Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Alice.”

Beep. Beep.

“Alice!” 

Beep. Beep.

“ALICE!” Mom’s voice boomed from somewhere downstairs.  “You better get what’s in that dang microwave before I throw it out!”

“Sorry! Sorry.” Alice bolted from her room, slammed into the railing that lined the upper hall, then pivoted and raced down the stairs. She nearly slipped on the last few but managed to keep her feet under her.

“And stop running in my house!”

“Sorry!” She slid into the kitchen and over to the cupboards. “Plateplateplateplateplate!” Snatching open door after door—for some reason she just forgot where they kept the everything—she finally pulled a plate free. Then she went for the microwave and the steaming baggie inside, dumping its contents onto the saucer.

Heat stung her fingertips and she hissed before shoving them between her lips. “Hurry, hurry,” she mumbled under her breath, her heart hammering in her chest. She could do this, she could make it!

Plate in hand, she detoured briefly to grab a Pepsi from the fridge—wincing as the door slammed behind her, and grateful mom didn’t hear it—then sprinted across the living and took the stairs two at a time.

“Alison!”

“Sorry!” she shouted before ducking into her room. Dropping the plate onto her bed, she practically dove for the controller amidst the sheets. Her eyes went to the TV screen hung on her wall. The image of her character’s hands posed for battle bounced slightly with sudden movement when her fingers found the buttons.

Relief flooded Alice as she dug around for her headphones, sliding them onto her head. “I’m back!” she called just before the screen flashed red, a pained groan played over the backdrop of battle muscle, and Alice’s character dropped to the ground with an arrow through her head. 

Alice stared, slack jawed, as the kill cam replayed the lucky as hell shot that managed to slip past the tank—which looked to be the intended target—and right into her character’s skull.

“Ahh! That! No!” she snarled into the mic. “I call bullshit.”

“I told you to go back to the spawn.” Chess’ voice carried over the headphones.

“I didn’t have time!” Alice used the handful of seconds it took for her character to respawn to position herself cross-legged on her bed, plate of pizza rolls on one side, laptop on the other, and Pepsi on her nightstand.

Chess and Court’s faces gazed up at her. Well, Court’s did as she fidgeted with her bright pink headset. Chess’ attention was fixed somewhere to the side, likely at his TV. He wore headphones similar to Alice’s only his glowed blue instead of red.

“You were supposed to watch my back!” Alice snapped.

His shoulders hiked in defense. “What do you want me to do, not heal the tank!?”

“Exactly!” She grinned as he snorted. “He’s a shitty tank, anyway.”

“Man.” Chess hissed a curse, his eyes narrowing as he focused in on something she couldn’t see. “Just get back to the point, they’re eating us up out here.

“I’m coming.” Alice maneuvered her now resurrected character along the map, hurrying to rejoin her team.

“Ugh,” Courtney sighed. “I don’t see how you two can stand this, I have no idea what is going on or what I’m doing except dying every ten seconds.”

“He’s not healing you either, huh?” 

Chess choked on some indignant sound. “Talking shit about your healer is a good way to die.”

“Having you for a healer is a good way to die.” She stuck her tongue out at the screen before shoving a couple of pizza rolls into her mouth.

“I can’t heal you if you’re not on the point!” he countered.

“And I’m dead again.” Court flung her hands into the air. “Why does it seem like I’m the only one dying?”

It was hard not to feel sorry for Courtney, hearing the frustration in her voice. But it was also funny as hell. Alice wasn’t gonna say that part, though.  “You’re not the only one, I promise. It just seems like it cause you’re new. Someone’s trying to flank. You’ll get the hang of it. We both sucked in the beginning.”

“Some of us still suck,” Chess muttered.

Alice narrowed her eyes. “Alexa, how do you slap someone through the internet.” 

“Alexa,” Chess mocked. “How do you git gud?”

“Oh I hate you.”  She couldn’t keep the smile off of her face, though.

“I hate both of you for letting me buy this game,” Courtney’s voice cut in.

“We didn’t let you do anything,” Alice said. “You’re the one who said you wanted to play with us.”

“I did, do, but y’all know I suck at this stuff! You should’ve talked me off the boredom shopping!”

“I’m surprised you actually went through with it.” Alice shoved more pizza rolls into her face then took a swig of Pepsi to wash it all down. “Then again, it did take a pandemic for you to break down and get a PlayStation.”

“I need something to do around here.” Courtney groaned as her character toppled over dead once more. “I started missing homework, I’m so bored. Homework, you guys!”

Alice winced in sympathy before whooping when VICTORY flashed across the screen. “Don’t start another match, yet, I need to eat.”

“Same,” Chess said. “Be right back.” He took his headphones off and disappeared from the screen. 

Courtney huffed before looking at her computer. “You never did finish telling me how things were going at the pub since you’re stuck at home.”

Alice held up a finger as she swallowed another round of soda and rolls. “It’s ok. Mostly. Hatta said he’s got things handled, but I’ll have a lot of purges once this is all over.” She wished she could get a jump on it, but the whole slaying monsters in secret thing didn’t exactly work when you’re trapped at home with your mom all damn day.

Sneaking out before was hard enough, but that was when mom left the house for at least eight hours at a time. There was no way Alice could managed it now, and as long as Hatta was able to take care of things on his own, she wasn’t too keen to risk her ass trying. She still felt a little bad, even though he told her to focus on staying inside and safe so he could see her again.

“You miss’im?” Courtney asked, pulling Alice from her thoughts, and waggled her eyebrows. Even without a face full of makeup, the expression was dramatic.

Heat filled Alice’s face and she pretended to focus on something on her TV. “Well, yeah, but he’s okay,” she added hurriedly. “He and Maddi are immune, so I’m not worried.”

“You think you’re immune?” Courtney asked.

“Maybe. I don’t wanna find out the hard way, though.”

“Find what out the hard way?” Chess settled back into his chair and took a massive bite out of what looked like a peanut butter sandwich.

“Whether I can keep carrying the two of you like this.” Alice glanced at her phone as it buzzed. “Seriously, am I gonna have to babysit you for every match?”

“Uhm, excuse me, who kept you both up during that last push?” Chess said around a mouthful of sandwich. 

“I was dead for half the match, so not you,” Courtney said.

“Excuse you!”

She and Chess went back and forth but Alice only half paid attention. She read text from Hatta, another smile pulling at her lips.

Still all good here, my lady. Will check in tomorrow. How’re you holding up?

Alice tapped out a reply as she tugged off her headphones, Chess and Court still going at it. 

Bored but okay. What about you?

As I said, all good. We’re getting on fine. Maddeline has discovered the Tik Tok, so things have been…interesting.

I Bet. Promise you’ll tell me if things get out of hand?

Cross my heart. Do you need anything? I can drop by with supplies.

Something inside Alice fluttered delightfully at the thought of seeing Hatta’s grinning face for the first time in weeks. But…

No, I’m good. Plus, Mom would probably mace you with bleach water if you showed up right now.

That’s fair. 

Let’s talk tonight, though. I’ll call when I get the chance.

Looking forward to it, luv.

Alice’s smile widened. At least until her screen flashed red, and she glanced up to find her character, once again, dead. “What the…” She tossed the phone aside and pulled on her headphones. “Why’d you start a match, I wasn’t ready!”

“Chester did it,” Courtney said.

Chess huffed. “The lies! The disrespect!”

“I’ll show you disrespect.” Alice pushed her now empty plate aside and shifted into a position. “Alexa, play Battle Mercy playlist.”

“Oh…oh no…” Chess’s face went white, his eyes wide. “No, no, no please no…”

“Oh yes,” Alice grinned as her character screen lit up. 

“I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you, please don’t!”

Courtney blinked, clearly confused. “What’s a Battle Mercy?”

“Our doom,” Chess whimpered, his head in his hands.

Music filled Alice’s room, the intro to Knuck if you Buck vibrating through the air. “Let’s GOOOOOO!”

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.

Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head . . . literally.

L.L. McKinney delivers an action-packed twist on an old classic, full of romance and otherworldly intrigue.