The Crimes of Alice: An Underground Prequel

by ERIN BEDFORD

  I waved my hand in front of my face, my nose crinkling at the sickly sweet smell. "Who?"

  "Manciple," Carban said over his shoulder and then let out a pained sound. "I mean, Seer."

  "It's Francis now, actually," a low humming voice corrected Carban.

  Our heads turned toward the sound to see a blue man with a large stomach wrapped in a fuzzy dark blue coat lounging with a hookah pipe in between his lips. His black eyes rolled in his wrinkled face, barely paying us any mind at all.

  "Preparing for the change?" Coby asked with an arch brow. "You don't look like a Francis."

  We moved in closer, stopping right before the low mushroom the man was lying on. One white hand lifted from his lap and took the pipe from his lips. "You don't look like someone who has a hard time getting a woman to kiss him and yet here we are." He gave a condescending smile, and all six of his hands opened out to his sides.

  My eyes did a double take. Six hands. What kind of Fae was this Seer person?

  Taking the initiative, I stepped away from Coby and held my hand out. "Hello, I'm Al - Ally." I shot a look at Coby who didn't offer me any directions.

  Francis took my hand in one of his and brought it to his mouth, kissing it. "Well, now. You are quite a bit more put together than I expected you to be, Alice. Last I saw, you were still thinking you were in Wonderland. Better now?"

  I flushed and ducked my head. "Yes, things have cleared up a bit for me. The Tweedles," Coby groaned at the word, "said you told them I was coming?"

  "Ah, yes." Francis sucked on the end of his pipe and blew the smoke out in my direction. I turned my head and tried not to breathe it in. "I saw you coming and going. This time will be the last time, I'm afraid, at least for a while. You've got quite a journey ahead of you, so You should savor the moments you have now while they last." He angled his head toward the twins like he knew something I didn't. As a Seer, I supposed he did.

  "So, what's with the theatrics?" Coby asked, waving a hand around and then reaching for the pipe. "Are you so weak you couldn't wait until we headed your way?"

  Francis gave Coby a death glare and smacked his hand away. "Get your own. And I'm not weak. I’m simply conserving my energy." He shifted in his seat, drawing his coat closer to him. "The change always takes the majority of my strength, so I need reserves to keep myself safe during that time. You never know who's lying in wait for me to let my guard down." His large black eyes shifted around as if someone was waiting to jump him.

  "I know how you feel." Carban shifted in place, visibly uncomfortable. "It's like eyes are watching me everywhere I go."

  My eyes shot to the dark edges of the mushroom village. What were they talking about? Who was waiting to attack them?

  "You best be on your way." Francis took a large puff of his pipe and then pointed it behind us. "There are so many left to meet and so little time. Best not waste it with me." I glanced behind us toward the way we came and then back to Francis who was barely visible now through all the smoke. "And Alice?"

  "Yes?" I coughed and waved a hand in front of my face, trying to see him through the cloud.

  "When we meet again, please do not be alarmed. Change is coming for all of us, even you."

  With those mysterious last words, the smoke surrounded us, and it became difficult to breathe. I squinted and covered my mouth, trying to find the twins who had disappeared in the smoke. Taking a step away from where Francis sat and toward Coby, my foot caught on something. My hands went out trying to grab one of the twins before I went down but found only air.

  My heart jumped into my throat as I braced for impact. The ground bit into my hands as they hit the dirt. A branch caught the side of my face, scratching my cheek and bringing tears to my eyes.

  I lay on the ground for a few moments, giving into the despair of my situation. I could be getting married right now. Sure, the man was a complete cad, a total fake, but I could learn to love him or, well, like him. The big concern was convincing him not to divorce me or send me away.

  “What ye be doin’ down there?”

  I looked up from my place on the ground toward the grumpy sounding voice above me. A little brown man with a pointed red hat and matching overalls leaned over me. He had a large nose and even bigger ears that almost consumed his small face. The beard along his chin was short and as dark as his onyx-colored eyes, which glared down at me.

  "Well? Ye just gonna stare at me, girl?" He placed his fists on his hips and frowned further. "This ain't no place for a little thing like ye to be sleepin'."

  Scrambling to my feet, I realized the little man only reached my waist. "I wasn't sleeping. I tripped." I paused and then my eyes widened. Turning around in a circle, my eyes searching for the twins and the mushroom village, but I saw nothing of the sort.

  I gasped. "What? What happened? Where am I? Where’s the Tweedles?"

  “Tweedles? No Tweedles, only me. Bernard. Or, well... Mop as the case be.” He rolled his dark eyes and scowled. “And ye be here with me. Where else might ye be?”

  "But they were just here," I insisted in a squeaky, fear-riddled voice. "I had let go of Coby's hand for a just a moment and then I fell." I pointed at the ground, my lips tipping down.

  "Those two pin-brain dummies haven't been here for ages," the little man huffed. "I don't see nobody but you, girl."

  "Alice," I corrected him, only half paying him any mind, still searching for the twins who couldn't have just disappeared into thin air.

  "Well, whatever your name be, if ye aren't where ye were before, then ye be truly lost. It happens here in Tundrey Woods."

  "Tundrey Woods? That's where we are?" I cupped my elbow with my hand, bringing my hand up to my mouth so I could worry the nail. "How do I find them then?"

  Mop lifted his small shoulders and shook his head, starting to leave me behind. "If ye be lost, then ye have to wait to be found. Lest ye know the way out?"

  I chased after him. "Well, do you?"

  "Do I what?" Mop glanced over his shoulder before stopping before a hole in a tree. He shoved whatever was in the hole around and threw a few items out, a book, a stuffed teddy, and a stool. A moment later, he scrambled inside himself and continued his search. Finally, he popped his head out of the hole.

  “Aha!” He held up a large object almost twice his size. “Here be what we need, a lantern.”

  “I can see what it is.” I put my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. “What I want to know is if you can help me get out of this place?” A bout of laughter came from behind the trees, sounding even more crazed than before. My shoulders bunched around my ears, and I searched the darkness. “What was that?”

  "Where we be goin' next."

  "What? Why?" He moved toward the sound of the laughter as he lit the lantern, and I reluctantly followed him. "I need to find the Tweedles. not some crazies who may or may not eat me." I startled at another round of laughter, not wanting to go any further.

  "Keep up, girl, else ye be lost again. Ye don't know who might be findin' ye this time." He waved a hand over his shoulder, urging me to hurry up.

  I sighed and gazed longingly around me as if that would bring the twins back out. Unfortunately, all that was there was the little brown creature called Mop and the cackling before me. Neither were very reassuring.

  FOLLOWING AS CLOSE TO Mop as I could, my anxiety increased with each step closer to the laughter. Mop waved a hand over his shoulder, "Come on, girl. This way."

  When we pushed through the bushes, the laughter stopped. The silence was deafening. My heart rammed against my ribs as I took in the scene before me. Though the rest of the woods was covered in a dense fog, it cut off right at the edge of the clearing where a dimly lit table sat, much like it had at the Seelie palace. Eight chairs surrounded the table, each mismatched and out of place in the middle of a dark forest.

  "This be as far as I go, girl." Mop stopped next to the head of the table, between an opalaught similar to Watch save for the bloodshot eyes and red-tinged
fur and a tall-backed chair. "Hatter will watch ye while ye wait for those dummies to catch up."

  "Please, brownie,” a smooth rumbling voice announced as a pale finger tapped on the chair's arm. “You know how I abhor being referred to that name. It's Mercury or Merc. Nothing more."

  Mop huffed. "It not be me who wants to call ye that. All this no-name nonsense be drivin' me batty." A sound came from a large bat creature with sparkling wings at the other end of the table, making Mop pause. "Apologies, Twinkle, but ye know what I mean."

  "Unfortunately, I do." Mercury blew out a frustrated breath and then waved a hand from his chair. "Well, do not stand there all day. You are just in time for tea."

  The opalaught laughed and cocked his head to the side, staring with wide eyes at the cup in his paw. The bat, Twinkle, cackled along with a large mouse the size of a dog with a large blue door covering his front. The mouse banged on the door and then coughed, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

  I slowly approached the table covered in tea cups and plates of strange foods. A pot steaming from the middle of the table had the majority of the occupant’s attention. I stopped beside the table where the mysterious Hatter poised in his chair. Long silver hair fell over his shoulders underneath a top hat. It was made of a dark blue material covered in patches and lined with a red ribbon that leaned over his face, hiding all but one stormy gray eye, while thin lips curled into a mischievous smile.

  Mop shifted to the side so I could take his place, seeming more than happy to be rid of me. I turned my eyes from Mercury for a moment to see Mop grab his lantern and disappear back into the woods.

  "Wait," I called out to him, moving away from the table and its insane-looking occupants, but Hatter's hand latched onto my wrist and pulled me down into his lap.

  "Unhand me, sir." I fought against him, trying to get back onto my feet.

  "Now, now. Relax. I'm not going to bite."

  I stopped fighting long enough to peer underneath the hat. With the weight of both of those stormy grey eyes on me, I forgot how to speak. That mouth which had sounded so crazed curled, its owner as pleasantly surprised as I was. With a soft tug on my wrists, he brought my hands down to his chest where he wore a red and blue three-piece suit to match his hat. The body beneath hard and lean, the scent of him wafting from his skin and making my eyelids dip.

  "You smell so..." I drew out, licking my lips as my body heated. I shifted, my thighs pressing together to relieve the ache there.

  "Oh, a human," Hatter breathed, an elegant brow arching up to his hat. "How unexpected. How did a pretty thing like you find your way all the way here?" He pinched my chin between his fingers and leaned forward. Right when I thought he would kiss me, Hatter turned my face to the side, running his nose along my cheek as he inhaled. "Seelie. Who have you been playing with my dear?"

  Half drunk on his scent, I wiggled in his lap needing to be closer. "The twins. Tweedles. The queen and Francis. I mean, Manciple. Wait." I shook my head, getting confused. "I mean, Seer? It's all very..." I shifted closer to him, burying my face in his hair. "… unimportant."

  Hatter's hand sat on my lap as he pulled me closer to him but not touching me how I needed to be touched. I slid a hand underneath the neck of his shirt and the other tangled in his hair, my mouth finding the line of his jaw. A low rumble vibrated through him and along my form before he pushed me back slightly.

  Those stormy grey eyes stared at me hard enough for me to blush.

  "Why, good sir, do you see something you like?" I trailed my fingers along the line of my bodice, pushing my breasts up against the corset. His eyes dipped down briefly before meeting my eyes once more.

  "While I would love nothing more than to take advantage of..." His hand cupped my thigh, pushing the skirt up so he could feel the skin beneath. My legs parted for him against my own volition. ",,, well, everything, the brownie wouldn't have left you here with me without a reason."

  "A present?" the hare tittered behind me.

  The bat looked up from his tea cup long enough to add, "A food present?"

  "No, a used present," the mouse chimed in, leering at me.

  I'd have been offended except my senses were so overwhelmed by the scent of the Fae holding me that they could have said anything, and I would have been okay with it.

  "Hush now," Hatter chastised the others and then slid me to the ground as he stood from his chair. My front brushed against his as my feet hit the ground. Delicious ripples raced through me and I was more than ready for him to do whatever he liked with me.

  Taking my hand, he led me away around the table and pulled out a seat two seats away from him. He gestured a hand toward the seat, and I happily took it. Pushing it in behind me, he offered me a cup, but the liquid he poured in was not from the pot in the middle of the table but from a flask in his jacket pocket.

  "Drink up, love." He pushed the cup toward me. I lifted the chipped cup up to my lips and swallowed the bitter liquid, my eyes on him the entire time. "That's it. All of it. There's a girl."

  The effects of the drink hit me before it settled in my stomach. My eyes cleared of lust, and my mind started to catch up to what was happening.

  "Oh, my Lord," I gasped and glanced to him and then back to the table around me. I shifted away from him, suddenly feeling underdressed. "I... uh... I apologize. I didn't mean to accost you in such a manner."

  Hatter moved away from me and took his seat once more, waving me off. "Never matter. A hazard of being a human in a Fae world. Now," he cleared his throat and laced his fingers in front of him, his stormy grey eyes locking onto me, "why don't we start over? Why don't we start with a name?" He opened his hands with the question.

  I sat back in my seat, still a bit flushed and muttered, "Alice. Alice Liddell."

  Recognition swept through Hatter's eyes and he leaned back in his chair. "You have grown much since I saw you last." His eyes roved over my form, letting me know just how much he liked how I'd grown. This time, the warmth I felt was completely from the intensity of his gaze and not his Fae tricks.

  "My apologies, I don't remember." I lifted a shoulder. "Not much in any case."

  "Understandable." Hatter inclined his head and exchanged a creepy smile with his fellow tea drinkers. "We know a thing or two about forgetting."

  "Forget or forget not, who cares as long as they stir the pot." The opalaught cackled and threw himself around wildly in his chair.

  Twinkle lifted his cup in the air as if giving a toast. "The pot do not. Stir the pot. If not, then the pot be stirred itself."

  "What?" My mouth dropped open and my brows furrowed.

  "The tea is ready." The mouse with a door on his chest gestured a clawed paw at the tea pot in the middle of the table. All three of them stared longingly at the pot, but none of them moved to pour the tea.

  Turning my attention back to Hatter, I asked, “Do you know the Tweedles? I mean, Coby and Carban? They were here with me, but then I got a bit lost.” I glanced around us, hoping to see the mushrooms or even the twins magically back. It was Wonderland after all. It wasn’t unheard of.

  “I know of the Needle Twins, but I wouldn’t call them Tweedles. They hate that.” Hatter frowned. “I’m surprised they let you.”

  I lifted a shoulder. “Maybe I have grown on them.”

  With that, Hatter smiled. “I could certainly believe that.” He stood once more, reaching across the table to pick up the tea pot.

  The three others watched him with unnerving intent. I’d seen that kind of look before. Opiate addicts had that same strung-out bloodshot look about them. My mother and brother would be appalled to know I’d seen them, but Rhoda sometimes let me come with her to the apothecary, and I’d see them there begging for the doctor to give them more medicine. He’d send them away with a warning to get help before they killed themselves. It was one reason I’d never put much faith into concoctions. Healthy eating and daily walks around the park had kept me from falling ill on many of occasion.

&
nbsp; “Since we have some time,” Hatter continued, pouring a cup for himself but not passing the pot, “why don’t you regale me with your adventures since you were here last? I’d much like to know where you have been and where you are going.”

  “Better for eating,” the opalaught snapped, his eyes on the tea pot as his body shuddered.

  “Eat. Eat. Yes. Eat,” the mouse chanted, picking up a fork and knife.

  Twinkle didn’t add to the conversation this time but tapped his tea cup on the table insistently. Apparently, I did not rate higher than the tea.

  Jerking my horrified gaze back to Hatter, I was happy to see he wasn’t smiling. Waving a finger at him while holding the tea pot high up in the air, he said, “Now, now, Hare, Doormouse. Eating will be had, but not by you.” Then he tilted his head to the side so his hair fell like a waterfall over his shoulder and offered me the pot. “Now, Alice, would you like a cup?”

  I STARED DOWN INTO my cup as if the leaves inside might give me some kind of answer to my conundrum. I’d never expected to be in Wonderland of all places, but here I was, sitting at Hatter’s table drinking his tea.

  Things had certainly gotten out of control. When I’d followed that would-be rabbit, I’d expected to corner the thing and figure out why he was following me, but that didn’t exactly happen. I still hadn’t found Watch. I’d committed a crime by stealing the Between key, and now, I was waiting for two men I barely knew to come rescue me from the clutches of the most deliciously handsome man I’d ever met.

  If that didn’t make matters worse, I found myself attracted to not just the Fae before me but the twins as well. I’d never been so interested in the opposite sex in all my twenty years. Lewis had been the first one who’d ever even peaked my interest and look how that turned out.

  Now, I had so many choices before me and no answers in sight. Did I go back to Lewis? Could I stay here? Or maybe there was something else out there for me entirely?

  I let out a dejected breath of air and dropped my cup on the table.