Chapter Four
Alice held her hands up instinctively. The gun in her face was held by a large man in a familiar style of clean-cut black suit, an ornate white spade and the number five emblazoned on his chest. There was another off to her right, and she could sense more behind her. Suits.
"Don't shoot," she said, her voice stiff with anxiety. "I'm Alice Hamilton. I need to see Jack Heart."
"Wait, stand down!" a voice from behind her cut in and the man walked around to face her. He seemed to be younger than the lead man – a few years older than her by the looks of him – and there was something bright and soft about his features. "Put your guns down," he commanded immediately, grabbing the lead man's gun and shoving it downward. "That's Alice-of-Legend. Stand down!"
She heard the safeties click back onto the guns as they lowered them and she let out a grateful breath. The second man stepped forward and she saw the number eight on his chest. "My apologies, Lady Alice," he said. He held a fist over his heart and inclined his head respectfully. "You startled us, that's all."
"Did you see the men who came here earlier?" she asked. "Two of them. Hatter and this big man in a trench-coat."
"There was no one," Eight said, looking confused. "No one's even been inside this room except for us guards. You're the first person to come through the Glass since all of the Oysters went back after the Collapse." So how had that man gotten through to her world? How had he brought Hatter back through?
Alice accepted the hand the suit offered to her and she got to her feet. "I need to see Jack, immediately," she said.
"Of course, Lady Alice," the suit said. "I'll take you there personally." He addressed the Five. "The Looking Glass will still have a bit of power left from her coming. Make sure no one else comes through. If they do, detain them until I get back."
"Yes, sir," Five replied and bowed his head.
"If you'll follow me," Eight said and then started walking. They left what turned out to be some sort of concrete bunker building and came out at an open square she didn't recognise, but she remembered the vehicle parked there: a Scarab. Somewhere in the back of her mind it occurred to her that this was the first time she'd ever entered a Scarab of her own accord. Eight ordered the pilot into action and then joined her in the cab.
"Lady Alice, I must say it's a real honour to meet you," Eight added. "I barely caught a sight of you the last you were here. Everyone's still talking about it."
Alice nodded, hardly paying attention. Her mind was occupied with Hatter. He and that man Gryphon didn't come through the Looking Glass, so how had they done it? They had come to Wonderland, hadn't they? Where else could they have gone? Either way, Gryphon knew Hatter from here. If anyone could help her find them it would be the King of Wonderland.
Her eyes panned out to the large front window. They were over the lake and just seeing it triggered old memories – falling from the Honeycomb boxes; racing across the water in a rickety smuggling boat; clinging to Hatter's waist as they blazed a trail through the sky on a Flamingo.
While the lake looked much the same, the area around it had changed. The city looked to be in even worse condition than when she'd left. A few of the buildings had crumbled to the ground, and those that still stood wore a heavy air of neglect. Most noticeable was the absence of the Casino on the skyline. In its place she could just make out a cluster of low buildings, or at least low by Wonderland standards. They looked to be some sort of utilitarian apartment complexes, all centred around one enormous, glistening skyscraper.
"Is that where we're going?" Alice asked.
"The castle district," Eight responded with a nod. "His Majesty built it over the ruins of the old Casino, to wipe it away. Can't use the original palace because it's too far from the main city now. It's still mostly just the royal families, but the plan is to expand it to a full city, once everything is under control."
"Under control?" she pressed curiously. "Is there something wrong?"
"Just getting people to adjust to the regime change," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "A lot of the city people, especially the wealthy ones, were still supporters of the Queen. But they're coming around gradually, you'll see."
Alice regarded the man next to her thoughtfully. "You talk a lot for a Suit," she remarked. "The ones I knew almost never spoke."
To her surprise, Eight grinned. "Things have changed a lot since you left," he said. "It's mostly from the Teas. Once those went away, real emotions and personalities came out." He paused and added, "The detox was rough on the city though. That's why they brought in people like me; people who weren't drinkers. We helped keep things from getting out of hand."
"You were part of the rebellion," she concluded.
"Started with my parents," he agreed. "I grew up in the Great Library, lived there until I was old enough to go out and help. Little things like scouting and delivering messages. I was actually at the Casino the day you brought it down, barely made it out before the whole thing came down."
The Scarab shuddered as it started to descend toward an open paddock beside the skyscraper. Alice found herself clutching the back of the pilot's chair for support; She still hated heights. Her fingers were aching with the effort by the time they touched down.
Eight ushered her from the Scarab and through a set of bright red revolving doors. The lobby reminded her of a business building back home, with directory plaques hung on the walls and a receptionist in a diamond-print dress behind the front desk.
People started to stare as they cut a path to the lifts and Alice shifted uncomfortably. Several of them must have recognised her because they placed their fists over their hearts and bowed their heads. It made her uneasy. The last time she'd been here, she'd been safest when she wasn't being recognised. Obviously that wasn't really an option anymore.
They rode the lift up to the top floor and stepped out into another lobby lined with at least a half-dozen very intimidating Suits. "Tell the King that Lady Alice-of-Legend is here and requests an audience," Eight announced. He must have some authority – or maybe it was just the effect of her name – but the furthest Suit instantly turned and went through the double doors at the end of the room. There was a tentative silence as the Suits stared and Alice fidgeted with the Stone of Wonderland just to be doing something.
Abruptly the Suit came back out into the hall and gestured for them to enter. Alice had to fight to keep herself calm as she crossed the hall and passed through the double doors.
It was a bit of a shock, since she had been expecting a throne room, but she had clearly entered some sort of sitting room. The whole place was decorated in classic blacks, whites, and reds, and filled with plush sofas and a glossy black stone coffee table. Jack was standing on the other side of the table and when their eyes met she couldn't stop herself. She was just so scared and so alone, and it was such a relief to finally see a familiar face. She rushed across the room and into his arms.
"Alice!" he said, obviously stunned even as he embraced her. "What are you doing here?"
"I need your help, Jack," she said. "He took Hatter and I need to find him."
Jack stepped back to survey her face. "Who did? What happened?" He frowned and then ushered her to the nearest sofa. "Tell me what happened."
Alice sat down beside him on the sofa and started from the beginning, when Hatter had woken her because he'd heard a noise. She described the short conversation between the two men, Hatter's warning that the man was "dosed," and the fighting that followed. "And then I just started feeling really heavy and tired," she explained. "He was carrying Hatter out when I passed out."
"This happened after he scratched you?" Jack asked, touching her upper arm lightly. The cuts had finally scabbed, but the skin around them was pink and swollen. "His nails must have been dosed, that's how he did it."
"What do you mean, dosed?" she asked. "Like with drugs?"
"Similar, yeah," he agreed. "Or the Wonderland equivalent. When he scratched you it was put straight into your bloodstream. Takes effect faster that way than drinking it."
The answer pieced itself together in her mind with a distinctive click. "Emotions," she said coldly. "That's your drugs here in Wonderland. The emotions you drain from us."
"I don't know how these Teas are still in existence, Alice," he said and there was earnestness behind his typical stoic tone. "We destroyed all of our stores once we started to detox the city. Whatever's happening here, I've got nothing to do with it."
Alice grimaced but nodded in understanding. "Hatter called the man Gryphon," she said. Jack's jaw twitched. "You know him. Who is he? Where can I find him?
"He's something of a mercenary," Jack said. "He does odd jobs for people, mostly retrieving things or people. The Rebellion used to hire him on occasion, until we found out his allegiance lay only with whoever could pay the best. We lost a lot of good men when the Queen bought him out."
"How do I find him?" Alice repeated irritably.
"You don't," Jack answered flatly. "No one knows where to find him. When you need him, he finds you."
"I need to know where he took Hatter," she all but growled in frustration.
Jack put what was clearly supposed to be a pacifying hand on her shoulder. "I'll send some of my men out. They will find out who hired the Gryphon. You stay here until we get some information."
"No," she said, shaking off his hand and standing up. "I know someone else who can find him. Where's Charlie?"
Hatter hummed gratefully as he felt something soft and cool touch his aching forehead. "Mm, Alice," he moaned. His whole body hurt. "I fall down the stairs again?"
"Bit worse than that, I'm afraid, sir." That wasn't Alice. Hatter's eyes snapped open, but the movement instantly sent a shockwave through his head that forced him to shut them again. "Easy like. You're in a pretty bad state."
Hatter opened his eyes again, more slowly this time. It took a second to adjust to the light, but his self-preservation instincts drove him to get his bearings. He was in a large room, sterile and white. It was hard to make out more than that, because he seemed to be lying down. Nothing except a blank white ceiling stretching on for metres until it met the blank white walls that filled his peripherals.
The damp coolness touched his forehead again and Hatter twitched, although he immediately regretted it. "Hold still, would you?" His eyes switched to the person standing beside him – looming over him which meant she was standing beside where he was lying, except no, with that sort of height her knees must be level with his body – even as his sluggish mind told him that this should've been the first place he looked. Always know your enemy the best. Except she didn't look like an enemy.
It was a young girl, perhaps younger even than Alice, with simple features. Her head was shaven clean, but her small eyes were pale green and gentle even as she stared him down. Not a White then. She nearly blended in with the walls however, in her white tunic and trousers. She hardened her lips into a line and lifted what turned out to be a damp washrag to his head again. "Stop pitching about. I'm nearly finished," she said and started wiping his brow gently.
"Who-?" His throat felt like it had been burnt, and he coughed from the mere effort of the word. Every cough sent another painful spasm through his body and it brought tears to his eyes.
"Easy. Easy now," the girl said and went back to tending to his face. "Nearly finished, and then I'll get you something to drink."
He tried again, and this time got the words out. "Who're you?"
"I'm not important, sir," she responded and her expression had gone stern again. "Just a Pawn. Now stop talking. Save your voice." Hatter's every neuron was begging him to keep asking questions, to learn what was going on, but he was just too tired and too weak. Memories from earlier were coming back to him and he knew he was lucky to be alive. Or perhaps, judging by the care-giving and fact that he was still restrained, it had nothing to do with luck at all.
"There, much better," the girl declared after a few minutes and she nodded. In the corner of his eye Hatter noticed that the rag she lifted away from the side of his jaw was stained red. "Let's get you some water." She disappeared for a second, and then returned with another clean rag in her hands. She lifted it above his lips and twisted it, letting the little trails of water drip into his mouth. Hatter swallowed it gratefully, feeling it relieve some of the stinging in his throat, and then licked his lips to make sure he'd gotten all of it. Distantly he registered that his lip was cracked – when had that happened?
"There, now that that's done..." The girl's voice tapered off and she vanished again. There was a loud click and Hatter watched the panels in the ceiling above him sliding aside with a hum. When it stopped he was facing an enormous, full-length mirror. It was simple and almost clinical in design, at odds with his reflection.
He really was in a bit of a state. His body was prone on the pristine white floor, with thick metal cuffs pinning his wrists and ankles to the ground. He was still wearing only the boxer shorts he'd gone to bed in, and the wounds he'd gotten were clearly visible on his now cleaned skin. There were dozens of cuts all over his body, done with meticulous precision. The scratches on the side of his neck and face from Gryphon were still swollen but looked free of infection so far. Worst of all though was the hole bored through his left shoulder, a tiny glimmer of white showing in the deep centre of the red flesh and muscle.
Hatter's stomach might have turned if there'd been anything in it. In the detached, practical part of his mind he figured he hadn't eaten in at least a full day now. How much longer before it made him ill? He couldn't think about that right now. "What'd you do to m'shoulder?" he asked curiously. "S'not bleedin'."
"Bandaging spray," the girl responded. "Makes a seal over it to stop bleeding."
"Tha's handy," he said idly. "Where'd she go? The Unicorn."
"To dinner, I think," the girl said. "I'm not sure though. They just brought you in and told me to get you fixed up."
"Means she'll be back for me," Hatter concluded grimly. "Joy."
He couldn't be sure, but he thought he may have seen the slightest smile on the girl's lips as she turned away from him. Not sure what to make of it, he tucked that information away for later.
His gaze flickered back up to his reflection and his eyebrow peaked quizzically. The kohl-lining around his eyes was back. He'd had it as long as he could remember, born with it maybe although he couldn't be sure, but it had vanished when he'd gone through the looking glass. In Alice's world he'd had to use a little pencil to get it back, and it had quickly become more trouble than it was worth. It had been so long now that its appearance caught him off guard, but the small amount of familiarity in his otherwise battered reflection was comforting. There was some little piece of him still there beneath it all.
The bald girl came back to him, pulling him out of scanning his reflection for other familiar features. She was carrying some sort of little spray bottle. "Medicine," she said to his unasked question. "To stop you from getting an infection. Take a deep breath."
He didn't have a second to ask what she meant by that before she had pointed the bottle at his face and squeezed the trigger. The mist burst from the nozzle as he inhaled to speak, and it itched as it filled his lungs. "Bloody kettle breaker," he snapped irritably and then coughed again. "Bit of warning next time, yeah?"
Something seemed to sparkle in the girl's eyes and she actually laughed. "Well I did tell you to take a breath, didn't I?" she pointed out. Still she lifted the damp rag again and let him drink from it until his throat eased. "Why don't you talk?"
Hatter quirked an eyebrow. "Most say I talk t'much."
"I meant to the princess," the girl said and her voice had turned earnest. "Why won't you tell her what she wants to know? This would all end if you did."
"Simple," he replied. "I dunno the answers."
The girl frowned. "Of course you do," she insisted. "You're a Hatter. You've got to know where he's at. The Hatters always have."
"Who?" Hatter asked.
"Time."
Hatter stared at her, waiting for her to say that she was joking, but she looked completely serious. "Time?" he echoed. "So wait, are you saying that this Time she's looking for is a person?"
The girl's brow furrowed as she stared at him, and he got the feeling she was waiting for him to admit he was joking just the same way he'd done with her. She opened her mouth to answer, but something beeped loudly and she startled. She lifted her arm and checked a band around her wrist, and then shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I've got to go. Rest now, while you can."
"Wait!" Hatter objected, but she had sprayed another mist into his face and as he breathed it in he felt the world slip away into darkness again.
