"Why?" I almost whine, avoiding looking at Hatter.
"He knows the way, and if anything happens, he can get you away the fastest." White said, wondering why I looked murderous.
"Hat travel." The Hatter says, pulling my gaze to meet his. He looks no happier about our arrangement than I do. "Myself and a companion can use my hat to travel far away in the case of an emergency. Unfortunately, its not easy to navigate, so it's only used in time of emergencies."
"Oh." Is my only response. An almost tangible layer of 'awkward' covers our group, and the Twins shift uncomfortably.
"Well, we must be going. Come along, Alice." The Hatter begins walking, and I reluctantly follow.
After about an hour of walking, I decide to break the silence. "So, Hatter."
"Yes ma'am?" He says, not looking my way.
"Uhmm..." I hadn't really thought past getting his attention.
"I think it would be better," He says after a moment, "if we just remained silent."
I decide to bite back the cutting remark forming on my tongue, and listen to music.
********************************************************************************************
The Hatter finally stops walking, and I pull out my earbuds. "We're here."
I look around us. We're in a giant clearing, giant mushrooms blocking the sun and casting eerie shadows. One of the biggest mushrooms of all stands before us, and a little door stands at the base.
"You first." The Hatter says, but I'm already walking to the door. When my hand touches the cool metal doorknob, I hear the same voice in my head as I did before White showed up.
Come inside alone.
"I think I'm gonna do this alone, okay?" I ask the Hatter, but before he can respond I'm inside the house, the door shut firmly behind me. The entire house is dark, a fog like substance covering the floor.
Upstairs.
In the dim light I can make out the outline of a staircase, and I carefully head towards it.
As I climb, I wonder what I'll find. A giant caterpillar? A butterfly? But, when I reach the top, I see I was very wrong.
"Hello." He speaks out loud and walks toward me, hand extended. He's a perfectly normal, human-looking person. He's wearing dark blue skinny jeans, and a black button up dress shirt. He has black hair with blue highlights, styled almost exactly like Ches. His eyes flash an inhuman blue, and as I shake his hand I see his other hand holds a cigarette.
"Not what you expected, I presume."
"Not really," I laughed. "After the dark, mysterious downstairs, this is definitely not what I expected."
He chuckles and falls onto his couch, managing to look graceful, when I'm pretty sure if I did the same thing I'd look like a falling cat. He gestures for me to sit in the chair opposite him, and sucks on his cigarette. "So why are you here?"
"You know why."
"That may be so, but I want to why you think you're here."
"I've been brought to a fairytale place that turned evil, a someone is responsible for bringing me here. That someone," I say, and lean toward him, "is you."
He looks at me for a moment, then grins. "I know a lot. Sometimes I can see things, like tiny visions of the past or the future. I can- obviously- speak into people's minds, and I have eyes and ears all over Wonderland." He pauses, and I wait patiently for him to continue, but he remains silent.
