“That’s why I decided I’d be the director of an insane asylum,” he says. “Among the Mushroomers who fear and respect me.”
“I doubt that. They thought you were the maddest one in the asylum.”
“I don’t care what they thought. I had a plan.”
“A plan?”
“Of course. I was supposed to connect with all asylums in the world and make sure they were filled with sane people.”
“What kind of plan was that? Who told you that?”
“Lewis told me to.”
Chapter 31
I turn back and glare at him, choking a Red with one hand. With all of my skills, I wonder how we lost the war. “Don’t lie to me, Turtle!”
“I’m not,” he says. “Look behind you.”
I do, pulling Tom up with me while I’m doing another parkour move in the asylum’s corridor.
“Lewis wanted to guarantee the Inklings win the war. He set alternative plans everywhere to help the cause,” he says. “One day, when I was crying myself to death in Wonderland, he offered me a chance to be a hero.”
“You?” I don’t know if I am supposed to believe him. Shouldn’t it be me who becomes the hero?
“It was a long shot. The plan was that I collect the sanest scientists, teachers, and useful men and women into an asylum.”
“Are you saying the Mushroomers were sane?”
“In the beginning, yes. Although spending too much time in the asylum messed with their minds.”
“That’s the most stupid plan I ever heard.”
“It’s not. Lewis knew the Queen would wreak havoc on the sane world, spreading the insane everywhere. Remember how mad the world already was when you were in the asylum? The wars, the poverty, and sickness? The Queen of Hearts has been planning this since long ago, even before she posed as the Queen of England.”
“Go on.” I punch another Red, advancing in the corridor. “Be brief.”
“I framed sane people into being insane, so I could get them into the asylum,” he says. “Of course, they weren’t supposed to know that. Who’d have believed me when I told them about Wonderland?”
“Are you saying I was framed into thinking I’m mad?”
Tom shrugs, pulls out a pill, and swallows it in the middle of my fighting. “I’ll explain all about you, but last.”
“Why? I want to know what you know about me now.”
“You have to hear the rest first.”
I am too busy to argue, having reached the vast Tom Quad. The garden is thronged with too many Reds waiting for me. I have incredible None Flu skills, but even Bruce Lee can’t fight an army.
“I kept framing sane people. I even created the Hole, where the March Hare was kept,” Tom continues. “Lewis had told me he was so valuable he needed to be kept away from the Queen and Black Chess.”
“Can’t you just summarize the story?” I am busy now, fighting aimlessly, with hopes of reaching the door at the Tom Tower. Once we reach it, we’ll be out of here. “I get it. Lewis ordered you to collect the sane people and keep them in the asylum, so when the Wonderland Wars came we’d have a secret army, disguised as mad people. I changed my mind now; the plan seems brilliant because it’d go undetected by Black Chess. But you said you were the reason why we lost the war. Why, Tom?”
“The pills,” he says. “Life in the asylum was driving me mad. My kids and wife hated me, and Lewis denied me the luxury to tell anyone about it.”
Chapter 32
“Not even me?” I say. “If you were on my side, you should have told me. Why did you resist the Pillar when he asked for me to kill Wonderland Monsters?”
“Like I said, I’ll be getting into that part later. What matters now is that when I took those pills, I didn’t know they had side effects.”
“Don’t tell me you forgot things.”
“I did.”
In the middle of my war, I try not to panic. It has been one of my worries that the Lullaby pills messed with my head. Now, Tom is proof I was right.
“Slowly I forgot who I am,” he explains. “Not like a clean slate, but visions came and went from me. One minute I remembered my purpose in life, another I didn’t. But in the later days when you and the Pillar were always leaving the asylum, I began to realize I had a purpose. That I had been told to do this, though I was not quite sure who told me. Then when Carolus Ludovicus came to London, I remembered that I was supposed to protect the Mushroomers. I remembered everything and was about to lock the asylum and protect them all until the Cheshire snuck in and suspected I was a Wonderlander. I guess he knew when he tried to possess my soul and couldn’t.”
“So why did you cause us to lose the war?” I’m nearer to the gate now.
“Because I sold myself to Black Chess at the last moment.”
“What? After all that Lewis told you?”
“It’s a complicated story. I was forced to do it. As a result, the Mushroomers were killed and the Inklings had no real army to face Black Chess. I’m really sorry.”
“Damn it, Turtle.” I pull him harder and kick the last two Reds away, then we rush outside the gate. “I need to hear more, but we need an escape vehicle first.”
“Which one?” There are a lot of damaged cars lined up outside.
“Like this one.” I smile, pointing at the Pillar’s fire truck.
I run toward it, Tom behind me, but I still have a question I can’t keep for later. “So if the pills made you forget, how about the pills you fed me in the asylum?”
Tom shrugs again. I wonder what he is keeping from me. I reach for the truck’s door handle, climb up, and pull Tom with me. As I am about to get into the driver’s seat, I find the Pillar waiting inside, tapping the wheel and staring at his watch. “Seven minutes and thirty-nine seconds.” He pouts, staring at his watch. “With a triple belt in None Fu, you should do better than that.”
“Don’t make me punch you in the face.” I climb down and pace around to the other door. I push Tom up, squeeze him between me and the Pillar, then lock the door behind me.
“You haven’t answered my question, Tom.” I grab him by his sleeve as the Pillar guns down the road. “What about my pills?”
“They were Lullaby pills.” Tom chokes, glancing at the Pillar. I wonder why.
“Like Carolus?” I ask.
Tom nods, but the Pillar ignores his gaze.
“Are you saying I have an evil Alice doppelgänger?”
“I don’t…” He hesitates. “It’s complicated.”
“Talk or I swear I will kill you, Tom.”
One last gaze at the Pillar then he spits it out: “The Lullaby pills were meant for you to…”
And there, when I am about to hear a crucial truth about my past, I suddenly bleed from the nose, feeling disoriented and dizzy. My hands loosen up and my head falls on one shoulder.
“Alice?” The Pillar sounds worried. “What’s going on?”
“I — ” My eyes meet his. I’m most perplexed and confused. Did one of the Reds stab me? “I think I’m going to faint.”
The Pillar orders Tom to take the wheel. He scoots over and examines me. “No, Alice, it’s not that.”
“What is it, then?”
“You’re dying, Alice,” the Pillar says.
“What do you mean I’m dying? You said I’m not hit.”
“It’s not the Reds who attempted to kill you.” The Pillar’s jaw tenses. “It’s those who sent you to the future.”
“Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock?” My eyes widen.
“I think they fooled us both,” the Pillar says. “They sent you here to die.”
Chapter 33
THE PRESENT: THE INKLINGS, OXFORD
“What a frabjous trick, Mrs. Tock,” Mr. Tick said, sipping his six o’clock tea — although it wasn’t six o’clock yet.