Spades: The True Wonderland Awaits. (Of Wonderland Chronicles Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 23:
Falling AGAIN

Blayke gently brushed his lips against my cheek to wake me up, and I giggled, grabbing his shirt in my fists tightly. He sighed and disentangled himself from me. I sat up as he climbed off of the bed and pouted at him. He looked back at me.

"What?" he asked, sighing.

"What if I have nightmares while you're gone?" I asked, pouting at him, and he smirked.

"You just can't go a minute without me, can you?" Blayke asked, and I blushed furiously. He chuckled and his smirk widened. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, I guess I can't refuse my lady." And he climbed back into bed with me, and I snuggled up against him, breathing in his scent deeply.

"Ana bahbek," Blayke murmured, and I blinked.

"What does that mean?" I asked, and he chuckled.

"You'll figure it out eventually," he teased, and I scowled at him after I had raised my head up off of his chest.

"Brat," I mumbled, laying my head back on his chest.

"Demented hamster," Blayke replied, and I snorted at that one.

"Where'd you come up with that?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I think that should be your nickname now," Blayke said, and I scowled.

"Pillow biter," I exclaimed, and Blayke chuckled.

"Kitten breath," he shot back.

"Window licker."

"Snot monkey."

"Plum."

"Does your social worker know you're out?"

"Blithering idiot."

"Argyle."

"Muppet."

"Why don't you go play in traffic?"

"You're proof that evolution can reverse."

"If you're going to be two-faced, at least make one of them pretty."

"You must have been born on the highway, because that's where most of the accidents happen."

"If laughter is the best medicine in the world, your face must be curing the world."

"The last time I saw a face like yours, I fed it a banana."

"Shut up; you'll never be the man your mother is."

"Roses are red, violets are blue. God made me pretty; what happened to you?"

"It looks like your face was on fire and someone tried to put it out with a hammer."

"What are you doing here? Did someone leave your cage open?"

"I would slap you, but I don't abuse animals!"

"You're proof that God has a sense of humor!"

"You're as useless as a knitted condom!"

"I don't exactly hate you, but if you were on fire and I had a glass of water, I'd drink it!"

"I'm jealous of all the people who haven't met you!"

"Your birth certificate is an apology from the condom factory!"

"It's better to let someone think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and prove them right!"

"If I had a face like yours, I'd sue my parents!"

"You are so ugly that when you looked in the mirror, your reflection shook its head and walked away."

"I don't think you're stupid; it's just that when you're thinking, you don't have the best luck."

"Calling you an idiot would be an insult to all stupid people."

"I'd insult you, but it'd be so over your head you wouldn't get it - even with a step ladder!"

"You have the perfect face for radio!"

"You're so ugly, the doctor who helped give birth to you threw you out of the window and the window threw you back!"

"When you were born, the doctor said, 'What a treasure,' and your mom said, 'Yeah, let's bury it'!"

"I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce!"

"You have the right to remain silent, because whatever you say will probably be stupid anyway!"

"I wasn't born with enough middle fingers to show you how I feel about you!"

"You're as sharp as a bowling ball!"

"We all sprang from apes, but you didn't spring far enough!"

"You look like a 'Before' picture!"

"What would you call a girl who dates you? Desperate!!!"

"I'm already visualizing the duct-tape across your mouth."

"We can always tell when you're lying, because your lips will be moving!"

"You're so fake Barbie is jealous!"

"You've got two brain cells: one is in a wheelchair and the other one is pushing!!!"

Blayke snorted. "That's a pretty good one," he said, and I smirked.

"Yours were pretty good, too," I admitted, and it was his turn to smirk.

"Thanks, little Demented Hamster," he taunted, and I punched his chest before climbing out of bed.

He cried out in pain as I stalked out of the room.

"Whiner," I mumbled, and he chuckled, appearing behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"You know it, babe," Blayke said, and I blushed, shrinking down.

"Shut up!" I said, glaring at him as I turned in his arms to face him.

"Not a chance," he said, leaning down and pecking my nose.

Chapter 24:
The Glade of the Faeries

"Get ready to go, Strawberry," Blayke instructed me, and I blushed at his fond nickname for me that he was using again now that we were getting along again.

"For?" I asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"I'm taking you to the Glade," he said, as if that would explain our destination.

"'The Glade'?" I repeated, and Blayke chuckled.

"The Faerie Glade," he explained. "It's the glade where only Faeries are allowed to go in. It's very beautiful, with a waterfall falling down from a collection of rocks that hide a river that snakes through the forest and ends right there at the rocks before spurting through and crashing down on to the rocks below. It's enchanted so that only Faeries or non-Wonderland creatures can enter. That means you can come with me."

I grinned brilliantly, my eyes lighting up. "Awesome!" I exclaimed, making a mad dash for my room. "I'm going to get ready!"

Meadow was already waiting inside my room, holding up a dress. Red, a pixie that was under Meadow's wing currently - literally and metaphorically, held a black and white striped corset. I quickly stripped down so that I was only in my undergarments and stood there, arms spread out like a starfish with silver hair and green eyes.

This time, instead of the corset going first, Meadow put the dress on first. It was a black dress with long-sleeves and silver gloves accompanying it; the dress was cut short and hung just below my knees, revealing the black and white striped stockings Meadow had put me in. The collar came up my neck and the blouse was buttoned all the way down to my waist. From there, the skirt of the dress was made with white frills and white lace decorating the black dress to keep the dress from being too boring or depressing.

Once the dress was on me, Meadow and Red went about, tying the corset around my waist. By this point, I was used to corsets, and my breath was even and calm as they tightened the corset tighter and tighter. When they finished, they showed me to the mirror resting on the dresser as per my request.

I giggled at my appearance and smiled at the two who had helped me dress. My appearance was beautiful. My hair was curled so that it fell down my back in fully silver ringlets, and my eyes were simply and absolutely gorgeous. They were bright green now, fully, no traces of brown anywhere in them - same with my hair. As for the dress, it looked the same, except now there were splashes of color - well, if you consider white to be a color. The corset set off the outfit just right so that I appeared just as mad as I was. The bows and ribbons and frills in white were one thing, but with the corset on the outside and flashing white and black stripes, it just made me appear absolutely mad.

"I love it!" I exclaimed, turning back to Meadow and Red. "It's beautiful! Thank you."

They smiled at me. "You're welcome, Milady," they chorused, and we all burst into giggles.

"Now go, Milady," Red said in her soft, velvet-like voice. "Don't want to keep Master waiting. He'll be shocked at what you're wearing."

"Oh, wait!" Meadow exclaimed, holding up a finger. She dove into a small closet in the corner of the room I had never noticed before and brought out white leather boots. "There!"

I slipped them on to my feet and sighed in relief; all the high-heels I'd been forced to wear here for all of the celebrations and feasts and such were killing my feet, so I was thankful for this moment, being allowed to wear non-heeled shoes. It was even better that they were boots. "Thank you, Meadow," I said, turning to the beautiful Faerie.

"You're very welcome, Milady. Now your outfit is complete and you can go with Master to the Faerie Glade," Meadow said, grinning brilliantly at me with her nearly blinding white teeth.

"Wait, she's going to the Faerie Glade!?" Red demanded, her eyes wide. "Only Faeries who have graduated their training are allowed to go there!"

"Master is breaking the rules to bring Milady along. He wants her to get out of the mansion where she's been cooped up for a while," Meadow explained. "He's going to give her a necklace that will protect her so long as she has the willpower to keep fighting against the Queen of Spades. It's enchanted with Drow magic, so the spell is unbreakable."

Meadow shooed me out of the room and I raced down the hall so I could go to Blayke's side.

As I raced down the marble hallway, I crashed into someone or something. I fell backwards, on my butt, and stared up at the person who I had crashed into. It wasn't much of a person at all; it was one of the guests at the first feast, the one who I sat next to. The ferret-like creature.

It had a grim expression, and when it recognized me, it bowed. "Milady Bryony, if you would keep Master Faerie of Spades company. He needs company right now, more than ever, so please accompany. Your company would be best. Without you, he would never get rest. I beg of you, don't leave him alone. If you do, you might find him gone."

"Alone and gone don't rhyme," I pointed out, climbing to my feet and brushing myself off.

But Were ignored what I said for the favor of another question. "Pray tell, why are you dressed like that? Now you don't look like an alley cat. Alley cat suits you much better. Without it, you look like a fetter."

I scowled at him, but he only gestured for me to go into the room to our side. I bowed my head at him and quickly scrambled into the room.

Blayke was standing by the window, his expression solemn. I smiled at the sight of him and ran at him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"I missed you," I mumbled into his traveling jacket.

Blayke chuckled and ruffled my hair. "I missed you, too, Strawberry. Are you ready to go?" he asked me, and I nodded frantically.

"I am very ready to go. I cannot wait to see Faerie Glade," I babbled, and Blayke laughed as he disentangled himself from me.

"You're babbling, Strawberry," he said, his voice a light, teasing lilt. "Now, climb on my back."

"On your back?" I repeated, giving him a disbelieving look.

"Or, if you would prefer, in my arms," Blayke said, giving me a smirk, and I blushed furiously.

"I-I-I think I'll take the, uh . . ." My voice trailed off nervously.

"Which one will it be, Strawberry?" he asked me, giving me that half-smirk, half-smile that simply took my breath away.

I just kept stammering, and Blayke smiled warmly at me, which made my cheeks heat up even more and made me stammer even more nonsense.

At last, Blayke swept me off of my feet, angled me so that I was pressed against his chest in bridal-style, and took to the air. He flew out the window and I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my head in his shoulder.

"Look at the view, little Strawberry," Blayke said, and I timidly withdrew my head from his shoulder to see the view.

It was spectacular. We were soaring through the clouds, above some mountains and below some mountains and through mountain passes. The ground below looked like a patchwork quilt, all brown and green and blue and yellow. There were a lot of brown splotches, places where - as Blayke told me - the Queen of Spades had burned down plots of land of people who had betrayed her or had gone against her in some way - no matter how small. It made me sad to see Wonderland in such a wretched state.

There were many stone statues that I could see of a woman who I supposed was the Queen of Spades, the evil wretch. From what I had heard, she was evil and wanted to take over all of Wonderland for herself. It pissed me off to think that someone would do this to a land they wanted to be in charge of. That was kind of counterintuitive.

"It's beautiful," I told Blayke, and he smiled at that.

"It is rather beautiful, isn't it?" Blayke replied, looking around at the surroundings as we descended below the clouds. "But not nearly as beautiful as someone I know, whom I'm looking at right now."

He gave me a pointed glance, and I blushed dark red.

I was not used to get compliments, not by boys that I liked. And oh, Lord, did I like Blayke. I think I could even say that I love him. He is very precious and dear to my heart, and I don't know what I would do without him. He had become my life, no matter how unhealthy that is. Well, you know, I didn't really want to rely on Blayke, but considering I wasn't allowed out of the mansion except on special occasions such as this one, I didn't really have much of a choice.

It made me sad that I had to rely on someone else for happiness, but Blayke is probably the best person to choose to rely on for happiness. Blayke is such a wonderful, happy, cheerful, light-hearted person. He was just absolutely amazing and I loved him dearly. Oh, wow. Look at that. I actually said it; I love Blayke.

Blayke landed in a tree with wide enough branches that the both of us could stand on one easily, without slipping. He set me down gently and sat down. I then curled up next to him comfortably, resting my head on his shoulder.

Blayke lifted my head up. "You need your head up for this, lovely Strawberry," he said, and I lifted my head up.

Blayke carefully wrapped a necklace around my neck. He offered me a mirror and I accepted it. I examined the necklace in the mirror, ignoring my fully silver hair that fell down past my waist and my luminous green eyes that shimmered in the light of the sun.

It was a choker, a woven black choker with a bright blue stone in the center of the necklace. Where the stone was, there was leather weaving in and out of the cloth that made up most of the choker. There was white lace on the top and bottom of the choker, and there were little red hearts sewn into the lace. The necklace was just beautiful.

"I love it, Blayke!" I exclaimed, and he smiled down at me fondly.

"I'm very glad you like it, darling Strawberry," Blayke told me and he swept me up bridal style again, taking me down to the Faerie Glade.

The Faerie Glade was beautiful. The grass surrounding the little pond that the waterfall poured into was bright green and dotted and accented with flowers in every color of the rainbow. They didn't open their eyes or come alive, so I assumed they must have been a different strand of flower. The water inside the little pond was clear, so crystal clear that I could see the sandy and rocky bottom of the pond without straining my eyes at all. There was a barrier of rocks in every shade of color in the rainbow surrounding the Faerie Glade, and I fell to the ground and relaxed in the grass.

Blayke chuckled and allowed himself to fall down beside me and lay in the grass with me. He looked up at the light blue sky and began to point out stars, for in Wonderland, stars are always out, just as the sky is always out in the human world. He began naming the stars and their constellations that each star was in. As he named each star, we began to scooch closer to each other. At last, I had my head resting on his chest, snuggled up into his and inhaling his scent of nutmeg, orange, and oakmoss. He smelled so wonderful; I only snuggled into his chest even deeper.

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the woods surrounding the Faerie Glade, and out from the forest came Rabid Knight, leading a whole bunch of card soldiers. They had found us.