“Alice!” Lewis cheers with a glass of wine in his hand. He is sitting at the head of a table filled with all kinds of colorful food. The place looks cozy, like how you would expect your family’s house to look.
To his right sits Fabiola, nodding and smiling at me. “We missed you, Alice. I thought we’d wait for you to say prayers before we began eating.”
I step closer and wipe the tears from my eyes. Is this room some sort of a dream?
A dream within a dream? A madness within hallucinations?
“You have to taste those vegetables,” says the March Hare, looking as sane and relaxed as he ever has. “I grew them myself in my garden.”
I am starting to assume this isn’t a dream. I think the door transported me to another time, maybe before the circus, when life seemed peaceful in Wonderland.
Those at the table may be all the friends I had at this time.
“Missed you, Alice!” A younger girl, next to Fabiola, waves at me. She has a cute smile, but I don’t recall meeting her before.
I wave back and approach the table.
“The best chicken soup in Wonderland,” a voice says behind me. It’s Jack. He brings a bowl of soup filled with playing cards to the table and sits next to the March Hare. “Come sit, girl.”
I sit opposite Lewis Carroll, wondering when this really happened. But in any case, I’m glad, because this means I am her. I am the Real Alice, right?
We start all holding hands, and Fabiola asks me to say a prayer again.
“I don’t know any,” I say.
“Just say what’s on your mind,” Lewis says. “We’re family now. We’ll accept what you feel inside your heart.”
Overwhelmed by the possibility of having had such a family at some time, overwhelmed by this peace and love, I stare at Fabiola’s angelic, motherly smile, Lewis’ fatherly care, the little girl’s innocence, and Jack’s loving eyes. The March Hare could simply fit as good uncle who takes care of us as much as his garden.
My phone rings suddenly. I pick it up while everyone glares at me. Not even Carroll imagined such a device in his time—I guess I will have to explain it to them later.
But there may be no later.
The message is from the Hatter, not the one I saw in the circus, but the one from real life:
Thank you for telling me the circus’s whereabouts; no one would have found it but you.
And, oh, all of this you see happened once in the past, Alice. Enjoy the very short moment, as it will turn upside down right now. Enjoy a glimpse of Wonderland as it was so long ago.
You led me to the circus, and I have to thank you for that. This is why I showed you this intimate moment of your past through this portal.
I raise my head to the questioning friends on the table, but I have to type back now, and explain later: You got what you wanted. The location of the circus, although I don’t know why it’s so important. I need the location of the rabbit. You promised.
The response arrives sooner than I expected:
Go to the Six O’clock Circus in real life. You will find a device buried underneath the sand in the ring. The device can locate the rabbit’s every move. Good luck. Now, I leave with the last tragedy in the scene.
P.S. You will never find the rabbit if you’re not wearing the dress. And, ah, again, the fan and gloves you found are the wrong ones. But don’t worry, you should find them, and understand their importance, once you find the rabbit.
Find the rabbit, save the world, and find out who you really are.
I tuck my phone back in my pocket, and smile at my family. “I’ll explain what this is later.”
“Is that from the future?” The March Hare raises a thick eyebrow.
“Kinda.”
“Kinda?” Jack asks. “What does kinda mean?”
“Ah.” I sigh. “That’s a long story. Should I say the prayers now?”
“Please do.” Lewis and Fabiola exchange smiles and stare at me. I don’t know what it means, but suddenly I realize they maybe were a couple one day.
I grip Jack’s hand harder on my left, and this cute younger girl on my right, and begin...
But like the Hatter said, it won’t last long.
The door bursts open. Victorian police dash in and arrest Fabiola, Jack, March Hare, and the girl on account of being infected with the Invisible Plague.
Lewis stands and defends them. The police knock him down and take him along. “You’re infected, just like all of them,” the constable roars, and hits him on the back. “You all shall die before you infect the rest of the world.”
I realize that this memory is the last of the happy ones for the six of us.
As for me, I feel like I am fading away, melting between the sheets of insanity, returning with my body and soul to the place where I originally started. The place people like to call the real world. Sometimes, they call it the sane world.
Chapter 61
The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Scotland
Time remaining: 5 hours, 04 minutes
I wake up in the rabbit hole again. Dirt surrounds me everywhere.
Whatever this trip was, I have no idea. But I know I learned a lot.
A lot!
A tiny slant of light peers through from above. Someone is unlocking the hole.
“Alice.” The Pillar peeks inside. “Can you hear me?”