by Dani Hoots
Malcolm stepped in front of him. “Bill.”
Bill looked at us for a moment, then smiled. “We are free.” he laughed and hugged him. “You sly dog, you did it!”
“Good to see you in a better mood,” Malcolm said.
Melvin, Davis, and Chase went up to talk to Bill but Kenny just stood next to me.
“Nice to see everything is back to normal,” Kenny said.
“Yes.” I watched as the others talked to Bill. “But Morpheus is still out there.”
“He has no power now, not after you broke that orb. I still don’t understand how you got it but I’m sure happy you did.”
“Alice gave it to me, she must have known you all would have needed it later,” I laughed. “This place is so strange, it makes no sense. But I like it, it’s a breath of fresh air away from reality.”
“So question is.” Kenny looked at me through the corner of his eye. “Where are you going to go next?”
I looked back at Malcolm and the others. I forgot, I would have to go back, away from this place. I worried about home and being gone, but I never thought about having to leave this place. Truth was I loved it here, now that people weren’t after me. This place could be nice, especially with my new friends.
“Alice,” Chase called. “Come on, we need to leave.”
I hurried over. “What do you mean?”
“We have to report all of this to the king and queen, of course,” Bill said. He glanced at Kenny, a little grin appearing on his lips. “Now that you have saved us.”
Chase grabbed my hand and suddenly we were in front of the palace. I could appreciate the beauty of it better now that I didn’t have to worry about my head getting chopped off. Paper lanterns hung in space all around us. A figure came running out towards us.
“Alice!” the queen called. “Malcolm, you did it!”
Malcolm and the others bowed in front of the Queen.
“All as expected for the Queen’s head servant,” Malcolm said.
“You will be heavily rewarded.” She looked at us all. “All of you.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” Malcolm bowed again.
“As for you.” The Queen stepped in front of me. “I don’t know how, but you defeated Morpheus and restored Wonderland. How will I ever repay you?”
“Oh.” I blushed. “I don’t want anything in return, it was these boys really.”
She smiled. “Oh, I’m sure you handled a great deal of it. These boys never had been able to work together before.”
“Really,” I asked. “That’s surprising.”
“You must be one amazing girl,” she winked. “Now, shall we head inside?”
We nodded and followed the Queen inside. This time I was able to really relax as I strolled through the palace with the others. It was still as magnificent as when I entered the first time, and it was a relief to be able to see the face of everyone who passed. They all smiled at us, bowing thanks as they went on with their work. It felt great to have done something for others, and even if I wasn’t given praise like this, I still would have done it.
As we went further down the corridors, something caught my eye and I stopped. Everyone kept forward as I peered down the adjacent corridor. A small figure stood in the distance. The White Rabbit.
Without thinking, I followed him. Once he saw me heading to him, he turned around and started running. I ran after him. I don’t know what the driving force was that caused me to do that, but I did. I ran after him. Maybe it was just curiosity.
He disappeared around a corner and once I made it around it, he was gone. There was only one door at the end of the hall. I stepped to it, slowly, my mind only focusing on the door.
I slid it open to find the only thing in the room being a mirror. It was large, elegant, I had never seen something so beautiful. Standing in front of it, I heard the door shut behind me. I spun around to see the White Rabbit.
“You aren’t supposed to still be here, Alice, you are supposed to leave,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I backed away from him.
“Goodbye Alice.” He shoved me and I fell back.
CHAPTER 31
My eyes opened and I found my Tardis alarm clock wheezing and groaning. I pushed the top of it and turned it off. The smell of oil paint filled my nostrils. I looked around, confused. My paintings were scattered across the room, dirty clothes all over the floor.
I was home.
I rubbed my eyes and tried to remember what happened. Wonderland. No, that couldn’t have been possible. I shook my head. It was a dream. It had to have been a dream. Too many fumes in my room, I should probably air it out in here.
Rolling over, I brought the covers over my head, letting the warmth protect me. It couldn’t have been real, it was ridiculous.
But something in the back of my mind kept saying it was real.
I finally pulled myself out of bed and got ready for the day. I was to meet Kate downtown and we were going to go shopping. I wanted to get my mind off of my recent grades, but for some reason it didn’t bother me like it did last night. Maybe due to what I just witnessed, it didn’t matter anymore.
My mom dropped me off near Nordstrom’s and I hurried inside. It was pouring down raining now and I hated the feeling of wet clothes, especially when it was really cold out as well. The dampness reminded me of my dream. The Dark Forest was always damp but at least it wasn’t cold. I shook the thoughts out of my head. It wasn’t real, what was I thinking?
I found Kate near the Free People section and hurried over to her. After our usual hug, she looked at me. “You look different, Alice.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that a good thing?”
She smiled. “Yes, you look more confident.”
“Actually, I feel a lot better. I had a fight yesterday with my parents, but for some reason I woke up feeling refresh.”
We spent the rest of the day looking through clothes, eating lunch at Golden Crown, and finished up the afternoon going through the antique store that we swore a ghost lives in. We even stopped by the comic-book store that carries high-class signed comics, one in particular I liked I wished I could afford. A Stan Lee signed The Amazing Spider-Man, the first introduction to Doctor Connors, aka, Lizard Man. Only a couple thousand dollars, that’s all…
Kate’s mom picked us up and we ate dinner at Christo’s, a nice little pizza and pasta place. Then we retired back to her house and watched, ironically, Syfy channel’s Alice. It was Kate’s pick, not mine.
As we watched the three-hour long miniseries, we came upon the jabberwocky.
I threw a piece popcorn at the TV. “That’s not what the jabberwocky looks like.”
Kate gave me a look. “What did you say?”
“That’s not what it looks like.”
“It’s a creature from a fairy tale, how would you know what it looks like?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, I just do.”
“You are silly, Alice.”
We finished the series and ended up having a Teen Titan marathon. Sunday went by as well and we finished up homework that was due that Monday. Kate’s mom dropped me back off at home, and after proving to my parents that I had finished my homework and Kate reassuring them it was perfect, I went into my room and painted.
I painted what I remembered from the dream; the Dark Forest, the Kingdom of Dreams, the Circus. I decided to use watercolors for each of them, and opened my window to get the lingering oil paint smell out of my room. It never seemed to leave. Once I was finished, I used a hairdryer to make sure the colors were as deep as I wanted them, then finally went to bed.
Monday morning came and I got to school and emptied my bag in my locker, the books making a loud thunk as I shoved them on the top shelf. Kate stood by, all ready to go to first period.
“Oh, look Alice! It’s your boyfriend,” she poked fun at me as she did everyday.
I glanced over to see Malcolm and the others putting their books away as well. Mal
colm looked over and I blushed.
“He’s not my boyfriend, you know that.”
“But your cheeks get so red when I say things like that.” She laughed.
I shut my locker and started for class. “You are so mean, Kate.”
As we were almost to our room, I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. Turning around I found Malcolm standing right behind me.
“After all that we have been through, you don’t even say hi to me?” He smiled.
I stared at him for a moment, thinking. No, it couldn’t have been real. Chase, Melvin, and Davis came up behind him. I grinned and flung my arms around Malcolm.
“It was real!” I laughed. “And you came back!”
“Of course we did, Alice, you don’t think we would leave our favorite girl behind.” Chase grinned.
“Um, Alice,” Kate said as she saw my arms around Malcolm. “Did I miss something?”
“No, you missed nothing at all.”
“Okay,” she pointed down the hall. “But you do see those girls running towards you as if they are going to attack.”
I quickly ducked into the classroom, happy to know my friends were still with me and everything wasn’t just a dream. Chase and Davis sat next to me along with Kate. I smiled, happy to have such great friends.
With them, I knew I could overcome anything.
Other works by Dani Hoots
Sanshlian Series:
The Quest
Daughter of Hades:
Endangered
A Falling Starr:
Forgotten
Found
Free
A World of Vampires:
Hooh-Strah-Dooh
Baobhan Sith
Strigoi
Jiangshi
Asanbosam
Lilith
Peuchen
Aufhocker
Soucouyant
My Broken Heart:
Hanami
Last Summer
Professional Secret
Fraudulent Love
Shattered Engagement
Once Upon a December
Hel’s Labyrinth
Acknowledgements
I want to thank everyone who made this novel possible. A big thank you to my editor Justin Boyer who hopefully hasn’t gotten sick of reading my stories yet. Thank you to Desiree DeOrto for helping teach me how to use photoshop and make covers. Best teacher ever! And lastly, thank you to my husband and parents who are always supporting me.
About the Author
Dani Hoots is a science fiction, fantasy, romance, and young adult author who loves anything with a story. She has a B.S. in Anthropology, a Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning, and is currently in the Your Novel Year Program through Arizona State University.
Currently she is working on a YA urban fantasy series called Daughter of Hades, a historic fantasy vampire series called A World of Vampires, and a YA sci-fi series called Sanshlian Series.
Her hobbies include reading, watching anime, cooking, studying different languages, wire walking, tinkering with her violin and concertina, and volunteering at the library. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two cats.
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Feel free to email her with any questions or comments: [email protected]
Visit her website: http://danihoots.com