"I still don't believe a word of it."
Alice Kingsleigh sighed frustratedly, annoyed with her sister's complete disbelief. Despite having told her everything, with Alice Liddell jumping in a different points, Margaret still believed she was either dreaming or going mad. "Is this how you felt with me?" she murmered to Tarrant, as Alice Liddell began to try again to explain everything to her. The Hatter smiled slighly.
"No, love, you were far more stubborn than she was," he said, slipping his hand into hers.
"And you loved me for it," Alice teased playfully, matching his smile through her frustration. "I suppose Margaret will figure it out sooner or later, just like I did." Or, at least, she hoped so. They'd be at Marmoreal soon anyway, and there Mirana would have enough Jabberwocky blood to send Margaret back to the Overland. Then, there'd be no more trouble.
Alice glanced at the sky, and shuddered, seeing dark cloud beginning to obscure the sun. Pulling Alice Liddell aside and letting go of Tarrant's hand, she indicated the sky. "Has there even been anything like this in Wonderland?" she asked quietly.
"I'm not quite sure," Alice observed the clouds for a moment. "There are some that say that Wonderland's condition is effected by the state of its Queen, or rather, Queens. Something must be troubling the White Queens."
Worriedly, Alice Kingsleigh brushed a bit of her hair behind her ear. What on earth could be wrong with the Queens? For all Alice knew (and she knew quite a bit from living at Marmoreal), Wonderland was experiancing a time of peace. Was that all about to come to an end? Was Margaret's arrival heralding some new kind of danger? Again, Alice looked to the darkening sky, wondering what this all meant.
Clouds had completely covered the Wonderlandian sky by the time the small group had arrived at Marmoreal. A pair of White Knights bowed them in, and led them to the throne room, where the White Queen and Mirana were discussing something in earnest. Both looked up as the group entered, and knelt, save for Margaret at first. However, she quickly found out that she was supposed to, too, and did so.
"Alice...who is this?" the White Queen asked as they rose, adressing Alice Kingsleigh.
"Your Majesty, this is my sister, Margaret Manchester." Here, Margaret herself curtised, somewhat shakily. She was obviously quite shocked that a chess piece was conversing with her sister.
"From the Overland?" Mirana spoke, sounding a little nervous and worried. "How did she get here?"
"We aren't entirely sure, Your Majesty. That's why we've come here." Alice Liddell joined the conversation from her place beside her friend.
"I see..." Mirana nervously looked at the White Queen. "Alice, Alice, may we speak with the both of you?"
"Yes, but what of-"
"I will have one of my pawns take your sister to a room for now, she can stay there until we can send her back." the White Queen said, somewhat impatiently. "Please, we must speak privately."
The two girls followed the Queens into a small sitting room off of the throne room. Both sat down a nearby sofa, across from Mirana and the Queen. Alice Kingsleigh glanced over her shoulder to see the Oraculum open on a small desk. The Queens must have been consulting it recently. She felt her heart clench slightly, perhaps it was something in the compendium that was making the two Queens so apprehensive.
"Why has that been bought out?" Alice Kingsleigh asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. The Oraculum was rarely consulted by the Queens, seeing as it was usually the job of Absolem.
Slowly, Mirana stood, gliding to the desk, and gesturing for the two girls to follow. They did, and to their suprise, words were formed in the ink, rather than the customary drawing. Peering closer, Alice Liddell read aloud.
"iThe threshold is broken,
A door opened wide.
The key turning forth,
For two worlds to collide.
Reality and nonsense,
Now twined and tangled.
The rip growing deeper,
With each being strangled.
Both shall crumble soon,
Under strenuous discord.
Until the door is shut,
And peace is restored./i"
There was a short pause, in which there was dead quiet.
"Well, what does it mean?" Alice Kingsleigh finally asked, being the one to break the silence again.
Alice Liddell shot her friend a scornful look. "Well, I would think that was obvious. Wonderland-"
"-is colliding with the real world," the White Queen finished, also gliding over to join them.
"Right. The prophecy says something about a door," Alice Kingsleigh bend over the Oraculum to reread the writing. "Is there a physical door between Wonderland and the real world?"
"Of a sorts," the Queen said, nodding. "There is a portal, deep within the caverns beyond Yur Mine, that acts as a barrier between the worlds. Apparently, this barrier has been broken, and someone must venture there to shut it."
"And I suppose that someone, or someones, is us?" Alice Liddell asked, looking over from her spot by Alice Kingsleigh's shoulder.
Mirana gave the two a small smile. "Well, that iis/i why we asked to speak with you. You are our Champions after all. Now, if you wouldn't object?"
"Of course no-"
"Your majesties!" The doors suddenly burst open, and Rabbit ran in, as fast as his four legs could carry him. "Come quickly! You must see this!"
The Queens and the two girls followed Rabbit out to the courtyard. A crowd of white chessmen were gathered all looking upwards. Alice Kingsleigh gasped, for the sky had turned from its usual bright, blue state to a moving checkerboard pattern. The bright white of the buildings had faded to a dull gray.
"What in-"
"It's like it was before," Alice Liddell whispered, her eyes transfixed on the moving sky with her mouth slightly agape. "When my mind wasn't whole..."
"What?" Alice Kingsleigh torn her gaze from the monocromatic sky. "Alice, that can't...that's not...your mind iis/i whole now!"
The brunette blinked, coming out of her trance. "Then why this? There has to be some reason!"
"I don't know..." Alice watched the moving sky, the sense of foreboding stronger now. Was all of Wonderland reverting back to its demented state?
Deep in the Vale of Tears, an abandoned house of cards stood, silent and alone in the gathering twilight. No one had been near it for years, not since Alice had slain her first real foe there. Even Bill the Lizard kept clear of it, deciding to build a new home somewhere else.
However, something odd was happening to the surroundings of the old mansion. Once bright, green leaves turned dull and brown, trees withered and the entire landscape seemed to darken. And, if any creature had been around to here it, the deep, throaty chuckling of the house's previous owner reverberated from within, pleased with what she had caused.
