Rise of the Revenants by Lindsey Sparks

Author:Lindsey Sparks [Lindsey Sparks]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rubus Press
Published: 2023-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

28

I fell into the story . . . and just kept falling. After a solid thirty seconds of listening to my shrill screaming, Loki dug his nails into my shoulder. My terrified cry ended in a yelp, and I released my death grip on the cat.

It had been ages since I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and the original story had long since been overshadowed by the Disney adaptation in my mind, but I retained a vague recollection of Alice falling for a very long time and approaching the situation with a notably remote, mildly snarky attitude. If a little girl could look past her panic while supposedly falling to her death, so could I. Besides, I knew this fall wouldn’t kill me.

As the panic receded, I was able to gather up the yards of billowing blue fabric fluttering all around me and finally take in my surroundings. The curved earthen walls of the bottomless hole were decorated with cupboards and bookshelves stuffed with books and food and all manner of trinkets, all blurring as I dropped. My futuristic bodysuit had been replaced by Alice’s trademark blue dress, white apron, and black shoes. I kept a tight grip on the dress’s full, knee-length skirt, not wanting to let it blind me again.

Somehow, Loki managed to appear unconcerned by the fall as he stretched and spun acrobatically.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself,” I noted, growing bored with the fall. The original stomach-dropping sensation had long since faded, and now I was just waiting to land.

“I’ve never had a body before,” Loki said, whirling around like a corkscrew. “I thought the limitations would be frustrating, but the sensation of movement is quite fun.”

I smiled to myself, but my amusement soon faded until even watching him contort his feline body into new positions grew dull. “I don’t suppose you have any idea of how long this goes on?”

“None whatsoever,” Loki replied, forming a furry donut shape and spinning like a disk. “Originally, the construct’s entry fall lasted about a minute and included a narration voiceover, but clearly Demeter has changed that—likely because of her efforts to make the construct less accessible.”

“I wonder what else she’s changed,” I mused. I glanced down the hole into the endless dark abyss, suddenly feeling much less secure in my certainty that this fall would end as painlessly as Alice’s had in the story.

“That is a valid concern,” Loki said, ceasing his contortions to curl up like a loaf of bread facing me, his unwavering neon-blue gaze locking with mine. “Might I suggest you equip your safety bubble, assuming the game allows it?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, nodding frantically. I didn’t know what exactly a safety bubble was, but it sounded like just the sort of thing one would require when hurtling toward the ground. “How do I equip it?”

“Just say ‘safety bubble’ and it will form around you,” Loki instructed.

I glanced down the hole again, and where there had been an impenetrable darkness a moment before, there was now a nest of brambles with foot-long thorns.

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