Free Checkmate (Insanity Book 6) by Cameron Jace

ballet of death he enjoyed at the chessboard was a trick to expose the keeper of secrets, Father Williams, into confessing the whereabouts of the piece we’re holding.”
    “And it worked.” I stare at the chess piece. “The one thing that I find odd is this piece in my hand not being a ‘knight.’”
    “You have a point. If it’s called Carroll’s Knight, why is it a White Queen in your hand?”
    “I think I know the answer.” I speculate. “And it’s going to drive the Chessmaster mad.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “I think the Chessmaster is after the Knight but Carroll — or Fabiola — was too devious and scattered all the pieces around the world like you said. Now instead of Carroll’s Knight, we have Carroll’s White Queen.”
    “Do you think it may contain a clue to where the other pieces are?”
    “Only one way to find out.” I slowly pull out the wrapper and start inspecting the White Queen for another clue.
     

Chapter 24
    Director’s Office, Radcliffe Asylum, Oxford
     
    “I need you to find the serum sooner,” Fabiola told Tom Truckle. “I need to convert the Mushroomers into my army.”
    “It’s a long process,” Tom Truckle said, and popped down a couple of pills. “I am doing my best.”
    “Your best is not good enough. If Lewis made you create the asylum for the purpose of saving the Mushroomers, then you better be good for the job.”
    “You’re not the only who cares about the War, Fabiola,” Tom said. “Don’t act like you know better.”
    “I know more than you ever think I know!” She rapped her hand down on his desk.
    Tom swallowed a couple of more pills. “What the hell was I thinking, dragging myself into this Wonderland War?”
    “You’re a Wonderlander like all of us, so don’t try to escape your responsibilities.”
    “I am a mere Mock Turtle. A useless and slow animal. I am soup at best,” he lamented. “I’m so not important, Lewis only mentioned me in a single page in the whole book.”
    “I don’t care,” Fabiola said. “Find a serum. Bring those mad Mushroomers back to their senses. Make them fight the war they were destined to fight.”
    “Aye, aye, boss,” Tom said. “All this aside, what about that Chessmaster?”
    “What about him?”
    “Who is he?”
    “You don’t want to know.”
    “That’s not original, because that’s what he said too.”
    Fabiola tapped her fingers on the table, impatiently.
    “If you tell me, I will expedite the serum’s invention.” Tom argued.
    Fabiola looked like she was going to choke him, but she seemed to need that serum badly. “All right. I will tell you. But I will kill you if you tell anyone else.”
    “Only me and my Flamingo friend downstairs will know.”
    “Not even him, you understand.”
    “I was joking. We all know now he is a spy for the Queen.”
    “Which makes me wonder why you haven’t got rid of him yet.”
    “I thought he may be useful at some point.”
    “Whatever that means. I don’t even want you to tell yourself what I am going to say to you.”
    “It’s that secret?” Tom leaned back in his chair. Being closer to Fabiola was making him uncomfortable.
    “It’s that scary,” she leaned forward, cornering him in a bad place. “The Chessmaster is…”
    Fabiola suddenly stiffened in place. The veins in her neck stiffened too. Then she began shaking, hands on her stomach, and then she vomited on Truckle’s desk.
    And before he knew it, the White Queen fell silently to her knees, hardly breathing as if she was about to die.
     

Chapter 25
    Marostica Mountains, Italy
     
    The chess piece is a piece of art. It’s small, but when I focus on it, I totally admire the craftsmanship, though I am still weirded out that I am holding a piece of Carroll’s bones.
    “Let me inspect it.” The Pillar pulls out a magnifying glass.
    “Where did you get those tools from?” I pass the piece over. “Who walks around with a magnifying glass?”
    “You never question that in