Into the Looking Glass: A Modern Alice in Wonderland

Ch. 10 :)

Ok, I reallllllly need a cool cover for this book please! If anyone would like to make one for me, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you and read your story with at least one comment per chapter I read :) If you're interested, just comment below k?

I lay in bed that morning, injured hand raised up above my head so I could inspect it in the morning light. The dark half-circles from the prince’s fingernails had crusted over, forming scabs that were littered on either side on my hand.

I grimaced at the sight of them, remembering the bloodlust in the demon kid’s eyes. The memory brought others with it, blurred recollections of the nuckelavee and the tube-like muscle –

I stopped thinking abruptly, and slid out of bed. I wouldn’t think about her, it still made me confused and sick to my stomach. Instead, I glanced back at my white interior of my bed, smudges of blood on the pillow and mattress. I knew the darker brown ones were from when my ears had bled in the town, but the newer, redder spots were from my throbbing hand.

Throwing the bedcovers back over it, I abandoned the bed to stand near the window. Through the rune-warped glass, I saw alabaster towers and more of the houses that made up the entire castle. The sight, once beautiful and awing, was only repulsing and nightmarish to me now. The rushing waterfalls could just as easily hold red fluid instead of water, and the dark lines between the bricks on the buildings were like the black veins of some engulfing creature. This was not a fairytale castle; this was a place of deceit and lies, where my brother had been stuck for over three months. I knew that he was here; I could almost sense his presence in the deep castle. Today I was going to find it.

I changed into the new clothes that were spread over my blood-spotted bed, fresh dark jeans and a light blue hoodie. I wondered how the King managed to get human-made clothes from his castle in Hell, but when I checked the labels all I could find was runes.

I thought about the little information I knew about runes. They were used by the Vikings, but here they seemed to hold some magical properties. It was that realization that prompted me to walk over to the writing desk, and search for a letter-opener. I found one, with a carved solid white raven handle, and I used the spotless blade the slice off the tags from the clothing. I picked up the rune-encrusted tags, and searched for a way to open my window. My stomach clenched as I found there wasn’t one, so I left the tags in the writing desk, hidden in drawers at the back of books.

I stowed the sharp letter-opener in my pocket, and felt grimly satisfied that I now had a weapon. Not only in material form, but also mentally – the White King didn’t know that I had seen him yesterday. That meant that he was still dependant on me believing every word that he spouted, and I knew in my gut that I was going to have to keep up my own charade if I wanted to leave with my brother and friends alive.

Or at least not maimed.

I closed my door quietly that morning, and continued down the familiar red-carpeted halls.  The paintings stared at me, motionless faces regarding my presence with a kind of hostile glare. I glanced at them every once in a while, as I travelled down to the hidden meeting point we’d all agreed on last night, finally deciding that the artist had to have been as sickeningly murderous as the King himself.

The small corridor, more of an alley than an actual hall, was crammed full of my friends when I arrived. They were attempting to huddle themselves in the dark shadows, staying far away from the entrance like I’d instructed them to. I breathed a sigh of relief as I counted everyone there, before I stepped into the carpeted alley myself and squeezed into a small spot beside Riley and Carson.

“Morning guys,” I whispered to them softly, catching their still-dozy expressions. “Alright. I’ve got a lot to tell you, and after we can start combing the castle for Aiden-“