Page 18 of Wondrous

Maria nodded. “You’re the Alice who’s friends with the Cheshire Cat.”

That deflated me a bit. “He won’t help you,” I said. “He doesn’t give advice. Not advice that anyone in their right mind could make use of, anyway.”

“Oh, no—that’s not what she meant,” Alex said quickly. “We don’t want to speak to the Cheshire Cat. We’re just impressed, that’s all. The Cheshire Cat is legendary! It seems almost everyone here is afraid of him.”

I thought of the fright the Cat had given to the poor Dormouse. “I’m sure he’d like to hear you say that. Though I can’t see what’s so admirable about frightening people. Common bullies can manage that, can’t they?”

Alex and Maria exchanged glances. “We wanted to see if you’d like to team up,” Maria said.

“Team up?” I repeated.

“A bunch of the other Alices are doing it,” Alex said. “Three dragons are a lot to deal with, even if they are mock dragons, whatever that means.”

I could only stare at them. Clearly they saw the Cat’s esteem as a sort of reference for my character. On the one hand, nothing was more illogical than taking a cat’s opinion into account, and especially the Cheshire Cat’s; on the other, it made perfect sense from a Wonderland perspective.

“We can’t,” I said. “You heard the general—there can only be one Alice.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t work together,” Maria argued. “A strong alliance would improve our odds. Even if there is only one true Alice, we could make sure it’s one of us.”

I realized there was a certain logic in what she was saying—after all, what chance did I, working alone, have of defeating three dragons? But then I felt a stab of fear. What if the Queen of Hearts found out we were bending the rules and disqualified all three of us?

And in any case, I couldn’t trust anyone from my world. After Caroline, it wasn’t a lesson I needed to learn twice.

“Thank you for the offer,” I said. “But I’ve made my plans already.”

This wasn’t at all true, and it came out colder and more confident than I felt. Alex and Maria looked crestfallen, but I could tell from Alex’s expression that she hadn’t given up.

“Maria and I have some ideas, too,” Alex said. “And surely three heads are better than—”

“Alice!” a distant voice called. “Where are you, my dear?”

I recognized the voice instantly—the slight quaver in it, the tone that was both anxious and excited. Relief flooded me.

“I’m sorry, but I must go,” I told the two of them. “My friends are here.”

Alex said something else, but I was already hurrying off—away from these confusing Alices and toward the people I knew I could trust, because they’d always been there when I needed them most.

“Alice!” the Mad Hatter’s voice came again. “Oh, I think we’re lost again! This place is enough to give any sensible person a headache. A garden should be large enough to host a respectable tea party and not one spoon’s length more.”

“Mr. Hatter!” I cried. “I’m over here!”

“Over where?” a second voice exclaimed grumpily. “What is the use of saying ‘over here’ if we don’t know here from there? And what a lot of theres there are in this dreadful maze!”

“By the red birch,” I said, laughing. My relief was such that I needed to pause to wipe my eyes. “Look for the birch, dear Hare! Or better yet, follow my voice.”

“That’s a conundrum,” the Hatter said. “What does it look like?”

“What does what look like?” the Hare demanded. He seemed to be growing grouchier by the minute. “It’s red, of course. She said so.”

“No, no,” the Hatter said. “What does her voice look like? How can we follow it otherwise?”

“What a question!” the Hare said. “It doesn’t matter what it looks like, because it is the only other voice here, besides your disagreeable moaning.”

“I’m over here!” I called again, trying to put a stop to their bickering.

But the Hatter only said, “I would still rather have the matter settled, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Small and froggy, then,” the Hare said.