“All eyes!” the rabbit chirped as he scanned the crowd with disdain. “The King and Queen of Hearts.”
The Queen of Hearts and a rather sheepish-looking man with long hair and a beard entered to shrill trumpeting. Sabrina knew the Queen quite well. As the recently elected mayor of Ferryport Landing, she had nearly destroyed the town and taken an active interest in making the Grimm family’s lives miserable. The King, however, Sabrina had never met. He looked just like the King of Hearts she had seen on packs of playing cards—complete with the strange beard that curled at the bottom. She had heard several conflicting stories about the King of Hearts. Some suggested he had decided to stay in Wonderland when Wilhelm Grimm offered to take everyone to America. Others claimed the Queen had murdered him in his sleep. Knowing the Queen of Hearts the way she did, Sabrina suspected that last rumor was true.
“Get to your places!” the Queen shouted as she charged through the crowd, knocking over soldiers and trumpeters as she went. “We’re supposed to be playing croquet. We have to get this story back on track.”
Everyone dashed off in a different direction only to return with a flock of gangly pink flamingoes and several squirmy hedgehogs. The Queen took one of the lanky birds and held it as if it were a croquet mallet. Then she placed the hedgehog on the ground and lined up the bird’s beak with the hedgehog’s behind. Then she swung wildly and missed her shot completely. Not that she could have hit the hedgehog. It wisely scurried off before the bird came down. The Queen chased after it, and with much aggravation and a dozen wild swings she managed only to knock the daylights out of seven attendants, one after another as they rushed in to help. Soon the playing field had a small but growing mountain of unconscious obstacles.
When she had spun herself in a half-dozen circles, she called for her attendants. “Where are the interlopers?!” the Queen railed.
The Nine of Diamonds pushed the children across the lawn until they stood before the dumpy and overheated Queen. “Your Majesty,” the Nine of Diamonds said, “I have captured the three trespassers. They are responsible for the alterations to our important tale. I hope you are most pleased.”
The Queen looked at the children and then turned to the Nine of Diamonds and flashed him a disgusted expression. “Well, they can’t very well play the game without mallets and balls.”
“Of course,” the Nine of Diamonds stammered, leaping into action. A moment later he returned with more flamingoes and hedgehogs. He shoved them into the children’s hands. Sabrina’s bird flapped furiously to free itself, showering her in pink feathers. Daphne’s hedgehog hissed and bit at her before she set it on the ground where it promptly scurried away. Puck allowed his hedgehog to crawl up into his shirt.
“So you are from the real world?” the Queen said, swinging her flamingo at the furry ball. She missed again, but this time the force of the swing knocked her off her feet. Several of the soldiers helped her up and brushed her off with a great deal of energy until she slapped each of them in the head.
“Children, I am talking to you,” she said.
Sabrina nodded. “Yes, we are not from this book.”
“Interesting . . . ,” the King of Hearts said.
The Queen flashed him an angry expression. “What would you know?”
He muttered an apology before lowering his eyes.
“It’s your turn!” the Queen said to Puck.
Puck laughed. His flamingo had started a fight with Sabrina’s bird and the two were producing a symphony of squawking and screeching. “I think I’m going to have to pass.”
“Why have you come here?” the Queen asked.
Sabrina could barely look at her. Her fictional version was even more troubling and grotesque than the real Queen. Her head was gigantic and her arms and legs plump and short. It reminded Sabrina that this was not the real Mayor Heart. “We’re searching for someone. A boy called Pinocchio. He’s traveling with several wooden marionettes that can walk and talk.”
“And pinch,” Daphne said, showing the purple bruise on the back of her arm.
“Yes, he has been trespassing in our story as well. Bring the prisoner to me,” the Queen said.
“You have him?”
“Yes, my guards arrested him earlier today,” the Queen said. “He was creating a great deal of mischief.”
“Since when is that a crime?” Puck asked.
As he ranted about his rights and freedoms to cause chaos and mayhem, Sabrina tried to process what the Queen had just told her. Did she really have Pinocchio in her custody? Could one of her family’s bitterest enemies really be that helpful?