I have said it before and I will say it again. I don't own Alice in Wonderland. I just like to mess with there lives is all...does that mean I have a God Complex?

~Chapter 13~

Doll House Days

The next day was much more subdued. Sophie was forbidden to go inside the Golden Queen and the Red Tower. But there was still lost of other things to do on the island that did not involve bear traps and taxidermy heads. For example Tweedledum introduced Sophie to the Swingling Tree. This tree's branches were very stretchy and flexible and the Swingling would only grow next to water that was a precise depth. In otherwards deep enough so that you would not hurt yourself when you jumped in. This resulted in Sophie being completely drenched by 11:00 am, having catapulted herself, with Tweedledum's help, into the lake several times. After kindly but sternly being asked by her mother not to do that anymore. Alice dressed her daughter in a dry green sundress and then sent Sophie off to do something else. Once outside she announced that she wanted to go in search of wildflowers to talk to. On hearing that this was Sophie's idea of entertainment Tweedledum elected to try and help the March Hare with his work in the kitchen. It might be dangerous but at least it would not be boring he had thought as he trotted off.

Alice and Mallymkun spent this quiet time working on fashioning the darts that would be used to deliver the potion, once they found it. Once they got down to work Alice found Mally was in fact a very agreeable sort of, well, mouse. She really only seemed to get prickly when the Hatter was around. Alice was not blind to this fact, so in order to make things go smoothly between themselves, she elected to not talk about Tarrant. She also didn't want to talk about him because she found herself blushing slightly whenever his name came up.

And the Hatter continued to work away on the blowpipe it self, he was already boring out the hole in the middle. But this process did not take nearly as long as Alice thought it would. Soon she and Mallymkun were in the library testing out there aim on the backs of chairs. Tarrant had the best aim so he was elected to be the one to knock out the guard. The rest of the time was spent combing through the stacks of books trying to find some clues about the potion itself.

At Brillig everyone had had enough of books for the day. Mally swore that her eyes were going to fall out of their sockets. Tarrant had enough as well so he started to carve little designs on the outside of the blowpipe.

"It looks lovely Tarrant." Said Mally "But I can't see how that is much use to us".

"Well once this little beauty has fulfilled its purpose I intend to keep it and use it as my pipe. All it needs is a bowl on the end". Mally just shook her head, "you know I don't like it when you smoke!" Said the dormouse. Alice secretly smiled as she pictured the Hatter with the great long pipe. The Hatter however did observe her smile and then in turn made him grin. He then took a quick glance about the room.

"I say, where is Sophie? It's past Briling." He asked Alice. The concerned mother now also looked around so did everyone else. Mally took a quick glance under the table even.

"Well she was with Tweedledum wasn't she? So she should be safe at least." The Dodo said. Just then a food-splattered Tweedledum trotted into the room.

"Supper is served everyone!" He said cheerfully.

"Tweedledum, is Sophie with you?" Asked Alice in concern when she did not see her daughter walking behind the boy.

"No, she ain't with me". He said, while trying to get soup out of his ear. "No. The last time I saw her was after luncheon, she said she wanted to go talk to the white roses in the gardens, but to be honest I can't stand to be around those chatty things."

Alice left her chair and immediately headed for the door at a jog. The Hatter and the dormouse followed right behind her. Even though the resistance group was secret it was always possible that one of the Queens patrols may have spotted Sophie. Or worse, what if the queen had found another large flying creature to command. Her daughter could at that very moment be dressed up like a red heart freckled doll being paraded around for Iracebeth's amusement!

Out in the garden Alice looked high and low for her daughter. This was not an overall unusual experience for Alice. Sophie had learned the art of hiding from her mother at a very young age. The dormouse in her usual sour way suggested that searching the land was a waste of time and that they should start dredging the water around the island. She was shushed by the Hatter the second the words were out of her mouth. Tarrant went over to the white roses and stated to ask them if they had seen the little girl.

"Oh yes, such a dear thing, and her petals such an unusual shade of green, we all thought it was a wonderful adaptation so she would not get picked as often." The other flowers nodded their heads in agreement.

"Though she had no fragrance so we can't say she was overly pretty. Still, a dear little bud."

"After you spoke with her what happened?" Inquired Tarrant.

"She said how she wished that she didn't have to bend over so much to speak to us. So we told her about the Fungpish mushrooms over by the base of the Swingling." They all nodded.

The Hatter started to get that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Ah… Did she try the mushroom?" He asked softly. For at this moment he did not want Alice to know that they may have stepped on her daughter.

"Sweet Cheese and Crackers! I found her!" Came Mallymkun from the distance.

"Thank you ladies!" said the Hatter quickly tipping his hat then went running off after Alice who had bolted towards the far end of the garden. When Tarrant finally caught up to Alice this is what he saw. Mally was standing on top of an old stone bench and Alice had stopped and had her hand over her mouth in shock. There was a pile of green fabric under the bench and lying on top of the pile fast asleep was Sophie. Only now she was three inches tall.

"Oh I should have known this would happen eventually." Said Alice, gently picking up the bundle and carrying it back to the tower. Tarrant repeated the story that the roses had told him. Alice just gave a great sigh and continued walking.

Of course, she thought. Cakes and bottles aren't the only things that make you grow and shrink in Underland. Everyone who had not joined the search party was waiting out in courtyard.

"Is she…?" Uilleam began.

"She's fine." Said Alice gently "Just a little smaller is all. Nothing that Upelkuchen can't fix."

"That may be a bit of a problem Alice, you see we haven't got any Upelkuchen and the only one who really knows how to make it is the White Queen." Explained the Hatter.

"Well," Began Alice. "What about using more of that mushroom that Sophie ate. It has worked before. Do you remember when I was a child and grew so much during the trial of Ilosovic? It was because I had some of those mushrooms in my pocket."

The Hatter got a wistful look in his eyes.

"Yes, I do remember. I must admit that was quite an interesting day, wasn't it?" He smiled broadly at the memory "I'll go and see if I can find some back in the garden." He then took off back the way they had just come from.

~8~

Sophie awoke feeling light headed and confused how did she get here? And where was here? She didn't recognize the room. The last thing she remembered was talking to the flowers and then eating a speckled mushroom then having the oddest sensation. Now she found herself in a strange room and dressed in a green slip that was the same colour as her dress. When she looked around her she thought that she was in a different room in the castle. But the proportions on the wardrobe and the dressing table and the door were all wrong. She also found that the bed she was resting on was as stiff as a board. To top off the strangeness of the room, there was no door only a frame. Yes everything about the room was wrong. She climbed out of the bed and started to look around.

"Hello?" She called into the passageway, but there was no answer. Once again something was wrong and it was so dark. There were no candles or gaslights (but then again since coming to this strange country, Sophie had not once seen a gas light, so that was not overall a surprise) She found some very steep steps going up and there was a light at the top.

Making it to the top of the stairs and found a large window with no glass in it.

"That is strange". She said to herself. She poked her head out of the window and was completely speechless. What she saw was the giant sleeping form of her mother lying on their bed. Sophie looked down and saw that her castle was sitting on the bedside table and was not a real castle at all. It was a doll house!

"MUMMY!" She cried out. Her mother jolted and looked as though she might wake but she didn't. She just rolled over and started to snore loudly.

Mummy snores? Thought Sophie she then looked over towards the real window on the far wall and noticed that the sky was starting to lighten.

Well mummy will be awake soon. I suppose I can look around this doll house a bit more, after all how often does one get the chance to play in a doll house when you are the doll? Sophie explored the second floor and found a play nursery with a real rocking horse only it had wings. A large number of hard stuffed animals, and an even smaller dollhouse which again was odd. There was a master bedroom as well, but to Sophie's disappointment the bed was also made of wood and not very comfortable. There was even a water closet. Going back down the stairs Sophie could see the seam at the bottom of one of the walls where the wall would swing open. She explored the dinning room and kitchen. Finding little china cups and plates with very realistic play food glued right to them. Then she found a little library, inside the library something caught Sophie's attention. Every thing in the doll house to this point had been slightly off in proportions but there was a desk that looked completely real. She went over and felt the chair and felt the cushion. They were real! She opened one of the drawers and found small yellowing sheets of paper and a dusty bottle of real ink. She opened all the drawers and found other small objects such as a letter opener a hand mirror and tiny quills. At the very back of the bottom drawer she found a small bound book ripped in half.

Sophie seated herself and started to flip through the pages. Finding she could read most of the words she decided it was either a journal or a cookbook, because there was several pages with amounts and instructions as well as personal notations. None of the other books in this toy library were real she noted. Sophie was so absorbed in the little book in front of her that she gave a tiny scream when the whole wall suddenly moved away and the giant face of her mother peered in on her.

"Your awake!" She said in some relief "I was beginning to worry. You didn't even stir when I dressed you." Sophie looked again at her little dress. Where had it come from? Her mother answered her silent question.

"Oh, Tarrant is very talented he has made a few different things in your current size."

"What happened, mummy? Why am I so small? You always told me I was growing up not down."

"I know dear but there are a few things about Underland that you need to understand. The impossible things are possible. There are drinks and mushrooms that will make you shrink and cakes that make you grow large." Alice then held out her hand for Sophie to clime onto. Sophie gingerly scrambled onto her mother hand and took a firm hold of the thumb.

"But don't worry dear there is a way to set you right again. It's just going to take a little time, that's all. Also I want you to know that I am not angry with you at all, what has happened to you is nothing compared to how much growing and shrinking I did the first few times I visited this place." Sophie seemed to relax a bit upon hearing that she was not in trouble. Alice carried Sophie through the corridors and down into the kitchen. It was quiet right now because the March Hare was out in the garden trying to find some "squish-squash" for soup. Alice placed Sophie on the edge of a plate with an apple slice, a scone and something green that Alice swore was jam.

Just as she was about to try some of the green jam Sophie remembered her discovery.

"Mummy, look what I found in the dollhouse!" She held up the half book for her mother to see. "It's a real book with letters and words." Alice gently took the tiny tomb from her daughter and held it up to the light. It was indeed a real book and had writing although small was legible. Alice quickly scanned the contents of the little book and on the last page her eyes beheld the very thing that her and her companions had been searching for.

~8~

"The Potion is called "Sheep's Clothing" and the instructions for creating it are in this little book." Declared Alice triumphantly.

"Imagine that". Said Uilleam he was also carefully reading the tiny writing. "A very clever idea, really. When Mirana wanted to hide her spells and potions she would shrink herself and hide them in her own little dollhouse."

"We must of course give credit where credit is due." Said the Hatter pointing to the tiny girl sitting on his shoulder. "It really is a sign of good fortune that you shrank when you did." He said to the little girl.

"The only down side to this discovery is that half of the book is missing, the half that contains the antidote to the potion." Stated the dormouse.

"You are right, of course, Mally, but we have what we need now to pull off the first part of our rescue plan. Once Mirana is back here we can search without having to worry about her head being taken off."

"What's this?" A familiar but invisible voice floating above the table. "You are ready to go and get our sweet white wooly Queen back? Well isn't that a wonderful coincidence." The Head and body of Chess re-evaporated above the group. "For I have come to tell you that I know exactly were she is. But I also must tell you the sad news that if we don't leave now. The Bloody big head will soon have a new sheep skin rug for her throne room floor."

Authors Note

Hello again everyone. It's been so hot the past week I have had not electrolytes to power my brain. But the good news is I am back in fine writing form. Just a few things I want to mention. I hope you would have guessed that the dollhouse was brought down from the White Queen's Nursery. I didn't want to slow down the story with that. Nor the fact that Tarrant was unable to find anymore mushrooms for Sophie. On another Note this Concludes the First story Arch. So the next Chapter will be the start of Act 2. So please review and let me know what you think.