Nobody doesn’t find it funny.
But seriously, we have nothing to offer this man in this forsaken desert.
“Then I’m sorry.” Nobody turns around, about to drive away. “I can’t help you.”
“Wait,” the Pillar says. “I have something for you.”
What could the Pillar possibly have?
And in a most devastating moment, the Pillar pulls out a golden key and shows it to Nobody.
It’s the key the Hatter took from me.
“Is that what I think it is?” Nobody stares at it with hungry eyes.
I stare at the Pillar as well, only I’m both furious and feeling betrayed.
Did he really fool me last time, playing me all along to get the key?
“It is,” the Pillar tells Nobody. “One of the Six Impossible Keys.”
“Thank you.” Nobody snatches the key from the Pillar’s hands while I’m still cemented in place with disappointment. “Now, tell me what you want exactly?”
“What’s the cure to the plague?” That’s me asking. That’s me talking. It helps me put the Pillar’s betrayal behind my back for now.
“There is no cure,” Nobody says, tucking the key in his pocket.
Furiously, I pull him by his sleeves and roar in his face. “I swear if you don’t tell, I will make a somebody out of you, a somebody you will not like at all.”
“But what I’m saying is true.” He is choking in my hands. I can’t help but notice my violent episodes are increasing. And I’m not sure if I like this side of me. “The man who cooked it said so. A plague that can’t be cured.”
“Who is the man who cooked it?” I tighten my grip.
“They call him the Scientist.”
“No name? Just the Scientist?”
“Yes, I swear to God.”
“Where can I find this Scientist?”
Nobody is reluctant to say for a moment. He glances toward the Pillar, who’s smoking his cigar, fully amused by my anger.
“Tell me!” I shout at Nobody.
His face reddens more, bubbling now, staring pleadingly at the Pillar.
“He’s unable to talk, Alice,” the Pillar remarks. “You think you’re hurting him, but you’re actually killing him.”
My hands snap away from Nobody. I stare at them as if they aren’t mine. What’s happening to me?
“The Scientist lives in Brazil,” Nobody says, breathing heavily. “He is attending a festival at the moment.”
“Having a party while the world is ending,” the Pillar says. “Neat.”
“I’d go find him now if I was you,” the panting Nobody says.
“Suddenly caring about the world?” The Pillar raises an eyebrow.
“You don’t understand,” Nobody says. “It’s not just any festival. It’s the famous Brazilian Hookah festival!”
Chapter 48
Nazca Desert, Peru
The moment Nobody tells us where to go next, the Pillar’s chopper shows up in the air, ready to pick us up.
“This is when I usually disappear,” Nobody says and starts to frantically pedal away.
“You’re going to let him leave with the key?” the Pillar says.
It’s times like these when I don’t know what to do with him exactly. The kids shouting my name in the air distracts me from staring back at the Pillar. I turn and walk in their direction, smiling like a kid myself.
Again, it’s funny how little things, like a child’s smile, make all the sense in this world of continuous nonsense. Even the Keys to Wonderland don’t matter much all of a sudden.
“Hey, Nobody!” the Pillar yells. “You still have my key.”
“Who’re you talking to?” Nobody twists his head back, mocking the Pillar. “There is nobody on this bicycle.”
I actually admire this comeback as the chopper lands before me. The spiraling wind feels refreshing all of a sudden.
“Then I assume nobody is going to fall off the bicycle now.” I hear the Pillar suck on his cigar behind me, calling out for the man on a bicycle.
I hear Nobody’s bicycle swerve and fall to the ground.
“Ouch!” Nobody wails on the desert floor.
I turn to look.
“I think I heard nobody say ouch.” The Pillar strolls casually toward Nobody—which is a boggling sentence, in and of itself.
I suddenly realize the absurdness of a bicycle in the desert. But I am not going to stir my head around that. I’ve seen madder things in my short life.
The Pillar stands over Nobody and demands the key under the threat of the gun he is pointing at him.
I sense something bad is going to happen. I turn back to the kids and distract them so they don’t look.
When Nobody argues he won’t give it back, the Pillar shoots his leg. This search for the cure is getting bloodier by the minute.
But it works, and the Pillar gets the key back—my key!
“Don’t kill me, please,” Nobody begs.