Another Chapter.
Alice
Someone was shaking me awake suddenly. It was too early, I want to keep sleeping. So I rolled over.
Bad idea.
I let out a shrill scream that would have made Raven proud as I started freefalling out of the tree. For a split second I thought I was toast until I felt a jerk and Hatter grabbed my arm.
"Alice, why'd you roll over?" Hatter said while trying to get a better grip on my arm.
"Sorry, but can you get me up?" I said shakily. He nodded and swung me up to the branch. I gripped it tight so there wouldn't be any more accidents.
"Thank you." I said as I tried to calm my rapid heartbeat.
"Let's not make this a habit." He said jokingly.
The fall had made me wide awake, so I noticed the jabberwocky was gone.
"It's gone." I said looking down.
He nodded and began to climb down the tree. I then noticed how high we were. I swallowed. If Hatter didn't catch me, I would be dead.
"Some people came by when we were sleeping." He said as he maneuvered himself through a patch of dead leaves.
"Oh, how do you know?" I said as I also maneuvered myself through the dead leaves.
"There are tracks on the ground,"- he said indicating the said foot prints-"from the looks of them it was a pretty big group."
"Why do you think they were here?" I said as we landed on the ground.
"They were tracking somebody." He stated.
"Me?" I said worried.
"Most likely."
I swallowed before continuing, "How do you know they were trackers?"
"Look over here." He said leading me towards some of the individual foot prints. Some of the prints had little hearts stamped into the ground. The shoe must have had a little heart engraved into the bottom of the boot.
"These shoes are only distributed to the Cards." Hatter said when I saw them.
I also saw other markings in the soil. They weren't foot sized; they weren't even shaped like a foot. They were something else altogether.
"Hatter, what are those?" I pointed to the markings that caught my attention.
He looked to where I was gesturing, and grimaced. "Machines." He said despairingly.
My eyes widened in alarm, but Hatter shook his head. "Not the ones that destroyed Glass Town. Too small. These ones are about the size of a dog."
I relaxed, "So these can't do as much." I smiled.
Hatter didn't smile, instead he said, "These ones are still dangerous. What they lack in size they make up for in speed."
My smile faded. Wait, something wasn't making sense. Wouldn't the Cards notice that we were in a tree?
"Hatter wouldn't the tracker noticed that our foot prints stopped near the tree?" I said quietly.
"Yes… they would." He said slowly, looking for other prints on the ground.
"Here" he said kneeling to the ground, "Here is another set of prints."
They looked very similar to the ones we left behind, so it was easy to see why the trackers were confused.
"Who else would have come this far into the woods?" I said exasperated.
We both looked at each other. There was only one person who would come this way. We both said it at the same time.
"Chess."
That got us moving. We stopped to drink at a stream about mid-day. It was almost comical how easy it was to see where the trackers were going.
"Hey Hatter?"
"Yes?"
"Wouldn't you think it would be harder to track skilled trackers? What if we walking into some kind of a trap?"
He laughed. "The trackers have no one who would dare cross them. They don't need to cover their tracks."
I nodded. It made sense. We followed the trackers for most of the afternoon. Then after a few more hours Hatter stopped me. He kept creeping forward and disappeared into the trees in front of me. After a few moments he returned.
He put a finger to his lips and whispered, "There camp is just up ahead. The good news is that they've stopped for the night. The bad news is that we are very close to the meeting spot me and Chess set up."
"How close?" I whispered.
He paused for a moment, thinking, "Maybe, twenty minutes?" He said vaguely.
I nodded, "so we need to get passed them." I said.
"We have to go around them." Hatter said already moving.
I shook my head wearily and followed him.
(About 15-teen minutes of carefully creeping around the Cards)
"Okay, were safe for now." Hatter said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Good. Where is the meeting place?" I asked him.
"Just up ahead." He said shortly.
Well, 'just up ahead' turned out to be another ten minutes. When we were approaching the destination, we heard voices. Hatter turned to me and made a gesture telling me to be quiet. Like I didn't know that.
Then he whispered, "We need to disguise you in case were found." He started rummaging in his pockets for something. He pulled out a sort of amulet.
"Alright, close your eyes." He said.
I nodded and silently obeyed. I felt a cool sensation pass over me, like when you get goose-bumps.
"Alright you can open them."
I did so and Hatter was holding a little pocket mirror out for me. I took it eagerly. Needless to say I was shocked.
My eyes were wide and innocent, bright green with just a tiny bit of blue. My hair was cropped short at the shoulders. It was now a strawberry blonde. My skin was very pale and any freckles I might have had, disappeared. I looked a few years younger as well.
"So… what do you think?" Hatter said ruining the moment.
"I kinda like it. Magic can do wonders." I replied.
"You're unrecognizable." Hatter said approvingly.
We cautiously stepped forward and peeked through the trees. What I saw astounded me.
Chess was inches away from some woman. What was a women doing here?
Were they about to kiss!?
I turned to Hatter, he just looked confused.
"CHESS? "Hatter shouted.
The couple flew apart. The lady's face was bright red and Chess didn't look much different.
"Hatter? What are you doing here?" Chess said embarrassed.
We walked into the clearing now unafraid. "Uh dude, this is our meeting place." Hatter said to him.
"Right, right, sorry." Chess said.
"Uh, who's this?" I said gesturing at the brunette.
"I'm Anna." The woman said to me.
She looked to be in her early twenty's or maybe her late teens; she had long brown hair and bright eyes. She seemed to have an innocent look about her.
She was pretty, that much was clear. She seemed to have a sweet personality. She reminded me of my sister for some reason.
"And you must be Chester's brother, Hadley." Anna said looking at Hatter.
I laughed, I couldn't help it. And even Chess cracked a smile. Hatter on the other hand was glaring at Chess, if looks could kill Chess wouldn't just be dead, he would be dust.
"What?" Anna said smiling uncertainly.
"Umm…" I stammered for an answer. It was pretty obvious Hatter excuse me, Hadley; wasn't going to give an answer.
Chess quickly covered for us, "Every time she hears his name, she can't help but laugh. She thinks it's hysterical."
I glanced towards Anna to see if she would buy the explanation.
"I guess it is an unusual name." Anna said.
A moment passed silently. Then another. Then another. The air was thick with awkwardness.
Anna was the first to break the silence, "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, you know my name but I don't know yours." Anna said to me.
"Oh, how rude of her." Hatter said with a menacing smile.
Uh oh, I didn't like where this was going.
"She really does try to introduce herself." Hatter said malevolently.
Something told me I was going to pay for laughing at Hatter. Anna was smiling uncertainly, aware of the tension in the air.
"Her name is Allison."
I groaned inwardly. Allison wasn't a bad name, per say. It was just I didn't like the meaning behind it, or the fact that I didn't chose it.
"It's nice to meet you Allison." Anna said sweetly.
After that episode, we remembered about the trackers.
"Chess, a moment please." Hatter said.
Chess walked off to the side of the clearing and we followed. Anna sensing the private conversation went to pack up whatever belongings they had.
"Who is she?" Hatter demanded as soon as we were out of ear shot of Anna.
Chess grimaced before answering, "She was lying on the ground unconscious; she would have died if I didn't help her."
"Must I remind you that we have a queen to overthrow and a disguise to keep up?" Hatter snapped back.
"We could take her along." I added in.
They both stared at me like they forgot I was there. Ugh, men.
"What? - I said defensively- I have ideas too."
"Alice, uh I mean Allison, we can't take her along. What if she finds out about us? Not to mention were rebels and hiding from the law." Said Hatter.
"What if we could trust her?" Chess said open to the idea.
"Uh, Wonderland to Chess, you just met her. She doesn't mean anything. We can't say take her along. The risk is too great." Hatter said.
"Hatter, she has nowhere else to go. Her home got destroyed, thanks to us." Chess said defending her.
"Fine. What do you think we should do?" Hatter asked while crossing his arms.
Chess frowned as he thought.
"We could hit her with the full story, leaving out some obvious parts, and if she shows resistance, we hit on the head with a rock and wait for the trackers to find her." I said.
"Trackers?" Chess asked.
Hatter grinned, "You wouldn't mind knocking her out?"
"Well, I'd rather avoid it, but after last night I realize this is a game of life and death."
"Trackers? Last night?" Chess said very confusified.
Hatter continued to ignore Chess, "It does seem like a good plan, if she's against us then the trackers will sympathize with her, but if she's with us then we could hide her."
"Guys, I still need an explanation." Chess put in.
Hatter sighed dramatically and filled him in.
"A jabberwocky, huh. Tough luck." Chess said after we explained.
"I think we should be more worried with the trackers." I said.
They both nodded their agreement.
"We should start moving as soon as possible, then." Hatter said.
"Let's go explain to Anna."
Anna/Raven P.O.V
"Thanks, Chester."
"Uh, you don't have to call me Chester, just Chess is fine."
I grinned, "Okay Just Chess." I said to annoy him.
He stuck his tongue out. I stuck my tongue out at him.
Then we broke down laughing.
I decided I really did like Chess despite the circumstances.
It turned out that Chess was a really good fisherman, when he heard my stomach growl he led me to a stream and started pulling fish out the water like it was nobody's business.
I was very embarrassed, but fishing with him was fun. The opportunity let me get to know him better.
Needless to say, dinner was amazing.
"Wow, I haven't felt this full in a long time" I said as I tossed another fish spine into the fire.
Chess nodded in agreement, his mouth still full of trout.
I stretched out feeling tired. I was going to use the bag that I brought with me for my day in Glass Town as a pillow.
I didn't have much in it, just a little money that probably wouldn't last a day, a water skin and Jolie's cellphone. I didn't go anywhere without it. I would have brought the camera from home, but it broke when I was sixteen.
The fur lined coat I had worn to the market place would do as my blanket.
Chess added more wood to the fire and also laid down.
He didn't speak so I guess he was thinking.
"Are you worried?" I asked him.
"What?" He asked.
"About your friends. Are you worried?" I continued.
"Yes." He said tiredly.
"I thought they would be here by now. I guess they had to stop for the night."
"That's probably it." I said trying to reassure him.
We settled into a comfortable silence. I was watching the sky; I had never seen so many stars.
"Why do you care so much?" He said breaking me out of my reverie.
"I-I don't know." I whispered, not looking at him.
He saw me looking at the stars. "I could teach you a couple of constellations, if you want." He said hesitantly.
I smiled big, "I would like that."
The rest of the night was spent happily, with Chess telling me wondrous stories about stars.
Morning time
When I woke up, Chess was gone. The fire was low so I added wood from the stack that we had piled up last night.
I started to sing as I did so.
Well, you dawned on me and you bet I felt it But I won't hesitate
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks
Now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool dawn run out
I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn
To win some or learn some
No more, no more
It cannot wait,
I'm
I cut myself off when I saw Chess walk into the clearing. I flushed embarrassed.
"You have a beautiful voice." He said astounded.
I tried to say something, "Um, don't sound so surprised."
He just shook his head in disbelief. "Really- he said touching my arm- you're good."
I smiled warmly. "Thanks."
"I brought breakfast." He said holding up more trout.
"Yum." I couldn't seem to form big sentences.
We ate in silence, building up the fire when needed.
Before I knew it, it was high noon. It was getting hot so I asked Chess to show me the stream so I could dip my feet in.
He complied happily and we both soaked our feet.
"Hey Chess, could you tell me the constellation story about the bear again?" I said just wanting to hear him talk.
"Of course." He shared his trademark grin, and began the story.
After many stories later we headed back.
"Anna, could you sing that song again?" He said pleadingly.
"What? No." My cheeks were heating up again, I could feel them.
"Please."
Ugh, why did he sound so amazing?
"Um… I don't" I stammered.
"Pretty please?" He was on his knee's now his eyes wide and face pouting.
I groaned, "Ugh, alright."
I repeated the verse I sung earlier.
Well, you dawned on me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks
Now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool dawn run out
I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn
To win some or learn some
He stepped closer to me. My heart sped up.
But I won't hesitate
No more, no more
It cannot wait,
I'm—
He was inches away, was he going to kiss me? Thinking about it, I couldn't seem to bring myself to care.
I closed my eyes and breathed the last word.
Yours.
"CHESS!?" A voice broke the moment.
We both woke up from whatever spell we were under and flew apart.
I was blushing furiously and tried to meet the eyes of the on lookers.
Oh goody. I thought sourly. Chess's friends finally show up.
Rights to the song go to Jason Mraz. I thought this was a cute chapter to write. Hope you like it, as I always say Read and Review. Happy Saturday