"My sister, Penelope... I always wondered what she'd be like, if she grew up. Maybe, I think, she woulda been a bit like you."
Alice had insisted on climbing the tree, her frilly pink skirts hiked above her knees.
"What d'you think yer gonna find up there, Alice?" Will asked.
"We're looking for the White Rabbit, aren't we?"
"I dunno, are we?" he called up into the branches. He could hear rustle of fabric, but it wasn't long until Alice disappeared from his sight. He tried to keep his breath even, tried not to imagine her falling head over heels to the ground, hitting every branch along the way.
"I'm certain seeing the White Rabbit will convince my father that Wonderland is real. We're close to the Rabbit's house, I know it, and if we're not close enough to see his house, we're close enough to see him. This is thick forest, and I don't want to get lost in it. Who knows what we might encounter?"
"Alice, if you're tryin' to convince me you give a damn about yer own safety, it's not workin'."
She laughed. "I'm also keeping a look out for the Queen's guards. I'm not stupid, Will."
"Course you're not," he grumbled. "How d'you know you'll even see the White Rabbit 'round these parts?"
"He's always racing from one place to another, usually close to his home. He's a bright flash of white. Not hard to find."
The bark of the tree trunk scratched Will's back as he sat down against it. "Had you thought of somethin' other than capturin' a busy rabbit?"
"I'm not going to capture him, Will! I'll convince him to come with me."
"Course you will…" he said.
It was a fool's errand, but who could convince her of that? Here Alice was, runnin' around, 'n for what? Her father who thought she were crazy and would sooner throw her in a loony bin than believe her? Will knew he could be a better family to her than a hundred "Victorians," as she called the people she came from.
"What's it like," Alice asked. "Not having a heart?"
"Aren't you supposed to be keepin' an eye out for a white rabbit and angry guards from the Queen?"
"I don't see anything now, Will."
Will pushed the leaves at his feet into a small pile. His sister Penelope had loved to climb trees, almost as much as she loved to swim and to skate. Keeping up with her had nearly tired him out, even as a child. Will was glad his heart wasn't in his chest now. He thought it might break again, watching Alice leave Wonderland.
"What's it like not having a heart?" Alice asked again.
Will shrugged. "Nothin' much. I feel lighter, emptier. Just like having an empty chest. Why d'you ask?"
She didn't answer his question. "It feels lighter, not having a heart?"
"I don't got no responsibilities to it, see? Not when it isn't in me chest. I been asked to do some things that make me a might uncomfortable while servin' the Queen, but none of was me choice. Just followin' orders."
"Shh!"
Will froze and held his breath. From a distance, he could hear the crackle of twigs breaking under heavy feet. He spun around on his hands and knees, and saw nothing but thick forest on every side. Alice! he wanted to call up at her. Where are they, Alice?!
"It's fine," she said. "They've gone the other way."
"I hate Wonderland," Will said. "Always someone chasin' you, somethin' to run from. Always hated it, always will."
"You said you were a thief back in the land you came from, The Enchanted Forest."
"Yes. Why?"
"Were you a thief who never did any running?"
"I worked as part of a team, Alice. Remember? The best thieves never work alone. Never me against the world." Not when there was Anastasia. Or the merry men. Here he'd been on his own.
"And you think you're alone now?" Alice asked. He tilted his head back against the tree trunk to see her peeking down at him through the branches. "Because you have me, so you can't be alone," she said.
But I will be soon, he wanted to say. You'll leave for your home, and I'll be alone.
"Wonderland bends all 'round you in odd ways," Will said instead. "Take two damn steps in this place 'n you'll lose the path."
"Says the man from a land called 'The Enchanted Forest.'"
"It weren't that enchanted. Nothin' as crazy as this!"
"Look!" she pointed. Off in the near distance a small, white shape darted between the trees.
A second later Alice's boots hit the ground next to Will. She grabbed his hand. "Come on! Let's go!"
Will scrambled to his feet and did his best to keep up, but Alice reached the White Rabbit long before he did.
"You want me to do what?!" the Rabbit looked scandalized by the bag Alice was holding open.
"It won't be a long trip, Rabbit, just a quick jaunt to England and back," Alice said.
The Rabbit crossed his arms. "What are the chances we'll get stuck in England, and I'll never come home?"
"I'll figure it out, Rabbit, I promise!" Alice said. "Look, the Knave and I have a division of armed guards following our every move. The sooner we leave, the better!" Alice's eyes were full of a longing that Will was certain the Rabbit could not see.
"Why don't you rest here, Alice? Keep a look out for the guards. Rabbit, you 'n I can take a walk. How's that?" Will said, and picked up the empty bag. Alice nodded. The Rabbit sniffed and put his nose in the air.
"The girl's impossible, don't you think, Knave?" the Rabbit said, when they were a good distance away, and Alice looked about two inches tall.
"Sure, she is, and you're goin' to see a lot more of her. 'Cause you're goin' to England with her."
"I most certainly am not!" the Rabbit put his nose even further in the air.
Will knelt down beside him, so that he and the White Rabbit were eye-to-eye. "Look, Rabbit, I'm not goin' to throw you in this bag. But you need to go with Alice."
"Why?"
"Because she's got no one but her father, waiting at home, and - "
"She's got you here."
If he hadn't known better, Will would have thought his heart was in his throat. "She deserves better than to stay in Wonderland."
"Last I saw of you, you wanted nothing more than to come here," the Rabbit said. "You've changed your tune."
"You know Alice well, don't you, Rabbit?"
"I do," he sniffed.
"She stole my heart back from the Queen of Hearts, and she's had it with her a long time." Will pointed at Alice, pacing nervously between two large trees. "She coulda done anythin' with it, anythin' she wanted. But instead of usin' it to hurt me, she asked for my help to get back the family she's almost lost. Then she gave me my heart back." He touched the small pouch at his belt that carried his heart. "She didn't have to."
Will breathed deeply. The Rabbit was still silent, but he was listening.
"I've not been in Wonderland long, but everyone I've met here is an awful person, a greedy Queen or a selfish trickster or a good-for-nothing knave - not includin' you, of course. Before that I lived with thieves, good ones, but arrogant, 'n the people they stole from were worse. Alice… Alice is the one good person I know, the one who hasn't turned her back on me or spat in me face or told me I were worth nothin'!"
Will didn't think it was possible to cry without a heart, but his eyes felt wet. He wiped them on his sleeve. "Alice is the one good thing that's happened to me here. She's the reason part of me still believes that somethin' good will come out of all this mess. I don't want to tell her goodbye, but watching her here in pain… that's worse."
"You'd do anything for her, wouldn't you?" the Rabbit said.
"I grew up with a very stubborn girl. Always felt like they were the best kind," Will had said.
"Was she an old flame?" Alice had asked, leaning forward, eyes glittering and ready for a good story.
"Nothin' like that. My sister, Penelope." Alice's face had grown still, but for a smile full of understanding. " Four years younger 'n better at almost everything… We had a lake by our cottage, 'n in the winter it'd freeze over. We must'a spent hours - days, even - out on that lake. But all it takes is one second. One thin patch of ice 'n yer whole life changes forever. I always wondered what she'd be like, if she grew up. Maybe, I think, she woulda been a bit like you."
"Anythin,'" Will said.
The Rabbit stared at the canvas bag and sniffed in disgust. "So long as you promise it'll be a short journey," he said, climbing in.
"Thank you, Rabbit," Will said, and drew the bag closed.
"Will! Will!" Alice called out. She was running towards him at breakneck speed, half a dozen guards following close behind. He started running at her side, and by the time they reached the edge of the forest, he thought his lungs might burst. The forest had opened into a wide field, at the end of which was a labyrinth, a brighter green than anything the Knave had seen in the Enchanted Forest.
"We can lose them in the labyrinth," Alice shouted.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Will shouted back.
"Got any better ones?"
They had reached the labyrinth when one of the guards caught hold of Alice's cloak and pulled her to the ground.
"Alice!" Will yelled and his stomach turned to lead.
Alice unclasped her cloak, but by that time the guards had surrounded them.
Will leaned forward, his hands on his thighs, and caught his breath. "So glad you caught her, mate," he said. "She were gettin' away."
"Will Scarlet?" The captain of the Queen's guard looked down at him and gave him a toothy grin. "We all thought you'd run off."
"No. Just doin' me job. Remember I went off all on me lonesome to capture the dangerous criminal Alice? Well, now I got her. Now if you'll let us on our merry way, we'll see you all back at the palace…" Will trailed off. He could feel Alice's eyes drilling holes in his skull. Alice was bright. She must know he was only trying to get them out of this alive. Unless she really thought he might betray her.
One of the guards snatched away the purse at the Knave's belt.
"What's this, then?" said the captain of the guard, pulling out the box containing the Knave's heart.
"Stupid girl went and stole a heart from the Queen's vault. No idea whose it is!" Will said. "Now hand it over, and I'll return it to where it belongs."
The captain of the guard opened the box. "You know a funny thing, Knave? The Queen reported that your heart had recently gone missing." The captain squeezed the heart in the box, and Will fell to his knees, gasping for air and clutching his chest.
"Seems we've found it." He shut the box.
"Don't hurt Alice," Will gasped. "She's done nothin' wrong!"
"That's not what the Queen says, Knave!"
"Well, you've all been fed a load of rubbish. Alice is - "
"Alice is wanted dead or alive, Knave," the captain said, drawing his sword. "Right now I think she'd be less trouble dead, don't you?"
Two of the guards lunged for Will, but he drew his sword before they reached him and parried the captain's blow, stepping between him and Alice.
"Whoever has his heart!" the captain yelled. "Do something with it!"
The soldier holding the Knave's heart looked down at the small box in his hands, as did the rest. Alice took advantage of their sudden distraction and elbowed the guards holding her in the stomach until they loosened their hold enough for her to squirm loose and grab one of their swords. "Put it down!" she yelled at the soldier holding the Knave's heart, who dropped the box and Will's purse to draw his sword and cross it with hers.
"I've never used one of these before!" Alice shouted. "What do I do?"
"Put the pointy end in the person who's tryin' to kill you, Alice!" Will shouted back. He could feel his arms shaking from the pressure of holding the captain's sword away from his skull.
"Knave, did you see that?" Alice called out.
"I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, Alice!"
"The wall! Get him close to the walls!"
Will dodged away from the captain of the guard, first one way, then the other. He kicked the captain as hard as he could, just enough to send him flying into the topiary wall, which sprouted tendrils that devoured him slowly as he screamed.
"The bag!" Alice yelled.
Will lunged for the canvas bag containing the poor white rabbit and pulled it free from the captain's hands before it, too, was sucked into the labyrinth wall.
He handed the bag to Alice, who slung it over her shoulder. "Now don't open it till you're home. Rabbits have a nasty habit of running off. In there is all the proof ya need for yer father."
He knelt on the ground, scooped up the small box containing his heart, put it in its purse, and tied it to his belt. Alice's smile lit up her face.
"Take it 'n go. I'll distract the guards," Will said.
"But what about - "
"It's time you got the hell out of Wonderland, Alice!" he begged.
"What about thieves never working alone?"
He met her beautiful, clear eyes and smiled back. "Trust me, a great girl like you won't be alone for long. I've a feeling yer happy ending is right around the corner."
With that, Alice disappeared into the labyrinth. Will stood a long time staring after her.