*~*Kat's POV*~*

I pushed open the door to the Duchess's audience chamber, and breathed a sigh. She wasn't here yet.

I leaned against the wall and sank down it.

"Why me?" I muttered, dropping my face into my hands.

Cause you're you.

I'd been hearing voices lately. Not crazy voices. But conscience voices. And it sucked when your conscience built up the nerve to talk to you.

"Shut the freak up…"

I'm just trying to help, gee.

"Well you're doing a sucky job at it so stop."

After that the voice left, but I knew it would come back when I began having a crappy time.

I waited for ten minutes before the Duchess finally showed up, and I pushed myself off the ground.

She sat on a red velvet throne, her curly, pitch black hair only pulled back slightly. She wore a slightly shameless floor-length red silk gown. Her eyes were dark and ashen. It was hard to believe this woman could be one of the smartest women in Wonderland with one glance.

"Ah, Kat." The Duchess murmured, loud enough that only I could hear it.

Curse cat hearing.

"How was your mission?" She cooed, once again quietly.

"Boring, stupid, pathetic…" I said to her then looked away.

"Hmm…Kat. You claim your missions are far to simple…"

"Yeah, so what?"

"I'm giving you a new job, look at the monitor."

I turned my gaze to the right and rested them on the glowing image on the monitor's screen. It showed a boy about the age of fifteen. He had shaggy brown hair that fell to his shoulders. He was wearing a black coat with red hearts on the cuffs. He had gray dress pants with several patches of dirt on the wrinkled knees. He had dark green eyes.

…I know him from somewhere…

I turned my head toward the Duchess, pointed my finger at the image and said to her across the room. "Who's the stiff?"

"That stiff is prince Karter, queen Alyss's son." The Duchess said, a smile on her face from my comment.

That's where I know him from.

"And why is he so special to me?" I said.

"He," She directed towards the screen. "Is your next target."

"Ah…" I murmured, and rubbed the back of my neck.

~*~Karter's POV~*~

I pushed open the door to the war room to leave, but my mother stopped me by putting a hand on my arm.

"I'm sorry, Karter…" She said to me.

"No it's okay, it was bound to happen sometime…" I murmured to her, shook off her arm, and left the room.

I went back to heading towards the original destination I had of the garden. All I could do to keep my mind from wandering to the future assassination attempt was to focus on the sound my shoes made against the floor.

The Duchess's assassin

Next target

Kat. How could such a small girl be an assassin, much less one that could wipe out THREE DOZEN card soldiers.

"Impossible…" I whispered to myself.

"What is?"

I turned my head to see my tutor, Bibwit Harte.

"What's impossible, Karter?" Bibwit said to me again.

"…Slamming a revolving door." I murmured the joke my friend from the Spade family had told me the day before.

"…Interesting." Bibwit said, staring at me with a puzzled expression.

"Bye Bibwit." I said, turning around.

"Could this sudden quiet have anything to do with the future assassination attempt?"

"You could say that…" I whispered. I'd learned a long time ago not to be surprised by what he heard with those giant ears of his.

"Ah…Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I don't think so. Bye Bibwit…" I murmured, and walked away, leaving Bibwit behind.

When I reached the garden I dragged myself over to a bench and collapsed onto it.

"Why me?" I muttered.

A/N: Notice any resemblances between Karter and Kat? Like the fact they both say 'Why me?'… yeah you're right, that doesn't mean anything… No, they are NOT related. Maybe Kat and Karter will meet in the next chapter.