by E E Rawls
Harrey agreed, eager for adventure, though Alice beside him looked hesitant through the fire’s light.
“Splitting up is ridiculous. Dangerous.” Oz’s knuckles cracked.
Madnes didn’t bother facing Oz, instead casting an agitated smirk to the sky. “Let me guess, Oz. You don’t want any of us to find your mother before you do, because you’re paranoid and fear that we’ll bake a crow pie or something.”
Oz set his hands on his hips angrily. “How do I know you won’t use her to blackmail me?”
“We don’t have time to indulge your untrusting nature, Oz. And I’d never want to try crow pie—believe me. Too many feathers.”
Oz rolled his eyes and made a sound through his teeth.
“We have to hurry while there’s still an Oswick left to save,” Madnes stressed. “You’ll have to decide for yourself what you want to do, Oz: help relocate the many other crowv out there or search for the crystals and your mother.”
Oz’s glare came ice hot.
“We don’t have time to help the crowv. But we can help your mother if she’s with one of those spell crystals. Go help your people, Oz. Leave your mother to us, and come join in the search as soon as you can.”
Without a word, the prince rose and left the fire pit, dark coat fading into the night. Cosmic continued sharpening his arsenal, and Harrey got a second helping of pea stew.
“Too bad nothing’s worked to break that crystal you guys brought back,” Harrey mentioned. “We’ve tried just about everything! What’s with it? How’re we supposed to stop the spell if we can’t even destroy them?”
Madnes listened as Cheshire answered. “A power greater than, or equal to, what’s been stored inside that crystal is the only thing that can destroy it, I fear. As to how we’ll find something like that...” furry shoulders lifted, “I am not sure.”
PROPPED AGAINST THE wooden wall of the guest’s hut, the crystal gleamed beneath the moonlight playing across its many facets and angles.
Alice glanced every which way before approaching it. Most everyone was still back at the fire pits, eating.
Alice could feel the hum in the air, the energy, the song of the crystal’s power. She drew nearer, nearer, gaze fixed on the glassy surface and shimmering facets within.
Her body hummed in tune with its song, and a glow like sunlight pulsed underneath her skin, lighting up like a thousand fireflies in the night.
She reached out, compelled to touch the crystal.
So smooth, alive, powerful...
Kr—KRtch!
A crack webbed through the crystal’s heart—from tip to base.
And it split apart.
Alice backed away and gaped, surprised to find the crystal split in two, its power gone.
‘It worked. I can break them,’ she thought with a thrill.
She could stop the crystals.
Something behind her rustled. Alice spun around and faced a shadow as it melted into Oz.
‘Oh no, he saw me!’
A second shadow approached, melting into Madnes.
Both boys looked from her to the crystal and back.
“What did you do?”
Chapter 44:
Some Girls Are a Mystery
THEY SAW ALICE—AND the crystal laid cracked in two before her.
“What did you do? How? That crystal’s tougher than a leviathan’s hide!” said Madnes, impressed by the damage.
Alice shied away like a frightened doe.
“How could you break that crystal when nothing else could?” Oz demanded to know, suspicion written in his posture. “What are you?”
Alice shuffled backwards, and he took a step nearer.
“Nothing has power like that. Nothing but a sorceress.” Oz’s gray gaze narrowed. “Is that what you are? A wicked sorceress?”
“No!” she cried desperately.
Oz took another step but Madnes’s arm rose, blocking his chest. “Enough. This is Alice we’re talking about. Of course, she isn’t a sorceress,” he rebuked.
“Then explain your power, girl,” snapped Oz. “You’re not human. I could sense Wonderland aura surrounding you while that crystal broke.”
Madnes blocked the prince from getting close, but there was no denying his words.
Madnes met Alice’s gaze, sending an unspoken plea that she say something, that she not hide secrets. But he remembered his promise to her: that he would never ask about her secrets. He thought he could be fine with that, tried to be fine with that, but...
Alice took one more step back before she turned and sprinted into the dark of night.
“Explain yourself!” Oz shouted and shoved Madnes’s arm aside. But Madnes blocked him again, refusing to let him chase after her.
“She’s my friend. I’ll take responsibility for her,” he faced Oz’s suspicious glare. “She’s not a threat to you, I promise. If anything, she’s been of help.”
With his chance to pursue her gone, Oz relented. “For now, maybe. But if that changes...” He let the warning go unsaid.
“You’ll let me handle things,” Madnes hardened his tone. “Just as the crowv are your people to manage, my friends and anyone who calls Earth home are my people.”
For several drawn seconds they stared each other down. Then Oz sniffed and turned aside. “Don’t take that responsibility lightly,” he warned over a shoulder and ducked inside one of the crowv huts for the night.
Madnes shut his eyes, the light from many fire pits playing afterimages across his vision. ‘Fairy?’ He reached out with his mind.
It had been a long time since the Madness Solver power within him had spoken. ‘Can you hear me?’ he tried. A fickle creature she was, but one with vast knowledge he needed. Since he was forced to be her host, he should get some sort of benefit, right?
‘I need your knowledge, fairy. Can you tell me: what is Alice? You must be able to sense what she is, how she broke the crystal?’
He waited. Something glowed white in the dark recesses of his mind, a flutter of purple gossamer wings.
Hmm~ Yes, I do know.
There she was, voice like a hum in his ears. But why should I tell you?
‘She’s my friend,’ he answered. ‘Please, tell me the truth. How can I protect her unless I know?’
You would have me betray such a valuable secret? the fairy scoffed. Ha! How greedy of you, Madnes. She tsked, almost mockingly. I refuse.
He gritted his teeth. This fairy could be so irritating. ‘But I—’
You keep her safe by staying ignorant of it, human. She cut him off. Stop asking questions and leave her alone. The fairy paused for a moment, then adding: Make sure Oz and everyone else leaves her alone, as well.
Valuable secret? Keep her safe by staying ignorant?
The fairy fell silent, gone back to wherever she resided within him. Madnes itched with curiosity, the desire for knowledge. But if it would keep Alice safe, then he would try to resist the urge to know.
However, if she was the only person who could destroy the crystals, then how could he keep that a secret from everyone else?
DAWN CRESTED THE TREE-obscured horizon, and the group was already gulping down a breakfast of acorn bread and herbal cheese before starting the journey ahead.
Cheshire was first to spot the crystal mysteriously cracked, and soon everyone was buzzing about it.
Madnes didn’t see Alice among them but spotted her hiding at the edge of the village tree line.
“It was me,” Madnes confessed to the crowd gathered near a boiling pot of eggs over the fire pit. “I kept working at it, and then the power inside me suddenly doubled and the crystal broke.” He said it as authentically as he could and, based on their awed reaction, it worked.
“You’re just full of surprises, ain’t ya, boy?” Cosmic slapped his back.
“Ak—Yes,” he coughed. “I’m still new to this Madness Solver power business.”
“Wowee! What else you can do, Madnes? Maybe we should test some stuff
...” Harrey studied him like a new invention.
Madnes cringed and backed away. “Um, no thanks.”
“By the way, how are we gonna do this whole quest thing? How’s our group gonna be split up?”
Madnes combed a hand back through his hair, top hat in other hand. “I’ve been thinking it over,” he began.
He spied Alice approaching from the trees, now that he’d taken credit for the crystal in her place. He sent her a reassuring glance. “So, here’s what I’ve decided...”
Chapter 45:
On the Move
A RED LIGHT FLASHED across the monitor screen.
The advisor stumbled over his own squat legs in his hurry, racing to see the cause.
One of the seven crystals on the monitor had suddenly gone red, reading: Power Connection Terminated.
“What in the blazes?” He drew up the digital file, and all the readings on that particular crystal had, indeed, gone dead.
“Not good, not good... His Majesty won’t like this.”
“IT MUST BE THE WORK of that new Madness Solver, and his ever-meddlesome cat mentor.” The Red King steepled his fingers, observing the portal readings throughout Wonderland via the video screen embedded in his royal desk. “But what gave the location of that specific crystal away?”
“Perhaps,” the advisor suggested, “they were investigating the crowv village nearby, and stumbled upon the lab?”
The king exhaled an icy breath, and the air in the room chilled. “And what is the probability of that?” he demanded. “If they’ve found a way to locate the Terraforming spell’s crystals, then I cannot sit back and do nothing—especially when it seems they’ve found a way to destroy them.”
“Of course not, Your Majesty,” the advisor agreed, hoping to stave off the king’s fury. “Shall I send the word throughout Wonderland, then?”
“Yes. Along with the best of my knights.” The king twisted his dark beard between his fingers, his other hand gripping the wooden chair arm carved in the shape of bowing dragons.
“Pardon, Majesty, but how do you think they destroyed such a crystal?” the advisor ventured to ask.
The king’s eyes blazed, and he flinched back.
“The nymph of the Madness Solver is powerful. Nothing else but it could have done this.”
“But what if there’s more than one nymph still out there?” The advisor shuddered. “You fought them to near extinction, long ago, but...what if one escaped? What if there’s another nymph still alive?”
The king stood, his chair screeching back and red robe rippling. “You think I would be so careless as to let that happen?”
The advisor stumbled in his haste to step backwards. “N-no, Your Majesty. Certainly not. Forgive my stupidity. I shall go and send the order for Madnes Hatter and his companions’ arrest.” He used the excuse to exit the room, stumbling again.
“Dead or alive,” the king’s voice followed, “I want them.”
MADNES KEPT A HAND firmly on his hat, battling against the wind that was determined to rip it off, as they rode on dragon Pelur over Wonderland’s landscape.
Oz had stayed behind, choosing his responsibility to the other crowv villages still in danger—to free them of the killing fungus and lead them to the safety of the duchess’s palace. But not before declaring that he would be back, in what almost sounded like a threat. Madnes had to promise again and again that if they found the crowv woman inside one of the crystals, they wouldn’t destroy it until Oz was there.
‘How do I get myself into these situations? Seriously, this job is getting crazier and crazier,’ thought Madness.
“This is an absurd plan, Madnes!” For the fifth time Cheshire grumbled through his whiskers. “Me form a team with that—that—wannabe cowboy?” Cheshire darted a glare at Cosmic Hunter.
“It’s bounty hunter, cat. Get it straight,” Cosmic grunted without looking.
“Don’t call me cat!” Cheshire hissed. “Madnes, I should be with you, on your team. I’m your mentor. You’ll need me!”
Madnes wanted to cover his ears from all the bickering. “I’ve made it on my own for some time now,” he assured Cheshire once more. “I’ll be fine. But you and Uncle Cosmic are taking on a dangerous quest; your assigned crystal is in the most difficult place. You’ll need each other to get this done, and you two are the toughest and smartest of the group. Unless you really want Harrey or Alice to—”
“No, no, stop it. You know I’d never allow weak humans to go to such a dangerous place.” Cheshire huffed. “Your reasoning makes sense, but that does not mean I have to like it.”
Pelur rumbled, and the scales beneath their seats tremored. Cosmic craned his neck to peer over the dragon’s side and grinned. “Our stop is here, he says! Do we need our tickets stamped?”
The one giant eye of Pelur’s that they could see stared blankly at him, not getting the joke.
Rows of smoking mountains and charred terrain lay far below them, streaked with rivers of strange colors.
“Lovely place to hide a crystal...” Madnes frowned.
“Sure is!” Cosmic positioned himself near the dragon’s right wing. “Ready to go, feline?”
“Once we land, yes.” Cheshire crossed his furry arms. “Why? What are you thinking of—?”
Cosmic snatched up the cat with one arm and leaped off the dragon.
Madnes watched wide-eyed as they plummeted—Cheshire screeching like a banshee, claws digging in the man’s skin.
Something like a parachute ballooned out then, slowing their fall.
“Of all the idiot, no-good...!” Cheshire’s furious voice faded.
Sweatdrops beaded Madnes’s forehead and he exhaled shakily, leaning back. Maybe pairing those two hadn’t been such a smart idea, after all?
Dragon Pelur veered through the air, heading toward the next drop-off location.
“Wow. Uh, just so you know, I don’t have a cool parachute with me, so I’ll die if I do that,” commented Harrey.
“You won’t need one,” rumbled Pelur.
In twenty minutes, they arrived at the next stop, rising into a sky of floating islands. Harrey gaped, mesmerized by the many networks of bridges that connected the airborne country.
Pelur held up his huge paw for Harrey and young Ash and Drisel to climb on; he then lowered them to the nearest buoyant green island. They hopped to the grass and waved back.
“Be careful, Harrey. I mean it!” Madnes shouted after them and waved as Pelur carried him and Alice back down under the clouds. “Keep those kids in your sight at all times!”
Once they’d lowered to the mainland, Alice flashed a smirk his way. “Of all people, you left them with Harrey?”
“Eh, he wasn’t the ideal choice,” Madnes admitted. “But I think those kids need a break from us and a chance to explore a little. The floating islands seemed like a safer option, and rather cool, if you ask me. I’m kind of jealous we couldn’t take that mission.”
“Saving the tough ones for us, hm?”
“I hope we’re not biting off more than we can chew.” He gave a faint laugh.
The wind battered his hat as the dragon descended to their final destination.
The story continues in...
Madness Solver in Wonderland 2
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THANK YOU
THANK YOU FOR READING! It was because of a writing prompt that this story came to be. I was a participant in the Blog Battle writing challenges, hosted by Rachael Ritchey, and the word prompt for that day was “madness.” Now, when I think of that word, I just can’t help but think of the Mad Hatter, right? And so, I began drafting this story about my wiser version of him, Madnes Hatter, and things took off from there!
If you loved Madness Solver in Wonderland and want to share it with other readers, please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon and Goodreads. This makes a huge difference for indie authors like me!<
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You can be the first to learn about new releases, extra content and book sales by signing up for my newsletter at:
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A huge thank you to Rachael and all my Blog Battle buddies, for their encouraging words and input as I crafted this tale! And thank you to all who read the story and quickly became fans—I loved reading your comments!
Lastly, thank you, Mother, for helping me with all the details and making this story be the best it can be!
Above all, thanks be to God, who makes me able.
OTHER BOOKS
The Alteredverse
BOOKS IN THE Alteredverse are standalone tales that take place in our world, at different points in time, and they often feature the humanoid Altered Ones (read Portal to Eartha for the origin story of the Altered).
They can be read in any order. Some books take place during our time, and some far into the future. To see the full Timeline of events, and where each book fits, visit:
eerawls.com/alteredverse
IF YOU ENJOYED THE world of Madness Solver, be sure to check out the other books in the Alteredverse. Also, check out the series Draev Guardians that takes place in the Earthaverse—the twin planet to our world (it can be read at any time and separately from Alteredverse books).
Recommended reading order:
Portal to Eartha
Beast of the Night
Madness Solver in Wonderland
Strayborn
(Draev Guardians 1)
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Dive into a new series of adventure, monsters and elemental powers.
Also available in paperback and hardback wherever books are sold—plus you can request it from your local library!
