by Lotus Rose
Malice groans and says, “So you’re finally gonna tell us, eh?”
“I am. For you see, Dorothy could sense the same latent power in Alice—those of her kind can sense the powers in others. Dorothy knows that one day, when Alice finally reaches the age of consent, her special mature powers could unleash, and Alice could prove to be a threat to Dorothy’s rule, and might even be able to overthrow her.”
Hatter says, “But Alice was so pleasant and nice, well, before she lost her heart.”
The munchkin says, “Well, she may have started out sweet and innocent, but who knows how she will act when she’s older, when all that power goes to her head?”
“So why didn’t Dorothy just kill her?” the Cat asks in his typical blunt manner.
The munchkin says, “Well, for one thing, Dorothy would’ve risked being attacked by the guards. But, one night, she told me a lot of her private thoughts, when she was drunk. That was the night Dorothy told me how much she feared Alice. But she also thought it was possible that Alice might some day grow up to be her ally. If that happened, Dorothy would be able to accomplish more debauchery and perversion than she would alone, and there would be the bonus of her ruling alongside someone like herself—she would have someone to share her experiences with, a companion.”
The team reacts to the munchkin’s words with gasps, and expressions that Alice would never act like that.
The munchkin shrugs, and continues, “So I can tell you that Dorothy didn’t know whether she wanted to kill Alice, or keep Alice by her side. And so she decided to wait and see. She knew the day would come when she would have to make her final decision.”
Humpty says, “But Alice is gone now. And she won’t return.”
The munchkin shrugs and locks eyes with Malice. “So, as Alice’s twin, perhaps the fate of the wastelands now rests with you. I wonder, do you have the same unleashed energy inside you, that Alice had? And if you unleashed it, would you be able to defeat Dorothy, because, crikey, I hope so, because I’m willing to take my chances on a new ruler. The day may come when you have your destiny thrust upon you, and I’m sorry to say, if I were you, I wouldn’t assume I’m safe from Dorothy’s wrath simply because you’re not actually the Alice. Because you’re likely just Alice enough, as far as Dorothy in concerned. Assume she’ll be looking for you. And now that I have filled you in, I shall take my leave.”
The munchkin girl turns and runs off into the forest.
CHAPTER SIX
IT IS NIGHTTIME, AND Malice is having trouble going back to sleep. She’d had a dream she was about to start chewing from a large bowl of black rose petals, but the bandanna-wearing munchkin girl snatched the bowl and ran off. Malice had startled awake, had even stood up and was about to chase after her.
But Sleepy B had been awake to reason with her. Not surprising, since Sleepy B is always awake. It had taken several minutes for Malice to realize it had been a dream.
Now Malice sits on the trunk of a fallen tree, reading a fairy tale about Rumpelstiltskin to Sleepy B. Sleepy B lies on the ground under a blanket—the girl misses being read bedtime stories, so Malice is doing her best to recreate the experience with the girl.
Malice can feel the powerful craving for black rose petals that’s keeping her awake with yearning, and causing her to want to grind her teeth. But at least her headache has lessened.
She focuses on losing herself in the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin within the glowing pages of the magical storybook, and soon she is reading slower and occasionally nodding off for several seconds at a time.
“Methinks you’re about to fall asleep, Queeny,” Sleepy B says.
“Methinks you’re right,” Malice replies, and to accentuate her point, she yawns.
Malice stumbles over to her own makeshift bed. As she lays her head down, she can tell she’s about to go out like a candle.
In the dead of night, Malice is awakened by the munchkin girl throwing strawberry strudels and chocolates formed in the shapes of squids at Malice’s head.
Now, normally, Malice wouldn’t be able to immediately ascertain what the objects hitting her are, but tonight is different—she can sense what they are merely by tasting them through her forehead, which is where the munchkin repeatedly strikes.
And Malice just knows it’s the munchkin doing the throwing, because Malice just knows, just like Malice just now knows that the munchkin’s name is actually Rumpelstiltskin.
Malice casts her blanket aside, kicks out with her feet while pressing her hands to the ground behind her shoulders, so that her body is flung onto her feet.
A part of Malice suspects she may be having a dream, but that notion slips away.
Malice stares at the munchkin’s face, partially lit by the light of the moon, still partially hidden by the handkerchief.
“Why do you return?” Malice asks.
“Your yearning called out to me.”
“I imagine so. My craving must be very loud to those who can hear it.”
“Quite,” the munchkin says with a nod.
“So you bring me some black rose, after all...”
“That, I don’t have any of. But I can lead you to the red flowers near here that you can use as a substitute intoxicant.”
Malice nods eagerly. “Yes, yes! Where, where?!”
“I’ll tell you, if you can guess—”
“Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin!” Malice gives a little hop, and punches her fist in the air.
The munchkin shakes her head solemnly. “No, that’s not it.”
“Oops, in my excitement, I said the name twice. I meant, Rumpelstiltskin!”
“That’s it! I shall lead you to the flowers, but that girl might see.” With her thumb, she gestures at Sleepy B, reading her glowing book whilst laying beneath her blanket.
Confused, Malice asks, “Why hasn’t she heard us, up to this point?”
A shrug from the munchkin. “Shall we wake the others? Perhaps they shall wish to partake, as well.”
Despite Malice’s selfishness, her kindness programming is making her want to share. But as she thinks more, she is able to convince herself it will actually be kinder to not tell them, because they might end up hooked, or hungover in the morning. I’m the one who should really be partaking, because I have a temporary, yet pressing need for some sort of replacement medicine. They don’t even need to know, and frankly, it’s kinder to not even tell them. Let them sleep soundly tonight—my dear, unaddicted darlings.
And with that soothing self-talk, her mind is made up.
Malice opens her eyes and awakens, which is odd, because she had been under the impression that she was awake just a few moments ago.
Now that Malice is awake, the sheer intensity of the craving is so harsh, it’s more like a need, like wanting water when one is dying of thirst.
She knows that if she doesn’t get something right now to fix these feelings inside of her, that she shall surely go mad.
And I feel as if I may be mad already.
Malice pretends to still be asleep. She looks into the trees of the forest.
She squints as she searches in the dark for her intoxicant savior. It should be too dark to see, but she is so desperate, she simply forces herself to see the munchkin girl.
There! The girl is staring out from behind a tree, giving a “come hither” gesture before shifting her eyes to Sleepy B, reading in her book.
Malice waits. About ten minutes later, Sleepy B sets the book down and temporarily steps into the forest, as she does from time to time.
And Malice’s opportunity is made, as she too slips into the forest, a distance away, so as to avoid Sleepy B’s notice.
The munchkin girl is there, about fifteen feet away, beckoning to Malice silently with her hand, for Malice to follow.
Malice runs to her, possessed by a desperate desire to consume any sort of intoxicant she can to alleviate pain.
But when Malice goes to where the munchkin beckoned from, she’s confused
by the fact that the girl seems to have vanished into thin air, and she looks around frantically.
But she turns her head, and there’s the munchkin girl again, fifteen feet away, beckoning with her hand, and here is Malice running desperately with her hands out in front of her again.
She stops running, looks around.
Crikey! That little bugger has vanished, again?! Is she trying to pull some sort of cruel prank?
From the distance, Sleepy B’s voice calls out, “Malice! Where are you?”
“Confound it,” Malice mutters quietly to herself. A little bit louder she says, “Well, Rumpelstiltskin, seems the jig is up—”
“Are you okay?” comes Sleepy B’s shout.
“Bugger off, brat,” Malice mutters quietly.
Malice looks around desperately. She knows she doesn’t have much time until they find her. Perhaps if she ingests the flower quickly enough, she’ll still be able to deny everything, she reasons to herself.
Sleepy B’s voice calls out, “Wake up, team! Maly’s gone!”
Malice spins in circles, looking for any sort of flowers.
This is where she led me, so it has to be near here, somewhere!
Malice realizes that if she panics and acts irrationally, she’s likely to miss something.
I must calm myself, stay cool and collected.
“Malice where are you?” Hatter’s voice calls out.
“Queen, call back to us!” the Jabberwock shouts.
They’ll no doubt be upon her soon, she feels. She briefly wonders if the Cat will simply appear and announce where she is, since he can easily locate anyone, but he’d left before the team went to sleep, and besides, he is supposed to follow a non-interference policy.
She closes her eyes, forces herself to calm, seeking that tranquility within. She realizes now, that she can try to use her sense of smell to guide her.
“Malice!” Humpty calls. “Queen, where are you?” calls Jabby.
Suddenly, the effort pays off, as she smells a flowery scent coming from somewhere to her right, and she rushes to the source of the smell, while her teammates continue calling out to her—Humpty sounds like he’s getting closer.
Malice gasps as she sees a vine wrapped around the tree in front of her. The vines sports numerous flowers along its length, that may be red, but the color is hard to make out in the darkness.
“Malice! Answer us!” Humpty calls, closer now.
Malice doesn’t hesitate—she quickly snatches three flowers off the vine. She sees now that they are light red—they’re not black roses, but she’s desperate. She plucks the petals, stuffs them in her mouth, and chews.
“Malice! Malice! What’s wrong?” Humpty calls from behind her. She hears his pattering feet running toward her, and so she swallows, while dropping the petals to the ground.
“Malice!” Humpty places his hand on her shoulder from behind. “Why didn’t you answer?”
She decides to take the dishonest route—she jerks in faked surprise and turns to face him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
MALICE LOOKS INTO HIS face with a fake confused expression. “Humpty? What’s going on?”
“Are you okay?” He shouts out, “I found her!”
“We’re coming!” Hatter calls.
“I have no idea how I got here! I must’ve been sleepwalking!” She coughs a bit from the bitter aftertaste from the flower petals.
“Oh, dear! Sleepwalking!” He watches in concern as she coughs, is relieved when she recovers. “Were you dreaming of something? Why’d you come over here?”
Hatter and the Jabberwock run into view from amongst the trees.
They stop, Hatter breathing heavily from their sprint. The Jabberwock head isn’t breathing at all, it seems, though the Horseman body’s ribcage is expanding and contracting mightily—Malice isn’t exactly sure how the Jabberwock’s breathing works exactly, but she’s more concerned about other things, at the moment.
Even in the darkness, she can tell that Hatter’s face is contorted in worry as he says, “Oh my dear Malice! Are you alright?”
“Did you wander off, love?” the Jabberwock says, and she can see his face looks concerned as well.
In answer to Humpty’s question, she says, “Yes, I was dreaming.”
Hatter and the Jabberwock are next to Humpty now. Malice drinks in the concerned look on Hatter’s face—she hopes he’s temporarily forgotten he’s supposed to be distant and formal.
Hatter says, “What were you dreaming, dear?”
She’d started out thinking that saying she was dreaming was a lie, but maybe it’s closer to the truth than she realized. “I thought I saw the munchkin girl beckoning to me. It seemed so real.”
“She returned?” the Jabberwock says.
Sleepy B steps out from behind a tree a short distance away. “There you all are! When I came back from my break you were gone, Maly. Did you just walk off?”
Humpty says, “She says the munchkin girl returned and beckoned her.”
“Beckoned you where?” the Jabberwock says.
Malice is lost in thought, replaying the memory. She feels a strange feeling come over her—like a rush of tingling warmth over her face and head. She also feels slightly nauseous.
To Sleepy B, Malice says, “Right before you left on your break, the munchkin girl was standing right next to me, talking to me, rather loudly, actually—I thought you might hear her...”
Sleepy B’s eyes widen and she shakes her head slowly. “Maly, there was no one there when I left. You were just lying there.”
A sudden wave of dizziness comes over her and her vision blurs. “I must have dreamt it,” Malice mutters.
“Or hallucinated it,” the Jabberwock says. “Could this perhaps be related to your withdrawing from the black rose? Before, you hallucinated its smell.”
Malice ponders, as she feels panicky and nervous from everyone watching her, waiting to pounce and tear apart whatever she says, she’s sure.
Was I only hallucinating the munchkin girl because I was yearning so hard for the black rose? And if I was, what could a hallucination be beckoning me to? Oh, crikey, did I just consume some random flower just because I saw it on a tree?
“You look out of sorts, love,” Humpty says gently.
“Yeah,” Sleepy B says, “you look walloped and a bit wonky, babe.”
What did I just eat? Was it poison? And more importantly, should I admit it?
Hatter cocks his head, trying to read her face. “Malice, love? Talk to us?”
“Yes, why was the munchkin beckoning you?” the Jabberwock says.
Malice plays up looking embarrassed. It’s not hard to do. “Willackers. This is so embarrassing. Who can say why she was beckoning me, since she didn’t exist in the first place? I was the fool for following her!” She rubs at her forehead—she feels hot and is perspiring.
Humpty says, “Well, dreams can seem so real and convincing.”
The Jabberwock says, “But you say you imagined she spoke to you. Did she say why she wished you to follow her, in your hallucination or dream or whatnot?”
As much as Malice would like to lie, her ticktock heart won’t let her. “The munchkin told me she’d lead me to that intoxicating flower she spoke of before.”
The team reacts to that with various groans and sighs. Hatter mutters, “Confound it,” under his breath.
Malice puts on a big smile, though, despite the dizziness and warm feeling throughout her head that seems to have increased. “But there is obviously no munchkin abouts, here, so let us return to our camp and forget this whole blastedly embarrassing episode.”
Hatter says, “I’m concerned that you’re conjuring up such phantasms, and earlier, smells, all, ultimately, coming from your desire for the black rose. You’re like a fiend for the stuff.”
“Yes, how very unrefined,” Sleepy B contributes.
Malice fakes nonchalance—her vision grows blurrier and that concerns her—could it be the effect
of a poisonous flower that should not be consumed?
Malice turns to her left, facing the direction of their campsite.
Humpty says, “What if you keep hallucinating? Keep running off?”
“This is my first day off my medicine,” Malice says, trying to sound calm, even as she feels she may swoon. “I’m sure it’s just a matter of adjusting. I’ll be perfectly fine—I daresay, smashing—in a day or two.”
“Yes, of course you shall,” Hatter says supportively.
Sleepy B says, “No offense, Queeny, but I’ll be keeping an eye on you, through the night.”
“As is to be expected,” Malice says with a weak smile.
The Jabberwock says, “I’m afraid we shall all need to stay vigilant of your behaviour until your cravings subside, My Queen.”
Malice doesn’t reply, merely lowers her head meekly and walks back toward camp, as the others follow.
As they walk, Malice hears the munchkin girl call out to her, “Psst, hey Malice.”
She stops, peers out into the trees, but sees no one. Wouldn’t it be oh-so-very-ironic, if this time, the munchkin actually has reappeared, whilst I assume it’s a hallucination?
“Did you hear that?” Malice says. “The munchkin girl calling me again.”
Her teammates all claim not to have heard, and Malice is forced to consider she may have imagined it, though it had seemed so real. She continues walking.
She feels a sudden strange sensation, like her head is floating away from her neck.
“Don’t you ignore me!” the munchkin shouts so loudly that Malice flinches. None of her teammates react, so Malice ignores the obnoxious person.
How could they not have heard it that time, when she was loud and clear? Obviously, my teammates are faking this all. I can’t believe they convinced me that the munchkin girl wasn’t real! What a bunch of liars! Obviously, they want the black rose all to themselves! They want to steal it from me! I feel sorry for them, that they would stoop so low, but the munchkin’s black rose should go to me! It’s my medicine!
