Chapter III
After giving the one girl a jacket and a pair of shoes for her bare, dirty feet, and handing Alice a jacket of her own, Hatter led the two down the ladder and onto the closest edge. He went down first, closely followed by the statue, then Alice.
When the statue drew near, Hatter grasped her waist gently and helped her the rest of the distance. She glanced at him over her shoulder and nodded. He proceeded to do the same with Alice, but before he had the chance to usher them on, they hit another road block.
"What's the holdup?" He asked.
The one who barely met his eye and hadn't spoken more than two words to him since she'd arrived actually spoke this time. It was enough to surprise Hatter a little.
"She's afraid of heights." The brunette replied before her attention went back to Alice. "Hey," She said softly. Alice managed to look at her. "Come on."
Hatter stood back and watched as the brunette tenderly took her friend's hand and gently pried her away from the ladder. It took some goading, but eventually she managed. He arched a curious brow.
"Why couldn't you people build this city on the ground?" Alice grumbled under her breath.
"We did." He replied, drawing their collective gazes. "It ain't floatin' in the sky. We're jus' really high up."
He watched as color fled Alice's face while her friend glared at him. There was an odd sort of weight to it that forced him to flinch and move back.
"This way, then." He said a bit anxiously as he led the way.
They walked for a good while in silence. Roughly ten minutes or better had passed and he knew they were only half the distance, but Hatter couldn't bring himself to speak to either young woman. There was something strange about the pair.
He thought back to seeing them in his shop. When he'd turned and was presented with the two, he was struck with how pretty they both were. "Pretty" was an odd description. It was a more delicate word to describe someone attractive, but it was appropriate as far as he was concerned.
They both looked delicate, angry and distraught. They were sopping wet. He could see droplets of water drip from the hem of Alice's dress, the tips of her hair, and knew they must have recently fallen into the lake.
Alice was an attractive young woman, inquisitive and had some of the brightest, biggest blue eyes he'd ever seen. He liked her instantly, though he couldn't quite place why. Maybe it was her unyielding determination to find her boyfriend, or that she was an Alice. He'd always wanted to meet an Alice before. It was a very notorious name, and even though she wasn't the Alice, he could lie and say that she was when he retold the story.
The other one, though, he didn't know what to make of her. Hatter hadn't heard a name and one wasn't offered, so he decided to simply call her Statue. That's what she was, after all, a statue.
When his eyes first fell on her, she flinched and it wasn't a minor reaction. To Hatter, it looked like someone had slapped her face. She had the same shocked expression and he didn't know why. He'd never met her. He knew that much. She wasn't familiar in the least, not an Oyster who'd been to Wonderland before, but she looked at him like she'd seen a ghost. It made him uncomfortable because he didn't know the reason for it.
Hatter was grateful Alice was the one who spoke the most. It meant he didn't have to look at Statue. Something else he was appreciative for given her shirt left little to the imagination. The thin fabric was wet, still clinging to her skin and transparent enough he could see the bits of lace beneath. He was glad she took the coat he offered.
He didn't like the way he felt when he looked into her eyes because he didn't know how to classify it. It was a sensation he didn't recognize, or appreciate.
"Hatter,"
He'd been so lost in his own thoughts about finding the path to the secret door that hearing his name made him jump inside. He glanced over his shoulder. It was Statue who spoke.
"Eh," He grunted questioningly.
"Where are all the people?" She asked.
Hatter's steps began to pause until they finally stopped. The coldness took his chest, the feeling of emptiness that he did his best to ignore. Hell, everyone did their best to ignore it. That's why the Tea Shop was so popular. If Wonders weren't so addictive, he'd probably partake, too. As it was, he didn't dare try.
"What ya mean?" He asked, hoping that he had removed enough emotion from his words to pass as normal.
"These buildings are hundreds of stories high," She said. Alice grimaced. "But we've only seen, maybe, twenty people. Where's everyone else?"
He noticed the same question suddenly don on Alice, too. The pair of them looked at him expectantly and Hatter already had the lie waiting on the tip of his tongue, but then he looked at Statue. When he met her plain brown eyes, eyes that were no different than any others, he felt an overwhelming desire to tell the truth wash over him. It was strong enough that he genuinely took a steady step in order to cope.
Whether he wanted to or not, the truth spilled from his lips.
"Scattered," He said. "Anyone who didn't die in the fight, go into hiding, get sent to prison, or get beheaded by the Queen is strung out on Wonders." Hatter's voice was bitter, but he couldn't help it.
Her brows pulled together lightly. "Wasn't there anyone here to help? Soldiers, knights? Anyone?"
He saw a strange desperation reflected back at him. For a brief moment, he wondered why. He told her the truth again, however.
"Gone," His voice was heavy with memory, something he could tell they both noticed. "White Knights were wiped out along with the Healers, Mystics, everyone." He swallowed and his head fell slightly before he managed to meet her gaze again. "Hearts wiped 'em all out."
A deathly, heavy silence filled the space. It weighed down on them, pulled at everyone, he could tell. He hadn't meant to throw so much devastating information at them all at once, but it was the look in Statue's eye. She made him tell the truth. He didn't know how, but she did. He would have gladly lied, if anything to save himself from the memories, but he hadn't.
A flash of anger sparked inside him. It was brief, but powerful enough to wipe away a bit of the coldness that had settled in. Hatter was prepared to tell her to drop it, that it didn't matter, and possibly chastise her for somehow tricking him into telling the story, but when he looked at her again, the words froze in his throat.
Statue was looking down, staring at something on the ground behind him. She was distant as though thinking heavily on what he'd said, but it wasn't the look on her face that made him hesitate. She was crying. Her eyes were tinted pink, glassy, and a single trail of tears had glided down each cheek. His brows creased curiously.
"Randy," Alice said, finally giving a name to Statue. She didn't shift. "Miranda," Alice repeated her name and touched her arm. Statue jumped. "You're crying."
A wave of confusion twisted Randy's features. She reached up and touched her cheeks. It was only then that she seemed to notice it. Apparently, she wasn't even aware she was crying in the first place.
Miranda glanced at him and Alice. She cleared her throat, averted her eyes, and wiped the back of her hand over her cheeks.
"It's nothing," She mumbled.
She was lying. Even if common sense didn't tell him so, Hatter could feel it.
Too much awkwardness had saturated the space and Hatter wanted to put an end to it.
"Come on," He said, turning his back to the pair and guiding them through the buildings.
They followed, once more in an almost suffocating silence.
The row of blue doors finally met his eye and Hatter felt a wave of relief. He counted them off internally and eventually found the one he needed. He slammed his hand into it. Nothing. He did it again and almost an instant later, a slot opened up.
"I'm here to return a library book." Hatter said. He hated their secret phrases. "It's a work of Edwin and Morcar."
"How does the little crocodile improve his shining tail?" The old man asked from the other side.
Hatter grumbled to himself before quickly replying, "He pours water of the Nile on every golden scale."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alice give Miranda a little smirk, one that seemed to soften Statue just a bit. And then they did something he didn't expect while the door was being unlocked.
"How cheerfully he seems to grin," Alice said with that same smirk
"How neatly spreads his claws," Miranda added.
"And welcomes little fishes in,"
"With gently smiling jaws."
The pair shared a soft giggle until Alice noticed Hatter staring at them with eyes a bit wide. She nudged Randy, drawing her attention to the same. The pair instantly wiped the smiles from their faces and dipped their heads a little in mock shame.
Hatter opened his mouth with the intent of asking how the hell they knew the poem, but he was robbed of the chance when the door finally opened. Duck ushered the trio inside and the instant the door was closed, he lowered the lift.
Alice clung to the railings, firmly planted in her seat while the rickety bus took them floors lower than they'd been. Miranda remained standing nearby. He saw the way she stood over Alice, how protective she seemed to be of her friend. It reeked of a relationship that was years old and very close.
He felt a pang of jealousy. He didn't have anything like that.
The lift finally came to a sharp, abrupt stop. Duck quickly opened the doors once more. Hatter turned to exit, but paused. The two barrels of a sawed-off shotgun greeted him. Stood behind was the nervous and always squirrelly Owl. The sound of a gun cocking behind him told Hatter that Duck would be bringing up the rear.
With a growl under his breath, Hatter, along with the ladies, exited the bus.
"Keep tha' hand where we can see it, Hatter." Owl said, her Scottish brogue thick but delicate.
He let out a loud, obnoxious sigh, but was sure to keep his right hand high. The last thing he needed was for one of the old timers to get trigger happy.
"Just blood and bone." He replied.
She scoffed. "Yeah, righ'. We've all seen what tha' sledgehammer can do."
He clenched his jaw. Hatter wasn't in the mood for this, nor did he want to deal with it in front of a pair of Oysters. It caused him to get a bit snippy.
"Did ya like that box of confects I brought last week? Or the cheese?" His arms slowly fell back to his sides as they lowered their weapons. "If you want to keep it comin', I suggest you calm down."
"Sorry, Hatter." Owl said. "We're all just a bit jumpy."
The pair stepped to the side, leading the way. Hatter tenderly touched Alice's back to silently tell her to walk.
"Everyone's always a bit jumpy." He muttered.
Duck had shifted behind them again at some point. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, but Hatter expected it. He tensed his jaw, but said nothing about it. He didn't want to draw any attention to it, especially since Miranda seemed to be the one who was the least stable of the pair.
"What is all this?" Alice asked when they'd made roughly half the journey.
He explained to her that it was The Great Library. It was filled with all of the recorded knowledge over the last few thousand years. It had everything from artwork to literature.
"Wow," Alice muttered with a level of awe that made him smile a little to himself. He felt pride, even though he had nothing to do with what was hidden within. Perhaps it was just because it was something Wonderland had that Other World didn't. "Can you imagine what's down there, Ran-" Alice abruptly paused. "Randy?"
Her odd, questioning tone caused him to pause. When he turned, Hatter noticed that Miranda had stopped some time ago. She was ten, perhaps twenty feet back, fingers wrapped around the brass banister as she stared down below. Alice slowly joined her side. Hatter already knew what she saw, what they both saw, and it made his heart sink. Whether he wanted to or not, Hatter soon joined their side.
"What is this?" Alice asked sadly.
"Refugees," Hatter replied heavily as he took a stance between them. "People who don't want to buy into the Queen's instant gratification. We do what we can, but…" His voice fell away. Whenever he came to the Library, he did his best to avoid looking down below because it always hurt to see it. "Best we can do is look after 'em."
"It wasn't supposed to be like this."
Randy's voice drew his eye. Her face was filled with sadness. Hatter was fairly certain she wasn't aware she'd spoken out loud. The words seemed to have slipped out.
"Hey," His voice was softer than normal, but it was unavoidable.
When Miranda looked at him, he saw that her eyes had filled with tears once more. They welled and clung to her lashes only a moment before a blink sent them falling down her cheeks. She was crying again, crying over Wonderland's hardships, which was just as odd now as it had been then.
For whatever reason, and he couldn't name one if he tried, he reached forward with every intent of wiping the tears away. The back of his curled index finger was perhaps six inches from touching her cheek when she flinched and recoiled.
"I'm fine." She said under her breath. Like before, he felt the lie. And like before, she quickly wiped them away.
Randy walked around him, separating herself from the situation. Hatter, unsure of what had happened or why he felt compelled to show kindness, cleared his throat and began to walk away. He caught sight of Alice looping her arm with Miranda's, linking their elbows as she brought her friend along.
Shortly after, they were led into Dodo's office.
Why did things always get so contentious so quickly when he had to speak with Dodo? Hatter reasoned that it was because the fat man liked to push his buttons. He thought he was higher on the food chain than he really was. He liked to remind everyone that he's suffered more than them so that made him better.
Pompous toad, Hatter thought to himself.
And then he said something he never thought he heard, something Hatter thought was impossible. Alice had the Stone of Wonderland.
The impossibility of it clouded his mind and it made him act on reflex. Apparently, a small rock was all it took for Dodo to lose his mind.
"Stop wavin' that gun around, you're scarin' everybody!" He said.
Hatter put himself between Alice and Dodo, but he could see Randy between them. When things got tense, he noticed the brunette slowly pull Alice behind her and begin to guide the young woman toward the door.
Without warning, Hatter felt a cannonball slam into his chest. It took his off his feet and sent him flying into a pile of books. Through the ringing in his ears he heard Miranda yell at Alice to run.
Somehow, he managed to get himself out of the slop. He pushed himself to his feet with his own small caliber weapon drawn. But Dodo didn't budge. The old man was determined, Hatter would give him that, and a .22 wasn't going to stop him.
Hatter thought the bastard was going to tear his shoulder out of the socket. Groaning and reeling with aches that radiated through his body, Hatter eventually got to his feet and charged after him. Dodo would shoot Alice and take the ring off her body. He had no doubt. And then he'd probably shoot Randy too, just to avoid witnesses.
The thought terrified Hatter enough that he managed to intervene.
He leapt at Dodo and took him to the ground. Hatter shouted at Alice to press the blue button, yelling at her that it was the only way to get out of the Library, but she didn't. She wouldn't. Instead, she lingered as though she was waiting for him. Did she think he was going to make him out of there? Ambitious.
Dodo's knee made contact with Hatter's gut. He doubled over, his breath stolen from him. Before his brain could fathom it, Hatter's back hit the floor, Dodo was on him, and with his right hand pinned, Hatter was repeatedly hit in the face.
As the world began to fade into black and Hatter was even closer to unconsciousness, two flashes of something flew into his line of sight. The blue and purple one threw its leg forward, its foot connecting with Dodo's chin. The white and navy one was on the fat man in an instant, long legs on either side while they threw their fist. The blue and purple flash grabbed Hatter and heaved him up.
Alice dragged him along for a second or two before Hatter could get his feet under him.
"Randy, let's go!" Alice called out just as they made it to the lift.
A split second later, the navy and white flash leapt onto the bus. Alice immediately slammed her hand down on the button and they rose into the air.
Still aching beyond words, Hatter, breathing heavily, looked up at the two women who'd saved him.
Alice knelt beside him and tore open his shirt, revealing the Kevlar vest hidden within. She was angry. He wasn't entirely surprised given how things had gone down, and judging by Randy's unsettlingly cold stare, she wasn't happy, either.
"You lied to me." Alice snapped. "How could you try to sell me ring?"
"Well, I didn't know it was the bloody Stone of Wonderland, did I?"
"You could have asked. He tried to kill me!"
"Well, he actually shot me!" Hatter yelled back.
"What's the Stone of Wonderland, anyway?" Alice asked, calming about as much as he assumed she might be able to.
"It was mined by the Ancient Knights and blessed by the Mystics." Hatter told her. "It's what gives the Looking Glass its power." His brows furrowed as he looked at the gem. "How'd Jack get his hands on it?"
"I… I don't know." She mumbled.