Flower Falls and Crystal Calls

Down the Rabbit Hole

A/N:  This is still a work in progress, but I am updating at least once a week.  Also, to better fit Wattpad I will post two chapters at a time.  (because my chapters are usually twice the recommended length) I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1

Elle Bachman had slowed to a crawl as she turned down the darkened alley. She gritted her teeth as she ducked behind a dumpster and tried to peek around it to see if she could find any trace of the perp without getting shot. He had already fired twice, so they knew he was armed. When there was no trace of him in the small square of light from an upstairs window, she took a deep breath and eased around.

She cursed under her breath as she realized the alley was not a dead end and wondered where in the hell her partner was. He was supposed to have been right behind her. She looked back and didn't see anything. She debated for a moment whether she should wait for him, but a gunshot echoed in the near distance, and she cursed again. She took off toward it.

The man they were chasing was a small-time drug dealer that had been sampling his own goods too often. He was sloppy, but he was also unpredictable and dangerous. He would not have typically shown up on her radar, but he was suspected of going into a drug-induced rage and killing off two of his runners.

Elle eased around the corner into the next alley and cursed a blue streak when she saw headlights pass at the far end. There was no telling where he went now. Still, she couldn't give up. She might catch sight of him if she made it fast enough. She raced down the alley and spared a half a glance for the poor creature he must have shot out of paranoia a few moments earlier. It might have been a mangy cat or a huge rat. It was hard to tell now. She shuddered at the thought and pushed harder.

She was already tired of city life. She had come there because even though the competition was stiff, at least opportunities were a lot more common. That, and the fact that doors weren't automatically nailed shut to you if you had the wrong equipment downstairs. She had been right too. It had taken a few years, but she had managed to make it into homicide just six months back, and she wasn't even twenty-six yet. Still, there were days like this one that part of her wondered if it wouldn't be better to sit on the side of the road in the countryside and wait to give random speeders tickets. There was only one thing that kept her in the city and focused.

She was jerked from her introspection and back into the present before she ever reached the end of the alley. Her eyes widened, and time seemed to slow to a crawl as the man she had been chasing jumped around the corner with his gun raised and pointed right at her. There was nowhere for her to run and no time to duck. She had time to wonder where the hell her worthless ass partner was once again as she watched the flare around the muzzle in front of her.

Elle had heard stories of adrenaline spiking to the point that time seemed to slow to a crawl, but this was becoming unbelievable. Her foot had finally fallen, and she threw herself to the side and had time to turn as the bullet was leaving the gun. She watched in morbid fascination as it headed to the location she had just been standing and wondered what the hell was going on. At least until she saw a bright light flash behind her.

The golden glow was so bright she had to cover her eyes. It wasn't until the wall she had thrown herself against seemed to crumble away that she began to wonder if maybe she hadn't been able to move after all. Had she been hit, and the rest was all a dream while she bled out? That would undoubtedly have been more believable than the giant cogs and wheels that were flashing by.

There was another flash of golden light, and she was suddenly falling through a grey sky. It looked like the city on a stormy day, at least until she looked down. Then it looked like something out of a nightmare. Ruins and monsters, dead colored beaches, and no signs of any life. It was at that point that she lost the fear of hitting the ground. Surely it wouldn't hurt if she was already dead.

As that thought crossed her mind, another flash nearly blinded her, and she was once again flashing past the strange cogs. She shut her eyes tight and tried not to hurl. What the hell was going on?

She felt, more than saw, one more flash through her closed lids. Before she could open her eyes to see where she was now, she landed hard on one shoulder. She rolled with it and came to a stop with a grunt. Before she could even open her eyes, she heard a woman's voice cry out. "Run!"

She had no idea who they were talking to, what was going on, or where she was, but she did know that her instincts had saved her ass on more than one occasion, and right now, they were screaming bloody murder. She was on her feet in less than a second. She gritted her teeth at the feel of her shoulder, but as she rolled it, she realized she might have gotten lucky. It felt bruised, not broken.

She looked around and was shocked to see tall grasses and plateaus in the distance, with a small clump of trees nearby. What caught her attention was a movement in the grass about two hundred yards out. It was coming straight for her, and her gut was telling her whatever it was, she didn't want to meet it.

She took off at a dead run for the clump of trees and prayed there wasn't anything in the grass between her and them. Of course, she couldn't get that lucky. At least she was able to see the boulders before she ran face-first into them. They weren't so large that she couldn't jump onto them with her momentum, she just hoped it wouldn't slow her down, especially when she started hearing screaming growls. And there was definitely more than one of them. She had no interest in slowing down enough to look back and see what they were. That could wait.

She grinned when she was able to use the clump of boulders to propel herself forward and gain a little more space, but it was a lost cause. Whatever was behind her was gaining fast. Luckily, she had been closer to the trees then they had been to her. She was pissed that she had dropped her gun at some point, though she knew it might not have done her much good.

As soon as she reached the cluster, she jumped up and grabbed the lowest branch before she swung up into the neighboring tree. She quickly scrambled as far up as the thickest branches would allow and still hold her weight before she finally paused and looked back.

Her heaving breath nearly froze in her lungs as she saw a pack of something that looked like a cross between a wolf and a giant cat with the biggest damn teeth she had ever seen. "Holy shit! This has got to be some Area 51 bullshit if I ever saw it. Damn. Where the hell am I!"

One of the beasts had put its paws on the base of the tree below her and bellowed up. The breath it released was a noxious green color, and Elle was glad she was too far up. When it almost touched her toes, she grabbed the branch above her and lifted them until it dissipated. When the beast growled again at the lack of response, she leaned over and glared at it. "Grawww to you, too, jackass!"

The beasts quit trying to get to her, and she breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't seem to be able to climb, but they weren't going away either. She might be able to wait them out, but she needed to find answers, and patience wasn't her strong suit. Instead, she looked around to see what she could find to help her. There had to be something.