Death of the Mad Hatter (11 page)

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN

(
Alice Mae: Third visit to Wonderland)

Candy factories were popular in Wonderland, but the most notorious one
was named after M.H.
The Mad Hatter’s Ooey Gooeys.
His mushroom house was made up of chocolates and seemingly endless sugary snacks. The outside looked like an oversized mushroom, but the inside might as well have been a gingerbread house.

I traced a purple licorice trim on the wall and then licked my finge
r. An explosion of grape flavor erupted in my mouth. It was the greatest sugar rush of all time. I picked up a colorless bottle and gave it a sniff, expecting some heavenly aroma. But there was nothing. It was absolutely odorless.

“Snakes go
berserk for that,” M.H. said and picked up a bottle similar in size to the
Drink Me
ones. A snake wrapping around a skull and cross bones was etched onto the glass. “And they, along with frogs, toads, lizards, any other reptile or amphibian loathe this. According to my research, it acts like repellent.”

“
Research?” I repeated. “Is candy really significant enough to justify research?”

“
Candy is vital to Wonderlanders and VIP Otherworlders,” M.H. lectured. “Without it, our people couldn’t travel to the Otherworld and live normally.”

“
Wonderlanders live in my world?” I asked, eyeing his kitchen table that had been made up entirely of red gumdrops.

M.H. laughed,
“My dear, your aunts, the Maude sisters, are from Wonderland!”

My mouth practically hit the floor. This place—Wonderland—was
my
place. It was
my
escape from the reality. They knew about it?

“
They suck on homemade candies, like these, to keep their thoughts straight and keep from seeing imaginary people and things,” he said.

“
What’s a VIP Otherworlder?”

“
A person who spends a lot of time in Wonderland. Normal Otherworlders don’t react to our candies, unless they spend a lot of time here,” M.H. said, kneeling down beside me. “The more time you spend in Wonderland, the more you become a part of it. People weren’t meant to live in two worlds. One day you must choose which one you’ll live in—one day. But, today is not that day.”

I remembered the
BackWards Wanderer Prophecy
he showed me: A strong-Willed child shall set the time-stalemate into motion, but only if a tWo-eyed hare can lure her to the Wonderful World of Wonderland. She Will be given a choice to live Wondrously forever or be banished to Weep in her homeland. Seconds Will tick forWard and backWards until her decision no longer Wavers. HoWever, she Will choose Wrong.

“
I will choose Wrong,” I said.

“
There is no use fretting about what cannot be done, but only act on what can be done. The Jack made one for me too.” M.H. lifted his hat and peeled out a piece of burnt newspaper. Scribbled on it with orange ink were the words of a
Comings & Goings Prophecy: You’re a HATed fool to believe the Bleeding Heart won’t find out your Comings and Goings. Some come. Some go. But one fool cannot do both... unless he is in two separate pieces. Come & Go. Come & Go. Come & Go.

“If you separate into pieces, you’ll die.”

“Death will come for us all,” he said. “Like I said, there is no use fretting about the inevitable.”

“
What can I do?” I asked.

“
I’m in search of an apprentice,” he said. “Someone who’s smart, cunning, and who has a VIP pass into both realms. Someone like you.”

A smirk so evil widened across his face. He looked to the far corner of the room. Shadows cast on the walls, making it nothing like the rest of the rainbow-colored room. There was a black door so small only a mouse could pass through. It was almost unnoticeable
.

“
Have you ever wondered why you get a tummy ache after eating a lot of candy?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “Because too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing. Candies can be poisonous. Thus, they can become a weapon more hazardous than a guillotine.”

“
Are you planning to hurt someone?”

“
Hurt? No,” he said, speaking technically. “But there is someone I want dead, which is where you come in, Al—my sweet, sweet girl who has a boy’s name.”

Al. He was ta
lking about me! “What do you want me to do?”

“
My candies will only make a person sick. I need to create one that will be deadly but tasteless, especially shall we say, if one unknowing queen were to drink it in her tea.”

“
You want to kill the queen? Why?”

“
Many reasons, but the most important is because she is not the rightful ruler of this court. She banished the only man who is fit to rule.”

“
And who is that?”

“
Robby, my colleague in this devious candy making business. When he finds a way to stop time, he’ll need a deadly sweet,” he said, and stood up and walked to the little black door. “Will you help me create a candy weapon, so poisonous yet sweet that no one will suspect foul play?”

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN

(
Ryley: Present Time)

Standing in front of the mirror wearing stone washed jeans, black boots,
and a dark gray button down shirt. Courtney would instantly know that I was trying hard to impress her the second she noticed that I wasn’t in a t-shirt. Only when forced did I wear a button down shirt—usually at a funeral or a wedding. I grabbed one of my twenty three baseball caps. It was a green university one that I’d visited last year when I checked out the physics department. It was a little snug.

Mom was right about my hair getting out of control, but to give in now would m
ean that she won this battle. After our intense heart to heart, I wanted to keep things from getting faux pas. Lifting it up off my head just a little, I turned it on to the side—yep, even more lame. Wearing it flipped back looked no better, so I just wore it like usual: propped on my head like a train conductor. A gust of wind would easily blow it off.

The last item
in my wardrobe was the stuffed bunny, which I tucked in my back pocket. I wasn’t letting it out of my sight again.

A red silk dress—that was what
Courtney wore. Her lips were such a dark crimson color that I couldn’t look away. I just stood on her doorstep staring at her like a baboon… until her dad stepped out from behind her. I expected to see a .22 or some shotgun in his hands. There wasn’t.

He had the same red hair as his daughter, but his facial features would never be described as feminin
e. Even though he sat behind a desk for a living, I doubt he’d think twice about rolling up his sleeves and acquainting his fists with my nose if I tried anything ignominious with Courtney.

“
I expect my
only
daughter to be home by midnight,” he said.

“
Really, Dad?” Courtney asked and held up three fingers. “So I suppose those
three
other girls living in the house aren’t my sisters?”

“
Let me rephrase,” he said, staring me down. “Courtney is to be home at a quarter to twelve.”

“
Seriously Dad?” Courtney demanded.

He crossed his arms.
“Eleven thirty.”

I
snagged Courtney’s hand and led her away. At the going rate, I’d never get past the front steps before Courtney’s curfew was up.

Supper at Little Italy went smoothly… until Courtney’s food arrived. She took one measly bite of her salad, and her face paled. She spit out the lettuce in her napkin. “I think I’m going to puke.”

Courtney
hurried off to the bathroom. What was the protocol for something like this? If I followed her into the bathroom to hold her hair up (or whatever gesture was considered appropriate) any other person with lady-parts inside the women’s bathroom would surely freak. Predicting that the night would end with a mob of dismayed women chasing me out of the restaurant would surely add to the gossip.

Well, the threat of vomit answered any question about
if I was to get a good-night kiss. “I hope she’s alright,” I said to the waitress who had brought over two iced waters. The perfume she wore was familiar. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Cherries and vanilla?

“
I’m sure she will be, but I’ll bring over a glass of 7-up, just in case she’s taken a turn for the worse,” the waitress said and hurried away to the kitchen.

I took my eyes off the
women’s bathroom door just long enough to thank the waitress—Who was Alice Mae, wearing the waitresses’ trademark black uniform. That’s why the perfume smelled so familiar! It was Alice Mae’s! That nitwit seriously sabotaged my date? I took off running toward the kitchen. Shouting her name, I burst through the metal swing doors and grabbed her.

“
Why did you poison my date?” I demanded, shaking the girl by her shoulders. I was ready to strangle Alice Mae, but there were far too many witnesses.

One of the cooks pulled me away
from her. Holding me up against the wall, he pressed his gigantic forearm under my throat.

“You
burst into my kitchen and spread rumors about food poison—that will put this place out of business,” the cook said in a not-so-nice manner.

“Not food poison,
poison
poison,” I clarified. Stop talking and think about the words jumping from your mouth, I thought. I was sounding like an idiot. “That waitress impersonator did it!”

I was ready to let her
have it, but there was one pesky problem. The waitress wasn’t Alice Mae. She didn’t look even remotely close to Alice Mae—other than her blonde hair.

I owed this random girl a well thought out apology, but all that came out was a pathetic
, “I’m sorry.”

Needless to say, the on-site-manager
“subtly” instructed me to leave. He promised that my mom would hear about my behavior. Twenty minutes later, Courtney joined me outside the entrance. Water dripped from her hairline and her makeup was rubbed off—not a good look for her. Clutched in her hand was the 7-up can the waitress had promised.

Mortified would be the best word to describe my level of horror.

“A waiter told me you’d been escorted out. Why?” Courtney asked. Her voice wavered.

“There was a gigantic misunderstanding.”

I took her hand, even though I didn’t want to get sick, and guided her back to the car so I could take her home. Unforgettable was what I was going for on the date, but this wasn’t it. Perhaps, by some chance, the whole world won’t know about my impulsive actions tonight.

“I heard you grabbed a waitress,” Courtney said. “Why?”

So much
for keeping this a secret.

“
I thought it was Alice Mae,” I said and rubbed the back of my head. What I was about to say sounded like a line in a bad horror movie. “I thought that she poisoned you.”

“
Who poisons people nowadays?”

Desperate people,
very desperate people.