“Then what’s right? Enlighten me.” The Pillar is impatient.
“I stole the keys so I can have my bargain with Alice.”
“Bargain?”
“Yes, bargain. The keys and her life in exchange for Jack’s life.”
“Jack is dead,” Tom interjects. “Even long before you possessed his body.”
“That’s what Alice has to fix for me if I give her the pills,” the Cheshire says. “She has to time-travel to the past and let Jack live.”
I reach out a feeble hand, not seeing where it’s pointing.
“What’s wrong, Alice?” the Pillar asks.
I try my best to keep my hand steady, until the Cheshire gets the message and reaches back for me. Not the Cheshire, really. But Jack. I squeeze his hand. I understand what’s going on. This Cheshire/Jack mix produced a different person who cherishes his life and blames me for killing him. Even fourteen years later, this new person demands to live. If time travel works for finding keys, then it should work for saving life.
All Jack is asking me is not to kill him on the bus. He wants me to go back in time and stop the accident. I want it, too. I’ve always felt guilty for killing Jack. It’s time to correct the past.
Jack’s hand warms up. I think he feels me somehow. Slowly, I feel another pill tucked in my mouth. It’s the right pill; I know it. It tastes like those I took back in the asylum.
“Promise me you’ll save my life, Alice,” Jack demands.
“I promise, Jack,” I say. “I’m really sorry I killed you.”
Chapter 42
Life seeps back through the pores of my skin, the veins in my head, and the blood in my heart. Funny how we’re not grateful for breathing until the time comes when it’s our last breath.
The Pillar helps me straighten up again, brushing my hair back. “Are you all right?”
“All right? I’m not sure.” I chuckle. “But I’ll live.”
The dog comes and licks my face, welcoming me back to life — or should I say the future?
Tom just stands there, saying nothing. He has that look which I can’t understand. He exchanges brief mutters with the Pillar then turns back to me. It’s almost as if he’s not so happy I am alive.
But I don’t have the capacity to interpret what’s behind all of this.
Jack stands with a straight face piercing through me. This isn’t Jack. This isn’t the Cheshire. It’s someone in between. Who’d have thought? The most lovable boy possessed by the most vicious cat.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“Don’t thank me,” he says. “Just save me. Do all you can to make Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock help you go back in time and save me — save the bus, Alice.”
“I don’t even remember why I did it.” I want the Jack inside the Cheshire to warm up to me, but he doesn’t.
“No excuses,” he says. “I don’t care if you don’t remember. I care if you save me instead of me ending up sacrificing myself for you and later getting possessed by this vicious cat in me.”
I realize that if I can go back in time and save the bus, Jack will never get possessed by the Cheshire for fourteen years. It makes me want to do it more. But I still have a question. “Since fourteen years have passed, Jack, I only want to know why you came back for me. You said you wanted to tell me something, warn me about something—or someone. I believe I have the right to know before I go back in time.”
Jack doesn’t answer me. He exchanges another look with Tom and the Pillar and then turns and walks away.
I reach for him, but I’m still a bit tired. I don’t even have time to cry. The Reds arrive and surround me, Tom, and the Pillar.
A pressure-filled moment passes, all of us staring at each other. I’m surprised the Reds don’t attack us.
“You’re really hard to catch, Mrs. Wonder,” a Red leader says to me. “We weren’t going to kill you under any circumstances. We just know you don’t belong here.”
“What do you mean?”
“No more games, please,” the Red says. “We know you’re from the past. You and Mr. Pillar.”
“How do you — ”
“It doesn’t matter how we know,” the Red says. “We just want you to leave our world and go back where you came from. That’s Mr. Jay’s orders.”
“Mr. Jay?”
“You don’t have to know about him. Not at the moment. Somewhere in the past you’ll meet him, and you’ll understand a lot of things. Now, would you mind?”
“I will leave.” I nod, eyeing the Pillar. He nods at the dog. “What about him?” I say.
“After you’ve taken the pill, all you have to do to leave is kiss the dog on the mouth, and he’ll be all right,” the Pillar explains, shaking his shoulders.
“That’s silly,” I say.
“Blame it on the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Wonderlastic Time Travels.”
Chapter 43
THE PRESENT: OUTSIDE THE INKLINGS, OXFORD
Fabiola stood outside her bar, smoking a cigarette. She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the Pillar.
The eccentric professor arrived with his cane and a pout on his face. “Is she alive?”
“She is.” Fabiola killed the cigarette on the ground. “Those two lunatics, Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock, were just messing with her mind. Yours, too.”
“Why would they do that?” the Pillar asked. “Entertaining themselves?”
“Worse. It’s a trick. A master plan by whoever hired them.”
“I’m not doubting that at all. They fooled me into listening to Margaret’s conversation, and made me think I managed to time-travel through the Tom Tower when it was the doing of the Tick and Tock couple. The question is why.”
“Because according to some book concerning the rules of Wonderland time travel, whoever cheats death in the future is vulnerable to die within the next twenty-four hours as a consequence.”
“So getting the keys from the future was only a game?”
“I can’t believe we fell for their trick,” Fabiola said. “The keys can only be found in the past where Alice hid him them. Now Alice is obliged to travel to the past to get the keys and save her life. That’s what it’s all about.”
“How can she save her life in the past?”
“By finding something called the Wonder.”
The Pillar shrugged. Fabiola realized he knew what it was. “What’s the Wonder?”
“Something she shouldn’t find,” he said stiffly.
“What does that mean?” She was about to lash out at him again. Deep inside, she didn’t want to have this conversation with him. But she had to, so she could save Alice’s life, if possible.
“It’s a paradox. Two things that contradict each other. She won’t live if she doesn’t find her Wonder, and horrible things will happen to her if she does.”
“Don’t do this to me, Pillar. Don’t play those games with me.”
“Let’s not fight, Fabiola. Not now.”
“Then what do you suggest we do?”
“We have no choice,” the Pillar said. “Alice has to go back to fit into whatever plan they cooked up for her. She needs to get the keys and find her Wonder. The rest of the consequences are going to shatter us all. But they’re undeniable now. I’m such a fool. I should’ve read between the lines.”
“You messed up, Carter,” Fabiola said. Only she called him by his first name. Only she knew him well enough to do that. “Why don’t you just leave us be?”
“It’s you who called for me, Fabiola. Remember?”
“I hate you so much,” she said, gripping the door.
“Nothing new with that,” the Pillar said. “You always did. In return, I’ve always loved you.”