You Are Ours, Alice

What the?

My heartbeat hiccups when I see the stars on the ceiling start moving on its own.

Magic, I think right away.

And that's bad, I think right after.

Because nowadays, where magic is, fucked-up things often follow—-

Oh shit.

The stars have realigned themselves, gradually forming letters until they spell the name...

"Wunderland," I whisper unthinkingly.

And unfortunately...

That's all it takes this time.

Wunderland is the new Open Sesame, and the next thing I know, a whirlpool has sucked me off the floor, plastic stars are spinning around me like neon-colored shuriken, and I'm once again falling and falling—-

Up, up, up—-

Then—-

Down, down, down.I'M BACK IN MY ENTRYWAY in a blink, and most of my surroundings are familiar territory: chessboard squares from floor to ceiling, glass table (albeit empty), and a seemingly endless row of doors on each side.

The only major difference is the sound.

In the Hall of the Mountain King is still playing faintly in the background, but I hear something else, too.

Wind, I realize a few moments later.

It's blowing from somewhere, and now I'm also feeling it against my skin. An icy breeze with an alluring scent of woods, and it has my feet moving on its own until I'm standing in front of a partially open door. That's certainly new, and I can't resist taking a peek through that sliver of opening.

A signpost is the first thing I spy: a whitewashed strip of wood about twelve feet tall, and nailed to it are several arrow-shaped signs. One says Up, Up, and Away, another says Down, Down, Down, but the last two are what has me drawing my breath.

One sign says The Dormouse while the other says...The Mad Hatter.

It's the last one that has me unthinkingly stepping out of the door, but the moment I do, I hear something slam shut—-

Oh shit.

I whirl around, and it's even worse than I feared. The whole bloody door's gone, and now I'm not just stuck in my entryway. I'm stuck in Wunder-bloody-land itself, and once again I have no idea how to un-stuck myself.

Way to go, Addie.

I take several deep breaths until my initial panic fades.

First things first then.

First things first, always.

The whole of Wunderland stretches before me like a beautiful, perilous mystery. It's night here; no moon, but the sky has more stars than Hollywood can ever contain, and their collective glow is enough to light my surroundings. Both signs for The Mad Hatter and The Dormouse point to the direction of the woods, and I hesitate for a second, remembering what Chassie said.

The Mad Hatter isn't just one of Winter's rulers, but he's also "prophesied" to be one of my lovers. Other girls might think having more than one man wanting them is a dream come true, but as far as I'm concerned that's just asking for trouble so...

Dormouse it is.

I start off cautiously on the narrow road that snakes down to the left side of the woods. In the book, Alice's original choice was between the Hatter and the March Hare. I'm not sure why it's suddenly the Dormouse instead of the Hare, but whatever. Whoever or whatever it turns out to be, I'm just hoping the Dormouse will be willing to help me leave Wunderland. Probably not for free, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed the favor won't be sexual in nature.

The woods are an eerily marvelous sight, with the first lines of The Beautiful Danube now playing rather enthusiastically in the background. There are waist-high shrubs everywhere, but blooming between them are flowers that glow with bioluminescent petals, and it's the same with the vines that climb around the otherwise shadowy trunks of tall, scarecrow-like trees.

Snow has started to fall, but they seem to fade before hitting the ground, leaving the path dry and visible. The wind picks up speed the farther I walk, and I start to feel cold. I hide my hands in the pockets of my itsy-bitsy skirt, but it's not enough, and my teeth begin to chatter almost like an accompaniment to Strauss's waltz.

It's almost cute really, but since I don't fancy dying by hypothermia I quicken my pace, now half-running in hopes of finding shelter before my blood turns into ice. I must've traveled over a mile already, and yet all I see waiting ahead of me are just more woods. I give my arms a brisk hard rub while I try to remember if Rayé or Chassie mentioned anything about death. Is it possible for me to die in Wunderland? Does anyone ever die here even?

I'm so busy trying to figure out my survival rate that it takes a long, long time before I realize the music in the background has changed. It's no longer repeating the first verse over and over, and while this might be norm in my world...

Shit, shit, shit.

After my previous visits, I've come to realize that music doesn't merely dictate the ambience in Wunderland. If you pay enough attention to it, the music in the air also works like a danger meter of sorts. So The Blue Danube's first verse on repeat? Safe. But when same song suddenly starts playing at a faster tempo like reaching the refrain is the finish line of a marathon?