Chapter 9. Read and enjoy!

"This is it," Alice said quietly, pushing open the simple door to her aunt's old bedroom. It swung open early, and she aw it was just as she left it., though for some reason she'd hoped that she would be back in her own room. Not the one in Marmoreal, but her home in London. With her mother.

The thought of Alice's mother made Alice want to cry, and she bit her lip. I won't cry. She assured herself. Not here, not now. She didn't look back at the Hatter but walked, quite quickly, into the room, heading straight for the glass door that led out to her small balcony.

Once her hands grabbed the handles to the door and she pushed it open, the cool air dried the tears that were threatening to over flow and she turned back to look at Hatter. "Where should we start, first?"

"Well," The Hatter started, looking oddly out of place, as he stayed in the doorway. "We could search this room first I suppose….what are we um…" His brow furrowed and Alice remembered she hadn't told him what they were looking for yet. At least not in so many words.

"We're looking for things that well….things that have to do with Underland." Alice admitted, walking over to the tall bookshelf and pulling out a few books at random and thumbing through a few pages before she realized that they were no good and put them back. "Something that will help me figure out what happened to her there."

"Your aunt?" Hatter asked, appearing behind her, something Alice felt herself both liking and regretting. "She's been to Underland? How?"

Alice shook her head and put back another book, her eyes disparately searching something that could tell her something. Some sort of clue or hint that her aunt had actually gone down the rabbit hole. "She was going to tell me a story about it once."

This information, however easy to follow for Alice seemed to just confuse hatter more, but he complied and mimicked Alice's actions, grabbing a few books and paging through them for anything that may be in them. Standing so close together, nearly inches away from one another as they reached for more books brought back memories for Alice she'd buried down. She remembered how hesitant hatter's arms clung around her waist as they road the Bandersnatch, and how he gave her small smiles across the table at breakfast.

But that was before Irisa, she knew. Before things got complicated, and before Hatter got mean. Before he started to hate her and push her away. All these thoughts together made Alice dizzy, and Hatter, seeing her expression picked up on it.

"Alice, why don't you start to unpack?" He suggested. "I can finish these on my own."

Alice followed Hatter's suggestion instantly, walking over to the edge of her bed where she pulled up her bag which she had successfully packed with some things so that Lord Ascot wouldn't seem suspicious and brought them back with her.

First she grabbed a few of her dresses. Some from her bedroom, some Hatter had designed and put them in her closet, along with her cloak. Next she grabbed her book, and placed it by her bed side and picked up a picture of her family. Before her father had died, of course.

In the small photo was Alice and Margret, both girls smiling widely into the camera. Standing behind Margret was her mother, her eyes seeming to shine even on paper and her father behind Alice. When Alice was leaving her bedroom she knew she couldn't leave it behind. Not this time.

Finally, she pulled out the crystal necklace that Irisa had clasped along her neck I what seemed like a life time ago. The inscription along the back still feed her the power that she needed, especially now. She sat down on the edge of her bed, reading the same words over until she felt like she had them committed to memory.

But then, she noticed something else. Something under the words, something slightly smaller and nearly invisible, but there none the less was a tiny line. Such a curious thing, just putting a line of silver on a necklace, slightly darker then the rest of it. Maybe it was damaged, could it have broken when it was in her bag? Pulling it closer, Alice saw that it wasn't just a line but written in a delicate hand was the letter I. And next to it was an m….

Alice gasped, and pulled the necklace closer, and only confirmed what she'd already thought. Art the bottom of the necklace, under the words that had given her hope when nothing else would, was her aunt's name.

"Hatter," Alice whispered, then took a deep breath and said his name louder a second time.

He came over in a instant, sitting next to her carefully as she held out the necklace for him to see, but when he didn't, at least not what she did she smiled at him.

"It's her name, Hatter." She told him, pointing to her aunt's name engraved under the words, barley noticeable unless you knew where to look. "It's her name. Do you know what it means?"

"That your aunt really has been to Underland." He pointed out, and Alice nodded with a smile.

"She has…" She whispered, softly at the same time that the Hatter said in the same hushed tone, "That's odd."

"What is?" Alice asked suddenly, her head snapping up and meeting Hatter's light green eyes, barley six inches apart.

"The name, it's a name I haven't seen in a long time." Hatter admitted, but he was distracted.

"Really?" Alice asked. "When was the last time you heard it?"

"I was the name of a former queen, actually." Tarrant explained, taking the necklace from Alice's and hand and twirling it in his own. "It isn't surprising that Irisa found it in the red queen's castle, either."

"Why is that?" Alice asked, her eyes alight with curiosity as they always are.

"The name Imogene belonged to Iracebeth's mother in law." Hatter said plainly.

And somewhere, deep in Alice's mind she felt that this was more then just a coincidence.

Hmm anyone want to guess if it's just a coincidence that Imogene has the same name as Iracebeth's mother in law? Review please!