by K.N. Lee
OLD TOWN WAS QUITE eerie. It took about four hours to get there from the highway, but she didn’t care. She needed something that would stop Alice in her tracks.
She parked her car in an empty parking lot and stepped out. She covered her arms with her hands and looked around. The shops were open, but no one seemed to like being seen outside. She supposed it was just the way of the older, more traditional generation. They liked their privacy.
Whatever it was, the air had a distinctly creepy vibe. She shivered. It was almost as if the air had grown even colder. But, why should she be afraid?
She was going to rule Old Town, New Town, The Red City, and every other part of Wonderland. That, and she was a sorceress in training. No one would dare mess with her.
Why didn’t that bring her any comfort?
A steady wind blew leaves down the street in mini funnels that resembled tornados. She swallowed and crossed the street, heading to where her GPS told her Lady Tremaine’s Alchemy and Magic shop was located.
At least there was no one around to catch her off guard and snap a picture of her for Wondergram. Or worse, the tabloids.
Just thinking of her father finding out she’d left campus to go to a shady magic shop made her pull her red cloak over her head and put on her sun glasses.
It was a terrible disguise, but it was all she had.
Quickly, she walked to the shop and pushed open the door.
The smell of pumpkin spice and teak wafted into her nostrils as she stepped inside. The twinkling of wind chimes welcomed her as the door fell closed behind her.
The shop was quaint, yet cluttered. The walls had old paintings and shelves stacked high with books and canisters. Candles, crystals, pendulums, and salts were being sold on stands and cases. There was so much there to choose from that she didn’t know where to start.
Did she want to cause Alice physical harm or mental harm? That was the question. As she stood there, she almost turned around and abandoned her plan. She wasn’t the kind of girl to use dark magic against another. It was the first rule they’d been taught when she was just a freshman at Wonderland University. If she used dark magic, she would be just as bad as Alice. And she wanted to do worse to the girl.
She sighed and began to turn and leave.
“Can I help you, Miss?”
Beth turned to see a tall, middle-aged woman with long dull blonde hair emerge from the back room. For a small town woman, she wore an elegant ivy-colored dress that hugged her curves tightly.
“No,” she said, nervously. There was something about the woman she was unsure about. “I was just leaving.”
“Oh, well now. That’s a shame,” she said. “I had the perfect potion made up for you.”
She raised a brow. “What? You...you don’t even know who I am.”
A small smile came to the woman’s thin lips. Her blue eyes crinkled at the corners. “Of course, I do.”
“You’re Lady Tremaine? The owner of this shop?”
“I am,” she said and stepped forward and pulled a vial from her pocket. “I was just waiting for you to come and pick it up.”
That made Beth incredibly uncomfortable. “How?” She frowned at the woman.
“Come now, I know all about you, Iracebeth. You see, my daughters go to your school as well. You may know them, Anastasia and Drizella.”
Beth’s eyes widened and she nodded. “Oh, yes. Lovely girls,” she said. The twins had always been kind to her. If Lady Tremaine was their mother, then she must be all right.
She hoped.
Still, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as Lady Tremaine watched her with bright blue eyes that seemed to read her thoughts.
“They look up to you, my girls.”
Beth smiled. “Well, I take that as a compliment.”
An uneasy silence passed between the two of them as Lady Tremaine continued watching her. A cat came from the back room and rubbed its body against her stockings. It purred and sauntered over to Beth, rubbing against her legs as well.
“Oh, Lucifer seems to like you. He’s a good judge of character.”
Lucifer. What kind of name was that for a cat?
She gulped and nodded to the vial in her hand. “What is it, anyway?”
“Oh,” she tilted her head and held it up in the light. Whatever was inside glowed a faint green color. “It’s whatever you want it to be. Whatever you wish for...it’s yours.”
For a moment, Beth was transfixed by the dance of colors displayed in the vial. What started as green turned to blue, then purple, then red, then pink. Her lips parted as she began to imagine what she could do with such a powerful potion.
The wind chimes outside began to play their magical lullaby again, breaking her from her trance. She blinked. “How much for it?”
Lady Tremaine’s perfect white smile widened. “It’s a gift.”
“Oh, no. You’re too kind. But, I insist on paying,” Beth said, as she fished her wallet from her satchel.
Lady Tremaine took Beth’s hand and placed the vial inside. She then closed Beth’s fingers over it and gently pushed to toward her chest. “Go now. It’s going to be a cold night and the dire wolves love the smell of city folk.”
Beth pursed her lips, her brows furrowing, and backed out of the shop. Once she was outside, she heard the lock click and the open sign was flipped to closed.
She frowned and stared at the door for a moment.
“Well, that was odd,” she said to herself, and heading back to her car.
As the sun began to set, it did indeed get colder. Still, Beth couldn’t believe her luck.
A potion that would do whatever her heart desired.
Brilliant.
Chapter 7
By Thursday afternoon, all the shocks of earlier in the week had settled into a dully throbbing ache somewhere between Beth's heart and soul. She skipped tea in order to spend an extra twenty minutes preparing her list of potential thesis topics. None of them were exactly scintillating, but hopefully Professor Hatter would be able to help her flesh them out and turn them into something worth spending her entire year working on.
She walked toward the professor's office, her steps against the stone floor echoing through the half-lit hallway. Classes were done for the day, and the university had put in 'eco-friendly' magical lighting that automatically dimmed after a certain time, reducing the drain on the university's magical power plant. That was all well and good, but in Beth's opinion, it turned a perfectly cheerful corridor into a gauntlet of shadows.
She couldn't say whether it was her nervousness about discussing thesis topics or the creepy hallway that made her knock a little harder than necessary on Professor Hatter's door. He opened it immediately—almost too quickly, as if he had been waiting by the door. Still, his smile and the way it crinkled up his eyes was enough to make her forget all about shadows and timing.
"You're here," he said, his grin widening. "Excellent. Let's go."
"Go?" Had she missed something?
"Well, you certainly don't expect to spend a perfectly lovely evening cooped up in a musty old office in a dark and gloomy classroom building, do you?"
Yes. Yes, she had. That was exactly what she had expected. "I'm not sure I understand," she said cautiously.
"Ideas don't pay office calls. At least the good ones don't." Professor Hatter summoned his top hat from across the room and set it at a rakish angle on his head. He winked at her. "The best ideas have to be hunted down."
She nodded dumbly, still confused, as he locked his door. He turned back to her and offered her his arm, leaning over slightly and saying, "Anything worth having must be chased...and caught."
There was something in the depths of his eyes that set her heart racing and her mind jumping to the wildest and probably improbable conclusions. With a hesitant smile, she took his arm, taking care to keep her hand from resting fully on him in case he felt she was being too forward.
Apparently, she wasn't being forward eno
ugh, though, because as they walked, he laid his hand on top of hers, pressing it firmly against his arm. In the end, though, she was glad to be holding on because he set an extremely brisk pace that left her juggling trying to keep up, breathe, and explain her ideas all at the same time. He threw questions at her in his trademark oblique manner, pushing seemingly nonsensical points until her brain caught up and realized exactly what he was driving at.
When he finally allowed them to pause, Beth laughed and said, "You know, you're right! This is a brilliant process for developing ideas. I should tell my father about it, and he will have the Privy Council marching about the gardens in double-time."
Professor Hatter didn't reply right away, and when she looked up at him, she saw he was gazing at her with the strangest expression of...longing? Perhaps it was a trick of the twilight, but she could have sworn there was actual desire in his eyes. Crickets chirped quietly, and the wind rustled the leaves in the trees. Their walk had brought them to the edge of the small pond that lay on the far end of campus. No one else was about, and before she could say anything, he closed the distance between them.
She held her breath as he raised his hand and gently brushed the tips of his fingers along her jaw. His touch was feather-light, and he narrowed his eyes as a wild look of feral wanting came into them. He lowered his head to hers and did the most shocking thing. He pressed his soft lips against hers and kissed her deeply, sending sparks of heat up her legs and into her chest. She must have tensed, because he stopped and pulled back.
"I...shouldn't have done that, Beth," he said softly, turning away from her. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."
"You didn't," she blurted out. Her lips tingled with anticipation for more. He had no way of knowing that she had only ever kissed one other guy, and since that guy had betrayed her, she was desperate for affection.
He glanced back over his shoulder at her, a sad smile playing about his lips. "So, you'll still have me—"
"Yes!"
"—as your thesis advisor?" he finished, looking amused at her interruption.
She felt she was finally back on familiar ground—the whole wanting the earth to open and swallow her whole bit to save her from utter and complete humiliation. "Erm, yes, that's what I meant. As my advisor. Naturally."
"Then, come by my office tomorrow afternoon after tea, and we'll talk some more about your ideas." He grinned openly now, whatever embarrassment he himself had felt clearly passed by. "And by talking, I mean walking, so wear comfortable shoes. Or, maybe not."
"Pardon?"
"On second thought, wear the most unwieldy, uncomfortable shoes you own so that you shall have to lean on me the entire way, and we shall have to take frequent breaks." Professor Hatter winked and playfully tugged a lock of her hair before jamming his hands into his pockets and whistling as he wandered away into the falling darkness.
Beth stared after him, wondering just what the bloody hell had happened and why she was feeling so happy about it.
When she finally shook off her stupor and checked her pocket watch, Beth was surprised to see that it was already eight o'clock.
Her stomach rumbled, and she realized that she had missed both lunch and tea and was therefore absolutely ravenous. If she hurried, she could still catch the dinner service at the all-campus dining center.
Wrapped in thoughts of handsome, cocky, quirky professors, she made her way across campus. When she reached the dining hall, she stopped short, all her dandelion daydreams blowing away in the hurricane of anger that was Chess, standing on the front steps and glaring at her.
What’s his deal?
She rolled her eyes and turned to walk the other way.
Maybe, this was the first step at forgetting him.
Chapter 8
The sounds of screaming that erupted from her Dark Arts textbook made Beth wince as she levitated the last, sad-looking slice of seed cake onto her plate. It fell apart as soon as it touched the porcelain.
Naturally.
Still, it was better to eat the mess than to risk fainting from hunger the day she was supposed to meet with Professor Hatter for her training session. She sipped her tea, burning the tip of her tongue.
“Holy crap,” she blurted. She slammed the book closed, surprised that it came with real sound effects. The other students glanced at her from their books, giving her scolding looks.
She forced a smile and mouthed, “Sorry.” She guessed she’d have to study in private, where she wouldn’t frighten poor, innocent students.
It was all well and good to go to a school that was deadly serious about tea time and served it every afternoon promptly at five o'clock in the small café area of the Caterpillar Student Center, but stale cookies, crumbling cakes, and boiling hot tea wasn't a substitute for lunch. She really had meant to eat. In between waiting in the long lines to return one of her books at the bookstore with her pile of textbooks hovering in the air next to her, and trying to cope with the nightmares that continued to plague her every night, she was ready for a distraction.
Professor Hatter would do just nicely.
Not in the studying mood or the mood to eat, she shoved the book of screaming lost souls aside and tried her tea again, this time finding it drinkable. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the late afternoon sun turn a flash of purple into a violet blaze. She didn't even have to look over to know who had come in for his habitual quick cuppa before heading to the training gym.
She knew exactly how the sun would show the streaks of lilac and darker layers of deep purple in his hair. She could see in her mind's eye the way his amber eyes glowed like molten gold in sunlight. After all, she had seen it a hundred thousand times in the three years they dated. Not that she had cared, but people always remarked on the fact that physically, they were a truly striking couple.
One of her favorite pictures of them—now packed away at the bottom of her trunk, buried under 'Principles of Transmutation, Vol. 3' and 'Divine Divination: How I Found Freedom Through Out-of-Body Experience" from sophomore year—was at the Hookah Club just off campus. They were in a VIP seating area, leaning in close to each other.
While they were looking at the camera, it was clear that their bodies were sharing unspoken secrets that no one else would ever know. Shadows and glints of glass gave the picture a feeling of gorgeous danger, but nothing was as dangerous as the smile on Chess' lips or the way one of his brows rose ever so slightly in ironic salute to the photographer.
She sat next to him, just as pale and smiling just as sardonically. Her black hair made it look as if the shadows were creeping over her shoulders in a spooky, caressing curls. While Chess' eyes seemed to catch and keep light in their golden depths, her own eyes caught light and drowned it in darkness. Only the thin ring of red circling the inside edge of her iris relieved the impenetrable onyx and marked her as a member of the Royal Family of Wonderland.
It was a beautiful memory. With the good also came the bad, and recently the bad memories seemed to chase the good away.
She bit her lip, wishing she could forget the most painful.
“Have you been drinking?” Beth remembered asking Chess just months ago. Her voice was accusing and shrill in her own ears.
“No, why would you even say that?” Chess looked and sounded hurt. His words were clear, but the expression on his face seemed sloppy and slurred.
“I'm saying that because I can't bloody well think of another reason why you would do such a thing!” Bloody hell, there went the ticklish sensation of tears, and her nose was getting stuffed up. She was not pretty when she cried, unlike Alice who was dainty and had probably never produced a drop of snot in her life.
“I just...it's over, all right? It's over. I don't love you. I don't think I ever did. This has all been a mistake. I'm sorry, but I simply can't be with you anymore.” Chess' words sliced acidic paper cuts all over her heart, leaving her feeling stung, burned, and bleeding inwardly.
“Ten minutes before the Spring Fling Ba
ll," she fumed, trying to summon anger instead of grief. “You decide to break up with me ten bleeding minutes before the ball. What kind of tosser move is that?”
His face was beautiful and blank. It was as if he heard her but just couldn't bring himself to care. Magic and cold sweat prickled along the skin of her back under her silk ball gown as a wave of nausea washed over her, starting at the crown of her head and going to the soles of her feet. She noticed that instead of the brilliant, glowing gold-colored silk vest and tie that was meant to complement her shimmering golden chiffon dress, he was wearing stark sky blue satin.
Just like Alice.
Beth gave up on the cake and gulped down the rest of the tea. She couldn't stay there, not with the sudden rush of memories of how she and Chess always met for tea before he went to go train. Not when the memory of their breakup decided to resurface for the millionth time.
She'd get over it. She'd deal with it. She hadn’t even told Lora and Constance about that night. Instead, she’d left once she saw Alice walk away with Chess and spent the rest of the evening drinking moonshine and staring at the stars from the roof of her car. She’d asked the stars why. Why would he hurt her if he loved her? The answer was simple.
He didn’t love her, and it didn’t matter if she told her friends anymore, because they’d betrayed her as well.
Alice did a mighty fine job of taking everyone she loved away from her.
She'd be fine eventually, but just then? She needed to get out of there. Just breathing the same air as him burned her lungs. She made for the far exit to the café area, ducking her head and keeping her eyes firmly on the ground.
Oh, bloody fantastic. Even that strategy failed her as she ran into the corridor and up the stairs and into something tall, lean, and solid that smelled like fresh rain and old books.
She looked up and her heart raced as their eyes met.
Chess.
Chapter 9