The Vanishing: Wonderland, #1

By Rebekah Lewis

What happens when the hero who saved Wonderland from the destruction of the famed Jabberwock needs to find a worthy paramour before the Red Queen picks one for him? Devrel, the last of the Cheshire cats, has the perfect solution. He'll just pluck one from the human world and gift her to him for his un-birthday.

Realizing her friends were playing a joke on her, Cadence is heading home when she sees the cat smiling at her. Next thing she knows, she's in Wonderland and in the arms of a handsome man who thinks she's slightly unhinged upon meeting her. Intrigued by Gareth, Cadence makes an offer to act as his companion in exchange for his protection as they journey from the Tulgey Wood to the Red Kingdom—a simple solution which endangers both of their hearts as the castle looms in the distance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebekah Lewis
• Release date: May 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781507001998

Rebekah Lewis

Rebekah Lewis has always been captivated by fictional worlds. An avid reader and lover of cinema, it was only a matter of time before she started writing her own stories and immersing herself in her imagination. Rebekah’s most popular series, The Cursed Satyroi, is paranormal romance based on Greek mythology. She also writes Fantasy and Time Travel. When satyrs, white rabbits, and stubborn heroes aren’t keeping her busy, she may be found putting her creativity to use as an award-winning cover artist. Rebekah holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and lives in Savannah, GA with her cat, Bagheera.

Book preview

THE

VANISHING

––––––––

REBEKAH LEWIS

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Rebekah Lewis

First Printing, 2014 by Breathless Press. Formerly published in the Wonderland Tales anthology.

The author acknowledges that Lewis Carroll holds all the rights to any characters, locations, or references from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and The Hunting of the Snark.

All rights reserved.

Editing by Leona Bushman

Cover Design by Victoria Miller

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

www.Rebekah-Lewis.com

DEDICATION

To Justyn Perry and all the authors and staff of Breathless Press over the past five years. Thank you for believing in me and taking a chance on my books when no one else would.

This short story was written to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Breathless Press. It was a good run, and I will never forget where I started.

THE VANISHING

"But if ever I meet with a Boojum, that day,

In a moment (of this I am sure),

I shall softly and suddenly vanish away—

And the notion I cannot endure!"

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-Lewis Carroll,

The Hunting of the Snark

When her friends declared they wanted to search for a supposedly local bird called a snipe after a few rounds of beers, Cadence should have been skeptical. Instead, she'd been slightly buzzed and agreed without so much as questioning why she'd never heard of such a bird before, or why she needed a thimble and a bar of soap to draw it out of hiding. As she stood in the patch of woods, alone, behind a hole-in-the-wall bar, she started to suspect something was amiss.

Gullible. So, so gullible. Her group had all spread out in different directions, probably filming her right then and there to post on YouTube later. Ugh. Screw this. She dropped the soap and thimble and pulled out her cell phone to GPS her drunk ass back to the bar. She would sit in air conditioning while waiting for a cab to pick her up and cart her back to her dorm room. Behind her, something ran through the underbrush, and she dropped the phone with a gasp. Cadence turned about in a circle, but didn't spot any threatening menace, a single one of her group, or signs of a tall bird with rainbow hued feathers.

I'm getting new friends. Who the hell randomly carries a thimble and soap around anyway?

As she kneeled to retrieve her phone, movement in her peripheral vision drew her notice. Initially, she thought it was a bobcat, and her heart