I coughed, feeling the dampness of water wrap around me and my hair. A hand stroked my head carefully, moving hair away from my face as they hummed a song to me. I opened my eyes slowly and looked at the hard wooden sides around me. Was I back in the office? The hand stilled before leaving me all together. I sat up and turned to find out what had been comforting me, but all I saw was a green tail drop below the water.

"A mermaid?" I asked as I became aware that I was on a boat, "how did I get on a boat?"

"Alice!" a voice called out and I turned to see Lady Mouse paddling away from me, "come on silly."

I looked back at the boat and saw oars…and a flare gun. Why would I need a flare gun? I shook my head and picked up the oars and started rowing towards Lady Mouse and the dodo maid. Maybe they could bring me to Ciel…but that thought faded as I rowed closer. I stopped to rest my aching arms and that was when I heard it…

"Catch, row. Catch, row. Catch, row. Catch, row. Catch, row. Catch, row. Catch, row," three odd people said as another boat came to a stop beside mine.

"Ho ho ho," a voice said, though it was not rowing the boat.

The four people turned their gazes to focus on me. I gulped under their eyes and wondered why they seemed familiar to me. There were three men and one woman. One man was considerably shorter than the others with grey hair. The other two men had short blond hair while the woman had plum coloured pigtails and glasses.

"Hello Alice, you looked oddly worried," the older of the blonds said.

"Don't worry, you can rest your arms when you reach the island over there," the younger blond said simply with a smile.

"There's no need to worry, we're all smiles here in Wonderland," the plum woman said softly.

"I'll do my best," I said simply, "can you tell me if there is anything beyond the island on this lake?"

"A lake?!" the three of them exclaimed.

"Oh I say, is this a lake?" the young blond asked.

"See I thought, wasn't that a mistake?" the plum woman continued.

"We'll have to forgive you, this is clearly a river," the older blond replied with a cigarette in his mouth, "I've known for a while that we're on the Nile."

"The Nile? So we'll meet a crocodile?" the young blond exclaimed with excitement.

"That's all a whim, they're all in the Thames," the plum said to the young blond.

"Just give it a break, for Heaven's sake," the older blond said to stop the others talking.

"Splashing the water, like the great frog makes his chump into the old lake," the grey haired man said, now grown and standing.

"You mean this place is truly a lake?" the young blond said, looking oddly confused.

"You didn't notice before this, Finny?" I commented and the boy didn't turn to look at me, and the name once spoken was later forgotten.

"Not the sea, it was a mistake," plum woman said as she viewed the water.

"I watched it form, MeyRin," I said softly and shook my head to clear the stray thoughts from it.

"Your wits are gone, put your thinking caps on. This is clearly the river, and not a lake," the older blond said.

"But Bard…"

"It's a lake," I said after a moment, no longer remembering what I once called them, "I saw Lady Mouse cry and her tears made the water we are on now."

"Did I do this?" a voice asked and I looked behind me to see Lady Mouse and her dodo maid were sitting where once before, they hadn't been.

"You don't remember?" I asked her as she shook her head, "have you ever felt sad?"

"No, we're all smiles here," Lady Mouse said as she took a piece of cheese from the dodo maid and nibbled it softly.

"Look, the white rabbit!" the plum woman said as she pointed to the island.

I turned to see that Sebastian was running towards me…and he did look like a rabbit. An oddly coloured rabbit but a rabbit none the less. He ran past me, gliding along the water at a run. He was so fast, and so agile that he reminded me of a figure skater I had seen in my dreams one day. He continued to run and I attempted to reach out for him, to pull him to a stop but he continued to run away from me.

"Sebastian!" I cried out as I tried to catch him once more.

I felt the ends of his tail coat float through my fingers as he disappeared. I watched him leave and grabbed the oars to stir myself away from the island and to wherever Sebastian was going. I had to get to Ciel, I had to get there and be with him….I just had to.

The boat rocked, making me freeze to find out what had happened. I turned around in my seat to see the water rose as something charged forward. I leaned closer and saw what appeared to be a dog swimming towards us, before it dove under the water and disappeared from view.

"What was that?" I asked the people near me, and the smiles were replaced with worried brows.

"The puppy," the young blond said.

"Hold on," the plum woman said as they each clutched the sides of their boat.

Lady Mouse and her dodo maid clung to my boat as the 'puppy' resurfaced. It couldn't have been a puppy in any language, and I screamed as fear make me shiver. I was certain I had seen that animal before as I attempted to clutch onto the boat for safety.

Lady Mouse looked over her shoulder and detached my hands quickly. I tried to cling again but she detached me again. Like the spider had done with my rope because it suited him.

"Elizabeth, please!" I begged the girl.

"Your adventure must continue," she insisted, "and you can't reach that island…"

And then the waves pushed the boat up and as I hadn't been holding anything, I fell backwards. The water was forceful this time, and refused to let me surface.

"Sebastian!" I screamed as the air escaped my lungs.

I felt something catch my hand, pulling me closer until I felt the warmth of a body holding me tight. Hands wrapped around my waist as they pushed us towards the surface of the lake. Was it a lake? Or had it been the sea? I rested my head on the shoulder of my saviour and closed my eyes.

I coughed again and found myself shivering once more. I opened my eyes and saw myself in a hut. I looked to where my feet were and saw what seemed like a towel. I reached out for it and dried my face. Once that was accomplished, I wondered where I was now. And what did Lady Mouse mean that my adventure must continue…

Her journey in Wonderland has only truly begun, and she has not even caught her white rabbit yet. If only there was another spider for her to squish…I feel we should repeat that chapter. No? Maybe another time…idiotic monotone spider…