“No, it wasn’t,” The Pillar says, looking disappointed he hasn’t figured it out sooner. “Lewis Carroll’s first choice of the title for Alice in Wonderland were many. He listed them on a single page in his diary, which can still be found in the archived papers in the Surrey History Center in London.”
“What?” I am totally mad at The Pillar. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“Because it’s such trivial information no one ever mentions anymore.”
The Chessmaster applauds The Pillar with clapping both sides of his moustache. “That partially answers my question. Now let’s make it harder. There are four titles on that page.” The Chessmaster neglects my comments. “One of them only counts, because Lewis actually sent it to the printing house before he changed his mind.”
I turn back and face The Pillar. The woman’s life is in his hands now, and I am sure I don’t have enough time to Google it, if this is the kind of info I can find on Google.
“That’s easy,” The Pillar shrugs, glancing at the poor woman. I think he isn’t sure of the answer but spits it out anyways. “Alice’s Hour in Elfland was the original title.”
“In Elfland?” I say.
“Right answer,” the Chessmaster says. “Weird, but right.”
“I’m assuming you won’t let the woman go anyways,” The Pillar steps forward, flashing his cane. I’m terrified at the thought.
“Well, you assumed right,” the Chessmaster says. “May I ask why you assumed so?”
“Because you’re a lunatic, that’s part of it,” The Pillar says. “And because you’re not here to spill blood and insinuate chaos. You have a bigger plan in mind.”
The Chessmaster smirks, brushing his mustache. “Next question.”
“Let the woman go first,” I demand.
“Don’t bother, Alice,” The Pillar says. “He won’t stop until he gets what he wants, which I am not sure what it is.”
People suppress their shrieks all around us. They stand frozen in their places, some of them eyeing the snipers in the high castle, some of them watching the man with the sword on the chessboard.
“Next question is,” the Chessmaster says. “Name three masterpieces written in the same era Alice in Wonderland came out.”
“David Copperfield by Charles Dickens,” The Pillar shoots his words faster than the speed of nonsense. “Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, and Great Expectations, also by Charles Dickens.”
“That’s impressive,” the Chessmaster claps again. “Why so fast?”
“Because it’s common knowledge that in spite of the three masterpieces being the world’s most awaited novels in that era, it was Alice in Wonderland that topped the bestseller list,” The Pillar says in one breath. “Now let the woman go.”
The Chessmaster neglects the comment and shoots another question. “What was so special about Alice’s character in the book?”
“That’s a vague question,” The Pillar says.
“Let me rephrase, it was a ‘first’ about Alice’s character in Lewis Carroll’s book?” the Chessmaster says. “Something that hadn’t been done earlier in literature.”
The Pillar grimaces, searching for answers, but it’s me who surprisingly knows. I don’t know how. It could be part of my lost memories coming back, or something that had been buried in me for years I just forgot about it.
“She was,” I begin, realizing that what I am about to say puts so much weight on my shoulders if I am the Alice in the book. So much weight that I feel I am not really doing enough to save the world or stand up to the model Lewis had made out of me.
“She was what?” The Chessmaster nears the screen, eyes glinting.
“She was the first female lead in children’s literature, ever,” I say. “Before her, children’s books had only male heroes.”
Chapter 16
My words don’t seem to affect the crowd around me. They’re nothing but the right answer to them, so the woman won’t get her head chopped off like the last. But to me, they make me ashamed of myself. Lewis had written about me as the first girl in a children’s book to stand up to adults and speak her mind freely and criticize the mad society she – or he – lived in. And still, I let him down and turned into a Bad Alice at some point in my life.
“Magnificent,” the Chessmaster says. “I am now sure it’s you and your old caterpillar who can find Carroll’s Knight,” he doesn’t explain why and says, “But first, I need to give you the first clue, and to do so, you need to answer a question you don’t have an answer for.”
“You mean you want to kill this woman anyways, like the one before?” I clench my fist. “Why is it important you kill them?”
“Life is a game of chess, Alice. One move at a time. With each move, doors either open or close for the next. Some of us are lucky to come upon several doors in a row. Pure luck, if you ask me. Some are doomed with a closed door after their first move,” the Chessmaster says. “Now here is my last question, which I promise to let the woman go if you answer correctly — but then again, you don’t know the answer, and The Pillar isn’t allowed to contribute.”