ALiCE in WoNDeRLaND

-34-

I slammed my hands, palms down, on the table in front of me, then proceeded to lift and drop them repeatedly, faster and faster, till there was nothing but the banging noise.

"Stop that," Zione muttered.

I didn't.

He looked at me.

I stopped.

I sighed. "Okay, guys. This stopped being funny a long time ago."

They were silent.

I was so screwed.

"ALiCE," a new voice called out.

I would've turned to look at him, if I hadn't been chained to my chair. But I didn't really have to look. I knew who it was.

"Angelos," I replied. I would know that voice in my next life. That's how much it haunted me.

"Glad to see you could join us." I could hear him descending the stairs, letting the heavy door crunch shut behind him.

I flinched at the sound, and he laughed.

"How are your boys?" he asked in an overly optimistic voice.

I looked at what I could see before me.

I was downstairs, below that damn pyramid of hers, in what must've been the dungeon. I was the only one chained, but the guys might have well been, because they were moving even less than I was. They looked even more exhausted than they did... when we were outside.

Only we still were, weren't we?

I was beginning to despise the virtual trips even more than the plain concrete of the "real" world. I kept forgetting where I was. It was like a goddamn Matrix or something.

Angelos was still somewhere behind me. "Surprised?"

"Not really," I admitted. "Visions, you know."

"Yeah. That was a little unexpected," he agreed. "Adèle was really pissed about that."

"Rightly so." I made a face. "I'd be pissed, too." I squirmed in my chains. "If it makes you feel any better, I never asked to be her visual surrogate."

"I'll be sure to pass that onto her."

I paused. "Where is the devil?"

"Making a phone call."

I stopped squirming. "Shit."

"Surprise."

I looked around at the guys. "Okay. What'd you do to them?"

"Didn't it feel a little off when you came in?"

"Yeah. That's why I freaked."

Angelos sounded so proud of himself. "New device."

"You're joking."

"I kid you not," he declared. "It's this weird kind of radio thing, sends out these waves that make people all crazy. They lose their usual sense of judgment, they start following the crowd, they get paranoid." He laughed. "It's like mob mentality in a box. Isn't it great?"

I had forgotten how much I hated him.

"So I just had Adèle mess with them, and the fact that you went even more nutso than usual just made it so much more appealing." He chuckled this time. "So great. I'm so glad that worked."

"You thought it wouldn't?"

"Come on, ALiCE. We're talking about your boys here. There was no way they would gang up on you on Adèle's word, especially since that whole break-up fiasco. We had to make it look like it was for your own good... which it technically is."

"Do I get a James Bond explanation speech now?" I asked.

"What? You mean when the villains stall for the hero by explaining every single part of their plan to them, in exquisite detail, so the calvary can come racing in to save them? Tough. Your calvary is sitting right in front of you, doll. No one else's coming to save you."

I made a face at Zione. He didn't give any sign that he even knew I was there. "Shit," I repeated.

"Still want that speech?" Angelos asked.

"What are you waiting for?" I snapped. "You got me. Congratulations. Is there a step two to this master plan or are you just here to bore me to death?"

"Meh."

"Can I guess?" I asked.

"Shoot."

"I bet... your job is to keep us here as long as possible, letting us go right before we're expected, in this vision of mine, so that we have to go straight there..."

"... and die."

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