I glanced at him, struggling to keep my voice calm. “Yellow Path? Is that was this is?” I pointed at it. For some reason, it was fine—interesting even—that the people here were different. But the idea that something from this world would attach itself to me made my skin crawl. “What does it do?”
Hareson sniffed, and one of his ears flopped to the side as he finally spoke to me. “I could only assume it’s the Yellow Path. We can’t see it. Only an Alice can see it.”
Red Queen nodded. “It will show you the path you need to take.”
So it was like a GPS? Concerned, I motioned to them. “I thought that’s what you guys are for. Why would I need something like this if you’ll be there?”
They exchanged glances again, having an entire conversation without words in that one second. The men looked away.
Red Queen turned back to me. “We will be there. In just a minute, Hareson and Lional will escort you to your room where you can sleep nice and safe. In the morning, we and a group of selected others will take you to the Emerald Castle. But as a precaution, Oz has provided you with directions. And there are Domains you have to visit. You and I won’t know where until the Yellow Path takes you there.”
“What’s a Domain?” I asked.
Hareson startled and pulled a pocket watch from his breast pocket. “Ah, my Queen ...”
Red Queen jolted and slapped a hand to her cheek. “Oh, no. I lost track of time.” She looked at me closely as if wondering something. “I guess it’s just going to have to happen here.”
I tensed. “What’s going to happen?”
Instead of answering, her chin tilted until she looked up at a huge elaborate copper clock above the staircase. She sighed in a sad, wistful way, her perfect face as lovely as ever. Her hands clenched around her wand possessively. “It begins.”
I turned to the clock just as it struck twelve. The first chime rang out.
Instantly my stomach twisted painfully, like my insides were in a blender. Gasping, I grabbed my stomach and bent over, face tight.
Red Queen turned and watched me. There wasn’t any alarm in her expression at my sudden pain, just open curiosity.
Hareson, Lional, and the rest of the room all reacted in the same way as I did, clutching their stomachs and moaning in pain.
A tingling and twisting sensation ran through my body, starting at my toes and working up to my spinning head. Eyes wide, I looked down at the fingers clutching my stomach. They were shrinking! Not only were they shrinking, but fine, dark brown fur was starting to cover them in a silky coat. All my limbs were shriveling, and my waist was thinning rapidly. As I shrank, my clothes evaporated into nothing. I yelled in fright as my line of vision lurched forward with the rest of my body. I landed on all fours, far shorter than I used to be.
The tingling sensation stopped.
While the clock chimed again, I gasped and examined my body.
“Holy mother of hairballs!” I shrieked. “I’m a cat! I’m a cat! Why am I a cat?” Dimly, I thought that I shouldn’t be able to talk out loud if I was a cat, but there were more pressing matters to worry about. I jerked this way and that, clawing at the dark brown tail attached to me.
“Ali! Ali, stop!” Red Queen crouched over me and stopped my movements with a firm hand. “A brown cat,” she muttered to herself. “How surprising. I wonder what that means.”
I looked up at her, still freaking out. “What’s happening?”
Any desperate hopes that this was a dream shriveled and died. I really was a cat in another world called Oz.
“You have to play by the rules,” Red Queen explained. “During the Alice Games, the dark belongs to White Wizard. So from sunset—or midnight on the first day—until dawn, the citizens are animals. It’s chaos.”
The clock rang again. Number ten, I thought dimly. “That’s—that’s stupid!”
The wand in Red Queen’s hand disappeared in an explosion of red sparkles. She frowned, her eyes worried and overly bright. “Stay with Hareson and Lional in the Ruby Castle where it’s safe. We’ll talk more in the morning. I hope.”
“What are you talking about?” I yelled.
The clock struck twelve.
Red Queen vanished in another shower of sparkles.
The clock went silent and all the lights in the room blinked out.
Chapter Four
“Red Queen?” I called out into the dark room. Well, I’d call it dark if I were human. With my newfound feline eyesight, the moonbeams streaming though the high windows gave plenty of light.
Another new sense woke up with a vengeance. The ballroom reeked like a rank zoo, so strong it was almost nauseating. I sneezed and tried to cover my nose with a furry paw. “Red Queen?”
Lional’s voice rumbled next to me. “A cat, huh?”
I jumped and turned, almost stepping on my tail in the process. It was so strange to be able to feel every hair on my body stick up and feel the muscles in my back arch my spine high.
“You are a weird Alice,” he said. “Don’t bother calling for her. Red Queen can’t hear or help you right now—she’s in the moon.”
My mouth almost dropped open as I stared up at him from below. Far below. Lional the lion was so much bigger than I was. He stood proud, and took a second to shake out his long, bronze colored main. He looked down at me with flat golden eyes. I remember standing in a zoo and watching a lion eat a cow leg right next to the enclosure’s windows and thinking that, regardless of how fascinating, I never wanted to meet a lion face to face without a fence between us. I thought the same thing now.
However, there was intelligence in his eyes instead of simple bloodthirst. That was reassuring. Sort of.
“The moon?” I repeated.
“Remember she told you the night is White Wizard’s time?” Hareson stepped up to me. Sure enough, he was a hare about the same size as me. His long brown ears rested against the gentle curve of his back. “She’s locked up during the night just as he is during the day.” It was odd hearing his stiff voice come out of something that looked so soft and fluffy. It didn’t help that his nose twitched with every word he spoke. His ears lifted, flopping behind him then perking up again.
Suddenly I was overcome with an overpowering temptation to reach out and swat Hareson with my paws. Disappointed with myself, I shook my head and looked around for a distraction. I might be smooshed into a cat-shaped box right now, but that didn’t mean I had to act like a cat.
Every single person in the room was an animal, the same type as the body part they displayed while human. Besides Lional, I was the only feline in the room.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to my guides. “Okay. What do we do now?” My tail twitched, distracting me. I didn’t mean to move it, but apparently the appendage had a mind of its own, flicking and swishing across the yellow colored ground, revealing the anxiety I wanted to hide.
Hareson stood on his hind legs and looked out the windows on the right side of the room. “Like Red Queen said, it’s time to retire to bed. It’s far too dangerous to travel right now.”
I followed his gaze and gasped. Giant white snowflakes fell heavily past the window panes. “It’s snowing?” I swear it wasn’t snowing a couple minutes ago.
A large yowl echoed through the ball room, vibrating off the walls and echoing in my tight chest.
The crowd in the room gasped and screamed with terror.
I jumped and looked at Lional to make sure he wasn’t the one who’d made the sound. He looked as alarmed as everyone else. His mane bristled and tail stilled as his bulking muscles bunched with anticipation. His great head jerked around, golden eyes blazing with fury. His mouth dropped open, panting to taste the scent of the air and hone his search.
The tension radiating from him was nerve-wracking. I took a couple steps closer to Hareson. The hair on my back bristled.
Hareson trembled. His ears were erect, and his nose twitched wildly. “Was that inside?” he whispered in alarm. “How? White Wizard
’s taint shouldn’t be able to get in Ruby Castle.”
The animals around us shifted and shook in fear, emitting frightened animal noises. “Cheshire Cat! It’s the Cheshire Cat!” Someone began to sob.
My heart kicked up a beat as their emotions saturated my own.
Another yowl sounded from somewhere in the rafters.
“He’s inside!” someone screamed.
It was like a dam broke. The animals around us exploded in panic. They bolted this way and that, running into the walls and windows in their haste. Hareson, Lional, and I were pressed together in the chaos. I hissed and jerked out of the way of a horse’s hoof. It missed me by an inch. Lional stepped forward until he was standing over Hareson and me, protecting us. He grunted when animals rammed him, but stayed in place.
Two of the windows exploded in showers of glass from all the bodies hitting them. The animals flooded through the snow-filled holes, pushing and shoving each other. Larger animals stepped on the smaller ones, and the smaller animals used the large ones as bridges. Every once in a while, random throws of dust exploded into the air.
Their panic was like a drug, kicking up my fight or flight response. My heart pounded and my ears flicked around madly. Instinct demanded that I run out of the room with the rest of the crowd. But the fear of getting trampled mixed with the rational, human part of my mind, reminding me I was supposed to stay with Hareson and Lional, and that kept me still.
Why hadn’t we left yet? Were they waiting until the animals were gone and it wasn’t so dangerous to move? Or did they think the Cheshire Cat would follow the panicking animals? My question was answered when most of the animals had disappeared through the hole.
Lional raised his head and yelled out, “Cheshire Cat! Show yourself! Today, I will take my revenge!”
My jaw dropped in disbelief. “Please tell me you’re joking.” I thought we were supposed to spend a safe evening, sleeping, then travel to the Emerald Castle as easy as a daisy in the morning. Nothing like this was ever mentioned in the plans.
Even Red Queen said that the Cheshire Cat was dangerous. What was Lional doing, challenging someone the rest of Oz was terrified of? Maybe Lional was that good; Red Queen did think he could protect me. There weren’t many animals that could take on a full-grown male lion. But if he was strong enough to take on the Cheshire Cat, why did all the other animals run away? Wouldn’t they be safer with Lional?
I stepped out from under the lion, absentmindedly noting how weird it was to walk on all fours. Thank goodness this new body instinctively knew how to move.
“Shh! Lional, don’t!” Hareson hissed. “We have to get out of here. What if those monsters can get in too?” His eyes were wide enough that I could see the whites. He couldn’t stop looking around, rising up on his hind legs, then squatting down again. “We need to find somewhere safe and come up with a new plan.”
A merciless laugh echoed in the room. “Really, Lional?” The threatening male voice growled from the top of the stairs.
Lional snarled. “Cheshire Cat!”
My ears perked straight up and I looked over my shoulder. My stomach clenched in terror and I felt sick.
The Cheshire Cat was nothing like any of the stories. There was no round-faced, roly-poly British Shorthair cat standing at the top of the stairs. He was a massive white tiger. At least eleven feet from nose to tip and well over six hundred pounds, he stood on the stairs like he owned them.
The few animals left in the room emptied out quickly, until the only ones left were me, Lional, Hareson, and the Cheshire Cat.
Hareson trembled more than ever. He nudged me with his nose, herding me toward the window.
Logic would say Hareson had the right idea, but for some reason my legs felt frozen to the ground. Dimly I was aware that my body was shaking as much as his. Why did they call him the Cheshire Cat if he was tiger? It was obvious that he was dangerous, or else the animals wouldn’t have acted like that. I knew I should run, but my mind was on overload from the shock of this world, turning into a cat, and the possibility that someone was trying to kill me.
Lional bounded toward the tiger, snarling like the lion he was. He did look impressive with his pluming mane and deep noises, but a male lion was still smaller than a male tiger. “Today, you curse of Oz, I will kill you!” He roared, the sound echoing like a pounding drum deep in my chest.
The white tiger flashed his teeth and leapt down the stairs. I don’t know how he did it, but he cleared the space of the room in seconds. He moved faster than my eyes could follow.
The huge cats clashed in the middle of the ballroom. Roars and snarls echoed, the acoustics of the room amplifying the sounds. They exchanged bites and slashes in raw feline fury.
Hareson pushed harder than ever. “Go, Ali! Go!” he pleaded.
I was paralyzed, horrified by the scene in front of me. There was nothing thrilling about watching these two majestic cats try to kill each other. The tiger reached out and ran his massive claws over Lional’s flanks, leaving a gash in his wake. Lional roared in pain. Only there was no blood.
In fact, in spite of all the injuries both cats sported, there wasn’t a single speck of blood on them or the ground.
It wasn’t until my paw landed on something cold that I realized Hareson had pushed me almost out of the room. I glanced down at the snow spilling onto the marble floor.
Just then, Lional gave a truly horrible scream. I turned to see the Cheshire Cat lunge in and clamp his jaws around Lional’s throat, cutting Lional’s yell off. Suddenly, Lional exploded into a cloud of dust.
I screamed in shock. He killed him! The Cheshire Cat killed Lional!
Breathing hard and showing his big teeth, the white tiger turned toward us. His cold gaze landed on me, sending chills as cold as ice down my spine.
“Run!” Hareson yelled. “Run!”
This time, I didn’t need any urging. I whipped around and bolted out of the broken window as fast as I could. Thick snow clung to the sides of the ruby red castle walls and spread out until it was eaten up by the black forest. Any sign of the animals that had already run away was smothered by snow that fell in fat, heavy flakes. I was jumping more than running just to get through the belly deep snow, but it didn’t matter. Anything just to get away.
The one lucky break I got was the fact that the Yellow Path wasn’t affected by the falling snow. It floated atop like a beacon, pointing alongside the Ruby Castle’s red wall, towards the front.
Hareson hopped beside me. “Follow the Yellow Path,” he gasped between hops. “Just follow the Yellow Path.” He sounded like he was reassuring himself as he was me. “Why is this happening? Never in any Alice Game has—”
He cut off when two huge mounds of snow rose up in front of us, straddling the yellow line. I skidded to a stop, snow bunching around my chest, and gaped as the snow grew almost seven feet tall. In a snap, the snow collapsed in on itself and hardened, taking shape. In seconds, two huge ice sculptures towered over us. They were humanoid with triangular chests, long arms, and hands tipped with long talons.
Then they started to move. In unison, they looked down at me, glowing holes where their eyes should be.
“What are those?” I gasped in fear, blinking at the snow in my face.
A sound echoed across the ground behind me. My ear twitched back, bringing the sound more into focus. It sounded like snow crunching. I looked over my shoulder just as the Cheshire Cat sauntered out of the broken window. His white and black coat blended into the cold environment perfectly and complemented the gleaming, red castle walls. His cold eyes were fixated on me.
“Go!” Hareson yelled. He leapt up. With a dull thump, he kicked one of the ice monsters in the chest with his hind legs.
The ice monster didn’t even flinch. It reached for me with a hand bigger than my whole body.
Fear washed away all my thoughts. I turned and bolted to the side, barely getting out of the way as the monster’s hand thudded against the ground. I paid no
attention to Hareson or the Yellow Path—that pointed between the legs of those monsters. I simply ran as fast as I could to the closest cover that was available. The forest.
The trees might be bare and scary looking, but not as frightening as what was behind me. Hareson yelled something, but I couldn’t understand him over the blood pounding in my cold ears. I breached the tree line and darted around the giant trees and bushes, trying to get lost in the foliage. Anything to make myself harder to follow.
Moments later, the sounds of branches and wood breaking echoed behind me. I glanced over my shoulder as an ice monster shoved aside a tree branch so hard it snapped right off. My gut twisted painfully. If it could do that to a branch almost three inches thick, what would it do to me? And still the Yellow Path pointed back, directly at the monsters.
I don’t know how long I ran or where I was going. My sense of smell wasn’t any use—everything just smelled like a crisp winter night. The rest of my cat’s physique wasn’t helping either. The snow was only six inches deep, which would have been fine if I were a human. As a cat, it froze my stomach, and my new fifth appendage was freezing its fur off. Tails weren’t all they were cracked up to be.
Everything looked the same. An icy hell with frost-covered trees, random snow pits that came up to my ears, and slick patches of ice. All the while, I could hear the sounds of those things crashing through the trees behind me. I couldn’t hear any sounds that indicated Hareson or the Cheshire Cat.
Even so, I couldn’t run forever. My limbs were freezing and burning at the same time, trying to lock up painfully. The fur that should have kept me warm was soaked from the snow falling from the sky and the powder I was clawing my way through. The air was so cold, it hurt my lungs more than it helped.
Think, Ali, I ordered myself, think of something. What do I do? I was a cat—no thumbs. No way to make any form of defense. I didn’t know anything about Oz, and I knew less about the monsters chasing me. Ice shouldn’t be moving like this—shouldn’t be moving at all.
My mind cleared slightly. There was something I did understand about my situation. I was a small cat. I knew the basics of feline anatomy, and the color of the trees around me were almost the same color as my fur.
Alice Games Page 3
