So, umm, not to be a cop-out, but expect a time jump in about two chapters. I give this to you to bring hopeish like feelings that the story is moving. Don't worry, only a small bit more set-up before we get to action! Alice in prison, Lacey as an assassin, Tarrant finding out he's a dad! All this and more coming up in 'The Tale of Teapot'!

'

It had been a week, and no sign of Lacey Kingsleigh .

Alice was a wreck. But nobody else was distraught over the girl missing, because Lord Ascot's condition had worsened over the week. He was getting frailer and frailer, and now they were all in his room. Lady Ascot was praying, the Priest was nearby to absolve him, and the doctor was ever vigilant in his watch. Mother and sister were on the other side of Lord Ascot, praying with Lady Ascot. Alice, meanwhile, was sat in a corner in a large chair. Things were quickly deteriorating in Alice's life. Now, not only her daughter, but her trusted business partner was fading quickly. She wanted to disappear into that chair.

But fate would not allow her to do that, for that was far too easy. The room was quiet when Lord Ascot whispered in his old voice, requesting to speak to Alice for a moment. The room stared at him, then at Alice, who made no mistake in her expression of solemnity. The doctor and Lady Ascot locked eyes, and the doctor gave a terse nod at her. The two got up, and went out, the rest following them. Alice was deeply unsure of the situation. When the door closed behind the troupe, she rose slowly and went to where the doctor had been before her.

"Alice, I've been hearing the strangest things since I've been laying here. I'm sure I'd noticed it before, but the mirror...it talks."

Lord Ascot's eyes drifted to the ceiling while Alice's went to the mirror, watching closely. She wasn't sure what to make of it. Was it a dying man's last trick, or was it real? Was his body betraying him again. She watched, and he started speaking.

"The doctor says it's a normal thing, when one is dying, to hear the voices of loved ones. But this isn't a loved one. I don't know him, but he doesn't talk often. It used to be it would only be a faint whisper that I couldn't make out, but it's louder now. Stronger, like he was sick and now recovered. He keeps saying 'Teapot'."

He paused and coughed. Alice was confused, and struck. Teapot. Lacey's adopted name. Could it be...?

"When I was well, I could see him. He looked so sad and weak. I wonder if he's better now. Lady Ascot said you're daughter named herself Teapot. She's gone missing, hasn't she?"

Alice's mood changed, her face grew sadder. Lord Ascot noticed.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I'm handing over the company to Hamish, on the account he keeps you as a partner. The boy wouldn't know what to do with the company, anyways. I hope you find your daughter. And, if you can, find that man. He needs healing more than I do."

Another cough, and then Lord Ascot was asleep. Alice felt as if she were in a dream. A mad, crazy dream. Grief makes a person change, sometimes. They forget the fantastical, impossible things, and cannot see what is before their eyes. And for the first time in a week, Alice reached for her rings once more. She was crazy, mad, insane. It didn't matter in the slightest what she was, for in that moment she saw colors dance across Lord Ascot's mirror, and voice calling out 'Teapot!' A familiar voice, a lonely voice. One she hadn't heard in a long while, ten years to be exact. She'd never thought she could go back, until she climbed atop Lord Ascot's wardrobe and touched the mirror. She was greeting by waves, and she giggled. Yes, she could go back.

And that's when Alice, for a third and final time, fell farther than she ever had before.