The Observation Dome occupied the top level of the Mount Isolation fortress-slick, polished stone flooring with walls of telescopic glass panels that provided a 360-degree view of Wonderland. The Cat bounded into the dome with a meow, but quick as a tail flick his mood darkened. The walrus-butler and Jack of Diamonds were in the room. Why Redd insisted on tolerating Jack of Diamonds, The Cat would never understand.
“I’ve been taking a stroll down memory lane,” Redd said, “and Cat, I’d like you to tell me again how you tore Alyss Heart into little fleshy bits and hurled them into the Pool of Tears all those years ago.”
Something was wrong. The Cat could smell it. Jack of Diamonds’ grin was more self-satisfied than usual and the walrus hadn’t looked at him once since he’d stepped into the dome, too busy dusting the
crystal-sticks at the center of a long table, sprinkling dust on objects and surfaces as they needed. The walrus had been dusting the same crystal-stick ever since The Cat’s entrance, a mound of dust rising on the table.
“I followed the princess and Hatter Madigan through the Crystal Continuum,” The Cat started. “I tracked them to a cliff-”
A volume of In Queendom Speramus flew at him from the side of the room and conked him on the head. “-ugh! So…I tracked them through woods to a cliff above the Pool of-”
The walrus’s pouch of dust shot toward him. He saw it coming, moved at the last second, and it exploded on the glass panel behind him.
“-above the Pool of Tears. And Hatter-”
A chair skidded toward him. He stepped out of its path. “-he tried to jump off the cliff into…the water-”
Chunks of volcanic rock materialized and came hurtling toward him. He ducked out of the way of one rock only to be hit by another coming from a different direction.
“-ow! I knocked Hatter back onto-ah!-the ground, and then-ow!-I tore him and Alyss into little fleshy bits and-ow!-hurled them into the Pool of Tears.”
He fell to the floor, tired and hurt. Redd came and stood over him.
“You lie, Cat. You have allowed me to believe your lie for thirteen years. I have been informed that
Hatter Madigan is in Wonderland and Alyss Heart alive.”
The Cat could see Jack of Diamonds behind her, pleasantly sipping liqueur from a clear goblet, his little finger raised in affectation.
“It is of course all right for you to lie,” Redd continued, “so long as you don’t lie to me. It appears that if one is clever enough to figure it out, there is a way to return to Wonderland through the Pool of Tears.”
Her left hand formed into a cat’s paw. She speared him through the stomach with the claws of her index and middle fingers. The Cat gurgled and convulsed, blood trickled from his mouth, and he died.
The walrus did his best to ignore what was happening and nervously spread dust over the entire table with both flippers. Jack of Diamonds chuckled, but he stopped abruptly when his goblet leaped from his hand and spilled its contents onto The Cat’s face.
The Cat sputtered, coughed. His eyelids stuttered open.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Redd told him. “You still have six lives left. Lie to me again and you will have none. Now get up and wipe your chin.”
The Cat stood, licked his paw and rubbed it over his chin and whiskers, cleaning off his blood.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Redd said. “You and a platoon of card assassins of my choosing will pass through the Pool of Tears. You will find my niece and you will rip, chop, or twist off her head-I don’t care which so long as her head comes off. You will bring this head to me. If you return without it, I will assume that Alyss is alive and you have failed, and that will be the end of you. If you don’t return to Wonderland because you fear what I will do to you, rest assured that I will send others after you and you will die six more deaths.”
The Cat bowed. “I thank you for being merciful, Your Imperial Viciousness. I will not fail you this time.” “No, I don’t suppose you will.”
Briefed on Alyss’ whereabouts by a smug Jack of Diamonds, The Cat led his card assassins to the cliff overlooking the Pool of Tears. With no fanfare save for the wind in the mute trees and the beating of their illicit hearts, they jumped, succumbed to the extended downward tug of the portal, the upward velocity, and sprang from a puddle inside the Houses of Parliament. They flew up out of it and smashed through
the windows, landing on the sidewalk in a shower of shattered glass.
CHAPTER 30
D RESSED IN her wedding gown, Alice stood before a full-length mirror in the vestry of Westminster Abbey. In less than half an hour she would be married to a prince, raised to the highest ranks of society’s esteem without giving her heart to a man she neither disliked nor loved. But her future seemed as uncertain as her past had once been.
The room began to vibrate with the strains of the organ, but she hardly noticed. She reached out toward the mirror. Her fingers touched the cold reflective surface and she stood fingertip to fingertip with her mirrored image. What more had she expected? For her hand to pass into the mirror? Ridiculous. A knock came at the door. Mrs. Liddell bustled in, holding the skirts of her gown to prevent them from dragging on the floor, and Alice was glad to be rescued from her solitude.
“It’s time, dear. It’s time. I can hardly believe it!” “Nor I,” Alice said, feigning breathless excitement.
She kissed her mother on the cheek and together they walked to the abbey’s atrium, where bridesmaids and grooms-men waited to make their entrance, along with Dean Liddell, who would escort his daughter
down the aisle.
“To think that the next time we speak, you’ll be married to a prince,” Mrs. Liddell sighed. “And you’ll be a mother-in-law to one.”
“It tickles me to be reminded of it! You’ve made me terribly happy, Alice.”
With a last hug, Mrs. Liddell left to take her seat next to the rest of the family at the front of the abbey. The wedding march began, and bridesmaids and grooms-men started down the aisle a pair at a time.
Alice peeked out at the guests. Queen Victoria and her entourage occupied the first few pews on the right side of the church. A buffer of soldiers separated the queen from the rest of the guests, who completely filled the abbey. In the rear of the church, newspaper reporters jotted notes. All were turned in their seats, waiting with anticipation for Alice to make her entrance. But she had wanted to take this opportunity to spy on her guests. Why? Because she was looking for somebody, one face in particular. She’d been wondering if he would show up today as mysteriously as he had at her engagement party. Wasn’t that him, standing in the shadows underneath the left balcony? She couldn’t see his face clearly, but-
Dean Liddell held out his arm for her. She was being such a fool. Why torture herself over a stranger just because he had a few scars on his face? Lots of men probably had similar scars. It signified nothing. Likely, the man at the engagement party had just been a rival of Leopold’s and wanted to show him up with his dancing. She took hold of her father’s elbow.
“Alice, my love,” said the dean, “if it were anybody else marrying into such a public family, I should worry whether they were up to it. But not so with you. I suspect that not only will you continue to make Prince Leopold proud, and hold his love fast, but that you will teach him more about acting as a force for good in the world than I, merely as dean of his college, could have ever hoped to accomplish. He is lucky to have you.”