I need a bath. And preferably a cup of good tea.
That's my first thought after pulling up to my driveway. It's been an exhausting day at work. The copy machine broke in the morning, Piper lost the contract for that motor company, then that false fire alarm, and atmosphere at the office became hectic for the rest of the day. Everyone yelled at each other, instead of speaking, and I can still hear that annoying ringing in my head from all the noise. I might order takeout, I don't feel like cooking today.
I crawl out of the car and close it, then head straight for my front door. I quickly pat my pockets down in search of the key, barely glancing at the porch steps, and then... Boom! I trip over something and land on the floor, hitting my head against it quite painfully. I groan. If the ringing in my head was irritating earlier, it's become unbearable now. I have to close my eyes for a minute and take a few deep breaths to finally be able to stand up.
I notice I fell over a box. It looks like a package. Did I order something again and forgot? Well, that sounds like me. I bet I've been going through that scented candles site in the middle of the night once more. I sigh and reach for it, then get into the house.
Inside it's nice and cool. Leaving the AC on was a good idea. Relieved at the sensation, I kick my shoes off and go to the kitchen to get some water boiling for my tea. Steady clock ticking calms me down. It's good to be home. Especially on a Friday afternoon. I place the package on the table.
After eventually deciding on having blueberry muffin black tea, and setting it up, I grab a pair of scissors from a kitchen drawer to open the box. If it really contains some candles, it would be nice to have them lit up when I go into the bathtub. I wonder about the scents I might've picked, remembering that I was rather fond of salted caramel, and magnolia. One, quick cut and it's open.
Excited, I dig my hands in, and... Wait. This isn't a candle. It's a card. Oh, cute. I didn't know they added some personalized cards to their packages.
I take it out, seeing it's a blue, glittery card with some snowflakes on it. That's a weird choice of design for the middle of summer...
I open it with a hint of confusion sprouting in my brain.
But it doesn't say anything. There's only an apple tree branch, with fresh flowers still on it, glued to the page. I frown.
Only when I take another item out of the box, a strike of realization hits me. A shiny, crimson red apple made of porcelain gleams at me. It's from my mother.
My heart skips a beat, while the water starts boiling, and I understand my safety had been ruined. She found me. And, if she found me, she found all of us.
For a moment I stand motionless, trying not to scream with all I've got. Why didn't I take Cheshire in for the night? It was my turn. He would know what to do. I put everything back in the box, and get my phone out of my purse with my hands shaking. I need to call Cinder.
She picks up after barely two dials, and I'm beyond grateful for that.
- Hey, do you want to come over? - she asks before I even manage to utter a word. - Gigi baked a chocolate cake, and Ruby is currently on cinnamon pudding duty.
- Cinder... - I stutter.
- Come on, we have plenty. You don't need to control yourself anymore, you're not living with the dwarves - she giggles.
- Listen to me! - I attempt not to shout, even though she's really pulling my string. - My mother sent me a package. She knows where I live.
Silence.
- What? - she sounds as if her blood was drained from her veins in a matter of seconds.
- She found us. You need to get all the girls and go to Will's.
- Ok, ok - she repeats frantically. - Should I pick you up, too? - she asks.
- No! She might be watching my house. Send Cheshire over here, he'll know how to get out without getting noticed.
- Maybe you should call Will?
- And who's going to take care of you, then? I have to do this without endangering anyone.
I sigh. The truth is, I desperately don't want to be alone right now. And waiting for Cheshire will be the longest wait of my life. In the glass coffin, I was at least passed out and unaware. Now, I feel the danger with every ounce of my being.
Who did she bring with her? The wolves? The hunter? If I'm sure of anything, it's that she wouldn't come unprepared.
- Alright, then - she doesn't appear convinced, but she knows we have no choice. - Lock your doors and windows, Seana. Cheshire will be there in a flash. Stay safe.
- You too.
I hang up, then I run to lock everything down.
A few minutes later, my phone goes off. And it's Will.
- Seana? What the heck is Cinder talking about?
- My mother found us, Will. And I'm pretty sure she has company - I try to stop my voice from shaking, but it's simply too much.
All the flashbacks from the past fire up in my brain like fireworks in the night. I finally believed we were safe. And, that belief going down the drain again hurts me like it never has before. Even at the end of the world, she was able to track us with no mistake.
- What do you mean, company?
- I don't know who she brought, I'm just sure she wouldn't come alone after putting so much effort into this. She even left a present under my door.
- I'm coming - he says, and I hear him going somewhere real fast.
- No! You need to stay at home, do you hear me? The girls are coming, and you can't show up here unarmed. And alone. Who knows how many of them are here!
- You're alone there, too - he remarks. - And unarmed. I don't want to be the pessimist but I don't think Cheshire is capable of getting you both out of there without leaving traces behind.
I frown.
- There's no other choice. I'm not letting you give your throat for me.
- Seana, we...
- We don't have time for this now. Wait at home - I almost syllabize. - I'm coming.
He groans into the phone.
- If you get yourself killed, l will...
- You won't. Because I'm not getting killed. I'm not.
- You don't know that! - he screams, and I hear a few gentle pats on the window pane.
- Cheshire is here, I need to go now.
- Seana! This is not a...!
- I need. To. Go. Stay at home, I love you.
- Why did you say that? You never say that! What's going on? Do you know something we don't?
- I need to go. I love you.
I hang up, trying to suppress tears welling up in my eyes.
I'm terrified out of my life, and I'm not entirely positive all of this is going to end up fine this time around.
I cautiously open the window, while staying down and trying not to show myself.
- In, now - I mutter and pull on one of Cheshire's paws, then close the window immediately.
- Well, I heard it was bad... - Cheshire purrs, while swaying through my kitchen.
- Did you see anyone outside? - I ask.
He shakes his head.
- I don't think there's anyone here, Snowhite. I would've opt for the evening, if anybody asked me.
- Why evening? And don't call me that. My name is Seana now - I remind him.
He rolls his eyes and licks his left paw, unphased.
- You're still you, no matter how hard you're trying to forget. And evening, since she obviously brought the wolves with her. Did you think they would be actually running around in broad daylight? The whole black pack? - He smirks.
- So, they're not here? - I cross my arms. - But, that would make no sense, Cheshire. They wouldn't let me run away like this. That's too easy.
The cat meows quietly, as if yawning, then spins around to finally stretch.
- Unless they have someone who's able to track us down with them. Or, so they think.
- The hunter - I whisper under my breath.
I was right. She did choose the man who she first intended to kill me, to attempt at murdering me again. I shiver on the memory of running through the woods like an animal, trying to save my life. I remember how he wiped his knife from fresh blood when he eventually catched me. I only survived because the prince got to us before the hunter was finished. And he died for me, while helping me to run away. Our stories were already a mess back then, because Cheshire found the hole and changed the continuum, but I didn't expect that in my wildest nightmares. I loved Arthur, even though I wasn't left much of a choice.
- Precisely. - Cheshire yawns again.
- Then, they'll most definitely track us down, Cheshire! - I hide my face in my hands. - We can't go to Will's right now, that would put everybody's life in danger.
- Not if you are me.
- But I'm not you, I can't make myself invisible! And, even if I could, I can't fly! Which means, I leave traces behind myself!
The feline grins widely.
- Thankfully, I have a little diligence for that.
A few minutes later, I'm sitting in front of Alice's cookie box.
- I thought this stuff was illegal - I say worriedly, while looking closely at a blue sugar cookie with an "eat me" written on it in pink frosting.
- Not in this world. - Cheshire rolls his eyes again. - And, I don't believe you have more ways out of here than my mouth.
- How am I supposed to trust that you won't eat me or swallow me?
- Oh, come on! I didn't eat the box, right? And I carried it under my tongue.
- It's actually very little - I notice.
- Of course it's little! It's Alice's emergency box in case she changed sizes in a wrong place. Now, stop lingering and eat.
He lands on the table and looks at me with urge.
A little unsure, I put the cookie in my mouth, and the box into my pocket for later. Next, the shrinking begins. I feel like I'm being pulled on in every direction, hammered down, and spinned around at the same time. Then, a little dizzy, and a size of a cotton ball, I stand on my chair.
- Ok, lady. Get right in.
The cat sticks his tongue out, allowing me to step on it.
- It's weirdly nice in here. - I notice.
- I brushed my teeth especially for you - he mumbles a bit inaudibly.
- Wow, thanks for the consideration.
I get in, and Cheshire closes his mouth. All goes dark, but I feel we lift off. Truth be told, I actually feel better not seeing where we're going. And I don't really want to see any of our guests. Ever.
In the darkness of cat's cave, I let it all out. I'm alone in a sense, and I can't be sure of having that luxury again anytime soon. I guess we'll be heavily brainstorming once me and Cheshire get to Will's. There won't be a better moment for tears than now.
So I let them flow and flow, untill Cheshire opens his mouth again, and I see we're in Will's living room.
- What the actual heck did you do to Seana?! - Ruby's the first one to approach us with a highly tensed face expression.
I step out of cat's tongue, and get on the coffee table.
- Brought her here safe? No need to thank me. - He waves his tail seemingly offended, then dissappeares.
- Cheshire! - everybody cries out in panic, but he doesn't appear again.
- Oh, my God!
- What are we supposed to do now?!
- Cheshire!
- Easy, I have the cookies on me!
I try screaming loud enough to break through everyone else freaking out, but I guess I'm too small, so I just pick out a pink cookie out of the box, and grow to my normal size again.
- Seana!
All of them rush to embrace me tightly, and we end up holding each other for a few seconds. Each one of us pale and shaky, while the reasons are difficult to determine.
***
- Ok, so she does have the black pack with her. - Will sounds as if that personally insulted him. And I'm not sure why, because Ruby is the one with the right to feel so.
I glance at her from behind the kitchen counter. She sits on the couch next to Gigi, with her arms crossed, staring at the floor.
We all know that, if anyone, she's going to have to help us out when it gets bad. She's been through that before; the rest of us were just afraid of something similar ever happening to them.
- And the hunter. But we didn't leave traces behind. - Cheshire finally becomes visible again, spreading his chubby corpse on the chest of drawers.
- Do you really think The Queen doesn't know where all of our houses are, cat? - Ruby rolls her eyes. - If she's been following Seana, she must've followed her to all of us, as well.
I guess she already figured out what's going on.
Cheshire only grins at her, waving his tail, and vanishes one more time.
- Ok, so what do we want to do? - Cinder stands up and puts her tea cup away.
Will sighs deeply.
- I believe it's more of a "what do we need to do", I'm afraid.
- You're afraid? - Gigi rises her eyebrow. - That's new.
He sends her a disapproving gaze.
- I'm just stating obvious, none of us know how to handle the wolves, unless we're talking about Ruby. - She pauses for a second, seeing that everyone else is trying to murder her with their eyes. - Now, I know it's not the easiest topic to some, but, for crying out loud, do you really want to die eaten alive by a everhungry wolf pack?
I take a deep breath, looking at Red Riding Hood undercover, who's currently picking at her nails.
- Ruby, is there any way you can lead them away from us? Or, a way for us to get away? - I ask.
- We would need a place to go first, don't you think? - she remarks. - And, where would that be? She knows all of our sweet spots here already. It's only a matter of time before they check up on all our houses and find us.
- They won't run around during daylight hours - I repeat what Cheshire told me.
Ruby looks me in the eyes.
- It doesn't really change much, does it? It's only a couple of hours more for us to live.
Only now I realize how bad it really is. We're literally trapped.
- How about we go back, then? - Cinder proposes in shy voice.
- Back where? - Gigi doesn't even spare her a look, speaking while holding her face with both hands. I presume she gave up a little after listening to Ruby's revelations.
- Home. To Wonderland.
- What? - me, Cinder, Will and the cat chime in simultaneously.
- I mean, - she rubs her wrist - if they're looking for us here, they won't come up with an idea that we could hide from them there, right? And, if we blocked the hole afterwards, they wouldn't be able to get in there after us.
For a moment, the room falls silent, as we all calculate risks.
- We don't know who stayed there, Cinder. - Will notices. - We only have the black pack to deal with here, and we would have to take on many more enemies if we went back.
Gigi looks a little relieved.
- Exactly. - She nods.
- But, - Ruby starts, suddenly invigorated - there are the rims, where nobody ever goes!
She unconsciously quotes a passage from her own book.
- Isn't that the place where the giants originated from? - Gigi asks, getting pale back again.
Ruby waves her hand at her.
- It doesn't matter, no dark creature would be able to survive there, there's no food for them. They can't eat the good plants, remember? And those are the only things that grow there.
We can survive off them. - She smiles.
- But, how long would it take for someone to find and give us out? - Will leans against the wall.
- Long enough for us to get on a boat and sail to Neverland where the other passage, entering Canada, is. And the dark creatures are banned from, along with the queen. - She finishes.
- So, that would make the Queen and the pack stuck here, the dark creatures left in Wonderland, and us safe in Canada? - I want to make sure.
- That's right.
- But, that's suicide! - Gigi springs up on her feet. - Getting to the rims would take us some time, don't forget about that. And, we could only pull that off if we hid from everybody.
- We could always shrink - Cheshire suggests.
- We don't have enough cookies for that. - I remind him.
- Not, if we wanted to work both ways, but - he spins around - we could use what we have, and then small and unsuspicious borrow some reverse cookies from Alice.
- Do you really want to steal from my sister? - Will frowns at him.
The cat yawns.
- Your attention to detail is failing you today, hatter. - I said "borrow", not "steal". And she wasn't exactly on board when we were running away, so I believe she can only blame herself.
- I know it sounds crazy, - Cinder begins, while the guys exchange angry gazes. - But it could actually work.
- But... - Gigi wants to oppose, yet Ruby stops her.
- Realistically speaking, this is our only chance. We either take it, or leave it at this point. We're physically not able to face a pack of twenty hungry wolves, and a queen shooting with poisoned drafts.
- We need to do this. - I say.
- Ok. We'd better get moving before the night falls. - Will sighs.



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