Read Online The Nutcracker Bleeds by Lani Lenore - Free Book Online Page B

room.
    The
bed was there in the distance that shouldn’t have seemed so great. Far below,
Anne saw all the broken toys, but there was something even stranger about that
view: the toys were moving.
    There
were tiny dots of light below as small, dark shapes retrieved the broken pieces
of the dolls and dragged them into the shadows beneath the bed skirt. She could
hear the scraping sounds as shards of porcelain scratched the floor. Anne’s
eyes drifted to the far side of the room and rested on the fort of books she’d
seen there earlier. There was a great amount of light coming from within it.
These things compounded her bafflement.
    Based
on everything she could see, she finally knew where she was. She was atop the
bureau that stood beside the door in Olivia’s room–and she was the size of a
doll.
    “What
the devil is going on?” she uttered lowly.
    A
dream ,
her mind answered back. This must be some deranged nightmare. Just wake up.
    The
thought came easily enough, but the action proved to be quite difficult. Anne
closed her eyes and reopened them. She pinched herself. She shook her head
ferociously until she was dizzy. Nothing roused her. Anne supposed that, for
now, she was stuck in this distortion.
    “Identify
yourself!”
    The
woman’s attention jerked toward the voice that had surprised her, but all she
could see across the span of the dresser–top was darkness.
    Identify
myself? She had to be honest: at that moment, she wasn’t sure she even knew. Aside from
that, who wanted to know?
    A
small spark produced a flame that illuminated a pair of figures to her left.
Anne looked over them a moment, partially shielding her eyes from the sudden
light. The men who stood watching her were very still, and after a moment of
observing them, her mind became convinced that they weren’t even real.
    Ignore
them, Anne ,
she told herself. This is a dream. If you walk away, they can’t see you.
    Anne
was always good about following her own advice. She turned away from the light
and started off–though where she was going, she had no idea.
    “You
there! Halt!”
    She
ignored the command.
    “ Halt !”
    She
heard the hurried footsteps behind her but didn’t turn to look.
    They’ll
disappear. Nothing’s after me. I’m not even here right now.
    Anne
felt hands tighten around her arms, pulling her back. She resisted, jerking her
arms away, knowing there would be no consequences. Who were these men? They
weren’t the police, were they? Scotland Yard?
    One
of those hands gripped her shoulder roughly, and she was forced to look back
into a face that widened her eyes and made her lose her breath.
    She
couldn’t say that it was a familiar face, but she did recognize it. The
face was round and smooth with small, beady eyes. There was slick, black hair
beneath a tall, dark hat that had a strap beneath the chin. Rosy cheeks… Thin
mouth…
    The
face was made of wood .
    For
a few moments, Anne simply stared into that face with surprise, but when the
small, painted mouth that rested between the rosy cheeks opened and declared
quite profoundly: “You’re not a toy…”
    Anne
screamed like she never had before.
    She
struggled against the wooden hands that tried to restrain her, heard the words
from their mouths that they shouldn’t have been able to utter–though she didn’t
comprehend them. Instincts took over in her fear, and she fought with all her
strength, but still didn’t manage to knock either soldier back very
efficiently.
    A
rough slap to her face with the force of a blunt object made her lose her
balance and slide to the floor.
    They
shoved weapons at her face–wooden guns with sharpened stakes at the end–before
she even registered that they were there, but when she finally saw them, she
forced herself to be calm. Anne knew she wasn’t going to get away from these
dream soldiers. They were destined to capture her.
    “Calm
down, trespasser,” one said with an annoyed tone, holding his weapon toward her
while