Find Your Wings

Chapter 12 - Making a Deal

The Mad Hatter sure lives up to his name.

The moment we entered the invisible house - which, surprisingly, wasn't very hard to find - the first thing I noticed were the hats. And hats. And hats. There were so many hats. They were everywhere: just sitting on the floor, or hanging from the ceiling. They were stacked against the walls in piles that looked like they're about to topple over any second. They were in all different shapes and sizes. They were all very special, but there was one that especially caught my eye: the one sitting on the head of a man that must be the Mad Hatter.

"Well look what we have here." He said, his closed eyes staring right at us as if he could see through them.

"Are you..." I started, but then stopped. My instincts told me that calling the Mad Hatter "Mad" on our first encounter won't help with the deal we came here to make.

"Yes, yes, the Mad Hatter. That is me, that is me indeed," He said, but then quickly added, "But please, call me Peter. You can imagine that "The Mad Hatter" is a name I clearly did not come up with, and at times, it can be very offending."

"Oh, of course," I was trying to be polite but I'm not sure that was going very well, "I'm Amb... I mean, Neo, and these are my friends, Star and North." They each let out a quiet little "Hi" and then went back to looking at the ground. Looks like I'll be doing most of the talking today.

"Why hello there! I am so glad you came. It's always nice to have guests. Would you care for some tea, or maybe some tree frog juice? It's all freshly squeezed."

"Oh... Um... Actually, we came here to make a deal." North finally spoke up.

"Ah, a deal!" Peter said, quite enthusiastically, clapping his hands quickly, "And what kind of deal might that be?"

"We, um, need you hat." Star spoke this time.

"My hat?! I don't give my hat to anyone! It is my most prized possession and it is not for bargain..." He declared.

"Well, we tried..." North started walking towards the door as fast as he can to get out of this weird and creepy lace.

"Until you tell me what you need it for." Peter finished the sentence North had cut him off on.

"You know about the fairies, right?" I asked.

"Of course I know about the fairies. They have been invisible to humans for millions of years because of my stupid neighbor," Star cringed, "Blah blah blah boring story that doesn't affect any aspect of my life except the fact the you are my first visitors in the past 176 years, which I quite liked, to tell you the truth."

"Well, I meant the more... recent part of the story." I said

"What recent part?"

"The fairies are starting to disappear again, but this time, they just go up in a poof of air and no one ever sees them again. Their going away, for real."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, but you still haven't explained what you need the hat for."

"The only person that can help us bring the fairies back is my mother. But she's been held hostage by this very powerful and evil wizard for almost 8 years, and the only way we can get to her is if we open a portal to the Fairy World using your hat." I explained.

"Edgar captured your mother?" He suddenly opened his eyes.

"You know who Edgar is?" Star asked.

"Do I know who he is? I hate that guy. He ruined my life! He... Never mind it's a long story."

"So you'll give us the hat?" We all asked hopefully.

"On one condition," He raised his finger up and it hit one of the hats, which caused the gigantic pile on top of it fall down and completely bury Peter. We tried not to laugh. "Bring one of the flowers to me."

We all glanced at each other, waiting for the others to say something. "OK," I said, "You will get the flower." And he tossed the hat to me. As it sat in my hands, I got a first glance at it from up close. The hat itself was made out of purple felt, but it was covered in what seemed to be a lot of writing. The letters were carefully crafted in black and white ink, only leaving enough space to tell the real color of the hat. It had one thick, green stripe going around the bottom, which was the only place with no writing on it.

"How do we activate it?" I asked.

"Read" was the only answer we got out of him.

We started walking outside, when we suddenly heard Peter's voice again. "But I will warn you, breaking deals with me will do you no good. Especially a deal like this one."