"They're trying to find her boyfriend," Hatter told the man standing in shadows in front of us. "Jack Chance."

"Chase," Alice corrected. "His name is Jack Chase."

"They need help," Hatter finished. "I thought of you, Dodo."

"Did you?" Dodo asked finally coming out of the shadows finally. "And why would I want to help your oysters when you know bringing them here puts us all at risk?"

"Oh, please. I've spent years smuggling more dangerous things than these down here." I gave him a small glare at his words.

"Things? Really?" I whispered at him.

"You know what rankles most about bloodsucking carpetbaggers like you, Hatter?" Dodo asked Hatter with a smirk. "Your gall. While we risk our lives trying to bring freedom, to ungrateful leeches like you, you swan about living the good life."

"Stop your crowning," Hatter ordered. "You know I'm on your side."

"I'm sure you say that to all of your enemies," Dodo said moving behind his desk.

"I do what's necessary. I kiss what butts need kissing so your machine stays oiled," Hatter reminded him.

"Look if you can't help us we'll just leave." Alice grabbed my hand and turned to leave as Dodo laughed at her.

"Headstrong, isn't she?" He asked Hatter.

"She's right here so don't talk over her," I ordered. "Can you help us get into the Casino and get Jack out or not?"

"I don't see how," Dodo told us.

"The resistance has contacts inside the Casino, right?" Hatter asked him.

"No comment."

"Which always means yes," I said and he glared at me.

"Use them to find her guy," Hatter said. "They can pay you. I want my usual cut up front." I squeezed Alice's hand at his words. He was doing this for payment?

"Pay me?" Dodo asked finally sounding interested as he moved around his desk towards us again. "Pay me with what?" Hatter moved from my side to Alice's.

"Show him the rock, Alice." Alice and I stared at him in shock. We'd never spoken about this and he had no right.

"What?" Alice asked him in shock.

"The ring. On your finger."

"No. That is off limits," Alice told him.

"It's all you have," Hatter reminded her and my hand crawled to my necklace.

"What if it isn't?" I whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked me. I didn't get a chance to answer as Dodo grabbed her hand and stared in shock at her hand.

"It's not possible," Dodo said in stunned silence before Alice yanked her hand back to her side. "Where did you get it?"

"It's none of your business. It's not for sale," Alice told him.

"Where did you get it?!" Dodo shouted at her and I quickly moved between them and tried keeping them apart.

"What-what is it?" Hatter asked confused. I turned and got a good look at Alice's ring and finally understood why Dodo was so angry. Dodo shoved me aside into Hatter's arms and picked up Alice's hand again.

"One of your oysters is wearing the Stone of Wonderland." We all stared at Alice.

"That's impossible," Hatter said.

"I'm never wrong," Dodo said.

"Where did you get it, Alice?" Hatter asked her.

"Jack gave it to me," Alice told him.

"Jack?"

"Jack Chase. The guy we're looking for," Alice reminded him.

"Well, where did he get it?" Dodo asked.

"I don't know!"

"Give it to me!"

"Back off," I ordered removing myself from Hatter's arms finally only to feel colder at the loss. "We're not giving you anything." Dodo stared at us before turning to return behind his desk.

"Take them out." The woman and Duck cocked their guns and pointed them at us.

"Are you crazy?!" Alice shouted at them as Hatter moved between us and them.

"Stop! Just wait," Hatter told them.

"You're in way over your head, Hatter," Dodo warned him.

"Just give me one second to talk to them, okay?" Hatter asked him. Dodo cocked his own gun and pointed it at Hatter.

"It controls the looking glass. You know that," Dodo reminded him.

"There have always been two rulers for a reason," I said drawing all their attention to me as Alice raised her hands.

"Not after the Queen of Hearts beheaded her sister and most likely her niece as well," Dodo said. I felt like breaking down after hearing about my mother's death again, but I was raised for this moment, wasn't I?

"When it is time, you will return home."

"The White Queen's daughter is alive and in Wonderland as we speak." I pulled my necklace from its hiding place and showed it to them. "I am Gwendoline Blackwood, heir to the White Throne, and I'm ordering you to put your gun down."

"There has to be a way for us all to get what we want," Hatter said staring at all of us.

"Look, no one is getting this ring!" Alice told us.

"We've been waiting for years for a break like this," Dodo said staring between me and Alice. "And now it falls into our laps."

"Stop waving that thing around," Hatter ordered making sure to stand between Dodo's gun and us.

"If we can return the oysters back to their world, maybe we can save ours," Dodo tried to reason. His logic was sound, of course. If Alice and her kind went back home Wonderland could begin to heal. Beginning with taking down the Casino.

"Just put the gun down!"

"Think about it! The Queen reduced to mopping floors. It'll be just like the old days. Justice. Reason. And the Rule of Law!"

"Stop this!" Dodo's gun fired and I screamed in shock.

"Hatter!" I screamed as he flew into the wall. I made to go to him, but Alice stopped me from moving.

"You shot Hatter!" the woman said shocked.

"We don't need him anymore," Dodo told her. "Princess Gwendoline and the ring are our tickets out of here." Alice attacked him and knocked him down before grabbing my hand and forcing me to run after her back to the bus elevator. When we climbed onto the bus Alice looked at the controls confused.

"How do I drive this thing?" she asked me.

"How should I know?"

"You grew up here?"

"You really want to talk about my origins now? Of all times?!" I looked behind me to see a door opening and Dodo running at us. "If you're going to do something, do it quickly." She continued messing with the controls when Hatter knocked Dodo down. "Hatter?"

"It's the blue button!" He shouted at us. I turned and stopped Alice from pressing the button.

"What are you doing?" she asked me and I looked back at Hatter.

"Go! Go, Alice! Get her out of here!" Hatter ordered. "Hurry up and push the blue button!"

"We can't leave him," I told her. She looked between me and the buttons. I hopped off the bus and as Dodo was grabbing Hatter's arm and punching him in the face and kicked him off the man. Alice got between us and pushed him away from me as I helped Hatter to his feet. "Time to go, Hatter." We ran with Alice behind us back to the bus and she quickly slammed the blue button as I knelt in front of Hatter. Hatter was groaning in pain and I started taking off his top.

"How bad is it?" Alice asked me. I undid his shirt enough to see a bulletproof vest with the bullet stuck in it. I sighed in relief. "Body armor?" Hatter stopped groaning in pain and opened one eye to look up at us. "You're not even wounded."

"Thankfully," I said.

"You lied to me! Both of you!" Alice said and I stared into my lap.

"I was trying to help you," Hatter shouted at her.

"By selling my ring?"

"I didn't know it was the Stone of Wonderland, did I?"

"Well, you could have asked me before bringing me here."

"You didn't know about the Stone because you didn't know this place existed," I told her. "I didn't even know that was the Stone of Wonderland. And neither would have come out here if we knew the truth."

"You're damn right I wouldn't. He almost killed me!"

"Yeah, well he actually shot me!"

"Tell me the truth," she ordered. "What is the Stone of Wonderland?"

"It's a big deal," Hatter told her. "It was mined by the ancients to power the looking glass. The door that connects our world to yours."

"The ancients then became the first rulers of Wonderland," I added. "They ordered each King or Queen that followed them to protect the Looking Glass, the Ring, and this." I showed her my necklace again. "This is a sign of the peace between the Red and White Courts. They were meant to rule Wonderland together. The Red Court guards the Looking Glass in the city, helping your kind go back home when they cross over. The White Court held the Stone of Wonderland and kept it far away from the Looking Glass. If they two were joined back together the Queen of Hearts will be able to bring more of you and yours here and use them up."

"The White Court was protected by the Ancient Knights."

"Knights?" Alice asked.

"They were all wiped out, a long time ago," Hatter told us and I gave him a curious look.

"They were all alive when my mother sent me through the Looking Glass when I was a child," I told him.

"Time must work differently between the two worlds," Hatter said. "After killing your mother, she took out the knights. She took the Looking Glass and of course the Stone. How did Jack get hold of it?"

"Where did he say he got it?" I asked her.

"He didn't say," she said almost dreamily.