Return To Wonderland

Chapter 1: London

Alice Kingsleigh stood at the front of the ship, the cool breeze softly blowing against her face as she breathed in the fresh sea air. 

"Land up ahead!" someone shouted as The Wonder got closer and closer to land.

After a while, The Wonder docked at the port and Alice looked around to see her mother and sister waving to her.

"Mother, Margaret, it's good to see you again" Alice walked over to her mother and sister then hugged them both. 

"Alice, dear, we've missed you but now your finally home" Helen smiled at her youngest daughter but Alice seemed to be lost in her thoughts. Sure London was where she lived but it didn't feel like home. There was and always would be only one place that is truly her home and where she belongs. Wonderland. 

"Alice?" Margaret called which seemed to break the trance her little sister was in.

"Hm?..oh yes, it's good to be back" Alice looked up at them and gave a small smile. 

"Come, the carriage is waiting, once we get home you must change" Helen looked up and down at her daughter with a disapproving look which made Alice look at her clothes. She was wearing tan pants with boots and a blue sailor coat with her hair in a braid. 

"Alright, if I must but I choose what to wear" Alice sighed then climbed into the carriage with her mother and sister. 

It was a quiet ride, Helen and Margaret whispered to each other and seemed to glance occasionally at Alice but she didn't notice, she kept staring out the window, thinking about all her friends in Wonderland. It's been 2 years since she was last there, 2 years since she slayed the Jabberwocky. Alice didn't want to leave Wonderland but she did have questions to answer and things she had to do like expand her father's trading company but she knew she would keep her promise that she made to Hatter. 

"Hatter..." Alice whispered to herself and thought about her best friend that she has known since she was a little girl. She missed him more than her other friends (though she missed them too) and caught herself thinking about him often. 

"Alice? Alice!" Helen and Margaret called, trying to get her attention then she finally snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at them.

"Sorry, I was just thinking" Alice smiled slightly but her mother and sister looked at her with worried faces. She knew that they thought she was a lot like her father, he used to be lost in his thoughts too and he used to tell her that all the best people are mad. Alice knew that her mother would try to make her fit into London society but she refused to act prim and proper, she wanted to be herself, be free to do whatever she wanted, go wherever she wanted to go. After all, she already believed 6 impossible things before breakfast. 

The carriage ride was long and quiet but it finally stopped in front of a house that wasn't as big as the Ascot's manor but was still fit to live in and big enough. The carriage door opened and a servant from the house helped the 3 ladies out of the carriage.

"Alice, we've been invited to the Wickett's manor to celebrate your return" Helen told her daughter but there was something in her voice that sounded like excitement. 

"Must we go? I doubt they'll notice if we never arrive" Alice sighed, repeating the same words she said on the day of her "engagement" party that she didn't know about and didn't want to go to.  

"Alice, please, not this again. We are going and at least try to be pleased with it, it is in your honor after all," Helen sighed with slight frustration, "Now go upstairs and change into something more proper" 

"Alright but I'm not wearing the codfish that goes with it, I can barely breathe in that thing" Alice knew her mother wanted her to wear a corset but she refused and kept calling it a codfish. She went up the stairs and into her bedroom. It was just like how she had left it, nothing changed except for the dress that was on her bed. She picked it up and looked at it with a frown, it was pale yellow and there was a corset on the bed too. She tossed the dress and the corset aside then searched in the closet for something else. In the back of the closet was her favorite blue dress that she had worn when she fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. It brought back many memories from her adventure and decided to put that one on (with no corset or stockings.)

"I'm ready" Alice came down the stairs and her mother sighed when she saw that her daughter didn't listen to her again and was wearing another dress, Helen also knew that she wouldn't  have on her corset either, like always.

"Alice you look lovely but why didn't you put on the other dress?" Margaret asked.

"It was too plain and besides, I like this one" Alice smiled to herself and gently smoothed out a wrinkle in the dress. 

"But you wore that when you turned down Hamish, why would you like it?" Helen looked at her with a confused face. If only she knew why Alice liked that dress so much. 

"Never mind, let's go, it wouldn't be "proper" to be late" Alice said sarcastically and walked out the door where the carriage was waiting and got into it, followed by Helen and Margaret. 

The carriage started moving and all 3 of them were quiet and shared glances at each other once in a while, Alice was completely unaware of what her mother and Margaret knew was going to happen at the party.