AnaBeth's Next Adventure In Underland

Chapter 3: Time's Castle

Ten minutes' past before we see Alice again. I hear the door slam shut and I instantly look up in shock to find that my sister has been thrown out of the house. Tears start cascading down my face when I realize that she couldn't change my Hatter's gloomy nature. My poor babies are going to not meet their father like he once was instead of what he is now. I cover my face with my hands and I start sobbing uncontrollably. Where will I live if he keeps acting like this?

I feel a pair of hands gently squeeze my shoulders, which makes me look up to find my sister looking down at me with sadness and hope. Before she can say anything, I already know what she is about to say, which will be along the lines of 'we will get him back to normal. Don't worry, because I will help him and you, while I am in Underland.' Smiling softly, I nod my head and wipe the tears from my eyes.

"Sorry, hormones suck," I say to her, while I laugh at the end of the sentence. Alice laughs as well, and helps me stand up from the chair. Linking our arms together, we walk behind the white queen, and the others are following behind us.

"Your majesty, what are we going to do? There has to be a way to help the Hatter," I tell the queen, when I remember my suggestion from earlier. Practically jumping up and down, I rush forward and stop in front of the queen. "Mirana, Alice is here now, which means she can go into the past like I suggested earlier!"

She stops and thinks for what feels like forever, and slowly nods her head, while walking away from the present castle toward the ruins of the old castle that has long since fallen apart. If I remember from all the history lessons that Mirana has given me in this entire year, I believe the castle was called Marmoreal Castle. I mean it is easy to remember only because Marmoreal is also Mirana's last name. We head over to the immediate stairwell that is near the entrance to the ruins, and as we are walking Alice debates with the others about traveling in time.

"If you can travel back through time then why didn't any of you go?" Alice asks the others, while I take out my gold pocket watch and check the time. Even though it has been an entire year, I still haven't found out anything about the pocket watch, or where it came from, or why I had it since I could remember. Closing my watch, I place it back into my dress pocket, while I look over at Alice.

"They can't go back into time, Alice. We can, but they are not," I reply to her, and we walk down a hallway to a room on the second floor. The white queen glides into the room and a chained grandfather clock is in the center of the room. Fluttering her hand, the chains dissolve into tons of pure white butterflies that fly out of the room. Looking at the butterflies that slowly disappear out of the room, I realize that I have never seen anyone perform magic in my stay in this crazy world. Well, minus the whole battle when I first came here, but I don't really count that, because during that time I wasn't sure if I was staying. Sure, you weren't, my lovey dovey side of the brain pops up, you knew you weren't going to leave Underland when you first laid eyes on the Hatter.

Tuning back into reality, I watch as the white queen opens the glass door in the clock body that should have held the pendulum, but doesn't because there appears to be no back wall in the clock. Mirana gestures for me to go first, and I hesitantly go toward the clock. Sleeking my body through the clock, all I see is pitch darkness and looking back through the portal, I watch Alice walk through the opening too. Watching the only light source slowly disappear, I realize that this is my last chance to stay in the castle and make some handmade clothes for my babies. NO! I will not turn my back on my husband! With resolution, I set my head high, my shoulders back, and I lead the way through the darkness. Alice walks by my side and holds my hand, while we continue to figure out if we are going the right way. Well, I mean there is no wrong way considering that this entire place is a giant black void of nothingness.

After walking for who knows how long, the darkness soon turns into heavy fog, which I hope is a good sign. Alice and I continue to walk until the dark fog whisks away to behold an absolute beauty. Standing a little bit away from us is a dark castle with a clock feel to it. This scary looking castle fits the gloomy fog that surrounds this entire atmosphere. Looking at Alice, a feeling of excitement washes over me, and I gently hold her hands as I turn my attention back onto the castle.

"Alice, welcome to Time's castle!"