{A Fantasy Romance retelling of Alice in Wonderland}
In order to survive, a pirate and a thief must clear their names by traveling into a magical dream world together.
Adah Prideaux, seamstress by day, petty thief by night, finds herself in a world...
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Ezra cursed loudly, holding on to his hat with one hand, and his pistols with the other as he tumbled through the harp's frame, caught like a feather in a gust of wind. Mercado, the traitorous dream healer, waved from the opening of the harp, until he was nothing more than a pinprick.
Why hadn't the lunatic jumped with them?
Now, he and Princess Adah were falling through an earthen tunnel, past broken musical instruments, old bicycles, and pink macaroons the size of his head. His stomach lurched as they picked up momentum, falling faster and faster to what end, he didn't know.
Ezra had been on adventures before, to every corner of the world, yet this had to be the most terrifying and strangest adventure yet.
All the while, the pocket watch tucked inside his jacket ticked loudly, announcing each second, as if the sound could replace the steady rhythm of his absent heart.
Down they fell, cloaked in darkness, until bright light filled the tunnel from below.
"There's no bottom!" Adah cried, grabbing at his calf and pulling him closer. Her fingers digging into the fabric of his tight breeches. "What are we going to do?"
Ezra made the mistake of looking down into the nothingness below. Green hills and blue ocean stared back at him, thousands and thousands of leagues away. This was a mistake. Clearly, they'd been tricked.
If he ever saw Mercado again, Ezra was going to knock the dream healer flat on his bony ass.
The need for quick action took control of his body. Ezra scanned the tunnel, and saw the nearest instrument–a curved French Horn–half sticking out of the dirt wall. He could grab it and use the footing to climb back up the tunnel.
Ezra twisted in the air, and Adah's grip on his leg tightened. A sense of responsibility filled him once again, as it had when he bumped into her on the street. The desire to hold her and keep her safe. He immediately swallowed the strange feeling–this was about saving himself. Not her.
Unfortunately, she had the Elixir of Broken Dreams in her satchel, which he still needed. Ezra gritted his teeth. This was going to hurt like hell, but he was no stranger to pain.
"Hold on!" he called down to Adah, and both her arms immediately wrapped around his thigh.
Despite his feelings towards the woman, a warm feeling of satisfaction coursed through his chest, followed by the upturn of his lips. If he was good at one thing, it was swashbuckling.
Now, if he was going to survive this fall, he was going to have to let go of either his hat or his guns.
Decisions, decisions.
Cursing again, Ezra let go of his pistols, which went flying past his head as he reached for the curved edge of the horn.
His fingers found purchase on the cold metal, and their momentum stopped. Sharp, angry bolts of pain lanced through his shoulder and down into his back as Adah's weight pulled heavily on his legs. Ezra let go of his hat, gripping the horn with both hands to steady himself.
