In the beginning of May, three months after he'd begun treating her, Halden couldn't help but be surprised about Faith. Was she really insane? Could she be treated? But what about Wonderland? He hadn't really asked her much about it yet, as she was rather sensitive about it, and he didn't want to alienate her. Not when they were becoming friends.

That night, he brought a few things, mostly records, from the city. It included admission and release documents from the asylum, construction and bank records, and so on. But he had also brought a surprise. In an old, dusty bank vault, he had found an old red diary that had belonged to Alice, as Faith was incredibly curious about her. He brought the thick stack of papers in his briefcase, and he had hurried up to her cell, ignoring the calls of the receptionist.

He saw Reynald at her door, and was immediately wary.

"Don't SHOUT at me, you ungrateful WRETCH!!" Dr. Reynald shouted through the slat. He sounded furious.

"I'll SHOUT whether you WANT me to or NOT, Reynald!!" she shouted back.

"That new psychiatrist you're so taken with is NOT coming back! He abandoned you, so you may as well get on with your MISERABLE EXISTENCE!"

"He's MARRIED, you IDIOT! And I am NOT taken with him, though I'll confess that if I liked him HALF as much as I hated you, he'd be a GOD to me!"

"Give me a break, child. Don't deny that I heard you talking to someone who wasn't there!" he smirked.

There was no noise from the other side of the door at all after that. Dr. Reynald pounded on the door a few times, but received no reply.

After a moment, there was a queer noise. It was the other inmates. They were chanting. Halden could barely make out the words.

"Silent treatment! Silent treatment! SILENT TREATMENT! SILENT TREATMENT!" and there was a sub-chant: "FAITH! FAITH! FAITH! FAITH!" At this, Halden stepped forward.
"Excuse me," he said mildly. Reynald jumped and sneered at him.

"Well? What is it?" he asked, as though he were talking to an orderly.

"I came to see Faith," he said, loud enough so that she could hear. Unfortunately, it brought on another round of chanting. He spoke over the din. "I have a few things that may interest her!"

He brushed past Reynald, and walked into her cell. Right off he noticed that her sheet was missing. So were most of the drawings off the walls. Faith perched on her normal seat on the bed, seething. Halden walked over and sat down beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She regarded him suspiciously, as though she weren't sure he was real.

"He said that you weren't coming back," she said, her voice quavering.

"Of course I was," he said warmly. "I wouldn't miss my last visit. As long as I said that I'd be coming back, I'd come back. Even though I had to talk to Reynald again."

"You have courage," she said, and laughed, but that was an empty, hollow sound. Halden smiled.

"I brought a few things that may interest you. They're just documents and records, really, but they'll give you a little insight."

Faith opened the briefcase and the first thing she saw was the diary. "What is this?" she asked, looking at him.

"Open it," he said. She did so, and gasped.

"How did you-where... Thank you!" she exclaimed, and tackled him in a hug. After a few moments like that, he started feeling uncomfortable.

"Faith... Air!" he rasped, and she let go instantly, embarrassed. She thanked him again, more dignified this time. As she drew back he noticed a mark on her palm.

"What's that on your palm?" he asked.

"A scar," she said quietly. "From the fire."

She stared at it, and began to speak. "This... scar. It's not really normal. It was in the chamber I told you about, on the knob of the door that led to the garden. It had never been there before. But... the smoke in there... it was so thick, so heavy. All of the doors were closed. I couldn't see anything. I tripped... I never knew what I tripped over, until recently. I tripped over Jeremy. He was trying to reach out to me; trying to call to me. If I hadn't been so blind... so stupid, he would have been able to get to me. He was calling... I hear him in my dreams."

Faith! Faith! Please, why aren't you listening..? No! Don't go, don't leave me!

She shook herself out of her reverie, and a single tear fell down her cheek. She turned to the crow, ashamed. It had caught a mantis for its dinner, she noticed. She watched it eat for a moment, then stared off into a dark corner.

"No, not tonight. I can't go tonight," she said to the wide grin that only she could see. Halden was immediately worried, thinking back to Dr. Davidson's comment.

"But when? Wonderland needs you," the voice that only she could hear was reprimanding, yet the grin was still there. "I know that Wonderland needs me... I just can't go tonight. I'm not ready."

"Too busy ogling over your therapist?" the voice was slightly mocking.

"No I'm not!" she snapped. "You know as well as I do that I'm not ready to go... to go face this problem."

"Then I'll take my leave," Cat said, and vanished. Halden was startled, but still, he kept his voice calm. In reality, though, he was thinking that this was the end, and that had failed, that she would send him carelessly away and have only the now-bare walls to stare at forever. She didn't show any signs of even noticing that he was there, so he spoke.

"Tell me about Wonderland. Why are you so reluctant to go?"

Faith couldn't look into his eyes for long. She turned away and sank down onto her bed, thinking, her face troubled. What if he thought she was crazy? What if he locked her up in here and threw away the keys? What if he challenged her to take him there? Then what would she do? She realised that he was waiting on her, and started speaking.

"When Alice was seven, she dreamt up a land. It was... an amazing place, to say the least. It was a place where literally anything could happen. She grew to the size of a tree and shrank to three inches... and so much more.

"She didn't realise it at the time, but she had essentially created a whole world that grew and thrived. But then the Red Queen, or Queen of Hearts, took over Wonderland. It was actually about that time that her house burned down, I'd imagine. But Wonderland thrived when she did, and crumbled when she did as well. But then... mysteriously, when she was seventeen, it vanished. But it turned up in her daughter when she was seven... but vanished at seventeen again.

"And since then, Wonderland has... I dunno, been passed down, always appearing at seven, but disappearing at seventeen. I remember that Mum and Grandmother watched me a little closely, so I guess they got it too. Then my house burned down and I have to save Wonderland, just like Alice did. But I'm not ready to face my fears. I'm scared."

Faith checked the clock and turned to him. "Look," she said urgently. "I know that this is your last visit, and time is running out. I had a friend in London, if you're staying. Her name is Jean Crawford. You need to find her and talk to her. She knows about Wonderland, and all the stories I told about it. You need to ask her."

Halden hesitated. Many times, meeting people referred to by patients brought on an entirely new patient, and generally, the disorder was worse. But this was different. Somehow, he still didn't think that she was insane. She didn't show any signs of insanity when she talked to him or interacted with Reynald. He started to speak, but was interrupted with the bell, signifying that their time was up.

He stood up to leave and turned to face her. "Listen to me, Faith. I'm not welcome here anymore - you know that. The only thing that I can tell you is that you have to face your fears. You have to face yourself. That's the only way that you can save yourself and your world. Good luck." And just like that, he was gone.

Faith stared after him for a moment and felt the tears welling up in her eyes. He couldn't leave, he just couldn't. He had kept her sane, somehow. Now Reynald had torn him away from her. Almost like Jeremy. Only he had been able to say goodbye.

She slapped herself again, hard, but even then, she could not stop her tears. They came out in great, wracking sobs that had seven years of suffering fixed into them.

She stopped after a while. Then she saw the stuffed rabbit. It was moving.

She watched the stuffed rabbit slowly start to stand up - on its own. Faith backed away, wondering what sort of horrible trick Reynald was playing on her now. But... it couldn't be Reynald. He was a jerk, for lack of a better word, but he had no sense of humour about any patient... especially her.

Her thoughts were occupying her, and her attention wandered from the rabbit. Yet a sudden movement from it caused her to snap her head up and stare at it. The rabbit was fully standing up now, and it had just fiercely whipped her knee with its ears. Faith jumped up and backward, and rubbing her knee, asked, "What do you want?"

The rabbit was still for a moment. Then, it morphed into... another rabbit. Only, this one was real, and wore a top hat and coat. White kid gloves adorned his hands. His pink eyes looked straight into her blue ones. Then, "We want you. To come and save Wonderland. What did you think I wanted, a stuffed bunny to play with?"

Faith was taken aback. This rabbit was so familiar... it was the White Rabbit from Wonderland; that was it. But he was being so rude. She remembered the timid and elusive Herald of the Queen that he had been... but that was all gone now. Everything was.

Rabbit was stamping one foot impatiently, and she saw his left eye just beginning to twitch. "I asked you a question," he said. "Are you ready to go or no?"

Faith turned away, and her eyes fell on the journal, which had fallen open beside her. Gingerly she pulled it towards herself, and read what Alice had written over a century ago.

Grey Hours

There are some hours when I seem so indifferent; all things fade
To an indifferent greyness, like that grey of the sky;
Always at evening-ends, on grey days; and I know not why,
But life, and art, and love, and death, are the shade of a shade.
Then, in those hours, I hear old voices murmur aloud,
And memory forgoes desire, too weary at heart for regret;
Dreams come with beckoning fingers, and I forget to forget;
The world as a cloud drifts by, or I drift by as a cloud.

What has happened to me that I must suffer this greyness? Wonderland is gone, and I cannot get it back. I've lost it forever, I know. Now it is for some one else to save."

Faith mouthed the words to herself, taking longer with the last ones, and raised her head. There was quiet resolution in her eyes. Rabbit watched her, pleased at the newfound spark. Perhaps it would eventually fan into a fire. "I'm ready," she said quietly. "Now, take me.

Rabbit held out his hand. As Faith took it, she felt herself slipping away. A kaleidoscopically coloured fog flooded her room, spilling out into the rest of the asylum. The sensation of falling permeated her senses, and with eyes half-closed she fell through, entering Wonderland and bridging the void between worlds. Her vision blurred and she felt herself grow light-headed as she left her world behind.

(Grey Hours was written by Arthur Symons)