My eyes snapped to the writing, then back to him. A laugh bubbled up my throat and sprang from my mouth. I laughed in pure excitement as he dropped the gun into my hand and I held it tightly. I reached for the knife he had also gifted me, holding my new weapons in my grip.
“Time for tea!” I shouted, spinning around. “Time for tea, time for tea, time for tea!” I danced around Rabbit until I was breathless and my voice was hoarse from laughing.
I stopped dead, then stepped back, raising both the gun and blade in the air, like I thought a champion would. Rabbit watched me with wide eyes and a heaving chest. I parted my feet and lifted my chin. I wanted to look strong.
“This is our Wonderland, darlin’. And we cannot allow these bad men to live. Until all of them have been destroyed . . . Ellis won’t be safe.” He rolled his neck. “You don’t want that, do you, little Dolly?”
“No.” I tightened my grip on the gun and the blade. Then, looking Rabbit square in the eyes, I said, “Train me, Rabbit. Train me to destroy the bad men who hurt my friend Ellis. Teach me to make blood drip down their faces, to their feet and to the floor . . .
“Teach me to kill. Teach me to kill them all.”
Chapter 7
Dolly
“This way.”
I followed Rabbit as he stepped backward toward a wooden door. He turned the knob. A cold blast of air, even colder than before, muscled through and blanketed my skin. I shivered, but Rabbit didn’t react. He turned his head toward me. “Down we go,” he said and descended the stairs. The foot of his cane tapped on each step. I followed him down—following my Rabbit, my guide.
When we reached the bottom step, my eyes widened. I gripped my knife and gun tighter. “Pigs?” I said as I looked across the freezing-cold room at a mass of dead pigs hanging upside down on strange hooks.
“A pig’s flesh and skin are the closest to an actual human’s. We will train you here.” He shrugged, both hands on the top of his cane. “When you are ready, we move to the next part of our journey.”
“The killing?”
Rabbit nodded slowly. He leaned forward, his face close to mine. “The best part . . . the most fun you will ever have.”
My heart raced with excitement. I looked around the room. When I turned back around, Rabbit was watching me. I looked down his body, at his clothes and cane. “Where are your weapons?”
The corner of Rabbit’s mouth kicked up. In a flash, he had spun the cane in his hand. In a move almost too quick for my eyes to take in, he split the cane in two. The bottom half was in his left hand, the top—owning the rabbit head—in his right. Rabbit held both hands out in front of him and charged toward the nearest pigs. I only realized that the bottom of the cane had become a blade when he plunged it into the stomach of a pig to his left, severing it in two. Before I could say anything, a loud bang fired from the cane in his right hand. I watched as bullet after bullet, so many bullets, sliced through the pig on the right. Flesh splattered to the floor and onto the walls of the room.
Rabbit turned, his black hair mussed from the show, and lifted his eyes to face me. “My weapons, darlin’,” he said and reattached the cane pieces. He swung the foot of the cane back to the floor and placed his hands over the rabbit head once more.
I stared, lips parted. “I would never have known . . .” I whispered, trying to study the cane. I lifted my gaze to his. “I want to fight like that.” Something glittered in Rabbit’s silver eyes.
He stepped aside, clearing a path to a space beside him. “Then by all means.” He nodded to the spot to his right. Ignoring the cold, I moved beside him, my heels clicking on the stone floor. I tipped my head back and looked at the pigs. They were hanging from long silver hooks.
“This place belongs to my . . . friend.” He said the word as though it were a question. “Chapel. He has secret places like this all over the South.”
“He uses these hooks for pigs?”
Rabbit waved his hand dismissively. “No. Not pigs.”
“Rabbit?” I asked. “How far into Wonderland are we right now?”
“Just at the start, little Dolly. The bad men don’t know we’re coming. We’re safe.” I released a long breath. “Now . . .” Rabbit moved beside me. Just like before, my heart beat faster. I held my weapons tighter. “First the knife,” Rabbit instructed. “Raise your hand.” I did as he said. “Now stab it into a pig.” I drew my hand back and, rushing forward, sliced the blade through the stomach of the first pig. My knife slipped through like butter. “I did it, Rabbit! I did it!” I shouted excitedly.