Whew! Last chapter today!
Anyways, I hope you are enjoying the story so far- I am! I love writing about these goofballs. Anyways, this chapter is especially long, and gives lots more explanation of my version of Wonderland. Enjoy!

-LLF

Luz sat bored for quite some time, pacing, laying upside down, singing and twirling, tripping, staring at the treetops, laying in the soft grass, thinking of Lucia and Amity and Wonderland and this mysterious Court… you get the gist.

She was, in fact, still laying in the lavender-scented grass when a familiar, infernal, deranged Mickey Mouse voice jolted her up.

"Helloooooo again! Hoot hoot!" the Thing said, appearing out of the grass she'd just been laying on. "A HUMAN! In Wonderland! How interesting, hoot hoot! Boy, will Eda be intrigued to see you!" The Thing screeched noisily, then twisted around her in a blur of wooden-bird-tube-ness, making her scream as it pulled her into the ground.

"Hoot hoot hoot, kidnapping, hoot hoot- BLEGH!" It seemed to be choking something up. "Want a beetle I ate three days ago?" A mush-ball Luz assumed had once been that poor beetle flew past her ear.

"Ew! No! Why would I want that?! And where are you taking me?!" she yelled, but she only got more coughing from the Thing. What was it with these Wonderlandians and their love of kidnapping her?!

Suddenly, like an awfully made rollercoaster, the bird-tube jerked upwards and burst through the ground, almost luring Luz's lasagna dinner out of her stomach. The Thing dropped her to the ground, giving her a mouthful of dirt, screeching, "EDA! LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN THE WOODS! IT'S A HUMAN! HOOT!" Luz scrambled away from the weird thing, spitting out dirt, and backed right into someone's legs.

"Well hellooooo-there!" said a voice from overhead- a lady with a floof of grey hair, a sharp yellow snaggletooth, a pointed chin, pale white skin, elvish ears, and yellow eyes more yellow than even Amity's grinned down at her. In her oversized poof of grey hair, she wore a stack of hats, that teetered over and plopped down right onto Luz's head, creating an archway from the woman to Luz.

"Who ARE you?!" she said, scrambling to her feet between the strange lady with the hats and the bird-tube.

"I'm Eda the owl lady! I mean, Eda the Mad Hatter!" The lady didn't miss a beat! Still grinning with white hands on hips, she looked down at Luz, looking like she was ready to eat Luz for dinner.

"Uh- hi?" Luz said, backing into a table she didn't even know was there.

"This," the lady said charismatically, pointing to the bird tube. "Is Hooty, my personal demon. We don't really know what he is," she said, saying it behind her pale hand, bedecked with a large yellow ring, winking like it was a secret.

"Don't forget about me!" said a squeaky voice from on the table. Standing on the white tablecloth appeared to be a furry, grey cubone-like thing with giant yellow and maroon eyes (what was it with Wonderlandians and yellow eyes?!), two horns- though one was broken- and three little claws sticking out of furry black arms and legs. It had a little red collar on its furry neck. Luz instantly fell in love.

"¡Ay, que lindo!" Luz said, eyes sparkling, holding the little creature's claws in her hands.

"Oh, yeah! And this is King!" Said Eda, still smiling like a manic salesperson. King, the little demon, harrumphed, and pulled his claws away from Luz, folding them across his furry chest.

"I'm CLEARLY the most-" Luz pinched his cheeks, baby-talking to him with glittering eyes as Eda cracked up behind them.

"Really? Again?" King grumbled. "Eda! I command you to tell this foul being to stop touching my adorable face!"

Eda just kept laughing. King grumbled and stormed back to the other end of the table, much to Luz's disappointment.

Once Eda stopped laughing, she wiped tears from her golden eyes and lifted the stack of hats off her head, revealing a teapot shaped like an owl, not dissimilar to Hooty, who had mysteriously disappeared.

Eda lifted the teapot off her head and pulled a green porcelain teacup from her pocket, pouring a thick amber liquid into it. Eda took a hearty sip of it, then grinned like the Cheshire cat himself and snapped clawed fingers to make a chair pull up from the table and scoop Luz and her floofy dress up. In Eda's hands, Luz caught a flimmer of what looked like another pocket watch.

"Hey-" she shouted, only to have the wind knocked out of her as the chair halted abruptly and nearly launched her into the unorganized table, covered in teapots, spoons, and cups of every shape, size, color, and material.

Eda floated - apparently she could do that- lazily over to the table, hands clasped lazily behind her head as she continued to smile what seemed to be her trademark grin.

Fascinated, Luz didn't notice King behind her until she heard his adorable little squeaks behind her chair.

"Awh, let me help you up, buddy," she said, lifting the fluffy creature into the chair next to her. The little demon grumbled for a minute, but let Luz rub his head. The cute moment was ruined when Hooty appeared behind them.

"AHH!" Luz screamed when the unholy bird-tube popped its head in her face.

"Hooty, leave the poor kid alone," Eda said disapprovingly, and once again it sunk back into the dirt with a sad 'hoot'.

"What's his deal?" Luz said, still creeped out.

"Eh, no one really knows. Want some tea?"

"Uh… sure," Luz said, and the hatter opened a latch on one of her hats and pulled out a teacup, rummaging under the table for a chipped purple teapot, which she poured into the teacup and tossed it to Luz. Somehow the tea stayed in the teacup, even as if summersalted through the air- Luz caught it, fumbling with it for a minute, before taking a small sip of the thin green liquid. It tasted slightly of mint, and something earthy- reminding her of Amity… who she just remembered she'd disobeyed. Then again, it was because of a tube demon, sooo… she took another sip of the drink. It filled her mouth with an excellent earthy taste. She quite liked it.

Eda pulled out a watch from inside her hair, and Luz nearly dropped her tea, jumping to her feet to stare at the watch. It was similar to Amity's, but was engraved with an entirely different symbol. Instead of the triangle with wings, this one had a little owl engraving, and was lined in bright copper instead of gold. It almost appeared to be made out of wood.

"Chill, kid," Eda said, glancing at Luz noncommittally as she fiddled with the watch. She opened the lid, and a soft coppery ping sounded, a bronze gear falling squarely into Eda's tea.

"Aww, c'mon," she said, fishing it out of the teacup and examining the drenched, wood-soaked gear. Yep, definitely not metal. "That's the third this week!" she grumbled, then reached back into her floofy hair and pulled out a shiny new one. She carefully dropped it into the watch, traced around the rim as it gave a golden hum, then snapped the pocket watch shut, grinning once more. Luz watched in fascination as Eda grabbed hold of its worn, rusty chain, and swung it in a circular motion. The watch's arc was followed by a thin gold line, which, when completed, filled the air with teapots, which busied themselves immediately. Next thing Luz knew, she had twelve different teacups in front of her, in every shade of the rainbow (including a swampy brown-green which looked suspiciously thick- Luz avoided that one).

Eda leaned back in her chair, snaggletooth glinting slightly in the sun.

"How'd you do that?!" Luz said, spawning by her side, studying the bronze wooden watch.

"Oh, this old thing?" She gave the watch a flippant spin, which made gold sparks shoot half-heartedly in a sparkly blaze. "Just an everyday Pocket Watch. I forgot you haven't seen them."

"EVERYDAY?! Does that mean I can have one?!" Luz said excitedly, ignoring the teacups pestering her head. Eda sighed, and leaned towards Luz, many hats arching down to land squarely on Luz's head again.

"Listen, human," she said. "Pocket Watches are everyday… for those with magic. It's kinda what you humans consider," she waved her wrist around in a circle, thinking. "A… wand? From that 'Harold Plotter' story?"

"The wand chooses the wizard," Luz said solemnly. "But, wait, does that mean my pocket watch has to choose me?!"

"Yes and no," Eda sighed. "You can sometimes find them in the woods. That's how most people get them now. Or you can craft your own, but the Time Wood needed to make them is heavily guarded." She glanced left and right before whispering to Luz, "The King of Spades."

"Who's the Kin-" A white hand clasped tightly over Luz's mouth.

"Shush, will you? If the Cards catch you saying that name I'll be sent right back to the Deck, and I really, really don't want that," Eda said, leaning back down on her chair.

"But- but- I've got so many questions! So, I can find a pocket watch? Who are the Cards? What's the deck?!"

"Kid! Jeez! You do ask a lot of questions! Now, if I answer them will you let me drink my tea in peace?" Luz nodded enthusiastically. "Fine. You won't attract a Pocket Watch cuz you're not a Wonderlandian; you don't have a trace of Whimsy in you. You'd have to carve one for yourself."
"What's Whims-"

"Whimsy is the magical substance that helps us live and gives us magic; without Whimsy, our lives are dull. To summon and bond with a Pocket Watch you need at least a tad bit of Whimsy, which I'm afraid you don't have. Don't know how you'll survive, to be honest. Everyone needs Whimsy to function." Eda took a sip of her tea. "Now, your other questions- let me explain. In Wonderland, the ruler is King Spade, as we'll call him. King Spade created the card system: Spades, Clubs, Hearts, and Diamonds. In these categories, there are the rankings 2-10, then jack, then queen, then king, and occasionally ace." Luz knew this. This was the basic deck of cards. "Each card category does something different. Each level is sorted by power and importance." She took another sip. "The cards are a group of levels, 7-9 Spades- Spades work for the King- who seek out trouble. The Deck is where us Unsorted Wonderlandians are taken. We're considered wild." She grinned. "Anyways, the Deck is where us Unsorted Wonderlandians are taken to be reformed and then processed. I've been there many times; I've never once been processed- you could say I'm the wildest of them all!" She downed the rest of her tea as Luz processed this. Was Wonderland just a giant game of Solitaire?

"So… um… what rank would, say, the Mint Rabbit be?" she asked cautiously.

"Oh, the Blights? They're descended from the ancient Rabbit tree, giving them unusual traits. Odalia, the mother, is an 8 rank, while Alador is a 9… their twins are up-and-coming 9s as well, I hear, either Spades or Diamonds. Their littlest, so called "Mint Rabbit", is in the early, pre-sorted group. She's going to be a Jack of Spades, I hear. Why?"

"Uh…"

Suddenly, from out behind them came a shower of sparks.

"Cheshire Kitten, they caught us!" Eda swore, swinging in shock until the crashing was getting closer. She darted behind a tree last minute, panicking.

"Yes, find her! It's… a strange, mysterious figure disguised as a human, trying to make trouble! Purple dress, white apron, black and white stockings, white shoes… a cute girl with short brown hair! Yes, rounded ears, NO, it's an illusion, of course! When you find her, bring her to me!"

Amity's voice reverberated off the trees of the clearing. Luz got caught on the fact that Amity called her cute. She got stuck on it so long, in fact, blushing hard, that she didn't notice a purple creature sneaking around the tree she was hiding behind. The purple creature motioned to Amity, who came around the tree as well to look upon Luz.

"Aha!" she exclaimed, making Luz trip over a root. Amity, quick as lightning, caught Luz, having the purple creature propel her forwards. Luz froze, red coloring her cheeks as she looked at Amity, who promptly dropped her.

"Found you," Amity said, lowering her hand and letting a cirlce fade, making the purple monster fade out of sight. Luz scrambled to her feet.

"W-what was that?" she siad, trying to recover from her blush-fest.

"That was an abomination," Amity said crossly.

"Uh- yes, it was!"

"Not that kind!" Amity sighed. "It's a type of magic I'm specially trained in, which is why it scared the Hatter away- just like I wanted.." Amity continued scowling and started pulling Luz back towards the manor.

"Wait! Why? I like Eda and King!"

"Shush."

"EDA! KI-"

Amity spun around, learning so close to Luz that she thought maybe- maybe- Amity was gonna kiss her-

But Amity just put her hand near her mouth and blew something into the wind that took Luz's consciousness with it. She felt herself falling backwards, only to be caught by Amity's arms. The last thing she saw before she was whisked into darkness was Amity's beautiful face.

"So… pretty…" Luz murmured as Amity stared down at her peaceful, innocent face Amity blushed a bit, too, then hoisted the slumbering Luz higher into her arms and continued her trek onwards.

She almost didn't want to do home wiht this pretty girl. She almost didn't continue forwards, knowing she would have to turn her in to the King.

But she did anyways.

Both of their fates would be grimmer if she didn't.

Amity Blight, the Mint Rabbit, a prodigy, rumored-to-be-next Jack of Spades, carried a strange and beautiful human to her manor.

I hope you liked the chapter and are feeling a little more acquainted to the world! :)
Next week we get our first Lucia chapter… till then, have a lovely week! Thank you so much! Byeeeeee!
-LLF out