“He’s weird.”

I gripped my doll in my hand as I stared at Heathan James sitting on the grass. He was dressed all in black—black shirt, black pants . . . and strangely, a black vest with pockets. I’d never seen anyone but a grown-up wear one of those before. His hair was black—short at the sides but long on the top. It kept falling into his eyes. His eyes that looked silver in the path of the sun. They were actually light gray. I’d never seen that color in a person’s eyes before.

“Ellis.” Eddie pulled on my arm. I yanked it out of his grip.

“He’s new. And he doesn’t know anyone.” I leaned in close to Eddie, my best friend and next-door neighbor. His Stetson shielded his eyes. He always wore a Stetson. Said he wanted to be a Texas Ranger one day like his uncle. I thought he’d make a good one. “I heard my papa talking to my uncles last night. I snuck out of my room and listened at Papa’s office door. I heard him say Heathan’s mummy didn’t want him anymore. Said he scared her. So she gave him to his papa—Mr. James, the grounds keeper.” I shook my head. “I heard he didn’t want him either but had no choice. His mummy’s nowhere to be found. She ran away and left him all alone.”

Eddie’s blue eyes widened. “His mama gave him away? What did he do to scare her?” I looked back across the grass at Heathan. He had a magnifying glass in his hands. He was burning ants. I shrugged in answer to Eddie’s question. I didn’t know what he’d done.

“He doesn’t look much scary to me,” I declared, studying him hard. “I think he’s older than us. I heard one of my uncles say he’s already nine.” Eddie was eight. I was seven.

“When you met him yesterday, he was killing a butterfly.” Eddie looked over his shoulder at Heathan. “He’s killing ants right now. He’s really weird, Ellis. Why does he keep killing things?” He paused. “I think he’s too strange to be friends with.” He took a deep breath. “My uncle says to stay away from kids like him. That they’re the ones who will end up getting you in trouble one day. You know I can’t get into trouble if I want to be a Texas Ranger.”

“I wanna go talk to him.” I pushed past Eddie and ran down the slope of warm grass. I ran until I was out of breath and came to a stop beside Heathan. I made sure my headband was still in place and my hair was smooth.

Heathan didn’t look up at me, so I peered over his shoulder at what he was doing. A pile of dead ants lay under the magnifying glass in his hands. Smoke rose from their little black broken bodies. “Watching them die too?” I asked, and his back bunched under his shirt.

A bird sang in the nearby tree as I waited for him to respond. “They died slower than the butterfly yesterday,” he said eventually. “They tried to survive, tried to escape, run away . . . but they couldn’t. I had them trapped. They fought hard . . . but I had to kill them.”

I wanted a closer look. I crouched down opposite him and smiled when he moved the magnifying glass away from the dead ants. He was watching my face, I could feel it, so I lifted my eyes and smiled really big. “I’m Ellis Earnshaw. I never got to say that yesterday. I live here too.” I pointed to the main house. My house. My papa’s estate.

Heathan didn’t smile back. He didn’t move, didn’t say anything. He just watched me. His eyes moved to the black headband in my hair, then down my blue dress, over my white apron and long white socks to my black shoes. Last of all, he looked at the china-faced doll in my hands. “This is Alice,” I announced and held her out for him to see. She was dressed exactly the same as me. She even had long blond hair and blue eyes too.

“No.” Heathan shook his head.

“No what?”

“You’re Dolly.”

I looked at my doll again. “I don’t understand,” I said, crinkling up my nose. I was so confused.

He pointed at me. “You’re not called Ellis. Your name is Dolly. I decided on it yesterday. You look exactly like your doll. I named you Dolly. I don’t like Ellis. It’s a stupid name. It doesn’t suit you.”

I stared at him in shock, then looked down at my doll. I smiled again. “I like that.” Heathan quickly looked away. “She’s Alice. From Wonderland.” I pointed down at my blue dress, white apron and white socks. “It is my favorite book ever. My mummy got me this doll last year. My papa got me the clothes so I would match.” I hugged my doll close to my chest. “I wanna be just like Alice when I grow up. Go to new places, fall into a strange new world. I wanna meet the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter.” I shook my head. “But not the Queen of Hearts. She’s a monster! She . . .” I leaned in closer. “She scares me.”

“Why do you say ‘Mummy’?” he asked.

My shoulders dropped. “My mummy was English. It’s what they call their mamas in England.” Heathan’s eyes narrowed. I tipped my head to the side. “Well? Do you know that book? Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?”

Heathan shook his head. A piece of black hair fell forward and covered his left eye. I reached up to push it out of the way, but his hand snapped out and grabbed my wrist. I gasped and stared at his fingers on my skin. His hold didn’t hurt me, but . . . but when I looked into his eyes, my heart started beating really fast. “No one touches me,” he said through his teeth.

“Okay.” I swallowed.

Heathan stared at me and stared at me, then he let go of my arm. I pulled it back and rubbed at the spot he had held. Heathan picked up his magnifying glass and brought it back over the pile of dead ants. I never took my eyes off him as the rays of the sun hit the thick glass and began sizzling the black insects once again.

“Why do you wear a waistcoat?” I asked.

Heathan’s hand froze. He looked at me out of the side of his eye. “A waistcoat?”

I pointed at his clothes.

“A vest?”

I laughed and shook my head. “A vest. Silly me. I get the two names confused sometimes.”

“Why?”

My heart suddenly felt heavy, and I dropped my head. I played with my doll’s hair so I wouldn’t cry. “I told you. My mummy was from England. She was from a place called Oxford. I’ve never been there. But she would call things by different names sometimes.” I pointed at his vest. “She called vests ‘waistcoats.’ Called the hood of a car a ‘bonnet.’ Silly things like that.”

“Where is she?” Heathan asked, and I felt the tears in my eyes get bigger.

“She died last year.” I hugged my doll tighter. “Before she did, she told me she would see me in Wonderland someday.” I held up my doll. “She gave me this. She told me it would keep me safe.”

“From what?”

“Bad people.” I stared at Heathan. He didn’t say anything. “She said there were bad people in the world. Some who were close by. She told me that Alice would keep me safe.”

“Have you met any bad people yet?”

I shook my head. “No. I only see my papa and uncles around here. Oh, and my nanny, Mrs. Jenkins. There’s your papa too . . . and now you!”

Heathan looked at my doll, then he looked away from me. He let go of the magnifying glass and ran his hand over the pocket in his vest.

“What’s in there?” I leaned forward to get a better look. Heathan’s hand slammed over the pocket to keep it closed. I looked up into his eyes. Whatever was in there, I didn’t think he was gonna let me see. But he breathed out deeply and reached inside. I waited, holding my breath as he pulled out something shiny and gold. I leaned in closer and closer, until my head was hovering above his hand. My face was only an inch from his. Heathan met my eyes, then slowly opened his hand. Finger by finger.

“Heathan.” My heart started racing. “It’s a pocket watch?”

“It’s getting late.” He stared at the face. I frowned when I saw that the glass was smashed and the hands weren’t moving. A long chain dangled from his pocket.

“Heathan,” I gasped. I had to hold my hand back from touching the broken glass. “It’s broken. It doesn’t work,” I said sadly.

Heathan looked confused. He held the watch up to his ear, tapped the side and said, “Tick tock.” He held it out toward me. “Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.” His head tilted to the side. “It works just fine. Can’t you hear it? Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Can’t you see it?”

I stared at the watch. I studied it really hard. I couldn’t see or hear anything. Then I realized Heathan was playing pretend. Just like I did with my tea parties. He wanted me to play along with his game.

“I can hear it!” I smiled. Heathan froze at my words, then his lip started to tug up at the corner and I thought I saw him smile too.

Kind of, anyway. It was sort of a smile.

I didn’t think Heathan smiled all that much. He seemed sad. Different to Eddie. They were both serious. But with Heathan, it was different. I wanted to know why.

Then I froze. My hand flew to my mouth as I realized something. “Heathan,” I whispered eagerly as I looked down at my doll. At my clothes. I looked at his waistcoat, then down at the pocket watch . . . “The White Rabbit.” I scrambled forward and sat right in front of him. Heathan didn’t move. “The watch . . . You’re just like the White Rabbit from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

I laughed and I laughed.

“Rabbit.” I pointed at his chest. “Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock . . . you’re Rabbit!”

“Dolly.”

“Rabbit!” I agreed and smiled at our new names. “Dolly and Rabbit. Alice followed the rabbit down the rabbit hole. He took her to Wonderland. He took her from her dull world and into one of bright colors and magical creatures.” I squeezed my doll. “And now I have met you. Have you come to show me a new world?”

I waited in excitement for his answer, then a shadow suddenly blocked out the sun.

“Ellis.”

I peered up and saw Eddie standing tall above us. His arms were crossed over his chest. “Eddie!” I pointed at Heathan. “He’s Rabbit and I’m Dolly! Can you believe it?”

“What?” Eddie asked, eyebrows pulled down real tight. “What do you mean?”

“From Wonderland!” I threw my head back in happiness. “Like that thing my mummy always said . . .” I tried to think. “Fate!” I shouted, remembering her words. “It’s fate!”

Eddie’s face screwed up. “Why have you never made me one of the characters from that book?”

I screwed my face up too. “Who would you be?” I hadn’t ever seen Eddie as anyone from Wonderland.

He shrugged, then his face lit up and he tapped his hat. “I could be the Mad Hatter! I always wear my hat. So does he.”

I studied his hat. I shook my head and laughed at his silliness. “You could never be the Mad Hatter.”

“Why?” Eddie crossed his arms over his chest again.

“Because the Mad Hatter is mad, silly! You’re not. You’re ‘sensible,’” I said with air quotes. “Mrs. Jenkins always tells me how you’re a ‘good boy’ and very ‘sensible in the head.’” I shook my head. “So you can’t be the Mad Hatter, Eddie. It just doesn’t suit. You don’t belong in Wonderland.” I looked back at Heathan to see him staring at me. “But Heathan and I . . .”

Heathan whipped his head around to look at Eddie. Then Heathan moved right beside me, almost in front of me, and glared at Eddie. Eddie swallowed. He went very pale as Heathan scowled at him.

“I’m going home now,” Eddie said slowly, backing away. “You wanna come with me? My mama said you can come for supper. Maybe take a ride on our newest colt.” Eddie lived next door—well, on the next estate over. The Smith estate was a ranch. He snuck in through the hedges separating the properties to come see me. I didn’t ever go to his house. My papa never ever let me. I’d never left our estate’s grounds in my whole life.

“No,” Heathan answered for me, and Eddie stepped back again. “She’s staying here.” Heathan held out his arm so I couldn’t get past him. “Go home.”

I slapped his hand and shook my head. “Silly Rabbit! You’re being so naughty and rude!” I giggled, then looked up at Eddie. “I’m staying here, Eddie. You know Papa doesn’t let me leave, yet you always ask.”

“Fine.” Eddie stormed away, arms crossed over his chest again. “Eddie!” I called out, seeing he was upset, but he didn’t turn around. I sighed and sat back down. I didn’t want Eddie to be sad or angry at me. It wasn’t anyone’s fault if he didn’t belong in Wonderland.

Heathan turned to face me. “I don’t like him.”

“Rabbit. Stop that. He’s my friend.”

“Friends?” he asked. “I don’t have friends.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. “You do now.” Heathan didn’t reply, so I pointed at my chest. “Rabbit and Dolly, remember?” I laughed again when his forehead creased in confusion. I, for one, loved the sound of our new names. “You wanna see my favorite things?” I asked, changing the subject.

Heathan still looked confused, but he eventually shrugged. “Stay here,” I said and leaped to my feet. I ran all the way back to my house and grabbed my sack of favorite things. I was out of breath by the time I got back to Heathan. He hadn’t moved. Not a single muscle.

I placed the sack on the ground and opened the pink string keeping it closed right up. I began pulling everything out. I took the pink picnic blanket and placed it on the ground between us. My heart raced in excitement as I set out the tea set. When it was all arranged between us, I stood up and spread out my hands. “There we go! What do you think?”

Heathan looked at me, then down at the tea set on the ground. I dropped to my knees and steadied his cup and saucer in front of him. “It’s Earl Grey,” I said as I lifted the teapot and poured the tea. “Mummy’s favorite. She always drank tea—six cups a day sometimes!” Once Rabbit’s cup was full to the brim, I filled my own. I brought it to my nose and smelled it, laughing as the steam hit my nostrils. “It tickles!” I snorted and wiggled my nose. “The steam tickles my nose every time I smell the essence of bergamot. But I always do it anyway because it smells sooo good.”

“You’re talking funny,” he said abruptly.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s afternoon tea. Afternoon tea must be taken with an English accent. It’s my favorite. When I talk like this I sound just like my mummy. My mummy always had afternoon tea. Every single day at four p.m. on the dot.”

I was about to take a sip when, over the lip of my cup, I saw Heathan watching me weirdly again. His cup was still on the blanket between us. I wondered if he’d ever had afternoon tea before. If he hadn’t, it was a travesty!

I leaned forward. “You need to drink it soon, Rabbit. While it’s hot. Just make sure you blow on it first. You don’t want to get a burned tongue. That’s the worst feeling in the world!”

Heathan leaned over his cup and then looked up at me through his hair. “There’s nothing inside it.”

My hand froze on my cup. I had to be sure to hold the handle and not touch the china. I didn’t want to burn my finger. “What are you talking about, Rabbit? I just poured you a cup!” My head dropped to the side. “You have never had afternoon tea before, have you?”

Heathan slowly shook his head. I placed my cup on the blanket. “I normally have cakes and treats too. But silly me, I haven’t brought them today. I wasn’t expecting new company. New acquaintances, as Mummy would say.”

Heathan frowned and stared down at his cup. The pink of the cup and blanket was bright against his black clothes. “Would you like me to teach you how to drink your tea properly?” I scooted around the edge of the blanket until I was sitting right by his side. Reaching down, I put my hand on his. I jumped when Heathan froze and snapped his head my way. I forgot he didn’t want me touching him.

I couldn’t help it. I always touched people. I was a touchy person.

I went to pull my hand back, sad, when he said, “No . . .” I could feel my heart beating faster in my chest. “You can leave it there,” he said. But he sounded funny. His teeth were gritted together, like he was in pain or something.

I leaned in closer, until my arm pressed against his. “You smell good,” I said. Heathan’s eyes looked into mine. “And you have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.” His jaw clenched, and he moved closer until his nose was near my neck. My eyes went wide as I wondered what he was doing.

He moved back, his nose near my nose, and said, “You smell good too.” His eyes closed, and opened again a second later. “Like roses.”

I smiled and nodded. “It is roses. It was my mummy’s perfume.” I made sure no one was around before saying, “I’m not supposed to wear it—Papa told me so—but I sneak a little bit on every day. Just a little drop behind each ear.” I tapped behind my ear to show him. “Out of sight.”

Tightening my grip on his hand, I looked back at the cup of tea before us. “To drink tea, you must take your fingers and put them through the handle.” I nodded at Heathan and guided his hand down to the cup. I put his fingers where they were supposed to go. “Now you bring the cup to your lips.” Heathan did as I said, never taking his eyes off mine. Just as the cup almost touched his lips, I sat up straighter and shouted, “Wait!” Heathan stopped. I slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand. “I forgot the most important thing!” I reached out and pulled his pinky finger out into the air. I clapped and smiled. “There. To drink tea properly, you have to stick out your pinky. It’s the law when drinking tea. Mummy told me that in England, if you don’t do it, the Queen can chop off your head.” I slowly touched Heathan’s black hair. “And your head is far too pretty to chop off, Rabbit.”

I sat back, waiting for him to drink. “Go on then,” I urged. “Take a sip.” Heathan’s eyebrows were still pulled down, but he took a sip of the tea, then lowered the cup and saucer back down to the blanket. “Well?” I held my breath.

“It was good,” Heathan said, kind of awkwardly, but I still squealed in delight.

“It wasn’t too hot?”

“Just right,” he declared, and I moved back to my cup and took a sip too. I loved tea so much. But only Earl Grey. No other blend of tea was good enough. To drink Darjeeling, especially, was positively a crime.

“What else is in the sack?” Heathan asked as I placed my cup on the ground. I whipped around and pulled out my most prized possession. I shuffled on my knees toward Heathan and placed the boombox on the blanket.

Heathan raised his eyebrow. I pulled the bright pink boombox toward me and switched it on. “It was Mummy’s. There’s a tape inside. A cassette. It has all of her favorite songs on it. They are from the eighties. I don’t really know what that means, but they are my most favorite songs in the entire world. I play them every single day.”

I ran my hand over the loveheart stickers my mummy had stuck on when she was younger. I turned to Heathan. “You want to listen, Rabbit?”

He nodded. I rewound the tape until I found my most favorite song and pressed play. The music started. “This song is called ‘Dear Jessie.’ It’s by a lady called Madonna. It was Mummy’s favorite song in the whole wide world.”

I swayed as the music started. Unable to sit down, I jumped to my feet and, holding my Alice doll in my hands, I began to dance and sing. I spun around, head tipped back as I sang the words out loud. When I could spin no more, I looked over at Heathan. He was watching me with a strange expression on his face.

I dipped my shoulder and looked him right in the eyes. I danced and sang, moving toward him, putting on a show. I always put on shows for my papa and my uncles. Almost every night. They always asked me to dance for them in my Alice in Wonderland dress—it was their favorite dress of mine. I loved to dance for people. It always made them smile.

When the song ended, I dropped down beside him, out of breath. “Did you like that, Rabbit?” I pulled Alice to my chest.

His silver eyes ran down over my dress, then back to my face. “Yes,” he said, his voice raspy. “I liked it a lot.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

“I’m so happy!” I took another sip of my tea, and Heathan did the same. I poured us one more cup. When all the tea had been drunk, I reached into the sack for my final treasure.

I placed the book before Heathan. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

Heathan picked up the book and ran his fingers over the old front cover. “Your favorite book.” He opened the cover and started looking at the pages.

I gasped. “Can you read, Rabbit?”

Heathan’s hands paused, and he looked at me. “Yeah. You can’t?”

I shook my head. “I’m homeschooled. My papa is a very busy man and he doesn’t get much time to teach me. I spend most of my days playing out here in the yard.” I played with Alice’s hair. When I flicked my eyes back to Heathan, he was still watching me. “Can . . . could you read the book to me, Rabbit?”

Heathan looked like he was going to say no, but then his shoulders dropped and he nodded. Smiling, I moved until my head rested on his leg. I heard Heathan breathing weird, but I didn’t say anything. I looked up, and he was looking down at me.

He was very handsome.

“My mummy read this to me every night when she was alive. Since then, no one has read to me . . . until now.”

Heathan swallowed, and then started at the first page. I smiled as he read. And he read well. He must be really smart, I thought. Quiet and smart.

I studied Heathan as he read. I listened to his voice, his strong Texan accent . . . just like mine when I wasn’t using my English one. “Why didn’t your mummy want you, Rabbit?”

Heathan stopped reading and looked down at me. His silver eyes seemed to darken. “No one ever wants me,” was all he said.

“Your papa? Mr. James doesn’t?”

Heathan shook his head once. “He doesn’t want me either. But I’ve got nowhere else to go. He told me to stay away from him while I was here. So I do.”

I felt my heart grow heavy with sadness. “Then I’ll want you,” I said quietly, and Heathan’s eyes grew so wide they looked like two bright moons shining in the midnight sky. I put my hand in his and squeezed gently. “I’ll be your friend, and you will be mine. Dolly and Rabbit. Friends of the Earnshaw estate . . . your first friend in the whole wide world.”

I rolled to the boombox beside me and pressed the play button. As Mummy’s tape played, I rested my head back on Heathan’s leg and gave him a huge smile. Heathan’s hand left the book, then, really slowly, he lowered his fingers to my face and over to my hair. He straightened my headband. I thought he might smile at me, but he didn’t. He looked back at the book. I closed my eyes as he read to me again. And all the time he did, I imagined I could hear the tick-tock of his pocket watch in his vest.

I knew I would like the sound very much.

Tick tock.

Heathan James.

My new friend.

Tick tock.