Chapter 3: Ever After High
Alistair and Bunny and I were outside together behind the castle in the field, playing chess in the early morning where the sun was beginning to rise. It was me against Alistair. Of course, I was going to win the match. I always do. But it is always fun to watch others try to beat me in my own game.
Especially Alistair, he is always exceptionally decent at this game. It made me smile to see him think he could finally beat me. But I still always came on top in the end.
Bunny would watch us play against each other and cheer us both on to win. However she still always rooted for Alistair. I didn't blame her. He never got a single win. There has been a chance where he almost would, but in the end, I would always beat him. But then, I contoured his Queen with my knight.
"Checkmate," I said with a smirk. He gasped as he looked down at the chess board astonished that I had won again for the seventh time in a row.
"Again? How?" Alistair exclaimed.
"Hello, daughter of Chess." I said with a smile as I let out a small laugh.
"Okay, Izzy." He said with a smile in return. "So, what adventure are we going to do today?"
"Hmm, we could go visit the flowers," Bunny insisted while staring earnestly at Alistair. He turned to look over at me for an answer.
"We could," I said deep in thought not liking the idea. The flowers never really liked me and I didn't feel like getting an earful from them today. "Or we could maybe go to the library and possibly search for a way to Ever After. We haven't done that in a while."
"That seems like a good idea," Alistair agreed so we headed towards the library. We all got up and put the game away, Alistair sticking it in his satchel. But, apparently, we were caught by the red cards once again as we were completely surrounded by them. I let out a despairing sigh, hating this so much. I was sent to my room and the other two were with the Red Queen talking in her throne room while I was sent in my prison cell room once again. It sucked.
I groaned in annoyance as I collapsed on my bed. The simplest things! The simplest things gets us into trouble! This is beyond mad! We weren't even doing anything wrong. I swear I think my aunt just has something completely against me for no reason and wants to ruin our fun. Being sent in a prison cell? It was extreme even for my tastes. My mom wouldn't do this to Lizzie. Then again I wouldn't be so sure, she is pretty strange herself. Even then I still don't know every intention of my mother.
"Crabs and feathers!" I cried out angrily. I looked out the window to see Bunny and Alistair being escorted outside the castle by the red cards. They'll come for me soon enough.
As I waited, I began to play chess with myself since I had nothing better to do. I've been playing myself three times now, and they still didn't arrive. With an annoyed sigh, I began to play another match. I played another after another, waiting hours for my friends to arrive and come and rescue me. They were taking so long, I was beginning to think that they weren't coming at all. It was unusual, this would never happen. We would always hang out especially when the stars would come out. Those were when things became really magical.
My heart had sunk in my stomach, dissolved. It's been too long. I had been worried, my stomach tying in knots wondering where they could possibly be. To me I wondered if they were even coming at all.
Hearing shackled armor coming down through the halls, I heard the footsteps echo through the prison. I heard a metal tray sliding through the bottom of the gated slit.
"I didn't realize they still haven't come for you," I heard the man say. The voice was familiar, but I didn't dare to turn around. My heart was broken and shattered, abandoned. "I'm. . . I'm sorry."
"They probably just forgot." I said hoarsely.
"It's been over ten hours, Your Majesty. It's almost 4 in the afternoon." The guard said. He let out a heavy sigh. I heard a dangling of keys. It entered the locked door and creaked open. I turned around to see the guard. "You're free to go."
"What? Why?" I asked the guard.
"It isn't fun." The guard said and I just looked up at him weirdly. "It's adventurous to chase you and your friends around like a wild goose hunt. It gives me something to do. Now it's just boring."
"You're weird." I said stepping out of the prison cell next to him.
"I've been called worse, Princess." The guard bowed. My eyebrow ticked in annoyance.
"Don't call me princess." I said with a slight snark. I hated being called princess. I didn't want to be.
"My apologizes, your majesty." The guard bowed his head as he let me leave. I just shook my head, knowing I couldn't do anything to change it.
I didn't bother looking back. I booked it, running off and out of the prison, throwing the heavy doors open and escaping quickly from the back of the kitchen doors. I had to shut my eyes from the harsh light of the outdoors before I could adjust my eyes from the sun.
I ran towards the clearing of the castle grounds to see a dark skinned girl with pink hair in pig tails falling from the sky. She landed in a teacup. And not just any teacup. The Mad Hatter's teacup from when he worked in his shop.
Curious to what was going on, I decided to see this girl up close. I placed a chess piece on the floor and it turned into a door. I opened it and walked through to be right outside the Mad Hatter's old tea shop. I looked through the dusty window to see the girl and the White Knight talking to each other. The White Knight? I've never seen him around.
The girl didn't look like she belonged from this realm at all. How on earth did this person find this place? Who is she? Where did she come from? Then it all clicked. She belonged in Ever After! And that means there's a portal that wasn't sealed! But, which portal?
I knew that I had to confront this girl, because she's the only one that knows how she got here in Wonderland. That meant me and my friends could get there after all. I opened the door and ran up to the strange woman.
"Who're you?" The girl asked.
"I'm Isabella Queen, daughter of the White Queen." I said. "And you are?"
"Oh! I'm Ginger Breadhouse," she said giving a smile with a short wave of her hand.
"And how did you get here in Wonderland?" I asked her curiously.
"The well of wonder," she said. Of course! It all makes sense now! I then looked down to see that she was making something.
"What are you doing?" I questioned curiously.
"I'm baking a pie! I need to send one to my friends to warn them about the dangers in Ever After." Ginger explained.
"Warn? Warn them about what?" I asked. Now I was starting to worry. Were they in danger too because of the Evil Queen?
"The Storybook of Legends was switched by the Cheshire Cat and it's a cursed book of riddles from Wonderland. If they read it they'll be completely upside down!" Ginger explained.
"Well, I suppose you better get to that then," I said about to take my leave. I had to go find my friends. We needed to get there and I could finally find my mother again and reunite. It's been too long since I've been without her. I hope she missed me as much as I did.
"Your friends are in Ever After as well," the White Knight added. I gasped. What? How could they?
"Um, thank you! I must be going now!" I said as I ran out of the tea shop. Alistair! Bunny! They left me too? They didn't even come for me to go with them! Why wouldn't they?
I ran frantically around in search for the well. I knew it never did stay in one place for too long, so I had to hurry. I couldn't believe my friends didn't even come and get me! I didn't want to be alone here in Wonderland, even if it is my only home. Without my friends it just would never be the same. They are my home. My best friend especially. Why would they ditch me? Why couldn't they come back for me?
It took me at least twenty minutes to actually find the well, and when I did, I didn't even hesitate to jump right in. I was thrashed around in the water as it felt like I was going through some kind of tube. Then I was spouted out to see that I was under Wonderland. It looked like a sewer with pipes and tunnels all around.
I began looking around as I didn't know where to go. It was all too confusing. It felt like I was going in circles. I was tired of running and I needed to rest. I rested against a pillar but my head hit something rather hard that felt like a button. That's when the floor shifted and turned into a slide. I screamed as I began sliding down as my heels were scraping against the metal. I fell on my stomach as I was still sliding. My eyes widened when I saw a railing in front of me. I tightly shut my eyes as I waited for the impact.
I hit it hard and I felt my world spin beneath me. Yet, I still managed to grab hold onto the railing and pull myself up. My head was withering in pain and when I looked down, I knew I was up really high in the air when I saw a pool of water beneath me. I wasn't a big fan of heights. . . The sight made my head hurt even worse and my grip on the railing loosened as I felt myself topple over into the air. I closed my eyes once again as I was then consumed by water and darkness.
I woke up with a splitting headache as I opened my eyes to see ablack and white forest. The nature seemed lifeless and dull and not a single chirp from a bird was heard.
And the place. . . it just seemed rather odd. I always wanted to see what Ever After looked like, and I knew that this was not apart of it. This land seemed different from Wonderland in many ways. There was no outstanding animals or talking plants, or even anything mad. It seemed. . . Boring and lifeless. It was unusually eerie.
I got on my feet and began to walk around in the forest.. Everything seemed withered and the animals weren't even animals. Everything had lost its color and it just seemed like there was only death bestowed upon this place.
I walked further along a path when I reached the town. It seemed so much worse over here. The people seemed to be in pain and didn't have a smile anywhere. They were walking extremely slow with frowns upon their faces. They all seemed so lifeless. . . Are they okay? I couldn't tell if they were hurting or completely unaware. They were like mindless creatures that were trapped in a horrific blank void.
And then, color suddenly appeared in all around the atmosphere changing the streets and the people. The moods upon the people's faces simultaneously changed into grins as everyone chatted about as if nothing happened in the first place. They all became happy once again as they talked among one another and shared a laugh. How did that happen? What am I missing here?
It all reminded me of my friends that I missed dearly. . . I had to find Alistair and Bunny. I didn't know where they were so I had to find them now.
People was starting to give me looks and some of the guys were gawking at me. I felt uncomfortable under their eyes. I probably looked foreign to them since I was wearing such odd clothes from their style. They girls looked to be in some Lolita Victorian dresses. I was in a plain elegant white dress. I blame my aunt. I really only had a couple of things when I was in that prison cell and it was the bare minimum of raggedy clothes. I'm just glad they weren't dirty or smelly.
I quickly moved around through them in hope to find my friends. I didn't know where to look as this place was difficult to go through. There was so many people here it was unimaginable. Wonderland never had so many people before like it used to several long years ago.
I knew that this would be hard to find my friends through such a crowd. . .
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