No Longer Heartless

Chapter 17: It Would Appear That Way

The group found the looking glass and stepping inside, reappearing in the room with many doors. It gave Cath a funny feeling to know that she was so close to Hearts, to home, yet so far.

Now, instead of finding a small, glass bottle with the words "drink me" on a tag that was tied around the neck of the bottle, they found a small blue box with gold embellishment. Inside the box were small cookies with the words "eat me" on each one.

"What do we do now?" Cath frowned.

"We do as we have been instructed," Hatta nodded.

Cath picked up one of the cookies. "So...we eat them?"

"Well, obviously," Hatta sighed, rolling his eyes.

Jest took a small bite of one of the weirdly shaped cookies. "Definitely an interesting choice of flavor."

Cath followed suit, picking up a cookie and nibbling at it. "Interesting isn't exactly the word I'd use," she gagged, making a face.

Slowly, the two began to grow in size.

"Goodness," Cath gasped in shock. She certainly hadn't been expecting that.

Jest chuckled. "I don't miss this feeling."

Hatta rolled his eyes once again as he and Raven also began to grow to their natural sizes. "It's not that horrible. Stop being so dramatic and keep up."

"We're the dramatic ones?" Cath whispered once Hatta had walked out of earshot.

"Apparently," Jest chuckled. "Come on. We had better do as he says. Bad things happen when he gets angered."

"As bad as beheading people?" Cath frowned teasingly. "I've said 'off with their head' more times than I can count. That was-"

"I'm not slowing down, you know!" Hatta called behind him.

Jest shrugged and took Cath's hand, leading her up the long, winding, seemingly unending staircase.

It took a little while, but the group of four made it to the top of the stairs. They all sighed deeply in unison before stepping into the maze.

Cath felt a sense of helplessness wash over her. "I hate this place," she sighed.

"I don't think it's all that bad," Jest said thoughtfully.

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because this maze is the very thing that lead me to you," Jest smiled, tightening his grip on Cath's hand.

Cath blushed lightly and gave a shy little laugh. "God, he looks amazing," she thought. "I'd love to kiss those lips. Those soft, pink- no. No, I'm married to the King. That stupid, timid, idiotic,...wonderful...god, why did I marry him?"

"What's on your mind?" Jest asked softly as he and Cath lingered a few paces behind Hatta and Raven.

"Just trying to remember why I wanted to save Mary Ann," Cath sighed.

"You were friends. You thought you owed it to her," Jest shrugged. "Whatever happened to her, anyway?"

"She ended up getting a job as a maid for the White Rabbit. I haven't heard from her in a long time, though," Cath shrugged.

After a very very long time, they group of four made their way through the maze. As they approached the treacle well, Elsie was no where in sight.

"Elsie?" Cath called. "Elsie, where are you?"

"Look," Jest frowned, picking up a raccoon mask.

Cath hesitated for a moment, not wanting to ask the question that she knew they were all thinking. "Did...did Elsie die?"

"It would appear that way," Jest nodded gravely.