Lane wandered as far away from the castle as possible without actually leaving civilization. She walked the streets and was greeted by several people as 'Ace'. Some of them were star struck to see her, others coward in fear from the sight of her. A few children followed for a bit until their parents pulled them away while telling them to mind their manners. It had seemed like a few hours had passed by before she came across a street vendor selling what resembled Italian ices.

"You look like you could use a cold treat." The vendor said.

"I don't have any cash on me." Lane said.

"That's never a problem when it comes to serving you. It's always on the house." He .

"Oh, thank you!" She said smiling wide.

The vendor paused and stared dumbfounded at Lane.

"I-Is something the matter, sir?" She said.

"I mean, I don't think anyone has ever seen you smile before. I mean at least not kindly, no disrespect, madam." He said nervously avoiding eye contact with her the whole time.

"Smiling hurt sometimes." She said in a matter of fact tone.

Smiling did hurt her jaw at times. Her mouth was actually set into what most people called a 'permanent frown'. People always thought she was and angry and somewhat scary looking person until they got to know her better.

"That it does, madam. What flavor would you like?" He said.

"What flavors do you have?" She said.

"We have purple soulfruit, zesty zebra, extravagant silk, honey suckle red, angel trumpet citrus, and watermelon." He said.

Lane had only heard of one of those things ever being flavors.

'The hell am I supposed to pick. Watermelon is all fine and dandy but the angel trumpet citrus sounds like it's good too.' She thought.

"Are any of these products made from Oysters?" She said.

"No just normal flavors. I'd be able to charge an arm and a leg for these if that was the case though." He laughed at his own words.

"I'll take the angel trumpet citrus, please." She said.

The vendor handed her the paper container as well as a plastic spoon. Lane thanked him before walking off.

The angel trumpet citrus hadn't been that bad. It tasted like sorbet ice cream with a hint of what a flower would smell like. It also made Lane feel very light headed and free. She found herself wandering into the woods and talking to the trees and animals she came across. The more she walked the funnier she felt. There came a point Lane could only describe as her experience like taking acid. She had never done it herself but the people who did explained the feeling to her before. There's nothing worse than having a bad trip and being alone, and that's exactly what was happening to Lane.

"Jesus Christ! Why is this happening to me!?" Lane yelled frantically.

Lane felt like she was melting into the forest floor with every step she took. Anytime something brushed past her it felt like something was trying to grab at her. The tress and animals from before turned into demonic figures. She had no choice but to get into the fetal position and shut and her and cover ears as tightly as possible. She wasn't sure how long she had been crying out of sheer terror but her eyes were puffier than ever before and her nose felt completely stuffed up. Her muscles were sore and her hair was drenched with her tears. She got up and wiped her eyes before she saw the sun had gone almost completely down. She had gotten lost during her trip and didn't know which way she came. She started to cry again before hearing rustling in the trees.

"Why so upset?" a voice came from above.

Lane thought she was still tripping and covered her ears.

"It's not real. It's not real. Just calm down." Lane chanted to herself.

"I beg your pardon. I am too real." The voice sounded closer this time.

Lane felt brush her leg before freaking out again. She looked down and saw glowing yellow eyes, and the silhouette of a cat.

"You're alright, love." The cat said.

Lane stared at the cat.

'What?" Lane said.

"I said you're alright." The cat repeated.

Lane watched as the cat moved its mouth to the words that were coming out.

"I'm so tired." Lane said.

"Aren't we all?" the cat said before grinning from ear to ear.

Lane saw how big the cat's mouth was and how many teeth it had; sharp and large for what appeared to have been a cat… on the outside. With one last once of sanity she managed to lie herself down before letting exhaustion take her away from her living nightmare.

Lane woke up to the sun shining in her face. She had slept through the night. She moved around a bit to alleviate the stiffness that had formed in her body, especially her neck and back. She could feel covers on top of her and underneath her. Opening her eyes she saw she was in a bed inside a house she had never seen before. It was the look and feel of the wood cabins she'd only seen in movies.

"Good, you're up." a familiar voice said.

Lane jumped and hit her head against the headboard which was made of wood carved into a nice arc shape, like how a lounge would look.

She saw a man standing at the foot of the bed she was in. He looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties. He was dressed in black and purple attire, had semi-short, scruffy, black hair with a purplish tint to it, and had hypnotic yellow eyes. He had a mischievous grin on his face.

"Good to finally see you awake. I was afraid you'd up and died on me." The man said.

"Really!?" Lane said surprised.

"No. Just yanking your chain." The man said.

He offered Lane his hand to shake.

"Cheshire Cat." Cheshire said.

"Lane Fields." Lane said accepting his hand shake.

"It was really strange finding you last night. At first I thought you were someone else, but your scent said otherwise." He said.

"Last night? …You were that cat?" She said.

"Yes indeed, madam." He said grinning from ear to ears.

'Yeah. That mouth of his looks even more dangerous on his human form.' She thought with a shudder.