Maddie's POV
I wake up to something in my mouth. What the heck? The blurriness in my vision subsides enough that I can tell something is being held to my lips. My eyes widen in surprise as I try to sit up and back away, but I'm held down. I feel a liquid stream into my mouth. It's like an overly sweet strawberry.
"I didn't lie when I said you weren't going to die." I realize the boy is sitting on top of me, holding a clear vial above me, the level of liquid inside it decreasing quickly. I struggle, but his boots hold my arms down. I can't exactly kick him either. "Be obedient and swallow." he orders. How old is this kid? 14? 15? I refuse to swallow, the liquid growing warm in my mouth. Why can't I just spit it out? The boy sighs and reaches over my face to plug my nose with his fingers. I finally succumb to air and swallow. All of it.
The boy lets go of me and I sit up gagging, trying to bring it back up. He starts laughing.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
I glare at him. "What do you think? I'm trying to throw up whatever you gave me."
"That's no use." he replies. "Once you swallow the Potion of Hearts, you have to play the game. There's no getting out of it."
I freeze. The Potion of Hearts. Wasn't that in the manga? And the boy, I notice I never got his name.
"My name is Dee. Tweedle Dee if you want to be formal, but what's the point? You are Maddie Bryant, right?" the boy says.
"No, I'm the Queen of England." I say sarcastically. Okay, that does it. The Potion of Hearts, this kid's name being Tweedle Dee like the Bloody Twins, going down a giant hole. This is getting a little too real for comfort.
"Really?"
"No." It's this modern thing we use called sarcasm, buddy. Get used to it.
"Then welcome to Wonderland, Maddie!"
I stand up and see I'm in what looks like a rose garden. Nearby stands huge mansion. No way. No freaking way! Of all the places I could have landed, it just happens to be in the rose gardens of the Hatter Mansion. This is one crazy dream.
"Dee! Dum! Where the h*** are you two?" yells a voice that's coming closer. From around a hedge comes another man with bunny ears, but his are brown like a hare's. Of course. Where would the Bloody Twins be without Elliot March, AKA the March Hare? He sees Dee and frowns as he approaches us.
"Dee, where's Dum? You two weren't at your posts again!" he scolds.
"We were given a job to do." Dee replies. "Brother is with one of the other Outsiders."
Other Outsiders? There're others? Does that mean Avery, Penelope, and Gabrielle made it through too?
"And what was this job, exactly?" questions Elliot.
"It's a secret. Don't you just love secrets, cheeky bunny rabbit?" taunts Dee, laughing. The hare scowls in frustration. His glare turns to me.
"And who'd you be?" he demands.
"My name's Maddie. Maddie Bryant." I answer in the most normal voice I can manage. For one of my favorite characters in the manga, Elliot sure is intimidating at first.
Elliot looks back at Dee. "Is she an Outsider?" he asks.
Dee's silent for a moment, but slowly nods. The man sighs. "Who gave you the job?"
"Nightmare." the boy says.
He forces a smile. "Why am I not surprised?"
Dee shrugs.
"Rhetorical question, Idiot." mumbles Elliot. "You're not very good at keeping secrets, are you?"
He immaturely sticks out his tongue at the man and runs off towards the mansion.
"You're welcome to stay here, if you'd like. I doubt that retard answered any of your questions." Elliot says to me, frowning at the disappearing shape of Dee.
I nod. "Thanks." He leads me through the gardens towards the Hatter's Mansion. It looms over the gardens, the house's massive shape making a giant shadow over the newly-bloomed roses. This would be one heck of an adventure.
Avery's POV
"Drink it."
"No."
"Drink it."
"I already told you, 'no'!"
"Drink. This. Now."
"No! I refuse!"
The way to get someone to drink a mysterious liquid isn't to shove it in their face and tell them repeatedly to 'drink it'. Someone tell that to this kid who thinks he's older than me and who shoved me down a huge hole in the ground.
"Where am I? Who are you? What am I doing here?"
"I won't tell you." the boy insists, crossing his arms stubbornly over his red soldier outfit.
"Why not?" To say I'm getting a little frustrated here is an understatement.
In reply, he tightens his arms and turns around, refusing to answer.
I take a deep breath, attempting to hold my temper. "If I drink this, will you answer me?" I say through gritted teeth.
At that, the boy spins around, his startlingly red eyes wide. He quickly nods and hands me the bottle with the heart-shaped stopper. The pink liquid inside sloshes around with the sudden movement. I eye it carefully, before taking it and consuming the contents. I try not to focus on the sickeningly sweet taste. I get the urge to cough after I swallow, but it goes as suddenly as it came. I turn to the boy and hand him the bottle. He smiles as if I've been tricked. I probably have. Oh well, tricks are fun to play, but their even more fun to get out of.
"My name is Dum. You're in the Country of Hearts, and now that you drank the Potion of Hearts, you have to play the game." he says.
"What's the game?" I ask, but he's already leaving. I have to run to catch up with him. I realize we're in a maze of some sort. There are a few rose bushes, but mainly it's very tall hedges that I can't see over.
"The game is what all foreigners play, whether they want to or not, once they've taken the Potion of Hearts." he replies, still walking crazily fast. I'm trying to listen to what he's saying, so of course I don't see the chest I bump into. I look up to see a man with shaggy black hair and piercing green eyes staring at me. He's handsome for sure, but something abut him is a bit off. I can't put my finger on it. He sets down the rose and cutters he was holding and turns back to me, flashing a smile that could make any girl swoon, with the exception of myself. I'm not exactly the romantic type.
"S-sorry." I mutter in embarrassment. Yeah I'm not interested, but that doesn't mean I think he's by far the most attractive guy I've ever seen in my 17 years.
Dum sees the man and straightens immediately. "Boss!" he exclaims. Boss? Of what?
"Dum. I see you're off duty yet again." observes the man. He looks to me. "Hello. I don't believe we've met. My name is Blood DuPre. What might your name be?"
"I'm Avery Gilmore." I reply, not expecting him to reach for my hand and kiss the back of it. I feel my cheeks flame slightly. Where did all the gentlemen in the world go?
"Pleasure." he says with a smirk.
Dum clears his throat. "Uh, Boss, I was just taking the foreigner-" Blood cuts him off.
"Foreigner? Why do you have a foreigner with you?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
The boy covers his mouth instantly but tries to regain his composure. "I was given a job. I need to complete it. In fact-"
Blood interrupts him yet again. "I think you've already completed it."
The man grabs my arm and pulls me away from Dum, taking me towards a giant house at the center of the maze.
He opens the door for me and I step inside to see a huge entrance-way, decorated with crystal chandeliers, old paintings, a marble staircase, velvet curtains, and all that jazz. It literally looks like a mini Versailles.
"Welcome to the Hatter Mansion." says Blood.
Gabrielle's POV
"I'm pretty sure the Clock Tower is this way." says Ace over his shoulder.
I roll my eyes. He said that a few hours ago and we ended up at a place called the Amusement Park. The guy who owns it, Gowland, wasn't too happy to see us there. He shooed us away.
"Yeah, okay." I answer, positive that we'll end up at some other crazy place in this country. I still have no idea how I got here. A rabbit hole? That doesn't make sense. How is there an entire country underground? The forest starts to fade away until we come to a huge building that's at least 800 feet tall.
"See? What'd I tell you?" exclaims Ace with a grin.
"You told me you knew the way. It took you two times to get it right."
"Hey, give me a break. How was I supposed to know where we landed?" he replies, going up a staircase. I follow him.
The stairs seem to go on forever. Finally we get to a door which Ace opens to reveal a small apartment-looking space. It's even messier than my room, which is saying something. At the center, sits a man fiddling with clocks. He looks up at us.
"Ace. Who have you brought now?" he asks, putting down his tools and standing. His navy hair is longer than I've ever seen on a guy, part of it tied back in a gold ribbon.
"Good morning to you too, Julius." mumbles Ace. He turns slightly towards me. "This is Gabrielle Kingston. She's one of the new foreigners."
Julius' blue eyes narrow. "Why do you have another foreigner with you? How is there more than one?"
Ace shrugs. "Nightmare gave us, me, the Bloody Twins, and Peter, the job of bringing four foreigners here. I don't know why. I think he wants a new game."
Julius mutters something under his breath.
I realize Ace said four foreigners. "Ace, what were the names of the other foreigners?" I ask.
He scratches his head, as if trying to remember. "Uh, I don't know. I think he said something about Avery Gilmore and...oh what's her name? Oh, Bryant I think was her last name. I'm not sure."
Hooray! I'm not alone in this crazy place! I mentally do a happy dance.
Julius clears his throat. "I guess you'll be wanting to stay here, then?"
I nod. "If that's okay with you guys."
"Very well. Ace if you could show her to a bedroom?" he says.
Ace takes me down a hallway to one of the last rooms. It's small, but comfy, with a view over some of the Country of Hearts. I love it already. He starts to close the door, but stops before it's completely closed.
"Hey, Gabrielle? Don't mind Julius. He can be really cold at first, but he lightens up once you get to know him."
"Okay, thanks." I answer. He leaves and I collapse onto the bed. Outside, the sunlight comes through the window and onto my face, but the warmth is short-lived. All of a sudden, the sky changes from mid-day to midnight. What the heck? Even the time is crazy here. I begin to doze off, hoping this all is just a wacky dream and I'll wake up from it soon.