Alice and the Looking Glass (Clockwork Wonderland Book 1)

In Which Alice Crashes the Party

As soon as she hit the ground, the scene changed again. In fact, instead of falling into soft mud, her knees smashed onto a rough hewn stone floor.

"What have you done to my sister!" a terrible, booming voice bounced off stone walls. She realized she was in a dungeon.

"Huh?" Alice tried to say, but instead she heard a male voice, saying something else.

"I loved Lilly as much as you did, Your Highness. I do not know who murdered her but you must believe me, I had nothing to do with it."

"Then," the owner of the voice, the queen, stepped out of the darkened doorway, revealing the figure of an imposing woman, tall, with bird like features, in a red and black Elizabethan-style gown, "why was her blood found on your clothes, along with a knife? And the stink of magic all over the room, and you."

"I was framed. You know by who! Don't be a-"

"A convenient boogyman to lay the blame on," she yelled, in a most unqueenly manner. Alice felt her host wince. "I expected more out of you, Hatter. Something original, at least. I never should have trusted you. Guards," she shouted down the corridor, then looked back at the poor man. "I would order your head cut off, but I have a better idea." The queen's wicked grin made Alice shiver. Then, she woke up.

"Alice!" Mae was screaming. Other people were screaming too. Alice smelled smoke.

"Mae? What's going on?"

"The blimps, they all burst into flames. The opera is on fire, we need to leave." Mae yanked at her arm, taking charge.

"Why did they explode?"

"Now isn't the time," she barked, dragging Alice along the corridor and down a pair of velvet carpeted steps.

They burst out of a side door along with a flood of other guests. As they limped back to the cafe, the opera house burned.

"She set the place on fire!"

"We don't know that."

Dr. White groaned and pounded his fist on the metal door. "We do know that, and you are lying to yourself. How could you be so stupid as to send her to that play, of all those running this time of year?"

Jack jumped up, bounding over to Dr. White and towering over him. The other man shrank away. "I didn't know a damn play would trigger her, if that's what happened. We knew Kyle's new toy wasn't without risk. A mechanical failure is just as likely, perhaps more so."

They glared at each other for a moment before Jack slumped his shoulders and threw himself into one of the rolling chairs littering the lab. "You're right. It was her and we have no choice now..."

Making a satisfied noise, Dr. White stalked over to the far side of the room to the brass framed, glass suspension chamber filled with opaque liquid. He started adjusting various valves and dials, and the liquid bubbled and then cleared. Soon it looked like simple water, tinted only by the bottle-green glass and multi-hued lights from nearby panels.

"You and Chester will get her tonight. She should be exhausted from the ordeal and I know you still have a key to Maria's."

"Oh gods, Chester." How would Jack persuade his friend to help them abduct and imprison Alice a second time? Before, she was just a pretty target, but now Jack believed the foolish man had genuine feelings for her.

"'Oh gods, Chester' what?" A voice sounded behind them, cold and hard as steel.

"Chester, I-"

"I know what you're going to say and I will not help you."

"That's a stupid idea and you know it. They don't take well to insubordination."

Never before had Chester wished for more courage than that moment. What they were doing was wrong. Killing an innocent person because of her bloodline, to use her powers to wipe out an entire people. Ever since she arrived, he found himself thinking more and more about the implications of what he and his colleagues planned to do. But, the College would make his remaining life as a conscientious objector short indeed. Short and so, so painful. He was a coward and never pretended otherwise.

"Fine."

Jack's eyes softened. He knew the questions Chester grappled with. He'd had those same questions, years ago, but long since came to terms with it. He would bloody his hands to protect the humans, as none had done to protect his sister. Even if the blood haunted him until he died, whenever that may be.

"Come on, let's make a plan, we don't have much time." He sighed.

Maria bolted upright at the sound of sirens. For fifteen minutes, she watched the water trucks rumble to and from the opera house. Mae would keep Alice safe, she knew that, but it didn't stop her from wringing her hands. Then, a crash of pots and pans signaled their homecoming.

"Come on, Alice"

Alice replied, but Maria couldn't hear what she'd said.

"Mae! What happened," Maria all but flew down the stairs, rushing to her friend's side just as Mae's strength gave out. Alice slipped from her sooty, sweaty grasp and tumbled to the ground. Between the two of them, they prevented serious damage. Once the unconscious woman was arranged safely on the floor, Mae slouched against a nearby crisper's steel door.

"She burned it down."

Maria shook her head.

"No..."

"She did, Maria!" Mae snapped, uncharacteristic in her anger.

"Why? How?"

"She lost focus during the second act. The play triggered it, I'm sure. The set was all dark trees and vines. She passed out, then the blimps caught on fire."

Maria's blood ran like ice and her face paled. "She's real, then. I worried when she had that dream but..."

"Dream?" Mae pinned her friend with a look few dared give the woman.

"She had a nightmare about the looking glass, or at least some variation of it. I hoped she was just picking up on echos from the past, but I suppose she was awakening instead. I assumed Dr. White just did something with his damn tools to cause the blackout..."

"Why didn't you tell me," but Mae didn't give her time to answer. "It doesn't matter. You know what's coming next, don't you?"

She did, but to admit it was to free the last bit of pain she'd locked away. The College would come for Alice tonight, and Jack would be with them. Jack, the man she'd trusted and perhaps even grown to love over the last half-decade. Part of her had always wondered if they would find themselves on opposite sides of the same river on day. Perhaps she'd known when she'd learn they'd drugged Alice, but simply refused to see it.

"We don't have much time."

Jack and Chester pressed against opposites ends of the bench seat in the back of the van. Dr. White rode in the front, next to Humphry, who drove them towards the cafe in silence. A rack of instruments and a crate of devices clattered as they rolled over the uneven cobblestones. There was no turning back. Maria and Chester would never speak to him again. He was helping bring about the murder of an innocent human. But, what choice did he have? She was their last hope to squelch Thornweep and for him to avenge Sonya. They'd been fools to think they could use Alice any other way.

Maria and Mae gathered ingredients hidden around the kitchen and prepared to the potion.

Jack and Chester counted the minutes until they arrived.

Alice dreamed.