, no.” Allie waved her hand to dismiss. “I understand. It’s fine.” Dropping her gaze, she stroked her bottom lip with her finger in deep thought.

“What?” I asked.

I thought her cheeks tinged pink again.

Narrowing my eyes, I prompted again, “What?”

“Nothing, um…” She hesitated. “Remember I kept saying everything in this world tastes like waffles?”

“What about it?” I raised an eyebrow.

“They do though.” She nodded. “The Duchess’s soup. The Hatter’s tea. Everything in this world tastes like waffles to me… Except you.”

Swallowing hard, my gaze dropped to her red lips, still plump and swollen…because of me.

Allie had tasted like strawberry tea.

And cloudy days and lost memories…

Before I could stop and wonder if she perhaps liked how I tasted, I shook off the notion.

Ignoring the stir in my stomach, I straightened up. “Either way, you’re still alive. And we made it back. Even with all the shenanigans from that mad Hatter.”

Sliding her legs to the side of the bed so she could put her feet on the floor, she bit her lip. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to get the Hatter’s Heartlamp.”

I shook my head. “I reckon there was no way that the Hatter would have let us get that Heartlamp. If indeed it was even a real one to begin with. It’s possible many of those things were mere illusions. I think that madman was simply toying with us.”

Her face pale, Allie gave a disheartened nod. She understood I was also referring to the alleged doorway back to her home. Her gaze was still on the floor. “Thank you for saving me. Even though, I now understand it’s because you were only trying to protect yourself.”

I opened my mouth to argue but stopped myself.

Her restless eyes couldn’t settle on a spot. Her mind was likely still reeling from everything that had just happened.

I frowned. An unspoken protest weighed on my chest. She didn’t know I didn’t have to rescue her. She didn’t know I could have just let her get mauled by the ghosts. I wanted to explain. I wanted her to really understand…

Allie pushing up off the bed nearly startled me. “I should…probably get some rest,” she declared. “Now that I’m…” She trailed off, her voice faltering.

Stuck here, I finished for her in my head as there was a dull thud in my chest. With me.

But before I could offer any sort of comfort, she had hurried away to clatter down the spiral staircase.

Chapter 17 - And Curiouser

The gloomy sunrise brought a vague sense of discontent to my clock tower. Like an empty hollow where conviction used to be.

Beneath my loft where there was always a pervasive insistent indignation since Allie’s arrival, I no longer felt restlessness.

Allie’s spirit was flat. As though the fight in her had been slowly dissipating and whatever shred of hope she’d been holding on to before was lost.

The overnight tides had come and gone. Through the night, the studio downstairs had been too quiet. I almost thought Allie would have already escaped again.