Red Queen by Christina Henry Read Free Book Online Page A

hands.”
    She could hardly credit her stupidity, although if she were fair to herself she would remember that when they arrived they were parched, exhausted and half-starved. Alice supposed under those circumstances she might be forgiven for not recognizing the enchantment.
    Still, they would need to be more watchful in the future. There was much more magic out here than inside the walls of the City. Magicians had been driven from the City, and that meant the wide world held even more peril for Alice and Hatcher.
    â€œWhy plant a pretend village?” Hatcher asked.
    â€œAs a trap,” Alice said, and repeated the conversation she’d heard (or possibly dreamed) the night before.
    â€œI suppose it’s lucky you’re so honest,” Hatcher said. “If we hadn’t left payment for the things we took, we would be in no end of trouble.”
    â€œI may have imagined it all,” Alice admitted. “Because I feltI was right in leaving the money and my dream-self wished to congratulate me.”
    Hatcher grinned. “Feeling very clever?”
    â€œIf it saved our lives I suppose I have a right to, at least in a dream.”
    His grin faded. “You didn’t dream those tracks. Some creature was near us last night for certain. For reasons of its own it did not harm us, whether because it had no need or wish to or because it was restrained by some outside force. ‘Her.’ I wonder who ‘her’ is.”
    â€œIf everything follows, then she is the one who made this place, and that means she is very powerful.”
    For the second time Alice wished to speak with Cheshire, an impulse that irritated her greatly. The little Magician was hardly a friend and probably a dangerous ally, but at least he had experience and knowledge. And for some reason unknown to her, he liked Alice.
    It was possible she’d been foolish to break the connection between them. She’d like some advice from someone who had experience and knowledge. She’d like to know how to recognize magic before it was used against her.
    â€œI suppose it was safe to eat those cakes and things?” Alice said. She could hear the doubt in her voice.
    â€œIf it wasn’t, there’s nothing to be done about it now,” Hatcher said.
    That’s true,
Alice thought. And it was also true that not forthe first time in her life did she wish she could go back and undo her actions, make a different decision. How many times had she dreamed that her sixteen-year-old self was not so curious, not wishing for a little thrill of danger, not so silly as to follow Dor into the Old City, a place nice girls should never go?
    But if she had not followed Dor, had not been through everything an innocent young girl should not have experienced, then she would never have known Hatcher, and she couldn’t be sorry for that.
    No man in the New City could love her as Hatcher did—of that Alice was certain. It was deep and all-consuming but somehow never suffocating. It was unselfish. It did not ask for anything and yet he made no secret of his need. There was no one in the world like Hatcher, and if she hadn’t been mad, there would be no Hatcher for her.
    So she should not wish to undo the past but learn to accept its consequences, and remember that not all consequences were evil.
    They had eaten food from the enchanted village. They must now accept what came next.
    Although,
Alice reflected,
it would be lovely if a village were just a village.
She would like it if for once things were exactly as they seemed.
    They followed the stream until about midday, as it led toward the mountains and there was no obvious footpath to follow. Occasionally they saw the flashing silver of fish in the water. Around lunchtime Hatcher decided to try his luck catching a fish.
    â€œBut you don’t know a thing about fishing,” Alice protested. “You’ve lived in the City your entire life.”
    â€œIt can’t