Falling Down The Rabbit Hole

Chapter 3

Madeleine's POV

Once we walk out the gate it is silent, which is quite a change from my normal environment, we follow the dirt path down until we reach a tree with signs scattered around and on it. We're meant to be going straight ahead, but unfortunately that route is pitch black. Alice reaches for my hand and blindly leads us down the road. As we walk down the dark path the mushrooms that grow along side it begin glowing lighting up the path just enough to see where to step, I look at Alice who smiles at me,
"You're welcome." She says with a curt nod. I've never seen that happen before. As we continue, the silence soon becomes deafening, I clear my throat, gaining Alice's attention,
"My apologies." I say as I feel my cheeks heat up,
"No problem, how far is the castle?" She asks,
"It used to be only a short walk, but Wonderland has changed for the worse, it will take a long while to reach the castle." She nods at me,
"How do you know all of this?" She asks,
"My father; he told me all about the real Wonderland, but this world has been this way for longer than I have been alive."
"Where's your father now?" She asks, trying to look through the darkness into the trees.
"You are quite curious about me for a stranger." I say raising my eyebrows at her,
"Curious by nature, I suppose." She says, I am surprised by her choice of words, and by the looks of it so is she, "I'm sorry, I, um, didn't mean to say that." She finishes quickly like she crossed a boundry.
"No apologies needed." I say smiling at her, she smiles back causing my stomach to do strange things. I ignore it and reach into my pocket for the roughly drawn map, I guess paws aren't ideal for drawing. The map shows our tea party and the tree we passed, continuing far away and to the castle. Around the mid point it shows a fork in the road, one path looks to be shorter, while the other is long. The words on it are slightly smudged, so I can't understand what the cat was trying to say. I squint trying to read Chester's messy script, the words look kind of like 'cut through here!' but I'm still not certain. I sigh, growing frustrated at the cat for not having hands, something of which is out of his control. I refold the paper and shove it back into the depths of my jacket pocket. I watch Alice in silence while we walk, my stomach still doing backflips due to the fact that she still hasn't let go of my hand. She looks over at me and gives me a bright smile, my face heats up in embarrassment due to being caught staring, I grow thankful for the mushrooms only producing a dull glow. But soon the mushrooms begin dwindling, their growth having been stunted by something in the area. I tug on Alice's hand to slow us to a stop. The path ahead of us is eerily dark, in the way that something bad has happened there. Or something bad will happen. I reach into my pocket for the small golden watch, I pop open the top and read the time. It's still early afternoon, only just an hour since we left. A noise in the darkness startles me and Alice, making her squeeze my hand tighter, the butterflies in my stomach no longer from Alice, but from fear of what's out there.
"Come Alice. We mustn't stand around, Wonderland isn't exactly a safe place to be." I tell her, pulling her along slightly. We settle into a steady pace, neither of us dares to speak as we move farther into the darkness. I hold onto Alice tightly, out of fear that if I let go, I may never be able to find her again. More noise can be heard in the distance, but it's a different kind. As we move closer it becomes clearer. It's a beat, from some kind of music, smothered by the closed door we're slowly approaching. The door is carved into a large red toadstool, which is lit by a small red lantern hanging from a higher branch, making the toadstool glisten as if it we covered in blood. Alice lets out a small scream when a strange caterpillar climbs into view, the giant bug is bright blue, but with the red lantern above, it has a slight purple hue. It's eyes are bloodshot, presumably from whatever it is smoking from the pipe it passes around its four most upper hands. It wears a monocle and six pairs of red shoes. The caterpillar takes a large puff from his pipe as he eyes us curiously,
"Who are you?" He asks slowly,
"Who are you?" Alice replies,
"I do believe I asked you first." He sighs, blowing a puff of smoke in our faces causing me to gag at the horrid stench.
"I'm Alice. That's Madeleine." Alice answers for me, he hums thoughtfully in response, changing the direction that he passes his pipe.
"I am Adicus." He says, blowing smoke over us again, this time I recognise the smell and hold onto Alice tighter, tugging on her arm slightly. "Do you want to come inside?" He asks, gesturing to the doorway below him, Alice nods, the smoke already making her brain cloudy.
"I do apologise, but I'm afraid we're in a bit of a rush." I say pulling on Alice's arm, she pulls against me, trying to go inside,
"No, Alice." I say firmly as I hear the music fade, the caterpillars blue skin begins to darken until a nearly black colour replaces it. He glares at me with dark red eyes and huffs out another puff of smoke at me, making his skin change from dark to light then back to dark again. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and as I do I notice more red glows shining through the the trees, his hunting pack. My pulls on Alice begin to get more desperate and frantic as they move in closer to us. I stand in front of her, taking ahold of her face in my hands, I look into her eyes where a white cloud covers them, making her seemingly blind.
"No, Madeleine!" She yells at me, "I want to go inside." She finishes blankly.
"Please, Alice." I beg pulling back on her arms, in a few more moments we will be surrounded with no escape. Alice shrugs herself from my grip, shuffling herself slowly towards the door, her feet dragging through the dirt. Adicus looks down at her, excited for a meal, four of what used to be his feet dangle around the door, boney and slick with venom that could end Alice instantly if she gets close enough. I grab onto her shoulder with enough force to bruise. Bracing myself for what I'm about to do, I pull back on her shoulder spinning her around to face me. She glares at me, but before she can give anymore of a reaction I take a deep breath and press my lips on hers.