The Wrong Alice (Edited Version)

Chapter 9

"Chesh, what's going on?" I asked frantically as he pulled me with him through the trees in an unknown direction. I hadn't caught everything Rab and Cheshire had said, so I was a bit lost. Cheshire looked upset though, and I knew it had to be serious.

"Dee and Dum's trial is being held early," he explained shortly.

My confusion didn't lessen any. "I got that, but why? Don't people have at least a few months after a trial before their sentence is carried out?" I asked. "Besides, how do you know the Queen will actually sentence them to death?"

Cheshire's eyes narrowed, his pupils going to slits. "The queen is brutal. No matter if the accused is guilty or not, they get a death sentence and she does it herself as soon as the trial ends. It's fun to her," Chesh said.

"Isn't there a court?" I asked. "Someone to defend them?"

Scoffing, Cheshire ducked under a branch and continued on his way. "Yeah, but they're all too afraid. Would you defy someone who cuts off people's heads when they're bored?" he asked. I went to reply but found I had no way to protest my point, so I just shut my mouth. He had a good point, albeit a morbid one at that. Cheshire continued. "Besides, she's the most powerful person in all of Wonderland. Even if they tried, she'd get what she wanted," Cheshire said.

I thought about that for a good minute before it seemed to click in my head. "Wait. So, you mean we're going to go do exactly what everyone else is scared to do because she'd kill them?" I asked.

Cheshire hesitated I his response. "To put it bluntly," he settled to say.

I had to concentrate to keep my feet moving across the ground. It was my fault for asking, but I suddenly felt very sick. I sucked in a sharp breath to allow oxygen to fill my brain and hopefully blow out all the fears I suddenly had about this mission.

Noticing my abrupt silence, Chesh glanced at me. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah..." I replied numbly.

Cheshire didn't believe me. He tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me to a stop. His eyes were serious when he looked at me. "Are you scared?" he asked me.

I glanced in the direction we were going. "Of course. I'm just an ordinary high school kid, and now I'm being asked to risk my life for people I've never met." It sounded selfish, but I had never been the kind of person to stick my neck out for strangers. That had been my mother and I had seen her get hurt enough times to know better than to do it myself. I glanced at Chesh. "What if I screw up?" I asked.

"Then all of us are going to die by having our heads chopped off and fed to the queen's dogs," he said honestly. I frowned and he smiled a little. "I'm just kidding. It doesn't matter if you mess up. No one's perfect, we all make mistakes, but I believe in you. Besides, you have the one and only Cheshire Cat by your side."

I rolled my eyes as he grinned at me confidently. "You better be as good as you say you are," I said.

Cheshire lifted my chin with a smirk. "Need a good luck kiss?" he asked. Before I could say so much as one word of protest, he pressed his lips to mine for a split second, just long enough for me to know he really kissed me. When he pulled away, his smirk remained. "Feel any better?" he asked.

Blinking away my shock, I wiped my mouth. "Definitely not..." I said.

He laughed good-naturedly, but didn't tease me anymore. He knew I would hit him if he did. So, we continued running through the woods until we came to a wide ring of water that looked like a river. I could see a building through the trees on the other side. "Darn..." Cheshire muttered under his breath. I forgot about the moat."