Hopeful (My Sequel to Heartless) Unfinished

Chapter 35 - Interrogations

(Unedited)

Mariah Hatter had been the monster under his bed for as long as he could remember. Every horror story that took place in his kingdom, she had been the antagonist. 

Once upon a time, Mariah Hatter had been royalty in the Red Kingdom. Once upon a time, Mariah Hatter had been married off to a member of the King's cabinet in hopes of making peace between kingdoms. Once upon a time Mariah Hatter murdered her husband and every other member of the cabinet and then made her way to Callum's mother's chambers and tried to put a blade through her heart while she carried a third term Callum in her stomach. 

Somehow, after every attack, Mariah would smash a small vial full of white smoke that would engulf the room and erase the memories of everyone around. For some reason, only Callum would remember who she was an what she did, except, of course, when he wasn't even born. He didn't know her name until he followed her once after an attack. He would do everything in his power to tell his mother what happened, but she never did anything about it. He suspected that she thought he was crazy. 

But here in this room was proof that Callum had been looking for since before he was born. 

He watched as Cath flipped through the pages and took in this new information. Not only does this help him with his problems, but it would also help Cath's. As much as he would hate to admit it, he had grown fond of her. He could imagine no better queen than Catherine of Hearts. 

Cath looked up and met his eye, "This is Mariah's," She said flipping through the pages. She paused, "Wait, how did you find this room in the first place?" She asked frowning.

"I saw it in a dream last night." He said rubbing his neck nervously. Surely he sounded crazy but Cath nodded as if she knew the power behind dreams. 

"It's obvious she's been watching me, but there's no explanation as to why." 

"Surely there's someone out there who knows her," Callum said trying to think of anyone who might have known her before. 

Cath bit her cheek, "Yeah, let's go talk to him." She said clutching the notebook and walking out. 

Callum followed frowning, "Who?" 

Cath waited for him to catch up, "We're talking to Hatta." 

"Why?"

She raised an eyebrow, "He's Mariah's son." She walked at a brisker pace not caring if Callum was behind her or not.

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Cath, Jest, Callum, and Hatta sat in a room, each with a glass of water. Cath had brought a few trinkets in case Hatta happened to have an... episode. 

Cath sat directly across from Hatta with Jest at her side. Her hand clutched his softly. They hadn't found time to meet up after the funeral, so this would have to do. 

"Hatta, we found your mother's notebook in a room that looked into mine." She said pulling out the notebook and held it out for him to look at. 

Hatta took it with a blank expression, "Ah yes, my traitorous mother. What has she written?" He asked flipping through it. His face revealed nothing. 

Cath shrugged, "It's more or less a list of every move I've made for the past 6 months." She said trying not to be freaked out. What had she seen? How many other rooms were like the one attached to her room? Jest squeezed her hand as if he could sense her thoughts.

Hatta read through a few things, "And why am I reading this?" He asked peering up at Cath and Jest. 

Cath bit her lip, "I was- we were hoping if you knew what your mother was up to." 

Hatta slammed the notebook shut with a slam. "I want to tell you everything, but I'm afraid you haven't said the magic word." 

Cath and Callum frowned at each other, "Magic word?" Callum asked. 

Hatta hissed at him. Actually hissed.

Callum put his hands up in surrender. 

"I can't tell you my secrets until you tell me the secret password." 

It was Jest who spoke this time, "How do we figure out the secret password?" He asked cautiously. He didn't like seeing this side of his friend. 

Hatta clicked his tongue, "Well, to be fair, it's a magic question. I'll give you a hint: you were once known for this question by all of Hearts and it has no true answer." 

Jest frowned. He had asked a million questions before the entire kingdom. He was known for all his riddles and questions, so which was the one?

He was surprised when Callum spoke up, "How is a raven like a writing desk?" He murmured. 

Hatta's smile filled up his face as Callum answered. "Oh my dear friend, you truly aren't yourself anymore, are you?" 

Jest hung his head and clenched his jaw. 

Hatta's eyes gleamed with satisfaction, "Alright alright, I'll spill." He said clicking his tongue, "Where shall I start? Ah!"

He rubbed his hands together before opening his palms and blowing black dust all over them.

A black cloud spread over the group and Cath watched as they entered a different world. 

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Oh. My. Gosh. I'm so sorry I went MIA for a month. I know it makes me a bad writer, and I'm really sorry. I recently got a new job working at my library, and I work a buttload of hours along with my religious work, school, internship prep, voice lessons, etc. I've just been so busy and exhausted. I didn't even have the energy to edit this chapter!

This is actually my 3rd draft of this chapter because I had no idea where I was going until now. I'm really sorry I left it on a cliffhanger, but I wanted to update and I don't have the energy to write 1000+ words. Anyway, thank you all for being so loyal, and please bear with me. Thank you.

-GMTS