Nick crouched in an alleyway just a couple of blocks away from the Red Queen Bar. He was sobbing with his head in his hands. He could not believe it. He had come all this way, so certain that he might find his father, and now it turned out he had been chasing someone who just looked and talked like Abby had said Connor had done. Now here he was thousands of miles from home with only twenty five US dollars and no way of returning home. He certainly didn't have enough money to make it on the streets for more an a day at the very least. He wouldn't be surprised if he wound up in prison, having been forced into a life of crime. And the worst of it was it was all for nothing. His mum would never be happy, espescially now that she had lost both her son and her husband.

"That didn't quite go to plan, did it?" came a voice from the shadows. Nick sat up and looked around for the speaker, instead he saw only a white crescent floating in mid air, with a strange pattern on it that looked like...teeth. Above the crescent of teeth, two bright yellow eyes blinked into existence, followed by a round face, two pointy ears, a sleek, tan body and a bottle brush tail. Eventually, Nick found himself staring at a longhaired cat, quite ordinary looking except for one thing: it was grinning at him.

"Wha...what?" he stammered.

"Don't be alarmed" said the cat silkily. "I've known you for a long time. I've been watching over you. I saw what you did just now."

"But..but how could you" said Nick. 'You're the Cheshire Cat, you're a fictional character, you're not real."

"Oh really?" said the Cheshire Cat. "Well if I'm not real, then how is it I know of how your father disappeared? And how is it that I know your name, Nicholas Temple?"

Nick was completely lost for words at this. The Cat grinned a little wider.

"Perhaps it's time I did some explaining" he said. Instantly his body vanished into thin air, his head floated over to Nick's backpack.

"Take out the books" he said. "I'd do it myself but for a certain lack of opposable thumbs."

'And a lack of a body' thought Nick as he did as he was told. He reached into the backpack and took out the books he had packed. The Cat gestured towards an old one, Alice in Wonderland. Nick opened up the book and placed it on the ground. The Cat's body reappeared and he flicked through the pages with his paws, until he came to a picture of the Mad Hatter's tea party.

"In my world, 160 years have passed since this story and these characters were recorded" he said. "As you can probably imagine, several noticeable changes have occured since then. For one thing, he is long dead." He pointed at the Mad Hatter.

"What does this have to do with my dad?" asked Nick. The Cat flicked forward a few pages and pointed at a picture of the Queen of Hearts.

"Her successor had a casino built in Wonderland. Alas for her not many of its inhabitants are big on gambling, so she decided she needed to catch oysters to do it instead."

"Oysters?"

"That's the word people in my world use to refer to the ones in yours" the Cat explained. "The queen knew they would not come to Wonderland willingly, so she created a special elixir that would help drug them. Once they started gambling in her casino, their emotions were drained for use as drugs by the queen and all those who supported her cause. She needed someone to look after these emotions. And she knew of how well the Mad Hatter had been at storing liqours such as that. But as I explained to you, he was dead. So she needed to find a replacement, someone from this world."

"My dad" said Nick.

"Yes" said the Cat. "The queen had a special looking glass that linked my world to yours. She sent one of her agents to go through it and catch the first oyster he found, which happened to be your father."

"So what happened to my dad after the queen took him to Wonderland?"

"Oh various things" said the Cat. "They constantly drugged him with elixir, drained all memories of you and your mother from his mind. And they replaced them with the idea that he was the Mad Hatter."

"Didn't anyone try to stop it?" asked Nick.

"In my world, no. You must understand that the queen was a cruel tyrant and executed any who opposed her wishes. In your world your mother did all she could to find your father, but alas it was to no avail. The queen made very sure that nobody would ever be able to trace your father's disappearance to Wonderland."

"How do you know all of this?" asked Nick. The Cat's body once again disappeared.

"Those with evaporating powers such as mine are capable of travelling between the worlds. I saw what happened to your father, and I spent many years travelling between my world and yours, keeping watch on both him and his family, in the hopes that one day I would discover something that would help them be reunited"

"Why didn't you tell my mum about this?" asked Nick.

"She wouldn't have believed it, Nick" replied the Cat. "Your mother has seen many strange things in her life, but do you really think she would believe the word of a talking, disappearing cat?"

"So if my dad spent nine years living in Wonderland, how come he's here now in my world?" asked Nick.

"Let's just say that a second Alice paid a visit to Wonderland and brought him back" said the Cat. "She has brought him back to his real world, Nick. Now you must help him complete his journey and bring him home to your mother."

"But how?" said Nick. "He didn't even know who I was, he thinks his name is David Hatter." Tears welled in his eyes as he remembered what had happened at the Red Queen.

"There is a way to change that, Nicholas" said the Cat, grinning widely. "There is a potion which will help to restore your father's memory. You and I must travel to Wonderland to obtain it, only then will your father remember you and be able to return home. What do you say, will you come with me?"

Nick was silent for a moment. This was even bigger than travelling to New York on his own. He was about to trust the word of a cat which up till now he had thought to be fictional, and travel to a place that was thought to exist only in a storybook to obtain a magical potion. This was not just big, this was madness. But then he remembered why he had come to New York in the first place, he remembered what he had promised Abby. He stood up and looked down at the Cat.

"Yes, I'll come." The Cat grinned from ear to ear.

"Excellent, we shall leave immediately!"