“Oh God.” I threw my head in my neck. “Now I’m going delusional half an hour before the night of my life.”
“You’re not going delusional.” Heather took my hands and squeezed them. “Maybe you’re just tired. You have no idea how many times I see things that aren’t there. The other day, I was confident I had made myself a can of iced tea. Imagine my surprise when I opened the fridge and saw an empty can of iced tea I had apparently made two days prior. The brain is weird like that.”
“The fact we’re both slowly going crazy isn’t exactly making me feel better,” I joked, even though it was. Maybe Heather was right and I shouldn’t overthink this. A white shape was pretty common, and I could’ve mistaken a flash of light for being a rabbit.
Although I was pretty sure I hadn’t seen a flash of light.
I had seen a rabbit. A rabbit wearing clothes.
“Anyway, let’s get going,” Heather suggested while she opened the door on the passenger side for me. “This time though, for the love of all things holy, please don’t startle me like that again, or I might have a heart attack.”
“I won’t,” I told her as I got into the car. Next time I saw a rabbit that no one else could see, I would just go and check myself into the psych ward.
Although, I did wonder, as Heather drove toward school, to prom, why I saw a rabbit, when I had zero affinity for the animal before. It just seemed so random. Why not a flying pig, or a zombie cat, or anything else but a rabbit with clothes on?
You can’t choose your kind of crazy, I decided while I leaned back in my seat, trying to think of happier things: like how Finn would look when he finally decided to kiss me, or how good it would feel to have my first kiss—and no, kissing aunts and uncles on their cheeks during Christmas parties didn’t count.
Either way, I concluded as I tried my best to forget about the imaginary rabbit, today was going to be the first day of the rest of my life, and it was going to be awesome.
Chapter 5
Three Days in Wonderland
“You’re crazy,” Snark said for the tenth time. “She’s crazy,” he said to the March Hare now, who simply shrugged, as if saying ‘I know, but what am I going to do about it?’
“I’m not,” I tried to persuade the little creature. “I have a plan.”
“A plan.” Billy grunted. “Do tell me, what is this amazing plan of yours that will somehow miraculously make you survive the Tournament? Because newsflash, Alice Carroll, no one survives the Tournament.”
“You haven’t even been in there,” Tweedledee said, while he swayed back and forth, the movement almost making me seasick. “No one even lasted an entire day in there.”
Billy crossed his arms, not impressed at all. “We can tell you about the labyrinth until hell freezes over, or the Pool of Tears has dried out, but you still won’t be any the wiser. You have to be in there to believe it.”
“So, it is a labyrinth,” I concluded. “I wasn’t sure about that yet.”
“It is,” Hare replied. “With walls closing in on you from all sides, with nights as dark as the day. That’s only what I have heard from the guards, though. Like Billy said, no one ever makes it out alive. The Queen watches the Tournament from atop her throne in the courtyard, and according to the guards, she cheers every time someone dies.”
I frowned. “I thought the whole purpose of the labyrinth was to find out who would be worthy enough to be her successor?”
Up until the Wars for Wonderland that ripped the land in half and turned the powers-that-be upside down, Wonderland was ruled by Kings and Queens based on their bloodline alone. But then, the Wars ripped the country to shreds, and the Queen of Hearts became the new ruler. A Queen without an heir, and seemingly without any intention to produce an heir.
She could’ve just picked someone worthy enough, train them and have them named as her heir. But the Queen of Hearts wouldn’t be a bloodthirsty tyrant if she didn’t manage to make a blood-sport out of this too.
Whoever survived the Tournament and made it out alive, would be named the heir to Wonderland, such had the Queen decreed. Then, she had sent her army of playing cards across all the corners of the world, where they stapled posters about the event on any tree and any house they could find. During the first trials, people and creatures alike came from all the corners of Wonderland to participate, at least that was according to what my friends in the Neverever Wood had told me.
Everyone who competed died. They didn’t even make it past the first round. While their families wept in agony, the Queen sat triumphant, enjoying her own twisted little game, as if she wanted to show to all the citizens of Wonderland once and for all that no one in the realm was as powerful as she was, and no one deserved the throne as much as she did.
After a while, people stopped competing. Then, the Queen, notorious for her famous phrase, ‘off with their heads!’ decided than rather chop off criminals’ heads just like that, she would give them a choice. Either lose their heads, or fight in the Tournament and ultimately, likely lose their heads.
“That was the purpose, yes,” the Hare said. “To find the heir to Wonderland. But either the Queen lost track of her initial goal along the way, or she’s just thrilled that no one stands a chance against that infernal challenge she has concocted, but either way, tomorrow you will die, like the rest of us, and the Queen of Hearts will laugh at you while you take your dying breath.”
Billy creased his brow as he turned toward his friend. “You’re a little Victorian-poet like tonight, you know? Very gloomy.”
The Hare shrugged. “I’m just sad to know you’ll be dying, Billy. For myself, I’m a criminal. Tea trafficking is no laughing matter, and I deserve punishment. But you were only confused, and I don’t think it’s fair you ought to die because of that.”
I sighed out loud while the two friends gave each other a teary hug. “No one is dying. Just because the others died in the Tournament, doesn’t mean we will. We have one advantage, something we have that none of them had.”
This piqued Tweedledee’s interest. The little boy with the impressive tummy darted around me, chanting “what is it? What is it?” only to be followed seconds later by his twin mimicking his gestures.
“Now I’m curious too.” The Snark took off its wig, deciding this was apparently an important enough occasion to lose the headpiece.
“Teamwork,” I replied, clapping my hands.
They all stared at me as if I had morphed into a dragon and grown three heads.
“Team…work?” Billy tested out the word as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. “How is teamwork going to help us with anything?”
“Think about it.” I glanced at all of them, hoping they would actually listen to me and not dismiss the thought throughout. “So far, everyone entering the Tournament has been looking out for number one alone. No one has bothered to take on the Queen’s challenge as a team.”
The Hare blinked slowly, listening to my every word. “You might be right, Alice Carroll. No one has worked in a team.”
“So what if we work as a team?” Billy threw his hands in the air while he started pacing about. In the bunk room, we didn’t have that much space, especially not considering how many of us were in here, so after half a minute of pacing about, Billy gave up already. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like all of us could become heirs to Wonderland; the Queen might decide to chop off our heads anyway, just for the sake of it.”
“I hate to say it, but the Lizard is right,” the Snark said. “The Queen won’t indulge cheaters.”
“Cheaters?” I frowned at the small bird with the wig on its head. “Have you ever seen the rules for this game?”
“Well, no,” the Snark replied. “But there ought to be rules, every game has rules.”
“If we don’t know the rules, then we can’t break them,” I told my new friends. “My friend, the White Rabbit, studied the Tournament, and he said that if we work together, we stand a chance.”
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br /> “The White Rabbit?” Hare’s features lit up, and he seemed to come alive with excitement. “Is the Rabbit coming for tea?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again—that Hare, for whatever reason, was more than a little obsessed with tea. “No, the White Rabbit isn’t coming for tea. But it’s the White Rabbit who told me I had to come here, and I had to participate in this Tournament.”
“And you followed the request of a Rabbit?” Billy sat down on his bed and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms behind his head. “You’re raving mad to believe the words of a Rabbit.”
“Bleeping mad,” the Snark agreed, jumping next to Billy onto his bed.
“Probably suffering from lunacy,” Tweedledee said, before he rolled back under his bed, hiding in the shadows again.
“You know, that disease you get from the moon,” Tweedledum explained, referring to ‘lunacy’.
“Is it tea time yet?” the Hare asked as he too retreated to his bed.
“Guys.” I didn’t want them to turn their back against me, not now. If they didn’t help me, if we didn’t help each other, then the Rabbit’s plan was for naught and I might as well have stayed in the human world. There would’ve been no need for Rabbit to risk his life trying to cross into my world and persuade me to travel to Wonderland, if we didn’t even bother trying.
“I know it seems tough, and I know it’s not right that you should die, or risk dying, for all the petty crimes you did.”
Snark lifted up its finger in protest, but I anticipated its comment. “Besides you, of course, Snark. You’re a veritable evil mastermind.” I tried to keep the sarcasm in my voice to a minimum.
“Either way,” I continued, “the Queen of Hearts has taken something from all of you, for that, I’m sure. And if we’re not careful, she’ll even take your life. Through a messed-up challenge like the Tournament, through sending you on a one-way trip to the gallows, whatever suits her fancy. You don’t deserve to die, none of you do. For breaking into your neighbour’s house by accident, Billy? For stealing a cupcake, Snark?” I softly shook my head. “It’s time for this reign of terror to end. If we figure out how to work together, then w can certainly figure out how to survive the Tournament.”
“Ugh.” Billy groaned; “You’re one of those types.”
“Those types?”
“The forever-optimists. Who think that as long as the sun rises every morning, we have something to be thankful about, and everything will turn out all right.” He grunted. “I hate those people.”
I bit my lip, trying to figure out how I could best put this. “Listen. Okay. You don’t know me, and I respect that. You have no reason to trust me, but what’s the harm in trying if you’re pretty sure tomorrow you will be dead anyway?”
Billy seemed to contemplate this. He tilted his head to the left, seemingly lost in thought. After a while, he shrugged and held out his hand toward me. “What the heck, why not. Like you said, if I’m about to die anyway, we might as well give this a shot first.”
“Count me in too,” the Hare said and we shook hands. “That is, if it’s not tea time yet. You know how much I need my tea.”
“Tweedledee and Tweedledum at your service, Mam,” the twins said from under the bed. The first one, whom I guessed was Tweedledee since he had taken the lead so far, lifted his hand to his head and saluted me.
“If we must,” the Snark reluctantly agreed.
I smiled at my little band of misfits. I quite liked them, the dynamics between them.
And I hoped and prayed that by this time tomorrow, they wouldn’t all be dead.
Chapter 6
One Day Before Wonderland
Heather and I reached the school parking lot. We parked, and then headed toward the gym, where the dance was already in full swing.
“We’re fashionably late, just like planned,” Heather said enthusiastically. “How do I look?” She twirled a loose strand of hair around her finger.
“If you don’t get some boy candy tonight, then I don’t know who will,” I told her. “How about me?”
“Smoking,” Heather replied. “But your vocabulary, Alice… ‘Boy candy’, really?”
We sniggered, linked arms and walked into the gym together. Music was blaring out of the speakers so loud it practically shattered my eardrums.
The gym was so crowded if you pushed ten more people in, the building was sure to explode.
We said ‘hey’ and waved to at least half a dozen people by the time we made it to the bar to order our drinks. Heather ordered a coke, and I tried some of the punch from the punch bowl, which was guarded by the sternest teacher in school, our mathematics’ teacher, a woman with the kind of face that would made you doubt she even knew how to smile.
I scanned the room, trying to find Finn. Where was he? God, I hoped he hadn’t stood me up.
“Where’s your guy?” Heather asked before she took a sip from her coke. “Has he texted you yet?
I dug up my cell phone and unlocked the screen. “Nope. Nada.”
“If he stood you up, I’m going to skin him alive and wear his skin like a trophy,” my best friend promised.
I smiled at her. “You’re adorkable.” Still, despite my trying to laugh it off, I was a little worried as to why Finn hadn’t showed up yet.
“No pouting,” Heather scolded, slapping my hand. “We promised only happy stuff tonight, okay?”
“I know, I know. I’m just…” I shrugged, and downed half of my punch. “Anyway, if Finn decides not to show up, it’s his loss. Let’s go dance.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice. Woohoo!” Heather pumped her arm in the air and jumped about, leading me toward the dance floor.
While we danced, each of taking turns making up crazy moves, I couldn’t help but keep on glancing about, looking for Finn.
The clock ticked past nine, and when Heather went for a quick bathroom break, I took out my phone and checked if I didn’t have any missed calls or text messages.
Nothing.
A tad reluctantly, I opened up my messenger app and sent Finn a message. ‘Hey. Where r u?”
A few minutes later, my phone beeped, indicating I had received a text back.
‘With the guys. Will be there soon.’
“He could’ve at least texted you first,” Heather said from behind me, startling me half to death.
“Can you not?” I asked while I held my heart, which was racing in my chest. “Not show up just like that, and not read my private text messages?”
“Nothing is private between us, Goldilocks,” Heather said while she twirled my hair around her fingers. “But Finn-boy, he’s old news now. I know, I know, he’s smoking hot, but he’s also a complete idiot.”
“It’s not like he stood me up or anything,” I said defensively. “He’s just hanging with his friends.”
“Uhu.” The sarcasm rolled off Heather’s tongue. “He doesn’t deserve you. It’s time you start giving yourself some credit, Alice. You deserve much better than Finn. Heck, much better than half the guys in school.”
I shrugged. Despite trying to defend him, Finn not acting like the prince charming I had secretly hoped he would be, wasn’t exactly making me feel better.
Even though I hadn’t voiced it out loud, not even to Heather, I had hoped Finn would be all over me tonight, shower me with attention, maybe even give me a flower or a small trinket. I had hoped we would slow-dance together, barely able to keep our eyes from each other. And then, as the clock struck midnight, we would kiss underneath the disco ball lighting up the gym. Maybe not the most romantic first kiss in history, but still romantic enough that it would be memorable for me.
Maybe I was an idiot. Who still believed in romance nowadays? In fairytales? Maybe I just had to let go of that nonsense and realize all I was going to get was a mediocre amount of attention from a mediocre guy called Finn.
“The doom and gloom is back,” Heather complained. “Cheer up!” She put her thumbs on my fa
ce, and pushed my lips into a smile. “Tonight is the night, remember?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we put too much focus on it being tonight, you know?” I scratched my arm. “Maybe we were hoping it would be more than it is.”
“Oh God. This is all Finn’s doing. If I see that guy, I’m going to rip his head off, just so you know,” my best friend told me. “He turned you from happy-go-lucky into sad-spiral-of-depression, and he’s going to pay for that.” She took my hands. “For tonight, let’s just focus no you and me then. Besties for life, okay?”
“Okay,” I promised, trying my best to look happy, more for her sake than my own.
Soon, with the music blasting through the speakers, I had somewhat forgotten about Finn standing me up, or at least preferring to ‘hang out with the guys’ over hanging out with me.
A particularly lively song came on, and Heather and I held hands while we jumped about, screaming at the top of our lungs. While we twirled around like that, I caught a glimpse of something white rushing away in the distance.
Not again.
God, not again.
I stopped spinning abruptly, waiting for the white blob to come into focus.
“What’s wrong?” Heather asked as I let go of her. She glanced over her shoulder, in the direction I was staring at, and then turned back toward me. “Alice?”
Now the world had stopped spinning and everything was crystal-clear, I could make it out easily. It looked as real as everyone else in this room, a creature of flesh and blood, not a figment of my imagination. But it couldn’t be real.
A rabbit wearing an old-fashioned, expensive vest, a high top-hat and holding an enormous watch in its paws could not be real. Even if it was a magician who had donned out his pet rabbit to look like this, the size of the rabbit alone, easily reaching my waist, was simply not possible.
“What is it?” Heather asked as she gazed in the direction I was looking at it. “Is Finn there?”
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