Page 58 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

I already know it’s pointless to try to run away from you…

Chewing on my bottom lip, I took a step toward the spiral staircase then spun back around for the third time in hesitation.

This is ridiculous.

Again, I stared at the tray of food I’d prepared on the little round table. A plate of strawberry waffles with maple syrup. Breakfast.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

She needs to eat, another voice in my head said.

She doesn’t need to eat that, a third contradictory voice replied.

She probably didn’t want to see me anyway. I imagined she would still have been exhausted from the events of yesterday. Not to mention her almost dying again. She hadn’t slept well either.

Frustrated, I buried my head in my hands.

I’d had trouble sleeping too.

Your assassin aura is changed…

The encounter with the Hatter was sludge in my brain. Permeating. Sticky. But I refused to let that madman occupy my thoughts. This was exactly what he wanted. He wanted to mess with my head. And I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

The unmistakeable sound of glass breaking shattered the strained silence.

Jerking in alarm, I rushed down the stairs and peered into Allie’s lab.

Allie was hunched over her work table, her shoulders heaving up and down, her fists clenched white at her sides. Spare metal parts and broken blue glass lay on the table before her. Some scattered on the floor at her feet.

“What happened?” I couldn’t help a frown of concern as I approached. “What are you doing?” I assessed the materials on the table. As near as I could figure, she was making another version of her frequency detector necklace but on a larger scale.

Allie shook her head, her hair hanging down to hide her face. But before I could ask again, her shoulders began to shake as soft, stifled sobs escaped her form.

The heart-wrenching anguish and despair in her stabbed at my chest.

Allie took a deep breath between sobs. “It doesn’t work. It’s not going to work,” she cried. “I’ll never get back home. I’m going to be stuck here.” She threw up her hands in complete desolation. “I’m going to die. The Queen is going to kill me. If the other terrifying creatures in this world don’t murder me first. I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s too late! I can’t—I can’t—” She was turning frantic.

Without even thinking, I moved to brace my arms around her, tugging her back against my chest. “Allie, Allie,” I soothed into her hair. “You’re okay. I’ve got you. It’s going to be okay.” She tried to push away but I squeezed her tighter.

“I don’t even know who I am,” she mumbled. “What if I never remember?”

“I don’t care who you were. It doesn’t matter to me.” Clenching my jaw in determination, I urged, “Look, it’s not too late. Maybe you’ll find another way home someday. We might find another doorway—or you know, knowing you, maybe you’ll build one,” I threw in, offhand. I almost didn’t recognize my own voice in saying the words. “But until then, I’ll protect you. I swear it. You’ll be safe.”

Her chest heaved as she gave up her struggle.

“Hey,” I whispered near her ear. “I mean if you’re keen to fight another rainbow, there’s always that option. Right?” My eyebrows furrowed, I waited for her breathing to even out.

When she calmed down, she willingly melted in my arms, nestling back deeper against my chest. Heaving a huge sigh, she wiped her face with her hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

I shook my head to dismiss her concern. “You didn’t disturb me…”

There was that unfamiliar stir in my stomach again.

Her warmth, that scent…

Almost involuntarily, I bent my head lower ever so slightly to nuzzle her hair with my nose, my lips nearly brushing her ear.

I wanted to get lost in that scent.