Chapter Three –

Don't Rock the Boat

Ilosovic

My eyes slowly opened to a strange place. Sounds drifted into my ears that were foreign to me, and smells wafted through the air that I'd never smelled before. It felt colder than it had in Marmoreal, cold enough to snow possibly.

We had made it to China.

The two of us dropped hands and stared around us in wonder…there were enormous sailing ships all around us in the port, like the ones I'd only ever heard of. Sadly, even my wildest imagination had failed to capture the true size of the boats; I had to crane my neck just to glimpse the tip top of the masts. The hulls were positively gigantic, bobbing through the steely grey waves like monstrous apples in a bucket.

"Wow…" I gaped at the sights around me. Neither of us had ever been to Overland before, and now I was severely jealous of McTwisp's numerous trips.

The Hatter suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, as if he'd noticed something that wasn't there earlier. His neon green eyes locked onto it and it never escaped his gaze, even when he spoke to me, "There she is…over there…there's Alice!"

Sure enough, when I turned from gawking at everything, I saw a head of curly blonde hair bouncing towards a ship with the Wonder painted on her boards. Alice had aged a few years since her last visit; she looked about twenty-three or twenty-four now. She was talking with an older gentleman who had several rolls of parchment tucked under his arms, and whose hat was slightly askew on his head. They could've been discussing important business or just chatting about the weather (which was dreary, to say the least), but either way, Alice seemed very enthusiastic about it. She was very adamant about whatever point she was trying to get across, and her companion didn't seem to disagree. The two of them disappeared into a small store, and we were left standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring after her like a couple of lost puppies.

"Well," I broke the silence, "we've found her. So how are we supposed to get her attention?"

"You mean…you didn't come up here with a plan?"

"No, that's why I was hoping that you were coming up with something."

Tarrant turned serious abruptly, his eyes shifting from lime green to a reddish brown and his accent thickened, "Waell laddie, somebudy better think up somethin' quick, 'cause here sh'comes again…"

Alice had emerged from the shop, and now she was carrying some parchments and what looked like a handful of ink pens. She also had a bag that clinked and rattled that was clearly filled with tiny clay jars, and one filled with notebooks. For all her ambition and determination, she could sure use some extra hands…

"Wait a second…I've got an idea…" I leaned over and whispered my plan to him, and he looked at me like I was the crazy one!

Alice

The cobblestone streets of Shanghai were even harder to navigate when you were balancing very fragile objects in your hands and dangling from your arms. As graceful as I may be (which isn't very, I'm afraid), there was always the sense that I was about to just drop every bit of it. Of course, that wouldn't have surprised me in the least…I've been even more distracted here of late, even more so than usual. It seems to get worse with each passing year, like it's a progressive disease of some sort. I don't really mind it that much, but it does make traversing uneven terrain exceedingly difficult.

But what makes things like this much easier is the remarkable kindness of complete strangers…

"E-excuse me? Miss?" a young man approached me from up the street, offering his hand to take some items off of mine, "Do you need s-some assistance?" he stuttered, his bashful smile showing a small gap in his top front teeth.

His brilliant scarlet hair fell around his unearthly green eyes in wild curls. A dark green felt hat perched atop his head, with the end of a peacock feather sticking out of a maroon ribbon tied around it…and there was some kind of card on one side, but I couldn't make out what it said. Just beneath his jacket, I caught a peep of several spools of thread hanging about his waist, but for some reason his ensemble didn't strike me as odd…it felt familiar somehow…

"Oh…yes, thank you very much." He took the sack full of blank notebooks and some of the rolls of parchment in his arms and fell into step beside me, "What's your name, sir?"

He chuckled shyly, "No need to say sir, we're about the same age I expect…my name is Terrance Highton. I-I'm a hat maker…you see… Actually, I made the one I'm wearing."

"It's very lovely. I'm Alice Kingsleigh, by the way…I suppose you could call me the first mate of that ship over there; the Wonder." I was supposed to be heading back to the boat, but my new friend had captured my interest, "This is my second trip here to China from London…what about you?"

"Oh, me? This is my first time…m-my family is from Cheshire."

Something in that name sparked a memory, buried deep within my mind, but I couldn't quite place it, "Your town is famous for the grinning cats, isn't it?"

Terrance laughed heartily at this, like there was some hidden meaning to my question. He agreed nonetheless, "Indeed, it is. Very famous for felines that can smile…I've actually seen one before, believe it or not! He was a great, grey and striped creature, and could grin from one ear to the other! "

"What kind of creatures?" Father asked

"Well; there's a Dodo Bird, a Rabbit in a waistcoat…a smiling cat…"I answered.

"I didn't know cats could smile."

"Neither did I. And…there's a blue caterpillar…"

"A blue caterpillar…hmm…"

The flashback hit me so suddenly that I almost dropped my things on the ground. Terrance caught me by the arm, trying to shake me out of the mysterious daydream. What had my father and I been talking about? Had I been running a fever, or was I simply delirious?

Was it a dream?

Unable to shake the strange feeling of déjà vu, I attempted to hide it with humor, "It seems to me that I recall seeing such a creature myself, when I was much younger… Does this cat have a habit of disappearing?"

He nodded again, "All the time. Gets rather bothersome during conversations." Terrance rolled his eyes as if this statement actually applied to a cat that he knew, and if it were completely normal to carry on conversations with house pets.

But who am I to judge? I've spoken to Caterpillars and flowers, and chased White Rabbits in waistcoats, had tea with Mad Hatters, March Hares and Dormice, and have spoken to a smiling cat myself! Not to mention I rode a rather large beast whose name begins with Banner…or was it Bander? And I've slain a terrible dragonesque monster with a cry of "Off with your head!"

In my dreams, at least…or, at least that what I think happened. Surely I didn't really do all that…did I?

Just as I was about to question my companion on any other unusual animals that he'd come across lately, someone else called out for his attention, "Terrance! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" A man with long black hair and a faint scar over his left eye strode over to us, "Where have you been?

Terrance whirled around, "Oh! Sorry Ivan, I was just helping Miss Kingsleigh here…"

He was clearly an American by the way he spoke, and introduced himself as Ivan Stanford, a fencing instructor (and Terrance's good friend) from New York. He lifted the bag of ink bottles from my hand, leaving me with a much lighter bundle of paper. He added that he was not, in fact, from New York City, but that he'd always wanted to go there at least once…and there was their dilemma.

"I had been staying in Cheshire with Terrance for a while, and we'd decided that we wanted to visit the city together. We were supposed to take a ship to port there, but we got on the wrong boat and ended up on the other side of the globe." Ivan admitted sheepishly.

"That's dreadful! Do you have any way to get back?" I was appalled by their misfortune. They seemed like such wonderful characters; so friendly and kind…no one should be left this far from home with no way to get back where they belong.

Terrance shook his head gravely, "I'm afraid not. We haven't got the money to buy tickets back home." he looked very distressed and worried, and homesick to boot, "And no one knows we're here…neither of us have many relatives that we could contact."

This is simply horrible! Could anything else befall these poor people? I wish there was some way I could help them get back home…

Oh wait, I have a ship. Of course!

"I'll tell you what…our company is returning to England tomorrow evening. I could ask the captain if we can spare the room for the two of you." I offered, and to my joy, both of their faces lit up immediately. They thanked me repeatedly, and asked if they could treat me to a modest dinner at one of the local restaurants. It wouldn't be much, Terrance confessed, but he believed that it was the least they could do. Assuring him that I wouldn't mind it one bit, we all traipsed to the ship together to deposit my things and freshen up before heading out.

Ilosovic

"I told you it would work." Tarrant adjusted his tie in the mirror. The captain of the Wonder had agreed to let us go back to England with them, and had given us rooms below deck. Not that it really mattered, since we wouldn't be staying long enough to need beds.

"Yes, you sure did." He had told me no such thing; I had been the one to suggest this idea in the first place. The Hatter paid me no mind and headed to the door, "C'mon, we've got a date to go on!" he urged me into the hallway and outside.

I grinned and thought to myself as he ran to catch up with Alice, "I think he means he has a date to go on…I'm just a third wheel." I tried desperately not to laugh out loud, but failed miserably. Fortunately, my other two cohorts were too absorbed in conversation to notice.

After eating the best noodles I'd ever tasted and drinking some hot tea, the three of us waltzed around the town until night began to fall, two of us subtly dropping hints that would hopefully bring one's memories back. Tarrant told toned-down versions of his outrageous tea parties (some of which I had attended myself), reminded her of playing croquet with strange equipment shaped like animals and I was saddled with the subject of pilfering the delectable pastries known as tarts from a very irritable woman, and people of unusually small or large physiques (go figure…).

Her eyes held hidden recognition with each wild story, but she never let on that she really believed us. Perhaps she was in denial that we could've come looking for her after all this time, or that what she was recalling was nothing more than a fantasy. Regardless of what she thought at the moment, she wouldn't be able to deny a bit of it once she stepped through the Portal. Whether she remembered everything while still in Overland would be irrelevant then; she would get all of her memories back as soon as she set foot in Underland.

Hopefully.

Absolem had worried about the length of time that Alice had been absent, and then strength of the forgetfulness spell he had put on her. He and Mirana had both been concerned that simply returning her to our world wouldn't work to bring back every single detail of her last visit, and that extra steps would have to be taken so that everything wouldn't go all haywire. That on top of the current demon debacle wasn't making this situation any less sticky, not to mention that the Butterfly again failed to mention these very important details to my traveling partner. The Hatter wouldn't take too kindly to not having this information.

Apparently my worriedness had tuned everything else out, because the next thing I heard over my distress was Tarrant's drawl, "Ivan are you even listening to me?"

I snapped out of it, "Huh? What is it? What?"

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "I was trying to ask if you were heading back to the ship…it's getting late and you look like you're about to freeze." Judging by the emphasis he'd put on this "suggestion", I figured he wanted a little alone time with Alice.

"Oh! Oh yes, I think I will." The frigid air hit me suddenly, like I'd been plunged into a tub of ice water. I hadn't realized how chilly it had gotten once the sun had gone down; I guess all the self-tormenting I'd been doing had kept me distracted from the nip in the wind. I bid the others goodnight (they promised to be along soon after) and began my trek back to the boat, my heels clicking loudly in the growing quiet on the streets.

As soon as I was out of their sight, it felt like I'd fallen into someone else's.

I scanned the street for any other people besides me, Alice and Tarrant, and only saw a few shopkeepers closing up for the night and a woman with a baby stroller on the other side of the main road. Nothing seemed suspicious or out of place to me, so I shook my head.

What creeped me out is that when I stole another glance in her direction, she had completely disappeared. There wasn't a trace left of my peculiar pursuer, or any indication that she'd been there to begin with.

Oh no…what if it was a demon? Had one slipped through the blocks on the Portal?

Wrapping my coat around me even tighter, I took off at a much quicker pace towards the ship. Walking as fast as I could, I tried to get back to the room as quickly as possible so I could be closer to the Portal and get outta here.

Moments later, I stopped short again, looking dead ahead of me with a fixed expression of pure shock. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the woman had rematerialized just up the street from me, still pushing the carriage ahead of her. Her face was concealed by her enormous purple feathered hat, and her dress covered everything but her hands, which were a bronzy shade of brown. The nails on the tips of her gaunt fingers were pointed and hooked at the ends, almost like claws. She flashed a smile that was unnaturally white and all sharp canine teeth. Her eyes were a vibrant blood red, her pupils catlike and slitted.

Prying my eyes away from the terrifying figure, I dared to look into the stroller at the baby she was carrying about. The pale child was apparently a little boy, judging by the blue blanket wrapped around him, with eyes as green as the Hatter's and hair so fair that it could've been white. He made no cooing noises or little gurgles like most infants I'd seen, he only stared up in confusion at his caretaker; he didn't seem happy at all. However, he wasn't crying or screaming either…

"Excuse me sah…" the woman finally spoke, reaching down into the carriage, "I believe you dropped dis back dere…" she held out Luna's silver locket. I know for a fact that didn't have it with me when I came here, but there was no other way for her to have it.

"Oh! Um…thank you ma'am… I would've missed this if I'd lost it!" I cautiously took the necklace from her and put it in my jacket pocket, then quickly gazed down at the baby, "That's a cute little boy you have there…what's his name?"

"Bowie. 'im is not mine, 'e belong to a friend. She's gahn off on business, so I tek care of 'im 'til she get back." She replied, rocking the buggy gently back and forth, "'im a sweet baby… neva cries or fuss. Always quiet…"

Well I'd be awfully silent too if I was being dragged around by a demon! It frightened me to wonder what this creature had done to the parents to get this child away from them; were they even still alive now? What was she going to do with the little boy? If it wasn't such a useless gesture, I would've contacted the police here in the city, but what could mere humans do against a being such as this? Nothing.

I waved at the baby who, much to my surprise waved back, and then gave his babysitter a small bow, "Well I must be off, thank you again for' finding this necklace for me…goodnight!" I resisted the urge to run down the street to the ship.

A sudden, horrible thought crossed my mind as I neared my destination. Was she going to find Alice and Tarrant?

Pausing temporarily, looking back over my shoulder, I then shook my head and kept walking, "Well she's gone now. If that's what she's doing, then I won't have time to beat her to them. I'll just have to stay here and hope that they're alright." finally reaching the platform that lead up to the deck, and soon descended below it to Alice's room, wrenching the door open and scanning the room warily.

The Portal was already open, the surface of the Looking-Glass shimmering like water stirred by a breeze. Outlines of the people on the other side were faintly visible through the ripples, as was the shape of the fountain head towering over the pool we'd come through.

I couldn't go through just yet; all three of us have to go through it at the same time. If we don't it'll close up and leave the two of them stranded.

I flopped down on the bed, my legs dangling off the side and my arms flung over my head. The possibly cursed necklace was now clutched in my fingers. Turning it over and over, I was inspecting the silver covering for any tampering, "The necklace looks normal… but that doesn't mean anything. If she did anything to it, it won't be obvious. I'm almost afraid to open the locket to check…"

Before my conscience could assure me that this fear was totally justified, I pried the lid open slowly, revealing the heart-shaped clock that ticked away beneath. The hands on the clock face spun at their accelerated speed; this watch runs on Underland time, rather than Overland, so it goes faster than an ordinary watch. Nothing was scratched, bent, or broken. All seemed well…for the moment.

"Like I said, it won't be anything obvious." I snapped it shut again, twirling it around my fingers idly. Relief washed over me; there wasn't anything malevolent in it this time. But what about the next time something like this happened? And the next? What then?

As all fell silent again, the floorboards outside the door began creaking and groaning with the weight of footsteps and my body went rigid. I sat bolt upright on the bed, my eyes narrowed anxiously. I could hear my heart thudding violently in my chest as I reached for my concealed dagger…

The door swung open, and the two lovebirds trotted in, giggling and smiling like it was going out of style. I put the blade away before any of them could notice, reclining back into the mattress with a heavy sigh.

"You scared the life outta me!" I scolded them. My hand was clasped over my heart, so as to prevent it from leaping out of my chest.

Alice quickly became concerned, "Is something wrong? Are you alright?" she had quite the grip on the Hatter's arm, and she pulled him with her as she leaned forward.

"Not exactly… had a rather frightening encounter on the way back here. Some woman followed me almost all the way from where I left you two, and then she just disappeared right in front of me."

"You mean…?" the Hatter started, but let his words trail off. He knew exactly what I meant, without even saying it.

"Like…a ghost?" Alice finished the thought, but using the incorrect supernatural being.

"Or worse…" he corrected her. All three of us shuddered, "It's a good thing we came back when we did, or we might have run into her ourselves."

"What did she look like?"

"She had blood red eyes, and claws instead of fingers, and really sharp teeth, and…" it sounded like I was describing some monster from a children's story, not something I'd just seen walking down the street, "she had a baby stroller. There was a little boy in it…I don't know what she's gonna do with him, but I wish there was something we could do to save him..."

"But she's gone now, and it's too late to hunt her down. Not that it would do any good."

"He's right." Tarrant agreed, "We'll be safer here anyway; I doubt anything would try to bother us here…" he pulled Alice closer to him, quietly assuring her that he would protect her. She wouldn't really need much guarding though; Alice could take care of herself just as well as either of us. Though I hardly believe the three of us together would be able to handle one of these monsters, seeing as none of us have any magical anti-demon powers…which would be nice right about now.

Alice laid her head on his shoulder, "I don't feel very safe now, knowing there's something lurking around outside…" his arm snaked around her waist, holding her even closer.

The gesture dredged up a memory from the depths of my mind, where I'd hidden most of my happy thoughts for many years…any thoughts of my parents, Luna, my life before Iracebeth had kidnapped me. I'd suppressed them for so long, and now this one was fighting to resurface, so I let it…

The two of us were walking hand-in-hand through the forest where Chessur lived, the branches swaying in the evening breeze. The woods were even darker at twilight than they normally were, which greatly reduced our eyesight (on top of my left eye being patched up), and Luna was beginning to get worried. We were only twelve and thirteen at the time…

"I told you we never should've played hide and seek with those cheeky rascals! I knew they were going to run off and leave us!" she chided me for falling into her cousins' trap. Christian and Tarrant had coerced us into playing their game, and had left us out in Tulgey Wood all alone. I didn't mind being by myself with Luna, but she wasn't too happy about their method of giving us "quality time together".

"Relax Luna, we're almost home. It's not like they took us all the way to Gummer Slough and left us." I tried in vain to calm her down, but she was adamant that the two of them would rue the day they were born when she was done!

"Luckily for them…" she muttered, crossing her arms.

I pulled her closer to me, coaxing a small smile out of her. Her pale arm wrapped around my shoulders, and mine held fast to her waist. The two of us were so entranced by one another that we barely even noticed the root that suddenly reached up and snatched our feet out from under us. We toppled to the ground, one on top of the other, both of us screaming out in surprise. I managed to land face-first in the dirt, but Luna had twisted around and landed on her back beside me.

"Loci! Are you ok?" unfazed by the fall, she leapt up and pulled me to my feet (which was exceedingly difficult because of the gangly limbs I hadn't grown into yet).

I nodded, flipping my hair out of my face, "Never mind me, are you alright?" she didn't look hurt, but I couldn't help being concerned.

She rolled her eyes and nodded, "Yes, I'm fine. Hold on, you got some dirt on you…" she reached up to wipe it away with her thumb. Her fingers brushed my cheek clean, and even after the dust was gone, they lingered. They pushed my hair aside – again – and then her hands found their way to my shoulders, her silver eyes found their way into mine. One hand of mine stroked her lavender hair, turned nearly grey by the fading light, the other rested in the small of her back. We were only centimeters away, our foreheads pressing against each other…and she leaned forward first. Our lips met for a few brief moments, but before I could even comprehend the thought of pulling back, something else dragged us apart.

The sound of clattering armor approaching, angry shouting…the Card soldiers had found me again.

We jerked away from each other, startled by the sound of my pursuers. Not thinking of myself, or what would happen once they caught me, I demanded that Luna get herself home to safety before they found us. At first she had refused to budge from my side, but she eventually relented and fled into the forest, with one last look at me before she was out of sight. I had promised her that we'd see each other again, and that we would be together at last…one day…

I was such a liar. We never saw each other again.

"Hello?! Stayne! Bad time to be daydreaming!" Tarrant derailed my train of thought with a harsh whisper and a shaking shoulder, "Are you trying to get left here? Let's go! Alice and I are about to head into the Portal!" he tugged me out of my seat just as his foot broke the surface of the Mirror. Alice looked like she was in a trance; taking slow, mechanical steps, her eyes never moving from his face while he led us through the Portal. They spoke in low murmurs, inaudible even in the quiet of the night.

In order to not be separated from them, I held one of Alice's hands, and she took his other hand in hers. Alice turned to look as she disappeared into the Looking-Glass, "Coming Ivan?" her foot melted into the liquid surface, then her hand, her leg, her arm. I nodded when it reached past her shoulder, and she turned forward, allowing the Portal to consume the rest of her.

Taking a deep breath before following her, I closed my eyes and stepped blindly into the glass.