Prologue: Dreams & Songs

Luminous school disappears. Sticky resin drips from tree. Unbearable stench fills the air. Velvety tufts of fabric mixes with downy feathers of a Tum-tum tree…

Kitty woke up with her back drenched in sweat. She forced herself into reality. To the world that mattered. She looped her delicate fingers around the branch she slept on and lowered herself down. The dream not only destroyed her love to nap, but also her love of chaos, if it didn't dampen it. She realized that a girl with aqua and violet rings was sitting on the other side of the room. Kitty took a moment to realize it was Maddiline Hatter, a fellow wonderlander. She looked paler than usual, and had her hands in her pinafore pocket, rocking herself from side to side, in an eerie manner. She she saw Kitty reaching up to her, she gripped her shoulders with the will of iron.

"Kitty… they've gone, stuck, in another world… of what, perhaps mirrors or riddles, or one that magic will surely unfurl,". Her voice was a bit wobbly at the end with fear, and as soon as she finished, she broke into a runny mess of tears that stained the exquisite gloves she was hiding herself behind. When Kitty leaned in to help her, she flinched.

"Don't trouble yourself with me," she whispered reassuringly, "Help the zoo find their way back for me… and you."

Suddenly, a harsh cry came out of the little girl, and when the feline broke out of her grip, Maddie held her hand to her chest and was breathing in hard, unsteady breaths. Her shining eyes dulled.

"No!" Kitty gasped.

The Hatters girl looked up at her with faint recognition.

"Only thing I can reassure of of is that this curse will end," she took a few last breaths,"When the school is whole again,". Then she was silent.

Kitty screamed. with her heart, with her wonder... her well of wonder that is infected by this plague that threatens to destroy all her people... her people. her voice started to wane slowly. The cat gulped down the air around her, and with strange ease, manage to leave her friend, after throwing a blaket around her, one drop splashing softly on the Hatters pale cheek.

"Dive into an abyss,

Search the night, for a single trace of light.

And unaware, I close my heart,

We'll reveal the truth at last, with a key to shake our reality.

With only a touch of fleeting words…"

Cerise held her scarlet hood more tightly than ever, her knuckles turning white. She continued singing her childhood song.

"But if there was only one thing I'd keep forever,

It would be that memory.

And the colour of the sky before me

I would give my pride and courage,

But I will never be discouraged.

Burn it all to the ground,

Tonight at last, set it free for the dream we unleash."

As if the petals become the wind,

I finally can fight along your side.

Even if I fall, till' my last breath,

Unto the end, I will forever shine"

Suddenly, the girl stopped. Ash grey fog was curling itself around the school. Something was telling her that it was no normal fog. Evil radiated out of it like rays. Suddenly she felt dizzy as if a part of the substance coiled around her mind. The next thing she knew, she saw endless black.

Kitty felt weak. Her wonder felt as low as her joy. How can she feel happy, when the Ever Afterlings were gone, and so was her soulmates. She felt as if a part of herself was ripped off. As she trailed around the school, shadows flickered in her back of her vision. Kitty looked up, realizing that a starless night waved back at her. Then she saw a silhouette slumped on the ground. Mustering enough wonder, she changed her clothes and her location. She was beside the girl in minutes, her pure white short-sleeved arm gently caressing her torso. Then she stood up, looking toward the forest that she would soon be, there, her violet scarf and dress fluttering in the breeze.