That night Alice tossed and turned in bed, unable to rid her mind of William's words during their brief dance, which seemed like hours to her. She was surprised that her mother didn't wake from her movements as she was sleeping right next to her. She turned once more and stared up at the ceiling trying to conjure up what she should - or if she would - do about the queen's situation. 'I can't just sleep here soundly while Mirana could be in potential danger in her own castle' she thought. She grimaced as she recalled the new king's words. 'There will be revenge for everything you've done...Won't you join us love?' She felt sick just thinking about it. 'Wait' she thought. Alice frowned and sat up carefully, trying not to startle her mother. "Us," she whispered to herself. 'Who's us? Who could he possibly be working with?' she thought. That did it. She had to go find out what was going on with that unpleasant, repulsive man. But she needed to let Hatter know first, he was one of the only people she trusted the most. He might be able to help her.
Alice was cautious when sneaking out of her room. She didn't need her mother having more problems and stress. She tip-toed silently to the door watching her mum, who was sleeping peacefully on her right side facing away from her daughter. Alice smiled at how relaxed her mother looked; she had never seen her so tranquil. Alice believed she even heard a few light snores. So hurriedly, but quietly, she slipped out of the room and headed down to Hatter's. She lightly gave the door a couple knocks to see if he was awake. Nothing. Then again, she remembered it was around 3 am, so why would anyone be awake at this hour? Alice suddenly felt foolish for trying to see if her friend was awake at such a dreadfully early hour. 'I shall speak to him in the morning' she thought and turned around, beginning to walk away when the door behind her opened abruptly. She immediately turned around to face what seemed to be a wide awake Hatter. "I assume you can't sleep either," he whispered to her. She felt relieved that she didn't wake him up. Her small smile soon turned into a demeanor of seriousness as she quickly whispered back to him, "I need to speak with you...about something rather urgent." Tarrant felt an uneasiness come over him as he heard the tone in his friend's voice. "Come in," he whispered, cracking the door fully open and letting her come into his room.
"Why hadn't you told me this at the castle!" Hatter exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down because the rest of the household was asleep. "I wanted to, trust me, but I guess I got distracted when James made a...quite unexpected appearance...," Alice replied and lowered her voice more - if that was even possible - and proceeded, "...and William also threatened me." The Hatter's eyes widened as his expression turned to that of anger, "That's it. No one messes with my friends! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" Tarrant rose from the bed where they sat and headed towards the door. "Wait!" Alice whispered and ran to block the door. She faced him and said, "You don't know what he or this person he's working with are capable of. He could harm us or our families if he found out I told you what he told me." The Hatter stared at her for a moment reasoning with himself. Alice placed her hands softly on his arms in an attempt to make him stay, "Please just wait. Perhaps we could find out ourselves what he's planning. What do you say we sneak into Marmoreal and look around for clues?" She raised an eyebrow and waited for a response. The Hatter's frown turned into a smile. His eyes scanned Alice up and down then he looked down at his own figure. He looked back up at her and told her, "Well we can't go out in these dull clothes."