Enter through the looking glass into Queens of Wonderland, Book Two in the Defenders of Lore series, in which Knights of the Round Vanessa and Michael must follow Captain Hook into Wonderland alongside Alice to crush his treacherous plan and deal with an ongoing war between power-hungry queens
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Queens of Wonderland by Gama Ray Martinez, which is out now.
After saving reality and overcoming the numerous challenges that Neverland threw at her, Vanessa has been tasked to save Michael Darling from himself: he’s grown obsessed in his role as a Knight of the Round and will stop at nothing to find the ghost of James Hook, nearly getting expelled from the Knights in the process. It’s up to Vanessa to keep him safe, she can’t lose her partner to Hook’s sword. So together it’s off to Wonderland in pursuit of the pirate. Except, unlike Neverland, neither Vanessa nor Michael have ever been there before. But someone they know has: the Lady who leads the Knights…who turns out to be none other than the legendary Alice. Her extensive knowledge about the land could change the game and bring them one step closer to finding Captain Hook…and in a world where games are taken quite seriously—and no less than six queens are vying for power—it will take them putting all their heads together to make it through. Or they just might find them lopped off.
Someone grunted up ahead, and Vanessa turned and ran forward, not looking back to see if Will followed. She came to a stone door that had been forced open—recently, if the dust it had moved across the ground was any indication. The ghostly glow coming from within was even more indicative. She rushed inside, hoping they would finally find Michael and be able to get out of this crypt.
She came in just as the armored ghost stabbed its sword into Michael’s shoulder, and the Knight dropped his own blade, grimacing in the pale blue light cast by the spirit. Ghostly weapons didn’t cause physical wounds, but a ghost blade did rob all feeling from the limb it pierced. Michael wouldn’t be able to use that arm for a few hours at least. He fell backward to avoid another strike. When he tried to roll to his feet, the ghost screamed. This spirit was no banshee, but those buried this deep in the crypt had died more than a thousand years ago, and that conferred a power of its own. The force of its cry slammed Michael into the ground.
Vanessa drew her bow, taking only a second to aim. She fired. The arrow passed right through the spirit. It staggered back a few steps before advancing again.
“Dammit!”
Vanessa drew another arrow. Her arrowheads were made of gravestone, which could be used to ward off ghosts, but those older than a hundred years or so could often resist it. Against a spirit a millennium old, it would be little more than a beesting.
Michael scooped up his sword in his left hand, then turned to her and scowled. “Vanessa, what are you doing here?”
The ghost was on him again before she could respond, so she loosed another arrow at it, distracting it for a second. Michael rushed forward. He wasn’t as skilled with his left hand, but it was enough. The sword sliced into the ghost’s belly, spilling out motes of blue light. The ghost screamed again, and the power in the cry drove Vanessa to the ground. The arrow she had been about to nock went skittering across the floor and came to rest next to the sarcophagus that the ghost had probably come from. The spirit lashed at Michael again, but he caught the attack on his own blade. For a moment, it looked shocked that any mere mortal weapon would stop its blade. Will rushed forward, having put the lantern down. His knife, like Vanessa’s arrowheads, had been carved from a grave marker. The ghost flinched as the knife went into its back. Startled by the pain, the ghost’s reflexes caused him to turn. Michael took advantage of the distraction. He stabbed his sword into the ghost’s gut and drove it upward where the creature’s heart would have been. Some spirits screamed when they were destroyed. This one, however, only gave Michael a hateful glare before collapsing into blue sparks and fading entirely.
Michael stared at the spot where the ghost had been, then fell to the ground. Vanessa ran to him and helped him sit up. His clothes were undamaged where he had been stabbed, but chips of ice had formed. His skin was cold as well. He looked up and narrowed his eyes.
“You didn’t answer the question. What are you doing here?”
She rolled her eyes. “Normally, when someone saves you from an ancient ghost, you say, ‘Thank you.’ ” He gave her a level gaze, and she sighed. “The Court sent us.”
Michael scoffed. “I don’t have time to deal with them.”
That took Vanessa aback. Michael’s cavalier attitude toward the Court of Camelot, the leaders of the Knights of the Round, always surprised her. She had joined the organization when she was sixteen, after learning that the statues of the Cornhill devils weren’t actually statues. The Lady had been impressed by her survival skills and had recruited her, and so Vanessa had learned obedience to the Court from the very beginning. It was the job of the Knights to protect the world from mystical threats, and Michael could eventually be one of their best—or at least he would be if his recent behavior didn’t get him expelled. He tried to get up but fell to the ground again. She offered him a hand up, but he ignored her. It took him three more tries before he managed it.
“Michael . . .”
He dusted himself off with his good arm. “Thank you for your help with the guardian.”
“A guardian?” she asked. “Not just a restless spirit?”
He turned away from her and put a hand in the open sarcophagus. He moved aside crumbled bones with a casual ease. Next to her, Will shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the unnatural cold of a haunted crypt. After a few seconds, Michael grinned. There was a clicking sound, and the tomb moved aside to reveal a stairway that descended into the darkness.
“You woke it on purpose?” Will’s voice was something between a question and an accusation.
Michael nodded once. “I didn’t want it to surprise me when I tried to get past it.”
“Michael, this is exactly what the Court—”
Michael raised a hand. “If you want to come with me, I would welcome the help. If not, wait outside, and once I’m done, I’ll be glad to hear everything the Court wants to tell me. Right now, I’d prefer not to have the distraction.”
Vanessa’s jaw tightened. She glanced at his limp arm, but he just huffed.
“Michael,” she said in a soft voice. “You’re obsessed with this.”
He looked like he was going to argue, but he turned away after a second.
Will raised an eyebrow, and it took him a second to work up the nerve to speak. “You hurt that ghost. You have wisp dust, and you didn’t get it from the Knights.”
Michael glared before patting a leather pouch on his belt. Vanessa’s and Will’s eyes went wide. The Knights hadn’t had any wisp dust since James Hook’s crocodile had ruined their supply more than a year ago, and they were anxious to get more.
“Are you coming or not?”
For a second, she considered refusing to see what he would do. But Michael was just bold enough to go in alone, and as impaired as he was, he probably wouldn’t survive. Finally, Vanessa gave a curt nod. “We may as well, but you have to come with us after you’re done learning whatever you can down here.”
Michael frowned but bowed his head in acknowledgment.
“Fine. Let’s go. I need to be done before midnight.”
Excerpted from the book QUEENS OF WONDERLAND by Gama Ray Martinez. Copyright © 2023 by Gama Ray Martinez. From Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.
