Death of the Mad Hatter (34 page)

C
HAPTER
S
IXTY-
S
IX

(
Alice Mae: Present Time in Wonderland)

Death by poison—it was the best I could hope for as I sat at the snake table and waited for Hearts to wake. The slithering creatures wrapped their tails around my ankles and legs. The sun had long since risen before she crawled out of bed
and put on her robe. I raised my glass when she saw me. She didn’t look the least bit surprised to see me. The thought made me smile. I wondered how many nights had passed while she tossed and turned, waiting for me to return,
if
I returned.

“Guards!” she screamed.

I put my elbows on the table and leaned forward to whisper my secret. “I’ve locked the doors with one of the late Joker’s impermeable locks. I do admit his locking toys are high quality. The only way in or out is to break down the door.”

Hearts looked half-panicked, but recovered quickly. Wearing a deceitful smile, she wrapped herself in the robe Genevine sewed last night. Eyeing the food and drink on the table, she stood back like she was unsure
if she should wait until her guards could dispose of me or attack me herself.

“Are you scared of a
stupid
girl?” I asked, laying the sarcasm on thick. I crossed my legs, making sure she’d get an eyeful of my torn clothing.

That got
me the glare of the century. “To what do I owe this pleasure, Al?”

“I wanted you to be the first to hear that after a long hiatus, I’ve decided to stay in Wonderland,” I said and took a sip of the tea. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the natural flavor as it hit my tongue. “But, if I’m to live in this nightmarish place, I do have a list of demands.”

That comment got the queen laughing. “You are in no position to make demands! You have been banished to the Otherworld!”

“Yes, I chose to live there to keep everyone safe. I was considered a traitor and anyone who helped me would have their eyes removed. So, for a year I never came back here, but it was the Wrong decision. I should never have left.”

She eased up and sat down across the table from me. The snakes’ tails tightened their grip, but I did not react to the tension. Instead, I set my tea cup down and listened to the queen laugh.

“
Even if the Joker is dead, you still have a price on your head.”

“I do hope it’s a high price,” I said, holding up a spoon. I
fussed with my hair. “I like expensive things.”

The tension tightened around my legs. My feet had already gone numb. I could tell that the creatures were desperately trying not to react
to the tonic.

“My demands are as follows,” I said. “Robby Edgar is to have his banishment lifted. He can live here or in the Otherworld. If he chooses to stay in the Otherworld, Genevine is to be announced as queen. Oh, and every single red rose in the court shall be painted white.”

Chez appeared on top of the table, next to the sugar cubes. He tilted his head as he inspected my spoon before knocking it off of the table. “We might as well rename it the White Court,” he said dully.

“What a fabulous idea!”
I exclaimed.

The door handle shook. The guards had arrived. Not a second had passed and the door rattled from their pounding.

“Is that all?” Hearts said. Her tone of voice was dry.

I smacked my head. “Oh, heavens, I forgot. That price tag you put on my head shall be lifted. It is not my intentio
n to die… well, not today anyway.”

I took another sip of the tea. Hearts watched
me carefully. I forced a smile. I set the tea cup down on the saucer and giggled. My laughs weren’t for the queen’s everlasting paranoia from eating poisoned food—it was that the snakes had recoiled from my legs. They moved so slowly that the cat didn’t even hear them.

“And if I refuse your extensive list of demands?” Hearts asked and took a sip of her tea.

I dug in my pocket and pulled out the bottle. Popping off the cork, I raised it above my head and waited for them to get a good look at it.

“Is that snake repelle
nt?” Chez asked. His hair stood on end when he noticed my now snake-less chair. “Where are the four legless ones?”

The queen stood up so quickly her chair fell over. She stepped
back; looking at the floor like the tiles themselves may come up and bite her. I’d give up all my worldly possessions to have captured Hearts’ expression on camera the moment she saw the four snakes coming after her.

“If you refuse my demands, it will be the last decision you make, Hearts,” I said, tilting the bottle so a splash of the
tonic dripped out. “All you have to do is play nice, and I’ll give you the repellent.”

“I’d rather die than agree to your terms,” she said, running toward the door.

“And so you shall…” I drizzled out the tonic onto the tablecloth. When it was empty, I took out Ryley’s pocket watch. The hands lay still. They were still as broken as my heart. “When a second carries on for infinity, the Reign of Terror shall end. I’m adlibbing, but I think you get the idea.”

The guards beat at the door more profusely, the louder their queen screamed for help. Splinters flew as they took their battle axes to the wood. Their paper weapons packed a punch after all. In desperation, Hearts shook the handle as the snakes nipped at her ankles
.

Chez appeared by Hearts
’ legs. With his sharp claws, he pawed at the snakes. It didn’t slow the creepy crawlies. Covered in claw marks, the snakes slithered up her legs, around her body, until they reached the rose emblem. It was then that Chez made his exit and disappeared while all four snakes circled around the queen’s neck. They bit at the rose emblem. Blood spattered the white rose, until it looked like the flower bled
.

“Poison was always a part of M.H’s plan. But, all of his plans had one main glitch. You see, I knew if anyone poisoned your food, they would succumb to death because you always waited to eat or drink until someone else does first. So I had to come up with another idea, which Ryley gave me when he told me about your snaky chair.
To honor M.H. I kept his poisonous theme in mind when I made my plan, but it wouldn’t come from me. Oh, no. The poison came from the venom. And since he was the best candy-maker the court had ever known, I thought it only fitting to collaborate sweets into my plan… Isn’t it positively perfect?”

I memorized the look of horror on the queen’s face.
Straightjacket—that one word echoed in my mind. I should really be tied up somewhere, locked away, and have the key thrown away. Yes, yes, all of those choices would be completely acceptable. But, deep down in the darkest cracks of my heart, I had never had more of a reason to smile—really smile.

“How
did I incorporate the candy tonic, you may ask. Genevine’s spiders drank that snake tonic and then the seamstress used their silk to sew that beautiful heart on your robe,” I said, leaning back in my chair.

A single tear fell
, but it wasn’t for Hearts. I took off the hat that belonged to a candy-making conspirator, a banished Heir, and, my beloved. Tucked in the top was a photo of Ryley and me when we committed our first crime of breaking and entering. He looked at me like I was his world. I pressed the photo over my chest and prayed that he knew how deeply I loved him. Killing the queen didn’t make my heart any less broken or my soul any less destroyed, but it finally felt like I was doing something Right.

The queen fell to her knees as the paper
mache soldiers barged through the door. LeDee and LeDum followed after. They opened their mouths to scream, but only shrill gibberish came out. The air circled around them as they breathed in and out, sucking the oxygen from the air. Red tears stained their cheeks as they grabbed at the snakes. But the slitherings had already clamped down on the robe, sucking the candy from the very fibers of the silk in the rose emblem. The soldiers didn’t know what to do now that Hearts was dead, but I didn’t fault them for that. They were headless. Unhurriedly, I stood up, smoothed my shirt, and walked to the broken down door until I saw Ryley standing amongst the soldiers, pushing his way to the front.

“Run!” I screamed at
Ryley.

But, it was too late. The snakes had already caught whiff of the sweet scent laced in the stitching of his neck!
Grabbing a battle axe from a dumbfounded soldier, he flipped it in the air and swung as the venomous snakes attacked.

Everything happened so
fast.

C
HAPTER
S
IXTY-
S
EVEN

(
Alice Mae:
Present Time in Wonderland)

Blood spattered everything.
Ryley swung the weapon so quickly I could hardly follow, but there were four snakes and only one of him. They twisted around his arms and legs, moving quickly as they tried to get at his neck. Wrapped in their grip, he didn’t stop swinging until four snakes lay dead at his feet.
So many deaths…

I
raced over to him, stepping over the queen. Tears burned my eyes. Four snakes lay dead at Ryley’s feet, but he was not without injury. Bruises lined his arms, and blood coated his hands. Ryley dropped the battle axe in a pool of red and embraced me. My tears drizzled over his lacerated hands when he cupped my face.

“You’re hurt!” I said
, wishing death wouldn’t take him from me again. I didn’t want to say good-bye. I couldn’t say good-bye, not again. I’d rather die.

“I’ll survive, Alice Mae.”

I shook my head and grabbed his hands, inspecting them thoroughly. There was just so much blood! Maybe if I could suck the poison from his wounds he wouldn’t die on me—again.

He clutched my hands and forced me to look up at h
im. “The snakes didn’t bite me, but I did have to beat down a couple of doors to get to you.”

He smiled, encouraging me to believe him. But I learned long
ago not to trust a smile. I searched for fanged tooth marks on his neck. There were none. He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it sweetly, like we were on a romantic date instead of standing in a pool of blood.

Mr. Ruth peered around the corner. His legs wobbled and he looked like he was seconds from fainting.
“He refused to listen to me! I swear I did everything I could to keep him safe. But he kept bulldozing down doors until he found you,” Mr. Ruth said and then peered around us. “Is she really dead?”

LeDee
and LeDum wailed. Their incoherent reply was answer enough.

“
It’s so strange that those snakes just went crazy and killed the queen, isn’t it?” Ryley asked, glancing at the queen’s entourage.

I fought back an
off kilter grin. “Yes, we should let everyone know the Queen of Hearts had a
misfortunate accident
involving her pet snakes.”

Genevine and her spiders were waiting at the castle’s gate. Mr. Ruth raced out in front of us to deliver the news. When Ryley and I emerged, walking hand in hand, every creature in the court gathered near the gate, looking up at Genevine for direction. She would be a wonderful ruler of the court. I pulled a bobby pin from my hair and went to work unlocking the heavy weight from around her ankle. It took some coaxing, but eventually the clasp unlocked. For the first time in decades, she was truly free.

Ryley knelt down
next to Mr. Ruth. “If you wouldn’t mind doing a favor for me, I’d be much obliged.”

“Anything,”
Mr. Ruth said.

Ryley
pulled a worn page with a mirage recipe. My handwriting was written on the edge along with faded blue lipstick; it was the note I’d taped to his locker last year. Instinctively, I brought my hand up to my bare lips. So much had changed in a year. I’d changed so much.

He handed it to Mr. Ruth.
“I would have personally given this to my dad, but I’m bound to Wonderland.”

Mr. Ruth thumped his foot nervously. “Robby
’s mind is truly lost, Mad Hatter, and it’s not because he is missing his sweets. News of your death did him in.”

“Then give it to
my mom. She’ll know what to do,” Ryley said.

“And if I can’t find her?”

I dug in my pocket and pulled out a few dice, eleven crumpled cards, a jack, and the old racecar. I handed it to the rabbit. “If you are close enough to Robby’s vehicle, the racecar’s headlights will light up, and the wheels will spin. It will lead you to it. You might be able to track Lauren if she still drives it.”

“In the meantime, i
f my dad’s mind can handle it, deliver a message for me. Tell him that I am… doing well. Explain what happened. Let him know that it is safe to return to Wonderland,” he said, and glanced back up at me.

There was a weight to his gaze
that held little meaning to anyone else but me. He acted like he could see my diseased soul, my bleeding heart, and my broken mind. He knew about the not-so-good-parts of me, and loved me anyway. I didn’t know if I brought out the good in him, or if I just made him want to pull his hair out, but nevertheless, I had stolen his heart when he was running away with mine. Our love ran deep—deep enough to kill, deep enough to die.

Ryley turned back to the white rabbit.
“And let him know that Alice Mae will be with me—as long as she stays in Wonderland.”

Mr. Ruth saluted him and scampered off. Ryley stood up next to me and took in the sight of
all the creatures in the court. There was no cheering or clapping. They were rendered silent by the news of the queen’s death. No one stopped us. No one arrested us. No one voiced a protest. Instead, they tipped their hats to us as we walked past them. Ryley’s hand found mine.

“A long time ago, you told me that you wondered what it’d be like to be so small that you could hide from all life’s problems in a house made up of cards,” Ryley said
. “Would you like to come home with me, and see what it’s like?”

“Nothing has ever sounded so sweet.”

Wonderland was an intoxicating, magical world where the most far-fetched dreams could come true and the impossible was possible. Conversely, it was a realm where the most daunting nightmares could haunt us until the end of time.

Heads would
Roll…

Hearts would
Break…

In the end, did it (really) matter who
Reigned?