CHAPTER#154

Mike walked with her to the edge of the garden. The rats had trimmed the hedges down over the last couple of hours, giving them a clear path to the edge of the floating garden. When they got there, they got on their hands and knees and crawled to the edge, peering down into the depths below.

It was possibly miles of nothing, followed by shifting clouds beneath. When the clouds moved, Yuki could see something beneath them, shifting around. Beth had told them that she thought it was souls who had gotten trapped here, but Yuki suspected something far more sinister.

"What's down there?" he asked. The ground shook beneath them, and both of them clutched nearby rocks tightly.

"Doesn't matter. Won't be there long." The ground rattled again, and a stone tumbled free of a nearby garden wall, falling into the void beneath. "We should scoot back."

"Agreed." They moved away about ten feet and then stood. The ground rumbled under them again, and Yuki realized that she no longer saw any trace of the rats. Across the garden, she spotted a few of them migrating toward where she knew the exit to be, followed by a giant pillar of floating rats that spiraled into the sky, each one winking out of existence like a star chased away by the dawn.

They walked back to the pavilion. The ground rumbled so intensely now that the pavilion had toppled, as well as several of the nearby statues. Except for the path that the rats had made from the edge to the exit, the soft glow of open portals was everywhere.

"Ugh." Mike held his stomach. "You can feel your equilibrium shift when you walk too close to some of them." They walked to the pool to see a steady stream of rats stepping inside. Reggie was there, speaking the magic words that activated the portal.

"Ixiar Tobish Anuit," the Rat King said, sending another cluster of rats skyward. Mike and Yuki waited until he had sent them all into the sky, and he turned around to face them.

"Well?" Mike asked.

"It was difficult, but we managed to very carefully reach the threshold." Once the words were out of his mouth, the world trembled around them. Air pressure varied, and the ground bucked. "I strongly suspect that the addition of any other portal in this world will cause it to collapse."

Yuki couldn't help but smile. Much like Alice, she had no idea what a flame would look like after it had gone out, but Reggie had assured her that the garden would likely cease to exist. It had been sealed away so completely that it was its own pocket universe. As for Oliver? He couldn't return to Hell or Earth, which likely meant utter annihilation or an eternity trapped in a place where neither time or space existed.

Either way, he deserved it.

"Great job Reggie. Are all of your subjects out?"

"Only I remain." Reggie gave Mike a salute. "I look forward to seeing you on the other side."

"And you will." Mike knelt down and took the king's paw in one hand. "We couldn't have done this without you."

Reggie's whiskers twitched, and Yuki could have sworn he was smiling.

The Rat King stepped into the pool and spoke the magic words, his body slowly raising into the sky until it disappeared from view.

"The timing on this is going to be tricky," Mike said.

"I'm aware," Yuki told him. The two of them followed the path back toward the edge, but Mike took a small detour to contemplate Oliver's body once more.

"Something wrong?" Yuki asked.

"That dagger has bailed me out of more trouble than I care to admit," he told her. "I got it off of a witch who came to kill me my first week in the house. It cuts through anything, I'm honestly lucky to still have all of my fingers." He wiggled all ten of them for her. "I guess I'm a little sad to leave it behind. I mean, I get why it needs to be this way, but it's almost like it was a part of me."

"It was never a part of you," Yuki said, holding in another cough. "It was a tool that had its uses, sure, but it was never meant to be wielded by the likes of you."

"The likes of me?" He frowned at her.

"You're not meant to be a fighter, we both know that now. You are the Caretaker. You use the tools at your disposal to keep our home safe. Sometimes it means fighting, but usually it means nurturing, taking care of the home and the people inside it. I see it in how the others look to you for guidance, and I sincerely wish I had seen it before." She took a deep breath, then let out a terrible cough, clutching her sides. "You are already so far ahead of where she ever was. If I had known that when I first saw you, I would have hurled a much bigger piece of ice at you, or had my Jabberwock snatch you up in its jaws."

He let out a chuckle, then sighed. "Yeah, well, there will always be something out to get me." He knelt down by Oliver and tenderly touched the pommel of his knife. "It was just so comforting knowing that I had a weapon, in case trouble found me."

"From now on, I'll be your weapon." The words were easy to say, but she almost felt like she had cast a spell, the air rippling oddly around them. It was likely the effect of this pocket universe being pincushioned to the point of annihilation, but she couldn't be sure.

Mike stood. "Then I guess I better keep you close by. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." They walked together toward the edge of the garden and gazed down into the depths below from a safe distance. The distant clouds shifted hungrily, as if eager for their meal.