It wasn't working.
Alice was standing in the middle of her room where she had been for the last half hour, eyes shut tight, and looking for all the world as though she were under a deep meditative state. Said state being broken when she opened her eyes and howled in frustration.
"I'm still here!"
She'd never had so much trouble getting back to Wonderland before. All she had to do in the past was wish it and she was there. She remembered what the Cat had told her the day before.
Leave now, and do not return until it's safe
.When it was safe?...What did that mean? And how was she to know when it was safe?
She sighed. "Safe from what would be a better question. Perhaps..." and her thought turned dark. "...Maybe...maybe it's him..."
The window burst open. The cold winds of a coming rain having forced it to.
Startled by the sudden noise she made to shut it and in doing so looked outside. The meadow and the flowers stretching across seemingly endless fields had always been an escape from the tediousness of school when she was a child.
And she was sure that she was the only one that knew of a certain rabbithole beneath the hedge, at the end of the field of flowers...but no. Even if it would work and it did take her back, there was no way she would be able to use it. She was after all no longer eight years old and the entrance to the rabbithole wouldn't exactly accommodate her now.
She shut the window. Then, hesitantly faced her mirror. The looking glass. Easily long enough for a person to step through should there be anything on the other side...should there be...she pressed her hand against the cool surface.
Nothing happened.
Maybe it was for the best considering what had happened the last time.
"No," she said, as uneasy memories flooded her mind. "I will not think about that."
There was however something to think about: She could not get back to Wonderland.
If there even was such a place.
She sat on the floor and put her head in her hands.
"Of course. Of course there is. I've been there haven't I? I know I have...I know."
But she didn't quite believe it.
It wasn't the first time.
Alice knew something of dreams that could feel so real, and at times it really felt as though she were dreaming...but something had always kept her grounded. There was always a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that allowed her to know that what was happening, was happening. But could she trust that feeling? It was not as though it hadn't failed her before...
"I am going absolutely mad," she whispered.
"MADNESS!"
She gasped and jumped to her feet. What was that?!
But there was no sound. Alice was about to give in to the notion that she really was loosing her mind when she heard something. It wasn't as clear as the shout she had just heard, but something was there. Whispering. It seemed to be coming from,
"The looking-glass?"
And shapes began to form on its surface. Though they became clearer, they remained indistinct. For one moment she actually believed that what she was seeing was in the room with her and turned around behind herself to look. But of course there was nothing there. She should have known better. It was coming from the other side.
As far as she could tell she was listening to a conversation. The first voice came from someone who had their back turned to her. They were sitting behind a desk. There was another voice but she couldn't see where it was coming from.
And something else. It almost sounded like bells.
Knowing that she should be more cautious, what with the unusual happenings as of late, she gave in to her curiosity and approached the mirror.
Leaning in, she pressed her ear to it. The voices became clear.
Alice held her breath and listened.
On the other side of the looking glass, a very secret meeting came to order.