Figment - Jace Cameron (книги полностью .TXT) 📗

"But we have to." I grip his arms. He doesn't understand. "You have to save him. Don't you remember the vision when you said you 'couldn't save them'? I think it has to do with the cook."

"You had a vision of me?"

"Please, Lewis. You're not one to leave someone in need behind. Trust me."

"All right. All right," he says. "Let's see what's wrong with Wonderland again. Close your eyes. I will walk you to one of the doors to Wonderland." I nod and close my eyes. So the doors to Wonderland are really through the university, like the Pillar suggested? "You can't open your eyes until I tell you."

I nod again, although I am tempted to open them and know the door's location. Still, I can't. What if I mess something up? The Muffin Man is my priority.

I sense Lewis take my hand, and we walk for a while. Almost a minute. We descend a few stairs and then I hear the sound of the turn of a key. Does my key open a door to Wonderland? Is that why he gave it to me before?

After we step through something—I am not sure it's a door—he asks me to open my eyes.

Chapter 5 5

It's the same Wonderland I saw in my vision. Enchanting and with an endless variety of colors. Sizable fruits acting like huge trees. There is a huge arching rainbow in the distance and a few mushrooms nearby. Unfortunately, there is no time to explore it now.

Lewis seems to look around cautiously, avoiding some kind of threat. I notice he has brought his sword along.

"We need to act faster, Lewis," I say.

"Don't be fooled by all the beauty, Alice," he says. "Wonderland isn't what it used to be."

"It doesn't matter." I look at my watch. It's ten minutes to seven. "Please, we have to find Gorgon."

"Wait." Lewis pulls his rabbit out of his pocket and orders it to run fast and ask if anyone knows where Gorgon is. The rabbit hesitates but then hops and disappears into the forest.

"Can't we just go to his house?" I ask.

"I don't know where Gorgon lives."

The rabbit hops back with the news. "She is right, Lewis. The Queen of Hearts has Gorgon imprisoned," it says. "She is punishing him for stealing pepper and muffins from her kitchen."

"Why would he do that?" I have to investigate.

"He was eating with his children and they asked him to buy pepper for their food, and muffins for dessert," the rabbit says. "Gorgon lives in a poor neighborhood, so he went out, but no one agreed to give him pepper for free. He ended up borrowing a handful from the Queen's kitchen. The Queen was upset and sent the Reds to bring him to her. They say she is in a bad mood today, just like last year, and the year before."

"The children in Wonderland are as poor as the children in London," Lewis tells me. "We have to stop the Queen from hurting him." Lewis holds my hand and starts running. "Gorgon is a good man. His wife died giving birth to his last child, and he takes care of them, working hard to raise them properly. I am sure the pepper issue was just a slip of faith on his behalf. The Queen's wrath is lethal."

I pant as I run with Lewis. He seems to be taking a longer route, trying to avoid whatever scares him in the forest. I can't complain, as long as we're getting there.

We arrive at a great castle, which I have no time to look at long. We're standing behind hordes of Reds circling the Queen and Gorgon. Both are too far away. I can't see their faces in detail.

"Go see what's going on," Lewis orders his rabbit.

The rabbit hops again. We duck, afraid the Reds will see us. As we wait, I feel the need to ask, "Lewis, is there any chance we could use None Fu against the Reds?"

"Not a chance, Alice," Lewis replies. "I haven't  developed the art of it yet."

So Jack wasn't bluffing. There is such a thing as None Fu, the warrior’s art he told me about in the Vatican. But how does Jack know about it?

A minute later, the rabbit comes back with fear bulging its eyes. "The Queen of Hearts is torturing Gorgon in front of all her acquaintances," the rabbit says.

"Is she planning to chop off his head?" Lewis asks.

"Worse," the rabbit says. "She intends to torture him for embarrassing her in front of the elite visitors she had invited  over to taste her delicious tarts. She's stuffing his nose with tons of pepper now, until he wouldn't be able to stop sneezing."

"She is going to make him sneeze to death," I murmur. But in my mind I can't see the harsh punishment that changed the Muffin Man from an ordinary father into a killer. All of this seems nonsensical and irrelevant.

"She has her guards holding him by the arms, and vowed he will not be freed until he sneezes so hard his eyes pop out." The rabbit finds it kind of funny, but tries to hide it.

"That Queen." Lewis sighs. "I don't want anything to do with her, but it wouldn't be right to leave him behind."

"Are you sure that's it?" I ask while staring at my pocket watch. It's six minutes to seven.

"Why are you asking, Alice?" Lewis says. "The man will have one of his eyes popped out from sneezing. Isn't that enough torture?"

I don't answer, because as horrible as it sounds, it doesn't seem like enough reason to turn an ordinary man into a beast. Why would he go on killing innocent kids later? "I'm sorry. I expected worse," I say. "Let's save him, then."

Gorgon's screams are audible now. They must have started to torture him.

"All right." Lewis sighs. "I guess I will have to do this. You stay here, Alice." He turns to his rabbit. "You will distract the Reds. Make them chase you for a while so I get through. I know how to fight the guards and free Gorgon. He should be able to run, right?"

"I don't think he is hurt much," the rabbit says. "Except for his eyes, if he loses one."

It's only a moment before Gorgon screams louder and we hear something pop like a cork out of a bottle. My eyes widen, and the rabbit digs the ground to hide its head.

There is no stopping the nonsense factor in Wonderland. I hear the Queen laugh loudly and happily, as if she has been told a sincerely amusing joke.

It gets even weirder when Gorgon's eye comes rolling before us and stops in front of me. The rabbit sticks its head out and stares at the eye, with ears flipped straight and goose bumps all over its arched back.

I know it's gory and unfair, but I still can't think of it as reason enough to transform him into a child killer. I think I have become slightly indifferent toward all the blood spilling around me.

"Help them!" someone screams from inside the circle I can't see past.

"Who is saying this?" I ask.

"It's Gorgon!" the rabbit says.

"Why is he shouting, 'Help them'?" Lewis asks.

"Help who?" I say.

"Maybe he lost both his eyes and is calling for them." The rabbit pulls out a bag and tucks the lost eye in, looking away as it does it.

"That's it." Lewis' anger peaks. He stands up and doesn't even wait for his rabbit to distract the Reds. He starts chopping the heads of the Reds army off.

Chapter 5 6

I am astonished at how skilled and agile Lewis is. Did he learn to fight because of Wonderland? What happened here and made him lock them all away?