Chapter 20: The Whisper Box:

Nancy's POV:

I woke up and... I was in my room. Something was strange, but I wasn't sure what it was.

"Hey, Nancy, you up yet," asks Shaun, "Mom's making waffles."

"Yeah, I just... I'm sorry, repeat that last one, please."

. . .

I walked down the stairs and saw my Mom was alive and she was making waffles! I was so happy; I hugged my Mom.

. . .

I was with my friends at Pop's.

"It's weird," I said, "I feel like I'm supposed to be doing something..."

"You need to relax," says Bess, "especially since you're going to the dance with Chuck Clayton!"

"Yeah, I... wait, what?" I don't even remember anything about a dance.

. . .

I was walking and everything seemed normal.

"Don't tell me you're falling for that again," says a cat.

"Did you just talk," I asked.

"Oh, I see, the fantasy's messing with your memories. Okay, tell me, what's wrong with this entire picture?"

I looked around. Archie's dating Veronica, Betty's with Reggie, Jughead's dating Ethel, Cheryl's dating Toni Topaz. "Everything looks fine to me," I said.

"Right, I'm going to need something so unlikely, so ridiculous, so..."

"Wait, is that Bess," I asked, "is she trying to get that guy's attention," I asked.

"Yes," says the cat.

"But... Bess is a lesbian..." Then it started coming back to me. "I'm stuck in another illusion!"

"Seriously... I mean... Bingo," says Salem, the talking cat friend of Sabrina Spellman's.

"Wait, how are you here," I asked.

"I go where I go," says Salem.

"Weird," I said, "what is this?"

"The Whisper Box," says Salem, "it traps you in a fantasy world. The world is supposed to be your fantasy, seeing your mother again, having a date with Chuck Clayton, but it makes some mistakes."

"Like mixing things up," I said.

"Hey Nancy," says some guy.

"Who was that," I asked.

"I think his name is Ace," says Salem, "but enough about him. Getting in is easy, getting out is the hard part. You must find the key!"

"And how do I find this key," I asked.

"I have no idea," says Salem, "only you can find it. Now, if you excuse me, I have to leave. Imaginary mice never taste as good as the real things." Salem then disappears.

"Just find a key... wait, if this is my badly put together dream world, then the key would be where I would put it, right?"

. . .

I was in my room, looking for the key, but I didn't find it.

"Where else could it... hold on, I was going over this all wrong," I said, "if this is my world, then this is a mystery!" I then looked through my room for clues and I found something. It looked like my 'Mom' left her brush in my room.

. . .

I then looked at Pop's. I saw Ned and George making out. Interesting change. I then looked under the seat and I found another strange thing, a pair of shoes.

. . .

I then looked at the hidden staircase. That's definitely a good place to find a clue. I then found my 'Mom' tied to a chair. I was going to untie her, but then I realized she wasn't even real, so I ran.

. . .

I then took a look at the clues. They were all related to my Mom. That's when I realized where the key was!

. . .

I was at the cemetery, looking for my Mom's grave. I just hope that in a world where she's alive, the grave would be here. Then a cloaked figure tries to stop me. I then knocked him to the ground and the hood came off and it was that guard from the asylum.

"You," I said.

"Congratulations are in order," he says, "I suppose. And that cat was right, this is a fantasy. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Liam Crandle, the new Mad Hatter!" He then puts on a Mad Hatter styled hat.

"How did you get in here and how do you know about the cat," I asked.

"I am only part of this fantasy," says Mad Hatter, "the Whisper Box doesn't let anyone into someone else's fantasy. The idea is to create the ideal world for you!"

"And you think I'd want Archie to date Veronica," I asked.

"Unfortunately, when it creates a fantasy, other changes must be made," says Mad Hatter.

"Help me find the key," I said.

"I'm crushed," he says, "you don't like the fantasy world I brought you to?"

"It's not real," I said.

"Are you the dreamer or merely part of someone's dream," asks Mad Hatter, "that was just the question Tweedledee put to Alice in Through the..."

"This isn't some silly storybook," I said.

"Ah, but it is, it's a beautiful story. You have your mother back and you get to be with the new boy of your dreams! All you've ever wanted! Your own private Wonderland!"

"Yeah, well, Alice didn't exactly want to stay," I said.

"Good point," says Mad Hatter. I then took his hat and threw it. "Hey!"

While he was distracted, I ran.

. . .

First Scarecrow, and now Mad Hatter. What's next, Peter Pan? I then looked at the gravestones I did find, Brenda Carlton, Ginger Snapp, and the former Serpent known as Slash.

"Since you seem to like the dead so much," says Mad Hatter, "here they are!"

Then Carlton, Snapp, and Slash all rose from the graves as zombies. I busted each of them and then they all got killed by the Black Hood. Now I have to deal with imaginary zombies.

"Now would be a good time for the Winchesters to show up," I said.

"Off with her head," says Mad Hatter.

The zombies came at me, and I had to fight them off, but I'm not Nicky Shen. I then found a stick and I hit them with it, knocking their heads off.

"Like the irony," I asked.

"Not bad," says Mad Hatter, "but zombies can put their heads back on!"

Salem then comes out of nowhere and leaps on the Mad Hatter's head. "Hurry," says Salem, "go do what you gotta do!"

I ran.

. . .

I then found the grave. 'Here Lies Kate Drew'. I then touched the stone.

. . .

The next thing I knew, I was back out. I then saw the guard and he was wearing the Mad Hatter Hat. "But how..." asks Mad Hatter.

I then grabbed the box and aimed it at him. "Through the Looking Glass," I said.

He then ran, but Ned, George, and Bess showed up.

"Why's the guard wearing a top hat," asks George.

"Because he's also..." I then realized he was a thin man. "Do you have any books I could look at?"

. . .

"Sorry," says Shaun, "that Wonderland Wacko used that hat of his to hypnotize me."

"All he has are Alice in Wonderland books," says George.

"Maybe he isn't who Patrice was talking about," says Bess.

"If you're referring to a thin man," says Mad Hatter, "she might have meant a ghost, and that book might be that bible over there."

"Why are you helping us," I asked.

"Because your brother has my hat, and I literally can't do anything without it."

I looked in the bible and there was something about a movie tape.

. . .

We forced the Mad Hatter to show us how to work a VCR and we put the tape the message talked about in. It was Tiffany.

"I learned something about Lucy Sable's death... I know who did it and..." the tape ends.

"Who were you working for," I asked.

I then realized the Mad Hatter was gone and he took the hat with him. Curiouser and curiouser.

In the next chapter, Nancy continues to try to find out who killed Lucy.