Free Hookah (Insanity Book 4) by Cameron Jace Page B

always passed on his phone so he’d be in contact with whoever wanted to benefit from his expertise.
    Like all cats, the Cheshire needed to make a living.
    “It’s Margaret,” the Duchess told him on the line. “I need your help.”
    “You know I stopped assassinating for you long ago.”
    “Yes, but this isn’t about assassinations,” she explained. “I want you to send someone after the Pillar in Columbia.”
    “What’s the Pillar doing in Columbia?”
    “He’s looking for a cure for the plague.”
    “Why? I was beginning to just enjoy it. Did you know it doesn’t affect Wonderlanders?”
    “No, I didn’t. That’s good to hear. But the Queen made her point.” Margaret explained how none of them would benefit from the end of the world. Not an argument the Cheshire was fond of.
    Who said I wouldn’t be happy with the end of the world?
    Although he’d never been on good terms with the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, he’d started to warm up to her and Black Chess a little. After all, he’d been a bit too lonely in this real world.
    It was time to choose a side. Black Chess or Inklings.
    “Okay,” he said. “I will send someone to Columbia.”
    “You know what kind of someone that is, right? The Executioner will kill anyone who enters his territory.”
    “Trust me, I know. That’s why I can’t go there myself. Whatever person I use as a disguise, the Executioner will recognize me. We didn’t all stay away from him for nothing in Wonderland. I will send someone.”
    “Do you mean...?”
    “Yes,” he said. “Only if I can find them. Because no one’s been able to since we left Wonderland.”

Chapter 32
    Mushroomland, Columbia
    “M y turn,” the Executioner says.
    Looking at guards all around us, I wonder what I’m going to do now. I have no way out of this, unless I shoot him and risk being killed one second later.
    But why would I shoot him without freeing the children or knowing who cooked the plague?
    This is some paradox I’m trapped in.
    “So tell me, Alice,” the Executioner says. “Do you think you’re getting out of here alive today?”
    “Hookah Hookah.” In my mind, the answer is ‘Hell yeah!’ I just have no idea how.
    “Impressive,” the Executioner says. “Even though I know you will die in a few minutes, I still believe you. You know why? Because you definitely believe it. Now ask me.”
    “Who cooked the plague?” I shoot.
    The Executioner laughs. “Hookah Hookah,” he says. And I realize that in his mind he just answered, but I am not going to know it, not in a million years. Some silly game.
    But wait, he doesn’t look like he is telling the truth. What am I supposed to do?
    My hand grips my gun. A wide smile forms on the Executioner’s face.
    That’s when I realize how tricky this game is. He deliberately gave me the wrong answer. At least he made sure I’d sense it, so I’d try to shoot him and then have his guards finish me off.

Chapter 33
    N ever have I been so much on the edge of my seat.
    The Executioner’s sly grin cuts through me. My hand gripping the gun starts shivering in the nonsensical game played in a nonsensical world. The one thought that is on my brain is: am I still under the mushrooms’ influence, unable to make the right decision?
    “It’s the perfect paradox!” the Pillar compliments the Executioner. “Now, that you’re lying—and it shows on your face—she is obliged to pull the trigger and shoot you, but your guards wouldn’t let her.” He leans forward, looking very amused by the situation. “It’s like playing cards with the lion in his den. You winning isn’t really going to prevent him from having you for lunch.”
    An inner voice tells me to pick up the gun and shoot the Pillar instead. I have tolerated many of his crazy actions in the past, but I can’t anymore. I should have listened to everyone who warned me of him.
    “I applaud you, Executioner.” The Pillar stands up, raising his glass. “I mean,