Eternal Symphony

24. Lost in Wonderland

Alice Sinclair opened her eyes, squinting at the moonlight streaming through her window like diamond shards dangling from the ceiling. Her heart raced when she recognized she was in the master room in Elijah's estate, but he was nowhere to be found. Dazed and confused, she sat up, her head whipping around as she tried remembering what happened the night before.

We went to see the ballet and returned to the manor... her thoughts drifted away as the rest eluded her. Sighing, Alice emerged from the bed, still clad in the diamond gown with the sequin train. Why didn't I bother to change into nighttime attire? Her face flustered when remembering they were sharing an intimate evening, but when did she don the dress again?

Hoping to find Elijah, she made her way to the bedroom door, but for some reason, her hand trembled upon reaching the handle, hesitant to turn it. When she opened it, she stepped back into the rose garden meadow, the Heaven's Lights roses sparkling like the stars, their enchantment beckoning her forward.

How did I get from the bedroom to here?

A soft meow pulled her attention away from the obscurity of it all, and Alice saw Luna huddling beside the over-arching vault of tangled roots and tree limbs. However, she was confused to see the cat wearing the pocket watch she had given Elijah for Christmas around her neck, ticking unusually loudly. The moment she approached the black cat, Luna quickly scurried away into the forest, its haunting ballad whispering in Alice's ears.

"Hey, wait," she called out as she gave pursuit, the beauty of the setting moon's light lancing through the lush, green turf. Black shadows adorned the bordering grove—vaporous mists wrapped around the tall trees; the forest's damp breath overhung the hallowed ground. Yet, the world had grown quiet as her footfalls echoed across the gloomy atmosphere.

Even when Luna had entirely disappeared into the forest's shadows, Alice still followed the ticking yelling from the timepiece while a voice like the sun itself, if it could speak, occasionally lamented in her thoughts, "No matter how hard I try, I'm always late...."

The ticking stopped, and Luna was nowhere to be found. Alice eventually wandered towards the vaulted glass door leading to Elijah's secret library hidden away in the rose garden, but it was about a half-foot tall. Her heart throbbing within her throat, she knelt before it and peeked through the small windows, her eye like a blue ore moon through the glass, only seeing darkness and hearing the pocket watch ticking away again.

More confused and addled than before, when Alice brushed her finger against the door, she suddenly shrank down to the appropriate size in a plume of pink clouds, the big world now seen from an ant's perspective. The door swung open, and Alice was swallowed into the darkness, now tumbling down a dark hole with only her screams to keep her company as the panic rushed in.

She didn't know how long she was falling for—minutes? Hours?—but she eventually plunged into the black water below, the once calm surface now rippled with chaotic waves thrashing about. Alice fought through the currents and resurfaced, caught in the swirling mists writhing around broken ships littering the watery abyss.

Where am I? Her head whipped around, her eyes catching a faint, eerie green light glinting over the ship graveyard. Burning like the aurora borealis, emerald ribbons of light swirled above her head, moving with haste and purpose.

When Alice glanced over her shoulder, the mist manifested into a skull, whispering through a perpetual grin, "Did you forget your seaside days?" and vanished.

The icy black waters swirled ahead as the currents carried her forward, and a magnificent forty-gun heavy frigate suddenly emerged from the depths, breaking through the surface wholly intact. The grand black oak vessel sailed by in graceful strides, leaving Alice in awe and admiration of its grandeur.