THE FOUR OF THEM STOOD in front of the entrance to The Woods with No Name. There was a horrible sense of foreboding that crept up Alice’s spine. Jay seemed to be emitting smoke out of his nostrils. And Mary Ann felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

Carlos grinned, “Home sweet home!”

Three heads turned and eyed him with various degrees of incredulity.

“Did you honestly grow up here?” Alice asked as she wrinkled her nose against the foul stench coming from the trees.

Carlos raised a brow, “What is your point, Lice?”

Alice scowled, “I told you not to call me that!”

He shrugged, “What could you possibly do to me? Take me against my will? Chain me up? Kidnap me? Oh, yeah, you did that already.”

Jay took a menacing step toward the smaller man.

“Fine! Alice, your name is Alice.”

Alice huffed something which could have been acceptance of his half-assed apology, or it could have been permission for Jay to roast him alive.

Mary Ann decided that it was best she took things in hand, “Alice, do you have your ‘shrink-me’ cakes?”

Alice opened the flap of the cross-shoulder bag that she had been carrying, “Right here.”

Mary Ann beamed at her, “Perfect! Now each of us needs to take one bite, so if you would break one into fourths.”

“But I am hungry,” Carlos grumbled, and his stomach growled right on cue.

Alice got a queer smile on her face, “You can have two or three then, just to yourself.”

Mary Ann smacked her arm, “He would be shrunk to the size of a germ, and we would never find him again.”

Carlos took a step back, “I am not eating any magic shit.”

Jay snorted, “Says the talking Caterpillar.”

“Fuck you!” Carlos reddened.

Jay just smiled smugly at Carlos and then proceeded to shove the small bite that Alice had given him into Carlos’ mouth.

“Chew, bastard!” Jay demanded.

Carlos began to choke, and Mary Ann pounded him twice on the back before there was a little popping sound and Carlos had shrunk down to the size of an ant.

The other three followed soon after and then looked around at the forest from this new perspective. There was a small cropping of mushrooms that looked like massive trees looming over the top of their heads.

Before they could stop him, the hungry Carlos had reached out and taken a bite of one.

“Is he going to die?” Mary Ann gasped and tried to catch Carlos as he began to stumble.

“Fuck, look at all the colors!”

Jay’s lips twitched, “I think that we will wish we were dead before this day is over.”

Carlos grinned at Jay, his head tilting to the side.

“You are a handsome fellow, aren’t you?”

Alice and Mary Ann burst into laughter as Jay’s jaw dropped clear to his chest.

With a suave wink and a lick of his lips, Carlos was on the prowl, and it appeared that Jay was his chosen victim.

“Dude.”

Was it just Alice or had Jay’s voice dropped at least two registers?

“I don’t,” Jay stumbled over his words, “Look, I am flattered.”

Carlos began to walk toward him, “You are hung, aren’t you, big boy?”

Mary Ann was caught between horror and laughter. She couldn’t quite believe this was happening.

Alice wasn’t torn in the slightest. She wasn’t sure she had ever laughed so hard in her life. It was a toss-up what was more hilarious, the fact that Carlos had the hots for Jay or that Jay was trying to let him down gently.

It wasn’t until Carlos tried to grab his love interest that his companions released their error. Behind Jay, on a low hanging branch was a large silky cocoon that Carlos appeared to be dry humping.

The girls had tears in their eyes as they watched Carlos try to make love with his cocoon. Jay had slumped down on his ass, finally finding the humor in the situation.

“What are we supposed to do with Frisky Frank over there?” Alice sank down beside Jay and laid her head on his shoulder.

Laughter was good for the soul, Alice wasn’t sure who had told her that, but she believed it to be true.

“I wonder how Mouse and Lory are getting along?” Jay murmured against her hair.

Alice sighed, “You do know that it’s possible she’s killed him. My sister has what some might consider ‘severe anger issues.’”

Jay laughed, “Unlike her older sister?”

Alice pinched his thigh—hard.

“Ouch!” Jay moved his leg by getting to his feet and then reached a hand down to help Alice up.

Mary Ann was watching them both with unabashed curiosity. As Jay went to try and break Carlos up with what they could now see was an empty cocoon, Mary Ann asked Alice what was going on.

“Are you two—together?”

Alice’s cheeks heated, “We are all together on this mission.”

“That wasn’t what I was asking, and you know it,” Mary Ann persisted. “What was all that lovey-dovey business? You are bumping uglies! Holy shit, now I owe Lory three gold pieces!”

Alice blushed, “My sister bet against me?”

Mary Ann cocked her brow, “Please, we both knew that you would do the deed. But I had figured it would be a one and done affair. Lory insisted that you had a thing for the Jabberwocky.”

“She said what?” Alice screeched, and Carlos let go of the cocoon to cover his ears.

“Not cool, bearded lady,” he shook his head, “So, not cool.”

Alice tried to pull things together, “Mary Ann, why did you shrink us? This all has to have some purpose doesn’t it?”

Mary Ann brightened, “Of course! We are too small to smell the stink trees, and as soon as the sun sets, we will hitch a ride with the fireflies toward the center of the woods. There is a lake there that all of the creatures gravitate to when the moon is highest. If the Hatter is anywhere in The Woods with No Name, we will hear about it there.”

Carlos tripped on his own two feet and fell into Mary Ann’s arms. He turned toward Alice as if he were going to whisper a secret to her, only it wasn’t a whisper.

“Red is bloody brilliant, Ain’t she? And did you see that ass? Damn!”

Jay’s laughter filled the air around them as Mary Ann promptly dropped Carlos and blushed every bit as red as his new nickname for her.