Chapter seven – Plan in motion.

Tap, tap, tap! Alice groaned, she didn't want to get up and answer the door, but her Hatter was sound asleep, and would feel terrible to wake him up. He was exhausted. She slowly pulled his arm of her waist as she stood up from the couch and went to answer the door. It was Jane, "Hi! I thought you might be here, can I talk to you?" she asked Alice. Alice threw a quick glance at the Hatter as he rolled over to face the back of the couch, assuming he was still sleeping, she slipped outside. "I just wanted to apologize for how I was before, it was so rude. I was just surprised, I hadn't heard of any other humans making their way into Underland." Alice appreciated her apology, and accepted it, "and I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable in any way" Jane accepted Alice's apology too. "Would you like to come for a walk?" Jane asked her, "sure, let me just run in and do something" she replied cheerily.

Alice ran inside and scribbled a note on an envelope she found.

Dear Hatter, If you wake up before I get back, I've gone for a walk with Jane.
Please don't worry
, I'm perfectly safe. I love you, Alice.

She placed it on the table right next to the couch, where she was sure he would find it, and again, slipped out the door to see Jane. They walked for a short while before they came to a small meadow where Jane ran to the middle of and started spinning around in circles, what fun! Alice thought and mimicked Jane, both spinning around and around, giggling the whole time. When Jane sat down, Alice noticed that she was carrying a basket, which Jane began pulling sweets and sandwiches out of. She didn't realize it until right then, but Alice was starving, she began eating the sandwiches as soon as she saw them. The girls sat there eating their food, sharing stories and bonding. Alice was so excited for her new found friendship and Jane found herself having fun as well.

"I had such a lovely time today Alice, it's the first time I've felt like I belong while being in Underland, I mean, I spent so much time with the Hatter, and Thackery and Chessur-" Alice's face fell, "Are you okay?" Jane gave her a concerned look "No. I just realized something. We have to leave right away!" she said quickly as she gathered up the leftovers, put them in the bag and began to run as fast as she could back the way they came, Jane had a hard time keeping up, and Alice did slow down for her a few times, but she needed to get back to the house. She ran in through the door to see his house empty. Okay, that she had not expected, she ran over to where she placed her letter and saw that it had indeed been read, that's when she noticed a tea tray on the floor next to the dining table, and a chair knocked over. She began to cry, again. Her Hatter had been taken!

Jane, who had lagged behind walked in to see Alice sitting in the couch, her face stained with tears. She darted right over to her and wrapped her arm around Alice's shoulders, Alice turned and buried her face in Jane's shoulder. She let her stay like that for a while, but then shifted and finally asked her, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Alice wiped away her tears as she began to explain how she'd realized that she hadn't seen Chessur since she'd gotten to Underland, which was strange to her, and how she ran back to tell the Hatter and ask if he'd seen him at all, which is when she noticed the knocked over chair and tea tray. She began to cry again, thinking that her Hatter was gone, her love. They'd just started to be together, could they really be pulled apart so quickly? Alice needed to find him and bring him back.

"I'll help you find him, there's got to be a clue around her somewhere" Jane explained as she got up and tried to find something to lead them to Tarrant's captors. Alice, feeling silly for not doing so already, got up and started to look as well. They looked all over floors, under the couch, in cupboards, they tore the house apart looking for something, anything , to connect someone to his disappearance. "Oh it's hopeless!" Alice called out, she was desparate to get her Hatter back, but was also terrified that he was hurt and it was clouding the way she thought, it was confusing her. Jane continued to look anyway, she too starting to realize the hopelessness of the situation, until, under the tea tray she saw something, a ripped piece of fabric, she crawled closer to it to look and see if it was indeed a clue, and was shocked at what she found. It was a small red fabric square, with white and black detail, the exact detail that was on Iracebeth's dress. She pocketed the material and went to sit with Alice. "I couldn't find anything" she lied, "maybe the white queen will be able to help?" she asked, Jane offered her hand to help Alice to her feet, "okay" was the only thing Alice could really say. She was too upset to think properly.