More than One Rabbit Hole
Chapter 3: Curiouser and Curiouser
-~:#:~-
""Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!"
Well, now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you.""
—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
A/N: Hi. I'm finally continuing this story. The reason: My friend "Heze-chan/ Jasmine/ Haley, is hanging out at my house and forcing me to write the next chapter. I will not include the threat used… (: well, I'm actually kinda happy that I get to write more of this story but, err…Writer's block. Don't worry though readers! I will write more. I just need to work on it…Oh! And by the way, in the last chapter I said that Jasmine stayed behind in the house while Clover and Gwen went off exploring. What I meant to write was that Clover stayed behind while the others went out exploring. Sorry for the confusion.
Clover stood there standing for all of five seconds before she remembered herself and greeted him politely. Just a bit embarrassed at her delayed reaction. Then she sent a meaningful look to her two friends standing behind the giant. The look clearly said. 'Who is this guy, and wow he is tall!'
"Okay this is… Awkward." Jasmine stated, glaring daggers at Gwen.
Gwen grinned and looked up at the man in front of her.
Jas and Clover could tell from that look that if they didn't do something soon, Gwen was going to stomp right into the room and make a big show of how she was fully intending to stay in the man's house, whether of not he approved.
Jasmine sighed inperceivably and decided she would be the one who would have to deal with their currant awkward situation.
"Sorry, but mister?" The man looked at her with his usual stoic expression, and she took it as her cue to continue. "I'm Jasmine Hart and this is my cousin Clover Hart. The one who tried to use you as a leaning post is Gwendolyn Masters.
At this Clover sent her a questioning glance. Which Jasmine returned with a shake of her head. Gwen was Gwen. Mischief and she went hand in hand.
But the man still made no move to introduce himself. Things where getting more awkward by the second. If someone didn't explain things soon, he was going to think they were all thieves or something.
Clover saw Gwen about to open her mouth and without thinking started talking. In situations like these you see, Clover had a habit of just explaining everything bluntly and directly. Not having time to make up excuses or do anything but explain honestly. So that's what she did.
"I'm sorry that we all let ourselves into your house uninvited but we fell down this rabbit hole and ended up in the woods near here which I think might be a part of some other world and we didn't know where we were so we just kept walking and eventually we found this place and we were really tired so we let ourselves in. I'm sorry for being rude, I know his is your house and all, but could you please explain to us what is going on and excuse us for barging into your house?" She finished in one rushed breath.
They all stared at the man expectantly. Still no response that they could see. However the man's eyes darted to stare at something behind Clover and suddenly the huge, fuzzy dog they had seen before was trampling down the hallway and practically jumping into the arms of his owner.
"Down! Down Dom!" And to their surprise he grinned.
"Oh. You're outsiders." He stated as if it explained a lot.
All three girls gave a deft nod.
"I've never met any before." He stared at us for a moment then continued. "My name is August. I am the Tracker. I work for the Red Queen."
Again, Jasmine and Clover cocked their heads, Gwen raised an eyebrow.
As if to say 'You don't really expect us to understand that do you?'
August sighed, realizing he was going to have to do a lot of explaining.
"Come inside, I'll put on some tea."
'Does this count as passing the first test?' Clover thought dryly.
They all followed him to the living room they had already investigated when they had first discovered the house.
"Sit down." He said frankly, almost like an order before disappearing into what must have been a kitchen.
Following this there was a series of loud bangings and crashings. Five minutes later August appeared back in the living room juggling four large mugs of what may have been tea. It was hard to tell. It certainly did seem to be some dark colored liquid, and maybe it almost smelled like some… odd version of Earl Grey. Maybe.
He set the down of a table in front of the girls and took a seat in a large armchair parallel to them.
The girls exchanged looks.
Someone who knew them well might have been able to follow the silent conversation, but to their host, it was completely undecipherable.
'What is this goop?!'
'Do we drink this?'
'I'm not even sure if its tea!'
'But I don't want to be rude…'
'Honestly I'm a little scared to drink this stuff…'
'Maybe it's not as bad as it looks?...'
'No! Don't do it!' The other two girls' eyes widened as Jasmine took a sip.
She gagged, then tried to hide it with a cough.
August smiled. "How is it? It's my special blend."
Jasmine forced a smile and gave him a thumbs up sign, not trusting herself to speak.
Clover and Gwen discreetly placed their cups on the table.
"So…" Gwen started, "Where is this place?"
"This is the royal forest. Right now we're nearest to the country of Scarlet, sister to the country of White. But technically the forest exists directly in the middle of the two. (There are also the countries of Spades, Clovers, Hearts, and Diamonds.) This is a very different world from the one you girls live in. Every now and then an Outsider will come to this world and become a part of the Game. You three," He gestured to the awestruck girls. "Are the newest players."
"…What?"
"I suppose you three will have to stay somewhere, I can't just let you wander around, especially with all the wild animals in these woods. (Not to mention people). I guess I'll clean out the old guest bedroom." He started trudging up some stairs.
"Wha—wait! Hold on a second!"
"Hmm?" he peered down at Gwen questioningly.
"You're telling us, that this is another world?"
He nodded. She stared.
You've gotta be kidding me.
The man sighed again. "Well, I suppose this is a bit much to take in. Sorry, but I can't really explain it. You'll just have to figure it out in time."
Just as they were about to protest there was a knock at the door.
"Hmm? Why are there so many visitors?"
Gwen turned to the other two.
"Are you guys buying this? This guy's a nut!"
"Shhh! Stop it!"
"Look. We just fell down a suspicious rabbit hole and somehow ended up upside-down in the middle of nowhere, met a guy who make vicious tea, saw him create a cup from thin air, and you're asking me if I believe this?"
Well what could she say to that?
Jasmine turned her head towards the voices coming from the back door.
"I wonder who's here…"
"Who cares? Sense this is a dream anyways."
The two girls looked at Gwen dumbfounded.
"You seriously still think this is a dream?" Jasmine said disbelievingly.
"Yes."
…
Clover and Jasmine both simultaneously reached across the table and pinched Gwen on an arm. A double sided attack one might say.
"Ow! What was that for?!" She frowned at them.
"For acting stupid. This is obviously not a dream. If it were, you would have woken up from that, right?" Clover said.
Gwen looked down at the growing red blotches on her arms. Then looked up.
"Still think it's a dream?" Clover said dryly.
"…Fine." Gwen sighed.
Jas snickered for a second, then turned her gaze back to the doorway…
Her eyes shot open wide and she screamed.
At the sound of her scream the two other girls turned their shocked faces to her and cried out with questions of 'what?!' 'What's wrong!?'
In reply Jasmine pointed one shaking finger at the person standing in the doorway.
He had no face.
This of course made the other two girls join in on the 'freaking out session' Jasmine had started.*
Fall down a hole in the ground into another world? Fine. See a guy with no face? I don't think so! There was a limit to what even these girls could take.
"What are you screaming about?" August asked, acting as if everything was completely normal.
"He—!...He has no face…" Gwen said with a voice that trailed off pitifully.
"That's because he doesn't have a role." August said, then added half to himself "Does everyone have a face in your world?"
The three girls nodded, and slowly loosed themselves from the tight huddle they had formed. One by one the girls walked closer to the door, to timidly get a better look at the face-less man.
"…Hello." The man greeted them in an unsure tone.
"Hello." They replied at once, a reflex. "Uh…Sorry..."
He nodded. Knowing what they meant although they hardly even did.
The man wore a bulky red uniform and strange little hat that made him look remarkably like a chess pawn.
"Anyway, you have a message from Her Majesty?"
"Oh, yes, right here." The faceless man said, getting back on track. "It's a message from her Majesty the Red Queen in regards to the rumored Outsiders that have arrived in Wonderland."
"Wow. Word travels fast in…Wonderland doesn't it?" Clover said with a raised eyebrow.
"Let me guess. She wants to meet them at the palace right? When?"
"…As soon as possible. So…"
August sighed and folded the letter back up. "Got it. We'll leave right now then."
"What? We're going somewhere already?" Jasmine said surprised.
"It would be a bad idea to take too long carrying out an order from her majesty."
He pulled the coat (which he had taken off just moments before) off a hook on the wall and put it back on before turning around at the doorway as though suddenly remembering something.
"…I should also probably warn you about…" He looked to the side thoughtfully, then seemed to change his mind. "Well, never-mind. Come on."
The three girls exchanged glances but followed.
August explained that 'Chess Forest' (as the three outsiders learned it was actually called) was located right between the country of White and the Country of Red.
The girls thought that no matter how you looked at it, Chess Forest was a very strange place. Now, the girls had already seen some of it on their journey from the bush to August's house, but it seemed to just get weirder the longer they walked.
Some parts of it looked no different from a normal forest. But then they would pass through a shadowed part of the forest and suddenly the trees would be tinged purple or something that looked frightfully like a giant firefly would zoom by.
Not to mention the fact that the grass along the path was checker-patterned.
It was soon made apparent that exploring the place was a must. However, how they would manage not to get lost in the process would be difficult—what with all the corkscrew paths and utterly malevolent sign posts.
Perhaps I should explain how a signpost could be malevolent.
You see there was only one that they saw on their way to the palace (although August assured them there were more), but the signpost seemed to be made in a way that would only assist someone in getting more lost. Gwen saw that one of the labels on the sign was printed backwards, Jasmine saw that one arrow pointing up at the sky warned one to 'watch your feet', and apparently one of the middle arrows pointed 'to Yesterday' which utterly baffled Clover.
But I digress.
Eventually, after may twists and turns they came to the gates of what must have been the Scarlet Castle. Let's just say that they had a bit of a color scheme going on.
In front of the castle was a large, black, iron-wrought gate. The many decorative curls and tendrils, along with the oddly shaped spires on the top, made it look utterly imposing.
All the same, the girls (being as they were) felt a faint urge to take up the challenge of climbing it. Luckily the resisted.
"I was summoned by the Queen. I've brought the outsiders." August said this formally to the three guardsmen.
You may have guessed, but none of these guards had any faces. All the same, the girls got the impression that they were stared curiously at for a moment before they were ushered through.
Somehow, the gates made much less nose in closing that expected.
"This place is…"
"Oh my God."
It looked like a palace that had come out of a highly stylized (or slightly warped) storybook. Yes, there was definitely a theme going on.
An off-white colored stone shone like polished marble (which perhaps it was) and bouncing off it was a rose-tinted light. This wasn't surprising considering how (with the exception of the strange off-white stone) the majority of the palace was different shades of red, and much of the details were pure black.
There were at least 20 differently sized tapering towers, one of which (near the front) had what looked like a stone crown wrapped around it. Several curving arches hung between towers and over courtyards with no discernable purpose.
Furthermore, a hexagonal fountain gurgled in the middle of the courtyard.
"Welcome, this way please." The polite voice of the faceless maid brought back the girls' attention as she began leading them down the long hallway which was periodically peppered with guards.
"Guys, look at the floor!" Clover whispered, pointing discreetly at the checkered black and red tiles.
"…I feel like it's probably not normal that we are distracted enough by the weird architecture that we just accept the faceless people," Jasmine said lowly.
"Sense when are we normal?" Gwen responded dryly.
"In comparison to what exactly?" It's not like we're in a normal place anyway.
Before they knew it the trio were standing before a tall set of heavy doors and August was leaning down to tell a servant what was probably their names. A few seconds later red-bannered trumpets were announcing their arrival with apparently mandatory fanfare.
Tracker August West escorting Outsiders: Miss Jasmine Hart, Miss Clover Hart, and Miss Gwendolyn Masters as summoned by Her Majesty the Red Queen.
Here we go, thought the three girls simultaneously as the doors opened and light flooded their faces.
-~:#:~-
A/N: And with that this chapter is FINALLY done! I apologize so so so so so much for not publishing this until today. A lot of stuff happened so I wasn't able to complete the other half of this chapter until now. Again, sorry. I even received a PM asking for an update. I'm so ashamed. Well, at the very least I did complete a character chart. So expect a meeting with some severely unusual people in this fanfic. Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/favorited/followed. I love you guys. Please give me feedback for this chapter. VIRTUAL COOKIES TO ALL!