“The brain sends signals to an arm for it to move and punch someone. You know that, right?”
“Is that true?” the man asks his buddies.
They shake their shoulders. “How would we know?”
“It’s true. Science, they call it,” Jack explains.
“So what’s the point?”
“The point is your arm wouldn’t work without your brain. But your brain works without your arm.”
“And?”
“Let’s fight brain to brain.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” The man laughs. “You want us to fight like bulls. Come here, Jack. I’ll crash your skull for giggles.”
“Didn’t quite mean that,” Jack protests. “People usually use their brains, not fight with them.”
“Now you’re really losing me.”
“I mean to play brain to brain. We need to simply go play cards again. See who wins, have this talk all over again, realize fights are useless, then play again.”
The man’s head whizzes around. “What?”
That’s when Jack pulls out a set of cards and flicks them one after the other in their faces. It seems childish at first, until I realize the cards are covered with a thick substance that sticks to their faces. When they try to pull it off, it snaps at their skins.
The men begin to roar.
Jack runs out of the alley. It happens so fast I don’t have a chance to call after him. When I’m about to, I see Jack jumping into the back of a car filled with girls.
And who do you think is driving it?
Lorina Wonder.
Chapter 71
”You really like this boy,” the Pillar comments behind me.
I watch Lorina’s car drive away, and say nothing.
“Look,” the Pillar says. “You came to me to ask me what to do with Jack. If you’re really from the future, I suggest you let him go.”
“You think so?”
“I do.” He adjusts his glasses. “Better look for your Wonder, bring yourself home while I try to remember everything about myself.”
I glance one last time at the empty street where Lorina’s car once stood. Maybe he is right. “I think you’re right, Pillar.”
“See?” He is proud of himself.
“Logically, I should be the Bad Alice right now, looking for a bus full of students. But I’m not. I feel fine. Maybe I’ve been cured of my darkness.”
“I’m not sure I’m following. But I’m with you all the way.”
“Actually, it’s you who I should thank.” I pat him on the shoulder.
“Me?”
“You’re the one who helped me become a better person in the future. You—”
“Stop!” the Pillar says. “Don’t spoil the future for me. I already know I will kill twelve people.”
“Maybe you know it for a reason. So you can prevent it.”
“You think so?” He raises an eyebrow. But then his face dims. “No, I don’t think so. I think I’m a badass, ruthless killer. I need to kill the Executioner.”
“Shouldn’t you remember why you want to kill him first?”
“I’m sure it’ll all come to me.” He taps the book in his hands. “So you want to eat ice cream?”
“Ice cream?” I try not to laugh. “You like ice cream?”
“Yes.” He lowers his head and whispers, “It helps me with my hookah cravings. I think I’m addicted to smoke.”
“Is that so?”
“Come on, Alice of Wonderland,” he chirps. “Let me introduce you to the greatest invention of all time.”
“Which is?”
“Licking ice cream. Not ice cream, but the act of licking it. Hazelnut and chocolate ice cream cones.”
“I’ll pass. I need to find my Wonder.”
“Ah, that. What could it be? I wonder?”
I wheeze out half a laugh. “Even if I don’t find it, I’m good. Maybe the Bad Alice isn’t supposed to return to the present. I saved Jack. That’s what matters.”
“If you say so. It really confused me how you were going to kill him in the first place. Nothing in the events of this day suggests that.”
“Actually, they do.” My jaw tightens as I watch a black limousine pull over. I know who’s inside it. I’ve seen it before, and I’m starting to experience a few wicked emotions in my chest.
The Pillar and I stare at the woman stepping out of the limousine while the street is suddenly swarming with Reds. It’s the Queen of Hearts.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she says.
“Who are you, woman?” the Pillar says.
The Queen slaps him with the back of her hand, and the poor professor lands next to the garbage can.
“What do you want?” I ask her.
“You know what I want,” she says. “You’ll not mess this up. You’re going to be on that bus in less than an hour. Understand?”
“And if I don’t understand?” I step up to her.
She smirks. “You know what the beauty of this moment is?”
“Enlighten me.”
“That you’re not much of the Bad Alice, so I don’t fear you, but you’re also not much of the Good Alice, so you won’t mess up the plan.”
“I’m not following.”
“You’ve been injecting yourself with little doses of Lullaby so your family won’t expose you as the Bad Alice,” the Queen explains. “It was Mr. Jay’s orders from the beginning. He thought you wouldn’t overdo it. But your love for Jack made you want to resort to becoming good all the time. That’s why you don’t feel like getting on the bus. But now you will.”
“Wait,” I say. “Are you saying you know I’m from the future?”
“I do.”
This part really dizzies me, because, according to the timeline, tomorrow I will stuff a bunch of Lullaby pills in her and she won’t remember anything after. But today? “How could you possibly know?”
“Mrs. Tock told me.” She smirks. “For the sake of accuracy, Mrs. Tock, the one you met tomorrow, found a way to tell herself today.”
I have to blink at the confusion of the past-tense verb used with the word “tomorrow.” But I get it. The future is resisting change. It’s pushing me in every possible way to follow the timeline of killing the students.
Two Reds suddenly restrain me from behind and the Queen stuffs a mushroom in my mouth. They don’t even need to force me to chew on it, as it melts instantly. Not just that. I find myself craving it, because it slowly turns me to my real self. The girl who works for Black Chess.
It’s a terrible and conflicting feeling. The shift from here to there is like being high on drugs. I am not sure who I am now.
“It will take a while until you’re fully yourself again,” the Queen says. The Reds let go of me. “But we’ll be watching you until you get on that bus.”
I fall to my knees from the pain. The Pillar is lying comatose on the ground next to me.
“Why is it so important I kill my classmates on the bus?” I’m trying my best to use the better part in me, as long as it’s possible.
“Don’t ask, Alice,” the Queen says. “No one questions their role in the Wonderland Wars. Not when working for Black Chess.”
Resisting the need to vomit, I am aware I don’t have much time before I fully turn into a Black Chess employee. The damned Mrs. Tock is right again. It seems like I’m destined to kill my classmates.
But at least I saved Jack.
The Queen returns to her car. I clench a fist and try to fight the pain in my stomach. Then the worst of my nightmares manifests itself.
“Alice?” Jack kneels down next to me. “What are you doing here?”
I raise my eyes and stare into his, seeing how concerned he is.
“Gosh, you look awful. What did you eat?”
My face reddens with pain. No words come out of me.
“Come on.” He gently pulls me up. “We need to get you ready, or we’ll miss the bus.”
Chapter 72
THE PRESENT: INSIDE THE INKLINGS, OXFORD