Key of Souls: Twisted Wonderland

Chapter 28: Preparing for the Party

3rd POV

It was nighttime as Trey and Cater finally made their way back to the Heartslabyul Dorm after leaving the cafeteria's kitchen and were now at the lounge. A resident of the dorm suddenly approached them and said, "Trey, Cater, I'm so relieved you're finally back!"

"What's the matter?", Trey asked him. The boy took a deep breath and began to tell his seniors what happened while they were gone. "There were 10 residents in violation of Laws of the Queen of Hearts #256: "Just after 8 pm, one must drink lemonade with honey." that got their heads offed by Riddle..."

Cater and Trey were silent as they looked at the young man; their hearts felt heavy as guilt and shame washed over their bodies. "I can't live like this anymore! I'm rendered immobile by rules I don't understand... I want to transfer to another dorm...", the resident told them as he broke down in tears from feeling overwhelmed by the rules of this dorm. Trey approached the teen boy and gently patted his back and gave a small smile. "...Everything's going to be fine. I'll go talk to our Dorm Leader. You all should go back to your room.", he told him. The young man silently nodded his head and walked back to his dorm room.

"...Ugh, I suppose I go get some tea ready to try to win favour with the queen.", Cater said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry, Cater. Oh yeah, make sure to pick herbal tea instead of black tea. I'm pretty sure #153 mentions something about evening tea...", Trey said.

"...Will do, okay.", Cater replied as he went off to the kitchen to prepare the tea. Both boys felt a wave of stress and hoped that tomorrow's party will go unhitched.

*Drip, Drip*

-----------------------------------------------------

Dawn's POV

I was just upstairs in my room putting on my pyjamas when a sudden image flashed in my mind. Just like what happened back in the cafeteria, two black droplets fell to the ground. They moved across the floor and merged with the black puddle and it became a bit bigger.

"These droplets again?", I muttered as I started to get my senses back together. I was starting to feel uneasy about this and wonder why I could see this image. For now, I headed back downstairs to meet up with Ace, Deuce and Grim and we all got ourselves ready for tomorrow and went to sleep.

I felt something stirring inside of me as I opened my eyes and found myself back at the same rose maze from my first dream. "...Another dream?", I said as I looked to see where I am now. Then I noticed two people up ahead; I recognized that one of the people was the same little girl who I saw in my first dream, bowing before the second person. That person turned out to be the Queen of Hearts, one of the Great Seven that Ace told me about the first time.

"You went and sullied my roses! Prepare yourself!", the Queen of Hearts shouted as he swung her rose bush around like a manic.

"I beg your forgiveness, Your Highness. It's their fault.", the Three of Clovers pleaded, he pointed towards his fellow card soldiers.

"It wasn't me. It was the Ace!", the Two of Clovers said as he pointed at the Ace of Clovers.

"Was it you?", the Queen of Hearts angrily asked as she took a step closer.

"No, it was Two!", said the Ace of Clovers, redirecting the blame to the Two.

"Two's doing?", the Queen of Hearts asked again as she got closer to the card soldiers. The Two jumped a bit and shouted, "No, it was Three!".

"Enough! Off with all their heads!", the Queen of Hearts shouted. Just like that, the three card soldiers were dragged away by the guards to be executed; the crowd began to cheer and whistle for the Queen's ruling, while she looked pleased with her decision. While looking on, the Two of Diamonds said, "Of course, you lose your head for using the wrong colour." The Three of Spades nodded his head in agreement. "I can't believe anyone would mix up red and white.", he said.