The Heart of Wonderland

Chapter 31

On the days-long march down the mountain and across Wonderland to the Red Queen's stronghold, Alison watched for a chance to escape, but none came. She hoped for a chance to reason with the Queen, but the masked woman retreated into a covered litter carried by four of her knights and ignored her captives. Alison was only able to catch glimpses of her when they stopped to make camp each night. Her demands for an audience were met with mockery by the Queen's guards.

By the time one of the knights shoved her and Maddox roughly into a stone cell beneath the castle, she was mentally and physically exhausted.

"Are you OK?" Maddox's voice was rough with fatigue and dehydration.

"Yeah." Alison slid down the wall to sit on the floor and leaned her head back against cold stone. "You?"

"I'm all right."

Alison looked sideways at him. "Well, from one friend to another, you look terrible."

Maddox let out a sharp, raspy laugh, which quickly turned into a cough. "I know I can always count on you to cheer me up."

Alison studied their prison. It looked like something out of a medieval nightmare. Their cell was made of solid stone, with no windows to let in any light. The only relief from the chill and darkness came from the clothing they wore and the few torches that hung on the wall outside their cell. She couldn't see if there was anyone else in the dungeon with them, but the place reeked like an outhouse. She voiced this thought and Maddox laughed again.

"I wish I didn't know how right you are. Can you believe I'd never gone camping before winding up stuck in Wonderland?"

"Seriously? Never?" Alison knew they should focus on ways to escape, but she was so tired, it was hard to think. It was comforting to have a normal conversation with someone who wasn't trying to kill her.

"My dad was always too busy, a total workaholic. And my mom wasn't the outdoorsy type."

"Will you tell me about her?" Alison asked.

"Are you sure?" He hesitated. "Won't it remind you of...you know."

Alison smiled. "It's OK. I'll never forget them, but that saying about time healing all wounds is kind of true. At first, right after they died, I kind of lost it. I ended up in the psych ward at the hospital."

"Whoa." Maddox paused, thinking over her revelation. "I'm sorry that happened to you. That totally sucks."

"Yeah, it really did. But it could have been worse, you know? Even though things have been terrible in the past few months, there were still kids at the hospital who had it worse. At least I had my Aunt Caroline to step up and look after things."

"Hey, Alison?" Maddox said after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"Despite the extreme lameness of everything that's happened since my mom disappeared, I'm not sorry I got stuck in Wonderland."

"You're not?"

"Nah. I wouldn't have met you otherwise."

It wasn't likely he could see her blush in the gloom of the dungeon, but Alison ducked her head so she could hide behind her hair. "Tell me about your mom?" she asked again to change the subject.

Maddox shifted on the stone floor to find a more comfortable position, then began to speak. "My mom was this funny mix of super determined and really impulsive. It drove my dad crazy. She would take up a hobby and be way into it for months, and then move on to something else with no warning. When she went missing, her main thing was photography."

"Is that why you thought the camera you found belonged to her?"

"That's why I hoped it belonged to her. Otherwise, what am I doing here? If my mom is back in our world somewhere, I've been stuck here for months looking for someone I'll never find."

Footsteps sounded in the corridor and Alison summoned the energy to stand. She faced the iron bars that made up the front of their cell. Maddox stood at her side as the Queen swept into view. In the flickering torchlight, the cool porcelain mask that covered her face was even more eerie than it had been on the mountain.

"Why are you doing this?" Alison demanded. "We haven't done anything to you. We only want to go home."

The Queen's mouth curved into a cool smile beneath her mask. She turned her attention to Maddox, ignoring Alison. "I can't let you go home, but I have come to offer you a choice."

"Me?" Maddox glanced at Alison and frowned in confusion.

Alison shrugged at him. She had no clue what the Queen was up to. The woman was as crazy as most of Wonderland's inhabitants, although she had proven herself to be far deadlier.

"I'm sure the Jabberwock told you about my first visit to the mountain." The Queen sneered. "That idiotic creature's constant babbling drove me crazy."

"Like you had far to go," Alison muttered, but she kept quiet after Maddox stepped on her foot, a reminder that antagonizing the Queen was not in their best interest.

"When I first came to Wonderland, I had the same idea you did," the Queen went on. "I was going to use the Heart's magic to return to my home."

Alison stayed quiet, but a terrible suspicion began to form as she glanced from the Queen to Maddox. His frown deepened as the Queen spoke and Alison wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

"Unfortunately, the Heart was stolen from me before I could harness its power." A hint of cruelty sharpened the Queen's smile and Alison shivered. "You can be certain that the guards who allowed the theft to occur were punished. Since then, I have been trying to recover the Heart, but I am no longer interested in leaving Wonderland. Instead, I will use its power to rule over this world, among others."

"The Heart's power isn't meant to be used that way," Alison protested. "You'll destroy Wonderland if you try."

"Silence!" The Queen spared a furious glance for Alison. "If she speaks again, kill her," she directed one of her knights.

"What does all this have to do with me?" Maddox tried to draw the Queen's attention back to him.

"A choice, as I said. The Keeper must die—I can't have her interfering with my plans—but there's no reason for you to join her."

"You want me to betray Alison." It wasn't a question.

"A necessary sacrifice. I can't allow her to live, but you may choose to stay by my side. Rule with me as a prince of Wonderland."

Slowly, she reached up to untie the mask that hid her features. Alison held her breath as the Red Queen's face was revealed, but Maddox let out a sharp gasp of recognition.

"Mom?"

The Queen held out her arms to him. "I've missed you, son."