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"Now, now, there’s no need for rudeness," Chess said, wagging a disapproving finger at Callister. Then he turned back to me. "Alices aren't very common these days. It's such a shame Winston didn't find you sooner, back when you were still an innocent."
I thought about telling Chess that I hadn’t considered myself innocent in over a decade, but Callister’s voice cut through the air.
"She's not worth our time," he insisted. "Just look at her.”
“What’sthatsupposed to mean?” I demanded.
Callister let out a low, contemptuous laugh. Then he blew a blueberry-scented smoke ring that grew bigger and bigger as it floated over to me and turned into a mirror. I gazed at my reflection and sucked in a sharp breath. It was like a TikTok filter designed to make me look absolutely heinous.
My hair was a tangled mess, full dead leaves, rotting burrs, and slimy globs of sickly green mold. My blue cocktail dress had been torn to shreds, only clinging to my skin from the mud and sweat and slime caked on my skin. My arms and legs looked bony and frail instead of tanned and toned.
But my eyes were what startled me the most. They’d sunken into my skull, leaving dark circles that no amount of concealer would’ve been able to hide.
“Is that what I look like?” I stretched out my arms and stared at my reflection, not knowing if it was actually me I was looking at.
“Yes. You’re a fucking disaster,” Callister said. He tapped the ashes off his cigarette and the magical blueberry smoke mirror scattered to the ground.
“We should give her a chance to play out her hand, now that she’s here,” argued Chess. “We don't know what she's capable of."
Callister shook his head so emphatically that some of his teal pompadour fell into his eyes.
“She's too old. How much imagination do you think she has left? I can't work with this."
"She might be about ten years too late, but she's here now. You know it's not just about imagination. It’s also about luck. This Alice might surprise us.”
“Or she could end up setting us back even more than we already are.” Callister pushed his hair back into place and narrowed his eyes at me. "I just don't see her succeeding. She doesn't have the skills or the wit to take down the Red Queen.”
“Hey!” I howled in drunken indignation. “I can be witty!”
Callister shot me a look that said he was unimpressed.
“I'd rather invest my time and effort in someone more reliable.”
A low growl rose from the back of Chess’s throat.
“The longer we wait for a better hand, the further Wonderland falls into ruin. Is that what you want?” With a melodramatic motion of his hand, he showcased the rotting landscape around us.
Callister shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another.
“No, but—”
“Then why not see if Alice can be the champion we need? Let’s give her a chance to be our Ace of Spades and help us win. Who knows? We might get lucky.”
I grinned at those words, but I kept my mouth shut. I wanted to see how this all played out. Besides...I liked the way it felt to have Chess defending me.
Callister’s frown wavered as he realized he was on the losing side of their argument, but he was still unconvinced.
"We can't rely on luck and chance. She needs to actually prove herself capable of the task ahead.”
Chess raised an eyebrow as a cunning smile played on his lips.
“That’s all I’m asking you for, is an opportunity to let Alice prove herself. You never know what someone is capable of if you don't give them a chance."
With a reluctant sigh, Callister blew a swirl of purple smoke into the air. It curled and morphed into the shape of a grape-scented dragon. Then he pursed his lips, his eyes flicking back and forth between me, Rayburn, and Chess.
"Fine. We can try, but don't blame me if it all goes wrong."
"Taking risks is part of life,” Chess assured his friend. His green eyes were back to sparkling with mischief. “What's the worst that could happen?"
