Boris led Alice out of the back door into the garden behind the house. It was small but quaint, typical of the cottages back in her old world, with a bird bath as its centrepiece and vegetable patches arranged in neat squares. Alice thought they were going to go and sit on the bench in the back corner, but the moment the door closed, Boris rounded on her.
"So, when were you going to tell me?"
Alice flinched for a moment. Had he somehow managed to find out about her and Blood? They'd both arrived at the Clock Tower at different times. Unless Boris had watched her leave the mansion, there was no way he could know.
Unless... Her blood ran cold as she remembered telling him that she'd be visiting Julius as a cover up for her sneaking off to the mansion.
Deciding to play dumb, she frowned and said, "What are you talking about?"
Sure enough, Boris snapped, "You were with Blood, weren't you?"
"No, I left the Clock Tower before the fire."
"Julius said you hadn't come to visit at all." He bared his teeth, his voice dropping in volume but somehow becoming more dangerous. "Stop lying, Alice. Tell me the truth, for once."
Alice was sure if she tried hard enough, she'd be able to spin enough lies to wiggle her way out of this, but her face had already betrayed her. She clenched her jaw and mumbled, "Why do you care where I was, anyway?"
The sound Boris made was halfway between a growl and a sigh. "How far did you go? Did you tell him you loved him?"
"Does it matter?" she shouted.
"Yes, because he's just going to hurt you again." Boris pressed a hand to his forehead, like the revelation was causing him physical pain. "After what he did to you, I was the one who picked you up, and for what? So you could lie to me and run back into his arms?"
"He wasn't the only one who made mistakes. I hurt him, too."
Boris snorted. "I can't believe this. Now you're defending him?"
Despite Alice's best efforts, there was no keeping back the tears that pooled in her eyes. She wasn't sad, though. These were tears of rage. She'd never seen Boris this angry before at anyone. Not that she was about to let him talk down to her like this. "You're treating me like a child."
"Because you're making a bad decision. Why can't you see that?"
Boris seized her by the shoulders, and Alice saw red. She brought her hand across his face so hard it made her fingers sting. He stared at her for a moment, eyes widening as his cheek turned red.
Alice froze. Her slap had been a reaction to his grabbing her shoulders, but she still felt a stab of guilt at having laid her hand on him. She pulled away sharply.
Turning his head, Boris said slowly, "I see it now. All along, I wasn't your friend. I was just a tool you used to make yourself feel better. Well, don't come running to me when that man tears your heart to pieces again. I won't be waiting for you."
The venom in his words struck at Alice like a bullet to her heart. She spun, ran back through the house and left through the front door, trying to hold back another round of tears.
"Leave him a while."
The sudden voice made Alice jump. She paused in her steps to see Gowland sat outside his front door, legs folded, a smoking pipe in his hands.
"You heard that?" she muttered.
"I did." Gowland blew out a plume of smoke. "He'll be fine in a few time periods."
It was hard to tell from his cool tone whether he was annoyed or not, so she simply nodded. "Thanks."
His tilted his chin up sharply by way of reply.
As she walked out into the Amusement Park and crossed to the exit turnstiles, Alice briefly considered heading back to the Hatter Mansion, though she shut down the idea as soon as it came to her. She didn't want to be with anyone, even Blood, at the moment. All she wanted was to be alone.
Just like Gowland had advised, Alice waited for several time periods to pass before returning to the Amusement Park. She'd headed straight back to her apartment after the argument and stayed there, only leaving once to take a quick walk. Her head felt clearer after the time alone, though she still hoped she wouldn't run into Boris for the time being.
She held her breath as she knocked on Gowland's front door. Footsteps sounded from inside. Then the handle turned.
The person who answered was not who she'd expected. Julius stared down at her, his face as impassive as usual.
"Oh. Is Gowland home?" she asked.
"He's out. Would you like to come in?"
Alice entered the living room and sat down on the sofa. A quick glance around the room told her that they were indeed alone. Something on the coffee table caught her eye. It was a pad, open on a pencil drawing of a flowerpot.
She pointed at it and asked, "Did you draw this?"
Julius froze. "I..." His cheeks were turning pink. "It's not like there's anything else to do around here."
He crossed his arms and sighed, and in that moment, Alice felt deeply sorry for him once again. It was hard enough for her to process that the Clock Tower, her first ever home in Wonderland and a place she held deeply in her heart, was gone. She could only imagine how Julius felt.
Picking up the pad, she paused and asked, "May I?"
Julius shrugged.
She flicked through the pages slowly. About half of them were filled with sketches of things around the house – books, fruit, bottles. They were all clearly the work of an amateur, but Alice was pleasantly surprised the Watchmaker had chosen to fill his time with a hobby instead of brooding as she'd feared he would.
"These aren't bad," she said with a smile.
"Thanks." Julius sat down on the sofa beside her and rubbed his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept for days (not that that was anything new). He was dressed in a brown waistcoat and black shirt that Alice assumed belonged to Gowland, and his hair hung loose by his side now that it wasn't confined to its usual ponytail.
"How are you feeling now?" she asked.
"I'll be fine."
Alice sighed. Perhaps it was cruel to bring up the subject of the fire so soon, but she'd been burning with questions ever since.
The moment he seems uncomfortable with talking, I'll stop, she promised herself. It wasn't fair to push him, but she had to at least try to find out what had happened.
"Julius, back when I first saw you in the courtyard, you said that 'they' had taken your clocks. Who were you talking about?"
The man stiffened, then mumbled, "You know who I meant."
A familiar chill trickled down Alice's spine. "Afterimages."
"Yes." He stared down at his hands, folded in his lap. "I've never had a problem with them before. They always just brought me clocks and left. But this time, four of them came right up to my work space. For a long time, they just floated there and stared. Then one of them lunged for me." He touched his throat. "I remember you saying how cold the afterimage felt when it grabbed you by the wrist that time."
Like dipping my hand in icy water, Alice had thought at the time.
"There were two faceless with them. They were dressed all in black with hoods, so I didn't manage to catch anything to identify them by. I realised they were trying to take me with them. The screwdriver was in my hand and I just..." Julius squeezed the skin at the base of his throat between his thumb and forefinger, as if the scene were repeating itself in his head.
Out of all the people Alice knew in this world, Julius was the least violent. Aside from the time he'd stepped between her and Ace to protect her, she'd never seen him raise a hand or his gun to anyone.
"It's okay," she said soothingly. "You did what you could to protect yourself."
Julius pulled his hand away with a grimace. "It doesn't change anything in the end. The clocks are gone. The tower is destroyed. I managed to escape just before they set everything on fire. Who knows what will happen now." He added in a mutter, "This isn't the way things are meant to be."
"Is there anything you can do?" asked Alice.
"Aside from tracking down the ones who took the clocks?" He shook his head. "It's hopeless. Best to just leave things as they are. This world has its own way of dealing with people who break the rules. I just hope something's done before it's too late."
He turned his head to the side, signalling the end of the conversation. Alice had to resist the urge to press him more, remembering her promise to stop the moment he seemed unwilling to carry on. She'd gotten what she'd come here for: Julius was safe and she'd found out how the fire had started, even if it made no sense to her. Above all, she felt relieved that her friend was up and talking again.
"By the way, give the Hatter my regards," he said.
"What?" Alice looked up. "Oh. The argument." She shifted on the sofa, a little embarrassed that she and Boris had been overheard.
She raised her defences in preparation for the scolding that was to come, but Julius just nodded. "I'm not going to judge you. Your decisions are your own, and I trust you have good reasons for making them. Just... stay safe."
"I will." After her argument with Boris, it was refreshing to hear a voice that didn't completely damn her decision to go back to Blood. "Thank you, Julius."
He grunted softly. "I've never liked Blood Dupre. When you first started visiting the mansion more frequently, I grew worried for your wellbeing. But then you moved to live in his territory, and I saw how happy you were."
"Well... thanks." Alice blinked. "That was unexpected."
"Was it?"
"Mm. I just wish Boris would think the same way." She paused. "Has he been back since I left?"
"Not that I know of."
A part of Alice was disappointed he hadn't at least come to find her. He must still be extremely angry.
"Wait," said Julius as she stood up. "Let me walk you home."
Alice glanced at the window. It was still evening. "I'm fine. I came here by myself, and it's only a twenty minute walk."
"I know. I just don't want you out on your own with everything that's been going on."
She smiled. "That'd be nice."
On the surface, Julius walking her back was a sweet gesture, but it made her wonder just how wary he was. Wonderland had always been a dangerous place, what with its constant territory clashes and open gunfights. But now that afterimages and faceless were turning against role-holders, it seemed like the world was changing in ways she'd never known before. Julius was terrified. She could sense things falling apart at the seams, the cogs beneath the earth grinding to a halt. Just how long could this go on before it became irreversible?