The Complete Alice Wonder Series - Insanity - Books 1 - 9

by Cameron Jace

  “The Six Keys,” he said. “We all know that once any of us control them, he or she will be the most powerful in the world.”

  “Through the most precious thing in the world,” she sighed, looking nowhere for a moment. “I wonder why they call it the most precious in the world.”

  “It is,” he said. “You just don’t see it.”

  “Okay, Pillar,” she let out an impatient wheeze. “I will take the mushroom, but I don’t imagine you care about me, or want to give it to me for free.”

  “Of course, not. It could be poisoned.”

  “I don’t worry about that. I always let my dogs eat before me in case one of them dies from the food,” she said. “So cut the bloody crap, what do you want in return?”

  The Pillar shrugged, then said, “Your sister.”

  “What?” she bounced back. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “That’s a compliment in Wonderland ‘out of your mind,’” he replied. “But seriously, I love her.”

  “You love no one,” she protested. “How dare you ask to marry a royal girl like her.”

  “Believe me; you want me to take her away from you.”

  “What do you mean?” She said.

  “I know you hate her,” he began whispering, talking smoothly, addressing her emotional state, not the logical front she showed to people.

  The Queen didn’t deny it. Silence said everything.

  “She’s prettier, younger, and your father and mother love her more than you,” he said.

  She resided in a long silence, upset by him, but unable to deny his words.

  “The mushrooms will make you smart but will not help you get rid of her. Sooner or later they will make her rule, not you.”

  “Are you going to hurt her?” she finally asked.

  “I swear I will love her forever,” he said, knowing that she knew he was lying. But the Queen loved the throne more than she loved anyone.

  She nodded. A silent yes. “How can I give her to you? I mean she will not love you in a million years. She is young, true. Naive as well, but she won’t fall for you.”

  “I have a pink hookah,” he winked. “Girls love pink hookahs.”

  “Be serious.”

  “Here is serious,” he handed her another mushroom. “Feed it to her.”

  “Is it going to make her shorter, like the one you gave Alice, so my sister shrinks to your size?” she mocked him.

  “Nah,” he leaned back, all confident. “This mushroom will make her love me. I just need someone to convince her to eat it.”

  Present: Warehouse location, London

  The warehouse is empty and looks safe — for now. We stuff the Mushroomers inside and Tom with them. Constance organizes everything and takes care of locking the outlets.

  Jack carries the March to the bed I made for him from roses. He is breathing, but still unconscious. His body seems weakened, but we don’t have food to feed him. I can’t imagine what he has been through.

  I sit next to him and pat him, “You’re going to be all right, March.”

  “A child in an old man’s body,” Jack commented. “I wonder how they had the heart to torture him in the asylum when he was patient 14.”

  “Black Chess doesn’t give a damn,” I say. “Or whoever wants those Six Keys.”

  “The Pillar told me that Lewis gave you one of the Keys,” Jack says.

  “Yes,” I let out a colorless laugh. “That was my first mission. The Pillar showed me the Tom Tower where I could cross over somehow and see Lewis.”

  “We’re too far to go there now.”

  “Lewis gave me a Key. Later, the Pillar took another Key from the Queen, the one I found in the basement from where I was raised,” I gaze into Jack’s eyes. “Which reminds me of Lorina and Edith.”

  “What about them?”

  “You like Lorina?”

  Jack rolled his eyes, “I was acting. I had to be believable to the Queen.”

  “Yeah, right,” I roll my eyes back. “I bet you still like Lorina. Boys always like her.”

  “Liked you mean.”

  “What?”

  “Lorina and Edith are dead, so is Margaret. The Pillar killed them.”

  I am in loss for words. With all the terrible things they have done to me, I am shocked. “He killed Lorina and Edith? I can understand Margaret, but my sisters?”

  “They aren’t your sisters,” Jack sits next to me and hugs me tight. “And they don’t deserve your sympathy,” his hand runs through my hair, his eyes not giving up on mine. Slowly, he leans forward and —

  “When I said get a room I didn’t mean next to the March,” Constance interrupts.

  I bury my head in Jack’s chest and laugh.

  “How is the March?” She asks.

  “No signs of waking up,” Jack says.

  “Could this thing on top of his head be the cause of all his misery?” she kneels next to him.

  “You think?” I leave Jack and look.

  “Could be, right?” Constance says. “Maybe all we need is to remove it.”

  “It’s stuck,” I say. “When we were in the asylum, he asked me to mush his head so he can remember. I can’t believe I did that. What was I thinking?”

  “But it has been there before, right?” she says.

  “Yeah,” I tell. “I think it’s always been there. The way the screws are bored into his head, I mean they’ve been there for years.”

  “Poor March,” Jack says.

  Constance kneels to inspect the cap on the March’s head, “I have a feeling this is what keeps him from remembering. Those screws are so tight into his flesh. Are those what gets attached to the electric pods?”

  “Yes,” I nod.

  “They are practically suffocating his head,” Constance says. “This is it. No two ways about it. Let me see if I can find any tools in this warehouse. We have to unlock it.”

  “Wait,” Jack says. “Before you go, shouldn’t we try to think about what he said in the helicopter?”

  “The mushroom hallucinations?” she asks.

  “He wasn’t hallucinating,” I tell her. “He said he would remember when sees the mushrooms.”

  “Which is total bonkers, and means nothing at all.”

  “He said someone told him that,” I tell her. “I think it might be the Hatter. In the asylum, he had this episode when he remembered how he loved the Hatter.”

  “I am not following,” she says. “How can someone remember something when he sees the mushrooms?”

  “Maybe we should get him mushrooms,” Tom suggests mockingly.

  Constance has her hands on her waist, but she isn’t going to hit Tom this time. She looks back at me, “Do you think it could be that easy?”

  I tilt my head. “Mushrooms to remember? It doesn’t make sense. If it were true, then anyone could have given him mushrooms for the last two hundred years. With all this torture he must have told Black Chess about the mushrooms at some point.”

  “Girls,” Jack interrupts. “I have been listening to you, waiting for this to go somewhere, but we’re forgetting something.”

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “He said the mushrooms are somewhere in London.”

  Constance mops her head with hands. “Stupid me. Yes, he did. So he is talking about certain mushrooms. This makes more sense.”

  “Whoever helped him forget, made sure a certain mushroom brings back the memory,” Jack explains. “The March didn’t remember where the Six Keys are but how to remember where they are. Brilliant.”

  “I agree,” I say. “Who could that be? Who planned it so meticulously?”

  “I hope not the Pillar,” Constance says.

  “The Pillar wanted the Six Keys like all of us,” Jack says. “It’s probably why he stuck with Alice all of this time.”

  My heart tells me this isn’t it. Though all evidence points to the Pillar being the scum of the earth, a manipulator, and partially a devil on earth, I feel otherwise som
ehow. But I don’t comment.

  “So?” Constance asks. “Are we going to play survival all the time, hiding in this warehouse? We need to have a plan. Apparently waking the March up isn’t a definite option now.”

  “You’re right,” I agree. “We have to get moving, especially now that he’s given us a clue.”

  “A clue to mushrooms,” Tom snickers in the back.

  “It’s not a clue to mushrooms,” I stand up. “It’s not exactly about mushrooms.”

  “What?” Jack and Constance ask.

  “Mushrooms in London, you know what this is?” I ask them. “It’s an address.”

  Constance hits her forehead again. She has to stop that. “You’re right. We need to find a place in London that is famous for mushrooms.”

  “That’s why he said ‘his designs,’” Jack says.

  I feel so stupid. Maybe we’ve all been exhausted and couldn’t think straight. The March told us most of what we need to know in one simple sentence.

  “Stay here,” I tell Constance. “I am going out. I have to find that place.”

  “I am coming with you,” Jack says.

  “No,” I stop him. “They need you here. If I don’t make it, Constance is my second best. Take care of her.”

  On my way out, the door to the warehouse is slid open. We all go for our guns, but then stop. Our intruders are more than just a surprise.

  King’s Cross train station, London

  The woman under the hood sneaked among the people like a cat. Left and right people were killing each other. Cults predicted the end of days — as if it hadn’t come yet. And thieves stole from every store around her.

  She paced, making sure she didn’t grab anyone’s attention. It would have made more sense if she hadn’t worn this hoodie, but she couldn’t come without it. She had to hide her face. She couldn’t show it to anyone. Trouble would occur instantly.

  She snaked her way into the train station. The trains had stopped running. None of the drivers were alive. She slithered and tiptoed and hid behind columns, knowing her destination.

  The phone in her pocket vibrated. She was thankful for that. Most phones were said to stop working in a few hours. But she wouldn’t reply. Not yet. She had nothing to say to the caller.

  Not yet. Not unless she reached her destination.

  And here it was.

  She stood, looking at the rows of lockers, wondering which one it was. The area wasn’t empty. A few worrisome people stood there. Vagabonds, she thought. Outlaws.

  She approached slowly, looking at each locker, wondering if one of them would scream at her and tell her: open me up. How was she supposed to find the specific one she came for?

  But she’d made it so far. Not only to the locker, but survived this long in the end of the world.

  Her phone vibrated again.

  She decided to pick up this time, though she had no answers, but she needed to report back.

  “Hello,” Mr. Jay’s gruff voice said.

  “Yes,” she said from under the hood.

  “Found it?”

  “I arrived, but don’t know which locker it is.”

  “Blow them all up.”

  “That’d be impossible with all the thugs here,” she said. “And what if the explosion burns the note.”

  “Damn it,” Mr. Jay said. “We need that note. What if the Pillar told Alice something crucial? Who he really is, for instance?”

  “It will be of importance, but will not tell us where the Six Keys are, because the Pillar didn’t know.”

  “At least it would tell us why he did all of this.”

  “I don’t see how this a priority,” she said. “But I followed your instructions.”

  “Good,” he said. “Now don’t waste my time and go find that note in the Tiger Lily pot.”

  “I will.”

  “How is your face by the way?”

  “I am uglier than I have ever been,” she fought the tears rolling down her cheeks. “How I wish I’ve killed the Pillar with my own hands.”

  “Don’t worry. You survived, that’s what matters,” Mr. Jay said. “And Margaret, I will fix your face when we win this war.”

  Warehouse location, London

  Seeing Fabiola enter the warehouse is quite a surprise. Though we’ve had our differences, I’ve always respected her. She looks tired, a bit weakened, but tough enough to kill her enemies. Who would have thought the White Queen of the Vatican looks so badass?

  “Fabiola,” I ask her, “What are you doing here? I thought you were ill in the hospital.”

  “Thanks for sending me roses,” she makes a face, eyes on Constance. “I came to help you, misfits. We’re all Inklings, aren’t we?”

  Jack looks confused. It occurs to me that even though he knows a few secrets, he’s never seen the Inklings foe himself. I only showed him part of us when I went to Wonderland through Einstein’s Blackboard and saw the Circus. I’ll have to find a way to clarify things for him.

  “So, you are the boss?” Constance asks. I can tell she and Fabiola might not get along easily.

  “You’re Constance,” Fabiola smiles. “Look at you.”

  “And you’re Fabiola, the confused Vatican woman who has tattoos all over her body.”

  “I am the White Queen,” Fabiola answers.

  “And why did you want to kill Alice at some point, if you were such a White Queen?”

  “Stop it, Constance.” I stand between her and Fabiola. “Tell me, Fabiola. What happened? How did you find us?”

  “Actually, I found you through Constance,” Fabiola says.

  Constance and I exchange looks. We’re oblivious of what the White Queen means.

  “I have a special connection with Constance,” Fabiola says. “It’s like telepathy.”

  “I don’t feel anything coming from you,” Constance says. “Thank God for that.”

  “Well,” Fabiola says, “it’s not exactly me.”

  “I didn’t know women in the Vatican lied,” Constance retorts.

  “Who is it then?” I ask her. “Are you saying you didn’t come alone?”

  “Great,” Constance waves a hand in the air. “Just great. You brought an intruder with you?” she reaches for her gun.

  “Not an intruder,” a voice behind Fabiola says.

  I know this voice. We’ve met a few times in this life. Hundreds of times in my past life, in Wonderland.

  Lewis Carroll enters the warehouse, walking slowly. His appearance is that of an angel or something. I can’t tell if he is real or a phantom, though he looks real. There is something about him I can’t explain. It doesn’t have to do with my memories of him. It has to do with something else. I can’t put my finger on it.

  “Lewis?” Jack is stunned. He is the most confused in the warehouse now.

  Of course, Tom Truckle is even more confused. I just don’t count him. I don’t even know why we’re keeping him.

  I watch Lewis walk closer, neglecting all of us. His eyes are also fixed on Constance. Except that this time the little girl doesn’t oppose him like she did with Fabiola. Her eyes glitter with anticipation. She takes a step closer, as if a magnetic power is pulling her toward the man.

  It’s so surreal you’d think she is his daughter.

  “Lewis,” Constance whispers as he kneels down to let her touch his face. “You’re alive.”

  “Not really,” he explains. “I am like a wraith, a spirit of someone who once died but is resurrected through the love of the people who read my book.”

  “It doesn’t make sense,” she says. “But I don’t care.”

  The she hugs him.

  Then she cries.

  Then Lewis sobs.

  Jack is perplexed, unable to fathom what’s going on. I need to explain a lot to him. Fabiola is fighting the tears in her eyes. Tom’s jaw drops and he can’t pick it up.

  As for me, I am standing, watching, trying to understand how Lewis and Constance know each other. Why they have this
emotionally empowered bond.

  Then it hits me. How stupid am I? How didn’t I understand?

  “I took every picture of you,” Lewis says to Constance.

  She laughs like a baby and says. “Yes, us.”

  Constance is the sum of the girls Lewis had ever photographed in the past. She and him are connected, have always been connected, by the power of creation. They have practically always known each other, and she is probably the closest to his heart.

  In London

  The Reds had spotted Fabiola and Lewis an hour ago. They could have attacked and tried to kill them instantly, though it would have been a hard job. The two Wonderlanders were killing machines. They’d seen them kill whoever attacked them. They were even scarier as a team, fighting back to back.

  But that wasn’t why they hadn’t attacked them.

  “Mr. Jay,” the Red called his employer. “I see them.”

  “Are you sure it’s Fabiola?”

  “Not just her, Lewis too.”

  “That’s impossible,” said Mr. Jay. “Lewis is still alive?”

  “He doesn’t die, you told us that.”

  “Yes, but I had wished he’d disappear.”

  “What are your orders, Master?”

  “Kill them,” Mr. Jay said. “I have no use for them. I don’t think any of them know where the Keys are.”

  “Not even Lewis?”

  “Well, he knows. But has forgotten since he’d eaten the mushroom. He is a lunatic. He will never remember, just kill them both.”

  “Aye aye, Sir.”

  “Wait,” Mr. Jay seemed to have changed his mind. “What are they doing, Lewis and Fabiola?”

  “Fighting, Sir.”

  “I know. I mean do they look lost, or do they seem to have plan?”

  “They do seem to have a plan,” the Red said. “They’ve been on a journey since they’ve left the hospital. Lewis seems to know where he is going.”

  “Then don’t kill him,” Mr. Jay said.

  “As you wish,” the Red said. “May I ask why you changed your mind?”

  “Because you will follow them.”

  “Where?”