Like the Pillar said, the Mock Turtle isn’t who I expected him to be. All the scenarios I imagined were out of context. Surprises keep on coming.
“Is that really him?” I ask the Pillar, pointing at the so-called Mock Turtle.
“Dr. Tom Truckle himself.” The Pillar is as confused as I am.
“He is the revolution leader?” I scratch my head, as if I am in a big cartoon show called life. “And how come he is the Mock Turtle?”
“He likes mock turtle soup a lot,” the Pillar remarks. “We should’ve noticed.”
I think about it for a moment. The puzzle starts to unfold in my mind. “And there is something else that should have given him away.”
“What’s that?” the Pillar asks.
“Tom Truckle is an anagram for Mock Turtle.”
The Pillar’s eyes glimmer. “Clever. But the question is: did he know he was the Mock Turtle back then when we were in the asylum?”
“And why did I leave the secret to the keys’ whereabouts with this old, annoying man?”
“Let’s see.” We walk toward Truckle. “Honestly, he doesn’t look as tense as in the past. Little too old for leading a revolution, though.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Tom Truckle says, leaning against a tree in the garden. From what it looks like, this isn’t just a garden. It’s a prison, walled with enormous trees and stinging bushes. There is nowhere to escape. “My wardens will arrive soon. They’ll know who you are.”
“Do you know who I am?” the Pillar says.
“Why should I care?” Tom says. “I was talking to Alice.”
I realize Tom doesn’t know I’m from the past, so I need to play along while I get answers at the same time. “It’s okay, Tom,” I tell him. “Where are the keys?”
Tom fidgets, pulls out a few pills, swallows them dry. He looks at me. “I can’t talk here,” he whispers. “You have to get me out of here. How did you even get in?” He grabs me by the shoulders. “And why have you left the compound?”
“Hey,” the Pillar says. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s start with getting you out of here. But first, we need to make sure the keys aren’t here in the asylum.”
“Who are you?” Tom says.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell him. “Stick with me. Are the keys inside the asylum?”
“No,” Tom says.
“Then my friend is right. Let’s get you out of here first.”
“Tell me how, and I’m all yours,” Tom says. He cranes his head over my shoulder, his mouth agape. “Oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?” I say.
The Pillar taps me on the shoulder, looking in the same direction behind me. There is a TV hung above the door. It shows the Great Republic of Wonderland news. I’ve been declared a fugitive. Public enemy number one. The Queen has ordered my head chopped off for breaking the treaty and leaving the compound.
“The deal was that strict?” I ask the Pillar.
“Like I said, rich people stay in their compound for immunity, but they’re not allowed to ever leave it.”
“Why would I agree to such terms?”
The Pillar shrugs. I turn to Tom, and he gives me a look that worries me. He knows something I don’t know. “Show me out first,” he demands.
Two wardens arrive at the door, one of them whistling a warning. Suddenly the place is head over heels.
“Alice,” the Pillar says. “I have a great idea how to get out of here.”
“Please tell me.”
The Pillar raises an eyebrow and says, “Run!”
Chapter 28
When the Pillar says run, you realize you’re in great danger. This is what Tom Truckle does. Even the Pillar himself disappears in the flash of an eye, probably behind the bushes, because this place is actually a small prison of trees and vicious flowers.
There is nowhere out of here, except climbing over the high walls in the back or through the door we came from.
I find myself stranded, but unafraid of the Reds by the door. It’s not like I haven’t confronted them before. It’s just never happened with my back against the wall.
“What are you doing?” Tom Truckle says from behind the bushes. “They’ll kill you. You’re wanted since you broke the treaty and left the compound.”
What am I doing? Heck, I have no idea. Something inside urges me to fight back. I suppose this is a more experienced version of myself in the future, even with the few pounds I’ve put on.
One of the Reds steps forward and talks to me from the hollow darkness of his mask. “We don’t have to do this, Mrs. Wonder. If you comply and let me send you back to the compound, everything will be fine.”
I am about to scratch my head. Just like that, bring me back to the compound? Didn’t the Queen declare me a fugitive? Is that a trick?
He extends a hand. “Please, will you come with me?”
“And my friends?”
“You have no friends in here, Mrs. Wonder,” the Red says. “You’re only a bit confused. Have you taken your medication today?”
Again? Tiger, my son, asked me if I had taken my pills this morning. What is that all about?
I resort to silence, readying my fist for a fight.