“You’ve got to see this,” he said, changing the subject and hurrying her to the other side of the castle, across the great lawn and onto a granite ledge. They climbed out as far as they could, then sat down on the rocks. She realized it was the same perspective on the view she had seen during her meditation with Emily. She felt relieved at being able to place it. Things often happened to her this way, occurring out of time sequence. It wasn’t just things that people were about to say, it was images, too; she saw things in visions before they happened in real time. She thought of it as a kind of reverse déjà vu. Over the years, she’d become fairly accustomed to this oddity.
They sat on the rocks for a long time. The sun was hypnotic. Callie watched for a while, then, still unable to see the treacherous reef below the surface, she looked at the sky, watching the tiny puffs of clouds moving slowly from west to east, letting the warmth settle in. She could feel herself beginning to doze, and she didn’t fight it.
“And who might you be, little girl?” A woman in red was standing over her, leaning down. She wore a beaded mask.
Callie was standing in the middle of the castle’s ballroom. Organ music reverberated from the adjoining hall, and the high ceiling echoed the sound, giving the room a churchlike ambience that stood in stark contrast to the masked and costumed partiers who filled the room. “I’m Alice in Wonderland,” Callie said.
“Do you know who I am?” The woman’s hair was multicolored: gold, blue, and several shades of red. “I know you,” she said.
“The Queen of Hearts?” Callie asked, hoping she was wrong. That was who Leah was planning to dress as, and she wouldn’t be happy to see her costume taken by someone else. Callie looked around. Leah was nowhere in sight.
“No, not the Queen of Hearts, but that’s a very good guess. Come closer and I’ll give you a hint.” The red woman pulled a hand mirror out of her bag. “Mirror, mirror on the wall…Can you finish that one?”
“Who’s the fairest of them all?”
“That’s right. Now you know who I am.”
“The Wicked Queen,” Callie said.
“I have another name,” the Wicked Queen said. “Can you guess it?”
“You’re not nice,” Callie said, remembering all the renditions of “Snow White” that Rose had read to her, from Grimm to the original Celtic version, called “Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree.” The fairy tale never ended well for the Wicked Queen. Why would anyone choose to be her?
“I can be nice.” The Wicked Queen laughed. “As long as you’re not Snow White.”
“I’m not Snow White! I told you already, I’m Alice!”
“So you are,” the Wicked Queen said, leaning down and offering a sniff from her chalice. It smelled like licorice, Callie’s favorite candy.
Callie sniffed. “Is it poison?” she asked, remembering the poisoned apple.
“Of a sort.” The Wicked Queen laughed. “But it’s a good poison. It’s called the Green Fairy.”
“I like fairies,” Callie said. Rose sometimes told her stories of fairies in Ireland. Callie leaned in, trying to take a sip, but the Wicked Queen pulled the chalice away.
“She’s five years old, for God’s sake!” said her mother, rushing over to grab the chalice as Callie reached for it.
“I could repeat that right back to you, Olivia,” the Wicked Queen said. “What are you thinking, bringing your child to a party like this?”
“We’re leaving,” Olivia said.
“Not yet,” said Cheryl the Dormouse, who seemed to simply appear. She spoke quietly so the Wicked Queen wouldn’t hear. “We have to meet him first. And I have the car.”
“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date,” Susan, the March Hare, sang with excitement. She, too, just seemed to appear out of nowhere.
The Wicked Queen shot her a disapproving look.
“We’re late to meet Rose,” Olivia reminded her friends.
“Rose can wait,” Cheryl said. “This won’t take all night.”
“It might,” Susan said, loudly, knowing the Queen was listening. She giggled. “I mean, if he’s anything like last time.”
“It has to be all of us together,” Olivia said. “And Leah isn’t here.”
“Just because Leah did something stupid doesn’t mean we all have to suffer.”
“There are rules,” the Dormouse said. “And Leah broke them first.”
“Rose told us to stop.”
“Well, Rose isn’t here, either,” the Dormouse said. “And she’s kicking us out of her house tomorrow, so she no longer has any say in the matter. She’s not our mother.”
The Dormouse started upstairs and the March Hare followed, calling over her shoulder to the Wicked Queen, “Maybe you’d like to join us?” And then she said, “Oh no, I forgot, that would never work. Dad just wants us.”
“Don’t do this,” the Wicked Queen said. “Think about the child for a change.”
The two disappeared, and Olivia lifted Callie and took her into an adjoining but empty hall. She placed her on a chair that felt like a throne. “Stay here,” she ordered, “and don’t move. Don’t talk to anyone. And for God’s sake, don’t drink anything!”
Before Callie had a chance to speak, Olivia disappeared up the stairs to find the others.
Callie stared through the glass door to the front lawn, where a group of guests had gathered. It was a moonless night, and Callie couldn’t tell land from sea. The chair was hard and hurt her back. Someone began to play chords on an organ. The sounds were ugly and too loud. They hurt her ears. Tears came to her eyes, but she sat mute and obedient, her hands over her ears. Had her mother left her? The chair seemed larger now and growing taller. The organ had eyes and an enormous scowling mouth. Its pipes had become teeth.
Callie climbed down from the chair and started for the stairway, passing other guests as she moved. As she entered the great room once more, she saw the Wicked Queen talking to another woman in a similar red costume. Leah was crying, and ranting, and choking on tears. The Wicked Queen was trying to comfort her.
The Wicked Queen spotted Callie. Leah did, too.
Her eyes were wild. “Where are they?” Leah demanded. She was angrier than anyone Callie had ever seen. “Tell me where they went!”
Callie pointed to the stairs.
Leah started up the stairs and Callie made to follow.
“Stay down here with me,” the Wicked Queen said, smiling sweetly. Callie shook her head and followed Leah.
The stairs were steep, and Callie had to move slowly. When she finally reached the landing, the corridor was long and dark and every door was closed. She walked slowly, pausing to listen. At the last door, she heard their raised voices crying and Leah shouting accusations. It was scary out in the hallway. She could hear the Wicked Queen and her friends’ voices echoing up the stairs.
She pushed open the door, and the shouting rushed into the hallway.
“You betrayed me!” Leah yelled at the girls. They were all there: Cheryl, Susan, and Olivia. In the center of the room was a bed surrounded by red velvet curtains. The man on the bed was trying to calm Leah, who had stopped yelling and was now sobbing. “Dad,” Leah begged. “Dad, please.” She went silent when she saw Callie, then fled the room, revealing the full profile of the man on the bed. Callie stared at him: She had never seen a naked man. Then she looked past him and saw Susan, who was naked as well, the White Rabbit costume at her feet, her pale skin sparkling in the candlelight. The man stared at Callie, freezing her in place.