Chapter Seven

 

 

“I thought you said that this guy was a hookah-smoking hypocrite?” I reminded Jaxon.

“Well, desperate times.” King Jaxon grimaced as he pushed past a low-hanging branch.

A family of rocking-horse flies flew off the branch, whinnying in affront. He frowned after them.

“The caterpillar has ways to squirm past a person's defenses,” King Bevan said. “I go to him when I need help working out a particularly difficult potion.”

“Potions,” I huffed. “I don't have to get small again, do I?”

“No, I'm certain that won't be necessary,” Draven assured me, and then he looked to Bevan. “Will it?”

“No, there's no size requirement for finding your magic,” Bevan said.

“Good.”

The woods suddenly opened up, and a set of marble steps were revealed. I strode up to them with Nick and the kings as their retinues held back. The steps went up so high that I couldn't see where they ended.

“Oh, hell no.” I groaned.

“At least you have a sturdy pair of boots now, Your Majesty,” Nick offered. “A good pair of boots on your feet are worth five in a closet.”

“Yes, fantastic.” I rolled my eyes. “The caterpillar lives on top of a monument?” I asked the kings.

“He has a fear of being stepped on.” Jaxon sighed.

“Him and the mome raths,” Draven muttered.

“Well, he is a caterpillar,” Bevan said.

“Wait”–I looked over at them in shock–“he's really a caterpillar? That wasn't just a code for something else?”

“Nope, he's a caterpillar.” Draven chuckled.

“What the hell is a bug going to do for me?” I asked them.

“He's a very smart bug,” Bevan said.

“Too smart for his own good,” Jaxon muttered. “He should lay off the weed.”

“He can be a bit rambunctious,” Bevan admitted. “Please be patient with him; he may be the only one who can help you release the wild inside you.”

“Wonderful,” I muttered as I started climbing the steps. “I have to be nice to a bug so that he will help me find my magic so that I can marry three men and unite a magical kingdom.”

“If you don't mind.” Nick winked at me and then shifted into his cat form. He began floating up the pyramid steps.

“No fair,” I grumbled. “Maybe I should have gone small again.”

The climb wasn't as far as it seemed, and soon we were striding through a proper English garden in full bloom, laid across the flat top of the marble pyramid. The pyramid rose high above the treetops, giving an incredible view of Wonderland. I stopped and stared at the Wilds, the castle I'd been born in, but my gaze was quickly lured away to the rest of the landscape.

The woods trickled out into lush farmland, and then there were several villages, most of which showed no sign of life. Hills rolled up into mountains, and in the far distance, I saw a crimson castle cloaked in storm clouds. Lightning flashed around it, making it seem more menacing than it should have.

“Heart Castle.” Jaxon followed my gaze. “Even the air around it knows that something is wrong.”

“Where is the Spade Castle?” I asked him.

“That way,” he pointed closer to the Wilds. “You can't see it from here, but it's in the East. Club Castle lies to the South, and Diamond is in the North. Hearts lies in the West; you can always find your way with the castles as your guide.”

“Humph, the Wicked Witch of the West.” I stared at the storm. “How appropriate.”

“I'm sorry?” Jaxon frowned.

“Never mind. How do you rule a kingdom and have a relationship with a queen who lives in the Wilds?” I lifted a brow.

“We stack the deck.” He smiled.

“You what now?”

“You came through a stacking room to get to Wonderland,” Nick explained. “It's a circular room with five doors.”

“Right,” I agreed. “I remember. Each door had a different symbol on it.”

“There are similar stacking rooms in every kingdom,” Bevan said. “Several are sprinkled throughout the land, but every castle has its own. It's the easiest way to travel between kingdoms, and especially between castles.”

“So, the doors link the kingdoms?” I asked.

“They stack them,” Draven explained. “You step inside a stacking room, and Wonderland is layered before you. You chose the kingdom you wish to visit and step through the appropriate door. Then the land spreads out again.”

“When I came into Wonderland, I entered a tiny door.”

“The Wilds door.” Jaxon nodded. “Wilds is the most important kingdom in Wonderland, and as such, must be guarded more avidly. The stacking rooms which connect to Earth feature only little doors to Wilds. That way, only those with magic can come through.”

“Stacking rooms,” I said and shook my head. “Damn, I need a stiff drink.”

“Who are you?” A voice boomed around us.

I flinched and looked around the garden.

“It's us, Barnabus!” Bevan called out.

“Who is 'Us?'” The voice echoed around me.

“Does he have a sound system, or what?” I asked Nick.

“Tubes.” Nick waved a paw at a fluted tube set in a flower bed on our right. “Barney likes a bit of drama.”

“It's the god-damned Wizard of Oz,” I huffed. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

“The Card Kings are here with the Queen of Wilds,” King Bevan called out as he took my hand. “Queen Alice, if you'll come with me, please?”

“Sure, why not?” I let Bevan lead me down a crushed shell path, amid fruit trees and waist-high flowers.

The rest of the men followed us up to a clearing with a circle of mushrooms in the center of it. The mushrooms were colored brightly; crimson, daffodil, and violet. In the center of this ring was one gigantic mushroom about the size of my head. It had a pure white stem and a golden cap. A blue caterpillar as big as my forearm was curled upon it. He had silk pillows beneath his head and a large hookah bubbling away beside him. The caterpillar took deep puffs on his hookah pipe and blew the smoke out in impossible shapes. He also wore a fez upon his head with a golden tassel hanging down the side of it. When he saw me, he undulated up, to peer at me curiously.

“Is this Princess Alice?” The caterpillar asked.

“Queen Julia is dead, remember, Barney?” Draven said. “Her daughter is now queen.”

“Queens need a queendom to rule and magic to rule it with.” The caterpillar crawled to the edge of his mushroom. “Come inside the circle, Princess Alice.”

“My uncle told me to never step into a fairy ring.” I eyed the garish mushrooms warily.

“Ah, your uncle was a wise man,” Barney, the caterpillar said. “But I am offering you my hospitality. As such, the ring will have no power over you.”

I looked at the kings, and they nodded. I stepped over the ring of mushrooms.

“Please, have a seat,” Barney waved several arms toward the grass.

I sat down, and it put me at eye-level with him. His eyes were bulbous and black, so glassy that I could see my reflection in them.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello, Your Highness,” Barney replied. “Do you want to rule Wonderland?”

“I suppose.” I shrugged.

“'I suppose' is not a good answer for a queen,” he eased forward. “Queens should be certain in demeanor and speech. I'm certain that your uncertainty is a problem.”

“Fair enough.”

“What is your magic?”

“I'm not sure of that either. I may not have any.”

“Oh, you do,” he assured me. “I recall your birth vividly.”

“You're not the only one.” I shot a look over my shoulder at the kings.

“Yes, yes, the Card Kings were bound to you upon your birth,” the caterpillar said, “as it should be. As it has always been. But you do not seem to be bound to them. You are... attracted but not really interested. Curious but not determined. A princess, not quite a queen. You are in between.”

“The guys said that you might be able to help me find my magic,” I said.

“Find it?” Barney rose up higher and looked around the garden. “Has it run off?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Then why am I looking?” He dropped back down. “If it never left, then you must know where it is.”

“Actually, I don't,” I huffed. “I don't feel anything.”

“Ah, not feeling is different than not finding,” Barnabus declared. “You should have said so immediately.”

“Sorry?”

“Yes, you are,” he agreed. “But I will help you with that too. Take a piece of mushroom from the left of the cap. Beneath it, if you will.” He tapped his pipe toward the left side of his mushroom.

“All right,” I leaned over and pulled a chunk of pearly mushroom from the soft bit beneath the cap. “Now what?”

“Eat it, silly girl!” Barnabus huffed. “What else would you do with a mushroom?”

“Sit on it.” I looked pointedly at him.

“Humph, yes, well, only caterpillars do that.”

“This isn't psychedelic or anything, is it?” I narrowed my eyes on Barnabus.

“Eat the mushroom!”

“All right!” I shoved the mushroom into my mouth.

The flavor of forest and soil ran across my tongue as I chewed the spongy thing and then swallowed. I couldn't believe I was doing this; eating a damn magic mushroom inside a fairy ring in the middle of an English garden on top of a marble pyramid in the center of a make-believe world that I was a princess–potentially a queen–of. I felt like I was going to wake up at any moment.

And then I did.

The mushroom melted into magic, and that magic burst out into my body with a trembling effervescence that felt like bubbles under my skin. The world was suddenly clearer, brighter, and sharper, as was my mind. I was finally awake. I sucked in a deep breath and pulled in the power of my world with it.

My Wild Wonderland.

It had me then; inside and out. I could feel it racing through my blood, filling my bones and mind as it simultaneously flowed across my skin. I looked down at myself and watched the magic dance across my arms in sparking waves of gold. I began to glow, brighter and brighter until I had to close my eyes against the glare. Once my eyes were shut, I could see the magic inside me.

A deck of cards shuffled in my mind and then were cut into four. A king sat atop each pile, one for every kingdom in Wonderland, and they stared at me steadily. I knew what they wanted, what they needed, and as soon as I acknowledged it, I saw a golden shimmer flicker over the cards. The kings climbed out of their cards and came toward me, each of them encased in a golden aura... my aura. I was a part of them, had been since my birth, and I was the only woman who could unite them.

The truth settled inside me, and I accepted it. My life on Earth took on the dream-like qualities of a distant memory, and this life became more real. Wonderland had been wounded, and the strike had come from my mother. Queen Julia had paid the price, but I was the one who had to heal our world.

And I had been born with the power to do so.

My head fell back on a gasp as the magic shook off the last of its slumber and shot through me, energizing me with power and a deep awareness of my world. I knew them all–felt them all. From the gryphons to the bread and butterflies. I heard the call of the jubjub bird and the roar of the bandersnatch. I smelled the perfume of the living flowers and tasted the salt of the sea. Then I saw the citizens of Wonderland; the dodos and the mock turtles, the lizards and the lobsters, the fish and the frogs, the mome raths and the borgoves. On and on they went, shuffling through my mind like pages in a picture book. All of those who had suffered while I grew to adulthood in a different world. While I trained to become strong enough to return to Wonderland and save the world of my birth.

“That bitch is going down,” I whispered as I opened my eyes.

“Yes, I believe she is.” Barnabus the Caterpillar smiled. “Now, Queen Alice, tell me; what is your magic?”

I felt the men tense behind me, all of them eagerly anticipating my answer.

“Wilds,” I declared.

“Wilds, yes, of course,” Draven muttered. “But which of the wild magics do you hold?”

“She answered truly, King of Diamonds,” Barnabus said. “Queen Alice holds the Wild magics–all of them.”