To Ana. Having fun with all her friends.

A jolt of the carriage snapped Alice to consciousness like snapping a glowstick to life. Alice quickly looked out the window to judge their whereabouts, kicking Essie in the shin while she turned.

"Mleh!" Essie exclaimed as she quickly jumped up from her slouch against the carriage door. "What? Are we there?"

"Quite." Alice said leaning forward to the glass separating the coach from the driver. "Stop the carriage, sir."

The carriage eased into a halting stop as the horses reigned in. Alice and Essie climbed out and surveyed the view around them.

A thick settle of woods surrounded them, trees forming a dark tunnel a bit farther down the road.

Essie stretched her arms out behind her and cracked her neck. Bringing her lips back in a feral smile she turned to the driver. "We're there?" She said, tilting her head to the side, only one eye visable to the driver about because of her hat.

"Yea, ma'am. This be Canterbury. You sure you want to get off here? There's a nice settled spot not far up."

"We'll be fine." Barked Alice, interrupting their conversation. "Essie, come. Stop wasting time." She stepped into the woods over a small bush of dead something.

"Ssshe saysss to leave. Bye, sir." Essie said, nodding slightly, her hat bouncing a bit from the movement, and quickly followed suit of her companion.

The driver tilted his head a bit and slightly rolled his eyes in that 'i'm just not gonna even ask' kind of way and flicked the reigns to get the horses going.

The two had been trudging through the dense woods until Essie stopped and stamped her foot, causing Alice to turn around. "What?" She said annoyed, turning to face her.

"We've been going through here for hours, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm not walking ANY. FURTHER." She said, tilting her head upward and to the side while closing her eyes. A classic display by a child in a snit.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Quit being so goddamn vexed. You want to get there while we're still young? Come on." Alice swiftly turned on her heels and with a swipe of her hand pushed aside a low-lying branch and walked off.

Essie sagged her shoulders in annoyance and let her arms go limp as she dragged her feet through the leaves after her determined partner. "Ssssstupid girl. Treats me like i'm a sssmall child. Making me walk through these ssstupid godforsaken woods." Essie hissed to herself in a low voice.

Alice scanned the surrounding woods as she ducked under branches and stepped over piles of various woodsy debris. She could hear Essie behind her stepping on every twig and dry leaf. "Will you please be quiet?!" She spat without turning around. If she had been a cat, you would most definintely have seen the fur on her back stand straight up.

Her feral partner seemed to make it her business to now step on everything that made a noise just for the sheer pleasure of seeing Alice's annoyance grow and grow to whole new levels.

Alice spun around and grabbed Essie's throat, pulling out a 6" knife from a hidden pocket she had sewn into her skirt as she did so. She placed the knife tightly to Essie's neck, leaning in close to her ear and whispered; "If you make one. more. noise. I. will. kill. you." A bead followed by a small trickle of blood slid down her throat.

Essie raised a hand to Alice's cheek and stroked her long fingernail down her cheekbone. Alice's response was pressing the knife harder. "Oh, dear. One of us may end up dead if we continue this." She said softly, but a hiss still in her voice.

Alice suddenly became aware of a warm sensation in her side. Glancing down, she saw Essie's other hand pressing a knife tip into her. She hadn't known Essie had a knife, where did she get it? Alice loosened the knife on the trickster's throat and she mirrored. They both pulled away and re-sheathed their steel. They then walked through the forest in silence.

A/N

To all 2 of you reading my story: Sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER and a fortnight :\ School started and that is pretty self-explanitory. In fact, I love you guys so much that I am posting this shamefully short chapter when I SHOULD be studing for a test in an honors class. Oh yeah, now THATS love :)