“You all don’t think I can do it, huh?” I said.
Chase grinned. “There is some worry, yes. But I trust you Alice, I think you can do anything.”
I shook my head. “No, the others are right, I don’t understand what is going on, I’m not going to be able to go against this Morpheus. Hell, I don’t even know what I am supposed to do. Am I supposed to just fight him? Like with swords or fists? If that is the case, I am way too weak and I have no idea how to even hold a sword.”
“Well, we’ll fix that. Starting tomorrow morning, we shall teach you everything you need to know. Hand-to-hand fighting, swords, knives, guns, you name it! We will teach it to you.”
My eyes widened. “Really? That would be amazing!”
“But first you need to rest. You haven’t slept for a while and if you want to learn how to fight right, you need all your strength.”
Sleep. That was a good one. In a place like this, after everything that had happened, I wasn’t sure I could sleep ever again. “I tried that, but I couldn’t fall asleep. There is just too much going on.”
“You don’t need to worry about things, Alice, live in the moment.” Chase pulled me towards the stairs. “Come, I’ll take you somewhere you can get your mind off everything.”
I looked back at the castle. “Uh... Are you sure the others won’t mind?”
“Meh, who cares? They are all stuck up anyways. It will be amazing, I promise.” He looked at me with those sad cat-like eyes. “Please?”
I stared at him a bit longer, laughing a bit in my mind but at the same time feeling a little pitiful. He reminded me of Puss in Boots on the movie Shrek. “Fine, where are we going?”
His ears perked up. “Come right this way!”
It was dark and the stars simply glittered in the sky with the moon. Moons, actually, there were two. It was weird seeing different constellations and more than one moon in the sky. Pretty but strange. Chase led me further into the White Kingdom’s section of the area. There was no one around, it was really just the five of them living there, no other people from Wonderland were here any longer. I wondered how they could hide away in this place for such a long time.
A lot of the kingdom was covered in wilderness now, moss and vines covering the buildings. Trees grew through the concrete, not letting man-made objects blocking the path of nature. We came to one of the larger trees and Chase stopped.
“Hold on tight, Alice,” he pulled me close and suddenly we were up on one of the higher branches.
I almost screamed.
“Don’t worry, you are fine with me. You need to not worry about heights if you are going to be here.”
I glanced around to find a small treehouse in front of me.
“Are heights a regular thing with you all?”
“Well, mostly me. I like heights and if you are going to hang out with me, you are going to have to get used to it.” He smiled brightly as he gestured around. “This is where I live.”
To have called it a tree house may have been a bit much. It really was just a flat board. A large flat board, but seriously that was it. No walls, no ceiling. Just a floor and some padding.
“You sleep here?” I asked. It seemed strange, to be sleeping outside instead of in the castle. But I guess he was a cat.
He nodded. “Yup! Cats like heights.”
“And you thought this would help me relax? I don’t like heights as you already know.”
“No.” He picked up a rock. “I brought you up here to see this.” He threw the rock into the forest.
As the rock hit the forest floor, hundreds, if not, thousands of lights came shooting up into the sky around us. I watched them in awe. There were so many of them. They looked like fireflies but something told me in my mind that they weren’t. They flew more like butterflies. They spread across the sky, twinkling and changed color. I couldn’t believe it, all I wanted to do now was paint what I had seen. As they rose in the sky, they looked like the northern lights, twinkling different colors. I could spend hours staring at them.
“This is amazing!” I exclaimed. “I’ve never seen something so beautiful.”
“Wonderland is full of beauty and mystery. That’s why I love it here, I always can find something new to explore.” Chase sat down and leaned back on his arms. “I could never settle down in one place with so many things to explore.”
I went over and sat down next to him. “My world must seem so boring to you.”
He laughed. “It is pretty dull, I have to admit.” He glanced over to me. “But there are some great things about it.”
I blushed as I looked back up at the sky. The lights still sparkled in the night sky. I leaned back on my arms and closed my eyes for a second. I didn’t realize how tired I was and before I knew it, I was out.
CHAPTER 12
I woke up to find clear sky above me. I blinked a couple of time, wondering how that was possible. Then it hit me. I was in a tree, way up in a tree actually. Chase had brought me up here last night where I could sleep.
That’s right, I was in Wonderland.
So this isn’t a dream. I’m trapped in Wonderland.
It hit
