Alice Games

by Michelle R. Reid

  We broke out of the flowers, into the temperate forest. I staggered to a stop and bent over, breathing hard. I wrapped an arm around my aching sides, hugging the soaked dress against my stomach. When was the last time I’d gotten so wet fully clothed and loved it? I was normally that girl who brought a book to the pool while the others played in the water.

  I looked up at him. I was drenched head to toe, my hair plastered to my face, but all I could do was smile.

  He was just as wet, smiling just as big.

  My eyes dropped to our joined hands. My cheeks turned red, and I slipped my hand out of his. I cleared my throat and looked back at the field, still breathing hard. “I’ve never experienced flowers like that before.”

  “What, the water lilies?” Most of the laughter left Ace’s voice, replaced by a more subdued tone.

  “You call these water lilies, huh?” I crouched down right next to them, tucking the dress in my lap. It might be ruined already from the water, but I didn’t want it to get muddy too.

  I glanced at Ace to find he had taken off his shirt and was staring at it rather intently as he wrung the water out of it. When it stopped dripping so much, he untwisted the shirt and shook it a couple times, then draped it over my shoulders. It was large enough to cover me from the shoulders to the ground in this position.

  It was only then that I realized how revealing my attire must’ve been. The slip was fine when it was dry, but when wet, it clung like a second skin. My face went up in flames as my arms snaked through the large armholes. The shirt smelled nice, like cinnamon and earth “Thanks,” I said, touched at his chivalrous actions.

  As soon as I was properly covered, his smile came back. Just like before, he seemed at ease in his pants and shirtless attire. He looked over the field. “Yes, these are water lilies. They’re my favorite flower.”

  “Hmm.” I turned back to them. “There are water lilies in my world too. But they don’t look like these. They live in ponds and lakes with just their flowers floating on top.” My fingers inched forward to brush a flower. But the thought of what we’d just gone through stopped me. “How does it shoot water?”

  Now that I wasn’t getting wet from the water lilies, they were the most fascinating plant I’d ever seen, and I was dying to know how they worked. Forget Red Queen’s claim about magic. There had to be a scientific explanation to all of it.

  Ace crouched down next to me. I wanted to lean into his warmth, but I didn’t dare. He grabbed the stem of a flower and, before it had time to spray, cut it off with a knife I never saw him take out. With another sleight of hand, the knife disappeared. He offered the flower to me as water dribbled out of its cut stem.

  I blinked. “Oh, you didn’t have to do that.” I took the flower, fingering the surprisingly stiff stem. “I could have just looked at it still attached. Observation and discovery doesn’t have to happen only through handling—”

  “You’re the first girl I’ve ever met who doesn’t like to get flowers. Most girls just melt at the sight of them.” Ace shook his head, chuckling.

  My whole body went up in flames. What was wrong with me? “Ah, no. It’s not that,” I stammered. “I do like getting flowers. What girl doesn’t, like you said? I was just thinking academically. Not, you know, like that. I just … like plants,” I finished lamely. Where was a tree that I could bang my head against? Honestly!

  His warm brown eyes danced, and he tried not to smile too wide. “I like plants too. What do you think of Oz’s water lilies?”

  I went back to the flower. In my element now, my body relaxed as my mind went to work. “Well, it’s really different.” I cupped the flower, breathing in its faint, sweet scent, while measuring the size with my hand. “For a flower this size, the petals wouldn’t normally be as thick and strong as card stock. Yet they are so soft. Like felt.” I brushed the white pieces and rubbed my fingers together. There wasn’t any pollen residue. I frowned and peered closely at the flower. “Weird. It doesn’t look like there are any stamens or pistils. Or any reproductive parts whatsoever. How can the species thrive without them?” I pressed my index finger into the velvety black center. It indented, then reformed like a sponge. “Hmm. How does this work?” Were the reproductive parts hidden somewhere else? It didn’t seem logical.

  I flipped the flower over to examine the stem and received another shock. It was as hollow as a straw, which explained why it felt like one. The walls of the stem were completely solid, like plastic. “There’s nothing inside,” I exclaimed. “How does photosynthesis happen? There’s no chloroplast or anything. How does this plant survive, reproduce—or anything?” My firm resolution that science could finally explain something in this world was losing its grip.

  “It’s magic,” Ace said, looking over the field. “Oz wills the flowers to live, so they do.”

  There was that M-word again. Magic. “You make it sound like the land is actually alive. Not just the plants but the dirt and air.”

  Ace blinked and turned to me, one brow raised and a half smile on his lips. “Of course it’s alive. Oz is alive. It feels, breathes, cries, and has its own opinion. It also has rules that it expects to be followed.”

  I shook my head. There was always a logical explanation in my opinion. Still full of doubt, I looked back at the flower field.

  And saw something that could be called magical.

  In the morning air, random water streams gleamed like arcs of glitter above a white petal carpet. Mist hovered above the flowers and reflected circles of rainbows, dozens of them, everywhere. Surrounding the field was a green jungle backdrop, trunks and vines half shrouded in white gray mist.

  Since I came to Oz, I’d been forced into a dress, turned into a cat, and chased through a frozen hell by ice monsters and a bloodthirsty, murderous tiger. Even in the Cheshire Forest, something was off. But here, I could relax and simply think.

  “How beautiful.” I didn’t realize I’d said the words out loud until they echoed in my ears.

  Ace grinned down at me. “You sound surprised.” His eyes drank in the view as if he couldn’t get enough of it. Did he know how gentle his eyes got when he talked about Oz? I could tell he had a special love for this land.

  But there was a sad flicker on his face, despite the smile. He rested a hand on his hip, his chin high with pride. The only thing missing from the picture, besides a shirt, was a sword.

  He blinked as if pulled from his thoughts and looked down at me. “Why are you smiling?”

  I jumped. Was I smiling? I hadn’t even realized it. “Ah, oh. Nothing.” Man, my face was burning up again! “Just, well, a funny thought.”

  “What thought?” He grinned.

  I shouldn’t have said anything. “It’s dumb, really.”

  “Tell me anyway. Then I can share the laugh.”

  My gaze dropped to the flower in my hands. I played with it, using my hair to hide my blush. “I just thought, well, right there you looked like a knight. Looking over his kingdom.” I smiled up at him, expecting him to laugh.

  He didn’t. His eye widened, and his full lips parted in shock. Suddenly his face smoothed blank, like he was nothing but a mannequin in a store window. He took a breath and turned away from me toward the flowers.

  Did I say something wrong? I was just teasing, but what if I had hurt his feelings somehow? How was I to know it was the wrong thing to say, when I didn’t know anything about him? This is why I sucked at working with people. I always said the wrong things around them. “Ace—”

  He grinned down at me in his usual mischievous way. “You’re an odd Alice. Or should I say, girls named Ali are odd?”

  I let the topic drop. I didn’t want to put my foot in my mouth any more than I already had. Instead, I scowled. “People keep calling me weird. But I’m not. It’s this place that’s weird. Nothing about this world makes any sense. There’s no logic in any of it.”

  “There’s plenty of logic in Oz. As long as you follow the rules.”

  “What ru
les? That’s twice you’ve mentioned rules, but no one else has ever explained any.”

  Ace started to answer me but stopped. He blinked and lifted his head, then closed his eyes and took a breath. “The wind changed.” His voice was full of disbelief. He glanced down at me, his face unfathomable.

  “Huh?” I looked around, noting some leaves swaying in the breeze. It was so slight that I hadn’t even noticed there was wind at all. “What about the wind?” I turned to him.

  He was gone. Just like before. He was there one second and gone the next.

  “Ace?” I stood up, tucking the dress in the crook of my arm and looking around. I hadn’t even heard him move, and he had been right next to me. What was going on? Bothered by my sudden aloneness, I twisted my fingers in the hem of his shirt to reassure myself.

  A bush just behind me rustled, and I turned toward it, thinking it was him.

  A young woman stumbled out of the bush with a distressed bleat.

  I blinked at her, recognizing one of the maids that dressed me last night.

  She huffed at the bush and straightened her blue dress, smoothing the white apron down until it was perfect. She was just tucking her hair back in place when she finally glanced around and saw me. She gave another startled bleat and jumped.

  This was not who I was thinking I’d see first. “Um, hi?”

  She looked me up and down, taking in my attire with something between horror and incredulity. Then she took a breath and forced a smile on her face, but kept her eyes on the ground at my feet. “Hello. I’m Shirley. We’ve all been waiting for you, Alice of Alice.” She curtsied then motioned behind her. “Red Queen is this way.”

  “Thank you,” I muttered, her nervous actions making me all the more awkward. Connecting with people was hard enough, how was I going to learn everyone’s opinion if they all acted like this around me?

  She jumped like she was touched with a live wire then turned and started trekking through the woods—which involved plowing straight through the bush she just came out of.

  Perplexed, I cradled my flower in my hand and tucked the ball of wet material under the other arm. After one more look around for Ace, I walked around the bush and followed Shirley down the Yellow Path. From her body language I decided she wouldn’t want to walk side by side, so I trailed behind. Bemused, I watched her stumble through the forest. She was a lot clumsier than I thought someone who grew up without modern technology would be.

  Wishing it was Ace I was walking with, I distracted myself with my surroundings. The conifer trees, as thick as I was tall, were lovely with a red tint to their bark and bright green needles. Rather than green leaves, the deciduous trees had red, gold, blue, and pink foliage that popped with gusto between the towering pines. I stopped right next to a lavender-leafed tree and had to touch it. The leaves were still thick with glucose, instead of drying out as the tree prepared for winter. These were the natural colors? How pretty.

  The bushes didn’t have the rainbow veins of colors or huge leaves like the Cheshire Forest, but the simple structure of the multicolored leafy plants was just as lovely. The ground was harder but smooth on my bare feet, a light maple color against my yellow marker. Even stranger, the foliage parted around me to make walking easier—unlike the Cheshire Forest trees that took every chance to make my journey harder.

  “What is this forest called?”

  Shirley glanced back. “This is the Rainbow Forest.” Her voice was curt.

  How original. But at least she spoke. That was enough to break the ice, right? I ran my thumb up and down the stem of my flower, enjoying the smooth texture, then took a breath. “So who do you think I should pick?” I asked Shirley.

  She stopped fast and turned around, completely complexed. “What did you say?”

  I shrugged and shifted the dress. “Well, I need to pick the next ruler, right? You work at the Ruby Castle. What do you love about Red Queen?”

  Her brow wrinkled more than ever. She glanced around, then said softly, “You know, Alice of Alice, you don’t have to pick out of just the obvious Queen Candidates. There is someone else.” She stepped closer to me, her pale eyes wide and intense.

  Just then, a man called out, “Who’s there?” The bushed parted and a man in shining red and bronze armor stepped through.

  Shirley jumped like she was having a heart attack. “It’s me, Shirley the maid. I brought the Alice of Alice.” She motioned to me.

  The guard looked over Shirley’s shoulder at me. He stiffened and glanced just above my head. “Ah, yes. The Alice of Alice. Good job, maid,” he muttered, without looking at her. “You may go. I’ll take it from here.”

  Shirley curtsied and hurried unevenly past him, disappearing through the tall shrubs.

  “Ah, thank you for showing me the way,” I called after her, but I didn’t know if she actually heard.

  The guard parted the bush behind him, revealing a camp built off the side of a dirt road. Half a dozen huge tents made of red velvet and featuring square tops were set up in a random pattern. Thirty or so people milled around, doing various odd jobs. I spotted a couple other sheep maids in the mix—it was impossible to tell which was Shirley—but most of the workers were men.

  My guide pointed to the largest tent of all, in the middle of the camp. “Red Queen is in there.” With that, he turned and walked away without another word.

  I watched him go, debating what to do. Manners won out, and I called after him, “Thanks.”

  He paused and glanced back. For the first time, he looked me in the eye. After a second, he nodded.

  People glanced at me as I walked to Red Queen’s tent. Most of them didn’t even bother to look at my face but stared at my clothing with scandalized expressions. The slip was dry now, so it didn’t cling. I could have removed Ace’s shirt, but it smelled too good to take off.

  Red Queen’s tent flap was open, revealing the tiny queen standing in the middle of her quarters. Her red dress today was a little less exaggerated than the one she wore last night. It was still unbelievably poufy, but it didn’t sparkle with stones at her every move. She was staring hard at something against the right wall. Before I could announce my presence, she stamped her foot on the decorative rug.

  “I can’t believe you did that, Lional!” Her voice wasn’t a shout, but rose enough for me to hear the note of disappointment that would make anyone feel guilty. “To immediately do something like that, the instant I’m away.”

  Lional? My brows pulled together. Was she ranting to herself? Red Queen didn’t seem like the type of person to do so, but I’d only known her for a short time. Confused, I shifted sideways until I could see more of the inside through the tent’s opening. And froze.

  It was Lional. He was standing inside, perfectly healthy though stubbornly trying not to look chastened. He stared at the ground with a miserable expression, his hands clasped behind his rigid back. His round lion ears, popping out of his wild hair, kept flicking back and then forward again as he tried to hide his shame.

  I suddenly felt light headed. How … how was it even possible that Lional was here? I watched him die. He turned into a pile of dust. Yet here he was, right in front of me.

  Oblivious of my presence just outside the tent, Red Queen ranted on. “You are a Role Player, Lional. You can’t just do something like throw your life away. Every day counts during the Alice Games, you know that. I wasn’t there to help Ali. She was supposed to be your responsibility. I was relying on you.”

  Lional flinched.

  She wasn’t done yet. “We’re lucky Ali survived. The Cheshire Cat’s never gone after an Alice like that before. I was hoping that after his behavior in the last game, he would sit this one out, but no, you had to go and agitate him! How could you foolishly challenge someone you know you can’t beat?”

  Lional’s face tightened, but he didn’t look up or argue back.

  I needed to sit down and put my head between my knees. I stepped away and half turned, resting the hand with
my flower against my spinning head.

  Just then, Hareson walked around a tent right next to me, fastening the cuffs of his sleeves. He spotted me. “Ah, Ali. They said you were over here. I’m so glad to see you unharmed. After we split up last night, I was quite worried. I am sorry. None of that was supposed to happen. I couldn’t believe it when they said you were found just outside of Cheshire Forest.” He looked me over, frowning at the white and gray shirt. His eyes widened slightly and his ears twitched. “Aside from your odd clothes, you seem perfectly fine, thankfully.” He peered more closely. His lips pulled down in concern. “Or are you perfectly fine, Ali?”

  Before I could squeak out an answer, Red Queen piped up from inside the tent. “Hareson? Did you just say Ali was here? Send her in, please.”

  Hareson’s ears swiveled toward the tent, then he relaxed. He double checked his cuffs were perfect, brushed at the sleeve of his brown suit, then motioned to the opening. “Well then, shall we?”

  I didn’t really want to, but I followed him anyway. It was hard not to stare at Lional. The huge man took up a considerable amount of space, and his golden head brushed the ceiling. Instead, I cast my eyes about the inside of the tent. I examined the dark wood folding table and chair. A polished metal mirror rimmed with silver flowers stood on the table. Golden knots patterned a red rug on the dirt floor, and there was an armoire on the far wall.

  I jumped a little when I noticed Red Queen staring at me.

  “My, Ali, are you alright?” she asked with obvious concern. “You look faint. Well, you did have a … difficult night. What’s wrong?” Her eyes wandered my form, lingering on my mismatched clothing. They landed on the flower in my hand and widened slightly.

  “Um.” I shifted, adjusting the bundle of clothing under my arm. I glanced at Lional, then away. “Look, I just wasn’t expecting zombies to be in Oz, okay? Neither of the two stories we have in my world ever mention them. There wasn’t anything about changing into animals either, but that’s beside the point, I guess.”