AUTHOR'S NOTE

She lives! Yes, yes, it is i! Nuggs! *hides underneath desk in fear* I-I know it's been a while. I've been a busy bee, you all know that. I also know how it feels to anxiously wait for the next upload of a story I enjoy, so I understand where you're coming from completely. In fact the pressure really helps and encourages me to keep going. Before we get to the chapter, I'd like to tell you all something...

I started this fanfiction when I was 14 years old - the summer before my freshman year of high school, if I'm not mistaken. Now, I'll be turning 18 in just a little over a month. I graduate high school this Saturday. I'll be starting college in the fall. Aaaaaaaand you would not believe what college I will be attending...any guesses? No? Not Harvard or Yale (no way I'd make that). New York University in NYC, NY! that's right! NYU! I'll be joing the NYU class of 2020 this coming fall and I'm so excited. Not only that, I have a pretty amazing scholarship as well. I feel so blessed in my life right now. I hope things are going well for you guys as summer hits (or whatever season you are in for my exotic fans c: ). I love you all.

A quick shout out goes to the lovely shireluvah for the adorable review she posted in the comment section 2 chapters ago. She read my fanfiction in her communications class. That's dedication right there. And while I don't think Ana's adventure in Wonderland is more valuable over a college education, I am extremely flattered. You're adorable, and your boyfriend's concern over this is also a good sign probably. Thank you for making my day with that review. I hope you're reading this now. :)

As always, READ + LEAVE A COMMENT. It's for my sanity, honestly, when you leave a comment. Please do it. Leave a comment for your ol' pal Nuggs. I love you, y'know? ...and frankly I'm not the only one is love. *gasp* Okay here's chapter 48.

~Nuggs

Chapter 48

"Thank you."

I wasn't sure how the bird lady did it. I was so grateful. I had never felt so vulnerable in my life, but I guess in the end I had really been in good hands.

"Thank the Queen," Claudine said.

It's sad how despite hating the Queen of Hearts, many people instinctively use her in those phrases. Thank the Queen.

"How'd you do it?" I asked. "How'd you get me to come back?"

The doctor shook her head as to dismiss my question completely. "Make sure I get my payment before sun down." She took the extremely short walk from my hospital bed to the door and opened it for us. "Enjoy your day. Lovely offer."

Most people smile when they say their good-byes, so I assumed she was smiling underneath the dangerously happy mask she wore. The longer I looked at it, the more terrifying it was. Why did she really have to wear that mask? It was so creepy.

"We wear these masks so that the first thing a patient sees when they come to consciousness is a smiling round face," the doctor explained.

I hesitated to pass her.

"It's why we usually don't let anyone else in the room if you're an adult. The first thing you need to see is positivity. Children may have their parents in the room, given their parents make them happy as well. Positivity encourages development and cooperation."

I nodded slowly. I couldn't really argue with that. There wasn't anything immoral about it. The mask could do some work, but I wasn't one to judge. We were in a county where people steal each other's doors.

"Get a move on, now," she chirped even more urgently. "I have other patients to make deals with."

Claudine placed her hands on my shoulders and urged me out of the room. We entered a sliver of a hallway. It felt weird – I passed through this room but don't recognize it at all because I was in my own world. In just a couple feet we reached the waiting room, and it was just as you'd imagine a clinic in Bandit County would be. The wooden floor boards squeaked with every step. There were cheap chairs screaming under the weight of the sick, sick patients. And man, the patients all had a similar grayness to them. Frankly, all patients do. I hate hospitals.

"Where are the boys?" Claudine asked. "Thought they were waiting."

We scanned all of the faces in the room but saw no familiar face.

"They're outside," a craggly voice uttered from one of the unstable chairs. It was an elderly woman with long hair and wrinkles deep enough to collect rainwater.

"Uh, thank you," I said. I started towards the door but a crispy hand grabbed my wrist. It was the old woman. She didn't move from her seat as she pulled me in attempt to prevent me from leaving.

"A-ana?" Claudine murmured, taking a step in my direction.

"Miss?" I asked the woman. I was terrified.

"You know you can't have so many boyfriends at the same time, little lady."

I stared at her. Wide-eyed. "Uh, no, you've got the wrong id-"

"Don't be mad that they left. If I weren't so sick, I wouldn't be waiting around in here either. The air has a certain smell to it."

I tried to move but my body seemed to freeze up when her grip grew tighter.

"Come closer and I'll let you go."

My head whipped back to Claudine.

The old lady pulled me in so that I was bending over to have my ear right near her mouth. I shuddered at the feel of her hot breath.

"Get off of her!" Claudine demanded, moving to pull me.

"I know who you are, Anastasia Liddell. Things have gotten worse since you arrived. Fulfill the prophecy and assimilate. Be gone!"

"P-please let go-"

"Be gone!"

My body crippled at the statement and I fell to my knees. I didn't feel scared. I didn't feel threatened, or sad. Memories were just flooding back to me. Yes, there is some prophecy I had to meet, but what was it? I couldn't figure it out, and I didn't know where I was going. I keep floating around Wonderland aimlessly. The emptiness inside my stomach wouldn't go away, and it was because a part of me never came home yet. That part of me never will get home if I don't actively try to fulfill this…but what is it? What the hell am I supposed to do?

"Fulfill the prophecy, assimilate, and be gone!" she yelled into my ear.

My eyes collected tears before I could blink them away. "I-I want to, b-but I don't know how!" I barked. "I have no hints, no clues. No lead. I have n-nothing!"

"What have you noticed since you got here? What seems to keep happening to you? What seems to keep getting in your-"

"Get the hell off of her."

"Ana, I got help!"

I was yanked from my position and fell back into someone's arms. I looked up. It was Tannyn who caught me. His face was a bit flushed. He wasn't a toucher. Despite the awkwardness, I felt secure again.

Shire eyeballed the creepy woman. "I don't want to see your filthy hands on her again, wan."

Tarrant, who had been a bit off to the side of the boys, gasped. I glanced in his direction. Was wan a bad word? Huh.

Absolem walked into my view and helped me obtain my balance again. Tannyn took a step back to give me some room to collect myself. I felt awful. I just woke up and I felt awful.

"Shire, please, tone it down now," Tannyn said, placing his hand on the angry kitty's back.

"What?" Shire hissed. He remained glaring at the woman.

"He's right. We're causing a scene in the middle of a clinic waiting room. Let's just get out of here. She can't do anything now," Absolem suggested.

"Are you all idiots? That lady had Ana almost to her knees. I'm not just gonna-"

"Shire."

The boy shut up and looked at me. Everyone did.

Crap. Crap, crap, crap. I was crying. I felt it roll down my cheeks. Both cheeks. I was crying like a baby. I sniffed and swatted at my nose. At least I wasn't sobbing. It was a silent kind of cry. "C-can we p-please get out of h-h-here?"

"How could ya say no to that face?" Jax whined, adjusting his paper boy hat on his head.

Shire rolled his eyes. "I can't believe this."

"She's spoken. Let's go," Tannyn said quietly.

The waiting room was silent again, not including the harmony of coughs and the melody of sneezes mixing in the sweet, sick air. We filed out in a hurry, myself clinging close behind Claudine for some reason. Maybe it was because I was grateful she brought the boys inside. I don't know what would have happened next. I wanted my mom. I was only sixteen. Somehow I was in a prophecy in another world.

And for some reason only half the people I met actually knew I was in the prophecy. The other half had no idea. Shire knew. King Elliot didn't. Now that I think about it, the Queen had sent for the girl from the prophecy (which happens to be me), which is why Will took me to her throne room once he realized who I was. The Queen wasn't nice to girls, from my observations. However, she did seem to be fond of me. Was it because I was of the prophecy? Does she want to be on my good side? Do I have power I don't even know about?

"Ana?"

I blinked.

Oh. We were out of the clinic, heading farther and farther away from the building. I was walking slow and steadily, Absolem's hand supporting my back. Just barely.

"I understand if you're feeling a bit-"

"What the hell was that woman saying to you?" Shire asked from the front of the group. He didn't turn around to look at me. He just continued walking, staring straight ahead so no one could see his expression. "If it's not one thing with Ana, it's something else. One thing after the next. She's small, then we find out someone's after her – turns out to be the Twine Idiots – then we try to cure her size, she plummets from my hand, she gets knocked out cold but is somehow magically big again, and then when she finally wakes up we find her being pressured by some strange wan."

"Shire, please," Tannyn scolded.

"Language, buddy, language. There are children here," Jax said. His eyes went back to Tarrant, who was timidly following us from a distance.

"Am I the only one who thinks Ana shouldn't be left alone?" Shire asked. "For her own damn sake?"

"Geez, Shire, what's with your head today?" Jax asked in genuine shock. He wasn't teasing this time. He seemed taken aback by Shire's aggression. "Caring this much about people isn't your style."

"Caring can be anybody's style," Absolem pointed out. "So long as there's someone to actually care about."

"What so am I the only one that cares?"

There was a silence. Crap, it was so awkward, but I couldn't help but feel anxious about the subject. The prophecy made me feel insecure already. I didn't know if the people here liked me for me, or because a vision or dream foretold them to. Did anyone truly-

"That's the stupidest question I've ever heard," Claudine said.

We all stopped walking, including Tarrant who was still wisely keeping his distance.

"Of course we care about Ana," Tannyn said in a calm voice.

"I care enough." Jax shrugged.

"Don't act as though you're the only one who cares about Ana." Absolem stepped closer to Shire. "Why else would all of us be here?"

"Then why do I feel like I'm the only one who thinks on my feet when it comes to her? Huh? All you guys do is talk. That woman had a death grip on Ana. Why am I the only one who acts on anything? Why-"

"Damn it Shire, we don't know!" Claudine shouted. "Maybe it's because you're freakin' in love with her!"

What?

Everything was slow again. It was like time, whatever time really was here, stopped. All eyes were switching between Claudine and Shire, Claudine and Shire, Claudine and Shire. Aboslem looked over at me, however. It wasn't nearly dark enough outside to hide the embarrassing expression on my face.

Or Shire's, for that matter. His eyes were wide and alert, scanning my face.

"Crap," Claudine muttered. "Crap, crap, crap. Shire, I'm sorry. I slipped. I didn't mean to just – that was completely – that was so insensitive of me."

Shire didn't acknowledge anything Claudine said. He continued to watch me.

What was he thinking? What was Claudine thinking? What was anyone thinking as we stood there? It was one of the most awkward situations I had ever been in (thus far). I wanted to disappear, but part of me felt…warm? Happy? Satisfied? I wasn't sure. I found myself speaking without my permission.

"You're in love with me, Shire?"

Crap. What was I thinking?

Shire's physical response was strange. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he opened it again. "Isn't…" He began very quietly, but his eyes narrowed. He looked angry. "Isn't everyone, Miss Prophecy?" he scoffed.

And with that, Shire grabbed the terrified Claudine by the hand and stormed off further into Bandit County.

What…what the hell was I thinking?