The Wonderland Murders Read online

  When Ever wants to hurt someone, they know it. He’s not very subtle with his disdain and I’ve seen him in action enough times to believe that he really didn’t mean it. “Where are we?”

  “Take a look around,” he instructs simply.

  I let out a sigh and push away from him, getting to my feet slowly and raise a hand to my eyes to shield them from the sun. It’s beautiful here; the sky is the color azure, the clouds white and fluffy. The grass beneath our feet is emerald green like Dr. Carpenter’s eyes, and the rabbit that’s watching us from the other side of the stream I hadn’t noticed was so close, is as white as snow.

  I take a step backward and bump into Ever who’s now on his feet and standing behind me. He puts his arms on my waist to steady me; to keep me calm. I glance to my left and see a cat, dark, strange, and brilliant. I glance to my right and see the flowers are watching us too now, singing along to a song that I know so well.

  It’s afternoon.

  A golden afternoon.

  I’m a stranger again in a Strange Land.

  Hunted.

  Hated.

  And it will only be a matter of time before the Queen finds out that I’ve returned to the Strange Lands.

  “Alice,” the cat greets me gleefully as he scurries up the closest tree. “And you’ve brought a friend this time! Oh, she’ll be so delighted to know that she has a second chance.”

  “Shut up,” I hiss at the cat as I take Ever by the arm and steer him toward the tree. “The last thing I need is you announcing it.”

  The cat grins, rolls onto his back and looks at us from his now upside down position. Half his face is orange, the other half black. One of his eyes is blue, the other green, but he can be as pestilential as he is beautiful, and I know to tread carefully around him.

  “What’s your name?” the cat asks Ever, his tail lazily moving from side to side.

  “Um—”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I intercede quickly. “He has to go back and I need you to help him like you helped me. Something else I’m sure that the Queen will be delighted to know,” I say dangerously.

  The cat laughs as it turns onto it’s belly and rests on the branch it’s taken up on. I watch as he tilts his head at us, the black side with the green eye watching us closely.

  “In that case, may I suggest the rabbit? He’s still watching you, you know,” he mewls with nod toward the other side of the stream. Goddammit, I think as I lock eyes with the animal. It’s fiercely loyal to the Queen and if we don’t get to him before he can scamper off and sound the alarm, we may as well just sit here and wait for her to show up.

  “I don’t think that’s a very good idea—”

  I gasp.

  The cat is gone.

  I’m talking to an empty branch now and even though I know he’ll show up again eventually, it looks like we’re on our own for now.

  The Palace of Cruel Hearts

  Chapter Six

  It’s inconceivable to me that the little girl has returned to Wonderland. When she managed to escape my grasp, she took something with her. She took The Fear that I held over all of the inhabitants here and showed them that there is hope to escape me and I want it back.

  The days have been long, hard, and miserable without being able to instill fear where it’s deserved but now I have a second chance to take back what’s mine.

  I smile down at the White Rabbit, pat it’s head, and nod. It takes no time for it to disappear from my view and while I know I should wonder where he’s going, I don’t care. My mind is obviously preoccupied with other things now.

  Of course, the way to get to Alice is to have her companion stolen from her. My spy has told me that he’s a handsome young man. He says that he stood by her protectively and it makes me wonder just how vigilant he will be when the time comes to be tested. Will he stay loyal when I offer him freedom, or will he take it and run?

  Everyone above Wonderland does what’s best for them. They have no loyalty and when they find themselves in my kingdom, and I exploit it. I’ve watched nations fall at the whim of a simple bargain made with me, and I revel in the power I have on both sides of the plane.

  But this little girl—this Alice has caused me nothing but grief and I plan on returning the favor soon.

  I begin to pace in front of my throne. I have spies everywhere, the rabbit being the most valuable, but his loyalty is easily swayed from side to side depending on his mood.

  “Isabella? Is something wrong?”

  I glance over my shoulder and smile slightly when I see my king approaching. He looks like the boy from what the rabbit tells me and I wonder if this can be used to my advantage somehow.

  “Alice is back.”

  He raises an eyebrow as he approaches and rests a hand on my shoulder. He looks deep into my eyes and takes a moment, choosing his next words carefully. He knows my wrath more terribly than anyone else, because when we first met, I had to bend and break him to my will. Once that was done, I didn’t let him go. I wanted to keep him and he had no choice but to stay. After a while, he accepted it and we’ve gotten along ever since.

  “Are you going after her, Isa?” he asks me softly.

  I nod.

  Once, only once, and it’s enough for him to remove his hand from my shoulder and he takes a step back.

  “Then I’ll do my best to help you, if you allow it,” he concedes quietly.

  He knows that I will accept a concession before I accept a request, and he’s always careful to choose one carefully over the other.

  I smile, genuinely this time, and reach a hand up, resting it on his face.

  “My darling, Henry,” I begin in a low, even tone. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Wonderland The Outskirts

  Chapter Seven

  “We have to kill that fucking rabbit the next time we see it,” I tell Ever as we walk along the side of the banks. “If he hasn’t already told Queen Isabella that we’re here, it’s only a matter of time, and we need a chance to get ready for her.”

  “Why not just throw some singing flowers at her? That had me freaked out for a while,” he responds with a laugh and a shrug.

  It’s obvious to me that he doesn’t understand the danger that we’re in and I won’t worry him with it. Not until I absolutely have to make him understand that our lives are hanging in the balance now that we’re back in the Strange Lands.

  “Don’t be mad at me, okay? This is all kind of a shell-shock right now. I didn’t realize that this place was as real as you said it was and it’s a little freaky, is all.”

  “Wait a minute,” I say as I stop walking. I grab Ever’s arm and turn him to face me. “You said that you believed me.”

  “Because it’s what you needed to hear,” he replies with a shrug. “You needed someone to believe in your words and well, that’s what friends are for, aren’t they?”

  I don’t know whether to be angry with him or try to find some kind of happiness in what he’s said to me. It’s true that I desperately wanted someone to believe me about the Strange Lands, but I guess what I needed more than anything was a friend.

  “We’ll need to find a place to hide soon for the night,” I tell him, deciding to forgive his transgression.

  “What? It looks like it’s barely noon,” he replies as he glances up at the sky.

  “Time moves differently here. And if the rabbit told the Queen that we’re here, time will bend to her will. That stupid mammal gave her The Time Keeper’s Watch the last time I was here. She tried to freeze the Strange Lands with it before I could get away, but the cat …”

  He came through in the end and he saved me, I finish to myself.

  “I guess he’s on our side, then?” Ever asks thoughtfully.

  “No,” I reply immediately. “He’s on his own side. Do not trust the cat.”

  He nods as he drapes an arm around my shoulders and we continue walking. I honestly wish I remember more about this place than I do because then
I’d know which way to go.

  I hate it here. Nothing is ever as it seems, and whatever it does seem, it isn’t.

  We’re trapped in a world full of nonsense.

  Just like I predicted, night fell in the next blink of an eye. I’d bet my life on the rabbit having reached the Palace before we had a chance to leave the clearing, and the anger that lingers in the air tells me that I’m right.

  It’s how the wind changes when she looses her temper. It’s how the earth around you feels like it’s trying to strangle the life out of you when she screams for the head of infidels.

  Of course, to Queen Isabella, an infidel can simply be someone that looks at her in a way that she doesn’t like.

  I may stolen The Fear when I left the Strange Lands, but she still has much more control over this place than I think she assumes she does.

  Ever has kept a firm grip on my hand since deciding that heading into the woods would probably be the safest place for us. He doesn’t understand that she has spies everywhere and even a leaf blowing lazily in the wind will whisper our whereabouts to her if she deems it so.

  “Do you remember where the hat guy and his bunny friend live?” he asks me nervously as we keep walking aimlessly into the darkness.

  “The Hatter and the Hare,” I correct him quietly. “And no, I never went to their home. I just happened upon their tea party once in the middle of nowhere.”

  I smile slightly at the memory of them. Both of them as mad as the days can be long, but helpful in their own quirky ways. They spoke in riddles and rhymes to keep themselves safe from the Queen’s spies, but simply enough for me to understand what they were saying.

  “Do you know where anyone lives that helped you last time?”

  “No. Everything changes. Nothing is ever in the same place as it was before, Ever. Nothing.”

  He shudders slightly and stops walking, pulling me to a halt with him. I lean my head against his chest when he wraps his arms around me and begins to gently run his hand up and down my back.

  “It’s okay, Alice. We’ll be alright as long as we stick together.”

  "I told you it was her.”

  We both jump and turn to the left. In the dimly lit trees, we can see two pairs of white, vacant eyes peering at us. The voice sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it.

  “Who’s there?” Ever shouts toward the trees.

  A giggle, an echo that follows it, then two of the most curious creatures I’ve ever seen in my life step into the moonlight.

  It’s the twins.

  Dressed in farmer’s overalls, with blue and black stripes. The white shirts beneath reminding me of the clouds when the skies are clear.

  As they crawl out from where they’ve been watching us, I can feel Ever’s body stiffen slightly, his grip around me becoming firmer still, as I find myself trying to remember.

  The twins.

  Friends or foes?

  Chapter Eight

  “No. I told you that it was her,” the other says, giving his brother a shove. They look like short, oblong children with dangly limbs as they continue to bicker. Ever tightens his grip on me as they begin to push each other back and forth arguing over who recognized me first.

  “Ease up,” I mutter to him, pulling away slightly. If he holds me any closer, we’ll becoming conjoined, and because we’re in the Strange Lands, we could possibly end up staying that way.

  “What the fuck is their deal?” he asks me quietly.

  “They’re a product of the Strange Lands. Everything is wrong with them,” I reply softly.

  “Friends of yours?” he asks.

  “I can’t remember,” I reply honestly, shaking my head.

  “Can you guys cut that out?” he barks at them. “The last thing we need to do is draw attention.”

  The twins instantly stop pushing each other and drop down onto the forest ground, crossing their legs and peer up at us.

  “Alice, it’s good to have you back,” they say together.

  “Lower your voices!” Ever hisses at them. “There’s not exactly going to be a welcome back party for her from what I understand.”

  “You don’t remember us,” one of them says to him accusingly.

  “What?” I ask in confusion. “Why would he remember you?”

  The twin that spat venom at Ever opens his mouth again, but his brother nudges him in the ribs, shaking his head when he gets his attention. I don’t know if I should believe them or if I should trust that Ever has never been in the Strange Lands before, because this world is designed to confuse anyone that doesn’t belong here.

  The twins jump up to their feet and bow regally toward us before they hold hands and run back into the trees they were watching us from.

  “That was insane,” Ever mutters.

  “No. That’s the Strange Lands,” I reply with a sigh. “We have to keep going, though.”

  I fully pull away from his embrace and take his hand as we continue our walk, hoping beyond hope that maybe someone or something here will be kind enough to give us refuge for the night.

  “Watch your step!”

  Something barks up at us from the ground below and I arch an eyebrow as I look down before letting out a groan.

  “Didn’t you turn into a butterfly?” I ask the caterpillar tiredly.

  “The cycle of life can sometimes be a circle. Once we get to the end, we go back to the beginning and start again,” he replies, slinking by us. I have to fight the urge to raise my foot and crush him under the weight of my anger, but he was helpful once even in his riddles and candor.

  Maybe he can be helpful again.

  “Let’s follow him,” I tell Ever quietly, who nods and tightens his grip on my hand. At this point, I’m willing to talk to anyone that might get us out of here before the Queen finds us.

  “Long time no see,” the caterpillar says when he finally comes to rest on top of a large stone in the next clearing. “Your mind is heavy, child. Deep and crushing like the sea on your side of the plane. Do you understand? Do you … see?”

  I roll my eyes.

  It takes next to nothing for him to speak like he’s some kind of genius when all he really does it repeat himself and talk in nonsensical riddles.

  Ever leans down and peers at the caterpillar who recoils. I smirk; seems he’s not too fond of the new guy in the Strange Lands and I intend to use that to my advantage. “How the hell is it possible that everything here can talk?”

  “How else would you expect me to communicate with you?” the caterpillar snaps at him. “Step back, boy. You’ve never been my favorite.”

  The twins.

  The caterpillar.

  They’ve all eluded to having seen Ever before, but not the cat, and he would have said something by now.

  Wouldn’t he?

  The Court of Emptines

  Chapter Nine

  I sit in the opulent, crushed velvet chair and look around to see who’s gathered. The carpenter, the walrus, the mock turtle with his never-ending tears who I could have done without, among others, but the more the merrier. It’ll be easier to find the trespassers this way.

  “Thank you for coming,” I tell my audience in a loud voice, demanding their attention. “I think you all know why you’re here. It’s been brought to my attention that Alice has returned to Wonderland and it’s very possible that she’s brought The Fear back with her. I want it back.”

  They all look at me quietly for a moment, none daring to speak without being given permission and I smirk. Perhaps, The Fear returned with her and it’s not something that I need to take back.

  Henry takes his place in the chair next to me, resting his hand on top of mine, and I glance at him for a moment, the smirk giving way to a smile as he peers out over our makeshift army.

  “Who will take up arms for the Queen?” he asks them in his deep, booming tone. “Who will help her return The Fear to Wonderland?”

  Before any of them have a chance to answer, I narrow my ey
es when I spot something making its way up toward where myself and my King are seated. I remove my hand from under Henry’s and lean forward, resting my arms on my knees as I wait for the cat to finish making his way up the aisle.

  “Glower,” I greet him with a nod as I lean back against the cushions again, “how long has it been now?”

  It’s not his name.

  No one knows what his real name is but I gave it to him based on how he always looks at me and he responds to it each time.

  “Far too long, Your Highness,” he responds, lowering his head toward me. He may not be my favorite in all of Wonderland, but he still treats me with respect. “I’m rather disappointed, though.”

  “Oh?” I ask curiously.

  “I wasn’t invited to this gathering,” he says as he sits back on his haunches and licks his arm, then rubs it over his head. “I’ve seen Alice. I know where she is, and yet … you don’t trust me.”

  “I learned my lesson from last time,” I reply curtly.

  He lips begin to widen into a slow, deliberate grin, and I scoff. To say that I trust him now would be a bigger lie than to say that I’m happy that Alice is back.

  “I’ll just be on my way then,” he replies simply as he gets to all fours and turns his back to me, his tail swishing defiantly in his wake.

  I can feel it coming.

  I can feel my temper starting to go.

  I’ve never come across such an insolent creature in all of my years ruling Wonderland and this animal knows how to test my resolve like no other.

  I get to my feet, fists balled at my sides.

  With as much as I don’t care for Glower, I know that I still need him in a way. He sees everything, knows everything, and he can lead me to Alice much easier than anyone else can.

  But I can’t help myself.

  It’s not in my nature to be kind.

  I take a deep breath, pulling as much air into my lungs as I can, before I give the command that so many are afraid to hear.