ALICE

CHAPTER 24- SAVIOUR

"I have a terrible mother, don't I?" Asked Alice, finally breaking the silence. Knave said nothing.

They were both sitting on the floor, shoulder to shoulder, next to her bed. The twins were, according to Knave, sitting opposite them.

Knave had not uttered a single word ever since they had sat. He had just kept glancing at the clock and cursing silently. He looked at the time again. It was eight.

Alice found herself actually waiting for her mother to return. She was tired of wrecking her brains, trying to figure out what might happen to her. She just wanted to get it over with.

She badly wished for Knave to say something, for what might be the last time. Alice wanted to have someone who truly cared about her to be in her last memory, and right now Knave was the only one who she could see.

Alice sighed. She was getting really frustrated with the silence. "Knave, do you even plan on saying something, or are you just going to spend the last few hours with me, cursing yourself?"

"Two things," He began, holding out two fingers. "First, I am going to make sure these are not our last moments together, and second, I am not cursing myself. I am cursing Cor...," He broke off, looking guilty.

Alice could not help but smile. "Cora!" She said, completing his sentence. Knave gave a small nod. "I would be lying if I said that I am angry at you." She paused. "Actually, I feel like cursing her myself, but I find that I cannot bring myself to." She laughed without any emotion. "After all, she is my mother!"

Knave looked at her with sad eyes. "You are brave, Miss Alice!" He remarked. "The way you are trying to hold yourself up, to collect your broken pieces, it just proves that if there is anyone who can stand up against Cora, it is you!" He looked at her thoughtfully. "Do you remember what Mendaline had said to you at the cave the first time you met her?"

"I am dumb?" Asked Alice. She gave a little laugh. "Well, she was right." She mused.

Knave closed his eyes, as if trying hard to control his anger. "You are not dumb, Alice!" He continued, "Besides, I was talking about the other thing." Alice looked at him blankly. Knave made an impatient noise. "She had said that you have powers no one before you had!"

The witch's words suddenly came back to Alice. "All I can say is, that the people with you, your own, are plotting against you. The time is ticking as always, but you..., you my dear, are not like the others before you! You can stop this. You can win!"

Alice had not understood then, what it was that Mendaline had been trying to tell her. Now, all her words made sense.

Alice slowly nodded. "I remember!" She said in a low voice. She looked at Knave. "But how can I...," She looked away.

No matter how terrible Cora was, would she ever be able to gather the courage to stand up against her own mother? The woman who Alice had loved and trusted her whole life. The woman who had for whatever selfish reason, given her a life, brought her up. Even Alice's powers had been inherited from her mother. Without her, she was nothing.

"How can you stand up against your own mother?" Asked Knave, as if reading her thoughts. Alice did not reply. "Alice, that woman is not worthy of being called a mother!" Said Knave.

Even though his voice was gentle, the words hit Alice, threatening to break through the wall that was around her now. The wall of shock, in which she was hiding behind. She knew that once she would get over the shock of everything, the pain that was gathered up inside her, would pour out.

They were quiet for some time, when Knave asked, "What about your father?"

Alice felt tears in her eyes, and she made no attempt to stop them. "Cora made me believe he left me!" She said, breaking down.