“The White Knight?” I say, unable to fathom this.
In the books, the White Knight was the gentlest and most beloved creature in Wonderland. In spite of his short appearance, he saved Alice from his opponent, the Red Knight. I remember reading about him repeatedly falling off his horse and landing on his head. He also had those silly inventions: pudding with ingredients like blotting paper, an upside-down container, and anklets to guard his horse against shark bites.
How could this good man have become who he is now?
“I see you remember me now,” the Chessmaster says.
“I remember what I read in the book about you,” I say. “That’s all.”
“It will come to you,” he says. “All the things you’ve done to me.”
“Why not remind me?”
“I’m afraid if I do, you’ll die from shock before I can beat you in the game.”
“If so, you should have just told me long ago and refrained from finding Carroll’s Knight,” I say. “Stop playing games. Tell me what I did. I’m very curious how I ever managed to hurt Death.”
“That’s the thing, Alice,” he says. “I never was Death before what you did to me.”
This is a complicated thing. Did I create Death in the past?
“I didn’t even ask to become Death.”
“Now I’m starting to doubt your story. It’d make more sense if you longed to become Death to have your revenge. I’d believe that.”
“Not if there had been a ritual involved.” His words echo in the back of my head, and suddenly I feel dizzy again, as if I’m about to remember.
“Ritual?”
“The unholy ritual that made you kill my daughter.”
My hand reaches for the edge of the table and grabs onto it. More dizziness. Faint memories, blurred by older sins. “I killed your daughter?”
“Two actually.” The Chessmaster genuinely exposes his pain, and it cuts through and splinters my whole being into ripped pieces of my own shroud.
I have nothing to say, all but to wish this hadn’t happened.
“And my wife,” the Chessmaster recounts. “My grandmother and my farm dog.”
“I did that?”
“It’s not easy realizing you were the villain, is it, Alice?” The Chessmaster’s anger is now surfacing. All the fluff is starting to wear off and the demon of vengeance is rising. “Villains are so misunderstood. People see them killing and raging, but they never ask themselves why they’ve become what they’ve become.”
“I’m not a villain.”
“All villains say that, even in Hollywood movies,” he smirks, pulling one side of his mustache.
“I’m really sorry if I’ve done any of that, but you must understand that I’ve…”
“Changed?” He tilts his head and places a hand behind his ear. “You realize this is every villain’s poor excuse when they’re about to hang him?”
“You have to believe me,” I plead, ready to get on my knees and ask for forgiveness, even ready to pay for my wrongdoing. I just need him to understand that I’m not the same person anymore, that I don’t even know who that person is. “There are no words that could ease your pain. It’s so horrible what I’ve done. Believe me. Please, believe me when I tell you I don’t remember any of it. I don’t even have an idea why I did it.”
“Oh, please.” The Chessmaster jolts the table as he stands, scattering all the pieces, all but his white knight. It stands firmly in place, unaffected by whatever wants to move it. “You know why you did it. Because of the ritual.”
“The ritual again? What ritual?”
“You want me to spell it out?” He bends forward, face flushing red, and teeth protruding like he is going to eat me alive.
“Please. I don’t remember anything about a ritual. What kind of ritual makes me kill a whole family?”
“A sacrificial ritual,” he grits his teeth. “One that demands fourteen people dead.”
“Fourteen?”
“Fourteen people sacrificed, and fourteen others making a deal.”
“What deal?” I’m on my knees now, closer to the edge of the table; his voice pinching my ears, his spittle on my cheeks.
“The deal you did to save the devil.”
“Devil? What nonsense are you talking about?”
The Chessmaster’s anger subsides to the weakness in his knees. He falls down right next to me, about to cry his heart out. “The deal you did to save The Pillar.”
Chapter 70
London
“Honk that bong!”
Having just arrived, Carter Pillar stood over a police car in the middle of the streets of London, celebrating in the most provocative ways. Everyone in London had fallen asleep because of the Chessmaster’s curse, and only a few, probably immune to the curse, stood next to him.
When he’d first arrived, everyone was shocked with the sudden creepy silence in the city. Those who were still awake were in shock and grief, wondering who to ask for help.
But then The Pillar being The Pillar, had another point of view on the incident.
“Look at it this way,” he told the people still awake. “The city is all ours. We can do whatever we want. You will never have a chance to do this in this miserable and densely populated London again.”
“What would you have us do?” an old lady asked.
“Honk that bong!” he’d said, honking the horn of every car he came about.
“Honking is illegal!” the woman protested.
“And that’s exactly the point.” The Pillar winked.
It was only a few minutes before the others bought into his idea. Suddenly, Londoners went bonkers and began doing whatever was illegal.
Now The Pillar stood upon his limousine, watching them play golf and shooting balls against the Parliament’s windows, honking cars, and singing loudly in the streets.
“Go to the CCTV surveillance cameras!” The Pillar demanded. “Get it all recorded. This is an event like no other!”
Xian on the other hand, not having arrived at America yet, didn’t know where he was. He thought this was it, the place of freedom where he would be free to do whatever he wanted. So he took off his clothes and danced in the streets. At one point, he turned to The Pillar and said, “I love America!”
The Pillar didn’t bother correcting him. He turned around and began walking to the most desired and important destination in London, at least according to him.
“Where are you going, Cao Pao Wong?” Xian inquired.
The Pillar took a moment to answer. He seemed thoughtful, thinking about too many things at once, and then said, “Time to finish something I started, Xian. It’s all about choices, remember?”
Chapter 71
The Last Chess Game, Chess City, Kalmykia
“I killed your family to save The Pillar?” I wipe the tears from my eyes.
“Fourteen people all in all.” The Chessmaster sat back on his chair, collecting the chess pieces and putting them back in place. “You and the horrible Pillar.”
“Why? Tell me. I need to know.”
“Like you don’t.”
“Please. Please. Please. I need to know.”
“You and The Pillar were the worst. You worked for Black Chess, aiding them in that eternal war between good and evil, trying to find the Six Keys.”
“Okay?”
“The Pillar was never a Black Chess employee, not directly. He was nothing but a low life drug dealer living in Wonderland’s forest, smoking his hookah and making more money.”
“Really?”
“You, being the horrible Alice, needed his help in executing Black Chess’ plan in finding the keys, which Lewis had hidden long ago.”
“Why did he hide them? Why were they so important?”
“Don’t play me and pretend you don’t know!” The Chessmaster was losing it. “I’m never going to tell you what the keys are for.”
“Never mind the keys. Tell me about The Pillar.”