Chapter One - Grasping at Shadows
Hatter blinked blearily and drank in the feeling. It was the crack of dawn, the sun not even slipping above the horizon yet, and it was without a doubt his favourite time of the day. He would need to get out of bed soon; for now, he was allowed a few minutes of peace to simply enjoy, and he planned to absorb them fully.
The bed was warm, doubled by the heat from the body curled around his side, and the half-light in the room bathed everything in a pale golden glow. He smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of Alice's head, smoothing down some of her sleep-tossed hair with a hand. She murmured in her sleep and nuzzled her cheek against his collarbone. Whatever dreams she had had during the night were clearly gone and she was dozing serenely.
Closing his eyes, he let his head sink down into the pillow again and immersed himself in the comfort of their shared bed. In all of his life, he had never known contentment like he had found with his Alice. It had been a leap of faith, coming through the Looking Glass and chasing after her, but the life they had made was better than he could've dreamt. Alice had welcomed him with open arms – and a whole kettle of truly delightful snogging – and while it hadn't always been easy, things had only grown better with time.
The flat and Oyster money that Jack Heart had signed over to him kept him going until he found his own way. Only six weeks after coming to the Oysterworld, he had stumbled across an empty shop with a flat above it for sale, and he'd used the considerable amount of paper-money he had to purchase it for himself. It was liberating, owning his own place again, and he converted the empty ground floor into a proper tea shop. Seven weeks after moving into his flat, he had just as many of Alice's things in his closet as his own, and four weeks after that she had officially moved in with him.
And still, six months later, he was stunned by the warmth in his chest whenever he woke up to see his pretty little Oyster curled up beside him.
Hatter glanced at the clock on the bedside table and his contented sigh quickly morphed into a weary groan. He really did need to get out of bed now. The tea shop opened in just over an hour, and there was a whole lot of brewing to be done before the morning crowd started showing up. Pushing the blankets off his body, he started to carefully extract himself from the slender arms around his chest. Alice moaned and tightened her grip, clinging to him like a Mome Rath stuck to a wheel of cheese. Hatter smirked a bit to himself at the thought and, with a little more manoeuvring, he managed to replace his body with his pillow.
Dressing quietly in the dark so as not to disturb Alice – she was meaner than a mother Bandersnatch when woken up before she needed to be – Hatter slipped out into the main room of the flat. He grabbed a bagel from the kitchen cupboard and his favourite black pork-pie hat from the table beside the door. He flicked it into the air with a practised movement – it landed on top of his naturally dishevelled hair just as he pulled the door open – and then jogged down the stairs into the darkened shop.
His morning was a habitual circuit of patterns; turning on lights, putting kettles on the stove, readying the tea leaves, setting out the cups. The whole thing, which had just been a bit of frantic scrambling at the beginning of this adventure in business, had quickly turned into a routine for him. He knew which things needed to be done first and had mastered all of the best ways to multi-task without letting teas steep too long or the dishes pile up. By seven o'clock the doors were open and the first of the daily customers had shuffled in.
"Mornin', Arthur," Hatter said brightly to the middle-aged man with the drowsy eyes as he came through the door only minutes after he'd unlocked it. He turned to the kettles, already preparing the same tea the older man ordered every day.
"Morning, David," Arthur replied and spared him a sleepy smile. "I don't know how you're always so happy this early."
Hatter chuckled, adding a bit of lemon to the tea. The bitter yellow fruit was excellent for waking up the Oysters. "Just a mornin' man, I reckon," he said and shrugged. "'Sides, I got m'self a right nice sight to wake up to."
Arthur opened up his wallet, grinning and leaning one elbow onto the long front counter. "That just sounds like another reason to stay in bed if you ask me." Hatter smirked as he accepted the folded bit of paper-money and passed the paper cup across to the other man. He couldn't really argue with him there. "Thanks, David. Don't know what I'd do without your magic tea. See you tomorrow."
Hatter called out a farewell as the older man left and then leant against the counter with a smile. It had amazed him how much the Oysters loved his teas here. In Wonderland, human tea had been a worthless commodity, the sort of thing that only the richest could waste their money on.
He'd always adored the drink and he had spent a decent share of his shop's profits on the tins of tea leaves smuggled over from the Oysterworld. Over the years he'd gotten a handle on which sorts of teas treated which sorts of ailments, and what sorts of additives caused which outcomes; lemon battled fatigue, lavender aided sleep, honey was good for chest colds, that sort of thing.
For ease of familiarity and out of a long-standing habit, he had named all of the tea brews quite pointedly for the feeling they were designed to encourage, much the way Wonderland Teas had been labelled. In this world the business had started out slow – tea still wasn't the most practical trade on this side of the Looking Glass, either – but word had spread like wildfire and soon people were flocking into the shop for his "magic" drinks.
The little bell above the door jingled playfully, signalling the entrance of another customer, and Hatter put on his most winning smile as he made to greet the steady stream of familiar faces. And so the day had begun.
Alice clapped her hands together once and felt a smile creep onto her lips as the dojo studio fell silent almost instantaneously. "I'll see you all on Thursday," she said, by way of dismissal. A familiar rustling and murmur spread through the room as her students gathered their things and headed for the door. She returned the few farewells that were tossed her way by the more social – or the less breathless – students as she walked over to her duffel bag.
Picking up the towel, she dabbed away the sweat that had beaded on her forehead during the exercise. It had been a long day already and she still had two more classes to go before she could go home, where she'd promptly change and start helping out in Hatter's shop. He'd never asked for her help, but she liked being a part of his new life here and she could tell he appreciated having her around. It might have been almost a year that he'd been in her world now, but he still wasn't fond of being left alone for long.
If she was honest with herself, she was in a bit of a hurry to get home to him today too. She had tried to push the strange feelings to the back of her mind, but the truth was that her nightmare had been haunting her all day. It had been intense and graphic, and there was something about that cat that had distantly triggered something in her mind, even if she couldn't quite place what that was. The whole thing had set her on edge and it was making her jumpy. When she was uneasy there was only one thing that made her feel better; Hatter wrapping his arms around her and offering her a cup of tea.
Alice shook her head and tossed her hand-towel back into her bag. She just needed to keep moving, that's all. Striding out into the middle of the vacant room, she readied herself and then set through the familiar motions of the judo exercises she'd been doing since she was ten. They were comfortable but just challenging enough that she was forced to keep her mind focused on the task at hand.
Moving on, she started running through the plans for her next class, an advanced black-belts class. Her muscles moved out of reflex, carrying her through open-handed punches and leg-kicks with the ease of experience. After the wild fighting for her life that she'd done in Wonderland, these classes seemed almost pointlessly simplistic.
Alice caught sight of her reflection in one of the mirrors on the wall and immediately froze. It wasn't so much her own reflection that had seized her attention; no, it was the sight of another figure behind her that had jarred her to a stop. She planted her foot and pivoted sharply.
The dojo was deserted.
Frowning, Alice walked across to the door and looked out into the hall, but she couldn't see anyone in the wide corridor that led to the recreation centre's lobby. She could've sworn she'd seen someone watching her – an indistinct figure in a shabby brown trench-coat. A feeling of dread crept into her and she looked back at the mirror again, but all she could see was her own pale and sweaty reflection staring back at her.
"I'm going crazy," she murmured with a half-hysterical laugh, aware that talking aloud to herself was a sure sign that what she'd said was true. After all, Hatter talked to himself habitually, and he was clearly insane, albeit in a charming and harmless sort of way.
"Hey there, Alice."
She jumped at the voice and then immediately blushed at being caught off guard. One of her black-belt students, a local policeman, was coming down the hall toward the classroom, already dressed in his gi. "Hi," she responded and then stepped into the room so he could pass through the door.
"You alright there?" he asked, eyeing her in concern. "You look a little white."
"Fine," she said and forced casualness into her tone. "Just didn't sleep well last night." That, at least, wasn't a lie. Thankfully he wasn't able to question her any further because the rest of the class started to filter in one-by-one and gave Alice a legitimate reason to ignore the whirlwind of thoughts trying to surface in her mind. She waited until the last person had shown up, and then clapped her hands together loudly. "Alright, let's start on our stretches."
"David! Excitement, to go." Hatter glanced over his shoulder at the teenage boy who was currently manning the front counter. He had been fine with running the place all on his own, but the increased business had made it necessary to bring on an extra hand during the middle of the day when he couldn't quite keep up with all of the orders. Alice did a good job of helping out when she was around, but between her judo classes and her studying at the city college – which she'd picked up at the end of the summer – her free time was limited.
Trevor Mills had been a student at the secondary school a few blocks down, and he had stopped by every morning on his way to his classes. There was something about him that Hatter had immediately liked – apart from the fact that he knew teas like it was his native language and had introduced Hatter to a bakery that made the most fantastic cream cakes – and when he'd offered the boy a job after he'd graduated, Trevor had accepted instantly. It had definitely lowered Hatter's own stress level a deal.
"Right-o," Hatter shouted back and picked out the proper leaves, folding them into a thin paper bag. Once it was secured he dropped it into a cup and filled it with boiling water from the kettle. Clipping on the lid, he turned and handed the cup across the counter to the jumper-clad woman on the other side. She flashed him a grateful smile before she walked away.
"The rush is clearing out now," Trevor said, looking up from the stack of receipts he was pinning together beside the register. "We should be all right for a bit until everyone starts getting off work."
"Bloody busy day," Hatter murmured, nudging aside his hat to run his fingers through his hair. He stared out over the shop tables, where the people with a few free minutes were clustered around and enjoying their drinks. "This keeps up I'm gonna have to bring on anotha one o' ya."
Trevor laughed. "I know plenty of hungry college kids who could use the extra cash," he replied with a grin. Hatter hummed to show he'd heard, but he wasn't seriously considering the idea straight off. If he was going to bring someone into the business, he wanted it to be someone who gave a damn. He'd made the mistake of getting tangled up with people who were only in the business for the money, and while he knew things were different here than in Wonderland – and selling tea was a lot different than selling Teas - he wasn't going to risk making that mistake again.
"Why don' ya go gather up the cups and get 'em washed while it's slow," he said. "I got the counter."
"Aye, aye, boss," Trevor said with a smirk and a mock salute. Hatter couldn't entirely hold back his laugh at the gesture as the teen scarpered off with a tray to start collecting the used tea cups left behind on the tables.
His attention turned down to the counter, flicking through receipts and marking the sales off against the little inventory book Alice had given him. He'd only been at it for a few beats of a Tove's heart when he felt an unnatural prickling on the back of his neck, a feeling he was well used to; the feeling of being watched.
Immediately, Hatter's eyes darted up to the glass front of the shop. There was a quick blur of movement that disappeared passed the edge of the window frame, but the brief glimpse he'd gotten made his heart fall down into his stomach. "Can't be," he hissed in horror. Forgetting the books, he bolted around the counter and across the shop, Trevor's alarmed question falling on deaf ears. He barrelled out onto the sidewalk and looked around.
The Oysters walking passed were shooting him curious looks, but Hatter ignored them as his eyes scoured the crowd. He had been so sure he'd seen – but no, it couldn't have been. Still, he surveyed every visible face one last time before letting out a breath of relief. He'd imagined it. He had to have.
"Uh, David?" He glanced back to see Trevor standing in the shop doorway, looking uncertain. "You all right?"
"Uhn," Hatter grunted out and then quickly collected himself. "Thought I saw an old mate. It's nothin'." Trevor's forehead was still furrowed in concern, Curiosity dripping off him, but he nodded and went back inside.
The after-work crowd showed up not long after, and the chaos helped Hatter to keep his mind occupied, but he still couldn't shake that odd feeling he'd gotten in the pit of his stomach. There was no way he'd seen the face he thought he had, but for that brief second when he had believed it, there had been nothing but ice cold terror in his chest. The sort of terror he hadn't felt in ages – not since he was a helpless street orphan being dragged off by the Chemists for their experiments. The very memory made Hatter's right hand curl reflexively, until the teacup he was clutching cracked and he remembered himself.
No, there was no way he'd seen that face in the Oysterworld. The Looking Glass was dormant, the Stone of Wonderland carefully hidden away beneath a loose floorboard upstairs, and all of those dark faces from his past were on the other side of the glass where they belonged. He'd just let his mad mind wander off on its own again, that's all.
"David! Maggie wants her usual," Trevor called.
All of the contemplativeness instantly slipped away as his customary grin bounced right back onto his face. "Hullo Maggie," he said with a wave to the elderly woman standing opposite the register from his young helper. "One cuppa Serenity, comin' up."
And as he prepared the relaxation tea for his customer, he made a cup for himself as well. He clearly needed it.
