In the Rough, chapter 12/40
Title: In the Rough (12/40)
Author: alittleoddish
Rating: Teen
Characters: Alice/Hatter, Jack/Duchess, Charlie
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Syfy's Alice.
Summary: "But this is starting to sound like a quest! Quests are such a pain, Alice, they really are. All horseback and food rations and traveling in groups and no truly hot tea, with significantly less sex against trees.”
Author's Notes: I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to post yesterday, and I'm SO SORRY that I haven't been able to respond to anybody's comments on my last entry! After I posted last week, I went to my job as a cook and burned all four fingers on my left hand pretty badly on a hot rack that had been left on a counter (so it just looked like a normal rack). Typing has been really difficult for me since then, so I haven't been able to respond to any of your comments until just today. :(
Thanks so much for all of you who have given me such lovely feedback! ^_^ Again, thanks so much to my GORGEOUS betas, zombres and randombattlecry! They are simply fantastic, they always keep me on my toes to provide the highest quality of writing I can. Also, thanks to my amazing Official Fandom Soundboard abscondinabox, with whom I have spent many-a-Skype session discussing the ins and outs of characters and plot, and without whom this story would undoubtedly be a disaster.
Chapter One,
Chapter Two,
Chapter Three,
Chapter Four,
Chapter Five,
Chapter Six,
Chapter Seven,
Chapter Eight,
Chapter Nine,
Chapter Ten,
Chapter Eleven
***
Alice woke up the next morning feeling somewhat disoriented. She wasn’t in her bedroom, her alarm hadn’t gone off for work, and why did her arm hurt so badly?
She looked up to see Hatter’s hat, his “This Hat is Built for Action” hat, hanging on his wooden bed frame and remembered. Oh yeah, she thought. Yesterday… was not good.
She groaned and flipped onto her back, looking over at Hatter’s sleeping face beside her. Alice always thought Hatter looked like a chipmunk when he slept - his lips parted just enough so that the bottoms of his large front teeth could be seen, his hair flung about every which way, his long lashes almost brushing his cheekbones. She lifted an idle finger to touch the place where his dimple would be, and his eyes blinked dizzily open at the contact.
He was so adorable.
“Wha’ssa matter?” he mumbled, voice gravelly from sleep.
“Nothing,” Alice assured him. “Sorry I woke you up.”
He grunted and tightened his arm around her waist, bringing her closer and accidentally jostling her arm in the process. Alice hissed a breath through her teeth as a jolt of pain shot through her body, enough to make her head hurt.
Hatter looked worried. “Ah, sorry ‘bout that.”
“It’s alright, as long as I don’t move it. I’ll probably keep it in a sling today, but it should be fine tomorrow.” She paused, reconsidered. “Maybe the day after.”
“You sleep alright, then?”
“Yeah.” Alice wiggled out of his hold, feeling just a bit uncomfortable with all the attention. She hated being mothered by anyone but… well, her mother. She knew Hatter loved her, but when he fussed it was... well, it was just weird, and Hatter, sometimes, could be a fusser. “What time is it?” she asked, changing the subject.
Hatter checked one of the watches on a nearby shelf. “About eleven o’clock.” He paused. “Of course, I have no idea whether that’s night or day…” He climbed out of bed as well and reached into a nearby box of linens. Pulling out a dark purple towel, he tied it into a sling and handed it to Alice as he walked by. “I’ll be downstairs,” he said. Picking up a stray pair of pants on the floor, he somehow managed to slide them on and up to his waist whilst simultaneously kicking open the hatch.
Hatter emerged at the bottom of the staircase to find Charlie still sleeping in his hammock, green book tucked protectively to his chest. The horses glanced up at Hatter’s entrance, ears flickering curiously. There was light streaming in from the window - morning. Late morning. He scratched Pat idly on the nose, ambling over to the campfire. What he really needed right now was a cup of tea.
Alice came into his field of vision just as he’d managed to balance the teapot on a pile of glowing embers. She was holding one of his shirts, wild paisley patterns dangling loosely from her hand, the silk bundled through her fingers. “While I am accustomed to finding you shirtless in the kitchen making tea every morning,” she said, “Let’s try not to scare Charlie to death, hmm?”
“Ha, ha,” Hatter said, but he took the shirt anyways. She kissed his forehead, slinged arm bumping him in the shoulder as she did so.
“I wish we had a doctor here to look at that arm,” he said, gesturing to it as Alice moved away to sit across from him. “It’ll make it hard for your job at the studio if you can’t throw people because your muscles healed funny.”
Alice shrugged with her good shoulder, watching Hatter methodically fasten the buttons up his shirt. He always started his buttoning at the end, worked his way to the beginning, and then stopped. It was one of many things he did in a backwards manner, and Alice thought that this particular habit was one of the more charming ones. “Well,” she said, poking the teapot closer onto the embers with a careful foot. “We’ve got the book now, so we can re-activate the Stone soon. Once we’re home, I can go get it patched up.”
“There are doctors in Wonderland, too,” Hatter reminded her, somewhat defensively. “At the Palace, for instance? We can have one of Jack’s physicians look at you while we’re there.”
Alice hummed in agreement. “I guess so. Still though, aren’t you excited to go home?”
A weird look crossed his face, immediately followed by a smile. “Yeah,” he said. And it wasn’t so much what he said as it was how he said it that made Alice stiffen, swallowed up in a sudden rush of déjà vu.
(”You know, you could always visit my world. You might like it.”
“Yeah…”)
She had seen that weird look and heard that oddly high tone of voice before… and Hatter hadn’t followed her. The bottom dropped out of Alice’s gut. No, she thought. It must just be a coincidence…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the squealing of the teapot between them, prompting a loud yawn from Charlie nearby. “Tea, eh?” he rubbed his eyes and grunted as he half-twisted, half-fell out of his perch, hitting the ground with a jolting thud. “Excellent! That’s precisely the thing.” He tottered over and sat with them, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, clutching his teddy bear in one hand and the little green book in the other with a satisfied smile.
Hatter busied himself with preparing the teacups, pairing cups with spoons, milk, and sugar with the graceful ease of practice. “So, Charlie, how’s that book? Got any of the information we need to fix that mirror?”
Charlie preened, the center of attention. “I’m certain of it.” He balanced his teddy bear carefully against his teacup, opening the book with a grand gesture and bending over it like… well, like an old man. As he flipped the tissue-thin pages carefully, Alice drank her tea with nervous sips. Her knee jiggled impatiently.
“Whose journal was that again, Charlie?” she asked.
“These journals were kept by all the highest-ranking nobles in our Kingdom. This one was kept by the Knight in charge of the Mirror… and thus, of course, The Stone.” He paused, peering closely at some cramped lettering on a page. “Found it!” he trumpeted. “Listen to this -“
Date: Square-Grape-Five
The Looking Glass has begun to fail. The images in the glass move in odd shapes, flickering in and out of focus. It has never acted like this before in my lifetime, although when I was a boy I do remember my grandfather’s mention of a prophecy concerning the Glass - I must consult the journals of my forefathers. Perhaps one of them will contain some information useful to me.
Date: Triangle-Banana-Five
The journal of my grandfather has indeed yielded a story that can only be described as fantastical. His accounts of events one hundred years ago match exactly the condition the Glass is currently in - furthermore, it seems as though the Glass’ odd behavior is only the beginning of bad tidings. According to my grandfather, one day the Glass will stop altogether, and on that very same day the Stone of Wonderland will die as well. The Meteor somehow contains the power to connect our Looking Glass with other outside worlds, and a new Stone of Wonderland must be made from its contents in order for the Glass to become reactivated. I must go and warn the Red King.
Date: Pomegranate-Star-Eleven
My grandfather wrote that we had to find Hope in the Tulgey Wood, for the Meteor could not be made into the Stone without Hope. After several hours of Council discussion, which included the Red King, and thorough consultation of my grandfather’s journal, we have finally constructed a plan. The men that have joined this mission are fine Knights. I believe that our plan will succeed.
Date: Apple-Beetle-Seven
My men have been on watch, scanning the Heavens for signs of a Meteor, for the past three days. Today, the Glass finally died, and not ten minutes later I received a missive from a Knight in the Tulgey Wood, detailing the Meteor’s descent! With Hope, we discovered it and have obtained our new Stone of Wonderland. My men performed admirably, and will be rewarded for their services. The Stone will last for another one hundred years, and hopefully then my careful record in this journal will be of use to the new Keeper of the Glass.
Charlie’s eerie voice died away at these words, and the three of them stared thoughtfully into the glowing remains of embers.
“So I guess we’re not going home today,” Alice sighed. She looked down at the (now cold) tea cupped in her palms, trying to ignore the disappointment settling in her gut and the steadily growing throb of her shoulder. “Sounds like we’ve got to find this meteor first, right?”
“Those do indeed appear to be the instructions, yes.”
“But those Knights were on the lookout for it,” Hatter interrupted. “We weren’t. The Meteor fell the same day the Glass broke, right? That was near a week ago, the Meteor could be anywhere!”
“Well, it’s in the Tulgey Wood. At least we know that much,” Alice reasoned, sounding a bit lame even in her own ears.
Exasperation was written all over Hatter’s face. “Finding a rock the size of my thumbnail in a forest that covers a third of Wonderland. Sounds fantastic, let’s just get started, shall we?”
“Don’t get snippy with me!” Alice snapped, dumping the dregs of her tea into the fire. “It’s not like we have a whole lot of options.”
“Alice, it can’t be done!”
Alice stood up and Hatter followed suit. They glared at each other. From the corner of her eye, she could see Charlie sitting there, looking uncomfortable.
“Yes, it can.” The expression on her face left no room for argument. “Hatter, we’ve brought down the whole house of cards last time we were here, I’m pretty sure we can find a rock.”
“Alice, I don’t think you understand! D’you remember last time we were in the Tulgey Wood? Hmm?We were attacked by a Jabberwock within five minutes of landing on shore! That place is dangerous, and you are injured!”
Alice bristled. “I am not an invalid,” she whispered dangerously.
Hatter looked at her, obviously conflicted, his lips tightening and eyes darting about in that way they did when he was thinking very hard. “Fine,” he bit out. “Maybe, fine. But we’ll need a plan.”
Against her will, Alice’s insides melted just the tinest bit. She put her good hand on Hatter’s cheek. “I’ll be okay,” she assured him. “We both will. This will be nothing compared to breaking into a Casino full of Suits, you know. We can handle this.”
He laid his hand on top of hers, turning his head to kiss it briefly. “We wait until you’re healed, first. That’s the deal -- healthy shoulder, then endless searching in the monster-infested forest.”
“Done.”
Hatter heaved a long-suffering sigh and sat back down at the fire. “I don’t like this.”
“It is a long shot,” Alice admitted. “But it’s all we’ve got.” She yawned and headed back to the staircase.
“Where are you going?” Hatter called. Alice turned to look over her shoulder at him.
“I’m going up to bed,” she said. “If I’m going to heal, I’ll need my rest so I can start re-stretching the muscle later this evening.”
Hatter watched, drumming his fingers against his knee impatiently, as the door to his room closed behind her. He looked furtively at Charlie, who was still examining the wall nearby as though it were endlessly fascinating.
“I’m going to take Bill out for a ride,” Hatter said, standing abruptly and reaching for Bill’s riding gear.
Charlie finally looked up at him, astonished. “But we’re in the City,” he said, confused.
“Yeah, well, I’ll ride to the Lake and back or something,” Hatter said impatiently. “Or… maybe I’ll get something for dinner, who knows.” He fastened the buckle on Bill’s saddle rather harder than strictly necessary. “I just… I just need to get out of this place.”
Charlie nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps you could go the post office,” he suggested. “The King and Queen should be updated with our findings.”
Hatter nodded curtly and clicked his teeth at Bill, urging him on with his lead. A minute later Charlie could hear the fading sounds of a horse trotting away. He looked down at his teddy, Percival, still balancing against the teacup.
“Domestic troubles,” he said, with the air of someone very wise and knowledgeable about these sorts of things.
Percival fell off his cup.
***
Hatter rode Bill out of the City, towards the trail that circled around the Lake. The sun and air felt good on his skin - the City had been so polluted and full of smog when the Queen had ruled. It felt good to see blue sky above the treetops. Jack must have cleaned the place up, Hatter thought idly. Good for him.
He looked out over the Lake, letting his eye follow the path of a distant motorboat careening across the water.
(“The way I see it? I’ve only got one option.”
“Which is?”
“Go back with you… to your world.”)
Hatter couldn’t describe what he was feeling right now, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t usually run into things blindly. He snorted. Hardly. No, that was Alice’s area of expertise. Alice was the one who always went looking for trouble, all Hatter could do was follow her and dig her out of whatever scrape she’d gotten herself into. But she was brave, and she was stubborn, and for all she said about adventure and boredom, Alice hated change. She would not take kindly to the idea of leaving her old life behind and starting anew in Wonderland. And, as he reminded himself, it wasn’t so long ago when he thought the exact same thing. He’d been aching for a reason to leave this place.
Although, Hatter thought, looking out at the sparkling Lake and the clear blue sky. A flock of rockinghorseflies flew past, aiming toward a large patch of bright, fragrant flowers with petals the size of his hand. Bill bent his huge head down to munch on some of the grass at his feet. I’m not sure either of us imagined a Wonderland like this.
He sat there for awhile, watching the rockinghorseflies play in flower nectar, until Bill’s impatiently shifting weight jolted him back into reality. Well, he thought, directing Bill towards the nearest seedy bar he remembered how to get to. We have a new home now. All we have to do is get back to it.
***
Next Chapter
Leave a Comment
Author: alittleoddish
Rating: Teen
Characters: Alice/Hatter, Jack/Duchess, Charlie
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Syfy's Alice.
Summary: "But this is starting to sound like a quest! Quests are such a pain, Alice, they really are. All horseback and food rations and traveling in groups and no truly hot tea, with significantly less sex against trees.”
Author's Notes: I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to post yesterday, and I'm SO SORRY that I haven't been able to respond to anybody's comments on my last entry! After I posted last week, I went to my job as a cook and burned all four fingers on my left hand pretty badly on a hot rack that had been left on a counter (so it just looked like a normal rack). Typing has been really difficult for me since then, so I haven't been able to respond to any of your comments until just today. :(
Thanks so much for all of you who have given me such lovely feedback! ^_^ Again, thanks so much to my GORGEOUS betas, zombres and randombattlecry! They are simply fantastic, they always keep me on my toes to provide the highest quality of writing I can. Also, thanks to my amazing Official Fandom Soundboard abscondinabox, with whom I have spent many-a-Skype session discussing the ins and outs of characters and plot, and without whom this story would undoubtedly be a disaster.
Chapter One,
Chapter Two,
Chapter Three,
Chapter Four,
Chapter Five,
Chapter Six,
Chapter Seven,
Chapter Eight,
Chapter Nine,
Chapter Ten,
Chapter Eleven
***
Alice woke up the next morning feeling somewhat disoriented. She wasn’t in her bedroom, her alarm hadn’t gone off for work, and why did her arm hurt so badly?
She looked up to see Hatter’s hat, his “This Hat is Built for Action” hat, hanging on his wooden bed frame and remembered. Oh yeah, she thought. Yesterday… was not good.
She groaned and flipped onto her back, looking over at Hatter’s sleeping face beside her. Alice always thought Hatter looked like a chipmunk when he slept - his lips parted just enough so that the bottoms of his large front teeth could be seen, his hair flung about every which way, his long lashes almost brushing his cheekbones. She lifted an idle finger to touch the place where his dimple would be, and his eyes blinked dizzily open at the contact.
He was so adorable.
“Wha’ssa matter?” he mumbled, voice gravelly from sleep.
“Nothing,” Alice assured him. “Sorry I woke you up.”
He grunted and tightened his arm around her waist, bringing her closer and accidentally jostling her arm in the process. Alice hissed a breath through her teeth as a jolt of pain shot through her body, enough to make her head hurt.
Hatter looked worried. “Ah, sorry ‘bout that.”
“It’s alright, as long as I don’t move it. I’ll probably keep it in a sling today, but it should be fine tomorrow.” She paused, reconsidered. “Maybe the day after.”
“You sleep alright, then?”
“Yeah.” Alice wiggled out of his hold, feeling just a bit uncomfortable with all the attention. She hated being mothered by anyone but… well, her mother. She knew Hatter loved her, but when he fussed it was... well, it was just weird, and Hatter, sometimes, could be a fusser. “What time is it?” she asked, changing the subject.
Hatter checked one of the watches on a nearby shelf. “About eleven o’clock.” He paused. “Of course, I have no idea whether that’s night or day…” He climbed out of bed as well and reached into a nearby box of linens. Pulling out a dark purple towel, he tied it into a sling and handed it to Alice as he walked by. “I’ll be downstairs,” he said. Picking up a stray pair of pants on the floor, he somehow managed to slide them on and up to his waist whilst simultaneously kicking open the hatch.
Hatter emerged at the bottom of the staircase to find Charlie still sleeping in his hammock, green book tucked protectively to his chest. The horses glanced up at Hatter’s entrance, ears flickering curiously. There was light streaming in from the window - morning. Late morning. He scratched Pat idly on the nose, ambling over to the campfire. What he really needed right now was a cup of tea.
Alice came into his field of vision just as he’d managed to balance the teapot on a pile of glowing embers. She was holding one of his shirts, wild paisley patterns dangling loosely from her hand, the silk bundled through her fingers. “While I am accustomed to finding you shirtless in the kitchen making tea every morning,” she said, “Let’s try not to scare Charlie to death, hmm?”
“Ha, ha,” Hatter said, but he took the shirt anyways. She kissed his forehead, slinged arm bumping him in the shoulder as she did so.
“I wish we had a doctor here to look at that arm,” he said, gesturing to it as Alice moved away to sit across from him. “It’ll make it hard for your job at the studio if you can’t throw people because your muscles healed funny.”
Alice shrugged with her good shoulder, watching Hatter methodically fasten the buttons up his shirt. He always started his buttoning at the end, worked his way to the beginning, and then stopped. It was one of many things he did in a backwards manner, and Alice thought that this particular habit was one of the more charming ones. “Well,” she said, poking the teapot closer onto the embers with a careful foot. “We’ve got the book now, so we can re-activate the Stone soon. Once we’re home, I can go get it patched up.”
“There are doctors in Wonderland, too,” Hatter reminded her, somewhat defensively. “At the Palace, for instance? We can have one of Jack’s physicians look at you while we’re there.”
Alice hummed in agreement. “I guess so. Still though, aren’t you excited to go home?”
A weird look crossed his face, immediately followed by a smile. “Yeah,” he said. And it wasn’t so much what he said as it was how he said it that made Alice stiffen, swallowed up in a sudden rush of déjà vu.
(”You know, you could always visit my world. You might like it.”
“Yeah…”)
She had seen that weird look and heard that oddly high tone of voice before… and Hatter hadn’t followed her. The bottom dropped out of Alice’s gut. No, she thought. It must just be a coincidence…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the squealing of the teapot between them, prompting a loud yawn from Charlie nearby. “Tea, eh?” he rubbed his eyes and grunted as he half-twisted, half-fell out of his perch, hitting the ground with a jolting thud. “Excellent! That’s precisely the thing.” He tottered over and sat with them, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, clutching his teddy bear in one hand and the little green book in the other with a satisfied smile.
Hatter busied himself with preparing the teacups, pairing cups with spoons, milk, and sugar with the graceful ease of practice. “So, Charlie, how’s that book? Got any of the information we need to fix that mirror?”
Charlie preened, the center of attention. “I’m certain of it.” He balanced his teddy bear carefully against his teacup, opening the book with a grand gesture and bending over it like… well, like an old man. As he flipped the tissue-thin pages carefully, Alice drank her tea with nervous sips. Her knee jiggled impatiently.
“Whose journal was that again, Charlie?” she asked.
“These journals were kept by all the highest-ranking nobles in our Kingdom. This one was kept by the Knight in charge of the Mirror… and thus, of course, The Stone.” He paused, peering closely at some cramped lettering on a page. “Found it!” he trumpeted. “Listen to this -“
Date: Square-Grape-Five
The Looking Glass has begun to fail. The images in the glass move in odd shapes, flickering in and out of focus. It has never acted like this before in my lifetime, although when I was a boy I do remember my grandfather’s mention of a prophecy concerning the Glass - I must consult the journals of my forefathers. Perhaps one of them will contain some information useful to me.
Date: Triangle-Banana-Five
The journal of my grandfather has indeed yielded a story that can only be described as fantastical. His accounts of events one hundred years ago match exactly the condition the Glass is currently in - furthermore, it seems as though the Glass’ odd behavior is only the beginning of bad tidings. According to my grandfather, one day the Glass will stop altogether, and on that very same day the Stone of Wonderland will die as well. The Meteor somehow contains the power to connect our Looking Glass with other outside worlds, and a new Stone of Wonderland must be made from its contents in order for the Glass to become reactivated. I must go and warn the Red King.
Date: Pomegranate-Star-Eleven
My grandfather wrote that we had to find Hope in the Tulgey Wood, for the Meteor could not be made into the Stone without Hope. After several hours of Council discussion, which included the Red King, and thorough consultation of my grandfather’s journal, we have finally constructed a plan. The men that have joined this mission are fine Knights. I believe that our plan will succeed.
Date: Apple-Beetle-Seven
My men have been on watch, scanning the Heavens for signs of a Meteor, for the past three days. Today, the Glass finally died, and not ten minutes later I received a missive from a Knight in the Tulgey Wood, detailing the Meteor’s descent! With Hope, we discovered it and have obtained our new Stone of Wonderland. My men performed admirably, and will be rewarded for their services. The Stone will last for another one hundred years, and hopefully then my careful record in this journal will be of use to the new Keeper of the Glass.
Charlie’s eerie voice died away at these words, and the three of them stared thoughtfully into the glowing remains of embers.
“So I guess we’re not going home today,” Alice sighed. She looked down at the (now cold) tea cupped in her palms, trying to ignore the disappointment settling in her gut and the steadily growing throb of her shoulder. “Sounds like we’ve got to find this meteor first, right?”
“Those do indeed appear to be the instructions, yes.”
“But those Knights were on the lookout for it,” Hatter interrupted. “We weren’t. The Meteor fell the same day the Glass broke, right? That was near a week ago, the Meteor could be anywhere!”
“Well, it’s in the Tulgey Wood. At least we know that much,” Alice reasoned, sounding a bit lame even in her own ears.
Exasperation was written all over Hatter’s face. “Finding a rock the size of my thumbnail in a forest that covers a third of Wonderland. Sounds fantastic, let’s just get started, shall we?”
“Don’t get snippy with me!” Alice snapped, dumping the dregs of her tea into the fire. “It’s not like we have a whole lot of options.”
“Alice, it can’t be done!”
Alice stood up and Hatter followed suit. They glared at each other. From the corner of her eye, she could see Charlie sitting there, looking uncomfortable.
“Yes, it can.” The expression on her face left no room for argument. “Hatter, we’ve brought down the whole house of cards last time we were here, I’m pretty sure we can find a rock.”
“Alice, I don’t think you understand! D’you remember last time we were in the Tulgey Wood? Hmm?We were attacked by a Jabberwock within five minutes of landing on shore! That place is dangerous, and you are injured!”
Alice bristled. “I am not an invalid,” she whispered dangerously.
Hatter looked at her, obviously conflicted, his lips tightening and eyes darting about in that way they did when he was thinking very hard. “Fine,” he bit out. “Maybe, fine. But we’ll need a plan.”
Against her will, Alice’s insides melted just the tinest bit. She put her good hand on Hatter’s cheek. “I’ll be okay,” she assured him. “We both will. This will be nothing compared to breaking into a Casino full of Suits, you know. We can handle this.”
He laid his hand on top of hers, turning his head to kiss it briefly. “We wait until you’re healed, first. That’s the deal -- healthy shoulder, then endless searching in the monster-infested forest.”
“Done.”
Hatter heaved a long-suffering sigh and sat back down at the fire. “I don’t like this.”
“It is a long shot,” Alice admitted. “But it’s all we’ve got.” She yawned and headed back to the staircase.
“Where are you going?” Hatter called. Alice turned to look over her shoulder at him.
“I’m going up to bed,” she said. “If I’m going to heal, I’ll need my rest so I can start re-stretching the muscle later this evening.”
Hatter watched, drumming his fingers against his knee impatiently, as the door to his room closed behind her. He looked furtively at Charlie, who was still examining the wall nearby as though it were endlessly fascinating.
“I’m going to take Bill out for a ride,” Hatter said, standing abruptly and reaching for Bill’s riding gear.
Charlie finally looked up at him, astonished. “But we’re in the City,” he said, confused.
“Yeah, well, I’ll ride to the Lake and back or something,” Hatter said impatiently. “Or… maybe I’ll get something for dinner, who knows.” He fastened the buckle on Bill’s saddle rather harder than strictly necessary. “I just… I just need to get out of this place.”
Charlie nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps you could go the post office,” he suggested. “The King and Queen should be updated with our findings.”
Hatter nodded curtly and clicked his teeth at Bill, urging him on with his lead. A minute later Charlie could hear the fading sounds of a horse trotting away. He looked down at his teddy, Percival, still balancing against the teacup.
“Domestic troubles,” he said, with the air of someone very wise and knowledgeable about these sorts of things.
Percival fell off his cup.
***
Hatter rode Bill out of the City, towards the trail that circled around the Lake. The sun and air felt good on his skin - the City had been so polluted and full of smog when the Queen had ruled. It felt good to see blue sky above the treetops. Jack must have cleaned the place up, Hatter thought idly. Good for him.
He looked out over the Lake, letting his eye follow the path of a distant motorboat careening across the water.
(“The way I see it? I’ve only got one option.”
“Which is?”
“Go back with you… to your world.”)
Hatter couldn’t describe what he was feeling right now, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t usually run into things blindly. He snorted. Hardly. No, that was Alice’s area of expertise. Alice was the one who always went looking for trouble, all Hatter could do was follow her and dig her out of whatever scrape she’d gotten herself into. But she was brave, and she was stubborn, and for all she said about adventure and boredom, Alice hated change. She would not take kindly to the idea of leaving her old life behind and starting anew in Wonderland. And, as he reminded himself, it wasn’t so long ago when he thought the exact same thing. He’d been aching for a reason to leave this place.
Although, Hatter thought, looking out at the sparkling Lake and the clear blue sky. A flock of rockinghorseflies flew past, aiming toward a large patch of bright, fragrant flowers with petals the size of his hand. Bill bent his huge head down to munch on some of the grass at his feet. I’m not sure either of us imagined a Wonderland like this.
He sat there for awhile, watching the rockinghorseflies play in flower nectar, until Bill’s impatiently shifting weight jolted him back into reality. Well, he thought, directing Bill towards the nearest seedy bar he remembered how to get to. We have a new home now. All we have to do is get back to it.
***
Next Chapter
Leave a Comment