“We did it!” Melvin shouted. “We finally did it!”
Our joy ran short when Bill entered the arena. We all turned quiet, when we noticed his face was also clear.
Malcolm stepped in front of him. “Bill.”
Bill looked at us for a moment, then smiled. “We are free.” he laughed and hugged him. “You sly dog, you did it!”
“Good to see you in a better mood,” Malcolm said.
Melvin, Davis, and Chase went up to talk to Bill but Kenny just stood next to me.
“Nice to see everything is back to normal,” Kenny said.
“Yes.” I watched as the others talked to Bill. “But Morpheus is still out there.”
“He has no power now, not after you broke that orb. I still don’t understand how you got it but I’m sure happy you did.”
“Alice gave it to me, she must have known you all would have needed it later,” I laughed. “This place is so strange, it makes no sense. But I like it, it’s a breath of fresh air away from reality.”
“So question is.” Kenny looked at me through the corner of his eye. “Where are you going to go next?”
I looked back at Malcolm and the others. I forgot, I would have to go back, away from this place. I worried about home and being gone, but I never thought about having to leave this place. Truth was I loved it here, now that people weren’t after me. This place could be nice, especially with my new friends.
“Alice,” Chase called. “Come on, we need to leave.”
I hurried over. “What do you mean?”
“We have to report all of this to the king and queen, of course,” Bill said. He glanced at Kenny, a little grin appearing on his lips. “Now that you have saved us.”
Chase grabbed my hand and suddenly we were in front of the palace. I could appreciate the beauty of it better now that I didn’t have to worry about my head getting chopped off. Paper lanterns hung in space all around us. A figure came running out towards us.
“Alice!” the queen called. “Malcolm, you did it!”
Malcolm and the others bowed in front of the Queen.
“All as expected for the Queen’s head servant,” Malcolm said.
“You will be heavily rewarded.” She looked at us all. “All of you.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” Malcolm bowed again.
“As for you.” The Queen stepped in front of me. “I don’t know how, but you defeated Morpheus and restored Wonderland. How will I ever repay you?”
“Oh.” I blushed. “I don’t want anything in return, it was these boys really.”
She smiled. “Oh, I’m sure you handled a great deal of it. These boys never had been able to work together before.”
“Really,” I asked. “That’s surprising.”
“You must be one amazing girl,” she winked. “Now, shall we head inside?”
We nodded and followed the Queen inside. This time I was able to really relax as I strolled through the palace with the others. It was still as magnificent as when I entered the first time, and it was a relief to be able to see the face of everyone who passed. They all smiled at us, bowing thanks as they went on with their work. It felt great to have done something for others, and even if I wasn’t given praise like this, I still would have done it.
As we went further down the corridors, something caught my eye and I stopped. Everyone kept forward as I peered down the adjacent corridor. A small figure stood in the distance. The White Rabbit.
Without thinking, I followed him. Once he saw me heading to him, he turned around and started running. I ran after him. I don’t know what the driving force was that caused me to do that, but I did. I ran after him. Maybe it was just curiosity.
He disappeared around a corner and once I made it around it, he was gone. There was only one door at the end of the hall. I stepped to it, slowly, my mind only focusing on the door.
I slid it open to find the only thing in the room being a mirror. It was large, elegant, I had never seen something so beautiful. Standing in front of it, I heard the door shut behind me. I spun around to see the White Rabbit.
“You aren’t supposed to still be here, Alice, you are supposed to leave,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I backed away from him.
“Goodbye Alice.” He shoved me and I fell back.
CHAPTER 31
My eyes opened and I found my Tardis alarm clock wheezing and groaning. I pushed the top of it and turned it off. The smell of oil paint filled my nostrils. I looked around, confused. My paintings were scattered across the room, dirty clothes all over the floor.
I was home.
I rubbed my eyes and tried to remember what happened. Wonderland. No, that couldn’t have been possible. I shook my head. It was a dream. It had to have been a dream. Too many fumes in my room, I should probably air it out in here.
Rolling over, I brought the covers over my head, letting the warmth protect me. It couldn’t have been real, it was ridiculous.
But something in the back of my mind kept saying it was real.
I finally pulled myself out of bed and got ready for the day. I was to meet Kate downtown and we were going to go shopping. I wanted to get my mind off of my recent grades, but for some reason it didn’t bother me like it did last night. Maybe due to what I just witnessed, it didn’t matter anymore.
My mom dropped me off near Nordstrom’s and I hurried inside. It was pouring down raining