AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey. Sorry this one took so long, I had lots of plans for what's coming next! Stay tuned, and enjoy the chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 14

So somehow Shire and I ended up holding hands. Strange right? We were simply walking along the obsidian cemetery (which, oddly enough, has no gravestones anywhere!), and I told him I was a bit scared of this place. He chuckled and took my hand swiftly, asking if I was afraid of the dark. Of course, I blushed and shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe a little."

"I'm not scared of the dark," Shire stated.

I rolled my eyes and smiled and at, our hands beginning to swing. This was not of my doing- it was all Shire. "Well that's because you can see anything. Walking around at night is a breeze for you! Me on the other hand… All I see is silhouettes of stuff and your piercing, flashlight eyes!"

His hand squeezed my hand a bit, causing me to shiver. "It's a gift," he joked. "Yeah, being a cat guy thing does have its ups." He agreed, his hand going to his hip… Which I recently learned wasn't actually a real hip. I felt sorry for him. "But it has its downs too."

"Like what?" I asked, my eyebrows arching like a rainbow.

He shrugged and kicked his leg out. "My tail seems to get caught on things." He laughed as I tripped over his extended foot. I face planted onto the ground and moaned in despair. "Wow, you were right. Humans can't see a damn thing out here."

I murmured nothingness to myself as I stumbled to my knees. He reached out a hand, testing his luck. I gave in, taking my hand in his. And I pulled him to the ground as well. We both laughed, lying beside each other underneath the night sky. "Guess I'm not as agile as I thought." He snickered. I grinned and stared up at the heavens. "Wait a second…" I muttered. "How is it night time? It was barely the afternoon when I left the kingdom!"

Shire tsk-ed and sat up. "You still haven't learned? Every part of Wonderland has its own time frame." He stated, as if it were obvious. Yeah, right. "Wonderland's Once Lived is always dark and creepy."

"Oh? Like Tarrant's is always bright and partly cloudy?" I wondered, happy to add on.

He rolled his eyes and flicked something off his shoulder. "Whatever. Anyways, here, it's always ten thirty at night. Pitch black, a few stars here and there. But always that time."

"Like how at Tarrant's estate it's always sixish?"

He jabbed my stomach with two fingers and I crunched up in pain. "Quit talking about the Madhatter." He scoffed.

I made a face as I sat up, looking at him. "Why do you hate him so much? He's so kind and easygoing and a boatload of fun!" I cried. Okay, I know that was a cheesy phrase, but back home, Matthew and I always said cheesy things to make each other laugh. We loved using clichés and abused phrases. It was funny. At least, we thought it was.

Cat Boy closed his eyes. "All our problems start with that freak." He whispered softly, staring down at what I thought to be either his feet, or two large rocks. I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume it was his feet.

"Our?" I repeated to myself, trying to process this. "Who does that include?"

"Everyone, I guess." He sighed, finally deciding to make eye contact with me. We looked away after a few seconds, though, because it's really deep and awkward to gaze into someone's eyes for too long- even if their eyes were spectacular.

"How could cute, little Tarrant cause any problems?" I cried, waving my arms overdramatically. Yes, I'm a bit animated. "He has no bad intentions."

"Yeah, but he's an idiot. He never thinks about the consequences." Shire huffed, studying my face again. I don't like it when he looks at me like that. No, it was cute, don't get me wrong. I just feel sub-conscious and insecure when he stares at me like that. What's there to stare at? When's the last time I took a shower?! "He's the reason why time in Wonderland is so unba-"

"Shire?" A faint voice squeaked. I'm used to hearing random voices and meeting new guys, but the catch with this one was that this guy wasn't a guy. He was a girl! I mean, she was female. Sorry. We both instinctively turned our heads in the direction of the voice. I squinted, only able to see her body outline. The girl was really skinny, I mean, she looked about one-hundred pounds total. Her chest was flat as an ironing board, and she had so hips. Wow, I'm kind of mean. And critical. But this was the impression. Her hair was extremely long, going down to her butt. Although, at the moment, it was dancing in the "night" time breeze. The strangest thing about her? Her eyes were yellow… And glowing. She was wearing a lumpy winter hat on her head. Weird. "Shire?" she repeated, scurrying over to us.

What's the rush, bones? I remarked in my head. Why am I being so negative about her? It's irritating me.

Shire blinked and patted my knee, then quickly stood to his feet. "Angie? What the hell are you doing in the cemetery?"

Her eyes widened the moment I stood up. She put her hand on his shoulder and leaned close. "Who's this? A friend?" she whispered loudly.

"What's it to you?" Shire scoffed, pushing her away. Yeah, go Shire!

The small girl gasped and put her hands on her hips. "You're as mean as always!" she squeaked, shaking her head at him. "Isn't he?"

I shook my head. "He's not mean." I argued, furrowing my eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes and whispered something into Shire's ear. Yes, his kitty ears. She had to tiptoe to reach them. He shook his head and shoved her away again. Who knows, if could've been a gentle push but she was so featherlike that is felt like a bulldozer bullying her around. She groaned and then looked over at me, glancing at me up and down. She didn't seem impressed. Jerk. "So who are you?"

"You can try and not show your disgust," I retorted, shifting my hips. "I'm Bob Dylan, how's the kids, Feather?"

Feather Girl squinted evilly at me. "Get real, Blondie. You're as dumb as you look!"

"Fine: my name is Anastasia Liddell. How are you? You doing good? Great!" I mocked. "How's your mother doing? Oh? Really? She told you that? Well I can't say she's wrong…" I trailed off, sticking my nose in the air. Yeah, I just showed her. She was asking for it. Are you forgetting I'm irritable?

"Oh!" She grinned widely. "That was devious!" she cheered. I tilted my head to the side. Was she complimenting my mocking skills? "We're going to be besties!" she told me with a wink. I guess I earned her respect. I don't want it. "So what're you two doing?"

Shire butted in, crossing his arms. "Making out. Talking about our fifteen children. Ranting about how terrible our fiancés are. We might ditch them and go elope."

I was beginning to thank the Queen that it was too dark to see my blushing cheeks… But then I realized that the two people in front of me had glowing, yellow eyes. Creepy. Angie grinned and swayed her upper body flirtatious, her hips and chest jutting out as she did so. "You're such a kidder,"

Can I punch her in the face? "What're you even doing here?" Shire asked again.

Angie frowned, "I thought you'd be happy to see me, baby." She cooed, then began to strut forward like a model. "I saw you walk in here. Wanted to know what you were up to. But can we leave? This place is giving me the creeps,"

I actually agreed with her. "Yes, can we get out of here, Shire?" I asked shyly.

Shire nodded and took my wrist, beginning to walk away… LEAVING ANGIE IN THE DUST. Okay, so she followed us. It made me want to slap the curves off of her. Oh wait, she had none to slap! And I bet Shire knew this too, because he seemed extremely disinterested in her. Who is she, anyways?

It took us a good half hour to actually find a way out of the cemetery. What? Are you forgetting that Shire has a terrible sense of direction? Anyhoo, I wasn't annoyed with this considering it was very entertaining. Plus, I was just as confused as him. Unfortunately, throughout our journey, Angie kept blabbering about how long it took her to finally get Shire to talk to her, where she got her shoes, etcetera. As soon as we stepped out of the border of Wonderland's Once Lived, the sky was an orange-yellowish color. I raised an eyebrow for some help.

Shire caught my look and glanced at the sky. "Anything not formally owned by a citizen goes by Earth time." He stated. "The days on the un-owned outskirts are twenty-hour hours that change the sky corresponding to the time." He shrugged. "It seems like it's about three here."

"Three?" I questioned, completely fazed. In the kingdom, it was about eleven in the morning! Did four hours pass? This land is so confusing. I miss the timekeeper, and I haven't even witnessed his work! "This is too much to remember. How are you guys supposed to show up on time for anything?"

"We don't." the boy sighed, guiding us forward again. "If only that freakin' woman would let Tannyn go back on duty, time would be in order again."

Angie nodded, placing her hand on Shire's stomach to stop him from walking onward. "I know, baby, I know. It's really crazy! I say we should protest peacefully!"

Shire stared at her with an unreadable expression. I would know, because I leaned forward to see his reaction to her continual touching. "Why not violently? Either way, we're going to end up getting something cut off." He scoffed. Why isn't he removing her hands?

Angie nodded once more. I swear she had a bubblehead. "Right, right, I totally understand." She cooed.

"Take that stupid hat off. Isn't it hurting your ridiculous ears?" He asked impatiently, flicking her forehead. That could've been a flirt, you know.

The girl winked at him. "I knew you care about me. Didn't doubt you for a second, sweetie," she said softly, sliding the cap off of her. My eyes widened at the sight. On her head was two large triangles, twitching slightly. They were big and striped with orange. She was a cat! She was an orange tabby cat chick! I slapped my forehead in disbelief. They were perfect for each other! The glowing yellow eyes with slit-pupils, the floppy cute ears on their heads, their lean figures… So maybe Angie was a bit on the… unattractive side. Her face was kind of cute. I frowned and huffed in shame. I took note of her long red-orange hair. She had tons of freckles on her face. The weird thing, although, was that her eyes were no longer yellow anymore. In the sunlight, they were a stunning green. But when it's dark, they were simply yellow, like Shire's. "I better tuck out the tail too," she sang, and suddenly an orange striped and dotted tail poked out her bottom. Yes, she was indeed a tabby.

I know it's far too early to do this, but I truly hated her guts by then. "She's a feline." I blurted, pointing at her.

Shire blinked and shoved Angie's hands off of him. Did he now realize that her hands were there? He better realize sooner next time. There better not be a next time. "You want to come to my home?"

Cat Girl gasped and jumped up and down in excitement. "Oh, I'd love too, Shire!"

Cat Boy sneered and inched away from her. "I was talking to Ana."

I blushed and smiled at him. "Sure," I answered, keeping calm on the outside. On the inside, though, I was partying. He asked me and not her. I'm sure if you were in that position, you'd be screaming in delight too.

Shire smiled at me, beginning to walk forward again since Angie was no longer blocking his path.

Angie groaned and followed him. "Don't get any ideas, Anastasia."

"What're you talking about?" I leered.

Shire immediately stopped and turned around, his eyes widening.

Angie grinned, crossing her arms. "Isn't it obvious? Shire is obviously taken by someone else, and I'm determined to break them up."