It was as if the whole world was swept from under Len's feet. He didn't know how he stayed upright, not with his knees threatening to buckle at any moment. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to figure out what to say. Then, "You mean to tell me that if we don't save Rin in ninety days, the queen is going to sacrifice her because she doesn't have you?"
"I thought we had longer!" Miku pleaded, as if that would make a difference.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Len's body shook. After starting to hope he could see Rin again, it was as if he was losing her for a second time. "Miku, is it even possible to challenge the Queen of Hearts in three months' time?"
"I don't know. Maybe?" When Miku blinked, tears began to fall. She pressed the heel of her palm into her forehead and shook her head violently. "I'm so stupid! I can't believe I thought we could do this. It was easier to believe we could when we had all this time, but not ninety days. How are we supposed to come up with a plan to break into the queen's heavily guarded castle and challenge her in ninety days?" Miku dropped to the ground, hugged her knees, and began to cry.
"There, there." Cheshire pat Miku on the back. "No need to fret. A smart girl like you will think of something."
"If I'm so smart, I wouldn't have gotten my body stolen in the first place," Miku grumbled between sobs. She wiped her nose. "This is hopeless."
Gritting his teeth, Len spat, "It better not be hopeless! We had a deal. You borrow Rin's body, and in return we get Rin and your body back. You're borrowing Rin's body, so you better help me get what you promised." To Cheshire, "Are you sure the Mad Hatter can help us?"
"He can help you figure out what to do, yes," Cheshire said, "but it will be up to the two of you to do the actual work."
"Good enough for me." Len held his hand out towards Miku and said, "Come on. The sooner we find the Mad Hatter, the sooner we can start formulating a plan." When Miku stared at him with tear-filled eyes, he softly added, "No sense in giving up without first trying. Either we give everything or nothing at all. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be the guy who said he didn't even try."
Wiping her eyes, Miku showed a small smile and took Len's hand. As he helped her to her feet, Miku replied, "You're right, Len. We have to at least try."
"That's the spirit." Cheshire floated close to Miku and patted her cheeks. "You only fail if you give up."
"Or we don't stop the queen in time for the eclipse." Miku frowned. "I can't even begin to imagine how we're going to do this."
"We'll talk to the Mad Hatter, then we'll start imagining." Len squeezed her hand then let go. "How far away is the Mad Hatter?"
"A three days' journey, but very doable. Oh, and before you go." Cheshire vanished and reappeared seconds later with a bag in his paws. Offering them to Miku, he said, "I know they're not much, but I hope they will be of some use to you during your adventure."
Miku accepted the bag. At Cheshire's prompt, she peaked inside. A grin broke out across her face. "Mushrooms! I thought these were extinct. Thank you!"
"Don't mention it." Cheshire began to evaporate, everything but his grin fading from view. His floating lips spoke one last time before they, too, vanished, "When you go through the Boro Grove, don't smell the flowers. And make sure you bring a gift for Jefferson when you visit. It's his unbirthday, after all."
When he was certain nobody else was there, Len turned to Miku and asked, "How do we reach the Boro Grove?"
Taking a deep breath, Miku slowly spun around like a ballerina in a music box. She spun three times, trying to gather her bearings, before she pointed in the direction Cheshire disappeared.
"We need to go that way," she finally answered. "If things haven't changed too much, there's a village just outside this forest. The Boro Grove is just a day's walk from there." Miku frowned as she looked from side to side. "Although I'm afraid we'll have to rest for the night."
"It's too creepy here for me to sleep," Len muttered, feeling small as the not-deaf trees stood over him.
"Then you can take the first watch." Finding a soft patch of grass, Miku said, "Wake me when the moon's in the middle of the sky. We'll switch then."
Although time was of the essence, it did little to change that Len and Miku had walked all day. They were tired, and they couldn't not rest. When Len sat, his sore legs practically thanked him. He leaned against a tree, but his eyes would not close. There was too much on his mind to sleep.
"Hey, Miku," he called, "how long have you been a ghost?"
Her snores answered him. Len blinked as he turned his head to her sleeping figure. Those were Rin's snores. Despite how Miku carried the body, it was still Rin's. If Len wanted to, he could pretend it was Rin sleeping a few feet from him and not some soul named Miku in Rin's body.
Len did not pretend. This was not Rin. This was someone wearing a body not her own. The real Rin was out there, and if he didn't save her, she would be sacrificed. So instead, Len stared at Rin's body and swore that no matter what, he would get Rin back.
Rin didn't sleep. She didn't eat. She didn't breathe.
Rin was never tired, never hungry, and never in need of oxygen.
As strange as her predicament was, it was better she no longer had need for such things. Other than sleep, Rin didn't have access to what she previously needed. Not while she was trapped inside a crystal ball.
Rin's shoulder length blonde hair, once clipped out of her eyes with barrettes, hung freely in her face. Her bow was gone. Instead of the clothes she wore when she and Len fell down the rabbit hole, she was now dressed in a simple white gown.
With nothing to do inside the crystal ball, Rin sat bored. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. Never before in her entire life had she spent so much time thinking as she tried desperately to figure out on her own what exactly was going on.
At first, nothing was wrong. Save falling down a rabbit hole into another world, that is. She and her twin brother, Len, were traveling around Wonderland as they had been since they arrived days before. They entered a forest, and somewhere along the way, Len snapped.
Never in their entire lives had Len hurt Rin. They were viciously protective of each other, and since she was his only sister, Len took it upon himself to make sure no harm of any kind ever came to Rin. That was why when he started strangling her, Rin knew something was terribly wrong.
Len wasn't himself. Rin knew that before she noticed the whites of his eyes turned black and his cerulean irises were scarlet. There was no other explanation save something possessed her brother.
As a result, Rin pleaded with Len, begging him to return to his senses. Len's fingers loosened, and she knew Len was fighting whatever it was that tried to control him. Then that same spirit targeted her.
One second Rin was pleading with Len, the next everything went black, and the next after that, she watched both her and Len's bodies fall to the ground like ragdolls. She cried out his name, but he didn't hear her. Even now, Rin didn't know if he was alive or dead.
No matter how many times she repeated the scene, Rin still didn't know what happened that day. It was all too confusing to fully understand on her own. Yet there were three things she knew for a fact.
One, she was stolen away by the same spirit who tried to possess Len.
Two, the spirit who took her was also the Queen of Hearts, the self-proclaimed Queen of Wonderland.
Three, the spirit's name was Alice.
"Len, time to wake up." Miku gently shook the boy. He grunted and rolled over. With a heavy sigh, Miku kicked him in the side.
"OW!" Clutching where Miku kicked him, Len bolted upright and glared at the girl. "What was that for?!"
"We only have eighty-nine days to save your sister," Miku said. "Let's not waste sunlight of a single day, shall we?"
Len frowned. "Okay, I see your point. I'm up."
As they walked along the way, Miku dug into her apron pocket and pulled out a handful of berries. "Want some?" she offered. "For breakfast. Probably the best we can do till we get something more filling."
"Are you trying to poison me?" Len asked, smirking. When Miku glared at him, pulled her hand away, and popped more berries into her mouth, he said, "Sorry, I guess my joke didn't come across." Miku didn't respond. "Are you annoyed with me?"
"It was a dumb joke," Miku answered, "but I'm not annoyed. Not yet, anyway." She offered some to Len again. "They're blellow berries. Perfectly safe, but super sweet. Eat too many and you'll throw up."
Len frowned. "Doesn't sound perfectly safe to me."
"Fine. They're perfectly safe in moderation. Better?"
"Yes." Len took a few and tried a single berry. As Miku said, it was sweet. It was actually sweeter than anything he had ever tasted. Not sugary sweet like brownies and cakes, but sweet like baked fruit. "Those are good."
"When I first came to Wonderland, I ate a bush worth of these," Miku said between berries. "I had to learn the hard way to not eat so much at once."
"Then I suppose it's a good thing Rin and I didn't find these before," Len said, the words slow and heavy. "Rin has the worst sweet tooth of anyone I've ever met. She would have cleaned out a whole forest and regret nothing as she spilled out her guts."
"I know," Miku replied. "Her cravings are driving me crazy. I know better than to eat all these berries but want to anyway."
"At least you have impulse control," Len said, suddenly at a loss for appetite. "Rin's always the person who when you ask why she did that stupid thing she did, her answer is usually along the lines of 'I could, so I did. What other reason do I need?'"
Miku laughed. It was a small, soft laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. "I like this Rin," she said. "I want her and I to become friends."
Somehow, the comment made both of their shoulders drop. For Len, Miku imagined he missed his sister so much deeper than he was letting her see. For Miku, she knew that no matter what, even if she and Len successfully saved Rin and each girl got her respective body back, she and Rin would never be friends. She was on a time limit. Time would be up if she succeeded, and if she failed . . . Miku didn't want to think about that.
The teens traveled in silence even after they had left the forest. Grass started to be green again, but the trees vanished from the side of the road. Miku took this as a sign that the village was coming into view. She swallowed her heart. Not once since her time as a soul did Miku visit the village; she was too afraid of what the villagers thought of her to at any point in time return to her former home.
"Hey," Len suddenly said, snapping Miku out of her thoughts. "What's that over there?"
Miku looked where Len pointed at the hill in the distance, and her heart jumped to her throat. The onlookers must have noticed Miku staring at them, for they began charging almost right away. About half a dozen men on horseback were coming for them, and Miku didn't think it was to give the teens a warm welcome.
"Do we run?" Len asked, voice tight.
There's no way we can outrun horses, Miku thought just before she answered, "As fast as you can."
Spinning on their heels, she and Len bolted back towards the forest. It was a futile attempt, but it wasn't as if either was going to stand still and wait for their pursuers. Not when she didn't know if these were the kind villagers she once trusted.
The riders were on them in minutes. One cut in front of the teens, forcing Miku and Len to come to a halt. The rest circled them, surrounding Miku and Len.
"Hey, I don't know who you are or what you want," Len began in the most strangled voice she had ever heard, "but if you don't leave us alone, I'll . . . I'll do something, and it won't be pretty."
The dark-haired man in front of them raised a brow. His ice blue eyes looked over Miku and Len before he ordered his men, "Tie them up."
To Len's credit, he did do something just as he said he would. Miku, arms being tied behind her back, could only helplessly watch as Len, also receiving bound wrists, cried. Exactly like Len warned, it wasn't pretty.
Stupid crybaby. Len kept mentally scolding himself. After a sack was thrown over his head, he was hefted up and thrown over the back of a horse. Based on Miku's "Hey, watch it!" he could only assume the same was done to her.
Despite being the brother, Len cried more than Rin ever did. Rin may have been only seven minutes older, but she was no doubt his big sister. Where Rin was brave, determined, and aggressive, Len was cowardly, uncertain, and passive. Although Len was protective of Rin, she was the ferocious one. Rin was the one who made even the biggest bullies regret hurting Len. Meanwhile, Len was the one who cried at even the slightest insult.
So when he started crying in front of Miku and these men, he was overwhelmed with a sense of shame that made him cry even harder.
It couldn't have been much later when he, and Miku based on her shouts that the men be gentle with her, were yanked off the horses and carried someplace. They were thrown down, and Len and Miku collided heads. Then the sack was removed, and Len blinked as his eyes adjusted.
He and Miku were in the middle of a village. Townspeople gathered. The man from before stood over them.
"You know," Miku said, trying with little success to tug her hands free, "we were heading to your village anyway. Instead of the elaborate kidnapping, you could have just waited for us."
Len sniffled but made no other sound. With the way the man glared at Miku, he didn't want any of that attention on him. His tears were only just now beginning to dry, and Len was not interested in crying again.
"What kind of black magic is this?" The man kneeled down to look at Miku better but still kept a distance. "I saw you dead in that boy's arms a week ago, and now you're alive."
A woman stepped forward. Her cherry hair and fiery eyes made her look like a torch. She glared at the teens. "Resurrection magic, no doubt," she said. "Magic they should know is strictly forbidden."
"Look," Miku tried, "we didn't use any black magic."
The woman narrowed her eyes as the man asked, "Then how are you alive again, pray tell?"
"Well, uh," Miku struggled to answer, "you see . . ."
"Hey, crazy idea," Len leaned over and whispered, "can't you tell the truth?"
"Yes," the woman agreed, "the truth would be quite nice, if you don't mind."
"As if you would believe me, but here it goes." Miku took a deep breath. "The queen stole my body and this girl's soul. I'm borrowing this body until we can get my body and her soul back. No resurrection magic involved. Well, yes, some magic is involved, but not black magic."
Len looked around and wished he hadn't. Disbelief was etched all over the townspeople's faces. Perhaps the Queen of Hearts wasn't known by her subjects to steal bodies. Maybe if she was the Queen of Souls did there stand a chance of these people believing Miku's story, but Len knew he wasn't that lucky.
"It's black magic," the woman decided. "Nice story though, but why would the queen steal your body? Or another girl's soul? Too many holes, I'm afraid."
"Please, you have to believe me!" Miku exclaimed. Then, as if she was confessing to a great sin, she cried out, "It's me! Miku!"
This got the townspeople whispering amongst themselves. The red-headed woman tensed. The man laughed. "Nice try, girl," he said, "but we know Miku. Went mad, that one. Somehow ended up marrying the king and inheriting the kingdom when he died not even a week later. We know Miku, and she's not you."
"But it is me!" Miku insisted. It looked as if she might cry. "Ask me anything. Ask me something only Miku would know. Let me prove to you that I'm really Miku!"
The man laughed again, stood, and waved her away. "Listen to her madness. They're guilty of black magic. We shall burn them at the stake." His smile dropped when the woman, appearing frightened, stepped forward. "Honey?" he tried to get her attention, but the woman paid him no mind.
Neither knowing what to say or think, Len watched as the woman kneeled in front of Miku and studied the young girl. Her brows pinched, and her lips puckered ever so slightly. Then she looked into Miku's eyes, eyes that did not belong to Rin.
"If you are truly Miku," she began, "then I have a question you should be able to answer. Tell me, if you are Miku, why is a raven like a writing desk?"
Len furrowed his brows. What kind of a question is that? Yet he noticed Miku's face light up. A smile grew on her face. When a laugh passed through her lips, it was a sound of relief.
"Why do you want to know?" Miku asked, her voice sounding bubbly and high.
Raising an eyebrow, the woman answered, "Maybe I just want to know. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Well, Teto," Miku said, her smile softening to what Len believed was of affection, "there are some things we're not meant to know, and we have to leave it at that."
The woman gasped and covered her mouth. "Miku," she said, the name slipping through her fingers. Lurching forward, the woman embraced Miku in a hug. "It is you," she said. "It really is you."
This woman's, Teto's, confirmation was good enough for the rest of the people. Even the man, who just a minute before was ready to burn the teens, blinked as if even he couldn't believe what just happened before him. Whispers began again anew. The townspeople grew restless. They all agreed that if Teto said this was Miku, then this really was Miku.
"Unbind her. Quick!" Teto ordered. "And her companion, too."
Len was too stunned to do anything as the rope around his wrists was untied. Miku jumped to her feet and hugged the woman, tears now falling unrestrained from her eyes. Slowly, Len stood to his feet, unable to make sense of what was happening.
When Miku broke away from Teto, Len placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "How do you know this woman?"
"She was like my little sister," Miku answered. She must have said something she didn't intend to, because she bit her lip and looked away when Len blinked at her.
"Your little sister?" Len questioned. "Miku, how long have you been a soul?"
Before Miku could respond, Teto took Miku by the shoulders and asked, "So all this time, it wasn't you. That queen . . . that tyrant wasn't you?"
"She stole my body, Teto," Miku said slowly. "I haven't been me in a long time. I . . . I wasn't able to talk to anyone. Not until Len here." She jabbed her thumb in Len's direction. "He's like me. So is his sister. They're not from here. That's why the queen was able to take our souls from our bodies."
Lips pursed, Teto looked at Len. "You and your sister fell down a rabbit hole, didn't you?"
"Yes," Len said. "I don't recommend it."
"Rook," Teto turned to the man from before, "it looks like there's a lot more going on than we ever thought possible. Settle things here, and meet me back at the house." Teto smiled at Miku before returning her attention to the man. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
As the townspeople began to disperse, Len leaned close to Miku and said, "Last time, how long have you been a soul?"
"Why do you keep asking?" Miku looked at Teto as she chatted with others, clearly wanting an interruption. However, this time, nobody was intervening.
"You said you're sixteen," Len reminded her. "How can that fully grown woman be your little sister if you're sixteen?"
"My soul's sixteen," Miku tried. Len noticed how shallow her breaths were getting.
"Okay then, last question." Len took a deep breath. "How long has your soul been sixteen?"
Miku looked around, still desperate for someone to save her from answering. Seeing how nobody was coming to stop her, Miku sighed. Unable to look Len in the eye, Miku muttered barely loud enough for him to hear, "My soul was ripped from my body about twenty-five years ago."