Alice and the Looking Glass (Clockwork Wonderland Book 1)

In Which Doctor White Examins Alice

Half an hour later, Maria returned, a man in a white, double-breasted smock and loose fitting black pants trailing behind. Looking like someone who'd shopped for a mad scientist costume at the last minute, a pair of bottle green goggles sat high on his head, sending a mess of pure white, frizzed hair out in all directions. It was as if his entire head of hair was just a collection of cowlicks. Alice tried not to smirk.

"Ah, Alice Linden, I presume?" His voice sounded like that of a heavy smoker, guttural and strained. The doctor made no move to sweep her a bow or take her hand. He just stood there, pinning her with his blue eyes, like she was a rare butterfly on a display board.

"Uh, Dr. White, would you like to sit down? Mae and I will stow the things you brought in our office; they'll be safe there."

"Things?" Alice asked, alarmed at what sort of things a man who looked like this would carry with him to visit otherworldly patients.

"Thank you, Maria." He lifted up one arm, hefting up a black leather bag with tarnished brass clasps. "I have all I need in here, for now."

For now? Was that supposed to comfort her?

"Look, Doctor - er - White, I'm sure there's nothing wrong, so you don't need anything in there either-"

He looked unimpressed. "Miss Linden, let me be the judge of what I need to do or do not need to do."

But, Maria coughed, aggressive and pointed. "Dr. White, you will allow Alice to set the pace of things or I will throw you out. Do you understand?"

A strange sort of energy passed between them. By all rights, a member of a prestigious college possessed more clout that a cafe owner, but she cowed him with a single sentence.

He cleared his throat. "Ah, yes."

Maria tapped her foot once, subtle and imperious at the same time.

"My apologies, Ms. Linden. Now, I only want to ask you a few questions," he glared at Maria before she caught him and he looked away.

"That's fine." Alice tried to sound neutral, to dissipate the tension a bit. Why was everything and everyone here so dramatic?

"Let's start with how you felt when you first woke up in The Sister's guest room..."

Half an hour and many pages of cramped notes later, Dr. White shoved his tattered notebook inside the depths of his bag. Just as he went to snap it shut, he paused, giving the empty doorway an experimental glance. Once she was satisfied Dr. White wasn't going to poke or prod Alice, she'd returned to the kitchen.

"Ms. Linden, before I go," he opened his mouth to continue, but Alice cut him off with a groan.

"Oh, please. Let's just get whatever test you want me to take over with, ok? Just, know," she gave him a cold stare, "that I can scream loud enough to shake the dishes in the kitchen. Got it?"

He coughed, then nodded. "Yes, I understand. It's simple and non-invasive. All you do is hold this ball and your vitals are radioed to my main unit in the college."

Radioed? Alice thought. Cool. And weird...

"Ok, let's do this." Curiosity overrode common sense.

From his bag, he produced a smooth, grey ball the size of a navel orange. It looked slightly transparent, as it made out of thick, smokey glass. She took it, surprised at how little the hefty-looking object weighed. Dr. White then brought out a hand-held, metal box, with a bulbous screen in the center and turned a few dials. The unit beeped once, before settling into a low hum. The sphere in her hand came to life.

Something very strange happened. The ball flashed green light and popped like an old fashioned lightbulb going out. Then, the sound of dozens of lights popping back echoed across the building. Though night had yet to set, the loss of every source of artificial light in the block plunged the area into uncanny darkness.

But, Alice didn't notice any of that, because her veins were on fire. Her hair was on fire. Everything was on fire! She cast a wide-eyed look at Dr. White, and while his face was marred alarmed and shock, he wasn't reacting the way a person should to someone burning alive before their eyes. The pain faded for a moment, long enough for Alice to realize she was not literally on fire. Instead of charred flesh, when she glanced down, she saw her hands glowing pure white, as if illuminated within.

As they both sat, stock still, staring at each other, patrons from downstairs started to filter out the buildings, murmuring. A few train cars rumbled to life and roared off.

When the sensation of burning dissipated, Alice spoke. "I assume that doesn't normally happen?"

This brought Dr. White out of his stupor. "Ah, no! It doesn't match with our prev- I mean, no, not normally. But what fascinating data! I must return to my laboratory." He jumped up.

What "previous" thing did she not match up with, she wondered.

"So, you've never seen anyone...er...glow before?"

Dr. White froze in the act of stuffing the now inert ball and fried transponder in his bag.

"Glow?"

"Yea. When I looked at my hands, they were glowing like crazy. And it felt sort of like I was on fire."

"Ah, yes, that. Well, uh. Don't worry about that, it's uh...normal," he lied, snapping the bag shut, trapping the antenna of the box in the claps. Dr. White needed to learn how to tell better falsehoods. The antenna bent and the unit emitted a little screech. He winced but did not pause in his hasty retreat. Alice flexed her hands after he'd gone, trying to see any spark against the darkening sky. She heard Maria shouting at Dr. White. Something about "should have known," and "don't you dare come back." The poor woman wasn't going to trust anyone she knew after this was all over...

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"She's active!"

"Whoa, hold up there, doc. What?"

"The Alice is active, what else could I possibly mean?" Dr. White shouted as he burst into the front office of the lab, shoving a lounging Chester off a nearby chair so he could sit down and dump the contents of his bag out onto the surface.

"Did you not hear about the burnout around Maria's?" Jack added, following close behind the other man.

Chester shrugged. "I've been here all day."

Jack smacked his friend on the head, not to harm but to tease, as he passed by to throw the double glass doors to the lab open.

"Dr. White gave her that imp orb we modified. She touched it and the whole damn block went out. Every light just burst into flames and died in an instant."

"That's not all," Dr. White spoke as he organized various objects into haphazard piles. "She said she saw her hands glow. I didn't see anything, but I could tell she wasn't lying. Why would she? You've read the books, right Jack? They don't mention anything about glowing"

"No," he replied, a grim set to his mouth. "She couldn't have known, which means she does have magic and it is awake now. What remains to be seen is how it manifests."

Too uneasy to sit down again, Chester shifted on his feet. "How are you going to use it?" He asked, his voice so soft it almost didn't carry over the sound of Dr. White banging around.

Jack knew Chester hadn't taken Alice's refusal to see him well at all. It hadn't even been a full day, the poor sop, and he was already mooning over her.

"Damned if I know. I don't even know if we should tell her anything. It could do more harm than good."

Dr. White looked up from the tray he'd loaded, "we don't actually need her consent, you know. I've talked about this before, it would be much faster if we just-"

"Cale, I swear to the King if you ever say something like that again-" Chester tensed, shoulders taut, trying to avoid shouting. He turned to Jack, hoping the pale man would intervene on his behalf, but he said nothing. Chester's tanned skin drained of color and he stomped towards the door.

"Don't you dare hurt her, Jack. Just...Just don't." With that, he fled the office.