Rangers In Wonderland
Chapter 2 – Lady Kingsleigh

Shelby and Kendall secured authorization from the museum to go ahead and fly to London. Shelby brought along her copies of the Kingsleigh diaries to read over and Kendall reviewed the contract details and organizing the itinerary. "The car is going to pick us up at the airport and we'll check in at the hotel. Get some rest tonight, we have to be up early to drive out to the manor."

"Where is it anyway?" Shelby asked.

"Hampshire." Kendall smirked a bit, "Didn't you get to the bit where Alice bought the Ascot estate after Hamish ran the company to the ground?"

"I'm getting there, I think she gave him a very generous deal," Shelby returned to her book. "Especially after everything he'd done to her family. Manipulating her mother, humiliating her after faithful service, sending her to an asylum."

"He had a wife and children," Kendall reminded her. "You'll read the part when her sister asks about that and she says the children had no right to pay for their father's foolishness. She gave Hamish enough to afford a respectable home, a job as an under-secretary at her company and supported his kids through school."

"So we're heading out to THE Ascot estate," Shelby bounced a little in her seat. "This is like a dream come true."

*RIW*

They landed and spent the night at a modest hotel before driving to the Kingsleigh Estate tucked away in the Hampshire countryside. The land was a patchwork quilt of fields of yellows and meadows of emerald green under a pastel blue sky. It was hard to deny the simplistic beauty of the place, like stepping out of civilization and time itself.

The current Kingsleigh estate home was situated in clearing in a patch of trees. The lawn was flat with a long drive up to the front. The house, if it could be called that, was a long rectangle with windows and ivy covering the façade. A lone figure stood by the front door waving at the car as it pulled up. Shelby and Kendall got out and saw it was a woman who they assumed to be Alice's granddaughter. She had willowy frame with pale skin, kind blue eyes, and blonde hair piled into a messy bun on her head. She wore a baby blue cotton dress and blue flats and had a bracelet of braided ribbons around her wrist. She smiled brightly at their approach, "Hello!"

"Miss Kingsleigh," Kendall reached for a handshake "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Please call me Ally," the women insisted taking her hand. "My mother named me Alice but as far as I'm concerned, there is only one Alice Kingsleigh and I'm not her."

"Okay Ally," Kendall nodded. "I'm Kendall Morgan and this is Shelby Watkins. We work together at the museum, she is an admirer of your grandmother."

"She inspired me so much," Shelby also shook her hand. "Although I'm more into paleontology than commerce."

"My grandmother was fascinated with dinosaurs," Ally told her. "They were a fairly new idea during her time, controversial even but that what's made it all the more interesting for her. Trade was exciting once, going to strange new places, meeting new people, now it's all computers and numbers, takes a bit of the wonder out of it."

"Just a bit," Shelby concurred.

"Well come in, there is much to discuss," Ally led them into the house. It huge but also comforting in a way. Soft colours, wood floors, carpeting and fresh plants soften would have been an intimidating atmosphere. A painting of Alice Kingsleigh herself hung in the foyer with a small bouquet of periwinkles sat on a table underneath. "This isn't the first time I've lent out the collection to museums but there are some pieces that have never been seen before."

"Really?" Shelby awed.

"Oh yes," Ally said gravely. "This is why I wanted to meet with you personally. I understand that there is some conflict going on in the area."

"I can personally assure you that your collection will be well guarded," Kendall swore.

"There is one thing I was considering donating permanently," Ally continued. "However I need to be sure I'm giving it to the right people but there are couple of things I need to know."

"Of course," Kendall agreed. "How can we help?"

Ally studied them a long moment, "Tell me everything you can about the Power Rangers."

A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN! Bet you thought I had disappeared off the face of the earth. Nope I'm still here, trying my hardest to crank out stories but it's been nothing but delays for weeks. Hopefully now things can return to something resembling normalcy. Until next time, ENJOY! R&R PLZ!