Where am I? What year is it?

Yeah, sorry I've been gone for such a long while. Really!

It's like inspiration is drying up!

But please enjoy this chapter, I've done my best for you guys!

Nora's POV

Finally I'm at the Party. Now all I need is to find that Tazelwurm and get it to show me the way home. But I may need to ditch these heels, even if they go great with the dress. Gryphon led me in like a gentleman down hallway of Wurst-card soldiers standing at attention as we walked by. One was sneaking candy into his mouth, but he dropped it when we came close. I quietly giggled at that. Guess I'm a little excited to be going to such a fancy, and highly anticipated party.

"Squawk!" Finnwich stopped, "I nearly forgot!" The half-bird man pulled a red mask out of his coat pocket (yeah…). "You should be wearing this, my dear."

"Is the Tea Party a mascaraed?" I asked, putting it on.

"No." then he said in a whisper. "But it could erupt in a massacre if an unfriendly guest should see you."

"What?" is whispered back, urgently. "Who? Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't know you before. But then again…." he scratched his head looking confused. "Did I? My dear, you seem awfully familiar for a stranger, which all the more makes you stranger to everyone else. Someone here may not like that."

I thought of the Cheshire Cat. He might not be happy to see me. But then again, he can't get in without the invitation I got from him. But his owner, the Duchess…. Remembering her, and about Kimmie, I made sure the mask was well-adjusted to my face. Yeah, there are people here who I might need to avoid. I need to get out of here. I need to get home. That's when the ground rumbled.

"I say!" Gryphon exclaimed. Everything shook and sway for a few seconds, then everything went still. "Oh dear, she's already started. We best be on our way."

The entrance to the ballroom opened for us in a brilliant light. The entire room was massive! Reaching up way high, and around in an enormous circle. The walls, floors and columns were golden and a crystal chandelier resembling the moon that somehow managed to light it all up! Giant curved windows lined the walls with long, red table-clothed tables of food stood lined to feed hungry guests. The center-piece, in the middle of the ballroom was a twenty-foot tall teapot twirling on a dais. The design had the symbol of the Pyramid, along with strange green lines that almost made out letters both above and below it. And below the rotating teapot, were matching, regular sized teacups that looked like they were for the guests. In short: it looked amazing.

After he led me in and the doors closed behind us, Gryphon let go of my arm and said. "And now, my dear, I must leave you."

"I understand." I told him, smiling beneath my mask. "You have a show to get ready for."

He bowed at the waist saying. "I must make it a true show-stopper. My last bit of advice: do not anger the Queen in any way."

"Don't worry." I replied. "I'm not here to see her. I'm here to find something."

Before he left, Gryphon said one last thing. "When you are searching for something be sure to know what you are really looking for. Otherwise, you will see it and not realize you found it when it is already gone."

I walked around the ballroom full of people. I saw some faces that I had met earlier today. Like Butterfly-Tina, now the size of a human and interview guests with no sign of Chaz. Close to where the teacups lay, was Brandy, now fully dressed in Kimmie's pink clothes working the crowd. I thought of going up to them, especially when Tina decided to get a few words from Brandy. But then I remembered why I was here. I can't get distracted by all this grandeur! I gotta find the red tazelwurm! But where do I even start?

I started casting my eyes around the room, I see that just about everyone else I know back home has an Enigmaland look-alike here. Cam and Holger are dressed purple coats with orange ascots, yellow shirts and red pants, which makes them Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum. They had a crowd around them as they seemed to be acting out a mock-duel. I saw Chad Von Chillstein, there too. His head was still the same, but he was wearing a turtle shell and his arms and legs looks like a cows! It took me a minute to identify him as the Mock Turtle in a tuxedo. No one was paying him any attention, and I couldn't give him more than a second before moving on.

I'll stay by the buffet tables. That way if he slithers by, I'll hear Taz. Still keeping my eyes on the crowd I wasn't paying attention when someone ran right into me. "Ow!" we both cried. My mask fell off, but I quickly put it back on. "Hey!" I was about to get after the dunce who was running blindly in a crowded room- when I realized I knew him!

Granted, I don't think Lee Ping would be caught dead in a costume of a prince, even if it did match the colors of his regular clothes. But that red and black hair combo could only belong to one Asian teenager. He got up and uttered a fast, "I'm sorry!" before continuing to run. I got up, a part of me saying I needed to follow Lee. But when I hesitated I was knocked down again, this time by a woman in a black and red ball gown decorated with a heart on the bodice.

"Off with his head!" she screeched so loud I thought my ears might bleed. The Queen of Hearts, Lee's mother, was waving a giant scepter with a ruby gem on the top after her son. Up behind came Dr. Ping, dressed in his own regal clothes of black red and white.

"Honey, please!" He begged his wife. "He's our only son!"

The Queen put her hands on her hips, but didn't face her husband as she spoke to him. "Do not take me so literally, dear. We are holding this Tea Party and I want my son to be a proper host. That doesn't work if he is leaving!"

I debated whether I should get up. With my luck, I'd just be knocked down again. Dr. Ping suddenly noticed me. "That being said, we should both apologize for being bad hosts and knocking one of our lady-guests to the floor." The Queen gasped when she noticed me, and the King offered me a hand up.

"Thank you, Your highnesses." I said accepting the hand and dusting my dress off.

The Queen's expression brightened suddenly when she looked at me. She was more friendly. "Oh, I love that dress you are wearing! Where did you get it young lady?"

I looked down at my dress then back up at the two of them. "It's um… A gift! New! A present from my grandfather." It wasn't completely a lie.

Dr. Ping, the King of Hearts, spoke next, "Well, allow my wife and I to apologize for ruining your dress. Come, have some tea with us!"

That tazelwurm wasn't anywhere in sight. But Finnwich- I mean, Gryphon had warned me that it would be a big mistake to make the Queen angry. Being rude or saying no to her would definitely do that. So I simply smiled and said, "Thank you."

The King and Queen of Hearts had seemed to have forgotten about their son for the moment and guided me over to the giant teapot. "Have you ever been to a Tea Party before?" The King asked me.

Don't blow your cover girl. I replied. "Well… this is my first Royal Tea Party. I did enjoy the riddle to get in, Your Highness."

"It came to me in a dream!" he boasted. His wife nudged him. The King coughed and then said, "This is no ordinary teapot I'll have you know." He gestured to the giant teapot.

"I noticed!" I said, enthusiastically. "I like the design on it. It looks so…" I didn't want to say familiar. "Ancient. Is it an heirloom?"

"Something like that." The King said.

Then the Queen said. "With this teapot you do not choose your own tea, your own tea chooses you!"

"What does that mean?" I asked. Enigmaland.

"I will show you." The Queen stated.

She walked up to one of the teacups and picked it up with the plate. "Tea me!" She ordered. From out of the spout the hot, watery, brown liquid looped and weaved through the air until it landed in the Queen's teacup! The Queen then took a sip and hummed, showing she enjoyed the tea. "Blood Orange Ginger Sorbet!" The Queen declared. Everyone around instantly applauded, so I did too.

Honestly, amazed when the Queen walked back to us I asked her, "How does that work? I've never seen any kind of teapot do that!"

"It's a mystery." The King told me. "But the Pyramid Pot, can only be used once every hundred years. It's believed that it gives each person the specific kind of tea they need to drink. Whether it is medicine, or a trait in their personality!"

"I wanted to tell her that!" Barked the Queen.

So that's why this party is being held! I could make a pun about everyone getting 'their cup of tea' here… but really? I'm not the bold. "May I give it a try?"

The Queen nodded. I walked up to the little table and picked up the closest teacup. "Um… Tea me, please?" Just like with the Queen, the colored water circled around in the air until it all landed in my cup. Now that is pretty cool! I took a sip of the tea. I tried to place it, but I had never tasted this before. I went back to the Royals.

"What did it give you?" The Queen asked.

"I'm not sure." I said to her. "I've never tasted this kind. It's warm, kind of sweet with a bitter aftertaste. Smells floral… but it's not exactly invigorating or relaxing. It's kind of like it's barely alive."

"Hmm." The Queen and King both studied the cup I was holding. Then the King looked up and asked me. "A mystery to be discovered." The King spoke like a scientist. "The Pyramid must have given you this for a reason. You should finish and remember this tea, it might explain a struggle you are going through or are yet to face."

"I don't think that possible." I told the King. "I've recently overcome something that's plagued my family for years. Generations even. I think the biggest difficulty in my life has been overcome."

The Queen looked at me sternly. "Never assume things are what they are." She wagged a finger at me like she was scolding. "The quality of our minds is based on our state of mind."

The King interrupted. "Don't you mean 'The quality of our lives,' my lotus blossom?"

The Queen glared at him. "Do not interrupt me." Then she said back to me. "Just because you think things are slowing down does not mean that they are. You are missing something. Try looking around where you are; you may find what you are really looking for." And with that, they both left and disappeared into the crowd of odd people.

"Yeah," I said to myself, now that I was alone again. "That didn't make any sense at all…" Yet…. Why am I getting a Sensei Hong-vibe from what the Queen said. What am I missing? Dad? Yeah he's gone… I don't know if he's gone-gone, but I'll never know that if I don't get home! "I won't run away." I utter my mantra into my tea. "That won't solve anything, my problems just chase after me." I took a sip. The tea still tasted the same. Deciding that I didn't like the taste, I 'lost' it among the plates of food on the buffet. But I could not stop thinking about it.

Sweet and then bitter? Yeah, that's pretty normal. But flowery and dead? That's all so hypocritical! Contradicting flavors don't help to explain anything! "Maybe that's why this is my Wonderland." I say, "It easier to say what little does make sense against all that doesn't. I just know I need to find the Tazelwurm."

As I walked the room, I saw people whose features were also covered in mask that kept their faces even more covered than mine did. I had to get out of her and go… and go…

Wait, is there somebody watching me now?

A/N: Uh- oh... did that tea do something to Nora? Or is someone really following her?

The Party is just getting started.

Mwha-ha-ha-HA!

*Ahem* Please review! :)