Malice in Wonderland Bundle 3

by Lotus Rose

  “Oh yes, my darling, most definitely.” He makes fish-like motions with his mouth.

  Sleepy B gives forth a sort of growl. “You use one of your kisses on him, and I’ll kill you.”

  The Spell turns to her and chuckles. “How? You’re unarmed.”

  “You’re wrong,” Sleepy B snarls. “I have my two arms. Get your neck close enough to them and I’ll strangle you to death...if you don’t lay off Jabby.”

  “Oh ho ho! You’re a spunky little rodent, aren’t you? So adorable! Why, I could just kiss you!”

  “Don’t you dare,” Sleepy B says. “Would your magic kisses work on me?”

  “Absolutely. It would be different if you were a female jabberwock. Since I’m a female jabberwock, my kisses don’t work on females of my kind. But conveniently, you’re a human female little girl, so my magic kisses shall work just fine on you, which is why I think you must have been sent to me as a gift. I could incapacitate you or kill you with a single kiss.”

  “I’d choke you to death if you tried.”

  “I think it’s sooo cute you think your tiny little human hands could choke my thick jabberwock neck.”

  “If you’re so sure, bring it over here, then,” Sleepy B says, she holds her hands out, forward in a choking gesture.

  The Spell gives a mocking chuckle. “Maybe I shall take you up on your offer, after kissing my new plaything.” She locks eyes with Jabby once again, crinkles her clawed finger over and over in a beckoning gesture. “Are you ready, my pet?”

  “I’m more than ready, I’m desperate, love. Why must you tease me so?!”

  “Touch not your lips to his!” Sleepy B proclaims dramatically whilst pointing dramatically at the Spell.

  The Spell proclaims, “You’re annoyingly bossy for someone so young. I’d hate to see how you become once you grow up...but perhaps that shan’t happen...”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THE SPELL LEANS IN and kisses passionately at Jabby’s mouth. He moans in pleasure, and he crumples unmoving on the ground.

  “No!” Sleepy B shouts. She runs and launches herself in the air in a flying sidekick aimed at the Spell’s side.

  Reflective steel glints as the Spell draws her sword with lightning speed, striking Sleepy B in her stomach, clanking against the chainmail—the force of the blow sends her sailing backward through the air. She manages to land on her feet, but her feet slide backward on the smooth surface.

  She falls onto her stomach while continuing to slide. She’s pawing at the smooth surface to slow herself down—she doesn’t extend her claws, because there’s nothing for them to hook onto.

  She’s almost stopped herself, when she feels the ground fall out from under her feet, and with dread she realizes, she’s slipping off the edge—first her legs drop off, now the rest of her body is following.

  “Sleepy!” she hears the Cat call out.

  Sleepy B manages to grab a hold of the edge with her hands. Her grip is tenuous, though, as she dangles off the platform’s side. She weakly tries to pull herself up, but her fingers slide, and she almost loses her grip entirely.

  The Spell appears, looking down at her. She swiftly grabs one of Sleepy B’s arms. “You can’t die yet. I haven’t yet given you your tongue-lashing. That’s why I only hit you with the flat of my sword. Once I have properly lectured, demeaned, and belittled you, then I shall give you your kiss of death, but first...your kiss of incapacitation—you shan’t be able to move, but shall be able to hear every single one of my chastising words, you naughty little girl.” The Spell grabs Sleepy B’s other arm, and lifts her up. Sleepy B shouts and tries to kick, but only meets empty air. Sleepy B struggles and kicks some more, causing the Spell to chuckle. She plops Sleepy B down on the ground so the fronts of her thighs are pressed onto the ground, to keep her from kicking out.

  Sleepy B gives up the struggle. “Fine, I guess you shall kiss me, then, but whatever you do, don’t caress my cheek immediately after, for I’m not some little girl.”

  “Oh, but you are. What an odd demand...”

  “I’m warning you, you’ll be sorry...” She scowls and stares the Spell down.

  “Aww...how adorable...” She pulls Sleepy B forward and plants a kiss upon her cheek.

  Sleepy B doesn’t die, nor does she lose control of her body, which verifies what she’d been hoping...

  I’m not really a little girl...

  So Sleepy B fakes it—her body goes limp, her head lolls to the side, with her eyes still open, staring blankly into the Spell’s face.

  The Spell whispers into Sleepy B’s exposed ear, “See, you succumbed because you’re a pathetic, weak little girl. And as for your last request, I shall most definitely disobey.” She releases one of Sleep B’s hands—it drops and sways limply.

  The Spell caresses Sleepy B’s cheek gently while still holding her aloft by one of Sleepy B’s arms.

  The Spell pulls her closer to meet Sleepy B’s eyes. The Spell’s expression shifts from smile to glare, and she snarls, “Now I shall give you my lecture, little brat.” She pulls her hand away from Sleepy B’s cheek, providing Sleepy B the opening she’s been waiting for.

  “First of all—” the Spell says.

  Sleepy B wills her claws to extend, sliding out with that shrik sound.

  The Spell’s eyes slide reflexively at the flicker of movement, staring puzzled at the claws extended from the hand of the arm which the Spell is holding—it hasn’t fully registered to the Spell what she’s seeing.

  With her free hand, Sleepy B whips her hand out and across, slashing the Spell across her neck, sending droplets of blood flying through the air.

  In shock, the Spell releases Sleepy B’s arm, and Sleepy B lands crouching on the platform surface.

  “Brilliant move, Sleepy,” she hears the Cat say behind her, but she doesn’t acknowledge him.

  The Spell goes onto her knees, she straightens upright—blood is running down her neck, down her chest, and she clasps her hands around her neck, her eyes bulging wide with fear.

  The Spell looks down at Sleepy B, who locks eyes, and says, “I assume your lecture is canceled.”

  The Spell attempts to say something, but only a raspy wheezing sound comes out.

  “Canceled due to laryngitis? Though I must admit, that’s not technically the correct diagnosis!”

  The life leaves the Spell’s eyes, her arms fall away from her neck—at the same time her body topples forward—Sleepy B has to jump to the side to avoid being crushed.

  The body slams to the ground and goes still.

  “Excuse you!” Sleepy B shouts at the body’s back.

  She turns to look at Jabby, who is still calmly lying on his back.

  “Blimey,” the Cat says, floating next to her, and he points with his chin...when Sleepy B looks to the Spell’s body again, she sees that it’s now glowing with a light reddish light.

  Its shape shifts and transforms into a swarm cloud of flapping red butterfly-like insects.

  With the sound of hundreds of flapping wings, the butterflies whiz off in all directions—one of them hovers in front of Sleepy B’s eyes.

  Now she realizes it’s not a butterfly—it’s like a flapping, symbolically-represented pair of red lips.

  “The kiss energy is being released,” she murmurs to herself.

  The flying butterfly lips seemingly reacts to her mouth’s movements—it flutters down to kiss her lips—it sends an electric tingle through them.

  And the flying lips zoom away.

  All the rest have flown away, and are nowhere to be seen.

  Jabby sits up. “What happened? Where’s the Spell?”

  “Jabby!” She rushes over to him. “Are you okay, darling?”

  The amorous look in her eyes causes him to draw back slightly. “I’m fine. Where’s the Spell?”

  “Oh.” She waves a dismissive hand. “I killed her. She transformed into a bunch of flying lips that all flew away. Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay! She s
educed you—but that’s not her place.” She bites her lip playfully. “From now on...” She looks up at him with hooded eyes. “That’s my job.” She leans forward to kiss him...

  But he presses his hand to her shoulder. “Whoa, what are you doing?”

  “Jabby, I’ve something to tell you. I’m not really a little girl. I never was. I’m a—”

  A rumbling sound issues forth beneath them. Suddenly the column starts falling—no, it’s lowering, Sleepy B realizes—she watches as the Spell’s throne crumbles into dust.

  The platform finishes collapsing and Jabby and Sleepy B find themselves on the gravelly ground again—Humpty and the witch are standing off to the side.

  Sleepy B looks around to find that the phantom exes and their tied-up ex-boyfriend are nowhere to be seen—even the circle of chalk has vanished—all there is to see, is gravel in all directions. As Sleepy B finishes her visual appraisal of her surroundings, she sees the Cat’s head floating down from above.

  “Welcome back,” the witch says. “I assume you successfully completed your task.”

  “Yes, I killed the Spell. Does that mean that little girls and jabberwocks can now properly fight?”

  “It does, but it’s only a temporary solution. The being who cast the spell must be prevented from recasting it.”

  Sleepy B says, “She mentioned a witch named Zenta cast her.”

  “Ah, I know her. She’s a nutter. I can send you to her, but first I must guide your teammates upon their challenge. I shall send you back to Jabberwock Valley, but outside the royal caves—in the surrounding forest, so you can avoid capture. There is someone there I’d like you to meet.”

  “Who?”

  “You’ll see. I must tell you, Jabby, I believe the Snark may try to kill you.”

  “Why?” Jabby says.

  “He is afraid that you shall become the leader of the jabberwocks yourself, for according to prophesy, within the next few days, a leader shall lead the jabberwocks into a new age. This leader shall be one who has ‘both human and jabberwock been’. He believes that if you are to remain alive, you may become the one to fulfill the prophesy instead of him.”

  Jabby starts, “What would I—”

  “Enough chitchat,” the witch says. She raises her arms, mutters some incoherent words, and a portal opens up.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  MALICE, HATTER, AND the Snark (currently controlling the Emperor’s body)—are waiting at the signs in the road. The witch walks toward them, appearing suddenly as if out of a thick fog.

  “Let’s go further down the trail, so that you may attempt to regain flight for the jabberwocks. Follow me...”

  As they walk behind the witch, their surroundings suddenly shift. Now they stand in front of a column that’s surrounded by a plain of rocky gravel as far as the eye can see, with no visible plant life at all. The gray column of stone jaggedly rises about two hundred feet up. A staircase is carved into its side, spiraling upward to the top, where a gray-colored bird peers down at them, over the edge.

  The witch is looking back up at it, and says, “That’s a jub jub bird. It should be flying down here shortly, to speak to us.”

  “But jub jub birds can’t fly,” the Snark says.

  “Here they can,” says the witch.

  The bird leaps and glides downward in a descending spiral, and lands.

  It stands about 4 1/2 feet tall and has a mix of gray and dirty-silver mottled feathers. From the top of its head spouts blue-tipped crest feathers, like the top of a peacock’s head.

  In a nasally, female voice, she says, “Greetings. I’m Udu, a member of the extinct jub jub birds.”

  Hatter says, “Pardon me if this is an uncouth question, but how can you be speaking if you’re extinct?”

  “It’s actually quite a reasonable question,” Udu says. “We actually are extinct in your world, but here in this jabberwocky realm, I am a symbolic representation of the jub jubs, kept ‘alive’, as it were, by the memories and stories of the jabberwocks.”

  The Snark says, “It seems the memories are faultily recalled, since jub jub birds never flew. They were like dodo birds or ostriches.”

  “Emu?” Hatter says.

  Udu’s posture straightens. “Excuse me, my good monster, but we are none of those birds. We are jub jub. And we inherited the gift of flight when it was taken from the jabberwocks. I, Udu, am the guardian of flight, here in this mini-realm.” She directs her eyes upward and gives a little nudge of her head to indicate the top of the column.

  “Is that where you live?” Hatter says.

  “It is, but it’s also where the gift of flight can be summoned, for those who seek it.”

  “Makes sense,” Hatter says, nodding appreciatively.

  Udu says, “Before we go any further, I must ask if any of you have ever been both jabberwock and human. I shan’t help you, otherwise.”

  The Snark says, “I have both jabberwock and human been, in accordance with prophesy. For you see, I’m really a snark and have in the past, taken possession—”

  Udu says, “Thank you. You fulfill the conditions. I don’t need your life story. Now, I have been holding the gift of flight until the time came to return it to the jabberwocks, assuming all the challenges are met. It seems that time is today—the days that have been prophesized grow near.”

  “Yes,” the Snark says through the Emperor’s mouth. “Soon the jabberwocks shall grow strong again, and all the remaining monsters shall be united, in Woeland. I had hoped to join forces with the jub jubs, but you are unfortunately extinct. I happen to be the leader of the jabberwocks, and future leader of Woeland.”

  “Ah, brilliant,” Udu says. “Good luck to you.”

  Malice tries to sound polite, as she says, “I happen to be the Queen of Wonderland.”

  “Is that so?” Udu says. “My condolences.”

  Hatter says, “She shan’t allow Woeland to revive if she has any say in the matter.”

  “A reasonable position for her, as a human, to take,” Udu says. She looks at Malice, says, “But are you here to help the jabberwocks regain flight? Don’t you realize that will only make them more formidable enemies?”

  “Hush, bird,” the Snark says. “Don’t be planting doubts in her head.”

  “I’m not stupid,” Malice says. “I just think it’s the right thing to do. Jabberwocks were meant to fly—that’s why they have wings. And I think humans and monsters can be friends in the future.”

  “We jub jubs have wings, and we’re not meant to fly. It’s actually quite a bother to have to worry about navigating the air, and the ground as well. We’d happily return the gift of flight to the jabberwocks.”

  “Jolly good!” the Snark says and slaps the Emperor’s hands together. “We gladly accept.”

  Udu says, “The most valued things are acquired by effort. I can help you to regain flight, but I need to inform you, as emperor of the jabberwocks, fate requires something of you, if flight is to be restored.”

  “Yes? What is it?”

  “To regain flight, you must be willing to make a leap of faith for the sake of your monsters.”

  “A leap of faith, aye? I don’t like the sound of that. Can you give me any hints as to what the leap of faith is about, and if I should do it? I should like to know if it’ll be successful...”

  “You’ll have to deal with that when the time comes,” Udu says. “Now, I shall carry you all up so you can attempt to regain flight.”

  “I’ll stay down here,” the witch says. “You must do this part on your own.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” the Cat says. He floats upward.

  “Wouldn’t the stairs be safer?” Hatter says nervously.

  Udu replies, “I’ll carry you one at a time. I know what you’re thinking: how can wee li’l me manage the weight? The answer is: sheer tenacity and will. I am confident that I probably won’t drop most of you, and I’m even more certain I probably won’t drop the girl, due to her lighter
weight. But I should warn you, just like in the real world, a fall shall kill you quite dead, so don’t squirm.”

  The Snark makes a whimpery sort of sound.

  “Just kidding!” Udu says. “You’ll have to use the stairs.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE TEAM MEMBERS AND the jub jub bird stand atop the relatively flat top of the column, which forms a rough circular area of about twenty feet diameter.

  They are looking down at Udu’s nest on the ground before them. It is constructed from twigs and dried grass, and holds five eggs that are pink with gray spots.

  Hatter says, “It’s astounding you found so many twigs in an area with no trees.”

  Udu says, “Wonders never cease. Now, four of those eggs hold little jub jub chickies, but one contains the gift of flight. In order for it to return to the jabberwocks, you must fulfill the steps of a ritual that recreates the steps a jabberwock goes through to attain flight. If you fail, the gift of flight shall remain here. There are three steps, with each one needing to be completed by a different member of your team. I must warn you, that in this magical realm, the challenges have a way of shaping themselves to fit its participants.”

  Malice says, “The witch seems to have chosen us specifically for this challenge. Could it be we are specifically suited for these tasks of yours?”

  Udu shrugs in her bird way. “We shall soon see. Now, the first task pays homage to the beginning stage of a bird’s (or jabberwock’s) life—the egg stage. One of you must grow the special egg to a size big enough for another of your team to fit inside. The next question you’re gonna ask is, how?...so let me tell you...one of you must enlarge the egg by bringing forth your feelings of romantic affection concerning someone else. You see, it is symbolic, because love brings little chickies and jabberwockies into the world, you see. So, one of you, focus on the egg, then drudge up all those feelings of love and affection you have for that special someone. If the feelings are strong enough, the egg shall expand to a big enough proportion. So now, which of you shall perform this task?”