3
“A secret,” I repeated.
It was already a secret since I didn’t know where we were. He’s making it so difficult, I thought. Sighing, I turned to look outside the window again, where I was greeted by a bird of both peculiar size and color. The bird reminded me of a dodo although its wings were slightly larger and its feathers were a strange array of bright colors. It cawed once before tapping at the window and flying off awkwardly. You’re hallucinating now.
After rubbing my eyes, I quietly stepped out of the room and down the stairs, admiring the pictures lined up on the white walls. Then I stopped to examine an old photograph; the edges of it were torn and slightly burnt, but what caught my eye were the occupants in it. A trio of boys in their late teens stared back at me; I squinted, trying to pinpoint what made them look so familiar. Finally, it dawned on me. Two of the boys in the photograph were exact replicas of Maddy and Jack while the boy in the middle I couldn’t quite place. Curiosity getting the better of me, I carefully took it down and looked at the back of the frame, reading the small plaque.
“Hatshire, Curieux, and Lepus,” I murmured.
Maybe it’s their ancestors, I deduced. After hanging it back up, I slowly made my way downstairs, where I was greeted by no one. The front door taunted me and I glanced around, waiting for somebody to pop out. Hesitantly, I took a step forward then another and another until the doorknob finally rested in my hand. You could run, a voice murmured. But where would I go? I had absolutely no clue of my location.
“Alice?” Maddy called out.
“Oh...um, hold on!” I yelped.
Letting go of the doorknob, I hurried into the kitchen, where Maddy was setting down plates of food. My stomach rumbled at the sight. Slightly blushing, I continued to stand there until he motioned for me to take a seat. Nodding, I sat down and glanced outside the window, taking in the strange forest outside.
“You can eat now,” Maddy smiled, gesturing towards the plate in front of me. “You don’t have to wait for Jack.”
I stabbed a sausage with my fork and took a bite. When my throat didn’t swell up, I began to eat, never feeling so hungry in all my life. Maddy silently nibbled on his toast while drinking coffee. Jack appeared moments later although he merely sipped on what appeared to be carrot juice. After the plates were cleared, I sipped on juice and held their inquisitive gazes.
“Where are we?” I inquired, eyeing them.
Maddy coughed and glanced at Jack, who did the same.
“We are in what most people call Wonderland,” he answered.
They didn’t say anything after that. Their eyes were watching me–waiting for me to start laughing–but I didn’t. With a blank expression on my face, I rolled my eyes and jabbed a finger at them.
“You are such horrible liars,” I commented.
“No, we mean it,” Maddy frowned. “We’re in Wonderland!”
“Wonderland is a fictional place,” I retorted.
A look of anger flashed in Maddy’s eyes and he slammed his fist on the table, startling both me and Jack. Regret passed over his face, but his expression quickly hardened. A tight line formed on his lips while he ran a hand through his hair. “You humans always rely on facts,” he sighed, taking a sip of coffee.
“Humans? You’re human!”
“No, I’m a Wonderlander,” he hissed.
“And how does a Wonderlander differ from a human?”
“Well, the type of Wonderlander I am means I age slower,” he explained, “and have you not noticed what we look like? Have you not looked outside either?”
“I thought you just dyed your hair and that Jack was wearing contacts…”
“Good answers, but you still look unsure.”
“Okay, so say we are in Wonderland,” I remarked. “What does this have to do with my father?”
“He’s from here,” Maddy scoffed, rolling his eyes. “That’s an obvious reason. Why would I bring you here if you were just a human? They don’t survive long here.”
“Are you going to continue on about my father or not?” I snapped.
He held a finger and abruptly stood up, heading over to refill his cup. I continued to sit down, waiting him to continue his tale. Jack, on the other hand, fiddled with a golden pocket watch, twisting the crown this way and that until he was satisfied. He slipped it into his pants’ pocket as Maddy settled back into his seat. “Where was I in the story?” Maddy asked, taking a large gulp of coffee.
“Her father being from here,” Jack murmured.
“Your father was trying to reform the government here,” he continued, “and helping others escape to your world, which according to Council Law is illegal.”
“Why?”
“Over the years, the Council has gone mad,” he answered. “They’ve been publicly and secretly executing anyone who they think are conspiring against them. Your father has also been trying to figure out something happening behind the Council’s back although he didn’t necessarily tell us what it was.”
“But why is it illegal?”
“In the past, humans were originally welcomed into our world, but a human started a revolution to overtake this place for the humans, you see. After the war, the humans were pushed out, got their memories erased, and were considered a threat to our world.”
“Luckily, they didn’t make it illegal for us to live in your world till much later,” Jack commented, “and by that time, your father met your mother.”
“All of which brings us to this precise moment!” Maddy beamed.
The clock on the wall rang out, making me flinch. I downed the last of my juice, trying to still my racing mind. This is far too much to take in. Inhaling, I processed my thoughts and ran a hand through my hair.
“Why me?” I finally croaked out.
“We want you to know that bringing you here wasn’t our first option,” Maddy stated. “We had someone working on your father’s case, but…”
“He was killed on the job,” Jack finished.
“To put it bluntly, yes,” Maddy sighed. “Alice, you could be the only person who is capable of finding your father or at least finishing what he started.”
“But–”
“I know this might sound a tad bit disturbing,” Maddy interrupted, “but Jack here has been watching your behavior for some time and he’s concluded that you are indeed a Curieux.”
“You’re smarter than you know,” Jack intervened. “We just have to unlock more of that Curieux side of you.”
I opened my mouth to say something only to close it in the end. Resting my head in my hands, I started to take deep breaths, absorbing everything. Then a hand lightly touched my shoulder; I tensed under the touch, but slowly looked up to meet Jack’s sympathetic gaze.
“I know this is a lot for you to process,” he said, “and you don’t have to make the decision now, but we need you….Wonderland needs you.”
Suddenly, Maddy sighed and stood up, rushing towards a cabinet. Frantically, he pulled bottles and vials out until he settled on two. Slamming the cabinet door, he hurried over to me and opened the two bottles, letting a pill from each fall into his hand. “Take these,” he ordered. “One’s for sleep while the other is for your bruises and such.” The pills fell into my hand and I looked up to meet their gazes.
“Go back to the room and get some rest,” Jack instructed, motioning back upstairs.
Slowly, I balled my hand into a fist and made my way back to my room. I plopped down onto the comfy bed, where I untied my shoes, and swallowed the pills dry. I started to groan as my body seemed to get sorer while my eyelids grew heavier. After I slipped under a blanket, sleep finally overtook.
Nestled under a tree, my father read me a novel while I quietly paid attention, toying with a blade of grass. Then a flash of white darted in front of us. Frantically, I chased after it while my father shouted my name. The rabbit continued to hop away until finally it jumped down a hole. I stopped, peering into the never ending void. Hearing steps behind me, I whirled around to watch my father push me into the abyss.
I woke up with a start, wiping the perspiration off my forehead. The room was dark with the curtains drawn although a few rays of sunlight managed to sneak in. The blanket I had slipped under earlier lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. A glass of water rested on the nightstand beside me; I downed it in a second. Taking deep breaths, I made my way to the bathroom. What a saw in the mirror both amazed and baffled me. All of my bruises and scrapes had disappeared along with the dark circles. But I could still feel the beads of perspiration on the back of my neck, which made my hair cling. With a washcloth, I scrubbed my face and the back of my neck, trying to get that horrible dream out of my head.
Minutes later, I slowly padded down the stairs, questions bubbling in my mind. But upon hearing voices, I stopped and quietly leaned against the wall, eavesdropping. From the sound of their voices, they both seemed distressed.
“‘Wonderland needs you,’” quoted Maddy. “Isn’t that a tad bit dramatic, Jack?”
“Hardly,” the other answered. “Besides, I’m not the one who slammed his fist on the table. By the by, are you taking your medicine?”
“Now that’s just calling the kettle black,” Maddy retorted, “but, yes I’m still taking my medicine if you must know. Do you think she believes us?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea, but I can always perform my little trick if she doesn’t.”
After hearing enough, I took a deep breath then marched downstairs and into the living room. Maddy’s elfish face greeted me, his high cheekbones prominent while his pointed chin rested in the palm on his hand. Jack’s back was to me although he quickly turned around to face me, throwing his arm casually onto the back of the white couch. Crossing my arms, I narrowed my eyes and asked, “What’s your little trick?”
A smile that sent chills up my spine crossed Jack’s face as he stood up. He positioned himself on top of the couch then he back flipped. There was a quick flash of light and Jack was gone. Blinking, I rushed over to the couch, where a white rabbit rested. It twitched its nose before hopping onto the table.
“Hello, Alice,” it said although its lips didn’t move. “Did you enjoy my trick?”
“No way,” I stated before turning to Maddy. “What kind of pills did you give me?”
“Sleeping and healing pills,” he answered. “Do you believe us now?”
“A person can’t transform into a rabbit!” I shouted. “It’s illogical! You drugged me!”
“No, we didn’t drug you,” Maddy retorted. “You see, Alice, Jack is descended from the White Rabbit while I descend from the Mad Hatter.”
“He’s telling the truth.”
I turned to look at the rabbit although Jack was in its place. Two rabbit ears rested on the top of his head, twitching. Even with those ridiculous ears on his head, Jack continued to look composed. I stood there, thinking. There was a part of me that wanted to believe them, but the other part of me wanted to think them insane, which they probably were. My eyes glanced up to look at Jack again; his ears began to fold into themselves until they finally disappeared. Blinking, I turned to Maddy, who motioned me over to him. Silently, I made my way until I stood in front of him. Then in a quick motion, he slapped me. I bit my tongue so that I wouldn’t curse while he sat back down.
“Did that hurt?” he asked.
“Yes!” I shrieked. “Why did you–”
“If you felt pain, then that means that all of this is real.”
“But–”
“If you don’t believe us now, then I could simply hit you again if you like.”
“No! I-I-I believe you.”
“Good.”
Jack quietly murmured an apology and something indisguishable while Maddy continued to smile in my face although it quickly faltered. Glaring, I sat down while Jack positioned himself next to Maddy. Inhaling sharply, I closed my eyes and relaxed before looking at them again.
“Okay, if you’re descended from the Mad Hatter and you from the White Rabbit,” I said. “What does that make me?”
“You’re ancestry traces all the way back to the first Alice, who was actually from here although her parents switched her out with a human child.”
“What was her last name?”
“Hm…I can’t recall,” Maddy answered. “She dropped the name after she married into the Curieux family, but I think the name starts with an ‘R’.”
As Jack was about to say something, the phone rang, cutting him off. Maddy retreated into another room to answer the phone while Jack and I examined each other in silence. He coughed and broke my gaze before taking out the pocket watch.
“What exactly happened to your spy?” I inquired.
“The autopsy report and photos make it look like a suicide,” Jack answered, “but obviously that’s a lie.”
“How close was he to finding my father?”
“According to his last letter, he almost found out the next clue.”
“The next clue?”
"Yes, they moved your father around from place to place and he managed to escape some times to leave clues until he simply vanished off the radar.”
“What else about your spy?”
“The first clue led him to Dodgson Academy, where he was posing as Mr. Briar, the Art teacher.”
“I'm sorry," I blurted out.
"For what?"
"The scratch."
"Oh." He lightly traced it with a finger. "It's all right. Truthfully, I think it makes me look tougher."
We both smiled and continued to chat. Seconds later, Maddy rushed into the room, looking like a mixture of excitement, indifference, and nervousness. Gulping, he straightened his back and adjusted his tie. With a slightly stoic look on his face, he said, “We’re leaving in two hours.”