xSmoke and Firex
*Chapter One: Through the Looking Glass*
The library was quiet, the house seemed to slumber in itself. Nothing stirred. A shadow drifted across the silent library, poking about things when the sound of something falling caused it to freeze. Nestled in an armchair peacefully sleeping was a small girl. Her dark hair spilled over the arm of the chair and her arms wrapped around a small stuffed rabbit. At the foot of the chair was a book that had fallen from her reach as she slept. On the back of the chair peering at the shadow was a black cat. The shadow crept close to the small girl, pushing stray locks of hair out of the girls face. Very carefully, strong arms picked up the small child, careful to include the toy rabbit, The cats ears drew back and it's tail flicked but as the child was carried away the cat got up, stretching and hopping lightly off the armchair to follow its little mistress.
The girl was brought to her room and tucked gently into her bed. Her white rabbit tucked in beside her, which the girl immediately reached for and hugged tightly. The black cat hopped onto the girl's play chest and over the foot of the bed to rest daintily by her head. The shadow left the room shutting the door behind him.
The noise stirred the girl from her sleep, she sat up looking about in the darkness. Her father must have carried her to bed, she thought. Beside her sat her cat, Dinah. She thought it was odd her father hadn't brought the lantern with him but she supposed it was due to him carrying his daughter and having no hands for the lantern.
Clutching her rabbit she drew back her covers and nimbly tip-toed to the door. If Father found her awake and out of bed he'd be a bit cross. If her sister Elizabeth stumbled across her, she'd be back to bed without her night-light, and who knew what dreadful things could lay in the shadows. The girl crept down the stairs, sitting on a table sat her lantern, she saw her book sitting on the floor and picked it up. It was her favorite book. 'Peter and Wendy.' It was this book that caused her to create her own little world. Wonderland it was called. She took her book and the lantern then retreated back upstairs and into her room. She got back into her bed and held her rabbit and her book. Dinah jumped off her bed and trotted somewhere else, perhaps out of the room to see if any mice were about.
Alice woke, this time it was to see her White Rabbit grab his little hat and gloves, check his pocket watch and disappear through Alice's looking glass that sat on her vanity. Alice gave a large grin and threw off her covers and ran to her mirror. She had a short thought about whether her night clothes were acceptable for Wonderland. She turned and threw open her play chest. Her mother had insisted it should stay in the nursery but because these excursions to Wonderland became so frequent Alice insisted in must stay in her room so she'd always have appropriate clothing for any occasion that should arise.
She grabbed a lovely yellow tartan dress and white apron and quickly changed taking care to remember her stockings and shoes. She hated running about outside without her shoes. Then she took particular care to brush her hair and smooth it out with a little green ribbon that complemented her eyes before testing to see if the mirror would still let her through.
The mirror being a small vanity one and not a full body mirror meant Alice had to crawl through it, Not that she particularly minded, she'd gone through a rabbit hole on her hands and knees and scuffed up the knees of her stockings, making Nanny rather cross with her. The mirror walls were fairly smooth, as one would assume a mirror should be like, and let out to a large glass room.
"I should be very careful in here." Alice said to herself out loud. "I shan't want to break it." The glass was too cloudy for her to see out of but not reflective enough for her to see herself. Now that she was in, she wondered on how she should get out. She walked about the walls and finding no weak spots she looked up. A light poured in from the lip of a bottle.
"Oh! I'm in a bottle! I must be a very small size!" Alice exclaimed "But how shall I get out?" She went to sit down but stood back up and turned to see a large glass box with cookies. The box opened and Alice couldn't resist eating one. After all, they did say 'Eat me.'
Once Alice took a bite she instantly regretted it. The cookie was dry and stale. Not nearly as delectable as they looked. She put it down and wiped her hands of the crumbs with her nose upturned as if to say 'I'm rather done with your nonsense.' All at once she felt odd, and it wasn't long before she began to grow larger and larger until she filled the entire bottle. But she didn't stop growing, she grew and grew until the glass shattered and she kept growing until she was as big as the teapot she sat beside.
"Alice! What ARE you doing popping up in the middle of our tea party?" The Mad Hatter exclaimed holding a tea cup. Alice had grown right in the middle of a elegantly decked out table filled with pastries, cakes, pies and teas of all sorts. The only occupants were the Hatter and his two beloved companions the March Hare and the Dormouse.
"Oh! I'm sorry Hatter!" Alice stood and curtsied. "I didn't mean to, I just arrived you see and I never am sure where I'll arrive!"
"Or when it seems!" He retorted.
"Well you'll never get anywhere being THAT size!" The March hare observed.
"I suppose I could be a little larger…" Alice said looking down at herself. "Perhaps if I eat something, I'll grow a little larger."
"Well you're certainly in luck!" The Hatter laughed. "We've been eating for hours!" Alice laughed and scooped to a lovely slice of strawberry cake and took a large bite and hopped to the chair right beside it. She grew to an appropriate size for a girl her age.
"Now Alice, have you given thought to my riddle?" The Hatter asked.
"Yes! I think it's a person." Alice said very confidently.
"You think or you know?" The March hare asked condescendingly "You should say what you mean."
"I do. At least… I mean what I say." Alice said trying to out reason the madness.
"I've got another one." Hatter interrupted "How is A Raven like A Writing Desk?" Alice thought about this new riddle. What could possibly connect the two? Her nose began to prickle with the smell of something odd. It smelled terrible and she started to cough. Then her eyes opened to the screaming of the panicked tea party where in the center of the table a large fire had broken out. Hatter was screaming.
"Fire! Oh Dear Oh Dear!" He yelled
"You must save Alice!" The White Rabbit yelled from somewhere as Alice recoiled as the fire began to grow.
"Wake up! Alice! Wake Up!" The Hatter yelled and the March Hare threw a tea cup at her.