The Heart of Wonderland

Chapter 25

The next day, Alison returned to Mrs. Kim's apartment, although this time, her aunt knew where she was. As she had feared, Caroline had seemed hurt at Alison's request to stay with Maddox's grandmother, but she had accepted the explanation that Alison wanted to practice her meditation in a setting that didn't hold so many memories of her parents.

"Thank you for helping me," Alison said to Mrs. Kim as she followed the woman into the guest room at her apartment. "I'm starting to realize why Keepers need Guardians. Their job is more than just protecting the Heart, isn't it? They also protect the Keepers here in our world. I don't know how I would have managed to go back to Wonderland for any length of time without you."

Alison's ancestors might have stayed in Wonderland for weeks at a time, but there was no way she could have explained even a few days' absence to her aunt without Mrs. Kim's help.

"You are correct," Mrs. Kim said. "The Keeper and Guardian must work as a team. But I should thank you as well. We are helping each other, as well as Maddox and the rest of Wonderland." She led Alison into the kitchen, where a glass teapot simmered on the stove. It was full of dark purple liquid.

"Is that the elixir?" Alison asked. She hadn't expected it to look so...ordinary. Aside from the deep eggplant color and bitter smell that rose from the teapot, she would have mistaken it for herbal tea.

Mrs. Kim nodded. "I am very glad you asked for my help preparing it. You are a smart girl, but it would be very easy to poison yourself accidentally. Maddox is proof of that."

Alison swallowed around the lump of fear in her throat and looked at Mrs. Kim. "I didn't think I would be this nervous."

"I must admit that I am nervous too," Mrs. Kim said. "Wonderland can be a dangerous place and the longer you are there, the greater the danger. I worry that I am being selfish by encouraging you to return to Wonderland to help Maddox."

"Oh, Mrs. Kim, I didn't mean anything like that," Alison rushed to assure her. "The truth is that I would have made the elixir and gone back to Wonderland on my own if you weren't willing to help me. Like you said, at least this way I won't poison myself, and someone knows where I am."

Mrs. Kim looked at Alison with serious eyes. "Are you certain you want to do this? If you are unsure, we will find another way to help Maddox."

"I'm sure," Alison said firmly. "My mom used to say 'soonest begun, soonest done', so let's get this over with. If I put it off, I'll psych myself out even more."

"Very well." Mrs. Kim poured Alison a mug full of the elixir and led her into a guest bedroom. "When you are ready, drink this and lie back on the bed. The elixir will take effect quickly."

Alison glanced down at the practical clothing she wore and smiled as she wound her hand tightly around the strap of the rucksack that held her supplies. "I have to say, this is definitely the strangest outfit I've ever worn to take a nap." But as she'd discovered when she left her boots behind in Wonderland, she had to be in direct physical contact with anything she wanted to carry between worlds.

She took a deep breath and accepted the glass from Mrs. Kim with her free hand. "Here goes nothing."

She brought the glass to her lips, holding her breath so the bitter smell of the potion couldn't turn her stomach before she'd managed to drink it. She was surprised to find that it tasted vaguely of tomato juice, with an unpleasant, lingering aftertaste.

"Ugh. That's disgusting." She set the glass on the night stand and lay back on the bed, waiting for the elixir to take effect. "I hope my meditation training is further along next time I have to—"

She yawned widely and her eyes drifted shut. "Wow," she mumbled. "This stuff does work quickly."

She struggled to stay awake so she could ask Mrs. Kim a few last-minute questions before she fell asleep—only to find that when she blinked her eyes open again, she was already in Wonderland.

"Whoa!" Alison sat up straight as the fatigue that had pulled at her only seconds before disappeared. She appeared to be in the same alley where she'd last seen Maddox.

She dusted herself off as she climbed to her feet, then wrinkled her nose. Judging from the smell in the alley, someone had used it to dispose of their household trash since she'd been there last. But at least she was no longer appearing in random locations each time she travelled between worlds. Alison felt a small flicker of hope. Maybe her meditation practice was paying off, helping her focus on where she wanted to go.

The dim light told her it was close to dusk in Wonderland, but she had no idea how many hours or days might have passed. Time never seemed to work the same way here as it did in her world. She shouldered her pack and walked to the mouth of the alley so she could peer out into the village. She had to find Maddox without arousing the suspicion of the Red Queen's knights.

Where should she look first? The logical place to find someone who didn't live in the village would be a hotel or inn, but there was no way she could go there dressed as she was. She looked down at herself. Her jeans and sneakers were well-suited to a trek across Wonderland, but she didn't fit in with the locals.

Alison narrowed her eyes as she stared across the village square at a large building that seemed to be a central gathering place. People came and went at regular intervals and a wooden sign hanging over the door indicated there was food to be had within. As soon as it got dark, she would go there to look for signs of Maddox, making sure to stick to the shadows and back lanes behind houses and shops.

Her mind made up, Alison withdrew to the end of the alley and sat cross-legged on the cobblestones. Thank goodness it's almost dark. She didn't know how long she could stand the smell in the alley. She took a small sketchbook from her pack and studied the map of Wonderland she'd copied from the Keeper's journals to distract herself. Frowning, she pored over the drawing and wondered where she and Maddox should look first. Hopefully, the Mad Hatter would have a clue for them.

The scuffing sound of shoe leather on cobble stones made Alison jerk her gaze away from the map and she looked up to find that she was no longer alone in the alleyway. A figure wrapped in a long, ragged coat stood at the mouth of the alley, a hat pulled down to hide its face. He or she—Alison thought the figure was male—seemed to be looking directly at her, but the light in the alley had faded so it was impossible to know for sure.

Mouth dry, Alison got to her feet and waited to see if the stranger would speak. Was he a villager who wondered what she was doing lurking about the village, maybe even trying to decide if he should call for the Queen's knights? Or worse, did he work for the Queen himself? Maybe he was Wonderland's version of a plainclothes detective, assigned to patrol the village in search of those who didn't belong. As seconds stretched on and he didn't move, Alison's anxiety grew. Why didn't he say something? What did he want?

Act like you belong. People questioned what they didn't expect. Maybe if she acted like hiding in an alley was a perfectly ordinary thing to do, the stranger would go on his way. This was Wonderland, after all. People here were practically required to be eccentric.

Alison shifted her gaze to avoid eye contact with the dark shadows beneath the hat and walked purposefully toward the mouth of the alley. If she looked like she was simply going about her business, perhaps her watcher would too. Nervous instinct told her to hold her breath as she passed him, but she forced herself to breathe normally. When she came within feet of him and he still didn't move, she couldn't help letting out a small sigh of relief.

Then the man turned and grabbed her by the arm.