Title: Wild Cards & Gambits
Rating: R in general.
Author's Note: A bit... lighter? Not much so I'm afraid. But such is the way that Wild Cards seems to be going. Thanks for all the reviews and emails about this story; makes me love writing it when I realize that others are trying to guess where I am going with this.
Chapter Twenty Six: The Gnat's News
Alice ran up the stairs, barely managing to keep her footing when the thick carpets turned to hardwood, but she ignored the stagger in her stride. Singularly focussed in her eagerness, she kept her balance with a determination she hadn't felt in days. Each time she passed someone in the halls they had to jump out of her way in the face of her blind run. She didn't even see them, though she was aware that a few yelled at her to slow down.
Skidding around a corner, she grabbed the corner and swung herself forward. The halls seemed endlessly long but she didn't care. Finally, after all this waiting, she had news! Alice almost forgot to check herself as she shoved open the doors to the conservatory and she let the door slam behind her with a loud bang.
News! That single thought kept her attention as she pushed and muscled her way through the thick vegetation that grew around the entrance to the conservatory. She didn't even care if she was followed or if the other people wondered at the strange sight of her running around in the middle of the night. She was sure Wonderland had seen odder things than her running like a maniac through the dim hallways of the Manor.
It had been just after midnight when a nervous maid had knocked on her door. The girl had handed over a note from the Drawling Master and told her that she was to read it immediately, as per his order. She had the harassed look of a servant who was terrified of her employer and she had been adamant about not leaving. Alice, half-awake because of her nausea and grumpy because of it, had almost told the girl to go away but she had read the note anyway.
The maid had barely been able to get out of her way when Alice shoved her feet into her boots and darted from the room with a burst of energy that was almost incredible for that time of night. Alice had been vaguely aware of the maid calling out after her but she hadn't heard a word she said. She hadn't even bothered to wake Charlie or her mother in the next rooms, too worried about getting to the Drawling Master on time.
After a week of odd stasis, she was more than ready to hear something, anything, about what was happening in Wonderland.
Now that she was inside the conservatory, Alice paused and pressed her hand to her chest. She managed to suck in some air to her burning lungs and reaching out, she braced herself on one of the large trees in the centre of the conservatory's tiny clearing. The entire room was dimly lit by a mixture of hovering lamps and the overhead windows allowed for some moonlight. It made the room a little less forbidding than Alice normally found it and she took a quick look to where the telescope stood in the distance, an almost too modern structure in the midst of such greenery. But there was no sign of anyone else near its eyepiece, which was unusual, and she wondered if maybe she had missed the Drawling Master.
From what she knew, it would make sense for North Abel to pull such a trick. He seemed to like to play games with her and her mother.
"You made enough noise, crashing around like that, and I'm surprised the entire Manor isn't awake because of that," said Abel dryly, his nearby voice startling Alice. He was bent over the Soul-sapling, and his hunched body was half-hidden by the thick bushes and flowers that surrounded the tree. It was unusual to see him away from his telescope when in the conservatory; Alice had become used to him using it as a sort of shield against her. Unaware of her thoughts, he continued to clip one of the tiny branches on the Soul-sapling and held it up to the artificial light of the lamp hovering close to his head. Abel tsked in his throat. "An unhappy tree. See these brown leaves? Something has made it upset."
"You have news?" Alice demanded impatiently, not about to be put off by one of his lessons in gardening.
He looked over at her, his craggy face disapproving. "Patience is not your strong point, Alice."
"Being forthright isn't yours," she snapped and his dark eyebrows rose nearly to his grey hairline. "You had someone wake me in the middle of the night in order for you to lecture me about pruning?"
"No. To talk about your Hatter." He saw the immediate change in her face and the strength in her glow, the sight almost overpowering. "By Wonderland, you need to learn to mask that better, Alice. You could give away the world in such a look."
"What did you hear about Hatter?" she insisted, ignoring his jibe. Annoyed that she hadn't taken his bait, Abel rolled his eyes and pointed over to a low tea table that was surrounded by a ring of orange hover-lanterns. On the table lay a small pile of maps and ledger books, several of the books open and clearly worn from being read so frequently. Unable to hide her eagerness, Alice almost ran to the table and quickly grabbed the thickest ledger book. Letters were pressed within its pages and she scanned them, piecing out information about the pockets of destruction around the South and what was going on in Wonderland. Some of the letters were about the City, some about the sudden and swift coupe being performed, and she read them all. Each left her a bit more troubled and she tried to find even a sliver of good news.
It was when she saw the last, blood spotted letter she almost dropped the book.
"According to recent reports, Alice," Abel began, clearing his throat and getting creakily to his feet, "there is a group of old Resistance members now running through the South, taking care of old... enemies of the Dodo and the old Crown alike."
He said it so casually and without any concern that it took Alice a moment to understand just what he had said. Lifting her chin, she stared at him.
"Taking care of?"
"Old man talk for 'torture and kill in the most heinous of ways'," the Drawling Master admitted. He laughed at his own wit but then the smile dropped from his face immediately. "Those that have been killed were all people I knew or knew of. Almost all of them had some role in my own group: some as double agents in the Resistance and some within the old Queen's court and a few triple agents as well. Nobles, commoners, witches, physicians, shelter givers, farmers... the list of who they are and what they did for me is extensive. Each has been reported as either dead or silenced by different means that are as permanent as death. I've had about ten agents killed from my own personal guard, ones that I set out to find information weeks ago. Let's see here: Elepha, Raven, BlueRed, and Tulip for starters. Thankfully, I've kept some of my best here. Triple agents like Pidge, Alicorn and Lyon are on my own guard, and they've managed to recall some of our old agents back to my service."
"Who brought you this?" Alice asked, her hands shaking as she picked up the letter again. "I thought you said no letters could go in and out now."
"I did say that, didn't I? Of course, I meant that messages that came by holo-orb and by those of my messengers. Carrier pigeons are notoriously stupid and get shot out of the sky easily. What that means is I had to get a little... inventive I guess you could say."
Abel passed her and grabbed a large stick from the ground. He tossed it up at the glass ceiling and one of the screens popped out when it was struck. Whistling through his teeth, the Drawling Master caught the stick with his hand and twirled it back under his arm. As his whistle died, a black blur came through the open window, whizzing around Alice's body and brushing her cheek with a gentle softness. She turned to follow the blur and watched as it became clear that it was a bird.
The black crow alighted on the branches of the Soul-sapling.
"The Crows," Alice whispered, dropping the book and walking to the bird. It squawked and bounced along the sapling's tiny branches, reaching out to peck gently at her outstretched fingers. She stroked its black breast, feeling the softness and finding comfort in it. "I haven't seen them since we left the City."
"Interesting," Abel said and another Crow flew through and landed on his outstretched arm. It squawked at him, flapping its wings impatiently. "Because they've been watching you. Or so they told me.
She jerked. Hatter had always thought it odd that she had been able to understand the Crows back in the Taiga. "You... you can understand them?"
He gave her an affronted look. "Please, Alice, you aren't the only one with a touch of magic about you. They were most concerned about you, you know, and when Crows are upset they make barely any sense."
"That's not surprising," Alice muttered but Abel continued as if she hadn't spoken,
"They've been acting as recorders if you will, of your adventures. They've been in and out of the Manor for days now, going willy-nilly all around the South. These two came to me just this evening and told me all of the more recent news that was most unfortunate to hear. But Crows rarely lie. Lovely creatures, if not misunderstood. You saw that and for that they act as your willing friends and messengers. Which is why they've been tracking you since you left the City."
"They've followed me? I never saw them," Alice said, still stroking the feathers of the bird on the tree. The tree seemed to shimmer when she touched its leaves accidently.
"Perhaps you weren't meant to. Who can tell with Crows?" Abel answered and the Crow flew from his arm to Alice's shoulder. It preened at her hair and she smiled, walking back to the Drawling Master. His eyes were sharp as he watched the Crow on her shoulder. "But, you see, Alice, a promise is a deep thing in Wonderland. Whether it is a pact between you and the Crows, in return for what you've done, or the pact between you and the Hatter, which is a bond you shouldn't sever."
He turned slightly and picked up the letter she had dropped when the birds had come through.
"No matter what." He turned the letter around and opened it, holding it gingerly to avoid the spots on the page. "According to the Lyon, the group is headed by the Dodo's second in command in the South Resistance, Selena, code name Snake. Once chief assassin for the Resistance and now followed by a group of over one hundred mercenaries recruited in the course of the month. Men who have been described as Lake Prisoners."
"But the Lake Prison is closed. Those men should still be in prison," Alice answered.
"Reopened by Royal Creed, many of the men were pardoned. Especially those that were devout to the old Queen." The older man sighed and began to make his way back to the telescope. "I hate to admit, Alice, that I was wrong. But the reason why is because I was blinded. And had I known... I could have saved us all this."
"Known what?"
He turned and stared at her from sad brown eyes. "Just what I risked twenty-five years ago when I was still a spiteful and unwilling servant to the Hearts."
"It isn't like you to tell the whole truth, grandfather. What's the point starting now?" Pidge's voice interrupted and Alice jumped, turning around.
"Pidge?" she called out, barely able to see him through the thick vegetation. She could just make out his lanky outline in the shadows. "Where've you been?"
"Acting like one of your Crows, apparently. Gathering information has never been my favourite thing to do." Pidge stepped through and Alice noticed the faded bruising just below his left eye. His face was drawn into harsh, exhausted lines and his sharp eyes went from her to the Drawling Master. "Tell her about it, Abel. The more you delay, the worse you are going to make it."
She looked at the Drawling Master, who had seated himself at the tea table.
"It is better we show her." He nodded to the shadows behind Pidge, and Alice noticed the two figures that had arrived when she had been focussed on Pidge. "Bring him in, Nurse."
Something creaked and she turned to watch as a small, stout woman in a neatly pressed navy blue uniform pushed a spindly wheelchair further into the conservatory. The wheels wobbled dangerously on the mown grass and Pidge moved to one side so that the chair was able to move further under the light of the hover-lamps. The Crow on Alice's shoulder nipped at her hair once more before flying to land on the railing of the telescope, leaving her free to walk over to the nurse. The woman gave her a skeptical look as she approached, one hand resting on the shoulder of the man in the wheelchair.
"I'll thank you not to disturb him too much. He is still very vulnerable to being overexcited. With his injuries, we cannot risk that," she warned before stepping back to allow Alice to walk around the chair. Alice frowned and leaned over at the waist to take a closer look, only to have to take a half step back in her shock.
The Gnat's head was held so low his chin almost touched his chest, but she could recognize him by his sunken face and thin body. It was only just barely that she could make out his face, for he had been badly beaten and there was no part to his face that wasn't bruised. The way he breathed was forced and almost too loud as if he couldn't control it, and his were hands shaking on his lap. There was a thin line leading from the back of his hand to an IV attached to his wheelchair by a rod, and a scrap of gauze was bound around his head but she could see the splotches of blood staining it already. Nitze's eyes opened, as if he could feel her looking, and his mouth moved but no words came out.
"I sent him to go and see who was causing such destruction of our friends. Him and five others from the local village," Abel said from where he sat. "And he is the only one who returned. It was Nitze who wrote the letter that the Crows brought to me but Pidge was the one who went to find him for me."
"What happened to him?" Alice said, crouching down before Nitze. Pidge stirred out of his almost rigid stance and she looked over at him. His eyes were not on Nitze's broken form but on her, and with the intense sort of look that made her uncomfortable.
"He was interrogated. Like most people trained, he was able to keep from spilling much information but it looks like something tore into him. For what information, I'm not sure. He knew all the gossip there was to know; that makes it hard to guess just what anyone would look for. But what was done to him... I've not seen such a thing since the Resistance was in full force years ago," Pidge explained. "I found him near a toth's nest, half-dead and unconsciously muttering about his torture. He had clearly tried to change forms but it didn't work; he was stuck between bodies when I found him. The doctor only just got him back to his normal form a few hours ago. It was the Crows that led me to him, you know. They've proven useful."
There was a faint grunt from the injured man and Alice looked back down at him.
Nitze was trembling in the wheelchair, his broken face puffy and bruised to the point of it being pitiful. Alice stared, wide eyed and dumbstruck by his injuries, and Nitze met her eyes. He reached out with a hand and she took it gently, feeling the ice of his skin. It was as if he had been plunged into a tub of ice cubes and she resisted the urge to jerk her hand back. The Gnat's sad smile was heart-wrenching and when he showed his teeth she noticed that many were broken; only pieces remained implanted in his gums.
"Miss. Alice, delightful to see you," he seemed to be trying to say but all that came out was a garbled mess of words. Alice looked up at Pidge and he looked away, eyes on the wheelchair instead.
"He's... a bit slow with the talking still. But, believe it or not, he's better than he was. The doctor was able to stop most of the bleeding and infection." He nodded to the nurse and the stout little woman pulled Nitze away towards the flowers. Alice was relieved that his icy grip was gone but the sight of the once wiry but strong man now crippled made her wonder. The two men nearby had clearly meant for her to glean something from this but her mind was still stuck on his broken condition.
She was stuck on why this all seemed so familiar to her. It had been over a year ago but she remembered it clearly, because, though she had pretended differently, it had bothered her back then. She had seen Chesh like this once: almost totally broken apart and despite his sarcasm he had been just as terrified as the Gnat clearly was.
When she looked up, Pidge was staring at her intently with blue eyes gone to ice. "You don't know, do you?" he asked and his voice was just as cold as his eyes. "Or is it that you don't want to know?"
"He's been hurt..."
"All I had in the beginning was accusations and hearsay from the few people who dared to talk to me, so I didn't take their words to heart. Nitze's report was less coherent but he managed to help as best as he could. Thanks to him and the Crows, I was able to find the others we had lost touch with. I've had ten witnesses now, all terrified of that new group who are terrorizing the people in the South cities, but they were willing to help," Pidge said. "Alice, the Gnat told me that the man who did this to him, who might be responsible for what happened to our old contacts was..."
"Pidge, stop," Alice whispered, still staring at where the nurse had pulled the wheelchair back into the shadows.
"Alice, you know who it was."
"Stop it!" she all but shrieked, and she spun on her heel. Blindly and without any of her usual skill, she struck out at him but Pidge dodged the weak blow. Instead, he caught her by her shoulders and gave her a hard shake that rattled her teeth.
"It was Hatter, Alice! The Gnat, for all that he is, is not a liar. Alice, something happened to him!" Pidge insisted and she shoved at him but he didn't let go. Behind Pidge, Abel discreetly turned his head away from the scene they were making.
"He wouldn't! I know him, Pidge! He wouldn't do this!"
"The Hatter you know? No, he wouldn't," the tall man agreed. "But damn it, Alice, you have seen him on the brink before. Charlie told me how he was back then in the Taiga. Is this really so unbelievable? Is it so hard to believe that what was inside him has found its breaking point? That he found his breaking point?"
His words struck her like a hard slap to the face and she stopped struggling, her fingernails digging into his arms. Pidge softened his voice to a whisper, aware that she was starting to understand him. "If he gave up, thinking that he was without you and without any chance of hope, and if Selena manipulated him, then he could be pushed to act... out of sorts," Pidge finished.
Abel shifted in his seat. "The Hatter family was always dangerous, Alice. For good reason and it has been that way for generations. What if all of this was because of him and what his family hid in his head?"
She looked at Pidge and he didn't say anything, only stared at her.
"It was a terrible price to pay for the Hatters, being such deep vaults of information as they were in the past. They had to always lay out traps and plans to prevent everything from swamping over their sanity. There is such a thing as knowing too much and even if his father trained into him how to control this flaw of their bloodline, Pidge is right. What we do for love can sometimes be what breaks us," Abel continued and Alice turned away from Pidge to look at him. Satisfied he had her attention, he gestured to the conservatory plants. "There is only one reason why they are coming further and further sound. What truly concerns me is that if they were able to get crucial information on developing their own conduits out of Wonderland from Hatter. Something his grandfather would have told him, because his grandfather was there when it was made. It may be that the only reason they kept him alive is that his mind is still resisting telling them everything. They still need him."
Alice stepped closer to him and unconsciously glanced at the Crows. They were staring at her again. "I don't get it. I sort of thought that having a conduit is a good thing; it connects our worlds, balances them," she thought aloud.
"When controlled, yes; Wonderland and your world have a balance that is in harmony. But left unchecked or controlled by sources who would twist it, the conduit warps Wonderland's own reality. During the reign of the old Queens, Wonderland was a far darker place and yet, before them, in times when the conduits were wild all over our lands, it was a place of a beauty and peace." He paused and reached into his pocket, drawing out another letter. He fiddled with its edges. "Unfortunately, the formula for the conduit is of my own devising. And only the Royals and the Dodo would know that. I was the one that the White Queen ordered to develop it, when I was just a young man and merely a cousin to the King of Hearts. I, like the Carpenter, had found something that the Royals wanted. In exchange for it, I was given Governor-ship of the South... but I thought that it was a mere exchange of goods."
He lifted a shaking hand that held the letter. "As it turns out, the real price was very very high to pay for one of my greatest achievements. It will be high once again, I'm sure."
It gave no relief to Alice that Pidge looked just as confused as she felt. He reached out and took the letter from Abel, scanning the spidery handwriting on its folded side. He looked back up, his brow furrowed.
"This is from Selena," he stated, and Abel nodded, leaning back in his chair. Pidge opened the letter and read it aloud, clearly paraphrasing, "She wants your utter surrender and that of the South. Declaration of safety for your family should you submit, banishment for your personal Quadrille and execution of any found as traitors. But she doesn't say how they would be found as traitors. But... why? Selena works for the Resistance, always has. The Quadrille may have been the Resistance's competitors but we did work to a common cause in the end."
"Could she be working for someone else?" Alice asked Pidge and he shook his head, his eyes darting to hers.
"That's the thing with some Resistance members. They became fanatic in their search for their supposed 'freedom' and she was tireless in that. Not to mention that she has enough grudges to bear against the entire populace of Wonderland. All the same, I don't think she would disobey the Resistance and Dodo. But I have been wrong before." Pidge turned the letter over and then folded it, handing it over to the Drawling Master. "So what are you going to do?"
"No point in going into this blind. I want to know what she has willingly destroyed most of the South for, in her search for me and for her revenge."
"Do they know where you are?" Alice questioned, wanting badly to read the letter but not knowing if she would like its contents.
"It will only be a matter of time. The Manor can only hide us from Hatter for so long and if she's set him on us, they'll be here soon," Abel said and Pidge exhaled, his eyes bright and troubled.
Not to be put off, Alice stepped to the table and touched the letter. "But he's never been this far south. Doesn't the Manor woods hide your home unless you want it found?"
"Unless certain circumstances arise, then yes, the Manor protects me and my family. But this specific set of circumstances have never arisen before and it may offer us only slight protection if he tracks us. I'd bet my fortune that the Snake has set Hatter on me deliberately, and likely using you, Alice, as a motivator. She's probably told him that I had a hand in your death and that he should kill me for revenge. Selena and I have had some... altercations in the past," Abel allowed and Pidge snorted.
"Knowing you, you likely tore a strip off her back and sent her back licking her wounds with just a few words," he commented, giving a half-smile.
Abel shrugged. "I'm only kind to ladies, and that creature hardly applies. It comes from her upbringing by Dodo. He created a tool for the Resistance that he took too much pride in warping."
Huffing in irritation, Alice didn't bother to open the letter like she had wanted to. "So what are you going to do then?"
"We go to have a chat with her. See if we can parley with her... or at least put an end to this foolish quest of hers," Abel said. "Failing that, we just get some information."
"You shouldn't be going," Pidge scolded. "It is bad enough your health isn't as good, but you're getting too old for all of this."
"She doesn't know that. I'm the bait in this, you know; if she thinks she can frighten me, her ego will get in the way and she will meet with us on neutral ground. The Singing Woods, for example; the trees there won't tolerate violence." Abel's eyes hadn't left Alice's face as he spoke.
"So Hatter will be there?" she asked, grabbing hold of Pidge's arm and looking at him imploringly.
"I doubt she'll risk having him in the open, Alice. Whoever broke him will try to keep him restrained until they want him turned loose again. Trapped in his own mind, I wager," he explained and she shook her head.
"I know that he wouldn't do these things. That he wouldn't..." she insisted and he gave her a look just shy of condescending.
"You know? Alice, it may pain you to know this, but I knew him before you, for much longer than you have known him. He is capable of many things, good and bad, and not all of them I feel right in telling you. And what he had been capable of then, he is likely capable of now," he stated and when she snorted and tried to look away he grabbed her arm in a tight hold to keep her still. "Hatter, his whole family, has always been known to be capable of great darkness."
"But also capable of great good," Abel interjected to try to make Alice feel better. Pidge glared over at him, knowing what he was trying to do.
"Yes. That is true."
"I've seen him mad before, Pidge. He fought it," Alice snapped, wrenching her arm free.
"He fought it for you and his friends, most likely. And what if he has nothing to fight for? What do you give a man who has lost everything? Who has been fighting a battle for too long without rest? You offer him a way out and, with all his strength, Hatter is just a man," Pidge stated and Alice's eyes blazed with anger but he waved his hand. "I love him as a brother, Alice, but I carry no illusions about him. I do not want this to happen to him. I can think of no one who deserves it less but, Alice, this is his bloodline's own secret that they've suffered with for hundreds of years."
"And bloodlines in Wonderland are everything, no matter how dusty and twisted they are," Abel muttered, looking down at the letter beside him. Alice turned her eyes from Pidge's furiously blazing ones and looked at him. But the Drawling Master seemed to be lost in thought, fiddling with the worn edges of the letter.
The sound of faint mumbling made her glance at where the Gnat still sat, huddled in his wheelchair, as the nurse gave his bandages an adjustment. She took in his shadowy form, still seeing the broken lines of him and remembering the agony in his eyes. Alice shuddered and wrapped her arms around her middle, her heavy dressing gown suddenly giving her no warmth.
When she looked up, Pidge was still staring at her. The way he seemed to be examining her face unnerved her and she took a shaky breath, stepping away from them. She was aware of the eyes on her back as she went through the garden, ignoring the scratching of the thistles and thorns and not seeing the controlled beauty anymore. Feeling a flush of heat going up her face, she knew that she had to get away from the thick, damp air before she became sick.
Alice stepped out of the conservatory and into the hallway, stopping at the open window nearer to the balcony that ran the length of the north end of the Manor. She pushed the shutter open wider and leaned half out to suck in cold air, feeling the sting of it on her skin. Appearing like a black shadow, a single crow flapped down and landed, squawking at her. Its head turned this way and that, black eyes taking in its surroundings curiously.
Alice ignored it, leaning her head against the windowpane, and tried to think. There was so much that she had to consider and yet nothing came to mind of what she should do. Her mind was still stuck on Hatter's evident turn; had she lost him like Pidge had claimed? Everything they had been through, fought against so that they could stay together, and it suddenly felt like the very ground had fallen out beneath her.
She couldn't help but feel a few tears of pure frustration slip down from her eyes. The hot tears stung her now cold cheeks and she shut her eyes, squeezing them tightly. It didn't help to stop the tears and she didn't move to get out of the cold wind.
The door behind Alice opened and closed and she sniffed, wiping her hand hard across her cheek to get rid of the tear tracks. Without turning around, she knew who it was. There was a tense silence for a few moments and she had a hopeful few seconds that he would just leave her alone. But Alice felt a hand wrap around her shoulder and pull her around. Pidge stared down at her, looking concerned.
The pity in his eyes made her look away.
"I'm not used to seeing Oyster emotions. It is starting to make me think that us Wonderlanders are missing out on something," he admitted and she gave a watery laugh.
"Seems like most of Wonderland feels that way sometimes," she whispered. "And right now, I can't help thinking that this is my fault. That if he and I had been open with each other from the beginning... But I always put it off, finding out more about him, because I could see how it hurt him to remember it all. Maybe if I had just tried to push..."
She drew in a deep breath. "But then I could have lost him for that as well. It's not fair."
Pidge's arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders and he rested it there, trying to comfort her. Alice tensed under his hold, wanting to grieve for Hatter and not sure she could just yet. Not when in her heart she still believed that she could bring him back to her.
"Life isn't fair, Alice. Wonderland's version of life is even less so. It is a cruel place; beautiful and strange, but utterly cruel at times. But if this could have been spared for you, it should have been. You've been through too much already, judging by the stories about you."
She shook her head, leaning against the window frame and looking out. "And sometimes it seems like it is for nothing," she admitted. "How much could all be lost and I'm so helpless to do anything!"
Pidge turned her face to him and stared at her, looking oddly disappointed in her for giving up.
"Alice, I think of all the people here, you are not as helpless as you think. You've got strength and that is what is going to help you against all of this. I noticed it the first time we met and I won't let you forget that." Pidge stared at her, his thumb gently tracing the curve of her jaw and Alice stared back. Pidge was almost overwhelming with his height and the wall at her back made her feel more self-conscious. His gentle smile faded and she felt his grip shift until his fingers brushed over her earlobe. Alice stared, frozen by the look on his face, and she was suddenly not sure what he was up to.
She was still frozen when he bent and brushed his mouth over hers. There was a brief moment of curiosity that made her hesitate and then she was pushing him away with more than a little bit of force. He backed away from her as if he had been burnt, staring at her wide-eyed and going red with shame.
"Pidge..." she started and he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Alice. I shouldn't have done that." He raked his hand through his hair and sighed. "Call it curiosity that kills me every time. Though I can see why Hatter fell in love with you, you aren't for me and I need to remember my bounds with you. It is hard though."
He gave her a shaky grin. "It's an unfortunate reaction to Oyster emotions, you know, and I apologize. It is no excuse."
Alice stared at him, feeling shaky. "Pidge, have you ever considered that maybe it is just you want what you can't have? I love Hatter, and I think you know how much I do." She sucked in a breath. "And even if I believed that he was lost, I wouldn't betray him. Not for you, not for anyone."
She backed away. "And he isn't. I won't believe that I've lost him. I'm lucky enough to call you friend but please don't do anything to ruin that."
He nodded abruptly but before she could continue, he was leaving. Pidge looked so utterly mortified at his own actions that any outrage she had felt at him was gone. As he disappeared around the corner and into the next corridor, Alice felt a sudden sense of pity for him because she was beginning to realize that, under his joking and aloof manner, was a very lonely man who did not know how to express much beyond surface emotions.
Staring after him, Alice gradually became aware that Abel was watching her from the doorway of the conservatory. "He's always been like that," he said once Pidge was gone from view. "It is in our family's nature to want sometimes what we should not have. It is when we get what we want that we tend to get into trouble."
"I think he wanted me because I'm Hatter's," she declared, twisting her fingers into a nervous knot. "But I can't be angry at him. Maybe flattered and a bit annoyed, but not angry."
"He only takes one warning, Alice; don't worry about a repeat of that scene. I admit to being surprised that he did what he did. He knows the risk he runs touching a Hatter's woman. Those men are notorious for protecting what is theirs, even if they at first seem uncaring, " Abel explained and Alice finally looked at him.
"So when do you leave to parley?" she asked and he jerked, knowing what she was really saying.
"You clearly think you are coming with us," he stated irritably. "I've not told your mother or Charlie. It would be best if you stay here."
"Why?" she snapped. "I know I am going. If Hatter is with them, then maybe, if he recognizes me, sees that I'm alive, I may be able to pull him free of what might have been done to him. He won't recognize you or Caryn, maybe not even Pidge. And he won't hurt me if something goes wrong."
"You are so certain of that?" Abel asked her incredulously. "Your blind faith in the Hatter may be your undoing, Alice. It is admirable but I find it rather foolish."
"Like you said, Hatter and I have an unspoken pact. I told him I would stay with him," Alice explained, "and I'm not about to let the Snake's manipulations take him from me."
She pushed away from the window and stepped toward the older man. He stared back at her, reading something in her eyes. He could see her determination not to be left behind and it was on his lips to refuse her just because of her pregnancy alone. But something else he saw in her eyes made him back down, something he rarely did, and he nodded.
"Two of my men have left already to inform Selena we wish to try to come to an agreement. Meanwhile, we'll leave at dawn's light. It will take us a day to reach the proposed spot and the Singing Woods will protect us, I know. Hopefully we can find a way to negotiate and bring your Hatter back to you. You'll have to find a horse and I'll being taking ten of my best and Pidge," he said. "It would be best if your mother doesn't know. I'll let Caryn handle that."
"She's not coming with us?" Alice questioned and he shook his head.
"I don't think my daughter would handle this well just yet," he said. "I'll feel better leaving her in charge of the Manor, caring for our refugees."
Alice thought it over, having thought Caryn would have wanted to come. She always just seemed to be there, in the thick of things. For some reason, the thought of being alone without any friends or family that she knew well made Alice blurt out, "I'll want Chesh with me."
"Cheshires are not to be trusted. Especially a known killer like that one," the Drawling Master said, clearly not about to negotiate on this point.
"He's magic and, even as cat, he can still use magic. If something happens... if we get separated, he can guide me. He's under a bargain and you've told me that promises hold heavy weight in Wonderland."
She had caught him in his own logic and she knew it when he rolled his eyes.
"Very well. Get ready and we ride at dawn," he ordered and turned away from her, disappearing back into his conservatory. Alice watched the glass doors swing back shut and exhaled slowly as she turned back to the window. The crow on the window railing squawked at her again and she tipped her head on the side, seeing a faint shimmer go through his feathered body as moonbeams played over his feathers. Reaching out, she traced his wings with one finger and focussed hard. Her fingers began to glow and the crow began to change colour, going to a soft violet. Alice saw her own skin glowing and she exhaled again sharply. The wind of her breath seemed to push the violet colour from the bird's body so that he returned to black.
"Find your brothers," she whispered, "we'll need your help if something goes wrong."
She withdrew her fingers and the bird leapt off the ledge, spreading his wings and flying off into the forest. Alice watched him until he was a tiny speck in the distance over the trees, and she noticed the trees were shimmering in the moonlight. The ground rumbled and the Manor itself shuddered, a sign that its rooms were changing again, and Alice sighed, bracing a hand on the window.
Then she was off and running back to her rooms, determined not to be left behind. Determined that when she came back to the Manor after this meeting, Hatter would be with her.
Author's Note: I have many thoughts about this chapter but I'm keeping them to myself this time around. :-D