Follow the White Rabbit (Beautiful Madness, #1) (3 page)

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G
wen
and Marc considered themselves to be problem solvers of the highest regard. It
was usually just their own regard, but so long as people continued to pay them
money from time to time, the rest didn’t matter. Not that Marc, and by
extension Gwen, needed the money but paying clients proved that they had
something of value to offer Wonderland.

That was all Gwen had ever really
wanted. To have worth, to be someone of value. At thirteen she had been living
in a small forest village—even smaller than Tildoor, where she lived with
Marc—and working as a maid. It was tedious and a little bit like torture, but
she hadn’t had any other options. She couldn’t be satisfied with a life of
mundane chores and repetitive thoughts, but there was no way out... until she was
forced
out. Hours of late-night reading and a tendency toward distraction
eventually cost Gwen her job, however dull, and the security that came with it.

Her mother was incapable of helping
herself, let alone her only child. Gwen retreated to the only place she’d ever
truly felt safe—a library in the northern part of Neverwood forest. As a child,
she would walk for hours to get there and spend her time tucked safely between
the shelves, convincing herself there was nothing else beyond the warm lighting
and the smell of ink on old paper. It would have been the ideal spot to get her
bearings, but her sanctuary lost that special something when she had to hide
the fact that she was sleeping in the building.

It was only three days before she was
found, and by the son of the very man who owned the entire town, no less. Marc.
But instead of turning her in, he’d fed her and helped to hide her tracks. He
too saw the library as his personal sanctuary, but Marc was never one to horde
things for himself.

He’d helped her hide for almost two
years, and somewhere along the way they had hatched big plans for the future
that would set each of them apart from the paths they had each been born to
take.

When Marc had turned eighteen, he bought
the house in Tildoor and took Gwen on as his business partner, though what
their business was seemed to change from month to month. Marc had the ideas;
Gwen found ways to make them happen.

He’d helped others along the way
too—friends he met both before and after he could list himself among
Wonderland’s wealthy—but in the end it was always just the two of them. Marc
and Gwen. The others simply disappeared once they got what they came for. Gwen
suspected this was because she was the only one who saw value not in Marc’s
money, but in what he chose to do with it. She admired how he was always
pushing to create something new, but she would never voice those thoughts
aloud. Marc valued his friends above all else, even if they didn’t always
extend him the same courtesy.

Gwen was determined to always be the
type of friend he deserved.

Of course, with the White Queen standing
in their foyer, Gwen had to consider that maybe there was more to Marc’s
mysterious friendships than she knew. The woman in front of her would have no
use for Marc’s wealth.

“What can I get for you, your majesty?”
Gwen asked, wringing her hands in front of her stomach as the White Queen
surveyed their lounge.

“You can call her Rose,” Marc offered
unhelpfully.

Gwen’s face contorted into a look
crossed between outrage and utter embarrassment, but Marc missed it entirely as
he made his way to the overstuffed sofa. “No. I cannot.”

“No, really... it’s fine.” The Queen waved
her hand dismissively as she glided gracefully across the room and took a seat
on one of the plain, wooden dining chairs. Marc shrugged and picked up the book
that had been left open beside him.

Gwen sputtered, unsure of how to
respond. Rose Lennon didn’t rule in Neverwood Forest, but she also wasn’t just
another client. And she wasn’t someone she could risk insulting by accident.

“Please, relax. The last thing I need is
someone else forgetting that I’m an actual person. I need the best. Marc
insists that’s you, but you won’t be much help to me if you’re constantly
distracted by silly things like titles and curtsies.”

Ugh. I forgot to curtsy.
Gwen’s face flushed
a deep red. “What brings you to our part of the forest... Rose?” In attempting to
sound casual, the words tripped over themselves as they fell out of Gwen’s
mouth, but now it was the Queen’s turn to look uncomfortable.

“You’re sure she can be trusted?” Rose’s
eyes never left Gwen’s, although the question clearly hadn’t been meant for
her.

Who was she to come into her home and
treat her like she was the one who should be questioned? Well, that answer was
obvious. But it was still insulting!

If she wanted to be treated like
everyone else, then that was what she would get.

“You hear that Marc? Apparently she
doesn’t trust your judgment. Her majesty doesn’t think we mere commoners can
help her.” A small smile played on Gwen’s lips as she waited to see if her
royal highness would rise to the bait. Not that it was much in terms of banter
bait, but even if she hadn’t been the Queen, she was still Marc’s friend. And
potentially a paying customer.

Marc, of course, remained silent. He
preferred to stay blessedly neutral at all times.

Rose didn’t even have the decency to
look away. No, she actually seemed to be enjoying herself. “Well you do look a
little strange. Not entirely sound of mind.”

“Well shucks. I do believe that is the
politest way I’ve ever been told I look crazy. Thank you
so
much.”

Rose and Gwen continued to lock eyes,
both refusing to blink first. It was only when Rose’s lip twitched up into the
smallest of smiles that Gwen started to feel comfortable. Simultaneously, both
Gwen and Rose relaxed their posture.
Perhaps this might even be fun.

“How can we help you?”

“Actually, it really is just you I came
to see. Not that a visit with Marc is ever unwelcome.” The Queen glanced over
at Marc, but he waved away her comment with a smirk. “He tells me you spend a
lot of time studying the legends of Wonderland. Our history. Even our future,
perhaps.”

Gwen’s eyes darted to Marc, looking for
something to help her decipher what she was hearing. Her studies had always
remained secret. Not to Marc, but to absolutely everyone else. He smiled
apologetically before averting his gaze.

“I... What did he...” Gwen wasn’t sure how
much she should say, how much Marc had told this woman she had never met.

“Now it seems it is
you
who does
not trust me. But
I
won’t hold it against you,” Rose said with a playful
wink. “Sometimes, I see things.” The White Queen paused for a beat, choosing
her words. “Things that haven’t happened yet. Things that will happen soon.”

Gwen glanced at her friend and caught
him watching them. As soon as their eyes met, he glanced back down and flipped
over to the next page in his book. At least he had the decency to pretend he
wasn’t supervising.

“Lately, I’ve been seeing images of
Wonderland’s future,” Rose continued. “Pieces of our world are literally falling
away, and what remains is barely a shell of what we had before.”

Gwen tried to wrap her mind around what
she was hearing. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe the Queen— seeing the future
was no more strange than hearing the voices of plants and animals. She just
couldn’t quite fit all the pieces together. “And what is it you think I can do
for you?”

Rose bit her lip and appeared to be
bracing herself for something. “I need you to help me find Alice.”

Gwen’s mouth dropped open—not from the
shock of the Queen’s request, but from the wonderful coincidence of her coming
on
this
day. The Queen, the rabbit, Marc... it was all further evidence
that she was on the right path. Perhaps the White Queen was exactly the person
she needed to help her figure out what was supposed to happen next.

Alice.

But even if she was the key—and Gwen
strongly suspected that was the case—the texts only covered what had happened
after
the original Alice’s arrival in Wonderland. No one had documented what had
happened to get her there in the first place. The only clue was a small, white
rabbit.

At once Gwen began to collect all of the
texts she’d been studying to bring them to the dining table. Rose watched on,
clearly intrigued by Gwen’s sudden enthusiasm. Even Marc looked up from his
book to track her progress.

When she had everything she needed, she
opened up the largest volume to a page where she had laid out the very basics
of her theory.

“
This
might sound a bit mad and
not entirely sound of mind...” She smirked at Rose. “But I hope you’ll bear with
me. Please just listen, and we might be able to help each other.” Rose nodded,
intrigued, and Marc pulled up another chair to the dining table. She had explained
all of this to him before, but back then she had been missing the one crucial
piece. Alice.

“Wonderland has existed for thousands of
years. We’re tucked away from other realms, existing in our own way. Things
like time and matter are fluid and unpredictable, but it works. It works
because Wonderland has always followed a pattern.”

“What do you mean?” Marc asked, helping
to keep her thoughts on track.

“While the people in Wonderland are born
and die as individuals, our history tends to run in loops. It’s the only way
that chaos can endure here. The eastern kingdom fights the western kingdom, the
Jabberwocky terrorizes the north. Over hundreds of years these things happen
again and again, or at least they’re supposed to.

“One hundred and fifty years ago, Alice
arrived. We’re not sure how. We only know she came from somewhere else and
changed everything. Since then, the patterns of our history have never quite
matched up again, and we’ve suffered for it. The Red Queen rises, but the White
Queen is still too young to fight her, and so on. Bit by bit, Wonderland has
changed, turning into something stale and dull.”

“That’s precisely what I’ve seen in my
visions!” Rose exclaimed, slapping her hand against the table. “But I also see
Alice, and she’s long dead by now.”

Gwen pointed to a drawing in her book.
“It’s about patterns, you see? For the first time in over a century, the right
players are in place and at the right times. And once again, there’s a girl
named Alice with the ability to come here and change everything.”

Marc smiled, encouraging Gwen to
continue.

“Some of the players are obvious.
Wonderland almost always has two Queens, red and white. And I suspect I know
which role I will play...” Gwen trailed off, unwilling to admit anything until she
was certain. “But there are others, and we’ll need to find them or else we risk
history simply repeating itself. There won’t be a chance like this again within
our lifetimes.”

“Any idea where to start?” Rose asked,
resting her head against her palm. For a royal, she was turning out to be
surprisingly open-minded.

Gwen worried that in being so excited to
explain her ideas, to see them come to light, she’d forgotten to take the time
to make sure she was being understood. Still, while the Queen looked confused,
she didn’t seem to be losing interest, and so Gwen prattled on.

“I’ve actually started already,” Gwen
declared. Marc and Rose blinked in unison but didn’t volunteer any insight.
“How does the legend of Alice begin? Which Wonderlander meets her first?” Gwen
suspected that she sounded a touch condescending, but it was better to be clear
and ensure everyone was on the same page.

“The rabbit,” Marc offered.

“The
white
rabbit,” amended Rose,
smirking.

“I’m quite certain the creature has no
affiliation with the Eastern Kingdom,
your highness
.”

Rose shrugged. “All the same.”

Gwen rolled her eyes and continued.
“Back then, animals were part of Wonderland society. They were intelligent,
although usually fond of life with a sprinkle of insanity. So somehow the White
Rabbit made it into Alice’s world and brought her back.”

“And now...” Rose prompted after Gwen had
seemed to get lost in her own thoughts.

She braced herself to continue.

“I’ve been talking to a rabbit. He also
happens to be white, though I’m not sure how important that actually is.”

“You talk to rabbits?” Rose asked.

“Among other things...” Gwen didn’t want
to go into detail, but she cast an apologetic look at Marc. He shouldn’t have
had to find out like this, but he probably shouldn’t have sprung the White
Queen on her either. “Yes. So we have that much working for us.”

“I’m not sure,” Rose said hesitantly.
“None of my visions have featured wildlife at all.”

“Just today the rabbit assured me that
things are moving forward... His very presence here was all the proof I needed.
I’m just not exactly sure what it all means—what happens next.”

“So we need to find him,” Rose said.

Gwen stayed silent. She knew she should
be the one to go but couldn’t make herself volunteer. Both Marc and Rose
remained silent as well, each waiting for another to speak first.

“Well I can hardly do it,” Rose said,
exasperated. “I’m a little surprised my royal guard hasn’t come knocking on
your door already.” Marc rolled his eyes, but his smile suggested he was only
teasing. “Besides, if I’m going to be a White Queen worth remembering, then I
have another visit I’ll need to make.”

“I can’t either,” added Gwen. “Not now,
at least. Now that I know this is all about Alice I should really be
researching what it is we’ll need to do differently this time around.” It was
true enough, but if she were being honest, Gwen might have admitted that she
just didn’t want to be the one to go into the forest.