THE PRESENT: BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON
The woman in the red fur walked into the Queen’s chamber. She had her black glasses on and said nothing.
“It wasn’t hard to find you,” the Queen said.
“The deal was that I’d stay away,” the woman said. Her words were stiff. Practical.
“True.” The Queen nodded. “You did well. Although you shouldn’t have been seen in Oxford University or the Wembley Stadium.”
“I couldn’t help watching the arrival of the Wonderland Monsters,” she said. “The Cheshire’s arrival to this world was epic. The watermelons stuffed with children’s heads, too. Later, I kept to myself and hid, like you instructed me.”
“Does that mean you know who is bringing the monsters back?”
“Not at all,” the woman said. “I was only curious. Other than that, I’m just here for one mission. You know what that is.”
“I know,” the Queen said. “You have what I need from you, then?”
“You mean what Margaret wants?”
“Semantics,” the Queen said. “I took from her what she needed; now she wants it back in exchange of a favor.”
“I have it.” The woman nodded. “Do you want me to hand it to you?”
“You brought it with you?”
“I’m not comfortable with calling it it, but yes, I have it.”
“Good. I will have my guards see you to a guest room with the chubby boy,” the Queen said. “Once I get what I want from Margaret, I will send for you.”
“Of course, My Queen,” the woman said, and turned to face the guiding guards.
“Wait,” the Queen said.
“Yes?” The woman turned around
“You know what you will do when I ask for you, right?” The Queen smirked.
“Yes, I do.” The woman smirked and walked away.
The Queen felt exceptionally euphoric. She jumped in place and yelled at the top of her lungs, “Guards!”
A couple of them hurried into the room.
“Off with your head!” she ordered.
The guards looked perplexed, staring at each other. “Which of our heads do you want to chop off, My Queen? Me or him?”
“Who cares.” She waved a hand and sat on her throne. “I just want to see a head roll before me. Now!”
Chapter 25
THE FUTURE: OXFORD ASYLUM
I am lying on a patient’s bed, rolled by a young doctor inside the asylum. The doctor is signing my admission papers, telling the nurses I’m a sane person caught outside. Turns out the Queen ordered all sane people into asylums all over the world. Sane people are fed well inside until their turn comes to attend Westminster Circus, where the mad take revenge on the sane.
Whatever all of this means.
The doctor finishes the papers and starts rolling me inside. The doctor is not really a doctor. He is the Pillar possessing a young doctor’s soul.
The deal the Pillar made was to let the Cheshire help him possess another person’s soul so we could figure out our way into the asylum. I didn’t know it before, but the soul-possessing gift can be passed. The Cheshire never told it to anyone. He only agreed because he thinks he loves me. And the Pillar, being the Pillar, took immoral advantage of that.
“Don’t move until I find a way to get to that Mock Turtle,” the Pillar says in the doctor’s voice. Poor, handsome doctor, blond hair, well built, under the Pillar’s influence now.
“How are you going to find him?” I ask.
“The lesser-practiced art of asking, dear Alice,” the Pillar says. “It works like a charm when you’re good looking.”
He stops by a couple of nurses. “Sweeties,” I hear him say. “Looking fantastic today.”
“Oh.” One of them blushes — I tilt my head to see her. She is a redhead. “Thank you, doctor. What was your name again?”
Oops. We didn’t ask before the Pillar possessed him.
“Call me doctor.” The Pillar smiles.
“Doctor?” the other one, shorter, with thick glasses, asks.
“Of course. Dr. Doctor,” the Pillar says. “Instead of James, Jack, or John. Boring, right?”
They giggle. “How can we help you, Dr. Doctor?”
“See how sweet the words drool out of your sugary mouth?” he says.
I close my eyes, roll them behind my eyelids, and try not to laugh.
“You’re so sweet,” the shorter one says.
“Did you ever hear about that patient, Mock Turtle?” the Pillar says.
“Of course,” the bigger nurse says. “Pfff. The revolutionist.”
“Revolutionist?”
“You don’t go out much to the real world, do you?” the shorter one says. “Never heard about the Inklings?”
Things are getting weirder by the minute.
“Excuse my ignorance,” the Pillar says. “But I hate those sane people already.”
“The Mock Turtle is the leader of the revolution against the Queen,” the bigger one says.
“Long live the Queen,” the shorter one adds.