Cadence helped herself to a glass of water, and the queen plucked a pink cake with sprinkles off the tray and onto a small plate.
"Eat this. You'll feel better before you know it."
She consumed the sugary confection within four bites. Her stomach clenched, but the water was pure bliss. Cadence opened her mouth to ask for another cake when suddenly the floor dropped away and she tumbled after it. Something cushioned her fall, and her legs dangled in the air as she patted what she'd landed on. Whatever it was felt remarkably fleshy.
"Not too bright, are we?" the queen's voice boomed like it had been amplified.
With dawning comprehension, Cadence glanced down at the outstretched hand beneath her and back at the smug expression on the Red Queen's giant face. The cake had shrunk her. She'd forgotten the Hatter's warning that the only thing she could trust was tea, not that she'd been following that rule thus far, but she had followed Squirrelpoleon's lead. She should have known better than to trust the Red Queen though.
"Guard!" The queen shouted and wrapped her free hand around Cadence's arms and chest, holding her where there was no way to kick or bite for escape. "Bring me one of the empty bird cages, if you please! I have a new addition to my menagerie."
When a guard arrived holding a silver bird cage, the queen shoved Cadence inside, and the door slammed shut behind her. The queen gestured for the guard to follow behind her. After passing through several corridors, they came to a stairwell spiraling into the darkness. The cage rocked with each step the guard took and Cadence tumbled and rolled, eventually grabbing hold of the bars and clinging to them. The queen retrieved a torch from a wall sconce and led the way. At the bottom, there was another door, and the queen pulled out a tiny key from a pocket and unlocked it.
Inside, she placed the torch into a new sconce, but it wasn't entirely necessary because the interior was lit by a stained glass skylight high above. Cages of varied sizes hung from wall brackets or stood in rows. They passed a silvery unicorn with barely enough room to stand. Birds squawked, and a mome rath buried itself under straw. In the back corner, a large cage housed a gryphon, with golden feathers on its eagle head and wings, and tawny fur on its feline body.
Her cage was hooked onto a bracket beside the gryphon. The creature eyed her with acute interest and stood. A long, tufted, lion's tail swished across the cage floor, revealing the extent of the gryphon's curiosity. Cadence gulped and moved as far away as she could.
"Oh, lest you think me inhospitable..." The queen ventured to a cabinet in the corner and returned with small dish of water, a chunk of probably-stale bread, and a crumpled piece of cloth. "Now, if you try to escape or bite me, the consequences will be severe, understand?"
Cadence glanced down at the floor so far beneath her. She didn't want to try her luck since, if she survived the fall, the queen would probably stomp her flat. So she nodded.
"Good. Here's some water and something to fill your belly. A blanket as well, as it can get drafty within these stone walls in the evening. I want you to stay down here and think about how selfish you are. Why you can't barge in and make demands of queens and disrupt wedding arrangements."
"But the Jabber—"
"The Jabberwock is dead." She placed the items into the cage, latched it, and snapped a small padlock into place to hold it shut. Sadly, Cadence didn't have anything that could pick a lock. "And telling anyone otherwise would only create an unfortunate terror through the realm we do not need. When you wake up in your world on the morrow, stay there."
"What happens if I'm still here?" Cadence glared defiantly at the Red Queen.
She chuckled. "Oh, my dear. That simply will not happen. However, in the case that it does...my gryphon does enjoy an exotic snack on occasion."
With a gasp, she backed away from the bars and tripped over the cloth. Thankful, at least, that her clothes had shrunk with her and she didn't have the further humiliation of being naked. The queen laughed and retreated with her guard, shutting the heavy door behind them.
The gryphon observed her as the cage swayed gently, and if she wasn't mistaken, it licked the corner of its gray beak with a skinny, blue tongue. That creature really would devour her if given the chance, and her stomach knotted at the thought.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Turrets and towers hovered above battlements and stones as white as snow. High, arched doorways were open and welcoming at the castle in the White Kingdom. Guards in silvery-white armor nodded at them as they entered. Melody strolled arm-in-arm with Hatter and Marchy. The more people they passed, the more she noticed that most of the people present wore hats. Hatter and Marchy's top hats fit their characters, so she hadn't thought anything of it, but now her head felt naked. Many of the hat wearers nodded at Hatter as the entered the castle.
"Did you make all their hats?"
He smiled shyly and glanced away. "Mayhap."
"Why didn't you make one for me?"
At this, he seemed uncomfortable. "Hats are very personal when designed specifically for one person. No one else would do it justice. A hat without a wearer is an empty shell abandoned upon the shore."
"Oh..." He still assumed she'd leave, and Melody didn't know why it bothered her so much. She guessed she could spare him the labor of a useless hat, even if he'd made her two gorgeous gowns she couldn't keep either. She ran her fingers over the brocade design on her dress. She'd never owned anything so fine, let alone wore it. Hatter dressed her like a princess without a care for the cost of the fabric. Without a worry of being repaid. He was so giving, despite his not-so-warm welcome.
A gaggle of women rounded a turn in the corridor, adorned in white gowns of many styles and eras. One wore a toga-like garment that revealed as much as it covered. A tall woman in the middle had straight, black hair, fair skin, and red lips. With her fairytale-like ivory gown, she could have easily passed for Snow White. She noticed them and grinned.
"Hatter! Harold! What a pleasant surprise." She turned her gaze to Hatter and added, "I wasn't expecting you 'til the morrow." She clasped her hands together, extricated herself from the gathered entourage and approached them. "You've brought a friend?" Her posse continued on their way without stopping.
"Aye," Marchy said. He released Melody's arm and bowed. His top hat was held in place by the chestnut rabbit ears poking through holes in the brim. "This is Melody. She's a findling. Very peculiar too."
Gee. Thanks. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty." Melody curtseyed. Hatter, however, didn't bow. Instead, he released her other arm and pulled a satchel from his shoulder containing a folded-over garment bag with the ability to prevent wrinkling.
"We've brought your dress for the festival." Hatter held out his offering. "I wanted to deliver it myself and show Melody the kingdom."
"How wonderful!" The queen motioned for a passing servant to take the bag from Hatter, and then he hurried away with it.
"Aren't you going to inspect it?" Melody immediately snapped her lips together. The dress was amazing, a true masterpiece, and she'd gushed over it when Hatter showed it to her earlier. The queen had it rushed away without thought or care.
The White Queen smiled warmly. "I trust Hatter to outdo himself with every gown I order. To inspect it in front of him shows I worried he couldn't perform his art. It's an insult."
She nearly asked what would happen if it didn't fit or she didn't like it, but caught the bemused expression on Marchy's face and decided against it. Hatter hid his emotions from her. She remembered how upset he'd been when she'd said he'd gone overboard with her dress and hadn't needed to make it, and decided the queen's method may have merit. If she didn't like his work, she wouldn't request commissions. Judging by the gowns she'd seen him make, and the one she currently wore, he was talented beyond words.
"So you've discovered a findling, hmm?" The queen squinted at Hatter. "I didn't foresee this. I knew something would occur around the Festival of Flowers, something foreboding, but I'm uncertain if this is related.
"I wasn't aware you'd had a premonition." Hatter replied, as though nothing were unusual.
Melody stared back and forth between them. The queen didn't wear a crown or anything particularly regal, but she did have terrific posture and clothing. Her casual exchange with Hatter had her questioning how well the two knew each other. They were comfortable in conversation together, and not as a queen and a subject. Were they an item once? Were they still?
The queen said something and Melody blinked. "I'm sorry. I didn't catch that."
"I asked if you minded me attempting to read you?"
She stepped back, bumping into Hatter. "Like a book?"
Laughing, the queen, held a hand out, palm up. "No, silly girl. Not like a book. Not really. If your being here is connected with the ominous premonition I had, I may be able to see a connection when our skin makes contact."
"But...Wonderland may send me home, so I wouldn't be involved with anything tomorrow." She gripped the material of her skirts to hide her need to fidget.
"Or," said Hatter behind her, placing his hands upon her shoulders. Their warmth seeped into her and her tension faded. "There is a chance you'll stay, so it might. She won't hurt you."
Melody's breath caught. It was the first time Hatter considered her staying a possibility, at least out loud. Her lips tingled in memory of their kiss and she shuddered. What changed? She placed her hand on top of the queen's palm, who covered it with her other hand. She closed her eyes, and nothing seemed to happen for a long moment. Then the queen's body jolted, and she gasped. When she opened her eyes again, bright hazel irises focused on her and she smiled.
"You should come with me during my trip to the Isle of the Flowers within the hour. We have much to discuss, you and I."
Hatter shifted to Melody's side. "Today is her last day. We have to return so she can collect her cat should she not be granted the opportunity to stay."
The queen nodded, as if she understood his concern completely. "There will be plenty of time. Besides, animals are connected to their owners if they arrive together. It is only those that appear on their own that risk remaining."
Panic gripped her. He'd believed she could return and Sunny might not? Hatter hadn't told her that. Though knowing it wasn't the case helped, there were so many factors of staying or leaving she had yet to truly take into consideration.
Could she live without electricity and indoor plumbing? Without pizza or Internet or movie theaters or cars? Hatter met her gaze and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He'd taken care of her without wanting anything to do with her. He'd put distance between them, literally at his tea table, but there was something happening now. His kiss had been full of urgent longing, of hopes and dreams and all she shouldn't want but did. Melody knew this because she felt the same, and maybe she was reading too far into it, but she had no reason or right to want to know him better, to kiss him again.
Yet she wanted to with every ounce of her soul. Suddenly, she realized two days was enough time. If she ever saw her sister again, she owed her a huge apology.
That was the issue, wasn't it? Either she stayed with Hatter or she returned home to Cadence and her family. She couldn't have both. Either way was a win and a loss. Life was funny that way.
"Come now, Melody. We must head for the docks if we want to visit the flowers and return before night falls." The queen looped her arm around Melody and dragged her away.
She glanced back at Hatter and Marchy one last time, but they didn't seem at all disturbed by her being carted off. If Hatter trusted the White Queen, then she would too.
***
Hatter watched the queen abscond with Melody until they were beyond view. Marchy slapped his palm on his shoulder and chuckled.
"You're enchanted by the findling."
"I'm not." He smoothed the lapels of his jacket, thankful his hat hid his expression from his friend as he preoccupied himself with the task at hand.
Marchy was no fool. "Except you are."
"I'm really not." Hatter spun around, intending to seek the solace of the royal tea room, but stalled. Gareth stood in the passageway, arms crossed. Mayhap he'd not overheard Marchy's comments.
"So..." Gareth said at last, strolling toward them. "The Hatter has gone and fallen for a findling. My, how the tables have turned."
Damnation.
"It's not like that at all." It couldn't be. Hoping was no more than a fool's errand.
"I'm not blind." Marchy helpfully observed. "I know what I saw, and you are falling for her. Isn't that right, Hawthorn?" The dormouse poked his head out of Marchy's pocket and squeaked in affirmation. "See. Even the mouse says you're a lovesick ninny."
"It is impossible to love someone after a day."
"That's rich, coming from you. Hatter, look where we are." Gareth waved his arms out and twirled, a huge grin splitting his face. Clearly, his plight amused him more than it should.
"The castle corridor?" Hatter stated dryly.
"It must be easy to take what we are freely given every day for granted, but Wonderland has a way of making impossible things possible for the sake of proving it not-impossible."
His eyebrows rose at the state of Gareth's sentence.
"I know, that could have been worded better. How often have you rhymed or riddled since she's been here?"
At this, Marchy rubbed his chin and leaned in closer to Hatter to study his face. "You have been less rhyme-y lately. There have been moments, but not many. Could be you forget to be mad when she's around you."
Hatter scoffed. "You can't forget to be mad. That means you never were. You've not fallen into a laughing fit since she's been here. Does that mean you're in love with her?" He couldn't believe they were having this ridiculous conversation, in a hallway of all places.
"For the record, I had one this morning when Melody took Devrel's seat. Ask her."
"Are you the Mad Hatter?" Gareth asked.
Hatter snarled. "No."
"So you're saying," said Marchy, "you're not mad, yet your madness has lessened with her around?"
"I'm not saying anything." He threw his hands up. "You two are the ones coming up with harebrained reasoning."
Marchy made a disgusted noise. "I take offense to that terminology. You know how sensitive I am about my ears." Hawthorn popped out of Marchy's pocket, climbed his shirt to his shoulder, and nuzzled his neck.
A group of court ladies came by and Hatter, Marchy, and Gareth pressed against the wall to allow them to pass. The ladies giggled and waved at them. Hatter had to hold Marchy's coat to keep him from following.
"What was I saying?" Marchy said, but they were interrupted a second time when two knights in black armor rounded a different hallway. Guards from the Red Kingdom.
Gareth's forehead crinkled when they strolled by, and one of them looked over his shoulder at them before they disappeared around another corner.
"Must be here for the festival tomorrow," Marchy said.
"Mayhap." Gareth frowned. "The Red Kingdom usually doesn't care about the living flowers though. You know how much they dislike the queen—that's why they're part of the White Kingdom's boundaries."
Shrugging, Hatter suggested they move out of the corridor, and the three of them headed out the back gates and into the gardens. The crisp air smelled of roses and the warm sun cast a golden hue over all it touched, but even the change of scenery did nothing to prevent further inquisition. Gareth was quick to bring the subject back to Melody.
"She's not going to stay. They never stay," Hatter argued, frustrated more by the truth of it than the badgering.
"You did." Marchy pointed out. "When you washed ashore, you weren't expelled. When my ancestors arrived here, they remained. Halflings make up a fourth of the population these days."
Assuming he hadn't dreamed the ship breaking apart in a storm and nearly drowning, where would Wonderland have rejected him to? The thought frightened him even now. Would he have returned to the sea, drowned there? What
if this was some strange purgatory between life and death? What if he wasn't really even—
"Hatter! Snap out of it!" Marchy shook him by the shoulders. "You were muttering incoherently about purgatory. You scared Hawthorn back into my pocket."
He rubbed his eyes and took a seat at a table with a chessboard upon it. Gareth placed himself across from Hatter and began straightening the pieces on either side. Hatter had the white set, and Gareth the red.
"See why you need Melody?" Gareth asked and Marchy nodded in agreement. This new friendship of theirs irritated him. He liked it better when they merely tolerated each other and Gareth didn't attempt to talk to him unless he had to come to his tea table for whatever reason.
"If Cadence couldn't stay, why would Melody? One thing is certain. She's not like Alice. She thought of Wonderland as a challenge. A game." He picked up Gareth's red queen and his white. "This is what Alice wanted that second time. A crown." He replaced the pieces, and the memory left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Gareth frowned and leaned toward him. "I know we were around Alice's age back then, barely old enough to shave, but...did you have feelings for her?"
Marchy started laughing nervously, and then a guffaw slipped out. "Oh, look." Peals of laughter. "What a glorious tea tray!" He wandered off, chortling. Confirming the truth enough for Gareth without Hatter needing to reply.
"I was young then, starting to notice girls with a certain...fascination. It's why I moved out of the castle when I did. I learned from my mistakes, and I will not repeat them."
"You already have." Gareth moved a pawn two spaces up the board. "If Wonderland rejects her, you'll be crushed and no better off than me."
As much as Hatter loathed relating to him in any way, he had a point. He dreaded the evening, the uncertainty it brought. Even more now that the queen had taken Melody for the day. Precious time slipped away, but he could never argue the point with her. The White Queen never asked anyone to join her in a task unless she'd foreseen something she found curious enough to inquire about. If Melody happened to be involved in the premonition about the Festival of Flowers, did that mean she wouldn't return to her own world?
The Unraveling (Wonderland Book 2) Page 9