Family (Insanity Book 7) (21 page)

“British anthem?” Tom is confused, so are we. “I’m sure you’ll find it on the radio next to the console. Why’d you need it?”

The Pillar smiles bitterly and swivels the chair around. “So long Alice of Wonderland. It’s been frabjous doing business with you. I think you have ten minutes left, so use them wisely.”

Chapter 82

White Hearts Hospital

Though Fabiola still had not made her mind up whether or not to stand up for the Inklings, it was something else that actually bothered her: that she couldn’t heal herself with the power Lewis had suggested.

Back in Wonderland she’d been blessed with healing powers that had granted her longevity in the battle field. And when she’d first been sent to this hospital, she thought she was regaining those powers. But the process suddenly slowed down while talking to Lewis.

Deep in her mind, she could do nothing if she hadn’t healed from her wounds. She was confined to this bed and was useless at the moment.

But then, the screaming sounds outside her bedroom suddenly alerted her. Adrenaline pumped all through her body, but she still felt chained by her injuries.

“What’s going on?” asked Fabiola. Lewis had just closed the door after taking a brief peek outside.

“It’s the Reds,” he said, his back to the door.

“What are they doing here?”

“I think they’re here for you, Fabiola. Think about it. Whoever gathered the Inklings in the asylum has a plan to exterminate each one of you. The only one who’s not there is you. They’re here to kill you.”

“This means only He ambushed everyone,” Fabiola said. “He realized that Alice knowing about her family killed all possibility for her to rejoin Black Chess. She now knows it’s Him.”

“Exactly,” Lewis said. “The question is: do you still have doubts on which side to take?”

Fabiola took a moment to calculate a final answer. Still, words were unable to come forth.

“Alice is one of us, Fabiola. All the fear about her being Black Chess is over.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Fabiola said. “Or you would have just told her about Mr. Jay killing her family long ago.”

“I could have, but I feared for her sanity. I was afraid it would devastate her and weaken her.” Lewis, in spite of the dangers outside, took a similar moment to rethink something. “Actually, and it’s hard to admit, I’m thankful to the Pillar.”

Fabiola glared at him. “You didn’t just say that, did you?”

“I did. Whatever his real intentions are, it’s time we acknowledge what he has done.”

“Yeah? And what’s that? Manipulating everyone?”

“No, Fabiola. He raised Alice in a few months to become a strong girl. He helped her, taught her how to save lives and gave her confidence — and part of her sanity — back. Of course, it was a bloody journey full of contradictions, but if Alice hadn’t gone through that much she would not have been able to handle her family’s massacre. She is only nineteen for God’s sake.”

The sounds of Reds climbing up the steps was unmistakable behind him now.

“They’re coming.” The rabbit peeked out of his pocket, sounding curious. “Which side are you on, Fabiola?”

“That doesn’t matter now,” Fabiola said, eyes on the door behind Lewis. “I can’t fight. I’m injured.”

Lewis suddenly smirked. It was a benign smirk, one that few had ever seen. Only Fabiola knew about it, back from the days in Wonderland.

“I’ll take care of them until you find the healing powers inside of you.” He pulled out the Vorpal sword, which had been hers once. She didn’t have to ask how he got it. She thought she’d given it to Alice earlier, but Lewis had always been resourceful with the gadget he’d originally invented. “A little demonstration of the old days should spike up your healing powers, I think.”

He turned around, kicked the door open, and descended the stairs. She didn’t have to see the way he fought. She knew what a heck of warrior he was. The way he could handle that sword. The way he’d been a master of None Fu.

She heard one of the Reds scream that someone had just punched his eyes. Fabiola smiled. That was Lewis’s rabbit, another warrior from the past.

Chapter 83

The Radcliffe Asylum

“Do you still have to carry the March with you?” Tom rages at me for slowing them down.

“Shut up, Tom,” I say. “The March goes with me everywhere, until I bury him properly.”

“Hey.” The Dude suddenly shows up from rescuing the Mushroomers. “Let me take care of him.”

It’s not the right time to question him on who he is or why he is doing this. The time left is too short, I don’t even know how short.

“The Mushroomers need your help,” the Dude argues. “There is a fissure in the tunnel outside. They need someone to jump them across. I think your None Fu will help.”

I hand him the March’s corpse. “He is your responsibility,” I say. “If you fail to bring him along, I’ll kill you.”

“Whoa.” The Dude takes the March. “Whatever you say, boss.”

“Come on, Alice,” Constance insists. “We need to go.”

Tom has already gone ahead among the Mushroomers. As I reach the door, I see tens of them in the tunnel, standing before the fissure. A couple have managed the jump and crossed over. Another jumped but got hit by the rushing water from the other side — which doesn’t reach us but is beginning to fill up the fissure in between. The rest are waiting for me, afraid to make the jump.

“Okay.” I step up. “I’ll have to help them one by one to do this. I need you to be as fast as possible so we can cross as many as we can.”

“Can I be first, Alice?” Tom asks nervously.

“No.” Constance stops him. “You’re last. You’re always going to be last. Understood?”

“What about the water on the other side?” I ask the Dude.

“It’s lessening now. Once we cross over it will be of no threat. The police seem to think it will slow us down, but now they don’t have enough of the water to flush into the tunnel.”

“But the water must be blocking other tunnels. How are we going to escape?”

“Our escape door is right there.” He points at a side door, right after the fissure. “It might not look like a door, but once we cross over, I’ll show you how to open it. You have to knock six times on six different spots.”

“Okay?” I shrug my shoulders, already helping a Mushroomer on and getting ready to jump. “Why is this door so different? The police will still ambush us when get outside.”

“No, Alice,” the Dude says. “This door is a secret. They can’t find us, because it opens to the river. Don’t worry, it’s a short swim up.”

Chapter 84

The Vatican

Angelo Cardone had been addressing and thanking all his followers across the globe via social media. Looking at his phone’s screen, he saw them gathered everywhere. Everyone was ready for the war on Wonderlanders — known as terrorists in the past.

The genius thing he liked about all of this was how he’d managed to get them to want to fight the terrorists themselves. Some men and woman had guns and knives ready with them, waiting for a signal from Angelo, and then they’d start attacking whatever Wonderlander he told them about.

But Angelo liked the women and men with cooking pans, brooms, and chainsaws better. Not that these home weapons were more effective, but he wanted this to end up in pure madness — if not melancholy.

Angelo smiled widely. There was no point to war if it wasn’t madness. Or it’d be just boring.

“You’ve surprised me, Angelo,” the man in the black suit said. “You’ve surpassed my expectations by far. We’re proud of you. The secret order in the Vatican has been waiting for you for years. We’ve always wanted a pope like you.”

“I know. I know.” Angelo stood up and gulped from another bottle of scotch. “I have to warn you of what’s coming, though. Things are just starting.”

“You have more to offer?”

“Other than just brainwashing people that they have to kill the Inklings everywhere?” He snorted. “Of course. The show has just begun.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Just watch me when I go out on this balcony.” Angelo began walking. “Just watch me speak.”

“But you’ve already told them what they need to know.”

“That was for the people in the piazza,” Angelo said. “Now watch me speak to my followers all over the world. Specifically, my fellow Brits.”

Chapter 85

The Tunnels

The speed by which I’m jumping over the fissure and back is mind boggling, even to me. It’s like I’m in a spontaneous flow of mind. Something is happening to me. I can feel it. It’s as if I know I can save everyone. It’s as if I know who I am, finally.

I don’t resist the feeling. I don’t even give in to the rush of adrenaline and fear inside me. And I don’t try to understand the world around me. It’s not the past. It’s not the future. It’s the moment right now that counts.

“Alice, please!” Tom begs.

I dismiss him.

“Come on, Constance. It’s your turn,” I tell her. “Half of the Mushroomers have crossed over.”

“No, I’m last, Alice,” she insists. “I need to stay here and organize them with the Dude, so things flow nicely.”

“You don’t have to do this,” I say. “You came to help us and did what you came for.”

“I came to save lives, Alice. Just keep doing what you are doing.”

In a hesitant moment, I’m afraid if I don’t pull her over to the other side, I’ll end up losing her like the March. But the thought vanishes into air when another Mushroomed clings to me as we jump.

“Five minutes to go.” the Dude shouts over.

“That means about ten,” I argue. “Remember we’re at the end of the asylum, in a place they won’t find easily. We might have an advantage of a few minutes more.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” the Dude says. “You still have to open the door to the river. Once you do, the water will flow in. It’s not going to be easy swimming through that without being hit back into the fissure.”

“You never told me this,” I say from the other side, having crossed another Mushroomer over.

“It’s war, Alice. There are always casualties. Not all of us are going to make it tonight. We’re doing our best.”

I don’t even have time to process what he’s just told me. Another Mushroomer on my back. Another jump.

“So the water will rush back into the asylum?” Constance says. “This is a plus. It will block the police, if not kill them.”

“Yes, that’s the plan,” the Dude says. “They don’t know we have way out through a secret door leading to the River. Even if they figure it out, they’ll be too late. I have boats waiting for us up there.”

“Boats?” I shout against the noise of panic and the water in the distance. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Dude.”

“She means who sent you?” Constance giggles in the middle of all of this.

“Let’s talk about that later,” the Dude says.

But then Constance’s look at the Dude exposes her. She knows him. She knows who he is.”

“Constance!” I say in the middle of my jump. “You know who he is?”

Constance shrugs. “Of course, not.”

“Constance, you’re lying. Good girls don’t lie!”

“Seriously.” She scowls at me. “I’m not a good girl, Alice. I’m a kickass girl. Much bigger difference.”

“Forget about it, at least for now,” the Dude says, helping line up the Mushroomers. “Are we set on letting the water in?”

“No, we’re not!” I say.

“Why not?” Constance asks.

“We should close this door leading back to the asylum so the water stays in the tunnel,” I say.

“Why? I don’t understand?” Constance is furious. “This will kill the police hunting us.”

“But it will also kill the Pillar.”

“The Pillar is dead already, Alice. The Pillar will either be caught or will burn with the asylum if he leaves the chair,” Constance says.

“Besides, the future predicted you will kill him. So ordering us to leave the door open will do that,” the Dude says. “It’s fate, Alice. There is nothing you can do.”

I take a moment to find the right answer inside me. I’m not sure why I suddenly don’t want to be the reason for the Pillar’s death, especially after he killed Jack. But I just don’t. He just came back and is sacrificing himself on that chair for us. I’m too confused to assess the situation logically, so I’m going with my gut feeling.

“Listen to me, both of you,” I tell them. “We’re not going to kill the Pillar. And by the way: the hell with fate.”

Chapter 86

The Police, Outside the Asylum

The officer in charge of the collective forces gave a little speech just minutes ago. It was addressed to both the crowd gathered outside and his own force. In simple and short words, it was about how they hated killing civilians and whichever innocents may inhabit the asylum, but that it was such a small sacrifice for ending the terrorism they were facing.

All in the name of the Queen
, he had said.

Now, he was readying his men, monitoring their moves and making sure they were covering all exit points of the asylum. ‘Shoot to kill’ was the order. They weren’t here to investigate. They were here to end the reign of those who insanely called themselves Wonderlanders.

Alice and the March’s pictures had been sent to all units earlier. It was obligatory that those two were confirmed dead after the attack.

Then, he saw a woman from the crowd watching the new pope in the Vatican. That rebellious young man who did not sweet talk his people. He did not make excuses or preach for peace. Angelo Cardone was a loon, but one that people loved.

Including the officer ready to order his men.

He checked his watch.