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Back Reverie Save as PDF
Chapters (53)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Letter from the Author
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. • One •
  7. • Two •
  8. • Three •
  9. • Four •
  10. • Five •
  11. • Six •
  12. • Seven •
  13. • Eight •
  14. • Nine •
  15. • Ten •
  16. • Eleven •
  17. • Twelve •
  18. • Thirteen •
  19. • Fourteen •
  20. • Fifteen •
  21. • Sixteen •
  22. • Seventeen •
  23. • Eighteen •
  24. • Nineteen •
  25. • Twenty •
  26. • Twenty-One •
  27. • Twenty-Two •
  28. • Twenty-Three •
  29. • Twenty-Four •
  30. • Twenty-Five •
  31. • Twenty-Six •
  32. • Twenty-Seven •
  33. • Twenty-Eight •
  34. • Twenty-Nine •
  35. • Thirty •
  36. • Thirty-One •
  37. • Thirty-Two •
  38. • Thirty-Three •
  39. • Thirty-Four •
  40. • Thirty-Five •
  41. • Thirty-Six •
  42. • Thirty-Seven •
  43. • Thirty-Eight •
  44. • ∞ •
  45. • Thirty-Nine •
  46. • Forty •
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Excerpt from Be Dazzled
  50. One
  51. Two
  52. About the Author
  53. Back Cover

“Ursula, I think we’re in trouble.”

“This frickin’ dress is in trouble, I’ll tell you that much! And those frickin’ geode monsters are in trouble as soon as I can actually kick—”

“No,” Kane grabbed her hands before she could do more damage. The skirt had been shredded into a singed nest circling her feet. She now stood in just gigantic high heels, lacy white stockings, frilly garter belts, and a tuft of charred crinoline about her hips. There was nothing to be done about the corset, but at least she’d peeled off the puffy sleeves.

“You’ll make the reverie mad,” Kane warned.

Ursula was a little out of breath. “No sense worrying about fashion when the whole house is on fire, Kane. Pleasantries ended when Helena tried to blow up Elliot’s face.” She stepped from the ruined wedding gown and strode off. Kane trailed after.

“But what do we do?”

“We find your sister. I bet she’s hiding in this garden. Then we find the Others. And then we defend ourselves until the reverie exhausts itself.”

“And then what?”

“You unravel it.”

Kane stopped. “But what if I can’t?”

Ursula put her hands on her hips. “Trust me, you can. You just flew, Kane. You’ve never managed that before, but look. You did it. And besides, you unraveled a reverie just last week. No more can’t-ing, all right?”

Another no was poised on Kane’s lips, but then a scream tore through the night. It was shrill and distant, a soaring last resort from the far reaches of the garden. Ursula locked eyes with Kane, and he knew she was thinking the same thing. There was one beast left, and it had found Adeline.

• Twenty •

Clarity

They ran along the aisle of poplars bordering the hedge maze, tuned to Adeline’s screams. Kane pushed himself to keep up, to not stumble. The screams multiplied as they passed through archways of rotten roses and barbed vines until, finally, they burst into the place where Kane first awoke: the clearing with the gazebo.

Helena lay in a crumpled heap, sobbing and reaching toward the gazebo, pleading over and over, “Not her! Leave her! Spare her!”

She meant Adeline, who clung to the top of the gazebo as it tilted sideways, slowly collapsing as something coiled through the beams. It was a serpent, as large as the other beasts, but somehow more unreal. Its entire length was bedazzled in diamonds, the frosty white interrupted only by teardrops of garnets that squirmed upon its fluid body. It spooled and flexed, powerful and unstoppable as it peeked its triangular head over the roof’s edge. Its onyx tongue tasted the air between itself and Adeline, who could do nothing but shriek again.

“I’m sorry,” sobbed Helena, as though Adeline were already dead. “I’m sorry, Katherine.”