Aubrey's lips stopped against Stacie's neck. "What do you mean you want me to get the Queen's crown back? Who has it?"
"The Mad Hatter stole it, but she lost it on a bet to the Caterpillar."
Aubrey raised her head to look at her. "Why do you need me? Can't you just, you know?" She waved her fingers in between their faces. "Puff in and take it back?"
"I tried but it's in a display case in the middle of the main room of her bar and she keeps the key on herself all the time." Stacie brushed back Aubrey's hair, her smile wasn't maniacal anymore, it was sweet and Aubrey felt her knees weaken. "She can't resist a challenge, you just have to go in and challenge her to something you're sure you can win."
Aubrey was the one who was finding it hard to resist Stacie's pleading eyes so she leaned forward to kiss her softly before responding. "Say I help you, what do I get?"
Stacie smirked and pushed her back to the nearest tree. "What do you want?" Aubrey bit her lip, feeling shy all of a sudden. Stacie moved her hands down Aubrey's arms and laced their fingers. She leaned forward to whisper in Aubrey's ear. "You can't say me, you already have that."
"I do?" Aubrey's stomach flipped and she couldn't control the smile on her face.
Stacie looked at her and nodded. "You've always had me, you just had to make a move."
"It was that easy?" Stacie nodded and Aubrey pulled her closer by their joined hands, pecking her lips a few times. "Then I want…" She pursed her lips and thought about it for a short time. "I want to know what happened between the Queen and the Hatter."
"Okay, I'll tell you after you get the crown." Aubrey pouted. Stacie ran her hands reassuringly up and down her arms. "It's a long story. We'll take the crown back to the palace and then we can go to my place." She twirled a strand of Aubrey's hair. "I'll tell you everything over dinner."
"Okay." Aubrey wrapped her arms around Stacie's waist and looked up at her. "How am I supposed to get the crown then?"
"How high can you jump?" Aubrey quirked an eyebrow. "No jumping then. Can you hold your breath for a long time? You can probably outrun her but she might cheat. Oh do you know any riddles? She's really bad at those."
"Really? I'm just gonna walk in and tell her a riddle and, if she can't guess, I get the crown?"
"It might not be as easy as that but yeah, that's the plan." She kissed her. "I'll take you to the Caterpillar's and stay close in case something goes wrong. When you have the crown we'll go to the palace."
Aubrey exhaled loudly. "What if I can't get it? What if I say the wrong thing?"
Stacie cupped her cheeks. "I can be in there and get you out in less than a second. I won't let anything happen to you, okay?"
Aubrey nodded and rested her head on Stacie's chest listening to her heartbeat for a while. She wasn't sure she could get the crown but she trusted Stacie wouldn't leave her in there if something went wrong.
Aubrey squeezed her tightly once and took a step back. "So how does this work? The whole disappearing and appearing somewhere else."
"It's actually a double ability. I can disappear without going anywhere." Stacie disappeared but Aubrey could still feel the pressure of her body against hers. "You can't see me but I'm still here."
Aubrey felt Stacie's hand lifting her shirt and touching the skin above her hip. "I can choose to make just my hand appear again." Aubrey saw Stacie's hand appear and push her shirt higher. Aubrey's breath caught in her throat. "Or reappear completely."
The rest of Stacie appeared again, kissing her and pushing her back against the tree.
"Now, moving to a different place is a whole different thing." Stacie disappeared again but this time Aubrey couldn't feel her anymore. She saw Stacie walking out from behind a tree a little further away, then she blinked away and appeared right in front of her again. "And I can take you with me."
Aubrey felt Stacie's hands around her and a rush of cold wind enveloped them for a second, making her close her eyes and press her face against Stacie. When she opened her eyes again, they were standing in a clearing in the woods, covered in little multicolored flowers. "I can't make you disappear with me though."
Aubrey took a step away from Stacie and looked around with a smile on her face. "That was awesome."
Stacie gave a little shrug and moved next to her. "Are you ready?"
Aubrey nodded. Stacie held out her hand and Aubrey took it. Stacie pulled her close and Aubrey felt cold wind hitting her again. She opened her eyes. They were at the edge of the woods, she could see a weirdly shaped building at the end of a path. Smoke was coming out of the chimney on top and she could see dimmed lights behind the windows.
"Walk in and sit at the bar. The Caterpillar will approach you, they don't get a lot of strangers here." She reached into her pocket and handed her a bunch of funny looking coins. "For your drink. Don't ask about the crown right away, she'll get suspicious."
Aubrey nodded nervously. "If anything happens-"
"I'll get you out. Don't worry." Stacie kissed her softly. "You'll do great. I'll see you here when you come out."
Aubrey gave Stacie one last kiss before she turned around and started making her way towards the building. She turned when she was halfway there and Stacie waved her on. She reached the door and took a deep breath before pulling it open.
As soon as the door was open, she heard the sound of weird music coming from a band in a corner of the room. It sounded like a mixture of springs uncoiling and bubbles popping, and the instruments they were playing didn't look like anything Aubrey had seen before. The room wasn't very crowded. There was a group of people on one of the corners of the room but she couldn't see who they were facing.
She made her way to the bar on the side of the room. Stacie hadn't told her what to order and she had a feeling they wouldn't have regular rum and coke type of drinks. She climbed up onto a stool and waited for the bartender to turn around.
She tapped her fingers nervously on the bartop. She wasn't as confident as Stacie about being able to get the crown from the Caterpillar. She knew she was out of her depth, beating someone with riddles wasn't exactly something she did every day.
The bartender turned around with a smile. "Benji?"
"Hello. What can I get for you?"
Aubrey smiled back at him and leaned forward. "What's your specialty?"
"I make a decent Rump Shaker."
"Rump Shaker?" Aubrey's brow furrowed for a second. "Sure, I'll take that."
Benji started pouring things into a glass. "I don't think I've seen you here before."
"Yeah, I kinda just stumbled upon this place." Benji handed her a glass with a glowing liquid. Aubrey placed one of the coins that Stacie gave her in front of Benji.
"Hope you like it." He picked the coin up and tapped it once on the bar before putting it in a jar behind him.
Aubrey looked at the liquid in the glass before lifting it up to her nose. It smelled fruity and sweet. "It's not gonna shrink me, right?"
Benji chuckled. "Bad Wonderdrink experience?" Aubrey nodded. "This is harmless."
Aubrey lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip. It tasted sweet and she felt little bubbles in her mouth. She felt the liquid go down her throat. When it reached her stomach, the liquid jumped around inside her, like it was causing little explosions. It stopped after a couple of seconds and Aubrey smiled at Benji. "This is great!"
Benji looked down, slightly embarrassed. "Thanks."
Aubrey took another sip as Benji moved away to serve a drink for someone else. She tried to focus on the bar in front of her and not look around for the Caterpillar. Stacie said she'd come to her, she just had to be patient.
"What did you order?" Aubrey jumped at the sound of Stacie's voice and turned. She felt a finger on her chin. "Don't turn your head, they'll notice you're looking at someone who's not there."
Aubrey tensed her body and stared straight ahead. Clenching her teeth and barely moving her mouth when she spoke. "What are you doing in here?"
"Just checking on you, babe." She felt a kiss on her cheek. "I can't stay long, the invisibility thing is… unstable. I'll pop back in later."
Aubrey moved her hand to the side where the kiss came from. She felt Stacie take her hand and give it a little squeeze. "She's coming over now, don't look. Good luck."
Aubrey's hand was suddenly empty. She moved it to grip the glass tightly and took a drink, the feeling from her drink mixing with her nerves. Just as she was about to turn her head despite Stacie's warning when she heard a booming, heavily accented voice. "Who's this blonde twig we have here?"
Aubrey turned in her stool. The voice had been enough for her to recognize the speaker, but she wasn't expecting the image in front of her. Fat Amy was sitting in a litter, wearing flowy green clothes and being carried by a group of shirtless men wearing bow ties. She gestured with her finger and they put her down in front of Aubrey. "What's your name?"
Aubrey stood up and clasped her hands behind her back. "Aubrey."
Fat Amy took a drag from a hookah sitting next to her on the litter. She exhaled colorful puffs of smoke around Aubrey before speaking again. "Aubrey. What brings you to my fine establishment this evening?"
Aubrey shrugged. "Just passing by, I heard this place was good."
Amy laughed. "Glad we're getting good publicity." She motioned again and the litter was lifted again. "Come sit with me."
Amy was carried away and Aubrey followed. They set her down on the far corner of the room, right in front of the display case where she kept the crown. Aubrey couldn't help looking at it, it was huge and golden with big colorful jewels. The biggest one was a heart shaped ruby on the front.
Amy noticed her looking and raised her eyebrows. "Cool, ain't it? It belonged to the Queen of Hearts." She blew a smoke ring at the crown. "I got it from the Mad Hatter, she bet me I couldn't wrestle a gryphon." She scoffed. "I showed her."
Aubrey wasn't sure what a gryphon was, but she nodded anyway. "That's pretty impressive."
"What about you, twiggy?"
Aubrey frowned, slightly afraid that she knew why she was there. "Me?"
"Yeah, wanna wrestle?" Amy straightened up and Aubrey raised her hands to stop her.
"No, no wrestling." Aubrey took a step back.
Amy sat back down and waved her hand dismissively. "You're right, I'd probably snap you in half." She took more drags from her hookah. Aubrey swung between her heels and toes, not really knowing how to breach the challenge conversation.
After a while, Amy sighed. "You're boring me, you can go."
"Wait!" Aubrey had to come up with something fast. "Do you like riddles?"
Amy tilted her head. "Riddles? Yeah sure. Try me."
Aubrey bit her lip. Stacie could have given her a couple of riddles to start. "What is brown and sticky?"
Amy frowned and scratched her chin. "Brown and sticky…" Her frown deepened and she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. She clapped and smiled. "A stick! Nice one, twiggy. Okay, give me another one."
"Okay." Aubrey hummed as she thought of another riddle. She nodded when she came up with one. "Okay, what has one eye but cannot see?"
Amy narrowed her eyes at her. "Eye… eye, eye, eye…" She turned to look at one of her minions and snapped her fingers in front of him. "One eye." He shook his head with a clueless look on his face and she rolled her eyes. She turned back to Aubrey. "Alright, I give up. What is it?"
Aubrey smiled. "A needle."
Amy laughed. "Good, that's one for you and one for me. Another one."
"Tell her about the crown." Aubrey felt Stacie's breath in her ear and her hand on her lower back.
She leaned back into the hand and smiled. "Why don't we make this a little more interesting?"
Amy stretched in her seat. "What do you mean?"
"A bet. If you can't guess the answer to the next riddle, I get the crown."
Amy quirked an eyebrow at her. "And if I do?"
"I'll get you out if she does." Stacie's hand moved reassuringly on her back.
Aubrey reached into her pockets. The only things there were the ticket to the Mad Hatter's party and her pitch pipe. She felt the cold metal of the pitch pipe and sighed. She took it out, holding it out in her palm to show it to her. "I'll give you this."
Amy squinted at it. "What is it?"
Aubrey brought the pitch pipe to her lips and blew on it. "It's my pitch pipe. Whoever has it, gets to be captain."
Amy wasn't sure what that meant but it sounded important. "Alright, twiggy, hit me."
Aubrey smiled widely. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
Amy frowned and stood up, pacing in front of Aubrey while she repeated the riddle. After a while of not finding the answer, she started getting agitated, repeating the riddle louder and louder. She grabbed a passing person and shook them, shouting the riddle in their face before dropping them sloppily on the floor in front of her. The guy scampered off as fast as he could and everyone else took a couple of steps away from her. She slumped her shoulders and turned back to Aubrey. "I give up, what's the answer?"
"Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front."
Fat Amy glared at her and for a second Aubrey thought she was going to do something to her. She felt Stacie get closer to her, ready to take them both out if she did, but the other girl just huffed and turned to the display case, taking the key out of her cleavage and opening it. She grabbed the crown carefully and turned around to face Aubrey. The tube from the hookah still clenched tightly in her teeth.
She started puffing smoke in Aubrey's direction as she got closer to her. By the time she was close enough for Aubrey to take the crown, there was a thick cloud of smoke around her. Aubrey stretched out her hands to grab the crown when she felt Stacie tighten her grip on her and cough.
Fat Amy's eyes moved behind her and widened in alarm. The cough had turned Stacie visible again and everyone in the room gasped. "You!"
Stacie grinned at Fat Amy and wiggled her eyebrows, tightening her grip on Aubrey. "Grab the crown."
Aubrey reached out and held it close to herself. Before she could even think about what was happening, she felt cold wind moving around them and the room disappeared.
