“A better model, you mean.”
“The March had discovered that the way to Wonderland wasn’t the gardens with ridiculous designs, but the secret was in designing a chess city from Lewis’ lost designs in his diaries.”
“So we’re about to land onto the real portal to Wonderland?” I say, my eyes fixed on the empty city.
“Not sure, but the city was banned by the Russian government, influenced by Black Chess, of course.”
“Because they wanted to find a way to Wonderland.” I mumble.
“Most probably,” The Pillar says. “I’m also not sure. What I know is that this place never worked as a portal to Wonderland, so it’s stayed like this: a most beautiful ghost city.”
I turn and look The Pillar in the eye. He looks back at me, impressed with what I am about to say. “An empty ghost town, which was once a possible portal to Wonderland,” I say. “The perfect place for Fabiola to hide Carroll’s Knight.”
Chapter 50
Buckingham Palace, London
The Queen’s first way out was to hide under the sheets of her royal bed, but then the stupid dogs barked, exposing her hiding place.
She jumped out of bed, frantically wondering how she could cheat Death. If Alice and The Pillar had really found that last piece, she was going to die in a few hours, just like Fabiola and Margaret. How was it possible to cheat Death when your name appeared on his to-do list?
She kept thinking that Death could be bribable, just like anything else in the world. But what did Death need money for? It’s not like he was in dire need to buy himself a new scythe from Harrods or Walmart.
Then what? She kept thinking.
What can I offer Death so he’d leave me alone?
She thought if she could talk to him face to face, she’d persuade him of something — or better, trick him into nearing her guards, and chop off his head.
Chopping off Death’s head, she grinned. That’d look good on my resume.
But she knew she was just fooling herself. Death was coming. Soon she’d be poisoned and die. The real issue with Death was he didn’t knock on doors. There wasn’t enough time to offer him tea and talk him out of it or change his mind.
The only solution was to fool him and make him think he was killing her when she was someone else. The Queen jumped toward the phone and called the Cheshire.
“I want you to possess me.” She told him.
The Cheshire, whoever he was possessing the moment, was munching on popcorn, watching the Exorcist movie, which he thought was entirely rubbish. If I was that terrible demon in the movie, why’d I possess a helpless young girl? I’d possess the President of the United States or something.
“Did you hear me?” The Queen said.
“I heard you, but I’m not sure I heard you right.” He munched on more popcorn and turned off the movie, watching Family Guy instead. The Cheshire dug Family Guy. “Did you just say you want me to possess you?”
“Yes, that’s an order.”
“First of all, I don’t take orders from you,” he said. “You’re too short to give orders.”
“Cheshire! Possess me!” She stomped her feet.
The Cheshire almost choked, laughing. He imagined the teen girl in the Exorcist being bratty and all, demanding the demon possessing her. That’d would be a great scene in Family Guy, he thought.
“Possess me!”
“You know I can’t,” he said. “You’re a Wonderlander.”
“Yes, you can if I give you permission.”
“So you’re serious about it. May I ask why?”
“Because…” the Queen had to cook up a reason, fast. She began to sob theatrically, “I’m fed up with myself. I’m short, obnoxious, and no one loves me. I can’t think of one child who has me as his idol. I realized I’d prefer being a cat than a Queen.”
“What’s wrong with cats?” The Cheshire purred.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant I prefer to be a beautiful cat than being a nasty Queen who chops off heads.”
The Cheshire gave it some thought. He’d been searching for a person to possess forever and stick with. Being the Queen of Hearts — and Britain’s Queen — wasn’t bad, although he wouldn’t want to stick to it forever. But it’d fun, too. And he was seriously bored.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m on my way.”
“Thank you!” she chirped. “You have a pen and paper so you can write my address down?”
The Cheshire blew out a long sigh. “I know where you live. You’re the Queen of England. Everyone knows where you live.”
“Ah, stupid me.” She blushed.
“I’m beginning to have second thoughts of possessing someone like you. So stupid, I could lose my cat mojo.”
“No, no. I promise I’d buy someone’s brain. How many IQ’s are good for you?”
The Cheshire simply hung up. It wasn’t worth it, really. He switched the channel and watched Dumb and Dumber.
The Queen on the other hand was shocked, listening to the terrible beep of the phone. Had the Cheshire just given up on her? How was she going to cheat Death now?
She suddenly felt a shudder, followed by terrible cramps in her stomach. There was no escaping now.
She fell to her knees, even her dogs abandoned her. She swirled and screamed and cursed and spat bubbles of stupidness out of her mouth. But nothing helped.
Fading away, she saw strange men wearing black armors and looking like the Chessmaster, entering the room. They picked her up and began pulling her as her bones scraped the floor.
“Where are you taking me?” she barely spoke.
One of the knights laughed and said, “To the afterlife. Time to pay your debt.”
Chapter 51
Chess City, Kalmykia, Russia
Walking through the ghost city, it’s hard not to feel like a tourist. A special one, in that matter. The enormous chess pieces and constructions are dazzling, sometimes infused with Buddhist architecture; it’s an almost ethereal experience.
“How do you like it in here?” The Pillar asks.
“It’s incredible,” I say. “But I have to admit the city is also intimidating.”
“Of course, because it’s empty.”
“So we’re going to walk the city? Looking for Carroll’s Knight?”
“I’m not sure. The clue didn’t explain things further.”
“I have an idea,” I tell him. “With all due respect, all those beautiful designs are a camouflage.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the city’s main attraction is this,” I point at the incredibly large chessboard, like the one in Marostica.
“I agree,” The Pillar says. “But I also don’t see how it could lead us to Carroll’s Knight.”
“Why?”
“Look, Alice. True, it’s the largest chessboard I’ve ever seen, but it’s empty, just like the city.”
The Pillar is right. The chessboard is void of any chess pieces.
In silence, feeling mesmerized and intimidated at the same time, we reach the chessboard. The sun behind us is shimmering with a patch of orange flaring behind the cloudy skies. Surprisingly, there is no snow in Chess City, making me think the March Hare may have been right about it being a portal to Wonderland.
The chessboards are huge tiles of black and white, like the one in the Vatican. The tiles are incredibly huge, they could host four to five people, shoulder to shoulder.
“I think you owe me an explanation.” I tell The Pillar, influenced by the images before me.
“What would that be?”
“How come I walked the white tiles in the Vatican’s chessboard?”
“What do you mean? You’re Alice, the only one who can save the world from Wonderland Monsters.”
“That’s the Alice you want me to be.”
“This is the Alice you are. We’re not going through this again.”