Wonderland Academy: Book 1

by Cheri Winters

  I shook my head. No, it had to be a mistake. Couldn’t be my dad. There was no way.

  “Hey,” Tula nudged me with her elbow, “How did you find out about the fires in our rooms?”

  “Eithanael lit mine with his magic.” I frowned, glad to change the subject. “Didn’t he do the same with yours?”

  “Nope.” She shook her head, eyeing me with suspicion.

  “Me either,” Vivian interjected. Unlike the suspicion, she seemed more neutral about the information I had just given her.

  I shrugged, ignoring Tula and picking at my bracelets so I didn’t have to look at Tula’s penetrating stare. “Must have done yours beforehand and was running late or something.”

  “Attention, new tributes,” the guy on the stage said in a loud, baritone voice. “May I present to you all, the queen of hearts.”

  A regal woman dressed in a Victorian-style gown pranced onto the stage. Rubies sparkled along with diamonds in her crown went straight up, reminding me of a castle. Her hair was an odd shade of red, looking more reddish-orange in the light. “Thank you, Will,” she said in a high-pitched, though firm voice. I frowned. Her voice was unpleasant, and that was saying something. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle listening to her talk during this orientation.

  The queen waited for him to exit the stage, before addressing the rest of us. She cleared her throat and beamed at us. Her lips spread across her face, her skin stretched too tight with the simple gesture.

  “Welcome, welcome all.” Her voice was high-pitched and made my skin crawl. I suppressed a shudder, afraid one of her zombie guards would see my reaction and take it as some sort of a threat. “Here at Wonderland Academy, you are family. We look forward to honing your unique skills. Remember to work hard.” Her dark eyes narrowed to hard coals. “Laziness isn’t something we tolerate here.”

  My dad’s words echoed in my mind all the times I had vegged in front of the TV. “Laziness doesn’t reap anything, only more of the same. Get moving.”

  My heart twanged. It was strange. I thought being here would be difficult because of what happened to my father. Strangely enough, I felt more connected to him than ever. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t care. It just meant a lot to know he had been here too. That I wasn’t completely alone. That in some way or another, he was still with me now.

  The Queen clapped her hands sharply, drawing me out of my memory. “The reason for my impromptu meeting is there is unrest in Wonderland,” she said. “Fractions have risen up to threaten my rule.”

  Boos and hisses sounded from the other nine tributes. Tula and even Vivian were silent like me. Probably because we weren’t quite sure what we were feeling and therefore weren’t able to react at all. I was still afraid of doing anything that showed any emotion in fear that it was wrong and would somehow get me punished.

  “I know, I know.” The queen smiled, but it didn’t reach her dark eyes. “Therefore, tradition must be changed. Usually, we give new members three days to recover the transition from the human world. In these times, we don’t have that luxury. Your training will begin in earnest tomorrow morning at seven am. Wear your official school uniforms, please.”

  I groaned at both the early timing and having to wear a uniform. Tula next to me fidgeted in her seat.

  “Now if you have any questions, one of the older tributes from any of the house will assist you.” She inclined her head slightly. “I suggest you all turn in early and get a full night's sleep, at least. Tomorrow will be the most difficult you’ve ever gone through. If you survive this week, you’ve got a better chance of making it through next week as well.”

  “Well, that’s encouraging,” I mumbled under my breath.

  The queen drifted off the stage. And we rose, leaving the building.

  “Right,” Tula whispered. “They might as well hand us a pistol and tell us to play Russian roulette.”

  “God, I hate guns.” Vivian shivered, glaring at us from the corner of her eyes. “You two better not be talking about suicide ‘cause I will report you both to the counselor.”

  “Why would you say that?” I asked as we walked down the path back to our dorms, furrowing my brow. “And if we were, wouldn’t it be less competition for you?”

  “Are you kidding?” She paled. “More of a chance for the queen to pick me into her zombie army. No thanks. I’d very much rather have you here alive with me than anywhere else. I just didn’t want to say anything in case it might come across as selfish.”

  “Zombies?” I asked. “I know they obey orders mindlessly—so I’ve heard—but they are still people.” Though the memory of the two robotic-like guards searching the library for me made my stomach roll up into a tight knot. And I did refer to them as such in my mind.

  “You’ve not seen them, have you? I mean without their helmets.” Tula touched my arm. “Vivian is correct, they look like zombies. Grey skin, not moving unless the queen orders. It’s creepy. They’d kill their own families if the queen told them too.”

  Chapter Seven

  Inside the dorm, Tula grasped my arm. “Hey, have you had any of the food here?” she asked. “It tastes terrible.”

  “No,” I whispered. “You?”

  “My grandmother packed me a mound of chicken flautas, only they won’t keep past tomorrow,” she said, glancing around.

  “God, that kind of food is so fattening.” Vivian rolled her eyes, biting her lip. “But I’m starving.”

  “Have you not eaten anything since you got here?” I asked.

  “No.” She rubbed her arms, then lowered her voice. “I’ve heard the food is spelled to make us more susceptible to the queen’s orders.” She clenched her teeth together. “I’m sure it’s just a rumor, but…” She let her voice trail off and rolled her shoulders back as a shudder ripped across her.

  “Shit, for real?” Tula paled, and looked down at her hands.

  “No idea,” Vivian said. “But I didn’t want to take any chances. I’d rather be hungry than a mindless drone.”

  I actually agreed with her. “I’ve got a couple of protein bars I brought from home if you’d like one,” I offered. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had. What were we going to do if we couldn’t eat the food? I didn’t have enough for more than a few days. I didn’t feel right about hoarding it either, but at the same time, if I gave more away, I would cut down my own supply.

  “Yes!” Her green eyes sparkled and a strained smile touched her features. “Not here. Obviously. Let’s go to my room. It’s bigger than the rest.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “How do you figure that? I thought everyone’s was the same.”

  “My family contributes a large sum of money to the queen.” She shrugged a shoulder like this wasn’t a big deal. “So I got a suite. Plus, I have access to insider information like on the food. The queen may have power but the one thing that will help me along is the fact that my parents have money. Even if a world full of magic, money talks.”

  “Lead the way then.” Tula gestured. “Seriously doubt they’d be happy with us eating non-Wonderland food and will stop us if they know.” She shook her head, fiddling with her purple bangs.

  “I agree,” I said and we followed Vivian up to stairs to the fifth floor. I didn’t blame her for her suspicions. Hell, I had them myself.

  By the time we reached the third floor, my legs were screaming. Was I seriously this out of shape? There was no way. I made a mental note to start walking more. I knew jogging would not win me any favors with myself, but I could start up walking and that might help my endurance.

  By the time we reached the top, I was wheezing and gasping for breath. I had to drop my hands to my knees and give myself a moment to breathe. Both Tula and Vivian were sweaty and their faces bright red. Glad I wasn’t the only one out of shape.

  Once we caught our breaths, we lumbered down to a corner room. The air was cool and it helped calm my racing heart. I tilted my head to the side, stretching my neck. I did the same to the other
side.

  We reached the door and Vivian opened it up. Inside was a king-size bed with a bathroom bigger than two of mine at home. She had three armoires and two dressers plus a trunk at the end of her bed. Two huge recliners sat in front of the fireplace and on one side of the bed. I couldn’t be sure but this looked as big as my apartment, if not bigger.

  The whole room looked like a princess’ hideaway complete with a canopy of red curtains. Shit, she even had a bay window with a sitting area. I found myself jealous of the luxury she got to live in day in and day out, and yet, I forced myself to remember that the reason she had this luxury in the first place was because her parents were friendly with the queen, and that was something I could not be.

  Tula whistled. “You weren’t lying.”

  “Told you.” Vivian flopped onto the edge of the bed. “Now give me a protein bar.”

  I took one out of my backpack and handed it to her. She tore the wrapper off and chomped a huge bite. I was surprised to see how messy she ate, especially when it came across like she was someone famous. Shouldn’t she be more careful about how she acted in front of people? Or was she really that starved?

  “Oh, my god. This is so good and it’s a no-name brand.”

  “Good thing I brought the cheapest stuff for you to insult,” I muttered. I shook my head. She wasn’t as bad as I thought she was but she was annoying.

  “Sorry.” She gave me a sheepish smile. “Thanks for sharing.”

  “Here.” Tula handed me two flautas.

  “That’s too much.” I tried to push one of them back. I had my own food. Who knew how many flautas Tula had for herself.

  “Keep it,” she said, holding up a hand and giving me a half-smile. “It won’t be any good after eight tomorrow morning. One for now, one for later. I don’t want them to go to waste. It would be a crime.”

  “Thank you.” I sat on the bed next to Vivian and took a tentative bite. My stomach didn’t protest, so I ate a little more. The taste caused a rumble in my stomach, which meant that it was happy with what I was eating and was eager for more. Thank goodness. I didn’t think I could make it through the race without being able to eat and my protein bars weren’t going to last long.

  After a few minutes, I cleared my throat. “Maybe we should ration the food,” I suggested. “I mean if we can’t risk eating Wonderland food, we need a supply of food we can eat. I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but we can try to hold off eating a lot at one time.”

  “Once the tournaments start,” Vivian said, picking crumbs off her pants and popping them in her mouth. “We should be okay. It’s only the first few days for new tributes that the food is tainted. After that, the queen must figure we’re nice and obedient, I guess. Obviously, we have to act that way and we have to pretend to eat the food here. If we do that, we should be fine.”

  “If you knew all this,” I leaned forward, fear crawling up the back of my neck and over my spine, “then why didn’t you bring a stash?”

  It didn’t make sense for her to know this and not prepare for it. Any inside scoop on this crazy place was worth more than gold. It was our very lives at stake.

  “I did.” She moaned, dropping her head in her hands as though she just remembered something she desperately wanted to forget. “Stupid dogs sniffed it out and it was confiscated.”

  “What dogs?” I glanced at Tula who shrugged. I didn’t remember encountering any dogs, and that was something I wouldn’t forget.

  “Seriously? You two didn’t see them?” Vivian tossed her wrapper into the small trashcan beside her desk. “Big hairy wolves with yellow eyes and big teeth. They look like they feed them small children to make them that huge. Or maybe they are werewolves.” She tapped her chin. “I don’t know what they were, but they reminded me of some kind of monster.”

  “There’s no such—” I stopped. This was another world and land. I had no idea what kind of things could be here. Who was I to say what was real and what wasn’t? How would I even know? I cleared my throat, deciding to change the subject. I didn’t want to talk out of my ass when the truth of it all was I had no idea about anything in this place except it was where my father died. “So why didn’t these wolves get to us?”

  “No freaking idea, but I’m glad they didn’t.” Vivian pouted, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I had the best caviar I could find in my bag and they took it away from me. I was absolutely livid.”

  Tula sat on a recliner across from us, eating. “Maybe they worry more about the privileged bringing in outside food,” She said, somewhat surprised by this. “Or a means of assignation.”

  “Don’t even say such a thing.” I gasped. Too many history teachers had drilled into me the list of people who had tried during the wars. They were either missing or sent back to their families in pieces. “Any why wouldn’t someone with less money and power not be a threat?”

  “In my village, as I said, it is an honor to be chosen and come here.” Tula waved her flauta at me. “No one would dare to mess that up. Besides, we are scanned for weapons before we cross the border. You and I were just lucky to not get caught with food.”

  “Which means we aren’t seen as threats for possessing basic needs like food, but we could be smuggling in weapons?” I asked, a furrow in my brow.

  Tula grinned. “Something like that.” She held up her hands. “Don’t ask me to explain. I don’t understand it myself and I’ve given up trying to. I’m just glad I still have my food.”

  “Oh, I have water.” Vivian rolled over and hauled out three water bottles from her trunk.

  “Is this a no-name brand?” Tula asked, shocked that someone like Vivian would have this sort of water. “I’ve never heard of it.” Tula made a face, and I burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny? These are the best bottled waters you can get.” Vivian looked from me to Tula and back, as though emphasizing her point.

  “She’s being sarcastic,” I said, wiping my eyes. God, it felt good to laugh and forget for a moment how screwed we really were.

  “Why didn’t the werewolves confiscate these?” I held up the water bottle.

  “I had them in my makeup and perfume luggage.” She flipped her blond hair back. “Maybe the scents overpowered them. Plus, I highly doubt they’d be able to smell water. I mean, it’s just water.”

  “Maybe.” I agreed. My protein bars had been stuffed all together with my things too but sealed away in a plastic bag. Like Tula’s. Could the werewolves not smell past plastic but could metal cans? It didn’t make sense. “In your food stash, Vivian, what else did you have?”

  “Why? It’s gone now.”

  “Humor me.”

  “Let’s see, I had crackers and chocolate. Roasted chicken freshly wrapped from the deli.”

  I held up a hand. “Wrapped in what? Plastic?”

  “No, of course not.” She scrunched up her nose as that thought mere plastic would touch her food. “Deli paper.”

  “Why does it matter?” Tula asked. She wasn’t exactly questioning me. It sounded as though she was curious about my question. She wanted to know what I meant by it.

  “Because, I think the wolves you were talking about, can’t smell through plastic,” I said. “Both mine and Tula’s provisions were safe.”

  “Huh.” I frowned. “Never would have thought about that.”

  “And it means we have an advantage over the others, not being affected by whatever the queen puts into the food.”

  I hoped to God though, that what Vivian was saying wasn’t true. That the queen wasn’t drugging us. However, knowing the queen, I wouldn’t be surprised about this. It was the only thing that made sense right now, considering that she didn’t have any problem chopping off heads and putting them on pikes to use as a warning to the others. It would explain how her guard was like zombies, lifeless and unconcerned about everything.

  Or maybe it wasn’t a drug for mind control, but a calming mechanism to keep newbies from freaking out about being here
and the strangeness of another world. My appetite hadn’t been the same since I got here. Kinda like a bad case of Wonderland jetlag.

  Vivian finished the protein bar and downed her water. “So what are your plans for tomorrow?” she asked, wrinkling the paper and throwing it away in her waste bin. “Any tips?”

  “Yeah.” Tula took a swig of her water. “Don’t get dead.”

  “Ha-Ha, funny. I’m being serious.” Vivian crossed her arms, setting her bottle down beside her.

  “I was,” Tula said.

  “I don’t know of anything either,” I confessed. I began to squeeze and release my water bottle, needing something to do with my hands. “What about you? Surely with your connections, you have inside information more than not eating the food here.”

  Vivian sighed dramatically. “No,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “The only thing I’ve been told is to do whatever they tell you to. Don’t argue. Don’t question. Just keep your mouth shut and mind your business.”

  “Well, then I’m screwed.” I gulped my water.

  “You’ve got a recycling bin even?” Tula gestured to the green container next to the trashcan.

  “Of course, don’t you both?”

  “No. We don’t have half the stuff you have in here.” I tossed the empty water bottle in the recycling bin beside her trashcan. “And our rooms—or at least mine—is a quarter of the size of this one.”

  “Girl, same.” Tula nodded.

  Vivian crossed her legs, a worried look crossing her brow. She bit her bottom lip, as though something was on the brink of coming out but she was preventing it from happening.

  “What is it?” I asked. “What are you not telling us?”

  “Yeah, fess up, girl.” Tula leaned forward. “You can’t share in our stash and clam up.”

  “Okay.” She let out a breath, then lowered her voice. She leaned forward. “The challenges are both physical and mental.”

  “Tell us something we don’t know.” I rubbed my hands down my jeans. That was what she wanted to keep from us? That much was obvious. I didn’t have to research this place to know that much.