Disclaimer: Don't own anything except original characters. All material (c) to respective owners. I write these for fun and make no profit. They're just random plot bunnies that live within my strange mind.
A/N: I will eventually get to 'The Garden Whispers' right now I'm running on dry so here is something else to hold my readers and fans over. I hope you had a great holiday, Enjoy!
At some point the rating may change in later chapters, have to see what happens.
Chapter 1: If You Seek Alice
It was not modern by any means but she had always found she liked historical styles and themes. The house belonged to her grandmother a few greats in the mix, she did not know much about her or this side of her family. Her mother had kept things private over the years due to a misunderstanding among her and her father. It did not change the fact that her grandfather and grandmother had left everything to her. She never did know much, she spent holidays with them and was fond of both of them, there was always an unnerving quiet among them though.
"Alysia!" Slowly she turned to her mothers' voice sighing softly.
It was not that she disliked helping her mother; it was bothersome when it come to the boy next door to them. He lived at another estate and her family had been friends with them for generations, she did not much like him but he seemed enamored with her. She was easily distracted; her mother often accused her of being foolishly childish, far too whimsical for a girl in her early twenties. She did not much like the idea of being courted, it was old fashioned and she did not want to be the one he chose.
Growing impatient with her mother's calls, she descended from the attic and down the old wood stairs. Her fingers lightly tracing the intricate carved ivy before she halted noting her mother talking pleasantly with the very man she wished was not interested in her romantically or at all, if she had anything to say about it.
"Alysia, Reed has come to help me rearrange that living room. Your grandmother didn't have it finished and I would like to host gatherings with my lady friends." She smiled albeit forcefully and nodded a reluctant greeting to the tall man watching her.
It was not that he was horribly unattractive; her friends might have swooned or reprimanded her for brushing him off. He was tall with wavy dark hair that weaved down just brushing his neck and kind blue eyes; he wore old raggedy jeans and an equally old t-shirt that day. She had no doubt her mother liked him and felt she should too.
"That's very nice of you Reed." She saw her mothers' warning at her clear intention of fleeing on their guest. "I do hope you will excuse me, I'm going to make some refreshments and clear my head. It's awfully dusty up there and there aren't many windows." Taking her leave, she ignored her mothers' indignant huff sound on her way past.
Once inside the kitchen she felt a rush of calm take over her and sagged against the wood door. The coolness of the grain relaxing as she noted the temperature had risen considerably that afternoon. She went about as promised gathering things together and making several small sandwiChessur, a veggie platter and finally three kinds of juice before eyeing the hall out of the kitchen and seeing her mother pass a few times.
Her mother was waiting for her to come out of her sanctuary and face her in the library off to the side of the kitchen. She had done it often when she was younger and upset with varying families that were visiting the great Victorian house.
Slowly she walked to the furthest part of the kitchen taking the hidden passage her grandfather had told her about years ago. When she was little, he often took note to how her mother seemed determined to turn her into a replica of herself, proper, polite, and sometimes too serious for her own good. Her mother now had aged because of the lack of fun in her life and after her grandparents passed on, she was left fighting for her own whimsical nature.
She loved her mother, but whatever pain had driven her to be so serious was weighing her daughter down and forcing her to become something she did not want to be. She knew her mother did not quite understand, but she did try and often failed miserably. She also knew for a fact Reed was a very well mannered, down to earth young man and had just come back from a very strict law school for summer break. She did not want to be a lawyer's trophy and found her mother's distaste in her literature degree to be somewhat annoying. She could teach at any school she wanted, work on rare books and even restore ancient volumes in museums. Her mother found it a career that was not rewarding enough and wanted her daughter to marry a prominent businessman, lawyer, doctor, she was sure her mother was not beneath royalty either.
The gardens had not seen a day's work in months; she briefly glanced over the list of numbers in her small pocket address book and checked the number for her grandmother's favorite gardener. He was the only one she trusted with her maze of flowers and trees. Making her way along the familiar paths, she settled into a fast walk before pausing near a large oak tree. She had spent hours between forest and meadow around this very tree. She remembered fondly of hugging its branChessur and lying among the grass. Curling her legs into an Indian style position, she settled against the aged trunk and glanced up through the thick green canopy, golden streams of sun hitting her light hair. She closed her eyes dreaming of that place her grandmother had told her from generations before her.
-past—
"My grandmother told me it was a beautiful place, she was sad she had lost her way to Underland all those years ago." Alysia glanced up at her grandmother, her graying hair folding down her back in soft delicate waves, seeing her green eyes gaze up into the fall colored leaves as brilliant reds and yellows flowed down among them.
"Did she ever go back grandmother?"
"She tried; she found it too late to tell him. When she finally returned her journey fulfilled in her eyes, she was old darling. She was also married to a wonderful man by then and only the wings of a blue butterfly had triggered the memories. Something about how the magic works I would guess, I'm sure those that wanted her to come back had no intention of her forgetting them." Alysia frowned sadly; it seemed her family lived only to feel sadness.
"Why are you sad Ally?"
Her grandmother's nickname brought her to glance through her bangs that had fallen into her line of vision. She understood her family had not been fond of her mother's husband, nor had they entirely approved of the marriage but she had found they cared for her personal feelings and often said little of their issues with him.
"I miss my father." She saw her grandmother's eyes cloud, she had been told he died in an accident and still did not believe her family.
-Reality—
She shook her head, it had been years later she learned he had abandoned them and been found in another country with another family. She finally understood her families' resentment, but she had never told them how she found out. She had never told any of them that she located him one day by accident and he had not known her. She also left out the part where she angrily yelled at him before fleeing into a very large crow.
She blinked nearly falling backwards when a very blue and large butterfly flew in front of her, crossing her eyes she could have sworn it winked at her before fluttering off into the woods. "I've been in the sun too long." Stories and frustrations were driving her away from a sane day, slowly she climb to her feet and froze wondering if any of those stories had been true.
"Impossible." She paused remembering her grandparents' motto, 'I try to come up with at least three impossible things each day.'
It had become a game of sorts she played even in her late teens before losing them, both of them. She closed her eyes knowing Reed would still be at the house, her mother was waiting to pounce and she would not be happy. Her mother had her life planned; she had little say in the matter unless she fought it.
She would not do that without hurting her mother, shaking her head she started to go toward the path the butterfly had weaved. She walked weaving in and out of trees, ducking branches, dodging weeds and bushes before stepping over a large root and seeing the butterfly in front of her before she screamed falling into a large hole.
She stopped screaming after comprehending she had been falling for a very long time. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the gloom around her and then she began to notice oddities all around. Examples of the things were rocking chairs, wheels, tables, chairs, bookcases, pieces of flooring and even various foods. That included jam jars, one in fact almost smacked her between the eyes before she ducked, it felt strange moving in open space and due to the movement, she noticed with unease she was now upside down staring straight down into nothing.
"Upright." She breathed before somehow getting her body to cooperate. "Oomph." Just as she did so, she landed rather hard on her face, groaning painfully when her eyes fell to a checked floor. "Oh that will certainly leave marks."
Achingly she got to her knees her eyes moving quickly around a hall full of doors, in the middle of the room a massive chandelier hung swaying precariously above her head. Unsure of why she didn't like that aspect she moved from under the object and moved in a slow circle taking in the circular room with intense study.
"Impossible option one, my family history of madness is false and this is the entrance my grandmother told me stories of." She stifled laughter touching the small lump on the back of her head remembering her adventure down the hole and hitting a root on her way. "Waking up would be good now." She winced knowing from experience that usually you did not hurt in your dreams.
On the other side of a small door, a mouse and her companions watched with alarm. Each looking at the other in complete confusion and concern about the strange girl landing into their world, she was not the one they all knew.
"That is certainly not Alice." MallyMkun stated raising her hatpin with the control of a warrior and seeing the March hare with Mctwisp stare at her in alarm.