With a quick yank, Alice dislodged the Chronosphere and brought it to her chest. Separated from the Grand Clock, the orb began to cool down.
“No!” Time gasped, collapsing to his knees and clutching his chest.
Iracebeth peered at Time in irritation. “What’s the matter with you?” she asked.
Time lifted a trembling hand, pointing at the Grand Clock, where Alice was making her way back through the clockwork.
“The Chronosphere!” Time said frantically.
“Alice?” Iracebeth exclaimed. Her sister’s pesky champion was the last person Iracebeth expected to see.
Oblivious to the new observers, Alice tucked the Chronosphere into her pocket and scrambled onto a beam. Behind her, the Minutes began to join hands, linking together to form a hulking mechanical beast.
“Cometh the Hour,” Alice predicted as she picked up her speed.
The Hour ground toward her, its footsteps shaking the floor. As she glanced over her shoulder, her foot hit a spare part lying on the path. Alice arced through the air, then landed with a thump. At the impact, the Chronosphere rolled out of her pocket and bounced away.
Alice gasped and struggled to her feet while the metal ball began to flash and expand. As the Chronosphere spun on its axis, its golden bands grew until the ball was the size of a carriage, with an open space visible between the rotating rings.
Whoosh! The Hour’s massive arm swung through the air. Alice rolled to the side just in time. As she stood, she saw the Hour’s hands reaching for the Chronosphere. Without thinking, she dove through the Chronosphere’s whirling bands.
Inside, there were dials, levers, and several pulleys. Alice glanced around frantically. One of the chains was labeled PULL ME.
What else could she do?
Alice pulled it.
The Chronosphere lurched forward, its momentum pushing Alice against a metal arm.
“Ugh,” Time moaned. “Why did I label that?”
Iracebeth glared at him in disgust as Alice and the Chronosphere careened out the door and into the hallways of the castle. The Hour lumbered after her, and Time and Iracebeth scrambled to catch up.
Once in the vast corridor, the Chronosphere crashed into columns left and right. Alice pulled on different levers and chains, trying to steer it as best she could. Glancing back, she saw the Hour charging at her.
Crossing her fingers, Alice slammed a lever, but instead of moving the Chronosphere forward, that propelled it back toward the Hour!
Boom! The Chronosphere smacked into the Hour, sending Minutes flying. Aha! Alice smiled triumphantly until she saw the Minutes swarming toward her again. She quickly pushed at levers and turned switches until the rings of the Chronosphere twirled faster, slicing through the air with a deafening whir. It was all Alice could do to cling to a handle, her body doubled over as the whole machine began to vibrate, screws threatening to pop off.
Time and Iracebeth rounded the corner to see the Minutes regrouping. But as soon as he saw the Chronosphere pulsing, Time knew it was too late. “No!” he cried out.
Poof! Alice and the Chronosphere disappeared.
“WAIT! COME BACK!” Time shouted uselessly. He sank to his knees, head in his hands.
Fuming silently beside him, the Red Queen glared at the spot where Alice had been. That bothersome girl had taken her Chronosphere! Now her plans were ruined.
Time finally glanced up at her, then mumbled that he had to check on the Grand Clock and staggered away.
Inside the main chamber, Time studied the clock. The pendulums were still swinging, gears still turning. But he could feel a difference in their movement.
Iracebeth stalked in after him, her face a fiery red. “Alice?” She shrieked. “The Alice? The very reason I have been banished from my kingdom? She was here and you didn’t think to tell me?”
Time cringed away from the Red Queen. “I—I…didn’t realize,” he stammered.
Stopping mere inches from his face, Iracebeth jutted her chin out, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“Idiot! Imbecile! You let Alice steal the Chronosphere!” She bellowed.
Time stumbled backward from the force of the Red Queen’s breath. His hands drifted to his sideburns, worrying them into an even more absurd shape.
“I told her she couldn’t have it,” he said desperately. “She doesn’t know what she’s done.”
Letting out a squeal of anger, Iracebeth spun on her heel and stomped out of the chamber. She would have to come up with a new way to wreak vengeance on her sister and reclaim her rightful throne.
Normally, Time had all the time in the world. But for once he didn’t have time to worry about his beloved. He felt a twinge in his chest. Time pulled open his vest and examined his heart clock; a small patch of rust had formed on the second hand.
Time paled. “It’s happening already,” he gasped. “Without the Chronosphere, the Grand Clock will unwind! Time myself will stop!”
He blinked rapidly, then shook his head. He could not let that happen. Avoiding it would mean stepping away from his post and leaving Wilkins in charge, but there was no way around it. Time himself had to travel back to stop Alice.
“Wilkins,” he called. “Get in here! We’ve got a Tempus Fugit to build.”
Prompt as ever, the small foreman bustled up, carrying the spare clock parts and wood they would need to put together a basic time machine.
Time laid out all the pieces, then clapped his hands together. “Now then,” he said. “This shouldn’t take long.”
In just one second—moving at warp speed as only Time could—they had fit together metal gears, wooden bars, and a narrow platform.
Once it was done, Time stepped back to admire the Tempus Fugit. A spring creaked ominously and one of the beams sagged in the middle.
“Splendid!” Time proclaimed. “Stand clear.”
The wood groaned in protest as Time’s weight hit the platform. Wilkins eyed the machine, wishing they had the Chronosphere instead; but then, if they did, they wouldn’t be in that mess. As Time pumped a lever, the air began to waver around him.
“Now then, Wilkins!” Time barked. “You know how time works: goes forwards, not backwards, that sort of thing. Preferably in increments of one minute at a time.”
“Yes, sir,” Wilkins said. “I think I have the hang of it, after infinity.”
“You must keep the Grand Clock ticking at all costs,” Time continued. “Wish me luck, Wilkins. Now, where did that girl say she was heading?”
Time tugged on a pulley and the Tempus Fugit popped out of sight.
A ribbon of silvery light flowed around Alice and the Chronosphere, carrying them away from Time’s castle.
Far below them, an ocean of moments swayed gently. Now that she could study the Chronosphere in peace, she had a better idea of how to maneuver it. It wasn’t much different from navigating the Wonder. Alice felt a pang at the thought of her beloved ship. Would she ever sail it again?
Shaking off the depressing thought, Alice focused on her current problem—figuring out which way the past lay. With a light touch, she guided a lever forward, and the Chronosphere began to fly over the ocean.
Peering below, Alice spotted herself dangling from the second hand outside Time’s castle and then plummeting toward the minute hand. Satisfied she’d found the right direction, Alice moved onward. Next she saw the White Queen and her friends clustered sadly around the table outside Marmoreal Castle. A much smaller Alice dropped into their midst.
“Whatever is the matter?” past Alice asked.
“The Hatter is the matter,” McTwisp answered.
The Chronosphere whirled along, taking Alice away from the scene and backward in time. As the images blurred beneath her, faces and events zipping by, Alice began to worry. How was she going to find the right day? Then, on the horizon, she saw a flash of red and heard the nightmarish call of the Jabberwocky.
“Horunvendush Day,” Alice whispered. It had to be. T
ugging on a series of levers, Alice sent the Chronosphere diving toward the fateful day. The machine shuddered as it splashed through the barrier around the moment. When it hit the ground, Alice was tossed across the frame and out through the spinning rings.
Pfft. Alice spat out a mouthful of grass and raised her head. The Chronosphere, back to its regular, palm-sized form, rested a few feet away. She quickly swiped it from the ground, tucked it back in her pocket, and sat up to look around.
The remains of the Horunvendush field lay before her, smoke curling up from the blackened fairground. A stinging, sulfuric odor hung over everything. Ten yards away, Alice spotted a tall top hat, the fibers of its brim burning with embers. It was a bad sign. The Jabberwocky had clearly already made its attack.
Standing, she scanned the area for signs of life. Farther off, a figure with stooped shoulders was doing the same, his buoyant hair unmistakable.
“Hatter?” Alice called.
But the younger Hatter did not hear. He ran away, tears in his eyes, deaf to Alice’s cries.
Before Alice could follow, hoofbeats pounded toward her, and she flung herself behind a bush just as Stayne, Iracebeth’s enforcer, rode up. A heart-shaped eye patch covered one of his eyes, and the bloodred mark on his forehead stood out against his pale skin. In one hand he held a small sack, with something stirring inside. Clutched tightly in his other hand, the Vorpal sword was still shiny despite the ash-covered air.
Anger surged through Alice as she watched the despicable knight gallop up a hill to Iracebeth’s side. Surveying the damage her Jabberwocky had done, the Red Queen smirked in satisfaction. She leaned over to kiss Stayne’s cheek, and then they turned their horses and disappeared over the hill.
Alice desperately wanted to go after them and throttle the hateful Red Queen. But she wasn’t there for Iracebeth. Dusting herself off, Alice walked to the center of the Horunvendush fairgrounds. They were completely abandoned, booths smoldering, the maypole cracked in half, and picnic tables flecked with ashes. Marking everywhere the Jabberwocky had breathed, charred lines of dirt slashed through the field, including the spot where Alice had seen the Hatter’s family standing in Mirana’s water-conjured image.
Despair stabbed through Alice. There was no way the Hightopps could have survived.
“Too late,” she said, her fingers clenching her skirt tightly. “I was too late!”
There was nobody to hear, except for a lone tove. The piglike animal slurped at the spilled liquid of a pishsalver barrel. As it trotted away, it began to shrink, but Alice was focused on a wink of blue she’d just noticed amid the devastation.
She picked her way to an old oak tree stump, then leaned her hand against a gnarled knot and peered inside a round hollow. Nestled within was the small blue hat, its paper miraculously unburned and a bright pink feather on its side fluttering cheerfully up at Alice.
“The blue hat!” Alice cried. Filled with renewed hope, she reached for it.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice warned.
Spinning, Alice saw Absolem, back in caterpillar form, lounging in a nearby tree.
“Absolem! You’re the old you,” she said.
“I’m always the old me,” the Caterpillar replied haughtily. He gestured at the hat. “Wasn’t this all explained to you before?”
Alice stood up and crossed to his tree. “I’ll come back to Horunvendush Day once more and try again,” she said.
Absolem sighed crossly and glared at her. “You can only visit each day once,” he recited. “The consequences of seeing yourself would be catastrophic.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, Alice pulled the Chronosphere from her pocket and studied it. “I could just go back to yesterday or the day before that and tell them not to come here at all.”
“I fear, Alice, that you are failing to grasp the principles to which I am so assiduously alluding,” Absolem said, his nose crinkling upward.
What is he talking about? Alice wondered. Before he could explain—if he would have chosen to at all, that is—an almighty sound ruptured the air. Alice’s head snapped up and she saw a jagged tear appear in the sky. A wooden contraption flew through, Time at the helm.
Letting out a shout of outrage when he saw her, Time piloted his machine toward Alice.
“Give me what is mine!” he bellowed. “You have no conception of that in which you dabble!”
“Oh, dear,” Absolem said flatly. “You seem to have upset somebody. You should probably go now.”
Thank you for stating the obvious, Alice thought. But Absolem was right: if she wanted another chance at saving the Hightopps, she had to get away from Time. She flung the Chronosphere to the ground and leapt inside as soon as it expanded. With just a few tugs, she drove the Chronosphere up, up, up, and away.
BURSTING OUT of Horunvendush Day, Alice navigated the Chronosphere back into the rippling sky above the Ocean of Time. The Tempus Fugit, with Time at the wheel, popped out mere seconds later.
Time cranked his machine faster, gaining on her. Alice pulled on a lever, steering the Chronosphere to the left, but Time was too quick.
As he drew level with her, he shouted across the gap.
“You cannot win a race against Time! Give it back. I am merciful,” he wheezed between panting breaths. “But you must give it back!”
Glancing at Time, Alice noted that while his arms were a blur as he pumped the Tempus Fugit’s levers, sweat beaded his forehead, and his chest heaved with exertion. It might be hard to outpace Time, but he seemed to be struggling.
She jerked the Chronosphere to the right and up in a single motion. She just needed to stay one step ahead of Time.
“Now where is yesterday?” Alice mused as she studied the ocean below. The images curled into endless waves and she couldn’t pick out Horunvendush Day to find the next one back. “Oh, dear,” she muttered.
Huffing and puffing, Time had managed to catch up. Alice swung the Chronosphere straight up, then looped behind the Tempus Fugit.
Time’s shoulders slumped, his arms tiring as he looked back at her.
“You don’t know what you’ve done!” he cried desperately.
Alice tugged on a pulley and the Chronosphere suddenly accelerated. Oh, dear, Alice thought. She hadn’t meant to do that. But before she could steer it away, it bumped into the Tempus Fugit. With a tremendous clang, the two machines spun away from each other.
Throwing Alice sideways, the Chronosphere hurtled into the past. The golden sun pattern rippled across the floor. In the distance, Alice saw the glint of the Tempus Fugit, plummeting toward a different part of the ocean.
EEEEEEAAARRRROOOOM! The Chronosphere sliced into a day of the past, cutting through the air with a high-pitched shriek.
BOOM! As the sphere hit the ground and began to roll, the world spun for Alice. She caught glimpses of trees reaching downward and clouds drifting below her feet as she tumbled upside down. Finally, the Chronosphere bumped up against a rock and settled to a stop.
Feeling woozy, Alice stayed put, splayed out against the sphere’s floor, until her vision—and stomach—adjusted. Once everything seemed normal again, she eased herself up onto her feet.
Alice stepped out of the Chronosphere, brushing herself off and automatically checking her father’s pocket watch. The clock was still stopped, and added to that, a new crack ran down its face.
Sighing sadly, she dropped it back into her pocket along with the newly shrunken Chronosphere. She’d half hoped the watch would be ticking again, somehow a sign that she was back in a time when her father was alive. But maybe time—or Time, rather—didn’t work that way.
Alice glanced around. She was standing on the outskirts of a quaint village that butted up against Tulgey Woods. Half the houses had thatched roofs, half were tiled, but all the buildings were askew in some way, as though their architects had found straight lines boring. Despite several houses’ hanging over the street precariously, Alice had to admit that the end result was a cozy, wh
imsical town—much more appealing than the stuffy rectangular homes of London.
“Now where am I?” Alice mused. “And where are the Hightopps?”
Doo doo doo dooooooo! Trumpets blared in the distance. Curious, and with no other ideas as to where to look, Alice headed toward them. As she walked through the town, she saw that it had been decorated for some occasion, but whereas the Horunvendush Day celebration had taken place in a field, that day’s festivities had taken over the streets. Strings of pennants fluttered from windows; stores had set up booths along the alleyways; and wagons of flowers had been rolled into a courtyard surrounding a statue of a king.
Ahead of her, a stream of people and creatures was flowing over a bridge toward a red stone castle. Alice followed it and soon found herself in a gorgeous chamber with vaulted stone ceilings that reminded her of a cathedral. Sunlight poured in through arched windows along the right-hand wall and a massive stained glass window. Straight ahead, four figures sat on a raised platform.
Alice gasped. Mirana and Iracebeth made up half of the party on the stage. Their faces appeared much younger; they looked to be about Alice’s age. Even more surprising, Iracebeth’s head, while still larger than normal, wasn’t quite as gargantuan as when Alice had first met her. Judging by their crowns, the two people sitting with them must be the sisters’ parents—King Oleron and Queen Elsmere. Mirana had spoken of her parents only briefly, so Alice didn’t know much about them beyond their names, but they both smiled pleasantly down at the gathered villagers.
Standing on tiptoe, Alice scanned the crowd for the Hightopps. She couldn’t see their bright red hair anywhere. Movement onstage drew her eye and she realized with a start that the Hightopps, including Hatter, stood on the platform to one side of the royal family. Now all she had to do was stay close and wait for her chance to speak with them.
Alice made her way to the front of the crowd, watching as Zanik Hightopp crossed the stage to Mirana.
Alice in Wonderland- Through the Looking Glass Page 6
