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“Curiouser and Curiouser,” Chess murmured in wonder. His green eyes reflected the red light emanating from the stone. The air around it crackled with electricity as tiny red beams reached out in an attempt to make contact with his skin. “It certainlyfeelslike the Heart of Wonderland.”
“Umm...guys? What’s the Heart of Wonderland?”
Hatter stepped forward, his expression serious yet tinged with a hint of his usual whimsy. “The Heart of Wonderland,” he began, his voice echoing slightly in the hushed room, “is more than just a jewel or an ancient relic. It’s believed to be the very beating heart of Wonderland...a source of magic and power that predates even the oldest tales. It was born in the Kingdom of Hearts and Roses from the purest magic of Wonderland. It’s rumored to amplify the true nature of whoever wields it, for better or for worse. Its power is immense, capable of shaping reality itself, bending the rules of nature and magic.”
He paused, glancing at the fragment shimmering in the box as if they were long-lost lovers. “But as with all great power, it comes with a price—a balance that must be maintained. In the wrong hands, it would be catastrophic, but in the right ones, it could restore Wonderland to its former glory.” His mismatched eyes met mine, filled with a mix of hope and warning, as if to underline the gravity of what lay in that little box.
“Dammit, Hatter...you ought to fuck more often,” Ransom said, still holding the box in his hands. “That’s the longest string of rational sentences I’ve heard you put together in years.”
My heartbeat quickened, beating in time with the radiant pulse of the pinkish-red stone, and I felt an uncontrollable urge to touch it. I stretched out a finger towards it, feeling the same crackle of energy, but I pulled away at the last second.
Curiosity might not kill the Cheshire Cat, but it might just be the death of me.
“There’s no way that little bit of rock is the Heart of Wonderland,” Callister scoffed, but his eyes betrayed his curiosity as he leaned in closer. “The Heart isn’t even real... It’s just a myth, a bedtime story for children.”
“Well, it’s definitely the heart of something...or someone.” I pointed to the heart-shaped depression in the velvet lining of the box. “You can see where the jewel was broken. It looks like there’s a bigger piece that’s missing. See how this piece fits perfectly in the box?”
Chess crept closer, toying with his chin while his brow furrowed in thought.
“I can feel the power in this stone, but if this is truly a fragment of the Heart of Wonderland, why would Amari hide something like this from us?”
“Maybe she doesn’t want us to know it’s broken,” I suggested. “Maybe she doesn’t want anyone to know she has it. Or...” I took a deep breath as the next thought popped into my head. “Maybe she doesn’t want anyone to know that she’s lost most of it! Especially if it’s so powerful that Wonderland would be totally fucked if the wrong person found it.”
Callister let out a contemptuous laugh.
“I don’t know how much more fucked Wonderland could become. It isn’t exactly thriving right now.”
“Well, it’s not gonna hurt to ask her about it, is it?”
Callister raised a skeptical brow at me. “You want to tell Queen Amari that we broke into her secret library and went through her private possessions, then accuse her of destroying the Heart of Wonderland without any proof? I’ll sit that one out.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at him.
“Hey, if I’m putting my life at risk to slay the Jabberwocky, I think I deserve to know the truth about this magic rock.”
“Maybe that’s all it is...a rock.” Callister lit a cigarette and was immediately surrounded by a swirl of cherry smoke. “If it was truly the Heart of Wonderland, she would’ve hidden it better.”
“She did a pretty good job, locking it in a secret drawer in a secret library in the basement of her castle, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps there’s a way to test it?” said Chess. “Have any of you ever seen a stone with this particular color? It’s not quite red, and it’s not quite pink.”
I sighed, knowing that if anyone in this room had seen the stone before, it wasn’t me. I was the new girl.
Although...
Therewassomething about that color...that shimmering, glittering pinkish red, that gnawed at my memory. I kept getting the feeling that I’d seen it before.
Butwhere?
Tiffany’s?
Cartier?
Bulgari?
Ransom closed the lid of the box and held his hand protectively over it. It was the same hand that wore a gold ring on his pinky finger...the Ring of Temptation.
Suddenly I knewexactlywhere I’d seen this stone before.
