“I will always be there to wake you up, just remember that,” Malcolm said.
Chase added. “All of us will be, you don’t need to worry about that. Malcolm isn’t the only one who can save you. You have all of us.”
“How did you even wake me up this time?” I asked Malcolm.
“I took the darkness out of you and swallowed it,” Malcolm explained as if it were that simple. I just stared at him. Was that how his eyes were black? Because it really was like having a demon inside of him? It was crazy to think about, and if I wasn’t in Wonderland I don’t think I could have believed it.
“But how?” I persisted. There were so many things that I didn’t understand, things that I wanted to know about. I wondered if I would ever be able to understand everything that was in this world. Probably not.
“Morpheus isn’t the only one who has lived in darkness for most of his life. I’m not afraid of it and have learned to live with my demons,” Malcolm explained. I wondered what exactly he meant by that, what kind of demons could be lurking behind those light eyes of his. Did I want to know? Whatever it was caused Chase not to trust him, to think so poorly of him. What could he have done that made him seclude himself in the Dark Forest?
“But what if you aren’t there? What if I am all alone? How will I wake up?” I asked. And it was a fear of mine, a fear that Morpheus could now use against me. God, I needed to stop thinking. My brain was just causing it to get worse and worse.
Malcolm grabbed my head and forced me to look at him. “You will never be alone, you hear me? I will always be here to protect you. All of us.”
I looked around and found the rest of guys nodding. Even Chase was smiling, trying to reassure me that he would always be at my side, and for some reason out of all of them, I knew I could trust him to be there the most. He never lied to me, always told me exactly what I needed to hear. I smiled.
“Thank you, all of you. I’m sorry I am so weak.”
“You aren’t weak, Morpheus is just very strong,” Malcolm added. “And knows how to find a person’s weakness. All we need to do next is figure out what his weakness is.”
Suddenly bells went off. They rang throughout the kingdom, echoing off all the buildings and statues. I jumped up, not sure what I needed to do. Was it a fire alarm, intruder? What did it mean? Everyone turned to the balcony, staring outside. No one was smiling anymore, a stern look covered each and everyone’s face. Howard pointed at me. “Stay with Alice. All of you. I will go see what it is.”
Quickly, Howard ran outside and stared towards the entrance of the city. I had no idea what to do, why I needed to stay where I was. Howard had looked scared and that made me begin to worry all the more.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
Malcolm didn’t respond to my question, but kept looking towards where Howard had disappeared. “Melvin, Chase, watch Alice. Davis, you come with me.”
Melvin and Chase nodded and Davis hurried off with Malcolm to see what Howard was up to.
“Don’t worry Alice, it’s probably nothing. Sometimes these bells go off because of birds and such. Mosquitoes sometimes. Hell, even I have set it off a few times. Heh, that was fun, wasn’t it Melvin?” Chase smiled, trying to reassure me but I knew better.
Melvin didn’t seem to want to turn his attention back from the doorway. “Yeah, fun. You pulling tricks like that all the time is fun.”
“Hey, what is that supposed to mean?” Chase seemed more bothered by the comment than the alarms sounding. He could keep his cool in almost any situation it seemed. I envied that, and realized it must have been the reason that Morpheus couldn’t control him with fear. Chase knew how to put it in the back of his head, if he even felt fear. At the current moment, it didn’t seem like he did.
“I mean,” Melvin went on, frustrated as his cheeks were beginning to turn red. “This better not be one of your tricks, or I swear to God I will kill you if Malcolm doesn’t get to you first. Hell, if he did I would just find a way to bring you back from the underworld and kill you again.”
Wow, I thought. Harsh. I knew that Chase pulled some pranks, but I knew he wouldn't even go that far to scare us like that. At least, I hoped not. But it made me wonder what other pranks he has pulled to make them think that he could be behind something like this.
“It’s not,” he whispered. “Not after everything…” he stopped talking, realizing he shouldn’t bring it all up. Because we all knew, deep down, that there was only one reason those alarms would sound. Only one reason Howard would look so worried, why Malcolm would leave my side.
Someone was here. Someone had found the base.
CHAPTER 17
Melvin and Chase were silent as we waited for the others to come back. Although it was very likely that they had followed us to the Red and White Kingdom, I still tried to believe that something benign had set off the alarm. I tried to keep positive thoughts, but it was nearly impossible as I watched the concerned look on both Melvin and Chase’s face take shape. Even Chase was beginning to look worried.
I wanted to
