Chapter 59

**Alicia**

Walker and I don’t get much alone time but he makes it count and soon we’re heading down to the main floor to see what the guys have brought me. The lights are dimmed and in the center of the stage is one of Wendel’s oyster boys. 

Otto as a matter of fact…

The guys have him tied down and a…ballgag in his mouth? I look over my shoulder at Walker and he shrugs but he has a wicked smirk on his face. As I get closer I notice the guys messed Otto up pretty well. He already has a swollen eye and a blood trail coming from his head. I’m guessing he put up a fight and they knocked him out to get him here.

I take the steps off to the side of the stage a climb it slowly to drag out the fear I can basically smell all over him. The thing about these Oyster Boys is that they talk big but they’re drugged-up little squirly men with barely a brain cell between them. I don’t know why Wendell keeps them around, but they have been tortured to the point that they truly fear him. Which will make it difficult to break them. 

“Otto, hi,” I say giving him a smile. 

His eyes watch me warily.

“So I learned something very interesting recently. Turns out that Wendell has had a way back this whole time. See I stumbled upon a door he has been trying to keep hidden. The thing is, why would he hide it? I thought for a second that maybe it was a one-way thing and that he hasn’t had a way of actually getting us back. But that doesn’t make sense because why would he have fought so hard to come here when he was already winning the war back home? I know he doesn’t want any of us going home because he can’t control us there like he can here. There’s too much wild magic there, and there I’m stronger.” 

Otto swallows and his eyes widen when I step closer and lean down so we’re eye to eye. 

“Turns out I don’t need to be in Wonderland to be more powerful than him. It turns out all I had to do was accept the darkness they created in me. What is it they say? Create a monster and become their prey?” I glance at the guys for confirmation, but they shrug. “Well, I’m saying it. I’m stronger than what Wendel expects and in my power up I broke the shackles holding me to him. Do you know what that means?”

He shakes his head weakly. 

I give him a smile so wicked that I know will haunt him until the moment I take his life. 

“It means I can kill you…all of you. But if you tell me what I want to know then maybe I’ll let you live. I’m not a complete monster.”

“What will it be?” Walker asks before ripping the gag out of Otto's mouth.

He sputters and spits some blood out. Walker probably took out a tooth with that move. 

“Talk.” Cairo snaps. 

“You don’t get it. This goes far past Wendell. There's so much more you don’t know, and I can’t…I can’t say anything. You wouldn’t need to kill me because they will!” He blubbers but I get impatient, so I nod at Walker. 

He steps forward and slams his fist into Otto’s face again. 

“That’s not what I wanted to hear Otto. One last chance before I result to more painful ways of getting what I want.” I warn him. “If I do it my way you will die, no doubt about it.” 

He sobs and shakes his head. “Please. I can’t.” 

“Fine,” I say before calling on the darkness. 

It hums inside me before it leaks out from my fingers spreading along the floor like vines. They wrap around his legs and move all the way around him. He begs and cries but I gave him a chance to tell me what I wanted to know and he refused. My darkness wraps around his neck and then plunges into either side of his head making him scream. The tendril wrapped around his neck tightens just enough to shut him up while I focus on infiltrating his mind. 

I slip in but slam against something that is wrapped around his mind. It’s thick almost like a wall keeping me out, but I won’t stop until I break through it. I slam into it, throwing a mental fist against the wall. It shakes but doesn’t break, so I push harder. I feel warmth coming from my ears and nose but I don’t stop. One more hit and the wall shatters falling away. My mind pushes through the flood of memories and emotions coming at me from all sides. I block out the fear he’s feeling. 

Memories flood past me in waves. I send out the darkness and search for anything worth knowing. Something catches my attention and I gasp reaching out my physical arms out as realization hits me. Shit! I shove myself out of Otto’s mind not bothering to be careful and breaking his mind. As I slam back into my own mind I see his slumped body in front of me as I gasp for air. 

“What did you see?” One of the guys asks me but I’m too busy trying to understand what I just saw. 

A magical laugh echos around us and my attention is drawn to a figure stepping into the room from the hallway where the private rooms are. Lilith walks out of the shadows smiling and claps her hands like this is the end of a show. 

“Alicia. I guess you saw everything. Turns out even I can’t block out your mind games after all. That’s okay, you can’t stop what I have already accomplished.” Her smile is haughty and confident like she knows she’s won. 

“How?” I hiss. 

She shrugs and walks closer to the stage. “It was easy enough. All I needed to do was plant the right seeds for Wendell to find and stand back and watch him follow my path. Men are so ready to act as if they are so intelligent but really they hang themselves with their own arrogance.”

“This whole thing…it was because of you. The king…trapping me in Wonderland…bringing us here…all of it?” I ask.

How had I not realized?

“Not everything. He killed the king out of jealousy. He believed I wanted him and I convinced him the only way we could be together was if he got the king out of the way. Of course, I hadn’t factored in the fact that he would send his son through to this world. It didn’t matter in the long run of my plans so it didn’t matter.”

“What was your end game? Wonderland had fallen, why bring us here?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I wanted more. When I realized where the King had sent his son, how much more there was I didn’t want to settle for something so small in the grand scheme of things. Of course, I was going to need help, and Wendell suggested taking you all with us. That was smart of him, and I realized that coming here full force and slowly destroying city after city would draw too much attention. The world here was a lot bigger than I knew, so I would have to move slowly. I needed to spread my power slowly and eventually, city after city would fall at my feet.” 

My mind drifted to everything that she’s done since we were brought here. Rumors of her power filter through my head like puzzle pieces falling into place. Her armies…we had no idea how she built them so quickly. 

“The drugs you’ve been pumping out.” 

She smirks. “I added just a little bit of something to it to keep people wanting more.”

“Your blood.” 

“Exactly. You’re catching on. My blood is what holds all of you to me. Only one drop is needed and I could bind anyone to me, but I needed to feed on someone with more power than what existed in Wonderland alone. Humans have a special something that we do not, so when I saw you I wondered what your blood would taste like. The first taste I had gave me a power I had never felt before. It made me stronger. All those connections were a lot for my body to handle but with your blood…I was infallible.” 

“Those years I can’t remember? You held me…feeding from me…”

“Yes, but even your blood wasn’t enough and I had ideas for a new life and I needed more. I decided to make the move to this world where I would have more access to human blood. Each time I fed from someone they became mine.”

Dozens of faces flash through my memories…All those people…were now a part of her army. An army she planned on using to grow her kingdom. To control everything.