Part 17 (1/2)
”I know,” Maddie said, grabbing her arm. ”I already narrated it.”
”Rrraaaagggh!” roared the Jabberwock. It had Cedar trapped against a wall. A torrent of its transforming breath blasted her. The pages of Cedar's paper dress yellowed and curled at the edges.
”If the playsqueal meat will not tweak into something yummier,” the Jabberwock skrittled, ” 'twill be simpler just to eat as is!”
”Absolutely not!” Lizzie yelled, wobbling to her feet. ”That girl is under the protection of the Court of Wonderland. Any action against her will be considered high treason!”
The Jabberwock lifted one feathery eyebrow. ”Hee! I see no Wonderland! We stand on Else. My Else. The Heartsp.a.w.n is a ruler of nothing.”
”Wherever I am, there is Wonderland,” said Lizzie, sure of it now. ”A queen carries her kingdom always.”
The fiend chuckled, flapping its claws around in a gesture meant to take in everything. ”The Wonder here was wrought by Jabberwock. Seemings that where ere I am, there is the Land of Wonder.”
”This is not Wonderland!” Lizzie said. ”This is an abomination. A corruption. A poison. Your eyes are no longer fiery, which means you used up all the energy you stole from the Mad Hatter. You are getting weaker, and I wield the vorpal sword.”
”The sword sings strong,” the Jabberwock gurgled. ”But a shoddy conductor are thee. You swipeswipeswipe and murder only air. Little missmissmiss could nary hope to sever this greatness of neck. And alas and alack, as the poem smacks, 'tis the only way to defeat me. But to finish off tiny girlings, my Wonder-less paws are terror enough.”
It launched itself at Lizzie, clawed paws out.
Lizzie, with muscles hardened by years of swinging flamingos and hurling hedgehogs, swung the sword with all the might, rage, and sovereign right she could muster, and parted the Jabberwock from an entire paw. A ripple in the air opened, and the paw dropped through. The hole snapped closed.
The great beast roared, and Lizzie smiled. Now it was hurt. It skittered away, pulling its wounded arm close.
Lizzie pulled on the hilt, but her colossal blow had buried the tip of the sword several inches into the floor.
Maddie rushed forward to help Lizzie free the sword. The Jabberwock whirled, still cradling its arm, but a tiny pink replacement paw was already sprouting from the wound.
”Hey, Jabberwocky!” Cedar yelled. She raced around, picking up odd b.a.l.l.s and loose floorboards, throwing them at the beast, trying to distract it from Lizzie and Maddie. ”That sword opens doors to Wonderland. Don't you want to go home, where there are real, tasty banders.n.a.t.c.hes?”
A bit of longing pa.s.sed through the Jabberwock's eyes. But it lowered its wet gray eyelids and scowled. ”In Wonderland I am endgame of the Galumphing Hunt. It is destiny rhyme-declared. But here the election is mine. Here I will be king! Once vorpal is mine.”
The Jabberwock glared at Lizzie and Maddie, who were tugging desperately on the sword. It pulled its tail back for a mighty blow.
”Hold on,” Maddie said.
”I will,” Lizzie said, and kicked Maddie away from the tail whipping toward them. ”Keep telling the sto-”
And then, pain. Lizzie didn't think she had ever felt so ouchy. The impact lifted her off her feet even as it knocked the sword free from the floor. She was sliding sideways and half upside down, spinning past the Jabberwock, but she managed to keep hold of the hilt. The sword trailed dark lines through the air. She saw her fingers loosen on the grip and commanded them to stop, to tighten, to hold firm, to keep tearing an opening in the air. It would have to be enough.
At last the sword fell from her numb fingers and dropped into the hole it had made.
Lizzie struck the far wall and slid to the floor, the breath knocked out of her. The doorway the sword had torn was huge, tracing the entire path from where Lizzie had been struck to where she landed.
A scaly paw dipped into the divide and caught the sword.
”There, then, and now,” the Jabberwock said with a bucktoothed, scaly smile. ”My paws belong around such as this.”
The hutling crashed into the Grimmnasium, front door/mouth open, coughing its student contents out. A raven dropped an apple on the monster's head, caught it, and flew away. The Jabberwock stumbled back, its rear paws slipping on a golden lock and a bra.s.s egg. It attempted to steady itself with the clawed hand that did not hold the sword, and managed to cut that paw on an ax held up by a tree.
The Jabberwock roared as it tripped and tipped into the shrinking portal to Wonderland. Lizzie was certain the opening would snap shut on the beast and banish its top half back to its home world. But the Jabberwock brought the sword up, the flat of the blade sparking against the edge of the opening, forcing it slowly back open. The monster wasn't falling. The hole wasn't closing. The rip was like an open wound between worlds, the Jabberwock the infection keeping it from healing.
”You can't stay here,” Lizzie shouted at it. ”Ever After is home to the kind, and the friendly, and the brave, and you are none of those things!”
”Are you?” the Jabberwock scrissed.
It wrapped its tail around her ankle, and its eyes began to pulse a bright unsettling white. Lizzie felt energy sap out of her with each pulse, the Wonder draining from her bones. Shuffle, the last hedgehog remaining affixed to the Jabberwock, dropped off the creature and scuttled to Lizzie's side, nuzzling her with her spikes.
”This world is mine!” the Jabberwock skreamled.
Lizzie couldn't seem to sit up. She could barely catch her breath, but she managed to whisper, ”Hatworm is go....”
Okay, Lizzie. Okay. I will finish this. Somehow.
THE JABBERWOCK HAD THE SWORD. LIZZIE was lying, hurt, on the floor. The Narrator was new at this, but she was certain an Ever After story should not end with the monster victorious. But she'd taken an oath to never, ever, ever interfere. It was an impossible thing.
Then again, she wasn't only the Narrator. She was also Madeline Hatter. And Maddie imagined six impossible things before breakfast.
”You should go home,” Maddie said.
The Jabberwock still held the rip between two worlds open with the sword, as if deciding which one to conquer first.
”Pardon beg?” it asked.
”There's no pardon for what you've done here,” said Maddie. ”The best I can do is send you home.”
”You,” bellowed the Jabberwock, ”send me home? Are you a girl-prince? Nay. A sword-swinger? Nay. Hatted thing stands around, letting other meatlings play while you watch. You are a sillypants of terrible degree.”
”Thank you,” Maddie said. She could see ripples of color and light through the tear. Wonderland was sick, but it was still beautiful. Scents rolled out-the sparkling zest of Tumtum trees, the cool crackle of broken water, the sharp oyster tang of the air. ”You should be fizz-bobbled and glee-sprinkled to go to Wonderland. I would be.”
The Jabberwock began its horrible, chittering laugh. Laugh? At Wonderland? Maddie clenched her teeth and decided to break some rules.
”The Jabberwock pushed against the edge of the tear, and it widened,” Maddie said.
And it happened, just as she'd narrated.
The Jabberwock goggled the widening tear.
”What magic is this?” it bellowed.
”Storytelling,” Maddie said.
The Jabberwock gnashed its teeth. ”No puppet am I. Especially of a Tiny. Hatted. Girl.”
”Hey!” said Maddie. ”I count a puppet as a heart-twinned friend. You should be so lucky.”
It pulled out the sword and advanced on Maddie.
The tear began to close behind it.
”Until it didn't,” Maddie said quickly. ”Until the tear between worlds stopped closing, waiting for one more important thing to pa.s.s through.”