Prologue

First Things First, of Course

I bolted upright in my bed, panting and gasping for air. Sweat dripped off my forehead, soaking the long, brown hair cascading down my back. I'd had that crazy dream again; for the third time this week! "This is gettin' ridiculous." I mumbled to myself, "A girl just can't get good sleep like she used to!" My head found its way back to the pillow as I stared at the ceiling dotted with glow-in-the-dark stars. The fan whirred, spinning round and round continuously, a low hum filled the night's silence.

"Oh well. No use in just layin' here… I need some rest." my weary 6-year-old eyes attempted to close, but something drew them away from their mission.

A white shape, just outside my window.

A white rabbit in a waistcoat, carrying a pocket-watch.

Its metallic surface caught the full moon's light and shined right in my eye. I sat up again, watching him watching me. He tapped the watch, as if saying "Don't be late!" and then disappeared into the woods.

Not much to my surprise, my loyally lazy dog, Clifford, didn't bark at the sight of a strange creature in the yard. He remained completely quiet, except for the occasional yawn here and there. He's such a wonderful guard dog!

Still shaken, I flopped back down and inched closer to the wall. There was no way he'd followed me out of my dream… the White Rabbit wasn't real. Nothing in that dream was real. Zilch, nada, none whatsoever, no way, no how.

It couldn't be…could it?

March Hares, Mad Hatters, and loony Queens with enormous heads and attitudes to match just don't exist; not in this world! Hedgehogs and Flamingos are most DEFINITELY not used in croquet (not that I'd ever played it myself, it's just common sense), monkeys and birds are certainly not used to hold up furniture, and no rabbit that I've ever seen, white or not, has worn a waistcoat nor carried a pocket-watch! Bandersnatches, Jubjub birds and Jabberwockies don't galumph around in the woods or fill the sky with their presence. And cats can't just vanish into thin air, dogs can't talk as plain as humans, and dormice do not brandish hatpins as swords when threatened. Playing cards and chess pieces are only about 3 inches tall at the most (not 4 and 5 feet), are not made of armor thick enough to deflect heavy weaponry, and cannot move about on their own via walking because they aren't supposed to have legs.

But, in this dream…that's exactly what happened! That, and much more that you would never believe in a million years…I don't even believe it…and I saw it with my own two eyes! No matter how much I tried to assure myself, I continued to wonder…

Was it really a dream at all? Or was it something more…?

Even now I'm still not sure, not even all these years later. No one else seems to be either, including the shrink my parents hired a few months ago…but…that's another story…

I still have the "dream", just not as often as I used to. It once came to me almost every night, now it only comes around right before something really unusual is about to happen in the real world. Coincidence? I think NOT!

As if that's not crazy enough, I'm not the only one that has had this vision plague me for most of my life! All of my friends here at the middle school have been through the same thing as me; Mayo (the drama queen), Maccay (the stubborn one), Lucy and C'Lee (the identical twins that argue about everything), Trevor (the crooked cook), and Matt (the smooth-talker,). All seven of us had our bizarre adventure in common, but the versions of it varied from person to person.

Mayo is always at a tea party with the Hatter, March Hare and the ever-so-pessimistic Dormouse. She's told me several times that, after all the visits she's made; the tea has grown quite weak, the cookies aren't any better, and the bread and butter are cold and stale. I'm not quite sure I completely believe her though, as she's known for her exaggerations and making mountains out of molehills. Then again, that party has been going on for several years nonstop… eh, who knows?

Maccay, the poor girl, is stuck at the croquet game with the tyrannical Red Queen and her odd group of courtiers. The two of them have allegedly been arguing about who won the game since her second visit. The Queen and her lackeys claim that "her Majesty" beat my friend "fair and square"; Maccay begs to differ… she says that she was the one that beat the Queen! And with both of them being stubborn as a couple of mules, it doesn't appear that anyone in Underland is gonna hear the end of it anytime soon. My heart goes out to the unlucky souls that have to listen to their bickering for hours on end those nights when she's there; I really pity them.

Lucy and C'Lee are still caught up with Tweedledee and Tweedledum (the old saying "opposites attract" obviously doesn't apply to their situation). They haven't given me any good details –neither one of them can agree with the other on what actually transpired- so my "wild guess" is that they had a rather interesting 4-way squabble over who-knows-what. Then again, that isjust a guess!

Then there's Trevor, the teacher's pet, the do-gooder, the "guiltless" one. Or so everyone thinks; he's not really all sugar and spice. That's more than likely thanks to the rest of our "gang" –we have the bad habit of inadvertently corrupting innocent children like him. Of course, it's really his fault too for hangin' out with us in the first place! It was mostly me and Matt that did all the debasing of his perfect reputation; we've known each other the longest, therefore we've had more time to do stupid, crazy stuff together. In his "Wonderland adventures", he's found a place in the White Queen's castle. Although I think he spends a little more time in the kitchen there than he needs to, but some of the recipes he concocts during our sleepovers and the chaos prior to birthday parties aren't half as bad as they sound. It's the ingredients that are cause for concern; buttered fingers, pickled eyeballs, horsefly urine, and many other oddities. Not exactly what you'd hope to find in your fourteen year old's mini fridge. Luckily, his parents and little brother Charlie haven't found any of this stuff yet! Trevor's sis Page almost walked in on us cooking Underland recipes several times; luckily she didn't see or hear anything out of place. If any of them had cut it any closer and actually discovered what we were up to, we'd be in some hot water for sure…or an asylum…more than likely both.

And last but certainly not least, my best guy-friend, Matt. Ever since he first had the dream, he's been lounging around with the Cheshire Cat, completely, blissfully unaware of what was going on outside of their visits. They could easily be mistaken for a clone of each other, not because they look alike (besides their big turquoise eyes and blue-and-black striped hair), but because they act and think in almost the exact same way. When his smooth sarcasm gets him into quite a jam, Matt has the uncanny ability to talk his way out of whatever he got himself into, so does Chessur. Or, if need be, either one can just slip out of the room unnoticed; whichever is the cat's meow at the moment.

I've been staying in the Mushroom Forest with Absolem, the Oracle. Yeah, he's the all-knowing, psychic, blue caterpillar. Yup, you read that right…the caterpillar. The caterpillar who smokes a hookah full of who-knows-what, constantly blowing the stinking smoke in my face. For the most part of my frequent visits, we sit on a giant cluster of fungus to read the Oraculum, a giant moving calendar that shows everything that has happened, is happening and will happen. It's pretty interesting to see, watching people without them even knowing.

That's how the boys and I got off to such a good start in preschool! I wasn't the least bit shy on our first day; I just waltzed right up to the two of them and said, "I saw y'all in my dream last night. Wanna be friends?" We've been inseparable ever since!

I met the twins on the first day of kindergarten, swinging on the playground in their almost-matching outfits. Matt and Trevor, as always were flanking me on either side, silently questioning my motives for walking up to these random girls and being so friendly. I had recognized them from part of the Oraculum that had shown the Tweedle brothers and the girls walking around in the Garden of Live Flowers, so I decided that they should join our troop of "Wonderlanders". Lucy and C'Lee debated on it for about thirty minutes, Lucy finally becoming the winner. I've had the "Tweedlettes" attached to my hip from that day on, providing comical relief when none of the rest of us can.

Maccay and Mayo weren't as quick to ally themselves with us, especially not Maccay. Of course, I tried not to be so brash in introducing myself to her and Mayo in sixth grade; I actually got to know them a little better before I popped the friendship proposal.

Mayo came along at the beginning middle school, her flair for the dramatic, and a minor mishap on the bleachers led to us coming to know each other. In fact, she was the one to ask me to become buddies! After consulting Matt, Trevor, C'Lee and Lucy, we welcomed her into our clan of nonconformists with open, Silly Bandz-covered, Sharpie-stained arms. C'Lee and Lucy were kinda jealous at first, but they soon grew to like the newcomer, even to the point where they would fight over who got to sit next to her at lunch or wherever we happened to be.

The excitement of her joining us soon faded as she tried to bring her other best friend, Maccay, into the "club". All of our energy was directed to persuading her that we weren't just a bunch of "unpopular" lunatics who don't give a rip what the "popular" people think; we were an awesome bunch of "unpopular" lunatics who don't give a rip what the "popular" people think!

We weren't just misfits, we were THE misfits! And truthfully, according to the students that we surveyed not too long ago, we were WAY more awesome than the rich, snobby kids that called themselves "cool". Eventually, Maccay gave in to our prying and prodding, and her presence became the norm at our lunch table, parties, and other get-togethers.

We're basically one big, happily dysfunctional family! Emphasis on the dysfunctional part…

As an added bonus, we started our own band a few months ago –the Wonderland Warriors. I, believe it or not, am the lead singer and pianist, Matt plays drums and occasionally sings backup, Maccay plays both electric and acoustic guitars, Mayo is our bass guitarist, C'Lee plays the violin and Lucy has the flute and horns covered for us. Trevor is Matt's backup, and vice versa, in case one or the other doesn't' show up for practice or a show, but other than that he's our tech guy. He handles all the neat sound effects when we record, and he does the backgrounds and props for music videos.

We don't really even write our own songs, we redo them and their music videos (provided that they have one. If not, we make our own). Our personal favorites and frequent projects are Within Temptation, Evanescence, Skillet, and a few others; as long as the song reminds at least one of us about something from Underland, or would be fitting background music if we were in a movie about the dreams.

Heck, when heard of the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie that came out recently, we thought Tim Burton had developed a telepathic ability and read all seven of our minds. Needless to say, we flocked to the theater in Habersham, Georgia the day it came out, and we were in utter shock. Every detail, every character's personality, all the places, the creatures, they all fitted our visions of Wonderland perfectly!

Except for one guy, the Knave of Hearts… none of us recognized him. Not even Maccay, who'd been stuck at Iracebeth's palace for forever.

Absolem did say something about some kid named Ilosovic being kidnapped some twenty-odd years ago by the Red Queen, but that's all he would tell me. No matter how much I begged him to provide me with more details, he wouldn't give in!

Stubborn little insect… When I go back, I'm gonna get better information about this boy if I have to steal the Caterpillar's hookah again (just… don't ask...). That ought to make him talk! Hehe!

If not…I've got some other people I could interrogate, and some people that could interrogate some people for me. Either way would be fine, just as long as I get some kind of piece of the whole story. The suspense is just killing me now! I almost can't stand it!

The only problem with my new "quest" is that I can't control when or where I head "down the rabbit hole" as I call it. Not that I fall down one in the "dream", it's just something I got from reading the book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" too many times.

Anywho, I guess I should probably go pack my bags an' stuff; big trip tomorrow! Our first international concert! Woohoo! Well, it's not even really technically a concert per say… more like a…well … uh… ok, fine! It's some British kid's eighth birthday party, and apparently her parents could afford to hire live entertainment for said celebration. She's a REALLY big fan of ours, according to her mother anyway, and she refused to let any other band perform at her "extravaganza". Hey, at least the kid has good taste!

We're all gonna meet at my place at 9AM tomorrow morning and head to the airport to load into our private jet (yes, we have a private jet). Of course, we have to drag a few chaperones along since we're going to a foreign country, one of them being my Dad and the others being Maccay's older sister Tessa and their mom Crystal.

Yeah, this trip ought to be pretty exciting, provided nothing crazy happens on the way there, while we're over there, or after we leave. But, considering who all's going on the trip with us and the location of this b-day bash, insanity and chaos is pretty much a given. Not that it isn't any other time; this occasion just seems to have a bit more potential for disaster to strike. It also has potential for me to do a tad of exploring too …

Not bad for a one-week trip to the countryside in good ol' London, England huh?