Descending to the basement, I see Edith putting on her gloves. And with Lorina’s fan, I realize those are the fan and the gloves I was supposed to find.
Then I remind myself I am wearing the maid’s dress. The triangle is complete. The three things the Hatter had wanted me to find, only I mistook the fan and gloves I found in the bottom drawer in my room upstairs for Lorina’s fan and Edith’s gloves.
What kind of truth am I about to know about my past? I have a feeling it’s going to be darker than darkness itself.
There is a small cage in the basement, a smaller version of the one I saw in Wonderland. Toys are scattered all over the floors. Endless books, dog-eared and ripped apart, are scattered on the floor. All of them copies of Alice in Wonderland.
Closer, I see countless playing cards and chess pieces in the corners, too. What happened in this room?
“Still can’t remember?” Edith folds her arms in front of her.
“I’d prefer if you tell me.” I shrug. My own suppressed memories are on the tip on my tongue.
“This was your circus,” Lorina says. “We used to cage you in here when you were seven years old.”
I try not to panic. I think it’s coming back to me.
“We used to make all kinds of fun of you,” Edith says without the slightest tinge of guilt in her voice. “Sometimes we invited our friends from school to watch you in the cage.”
“We let them watch you with your silly books, playing cards, and, of course, those stupid Lewis Carroll childhood tales,” Lorina says.
“It was fun,” Edith says. “Of course, we only did it when Mum was away, trying to make a living after Father left.”
“And you never said a word to Mum,” Lorina whispers in my ear. “You know why?”
“Why?” My hands are trembling.
“Because you were a coward, among so many other reasons.”
“What was the point of keeping me in a cage and entertaining your friends?” I ask, my lips dry, my neck feeling wobbly.
“You were mad, Alice,” Edith says. “It was so much fun having a mad member of the house.”
“With all your funny stories about Wonderland,” Lorina elaborates. “The white rabbits, the Hatter and the tea parties, and don’t get me started with ‘eat me’ cake.”
“It seemed like you read everything in the Alice books and thought they happened to you, only you made them more sinister,” Edith explains. “Lorina and I had always been the bullies in school. It was so much fun, but we had no one to make fun of when we got back home.”
“And there was you.” Lorina snickers. “The highlight of every day.”
“I was seven years old, for God’s sake.” A tear trickles down my cheek. A blurry memory of me holding on to the cage, begging to be let go, attacks me.
“But you were really entertaining,” Lorina says. “That Invisible Plague of yours. Oh, man.”
Suddenly, a question hits me. “How do you know about the Invisible Plague? How did the idea of the cage come to you?”
Lorina and Edith stare at each other, suppressing a bubbly laugh. Then they let it out in a burst of chuckles and snickers.
“Alice. Alice. Alice.” Lorina wraps her threatening arms around me. “You were the one who gave us the idea.”
Chapter 67
Buckingham Palace, London
The Queen of Hearts, posing as the Queen of England, was ready to take the stage again. She was about to go announce her brilliant plan after showing her guests one last video.
But she couldn’t do it before she received that call she was waiting for.
Her phone rang.
“What took you so long?”
“A few twists and turns in my plan,” a muffled voice said. “But it’ll be good in a few minutes.”
“So the video will be ready?”
“Give it half an hour,” the voice said. “I’m on it. It will be a live feed, and you will be able to show it to your guests.”
“Is it going to be good enough?”
“Much more than you think,” the voice said. “A piece of art, like nothing you ever seen.”
“Frabjous.” She grinned, feeding Brazilian nuts to one of her dogs. “Everyone in Britain is going nuts looking for the rabbit with the bomb. I can’t pretend I didn’t hear about it much longer. The public will need some statement. But I can’t wait half an hour to show the surprise to my guests.”
“You will, My Queen,” the voice said. “Long live Wonderland. Death to the real world.”
“Ah, one more thing,” the Queen said. “Next time, I prefer you tell me your plans in detail. When Margaret first told me about the rabbit loose in the streets, you hadn’t told me this was your plan. I stood oblivious of what was going on.”
“Apologies, My Queen,” the voice said. “The idea came out of the blue, after I learned of a psychological term called the Rabbit Hole.”
“Really? Is that a real scientific term?”