Down the Rabbit Hole by Nashtheory
Chapter 1.
“Bella!” I rolled over and watched as my closed door flew open and Angela Weber and Jessica
Stanley, my best friends, rushed into my bedroom breathlessly. “Why didn‟t you tell us? And why
aren‟t you dressed?” Jessica shouted excitedly.
“Tell you what?” I rolled over groggily. They‟d wakened me from a nap and I was notoriously slow
when I first woke up. “And ready for what?”
“The social at Reverend Mallory‟s,” Angela grabbed my pillow and hit Jessica in the face with it.
“And ignore her, she doesn‟t know what she‟s talking about.”
“I do so,” Jessica sulked. “My mother told me all about it last night and you heard from Ben
yesterday that he and Eric went shopping and --”
“It‟s a ecret-say,” Angela hissed.
“What‟s a secret?” I mumbled and flopped back onto the bed, pulling my blankets over my head.
“That you and Eric are engaged!” Jessica shrieked and hopped up to begin jumping on my bed like
a child.
I sat bolt upright in the bed and looked at her, eyes wide “What?!”
“Oh no,” Angela groaned and flopped horizontally onto the bed on her back. “She ruined the
surprise!”
“Surprise?” I gasped. “What surprise?”
“That Eric was going to propose, silly! I mean, he almost dragged Ben out of their apartment
yesterday to get your engagement ring and then he called your dad to meet with him in the church
conference room last night -- I thought he had already proposed and was trying to get his ducks in
a row. I mean, did he and you‟re just keeping it a secret so that your parents can announce it?”
Jessica continued to bounce excitedly. “Can we be bridesmaids? Oh, Bella, please say we can be
bridesmaids!”
“What? No!” I shrieked.
“Well,” Jessica stopped jumping. “Who‟d think you‟d be so put out over us telling you a secret? Not
letting us be bridesmaids. Next time, just tell us not to tell you.”
“What?” Angela grabbed the discarded pillow again and smacked her in the face with it hard.
“When would she have gotten the chance to tell you to shut up?”
“Guys,” I looked at them warily. “Why would I marry Eric Yorkie?”
“Well,” Angela squirmed slightly. “Um . . .”
“Spit it out.”
“Well, Ben told me that Eric told him that he had planned on waiting until your birthday to propose
because that would be a year of dating but he had to ask you now because --” Angela blushed and
I could tell she was embarrassed about the situation.
“Because?” I blushed and my voice sounded unnaturally high.
“Because,” Jessica sat next to Bella on the edge of the bed and was almost quivering with
excitement, “you had done something inappropriate together!”
“Inappropriate?” I squeaked. “What do you mean inappropriate?”
“Like sex,” Angela whisper screamed.
“Sex?” I shouted. “Sex with Eric Yorkie?”
“Shhh,” Angela hissed. “Do you want your mother to hear?”
“Apparently she already knows! Which means everyone else knows something that I didn‟t!”
“You mean you haven‟t?” Jessica‟s eyes widened.
“No,” I hissed. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Well,” she sat up and grabbed my pillow, hugging it to her stomach. “What do you think got in to
him? I mean, he told Ben you‟d done something inappropriate Friday and now he had to propose.
What did you do after the movie?”
“We went to the diner and had ice cream sundaes,” I snorted, annoyed at the infantile dates that
Eric always planned for us. We were both lifelong members of a very conservative church but I
kept hoping that our dates would at least take on the same intensity as the high school student‟s
that I worked with as part of my student teaching responsibilities. Currently, though, our dates
more resembled something that a junior high student would plan. “Then he drove me home.”
“And?” Jessica prompted.
“And what?”
“Well, what happened when he drove you home?” Angela interjected
“We talked about his volunteer work with the mission group. He‟s taken on an administrative role
with them, planning the group‟s trip to India since he‟d already gone last summer.”
“What else? What else? I mean, Ben has told us all about that. He‟s working with Eric. What else
happened?” Jessica rolled her eyes and flopped backwards onto the mattress.
“Nothing,” I insisted. “He told me all about the mission trip until a block from my house; once he
turned onto my street he asked about my volunteer work with the literacy program; that was over
by the time he‟d parked on the curb so he told me he had a nice time, gave me a kiss and then --
Oh My Crow!”
“Oh My Crow?” Jessica bounced excitedly upright again. “Oh my crow what?”
“He kissed me, kissed me,” I told her.
“Like proper kiss you?” Jessica bounced even harder. “Like with tongue?”
“Yeah,” I groaned. “With tongue, or at least I think it was supposed to be with tongue. He didn‟t
really do anything beside lick around my lips.”
“So,” she was practically vibrating now, “how was it?”
“Wet,” I wrinkled my nose as I remembered. “And slobbery. Really gross.”
“Oh,” she quit bouncing, deflated. “So did anything else happen?”
“Yeah,” I flopped back on my bed and looked at the ceiling; my two best friends mimicked me. “He
sort of like brushed across the side of my breast with the back of his hand. I think he might have
been trying to feel me up.”
“Feel you up?” Angela squeaked. “No wonder he was acting so funny on Saturday.”
“Angela?”
“Yeah?”
“He did not feel me up. If that was feeling me up, I‟m going to send him to Forks High School so
the freshmen can give him pointers.”
“But,” Angela pounced on me, staring directly into my eyes and blinking owlishly. “He was trying to
feel you up at least. It‟s the thought that counts, isn‟t it?”
“Oh dear sweet Jesus,” I glanced at the ceiling, “I hope not.”
“Bella,” Jessica smacked me with a pillow. “What are you going to do then? I mean, I heard from
Ben that Eric told him that he was going to propose and then Jessica‟s mom told us this morning
that she saw your dad and Eric in one of the church conference rooms with Reverend Mallory. Then
Lauren told us how her father had to tear your father off of Eric because he‟d violated you and now
you were pregnant.”
“What?” I felt my jaw drop open. “There is no way --”
“I know, I know, silly,” Angela shook her head, “and I told Lauren that I knew it wasn‟t true and
that she shouldn‟t spread lies around like that.”
“Angela,” I buried my head in my hands, “what am I going to do?”
“Just have a nice long engagement,” Jessica replied. “I mean, you won‟t want to get married until
after you graduate this May and that‟s four months from now -- you‟d be showing if you were
pregnant -- and that will keep the gossips in check because you‟ll obviously not be pregnant.”
“Jessica?”
“Yeah?”
“I don‟t want to marry Eric.”
“Huh?”
“I don‟t want to marry Eric,” I repeated. “I don‟t really like Eric.”
“But Bella, you‟ve been dating for months. What do you mean you don‟t like him?”
“Well,” I muttered, “it just sort of got out of control.”
“Out of control?” Angela broke in as she propped herself up onto her elbow to stare at me.
“Yeah, I mean, Ben just raved about him and you set us up on that double date and I didn‟t want
to hurt Ben‟s feelings by telling him that his roommate bored me to death, so I just sort of stayed
quiet. I thought he was as bored by me as I was by him and he‟d just not ask me back out.”
“But Eric really liked you!” Jessica‟s jaw dropped open.
“I know,” I sighed. “I didn‟t think that would happen. Then he asked me on a second date and I
didn‟t want to be rude, so I agreed and I was going to tell him at the end --”
“But?” Angela sounded stern.
“I sort of chickened out.”
“You chickened out? Bella, how many times have you chickened out?”
“Every day since then?” My voice rose slightly at the end. “I just kept thinking he‟d go on that
mission trip to India he was raving about and while he was gone I‟d sort of write him a break up
note and send it?”
“Bella!” Both girls cried out in unison.
“What? There are plenty of girls on those mission trips -- he could have found one to console him.”
“But now he‟s not going to India, he‟s staying here and working as an administrator so he can
spend the summer with you.” Jessica pointed out logically.
“Yeah,” I muttered, “that is sort of a hitch in the system isn‟t it?”
“So what are you going to do?” Angela demanded.
“Um, I thought -- just hear me out -- that I‟d tell him I‟ve decided to devote my life to the Lord
and so I‟m joining a convent.”
“We‟re not Catholic,” Angela answered dryly.
“Crap.” I started gnawing on my stubby nails, chewing at the cuticles.
“Here,” Angela dug through her purse and handed me a brown prescription bottle. “Take two of
these, they‟ll calm you down.”
“What are they?”
“Anti-anxiety meds,” Angela nodded. “Mom takes them from time-to-time and a few months ago
she got me a prescription while Ben was away.”
“Your mom takes anti-anxiety meds?”
“Only occasionally,” Angela answered. “She says it makes her edgy dealing with all the demands
from the congregation now that Dad‟s head minister. Throw in the Reverend Mallory and Mrs.
Mallory and she said she just couldn‟t cope with it. So the doctor gave her pills for stress. They
really are harmless”
“How often does she take them?” I asked as I shook two pills into my hand and quickly popped
them into my mouth. Mrs. Weber always seemed so put together, she didn‟t act stoned, so I wasn‟t
worried about taking anything that she took as well.
“Um, twice a day? Maybe three times a day on Sundays? Now just lay back and let those kick in
while Jess and I dig out some clothes for you to wear.”
“I already have my clothes from church,” I pointed out.
“You can‟t wear the same outfit to the social.” Jessica ruffled my hair and then Angela smacked her
hand before pulling clothes out of my closet and dropping them into her arms.
“Why not?”
“Because,” Jessica shook her head. “It isn‟t done.”
“Jess?”
“Yeah?”
“I‟m a little more worried about what I‟m going to do about Eric than I am about whether or not
someone sees me in the same outfit twice.”
“I‟m trying to think about that,” Angela answered as she ransacked my closet.
“Coming up with anything?”
“Um, no? I mean, you should break up with him but I think you should wait until after the social.”
“It would really embarrass him if I broke up with him in public,” I agreed. “So, when we‟re done
there, I‟ll let him drive me home and then when we get here, I‟ll tell him it‟s over before he gets
the chance to ask me to marry him.”
“What are you going to do about your parents though? They think you‟re getting engaged to Eric
and they think you‟ve been having sex with him.” Jessica looked between me and Angela. For once
her reasoning was sound and I couldn‟t help being proud of her as I lay there debating ways to
strangle her for being so bloody right.
“I‟ll sit Mom down and explain the situation to her. I‟ll tell her that I don‟t love Eric in that way and
I don‟t want to marry him. Then I‟ll tell her very clearly that nothing happened between us.”
“What if she doesn‟t believe you?”
“Then I‟ll call Dr. McEntire to set up an appointment,” I sighed and felt the drug begin to kick in,
loosening my tension. “He can examine me and then tell her for sure that I haven‟t had sex with
anyone.”
“You‟d really do that?” Angela giggled as she threw a red sheath dress onto the bed and followed it
up with a lacy black bra and panty set that my Aunt Karen had given me as a birthday present last
year. It still had the tags on because I knew my mother wouldn‟t approve of them -- she and her
sister Karen rarely got along and the more Karen tried to „liberalize me‟, as my mother called it, or
„liberate me‟, as my Aunt Karen called it, the more they fought.
Aunt Karen was everything my mother thought was wrong in a woman. She was unmarried,
uninhibited and while her job, project manager for a large publishing house, didn‟t sound
glamorous, it gave her an excuse to jetset all around the world having adventures. If I had a
choice in the matter, she was everything I‟d want to be. Except for the fact that my grandfather
had disowned her and everyone in the community looked down on her, treating her as if she were
mentally unbalanced every time she came to visit. The whispered speculation as to why she hadn‟t
„just settled down yet‟ were hard to bear and, though she didn‟t say anything, I think that it, along
with my mother‟s disapproval, were the reason she rarely came to visit and then she didn‟t stay
long.
“You‟re giving me sexy underwear to go break up with my boyfriend before he proposes? Isn‟t that
sending mixed signals?”
“Only if he sees them,” Angela answered, “which he won‟t.”
“So why would I wear them?”
“Self confidence,” Angela declared. “I read about it in the Lady‟s Home Journal.”
“The Ladies Home Journal had an article on sexy lingerie?” I was curious -- the last time I‟d
bothered to pick up LHJ it had been nothing but recipes and housecleaning tips.
“No,” Jessica giggled again. “It just said that if you wanted to feel more confident, you should wear
something that made you feel pretty all the way down. Even if no one else saw it, you‟d know it
was there and feel pretty -- hence you‟d feel more confident.”
“Jessica, that‟s the dumbest --”
“Just try it,” she replied. “What‟s it hurt?”
“Fine,” I relented, mellow from Mrs. Weber‟s wonderful medication. “Just get out and let me get
dressed.”
Angela and Jessica scurried out the door and I rolled off the bed, standing in front of the clothes
they laid out for me. Slipping out of my sweats I pulled on the tiny black underwear and bra.
Glancing in the mirror, I studied myself, turning this way and that to get a better idea of how I
looked in it. “Power panties,” I muttered. “Only I would need power panties to get the guts up to
dump Eric Yorkie.”
An hour later, I was standing outside the Reverend Mallory‟s house, gripping tightly to Angela‟s
arm, panic shooting through me. “I can‟t do this,” I hissed. “Please take me home Angela, I can‟t
do this.”
“Yes you can,” she coaxed. “You can do this. Just go inside and talk to everyone like you normally
do. You‟ve known these people all your life. Just go inside and act natural.”
“But what if Eric --”
“Don‟t be alone with him. If he gets you alone tell him that you heard people talking about the two
of you and you don‟t want to cause more gossip. With as nervous as he is about his image in the
church, he‟ll leave you alone. He‟s too worried about something happening to keep him from being
ordained.”
“Do you think it will work?” My voice broke.
“Here,” Angela gave me two more pills and I swallowed them dry, gagging lightly as they slid down
my throat. “Just relax and act natural.” Jessica reached over, patting me on the back
encouragingly.
Relax and act natural, I repeated over and over to myself as I followed them inside and tried to
appear nonchalant. We made a bee line to where my parents were talking with Reverend and Mrs.
Weber and within two minutes Ben had come over to claim Angela.
“Eric‟s looking for you,” Ben told me and I noticed my father scowl, my mother hurriedly putting
her hand on his arm to sooth him. Reverend Weber looked at my parents and raised his eyebrow
questioningly.
“I‟m sure it‟s no big deal though,” Ben said hurriedly. “Probably just wants to see if you‟re
interested in doubling with me and Ang next Friday.”
“Doubling,” I nodded and tried to smile weakly.
“Ben,” Angela cut in, “there‟s your sister and her friend, Andrea. We should really go see how
they‟re enjoying their senior year at FCA. Your sister‟s class president, isn‟t she?”
“Yeah,” Ben answered nervously. “We should go talk to them.”
“I‟ll just go,” Jessica looked around hurriedly, “see how my mother‟s feeling. That‟s it; I‟ll just go
check on my mother.”
“Bella,” my mother spoke up. “Why don‟t you go find Eric? I‟m sure you two have important things
to discuss.”
“Eric,” my father growled and Reverend Weber reached over to grasp his shoulder lightly.
“Sure,” I swallowed. “I‟ll just go do that.”
„Crap, crap, crap,‟ I thought to myself. He was going to ask me here, with all these people, so that
he could make a formal announcement to everyone. Crap, now I had two choices: I could either
humiliate him in front of everyone our age in the congregation since they were currently in the
Reverend Mallory‟s house, or I could say yes and then tell him I didn‟t mean it later, when we were
alone, and hope he understood that I‟d only said yes so I didn‟t embarrass him.
“There she is,” I heard Lauren Mallory hiss malevolently and turned to see her huddled together
with another girl, staring at me contemptuously. “My father told me that her father was ready to
put Eric in jail but then he found out that it was Bella that pushed him to have sex with her. Ripped
her clothes off in the front seat of his Toyota and pressed herself against him.”
“You‟re saying Bella raped Eric?” The blonde girl next to her tittered.
“Well, I‟m sure he was willing once she threw herself at him,” Lauren sneered. “After all, men are
weak.”
“I just can‟t believe --”
“I can,” Lauren glared at her. “I always knew Bella was a little slut and was hiding it. Why do you
think she‟s student teaching at Forks High and not at the Academy? Just because she‟s got
Reverend Weber fooled doesn‟t mean that other people can‟t see her for what she is.”
I glared back at her and straightened my spine, holding my head up and taking a deep breath.
Lauren was lying through her teeth, like she normally did, about things she didn‟t know about. The
reason I didn‟t student teach at the Academy was that UW required we do our state required
student teaching in a public school. If they knew I was such a bad influence, then why was I
allowed to work in the Sunday school each week or volunteer constantly with the literacy and
tutoring programs? Lauren just wanted to make herself feel superior by spreading gossip and
apparently the other girl was naive enough to believe her.
“Bella!” I heard Eric call out and my shoulders slumped. No matter what I did, this was going to be
awkward. “Bella, I‟m so glad you came today. I need to talk to you.”
“Hi Eric,” I kept an arms length between us and sat down sideways on the chaise lounge next to
the Mallory‟s pool. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Um,” Eric began to pace nervously, his right hand shoved into his gray wool trouser pocket. “You
see, Bella, I‟ve been thinking about my future and what I want in it. I had a long talk with my
parents and we all feel like it‟s time that I move forward in my life because right now I‟m just
standing still. Did you know I‟m to be ordained just before Christmas?”
“No,” I shook my head. Eric and I had only been dating a few months and I‟d never pressed him
about his studies. I hadn‟t really cared that much. Glancing upward, I noticed a group of robins
chasing each other noisily in the yard. “Have you ever wondered what it‟s like to fly?”
“I don‟t waste my time wondering about impossible things,” Eric retorted. “Now as I was saying --”
“Someone told me once that it was important to think of at least six impossible things before
breakfast.”
“Yes, that‟s very nice,” Eric nodded. “Now, as I was saying, I‟m to be ordained at Christmas and
the Reverend Weber has offered me a position with the church as the new teen minister.”
“The new teen minister?” I couldn‟t imagine a job Eric was less suited for than dealing with
adolescents.
“So, I talked with my parents and we all agree that it‟s time I take a wife.”
“Take a wife?” I could feel my breaths coming in short bursts, panic welling up in my chest. He was
going to ask me now.
“And since we‟re so well suited to each other,” his words faded out as a dull roar sounded in my
ears and my breathing became more labored. I put my hand on my chest and tried to force air
further down my throat. I was suffocating! There would be no need to tell Eric I couldn‟t marry him
because I would die before he even asked.
“Bella? Bella are you all right?” Eric was kneeling in front of me looking worried.
“Water,” I gasped.
“You want water?” He asked hurriedly and I nodded. Springing to his feet, Eric raced into the house
in search of a glass of water. The minute he left, my breathing began to even out and I felt my
shoulders relax. Placing my head between my knees I began to breathe in and out, counting to five
each time.
“Oh dear!” I opened my eyes, looking upside down underneath the chaise lounge to see a white
rabbit hopping along underneath it. It scurried out, brushing past my feet, and I sat up to watch it.
“Oh dear me!” The rabbit repeated and stood up on its hind legs, walking like a human would. “I‟m
going to be so dreadfully late and then what will the Duchess say? Oh dear me! I‟m late!”
I stared at him, my eyes going wide and then rubbed them quickly, once, twice and then a third
time. The white rabbit was not only walking like a man -- he was dressed like one as well, in a suit
coat and vest.
“Oh heavens,” the rabbit rushed across the field and I couldn‟t help but think that he would have
been faster hopping than walking and then stopped. I cocked my head to the side and watched as
he took a pocket watch from his vest and opened it, looking inside and clucking his tongue. “The
Duchess will be furious at me,” he muttered and put the watch back into his vest pocket, hurrying
away.
I stared for a second and quickly got up to follow him, racing across the Mallory‟s back yard and
into the open field behind it. The bunny was faster than he looked and it took me several minutes
till I could make out the top of his ears over the high grass. Surely someone was playing a trick on
me? First, I was sure rabbits did not walk on their hind legs and even if they did who would put
them in clothes like one of those annoying little dogs celebritards always carried around? Perhaps
he was someone‟s pet? No, no, even if he was someone‟s pet, I was quite certain that a white
rabbit did not know how to use a pocket watch.
In the middle of the field, I glanced around and noticed that somehow I‟d lost the white rabbit
again. “Oh rabbit!” I cried out, feeling vaguely stupid to be talking to what might likely be a
hallucinatory rabbit. “Mr. Rabbit?”
I took another step forward and before I was sure what happened, felt myself stumble and braced
to hit the muddy ground in front of me.
Chapter 2.
Before I could scream, I found myself tumbling end over end down what appeared to be a very
deep rabbit hole. Three turns later, I had decided that perhaps deep wasn‟t the proper word for it.
“Were you trying to burrow out to China?” I muttered to the now long gone rabbit. “I mean really,
this is a little over the top isn‟t it?”
Reaching out to steady myself and stay upright, I felt my fingers latch onto what felt like a shelf
and then brush against what felt like a switch. Instinctively, I flicked it upward and the rabbit hole
was filled with light. “Electricity?” I mumbled and began to look around. There were tall
bookshelves covered in an assortment of hardbound books, tea things, knick knacks and various
bits of rubbish. “Mr. Bunny,” I couldn‟t help giggling, “you are just full of surprises aren‟t you?
Now, all I have to do is grab hold of one of these shelves to stop my fall and then climb back up to
get out of here. Except,” I stopped, “I‟ll probably slip and fall back down the hole in these shoes
with as clumsy as I am. And the hole didn‟t seem so very large when I fell into it, so how exactly
will I get back out?”
Shaking my head, perplexed, I reached out and instead of grabbing the shelf I accidentally latched
onto a jar and as I fell further, pulled it toward me. „Orange Marmalade,‟ it read and I shrugged. At
this point, I had to wonder why wouldn‟t a white rabbit -- wearing a waistcoat, who obviously
understood enough about electricity to wire his burrow -- eat orange marmalade? It wasn‟t any
stranger than anything else. I let go of the jar and tried to reach for the shelf again but stopped
when I noticed the jar hovering in front of my eyes, just where it had been before I released it.
“That‟s funny,” I cocked my head and looked at the marmalade jar. “Shouldn‟t you be falling and
not hovering? I wonder why you aren‟t then.”
I was so wrapped up in solving the mystery of why an apparently empty marmalade jar was
floating instead of falling that I didn‟t notice the ground rushing up to meet me and break my fall
until I‟d landed squarely on my bottom. “Oof!” Looking around I tried to find the rabbit. “Little
monster could install floating marmalade jars --”
Crash!
“Well, formerly floating marmalade jars,” I muttered, “electricity, and he could take the time to
kidnap random women, but he doesn‟t have the decency to put in a little bit of indoor --outdoor --
carpeting to break the fall?”
Standing up, I brushed off the back of my dress -- the last thing I needed was some bunny
laughing at dirt stains on my butt -- and began to look around. The room resembled a large, high
ceilinged cavern with what I thought was a chute in the top that I suspected I had fallen out of.
The lights were on and I could see that doors were set along all the walls. Out of the corner of my
eye I spotted the white rabbit hurrying toward one area of the room. “Hey you!” I yelled, hoping he
could tell me which door would take me back home where I could possibly explain my
disappearance to Eric and he‟d think I was much too insane to become a minister‟s wife.
The bunny didn‟t even twitch as he raced down a tunnel that I realized rather quickly was much too
small for me to even contemplate following him through. I was on my own. In an apparently
mutant version of a rabbit burrow. With electricity. Perfect. Just perfect.
Walking around the perimeter of the room, I began jiggling door handles. Surely one of them was
open and could take me right back out into my world? Probably just down the street from the
Reverend Mallory‟s. Maybe I‟d come out in a sewer line? I knew there was a manhole just near the
park and while the idea of rats made me squeamish it would be better than hanging around down
here all day.
All of the doors were locked and I drew my foot back to kick the last one, a heavy oak door, and
once my foot made impact, I immediately began hopping and trying to hold it. Unbalanced in my
high heels, I fell onto the ground, cracking my head on a table that I was sure hadn‟t been there
before. “Ow!” I moaned. I heard something that sounded like a high pitched giggle and swung my
throbbing head around to search for the noise. If that rabbit was laughing at me I was going to
wring its neck. The bunny was nowhere to be seen and I decided that the giggling was just my
imagination -- it had sounded an awful lot like Lauren Mallory laughing at my clumsiness all
through our childhood.
Using the table for leverage I pulled myself up and looked around. The table had a glass top and on
it was an antique looking golden key. That‟s the ticket. Surely the key fit whatever door led to
whatever sewer line that would get me out of this demented rabbit‟s den of inexcusably hard floors
and infuriatingly locked doors.
Racing around the room, I tried the key in every lock -- jiggling it, wiggling it, and finally simply
pleading it to fit. “Come on, come on,” I begged, “just work.” No luck. To make it worse, I could
hear the nonexistent giggling again.
“You‟re losing it Bella. Absolutely gone right out of your head.” I muttered to myself and then
began to gnaw on my lower lip; a habit my mother assured me would surely lead to premature
wrinkles.
Turning back toward the table, I tried to logic out what to do next. All the doors were locked, the
key didn‟t fit in any of them, and they were much too heavy looking for me to even feebly attempt
to break down. That meant -- was that curtain there before? No, no, I‟d have remembered a
curtain.
“Oh Mr. Bunny,” I mumbled. “When I get topside again, if I ever see you out and about, you are
going to be my dinner. I‟ve never cooked a rabbit before but I‟ve got Google so a recipe shouldn‟t
take any time to find. White rabbit fricassee presented in an ugly plaid waist coat. I‟ll make it for
the Yorkies.”
Stomping over to the curtain, I pulled it back and saw that there was a tiny door beneath, barely
large enough for the Mallory‟s teacup Chihuahua to fit through. “Oh you have got to be kidding
me,” I snapped as the key slid perfectly into the lock, clicking immediately as the door swung open
and I could see the tiniest glimpse of what appeared to be a park outside of it. Probably the park
closest to my house. Now, if I could only get to it.
Turning around, I wasn‟t surprised to find that where the key had once been on the table that
hadn‟t been there originally was now a bottle with green liquid inside and a note tied around its
neck with string. Sulking, I walked over and picked up the surprisingly heavy bottle. „Drink Me,‟ it
read.
“Oh why not?” I shrugged. “Surely it can‟t get any weirder than this?”
Pulling the cork out of the bottle I brought it to my lips and took a giant swig -- curling up my
nose. The taste was, well, um; wrinkling my nose, I took another drink and tried to gulp it down as
quickly as possible. It tasted something like a mixture of green cough medicine, antacids, and my
mother‟s burnt „Fiesta Meatloaf‟. In short, it tasted like something I wanted to feed the Yorkies and
invite the Mallorys over as our special guests.
With the second gulp, the room began to spin and I felt my stomach lurching. Closing my eyes, I
tried to keep myself from being sick as my body broke into a cold sweat and I began to shiver. This
wasn‟t going to be pretty, I decided, but then quite suddenly -- it stopped. The shakes, the
sweating, the cold, the spinning, all of it just stopped. Opening my eyes warily, I looked around
and noticed that the room had not surprisingly shifted again. Instead of standing next to a table, I
was now under a large pavilion and there was a gigantic red cloud bearing down on me. Apparently
it could get weirder than before I decided as I scurried further under the pavilion, trying not to trip
in the stupid shoes that Angela had chosen for me, and crouched down near the farthest pillar.
“Rather rude if you ask me,” I sniffed and kicked the edge of the now deflated, red attack cloud
that was now lying on the dirt floor like a cheap balloon two days after the birthday party was over.
“If you‟re going to be a cloud you should at least have the decency to act like a proper, self
respecting cloud. It doesn‟t do at all to be red and lying so pathetically in the middle of the floor in
some sort of sulk just because I didn‟t let you catch me and eat me.”
“You tell it, Alice,” a voice decreed from behind me before it evaporated into giggles. I turned and
found myself staring at a striking young man in a motley suit. I tried my hardest not to laugh as I
took in the red shoes, purple and red striped trousers, yellow ruffled shirt and green velvet jacket
he was wearing as he smiled leeringly at me and lifted the battered black top hat he was wearing.
“My name isn't Alice,” I replied evenly. “It's Bella and it's not nice to sneak up on someone.”
“Well,” the man tipped his hat in my direction and bowed from the waist with a flourish. “I would
agree but then again I didn't sneak up on you. You rather shrunk onto me. Not that I can say I
mind the view. Very fetching.”
“Shrunk?” I huffed. “Not likely. I simply followed the directions on the note and drank from the
bottle on the table. The note on the bottle said 'drink me' and I did.”
“Do you always follow directions, Alice?”
“My name isn't Alice,” I snapped, extremely annoyed. “And yes, I do happen to behave as is
expected of me.”
“Really?” I watched as a bright grin lit up the man's features.
“Of course, I was taught to behave properly and if someone requests politely that I do something,
then I do. It would be terribly rude not to.”
“Blow me?” He looked at her hopefully and smiled again.
“Pardon me?”
“Please?” The young man fluttered what I realized were exceedingly long, fair lashes and his
emerald colored eyes sparkled.
“You're mad!”
“Yes, actually,” he shrugged, “but that has nothing to do with this. You said that you always tried
to comply with politely phrased requests. And I did say please!”
“Reasonable requests!” I argued. “That was most certainly not a reasonable request!”
“It certainly was, Alice,” he huffed as he shoved his hat forcibly back onto his head and crossed his
arms over his chest. “Given how you're dressed, it seems entirely appropriate. Plus, Emmett and
Jasper both got naughty Alices, why should mine be a prude?”
“My name isn‟t Alice! And I have no idea who Emmett or Jasper are or why they have some sick
fetish with women named Alice! As far as my dress, it‟s completely …” I glanced down and gasped
in horror. I wasn‟t wearing a dress, now I was in nothing but the black lingerie that Angela had
pestered me into wearing earlier, stockings, and my shoes. “Where‟s my dress?” I yelped and then
brought my arms around to cover my breasts.
“Not really helping your case,” the young man smirked. “More pushing them up than concealing
them, if you care to know, but don't mind me, I'll just enjoy where this is going, Alice.”
“For the last time,” I snapped. “My name is not Alice. It's Bella. Isabella Swan in fact. And where
the fuck is my dress?” I was so angry that I didn't even bother to apologize about my language to
the rude, handsome boy.
“Was it red perhaps?” The young man pointed toward the mass that I‟d at first thought was a red
cloud and suddenly I could see the thin seam along one end that ended in its zipper. Looking up, I
saw that what I had first thought was a small pavilion in the middle of this cavern was actually the
low table that the bottle had rested upon earlier.
“I've shrunk! And to make matters worse, I've left the key on the table so I'll never get through
the door.”
“No worries,” he held out a large, gold key. “I have a key to the door right here.”
“But I've shrunk!”
“I told you so.”
“But,” I stopped and turned to look at the smirking man suspiciously. “But why did my underwear
shrink and not my dress?”
“Hmm,” he appeared to be thinking. “I'm not sure. Must be some sort of glitch in the potion.”
“Glitch?” I sighed in relief. “You mean my dress was supposed to shrink as well and there was an
error of some sort?”
“No,” the young man shrugged before pulling off his coat and walking up to stand in front of me.
“Actually, Alice Isabella Swan, your underwear was in fact not supposed to shrink. Rather
inconvenient if you ask me. I'm sure it's just something that Banner threw in to spite me. The
other Alices shrank naked.”
“Why aren't you listening to me?” I thundered as I took the velvet coat that the young man offered
and slipped into it, trying my hardest to pull the material closed across the front. Glancing down, I
realized that the task was hopeless because there were neither buttons nor button holes for me to
secure it once the jacket was closed. “I told you – my name isn't Alice.”
“I know your name isn't Alice, Alice.” He rolled his eyes as he reached up to pluck the top hat from
his own messy copper hair and plopped it onto my head. “Neither were the other two Alices.” He
stopped and scratched his head then. “No, no, wait. The first Alice was in fact an Alice. I think that
might be where we got the name, but the other? No, she certainly wasn't an Alice. Some sort of
flower,” he mused. “Violet? Pansy? No, no, she had a rather nasty disposition – Snap Dragon
perhaps? No, Carnation, I think it was.”
“Carnation?” I sputtered. “I thought you said it was unpleasant?”
“Carnations are unpleasant, Alice.”
“No, they aren't,” I replied – ignoring his refusal to call me by my proper name. “They are rather
lovely flowers.”
“You would say that,” he sneered. “My Alice would, of course, love a flower I'm allergic to.”
“You're allergic?” I asked. “I'm terribly sorry. I can understand now why you think they're
unpleasant flowers. But can I ask – what do you mean, Your Alice?”
“That's what you are,” he persisted. “You're my Alice. Except that your name is Bella and you'll
have to learn to respond to Alice in the future. Rather lucky for Jasper that his was actually named
Alice. Every so often an Alice appears and whoever finds her first gets to claim her. Jasper found
the first one, Emmett found the next. I was rather afraid that Tyler or Jacob or even worse that
stupid bunny would capture the next one.”
“Capture?” I repeated. “And what do you mean, every so often an Alice appears? What's an Alice?”
“Well,” he shrugged. “Only in the most primitive sense of the word did I 'capture' you. I prefer to
think of it more as stumbling upon my own Alice one happy morning and appearing to be her best
choice. But then again, I don't intend to introduce you to the competition. Except possibly Michael
– you've already met him and I can't see where a foul creature like a rabbit would hold your
attention very long in the bedroom. Very prolific, I would guess from the old sayings. 'Fucking like
bunnies' comes to mind but I have to say I expect he has very little stamina and he'd be rather a
disappointment size wise.”
“The bunny?” I looked at him in horror. “Are you actually discussing whether or not I would care to
have sex with a white rabbit?”
“Well I would imagine it's not to your liking but,” he shrugged again, “perhaps my Alice is a
perverted one instead of a naughty one. If that's the case, could I possibly return you for another?”
“Return me?” I snarled. “How dare you!” I reached up to smack the man and found my wrist
caught in a tight grasp. “I don't even know what you mean by an Alice but you most certainly will
not be returning me for another! I'm going home!”
“That sounds like a lovely idea, Alice,” he nodded and then turned, tucking my arm around his.
“We should go home now, I was planning a tea party for after my day of Alice watching but I think
we should cancel now. I have so many other things I'd like to try.”
“Not your home!” I shouted and tried to pull away. “My home! I'm going to my home!”
“I think that will be rather difficult, Alice,” he shrugged as we reached a small, recessed doorway.
“Your home is rather far away.”
“Quit calling me Alice,” I ground out. “I don't know what an Alice is but I most certainly do not wish
to be one.”
“Too late,” he answered as he pushed the door handle downwards and pressed against the door.
“You fell down the rabbit hole so you are officially an Alice. I found you so that would make you MY
ALICE, in fact.”
“And who would you be then?” I sneered and turned to face him, not even bothering to glance out
the open doorway.
“I am the Hatter,” he replied, stepping back to take a formal bow. “And the saying is true you
know. I am rather mad.”
“The Mad Hatter?” I rolled my eyes and then stopped. “Wait, you said I was an Alice, why?”
“Because you fell down the rabbit hole, silly,” he shook his head. “And for the record, since we're
going by names and not titles, you can call me Edward rather than the Mad Hatter. It will save you
some breath.”
“Wait,” I shook my head frantically and reached up to rub my eyes. Surely all of this was a dream?
“If you're the Mad Hatter…”
“Edward,” he supplied.
“Right, you're the Mad Hatter – Edward, and I'm an Alice and that red thing was my dress and I've
fallen down a rabbit hole and then shrunk then that would be…” I glanced outside and felt my head
begin to reel. They were most certainly no longer in the backyard during Reverend Mallory's social.
“Oh fuck,” I muttered and felt my knees give out and Edward swooped in to catch me.
“Actually,” I heard him mutter just before I passed out entirely. “We prefer to call it Wonderland.”
Chapter 3.
I came to a few minutes later, being jostled about roughly in Edward‟s arms. “Can‟t believe she
passed out,” he grumbled. “Have to talk to Emmett and Jasper about how to get an Alice refund.
Neither of them mentioned their Alices behaving this way when they captured them. Maybe she‟s
right and she isn‟t an actual Alice?”
“Excuse me,” I cleared my throat. “But I can hear you.”
“Oh,” he stopped and when I looked up at him noticed that he had the good manners to blush. “I
was just thinking,” he muttered as he stood me upright in the soft grass.
“Out loud,” I agreed, “about getting a refund in regards to me.” I didn‟t know why the thought that
he would want to get rid of me bothered me so much but it did. I wasn‟t normally vain but the fact
that I was apparently so repulsive that he couldn‟t even bear to be around me was insulting.
“Look,” I glared at him. “Just help me find a way out of this really bizarre dream and I promise that
I‟ll never dream myself here again and you can hang around in my subconscious waiting for an
Alice more to your liking.”
He laughed. The annoying bastard actually had the nerve to laugh. Squinting my eyes at him, I
spun around on my heel and began to stalk angrily toward the garden entrance. Storming through
what appeared to be a formal garden, I saw a woman in tattered clothes nursing a child and as I
watched, the child began to squirm, high pitched cries reverberating through the air.
“Fine!” The woman tossed the swaddled bundle onto the ground in front of her marble bench and
stood up. “Do whatever you like then.”
I watched in horror as she walked away and the bundle began to move. Before I could take a step
toward it, the blanket began to move more vigorously and a large black bat appeared. “Oh!”
I felt a hand grab my arm roughly, preventing me from running to where the bat now hovered over
the baby. “Renesmee,” Edward muttered, “does that all the time. Don‟t let her bother you.”
“She leaves her baby to be attacked by large black bats? That‟s horrid!”
“No,” Edward jerked me away from what I could now see were empty blankets as the bat flew in
exuberant circles. “The woman was Irina. She‟s supposed to watch out for Renesmee.”
“So who‟s Renesmee then?”
“The bat,” Edward answered and then shivered. “Utterly horrible little thing. She gives me the
creeps.”
“Well at least I know you won‟t pass me off to her then,” I snapped as I pulled my arm out of his
grip and began again toward the garden entrance. “Although I can‟t see why you won‟t just help
me get home!”
“Because I don‟t know how to get you home!” He yelled as he snagged my arm again and spun me
around to face him. “It‟s your dream apparently, you tell me Alice!”
“MY NAME‟S NOT ALICE! IT‟S BELLA.”
“I know your name is Bella, Alice. But I‟m supposed to call you Alice!”
“You can call me Hatshepshut if that makes you happy; just get me out of this dream! I want to go
home!” I yanked my arm free again and began to stalk out of the garden.
“Oh no you don‟t!” I felt myself being grabbed bodily and Edward spun me around to face him,
crushing his lips against mine.
“What do you think you‟re doing?” I gasped, wrenching away from him.
“This is all a dream isn‟t it?” Edward panted as his fingers slid into my hair. “Since you‟re the one
who‟s out of place then it must be your dream. Right?”
“Right,” I agreed shakily, trying to ignore how good this infuriating boy‟s hands felt in my hair.
“So,” Edward continued as he pressed me back into a pillar and pushed his hips against mine. “You
must want to be here, Bella,” he purred. “You wouldn‟t have dreamed yourself here if you didn‟t
want to be.”
“It,” I stammered. “It could be a nightmare.”
“Does this feel like a nightmare?” Edward began kissing down the length of my neck, pausing every
few kisses to nip at my tender skin.
“Nnn, no,” I panted, feeling myself grow wet as the bulge of his erection rubbed against me.
“You know what I think?” Edward put his hands underneath my bottom and lifted, pressing me
against the pillar and wrapping my legs around his waist, grinding his erection harder against me.
“I think that if this is a dream then you must want it to be a very naughty dream. Don‟t you?”
“I, I, I --”
“Because everything I‟m doing to you must be something you‟re dreaming, Alice Bella.”
“Uh,” I tried to come up with an answer that I thought would sound convincing. I was in nothing
but my lingerie, high heels, a bottle green velvet coat and had somehow lost the tattered top hat
he‟d put on me inside the rabbit‟s warren. If my mother could read my mind, I was sure she‟d be
preparing one of her „good, chaste Christian woman,‟ lecture variations. On the sin of having a sex
dream with such a glorious looking boy in it.
“I think,” Edward announced as he began to move his mouth lower, planting lingering kisses on the
tops of my breasts, “that you want me to take you home and do very naughty things to you.”
“We can‟t,” I gasped. “I‟m not, I mean --”
“No one will know,” Edward crooned. “If it‟s just a dream then it isn‟t real and the only people who
would know are me and you; which is actually just you because I‟m just a figment of your
imagination inside your subconscious sleeping mind.”
“Wait,” I pushed his face away from my breast and his tongue slipped out to lick my nipple before
he lifted his head to look at me. “What?”
“If it‟s just a dream, Bella, then it‟s not really happening,” Edward said patiently and then dropped
his head to begin sucking on my right nipple, grazing it lightly with his teeth. One of the hands on
my bottom let go and I felt myself pushed harder against the pillar as he shifted my weight onto
just his left arm so that his right hand could come between my legs, his fingers stroking at my now
aching clit. “So very wet,” Edward muttered as he pressed more firmly on my sex.
“Edward,” I arched my back, trying to shift my breasts closer to his hot mouth and my dripping
pussy closer to his probing hand. The movement contorted my body slightly and I tried to tighten
my legs around him to pull him closer so that I wouldn‟t have to arch my back as far. “I, I want,” I
gasped as he bit down lightly on my nipple and then pulled his mouth away to blow on it, watching
in apparent fascination as it hardened.
“Do you want me to take you home and do naughty things to you, Alice Bella? Fuck you till you
scream?”
“Yes,” I moaned. He was right -- this was a dream and apparently my subconscious enjoyed being
talked dirty to. I might as well relax and enjoy -- so far my dream lover seemed to know what he
was doing.
“Yes?”
“Yes,” I nodded hurriedly and felt his hand slip out from between my legs. I whimpered at the loss
of friction as his hand came to rest alongside the other on my hip. His hold tightened and suddenly
I found myself over his shoulder, my barely covered bottom stuck in the air and my breasts
pressed against his back. A slight adjustment of his shoulders found my clit pressed against the
rough linen of his shirt, rubbing against it while my nipples rubbed across his back with each of his
long strides. The physical sensations in combination with the fact that I was almost naked, upside
down over the shoulder of a man I had just met who had every intention of fucking me, caused me
to squirm anxiously -- the added friction bringing me to the edge.
The sharp smack of his hand against my bottom got my attention. “Don‟t you dare come,” Edward
hissed, “until I give you permission.”
I bit my lip and moaned as the commanding tone in his voice caused me to quiver. My mind had
apparently pulled out all the stops because things I‟d never thought I‟d find appealing were pushing
me to the edge.
Before I could respond, he had carried me through an arched white gate and into what looked like
a small cottage garden. I heard a loud crash and jerked, seeing what appeared to be fancy china
dishes clattering onto the grass, breaking as they hit the ground. Edward shifted and I braced
myself for the impact of my back against the table but was surprised that instead of letting me fall,
he cradled me tightly to his body, lowering me gently so that I sat on the now empty tablecloth.
His lips met mine and his tongue came out to probe delicately at my mouth, slipping between my
teeth as his hands began to work frantically, pulling his jacket from my shoulders and fumbling
with the hook on my bra. Once it was free, he stepped back, still kissing me, to remove it and toss
it across the lawn. Pulling my hips forward slightly, he pressed his mouth more forcefully against
mine, laying me back across the table. Skimming his hands down the outside of my arms he
grabbed my wrists, pulling them up over my head, curling my fingers around the other end of the
table.
“Keep those right there,” he murmured against my lips before pulling away to kiss down my body
slowly, licking and nipping as he went. Once he‟d reached the waistband of my panties he
chuckled, hooking two fingers in each side and pulling them down my hips and off my dangling
legs. “So beautiful,” he breathed as he stepped back to stare at me, lying stretched out, naked
across a tea table in his garden where anyone coming down the path could see. A light breeze blew
and I shivered as it played across my body, the green eyed man standing in front of me smirking
wickedly.
His hands came up to undo the buttons of his shirt and I couldn‟t tear my gaze away as his shirt
parted slowly, revealing a firm, muscled chest beneath. I was mesmerized as he pushed the shirt
from his shoulders and gazed longingly at me. The index finger of his left hand grazed along my
inner thigh and it was all I could do not to moan.
“Mine,” he whispered so quietly that I if I hadn‟t seen his mouth move, I wouldn‟t have been sure
he actually said it. “My very own,” he murmured as he dropped to his knees in front of the table
and I gasped as he laid a chaste kiss onto the top of my mound.
“Tell me,” he dipped his head and then tentatively licked at my swollen clit. “Tell me you‟re mine.”
My stomach coiled, the heat inside of it ignited by his tongue causing me to squirm. His lips circled
my nub and sucked it into his mouth hard, and I began to shake, almost convulsing as all my
muscles tightened and white lights exploded inside my head. I shivered as I opened my eyes and
found him licking up the juices coming from my body. “Say it,” he warned. “Say it or I‟ll stop right
now.”
“Yours,” I whimpered.
“Good girl.” He rose to his feet and I could see him opening the buttons on his trousers. I gasped
as he pulled his hardened length out. I wasn‟t completely cut off from society so I had seen a
man‟s cock before. I‟d even taken Art History in college and seen pictures of David. I wasn‟t
completely naive but I‟d never seen an actual naked man, live and in person so-to-speak. All I
could think as I watched him stroke himself slowly was -- surely they aren‟t supposed to be that
big?
“Edward?” I stuttered.
“Hmmm,” he almost purred the word out as he reached for my legs, wrapping them around his
hips as he leaned forward to kiss me.
“I‟m,” I felt myself blush. “I‟m a --”
Edward pulled back with a questioning look and then amused recognition filled his eyes. “Oh, most
definitely MY Alice then. Don‟t worry,” he murmured into my ear before sucking the delicate skin
behind it into his mouth. “I‟ll make sure it feels good.”
Good, I thought to myself as the thick head of his cock pressed into me, his shaft sliding in further
and filling me to the point I was arching my back and squirming to get away from the feel of him
ripping me apart from the inside.
“Shh,” Edward held me tightly, stroking my back, and stopped moving. “Shh,” he repeated, kissing
each of my cheeks. I felt his hips shift slightly, pulling away from me and lessening the pressure
inside of me and then they snapped back forward sharply, breaking through my barrier and I let
out a muffled scream of shock. Edward didn‟t move and as my panic subsided, I realized he was
fully inside of me and, while I felt full, it didn‟t hurt. He started to pump his hips shallowly and I
gasped in surprise. Not only did it not hurt, it actually felt very, very good. I pressed my hips
against his, changing the angle slightly, and it felt even better.
One of Edward‟s hands met mine at the top of the table and he tangled his fingers together with
my own as he lengthened his strokes, sliding in and out of me smoothly.
“You like this don‟t you?” he groaned into my neck. “You‟re such a naughty girl, you like that I
have you naked across a table out in the open where anyone could come by and see. Don‟t you?”
I shouldn‟t, some grasping part of my mind yelled. I should be repulsed by my actions, even if this
was a dream. What would my mother say?
“Yes,” I moaned as all the rest of my brain took the still unconvinced part, bound her and threw
her in a closet filled with useless information such as how to properly organize a shower invitation
so that it looked neat and the correct way to crochet a doily. I felt the same churning in my
stomach as before and tightened my grasp on the table. Edward must have felt the shift in my
body because the corner of his mouth lifted in a heartbreakingly beautiful smile as his hips began
to pound against me in a punishing rhythm.
“Mine,” he ground out as my muscles clenched and I felt his cock swell inside of me as the white
hot lights exploded again and my body shook in ecstasy.
“MINE!” Edward roared as he snapped his hips forward a final time and I felt his cock pulse inside
me as he collapsed forward, barely catching his weight on his forearms before he dropped his head
and gave me a gentle kiss.
“So you don‟t want a refund?” I panted, completely unaware of whatever rubbish was spewing
from my mouth.
“Most definitely not, Al--” he shifted out of me and pulled up his trousers, buttoning them up.
Leaning down, he picked me up from the table and cradled me, wrapping my arms around his neck
and my legs around his waist before he lifted me bodily. “Bella, I want to keep you forever. What
do you say?”
“Uh,” he lifted his head to kiss me tenderly and I trembled, still feeling the aftershocks of the
pleasure he‟d just wrought in my body. He walked slowly back up the front path, and up the two
steps to his door, leaning me against the frame.
“Be my Alice?” He whispered against my mouth, hopeful as he pressed his hips against mine and I
found that he was hard again. “Please?”
“Y,y,y, ye,yes?” I stuttered and felt Edward‟s smile bloom as he kissed me, pushing my right leg
down so I was standing on it, pressed back against the door with my left leg still wrapped around
his hip as he fumbled with the button of his trousers.
“You want to, to --”
“Oh yes,” Edward purred as he kissed me again, bending his knees slightly to overcome our height
difference as he pushed inside me and I groaned. “Very much so.”
Chapter 4.
I lay there and watched as she snuffled in her pillow and then burrowed her head deeper. The sun
had just risen in the West and I had a few hours before I had to rouse her for the day. There were
rules we would need to go over before I left for my shop, things she would need to know. I draped
my arm back around her tiny waist and pulled her naked body closer. My Alice.
My Bella, I mentally chastised myself. That had been one of the things she was adamant about last
night, as we lay here and talked. She wouldn‟t be referred to as Alice.
“An Alice is a thing,” Bella had pursed her lips and glared at me. “I‟m not a thing. I‟m a person.”
“It‟s a title,” I pointed out.
“It turns me into a possession,” she argued. “I shouldn‟t be a possession. Calling me your Alice
sounds like saying my hat or my glass of water. I‟m a person not a thing you own.”
“But you are mine,” I replied. She had blushed a lovely shade of scarlet then and I had
immediately felt myself harden as she bit her lip. Shifting away from her I let the blankets fall
between us. I had claimed her four times by that point and I knew her body was too sore for me to
pleasure another time.
“That‟s different,” she snapped. “You don‟t own me. I am with you because you asked and I
agreed.”
“Yes,” I nodded, “but by calling you Alice, I‟m not degrading you. Alice‟s are respected here, you
are important. By calling you by your proper title, I‟m showing you the respect you deserve and
making sure that others do the same.”
“Oh,” she had bit her lip then and began to pluck at the blankets nervously.
“How is this for a compromise my beautiful Bella?” I had reached for her hand then, stilling it
before she plucked a hole in the blanket and causing her to stare up at me. Jasper, Emmett and
Carlisle had all warned me that Alice‟s were unlike the other women in Wonderland. They couldn‟t
be treated like the Mary Anne‟s or the women in Garrett and Eleazar‟s pub. An Alice was a special
gift that should be cherished and treated well. That meant compromise on my part. “Here, when it
is us, I shall call you Bella because you prefer it. When we are in public, I will call you Alice or, if
the other Alice‟s are present, Alice Isabella because that is your proper title. How is that for a
compromise?”
“Of course,” she looked back at the blankets and I could see she was embarrassed. “I don‟t mean
to start trouble, Edward.”
“You‟ve caused no trouble,” I replied as I pulled her closer, turning her so that her back was to my
front and kissed the top of her head. “You wish to be called by your own, very beautiful name
because it is who you are. I wish to make sure that you are given the proper respect that you
rightfully deserve. These aren‟t mutually disjoint desires. They are both easily achieved by
compromise. Are we agreed?”
“Yes.” She had nodded then and I tucked the blankets around her.
“Now,” I fluffed her pillows slightly and then lay down myself, turning my head to blow out the
lamp. “You have had a very eventful day and I‟m sure I have made you tired and sore as well.”
“I‟m not that,” the back of her neck blushed a furious red and I leaned down to kiss her behind the
ear.
“I expect tomorrow you will want to explore your new home so tonight you should rest.” She had
nodded obediently then and I curled around her to sleep.
I pulled her closer and kissed her ear as I reveled in the fact that I had my very own Alice lying in
my arms. She was everything I had dreamed about since the minute Emmett‟s Alice had arrived. I
had begun to worry that perhaps only two would ever fall down the rabbit hole, and I would never
find a mate of my own. Then, last winter, I began to get an odd feeling that I should visit the
rabbit hole. It made no sense but it was after a week of denying myself, it had become an
obsession. Instead of going, I had waited for Carlisle to come into town and met him and Emmett
for a drink at the Inn instead.
“It feels like an itch between your shoulder blades,” Emmett nodded. “And no matter what you do
you can‟t get rid of it?”
“Yes,” I buried my face in my mug of ale. “It‟s this persistent voice telling me I need to go to the
rabbit hole.”
“There must be another Alice being prepared.” Carlisle said knowingly.
“Another Alice?”
“Specifically, your Alice,” Emmett agreed.
“My Alice?”
“Did you feel like this when Alice fell down the rabbit hole?” Carlisle asked.
“I wasn‟t here when the first Alice arrived,” I answered. “I came after.”
“That‟s right,” Emmett agreed, “neither of us where here for the original Day of Arrival.”
“What about when Rosalie fell? Did you feel this itch then?”
“No,” I shook my head miserably. I needed to be at the rabbit hole, not sitting here drinking with a
man I considered to be like a father figure and the other like a brother to me. The problem was I
didn‟t know why I needed to be there.
“I did though,” Emmett pointed out. “I could hardly tear myself away from the rabbit hole until
Rosalie arrived. Since then, I‟ve had no desire to even go back.”
“What about now?” I asked anxiously. “Do you feel the itch?”
“No,” Emmett shook his head. “I feel something. Like I know something will happen but I don‟t feel
the need to go to the gardens or the rabbit hole.”
“And I‟ve never felt anything,” Carlisle pointed out. “Like Emmett said, I can feel that something is
coming. It‟s like a storm in the air. Everyone can feel it, look around you, they‟re getting ready for
something even if they don‟t know what it is. But you‟re the only one who can feel the pull toward
the rabbit hole. That means that an Alice is coming and she‟s yours.”
“So what do I do?”
“You go and you wait,” Emmett answered. “An Alice can‟t leave through the doors without help so
if you‟re not there and she arrives, she‟ll have to wait for you to rescue her.”
“But what do I do once she‟s arrived? I don‟t know how to treat an Alice.”
“Treat her like a lady,” Carlisle answered and took a final swig of his ale before setting the empty
tankard on the table and placing some bronze coins beside it. “Show her respect and courtesy. If
you treat her considerately, she‟ll find herself happy with you.”
I nodded miserably as he put on his hat and walked away. Surely it would be more complicated
than treating her considerately? She would be confused when she arrived. I had been horribly lost
and I knew I wouldn‟t have survived without the help of my adopted family. Would she see me as
someone to help her, someone to lean on? Or would she see me as a monster that had somehow
caused her to fall into my world, cut off forever from her own?
“Edward,” Emmett broke me out of my reverie.
“Yes?”
“I didn‟t want to say this while Carlisle was here because he won‟t really understand. Esme isn‟t an
Alice, is she?”
“No,” I shook my head. Esme was the White Queen, but she wasn‟t an Alice.
“An Alice needs to be treated with respect and courtesy, Carlisle‟s right about that. But an Alice
also needs structure. She needs to be taught how to behave because of how dangerous it is here
for her. She needs to know her place.”
“And how do I teach her that?”
“Mount her,” Emmett shrugged and I sputtered into my ale.
“What?! She‟s an Alice, not some,” I lowered my voice, “not some Mary Ann or one of the women
here at the Inn!”
“You were planning on mounting her at some point though weren‟t you?” Emmett asked
speculatively. “You cannot keep a chaste Alice.”
“Do you have to use that word?” I hissed. “And yes, I intend to make love to my Alice when she
arrives. You don‟t have to be vulgar about it.”
“Fine,” Emmett rolled his eyes. “Then make love to your Alice as soon as you can after she arrives.
Then, once that‟s out of the way, mount her frequently; as often as you‟re both able, until she‟s
adjusted to her life here. Fill her free moments by being between her thighs and she‟ll quit thinking
of the home she left behind quicker.”
“And what if my Alice,” I could feel my cheeks filling with blood, “what if my Alice doesn‟t want me
to fill her free moments between her thighs?”
“Then teach her to want it,” Emmett shrugged.
“I‟m not going to force my way between --”
“I didn‟t say force,” Emmett cut in. “Be respectful to her, she‟s an Alice after all, and having her is
a privilege, be courteous, be concerned for her welfare. All of those are important things, but an
Alice also needs a firm hand. She needs to be properly grounded. An Alice who isn‟t will flout the
rules, she‟ll cause an uproar and then she‟ll get hurt.”
“You don‟t --”
“There have been other Alice‟s,” Emmett muttered.
“There have? When? I‟ve never seen another Alice!”
“An Alice that doesn‟t know her place and doesn‟t mind is an Alice that draws the wrong sort of
attention.”
“The wrong sort --”
“The Red Queen has spies,” Emmett still kept his voice low and looked around nervously. “Just
before you came, an Alice fell down the rabbit hole for Michael. She refused to behave and drew
the Red Queen‟s attention.”
“But what happened?”
“A Jabberwocky must be fed,” Emmett shifted uncomfortably. “And they relish the flesh of an
Alice.”
“You mean --”
“Be firm with your Alice. Teach her to adjust to Wonderland and mind the rules that keep her safe.
If you care for her then the easiest way to get her to do that is to be firm with her in bed and keep
her there as much as possible until she learns.”
Bella murmuring into her pillow pulled me from my reverie and I looked at her in awe. My Bella. My
beautiful, wonderful, exquisite Bella. I would make sure she learned how to behave here and I
would keep her safe. I would keep her presence a secret as long as possible so that I could make
sure she was fully acclimated before taking her to meet the Queens. I had no fear of the White
Queen but I would take no chances with the Red. I had seen her terrible Jabberwocky and I would
not chance Bella being harmed by it.
Glancing out the window, I could see that the sun was higher in the sky and soon it would be
necessary to leave our bed and open my shop. Sliding down the length of her body, I nestled my
head between Bella‟s thighs and breathed deeply. The musky scent of her sex tickled my nose and
I couldn‟t help sticking my tongue out to lick. She let out a soft moan and I glanced up at her face;
she was still sleeping. I licked a long stripe from her opening to her clit and circled it with my
tongue. Her eyelids fluttered as I sucked her clit into my mouth and I felt her juices begin to flow.
“Oh,” she gasped, sleepily and began to squirm. I increased my suction and I could feel her clit
engorging inside of my mouth as she got closer to her unexpected, early morning release. Slipping
my right hand up her thigh, I slipped two of my fingers inside of her and hooked the fingers,
finding the rough, spongy spot inside of her that had made her scream in delight the night before.
Rubbing my fingers across it, I focused my eyes on her face as she began to pant loudly, tossing
her head from side to side as her climax was wrenched from her.
“Oh Edward,” she whimpered as I slipped my fingers from her and she shuddered. Crawling up the
bed, I lightly kissed the tip of her chin before collapsing onto my back and pulling her over to sit on
top of me, straddling my hips. Once she was there, I kept my hands on her hips and pressed
myself against her, hoping that she would shift and allow my straining cock to slip inside of her.
“Edward,” she bit her lower lip and her eyes widened as she tugged at my shoulder.
“I‟ve given you pleasure this morning,” I answered firmly. “You think I should leave our bed
without some of my own? That is very selfish; don‟t you think?”
“But,” her face was flaming now.
“Bella,” I tried to make my voice sound stern. “You‟ve had an orgasm already this morning and I
don‟t intend to leave this bed until I do as well. Now, I‟m being kind enough to give you the choice
of how I shall find my release, even though I would prefer to do it inside your warm, sweet body
while making you shake from the pleasure I‟m giving you. Make your decision if you please.”
Bella tugged at my shoulder again and I stared up at her uncomprehendingly as she struggled with
her embarrassment. “I want you inside of me,” she whispered.
“Of course,” I pressed my hips up against her as she tugged on my shoulder again. Suddenly it
made sense. My Bella was shy; she wasn‟t ready to take the initiative yet. Rolling her over, I
slipped between her thighs and quickly slid inside of her. Her body welcomed me inside of it and I
buried my head in her neck, ashamed that I was so close to release already. I kept my pace slow
because I knew she was sore and soon she was squirming underneath me.
“Edward,” she moaned softly and I pressed against her harder. “Please Edward,” she whimpered
and pushed her hips against mine. “I, I --”
I felt her walls clench around me and groaned as my own orgasm took hold. “My beautiful, Bella,” I
moaned and then leaned up to kiss her lips as I slipped out of her. Pulling the blankets around her
I leaned in for another kiss before slipping from the bed.
“Edward?”
“Hmm?” I grabbed my trousers from the side chair.
“Is it silly to say I love you?”
“No,” I sat down on the bed and gathered her into my arms. “It‟s not silly. You‟re my Alice. We
belong together. It‟s only natural that we should feel love.”
“So, you love me as well?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “I love you as well.”
“Oh, good. Um, what should I do today?”
“Well,” I glanced at the wardrobe. “You can do whatever you like. There‟s a dress in the wardrobe
for when you arrived but I‟ll buy you some more clothing today. I only have a few rules and those
are for your safety.”
“What?”
“Until you‟ve gotten acclimated to being here, I would ask that you do not go any farther than the
fence. Don‟t go onto the path or into the woods. Is that clear?”
“Yes.”
“Good, there are things out there that can hurt you and I‟d prefer for you to be safe. Next, don‟t
open the door to strangers. There are people out there who would harm an Alice just because she‟s
an Alice and like it or not, you are an Alice. Agreed?”
“Yes,” Bella nodded as I leaned down for a final kiss and reached for my coat, slipping it on.
“One final thing,” I smiled as I walked through the door and glanced back over my shoulder at her.
“Be naked when I get home.”
Chapter 5.
I rolled over and stared at the ceiling as I heard the click of the front door. I had the day to myself
and nothing I was required to do. The problem was that I hadn‟t expected to wake up here. This
was supposed to be a dream, a very good dream, but still a dream. Last I had checked, the
concept of a dream was that you fell asleep, ended up in a dream state where odd occurrences
could take place, behave totally against your better nature -- like having sex on a table outside
with a strange man -- without consequences, and then wake up back where you started.
Meanwhile, I had apparently fallen asleep -- without my knowledge -- ended up in a dream state
where I had fallen down the rabbit hole and ended up inside an adult version of a fairy tale, lost my
virginity by having mind blowing sex with a young man I‟d never met before who was more than a
little odd, and then fallen asleep expecting to wake up back wherever I had originally fallen asleep.
That was where my plan had fallen apart -- I was still in said odd, young man‟s bed and he had left
for work. Something was very wrong.
“Well,” I murmured, “obviously I‟m supposed to do something to wake up.” I slipped out of the bed
and immediately winced at the pain between my legs. The dream was certainly more realistic than
I had expected in that regards. “Ugh,” I glanced down and noticed the traces of dried blood on my
upper thighs. “First things first, I‟m taking a nice long, hot bath.”
I walked to the wardrobe in the corner of Edward‟s bedroom and opened the door to find a blue
dress inside. I wondered briefly who the dress had belonged to but Edward had told me the night
before that he had been waiting for an Alice and that they usually appeared naked. Perhaps he had
just been prepared for my arrival?
“You know,” I muttered, “I think I‟ll be happier if I just let myself think that the dress was
preemptively bought for me. If that‟s not the case then ignorance is bliss.”
Grabbing the dress and the white cotton panties and bra from the shelf above it, I looked around
for stockings or shoes and found none. I didn‟t see any reason to worry about it because I hated
the stilettos that Angela had forced me into, I could simply go barefoot until Edward provided me
with a pair of shoes. Walking into the room Edward had gone into to wash earlier, I found a large,
claw footed bathtub and -- thankfully -- taps for running water. I hadn‟t wanted to ask the night
before but I had been terrified that the house would be built to accommodate someone from Lewis
Carroll‟s England, without indoor plumbing or running water. Turning the tap on, I let the hot water
fill the tub to it‟s brim and then slipped into it‟s luxurious heat.
“Ooohh,” I groaned as the heat enveloped me and I felt my muscles immediately begin to loosen.
Letting my head fall back onto the edge of the tub, I closed my eyes and began to replay last night
in my head. It had been -- I smirked -- better than my mother had claimed it would be. That was a
definite start in my description of last night. Renee had always warned me that my wifely duties
would be just that -- chores, duties that I would be forced to perform as a good wife.
“Sex is about procreation,” Renee had been lecturing me since I‟d reached puberty. “All these loose
women who are fixated on their own pleasure are behaving sinfully. Sex is something to be done
for a purpose not for idle enjoyment.”
“Hmph,” I snorted at my memory of Renee. “Shows what you know.” Last night had been amazing
and I had been surprised to find that Edward had been determined that I find the experience
pleasurable. Extremely pleasurable, in fact. Too bad that at some point I would do whatever was
necessary and then wake up to find that all of this -- Edward and all the things he‟d done to
pleasure me -- were all figments of my overactive imagination and in no way real. I somehow
doubted that Eric would be quite so determined that I enjoy our sexual intercourse.
“Ugh,” I shivered as I thought about Eric and then pushed the thought of him from my mind as I
focused instead on the dream lover I‟d found myself attached to. Was it strange that I had fallen in
love with a figment of my imagination? Surely it was to be expected. After all, Edward was what
my mind created as the perfect man. The problem was that now I would hold every man I met to
Edward‟s standard. Could I learn to love Eric, or anyone else for that matter, with as much passion
and intensity as I did Edward? Especially after such a scant few hours together? Or would I be
disappointed for the rest of my life; waiting for a man who made me feel like my dream lover did
with merely a glance?
“Don‟t be ridiculous,” I snorted. “The intensity will fade, just like any other dream. Might as well
get on with the day; no sense in lingering.”
I put my hands on the side of the tub and pushed myself upright, reaching for the fluffy towel on
the rack next to the tub. Drying off quickly, I reached for the clothes I‟d brought into the bathroom
with me and promptly slipped into them. Standing in front of the mirror, I began to do up the front
buttons on the dress and watched myself in the mirror. It was baggy almost everywhere, I‟d guess
it was one size too large for me, and instead of being the blue dress from the Walt Disney movie it
was instead a knee length blue shirt dress with blue buttons down the front and cap sleeves.
“Knowing Edward, he probably thought the front buttons would give him easier access,” I snorted
as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I blushed and then giggled. If I wasn‟t going to wake up
before he arrived home then his assumption would have been correct. As it stood, I didn‟t expect
to be here when he got back, which he wouldn‟t, because I hadn‟t imagined where Edward worked.
So in reality, he was simply sitting in a black hole of nothingness inside the recesses of my mind.
My stomach growled loudly and I sighed. “Might as well have some imaginary breakfast,” I
shrugged and walked out of the bathroom, back through the bedroom we‟d shared the night before
and into the front rooms of the cottage.
I glanced around the front parlor and noticed that -- unlike the bathroom -- it did appear to be
straight out of Victorian England. There was a large picture window that looked out into the front
garden, with delicate lace curtains tied back on the sides. On the far wall was a stone fireplace,
with a looking glass over the mantel and a sturdy gold clock resting on it. A log inside of it looked
as if it had never been burned and when I stepped closer, I saw the discreetly hidden button that
indicated that it was a push start fireplace, and the log hid the workings of the gas fireplace inside.
“Curious,” I smirked as I turned to reanalyze the room. There was a low table covered in hardback
books, the most modern being Jane Austen, and it was flanked on the long end by a low, black
leather settee and on each side by two black leather wing-backed chairs. “These are what they
seem,” I muttered as I sat down heavily on the settee. “Although I don‟t expect furniture has
changed much in essence between Lewis Carroll‟s time and mine.” That was when I noticed that
the furniture was shifted slightly, not quite looking at the fire, nor out the picture window like one
would expect but instead at an ornate Chinese cabinet in the corner of the room.
“I wonder,” I stood and walked over to the armoire, flicking open the unsecured, decorative locks
and pulling open the doors. “Yep, just as I suspected,” I muttered at the flat screen tv and the
expensive stereo system in front of me. “Someone has done a lot of work to make it appear as
though you aren‟t here. I suspect, as long as no one were to enter the bedroom or the bath, you‟d
hardly guess that all the modern conveniences were tucked away out of sight.”
Closing the door to the armoire, I turned and walked past the piano, out of the parlor, and into the
dining room. Everything there looked authentic as well but when I stood on a chair to look into the
light coverings on the chandelier, I noticed that the lights inside were electric and not candle. Just
behind the china cabinet, I found the switch, discreetly hidden. “Hmph,” I snorted. “You‟re not
nearly as clever as you think you are -- once someone‟s let in on the secret.”
With that, I walked out the far door and into the similarly disguised kitchen. The refrigerator was
hidden inside what appeared to be a pantry, the oven and a dishwasher inside what should have
been cabinets, the range built into the counter top, and the microwave and toaster hidden inside
what appeared to be a bread box at first glance. “This,” I glanced at the coffee maker inside what I
had thought was a storage space, “is decidedly odd. Why would someone go to all this trouble to
hide modern conveniences? Why make it look as though you were living with the deprivations of
Victorian England when you‟re not? Does everyone here have all these things or is it just Edward? I
mean, the bunny had electric lights, surely this isn‟t that far of a stretch?”
A scratch at the kitchen door brought me out of my reverie and I glanced over, suddenly fearful.
Edward had told me not to open the door for anyone, that somehow my presence here wasn‟t
entirely safe. Should I run? Hide, perhaps? The specter outside the door scratched again, low down
near its base and I heard the sound of a hound‟s whimper.
“You‟re being silly, Bella!” I chastised myself as I crept to the tiny window and peeked out --
finding exactly what I expected to see. The Great Dane outside looked up at me with mournful,
liquid brown eyes and I let out an exasperated sigh. Why hadn‟t Edward told me he had a dog? I
hadn‟t seen any evidence of him elsewhere in the house, but maybe he made his home in the back
garden? The dog scratched again and began to whimper pitifully.
“Oh all right,” I shook my head as I opened the door and the Dane bounded in, wagging his tail
happily. “I expect you‟re an outside dog but I can‟t see what it‟ll hurt to let you in for a while.
How‟s this? I‟ll leave the door open and we‟ll enjoy the sunshine together. Edward didn‟t forbid me
from going outside -- just from going past the gate and I won‟t do that, so it should be fine. And
you‟re not really a person, just the dog, so he won‟t complain if you keep me company. Will he
boy?”
The dog panted in reply, his tail wagging eagerly as he immediately stuck his nose into my crotch.
“No!” I pushed his head away firmly. “First place a dog goes without fail,” I muttered to myself as
the dog huffed and went to the corner of the kitchen to curl up in a ball and sleep. “I‟ve already
had your master‟s head down their today. I don‟t need anyone else‟s. Although,” I blushed and
then immediately felt silly. It wasn‟t as if the dog could actually understand me. “It was rather nice
this morning. It‟s a shame I‟ll wake up and none of it will be real.”
The dog snorted and I gave it a sharp glance. “Fine, be that way. See if I talk to you anymore.”
With that, I walked out of the kitchen and the dog followed lazily, trailing along behind me as I
sipped the cup of tea I‟d made myself and nibbled at a slice of bread. What was it that I was
required to do to get home, I wondered. Surely it had to be something in the house.
I wandered into the front parlor and flopped down heavily on the couch, reaching for the hard
bound collection of Austen‟s novels I‟d seen on the table during my first pass through the room. In
the original story of Alice in Wonderland, she‟d fallen asleep reading a book and woken when she
was startled by a pack of cards. I‟d apparently either fainted or been knocked out having been
startled by Eric‟s proposal. “So,” I looked sternly at the book, “it would make sense that if I do
everything in reverse of the first Alice, I‟ll wake up just where I belong; even if I don‟t want to.
That means,” I flipped through the book. “I must find the dullest of her novels and soon I‟ll doze off
to sleep. Not Northanger Abbey -- I laugh too much in it -- or Pride and Prejudice, I‟ll just start
fantasizing about Edward as my own Mr. Darcy, here it is -- Mansfield Park. I always hated this
one. I should be asleep in no time.”
The dog snorted from his nest in the corner as I curled up on the settee and began to read -- quite
quickly falling asleep, just as I suspected. The excitement of the previous day must have taken
more of a toll on me than I had expected because I slipped deeper into sleep, drowsing away the
afternoon in a state of semiconsciousness, waiting with a heavy heart for the dream to shift and
find myself back in a reality that was far less pleasant.
I must have finally given up the ghost of consciousness and slipped completely under, dreamlessly,
because I was startled awake by the sound of the door standing and a loud roar of anger. Jolting
upright, sure I had woken back in a reality where the worst might have happened -- Eric deciding
to take liberties with my unconscious form to insure that we would be wed -- and found instead,
Edward standing over the top of me, his back facing me as he roared at the beast in the corner.
“Jake!” He snarled angrily and the dog raised its head insolently, standing up and stretching it‟s
back out leisurely.
Turning, lips white with fury, Edward glared at me. “What did I tell you this morning?” He hissed. “I
gave you very simple instructions!”
“And I followed them,” I protested, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. “I haven‟t even left the house!
I didn‟t wander out at all.”
“I told you not to open the door to anyone!”
“And I didn‟t. The only thing that came to the door was your dog. I just let him in. I didn‟t think it
was that big of a deal.”
“The dog,” Edward spat angrily and turned to stare at him again. “You didn‟t bother to shift in front
or her? I‟m surprised.”
I watched in horror as the Dane shifted into the shape of a tall, dark haired, young man. The
strange shaggy, black markings around his hind quarters I‟d noticed earlier had turned into a pair
of loose fitting black shorts. “Didn‟t seem to be much point,” the young man shrugged and glared
at Edward. “I could smell your stench reeking off her the minute she opened the door. You must
have spent half the night buried inside of her.”
I gasped in horror as his words hit home. He‟d been trying to see if he could smell -- I stared at
him, my mouth hanging open.
“Out,” Edward growled angrily.
“Yeah, yeah,” the young man shrugged as he sauntered toward the door. “Leah said to tell you
that the chess match is set for one month from today. Now that the Red Queen‟s been informed
that, as she suspected, another Alice has appeared, you‟ll of course be required to present her.”
“Perhaps,” Edward snapped, “if I feel like attending.”
“Don‟t be ridiculous,” Jacob grinned as he stepped out the door and then glanced back over his
shoulder. “Come willingly or she‟ll simply send her guards. And you know how rough around the
edges they can be.”
Chapter 6.
I strolled toward the house, whistling, with my hands in my trouser pockets. The cottage looked
the same as before everything weird had started happening and I hoped, now that Bella had
arrived, things would begin to act rationally again. First, it had been the urge to constantly be at
the rabbit hole. It was almost like a compulsion. Then, weird things had started popping up around
my cottage, devices took over my cupboards and my fireplace now held a contraption that wouldn‟t
allow me to burn logs. The dining room chandelier was unusable because of glass bubbles inside
the candle holders and when I replaced it the very same thing happened immediately. None of it
had even begun until the first urge to find Bella had manifested. Maybe it was all related to her
somehow?
“Lazy sow,” I heard Jacob growl inside my mind and immediately focused on that instead of my
own thoughts. “It‟s bad enough that I had to come all the way out here to find that I could smell
his stench from through the garden gate. One sniff of the garden and I knew the fool had talked to
someone, he knew the ropes. I‟m surprised he didn‟t bend her over the fence post and just do her
there, would have been just the same.
“No, Leah tells me that „Her Majesty‟ commands that I commence Plan B. Like that‟s going to work.
He obviously warned the little bitch not to go outside. There‟s no chance I‟ll get her past the gate
now. But do I get to go home? Have some lunch perhaps? No, I have to sit here and watch her
catch a few z‟s, stinking like a bitch in heat and not a thing for me to do about it.”
I was running now, trying to cover as much ground as possible to get to Bella. What had she been
thinking? I‟d told her, ordered her even, not to let anyone in the house! I warned her that it was
dangerous. I sprinted through the garden, leaving the gate open and raced to the house. I hadn‟t
been stupid, I‟d been prepared for the Red Queen to be alerted of an Alice‟s arrival and I‟d done
everything in my power to protect her. I‟d already laid claim to her yesterday so Jacob wouldn‟t be
able to force himself upon her, and since she belonged to me now, Jacob couldn‟t compel her
beyond the borders of my protections. If he‟d somehow persuaded her out one of the gates
though, I swallowed hard as I threw open the front door and spied her fast asleep and completely
unaware on the settee.
I heard the low growl and turned to see Jacob glaring at me from the corner. Still facing him, I
moved backwards slowly, keeping my body between him and the sleeping young woman on the
settee. “Jake!”
“What?” He asked me from inside his mind and I snarled back angrily at his tone. “Afraid I already
broke the rest of her in for you?” He raised his head insolently and then stood, stretching his back
out in feigned casualness. “Alas,” he continued silently. “I would have, she bent over to retrieve
something from the cupboard --”
I could see the mental picture he was forming for me. Bella, bent from the waist as she rooted
through a lower cupboard shelf looking for something, her ass teasingly jutted upward into the air.
The image shifted and I could see Jacob behind her now, holding her hips tightly as he fucked her
ass, Bella sobbing in terror and pain as he entered her. “But she reeked so much of you that it was
unbearable.”
Turning, I glared at the now awake and confused woman sitting on the settee behind me. “What
did I tell you this morning? I gave you very simple instructions!”
“And I followed them,” She pouted, sitting up and rubbing her eyes like a small child. “I haven‟t
even left the house! I didn‟t wander out at all.”
“I told you not to open the door to anyone!”
“And I didn‟t. The only thing that came to the door was your dog. I just let him in; I didn‟t think it
was that big of a deal.”
“The dog,” I felt the terror lingering in my chest turn to relief and rage mingling together and I
turned to stare at him again, daring him to continue with his fantasies of debauching and abusing
my Alice. “You didn‟t bother to shift in front or her? I‟m surprised.”
“Wasn‟t like I could have any fun now could I?” he snickered mentally and then shifted. I could
hear Bella gasp behind me and it didn‟t help my anger that after I had warned her about the
dangers here she‟d still been so oblivious. Surely she knew that not everything here was as it had
been above? “Didn‟t seem to be much point,” Jake shrugged, giving me a smug glare. “I could
smell your stench reeking off her the minute she opened the door. You must have spent half the
night buried inside of her.”
I heard Bella gasp in horror as his words hit home and she realized what he meant. Of course I‟d
spent half the night claiming my Alice, it was my right, and it provided her with a mild form of
protection after all. He‟d have never gotten her outside the gates, even if I‟d only taken her once,
but I had hoped if my smell was fresh he wouldn‟t even bother to try. Obviously I had been wrong.
Glancing back, I could see that her mouth was hanging open in shock.
“Out,” I ordered and Jake only smirked in reply. He knew that he‟d gotten to me. Both of us knew
what it meant that he‟d found her here, gained admittance to the house so that he could send a
confirmation back through his link to Leah and the rest of his pack that there was, in fact, another
Alice in Wonderland. No matter how much I wanted to hide her now it would be impossible. There
would be no period of adjustment for Bella like I had hoped, no chance for her to acclimate and
allow me to explain things to her slowly. Now she would have to be presented to the Queens at the
next possible chance, risking her life in the process.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jake shrugged as he sauntered toward the door. “Leah said to tell you that the chess
match is set for one month from today. Now that the Red Queen‟s been informed that, as she
suspected, another Alice has appeared, you‟ll of course be required to present her.”
“Perhaps,” I argued, knowing that it was futile but still feeling as if I needed to show some sort of
defiance, “if I feel like attending.”
“Don‟t be ridiculous,” Jacob grinned as he stepped out the door and then glanced back over his
shoulder. “Come willingly or she‟ll simply send her guards. And you know how rough around the
edges they can be.”
The door slammed shut and I turned to glare at Bella, now sitting upright on the settee. “Do you
have any idea what you‟ve done?” I yelled and she immediately cowered away from me. “Any idea
at all the danger you‟ve put yourself into with that stunt today?”
“I, I, I didn‟t know, I didn‟t think --” she stammered.
“That‟s right!” I snapped. “You didn‟t think! I warned you that Wonderland was a dangerous place
for you. That there were people that would hurt you! What did you do? Did you listen and follow
my orders? No! No, you allow the most dangerous person in Wonderland access to the house! You
invite him in where he could have hurt you! Do you know how lucky you are that he didn‟t?”
“How was I supposed to know?” Bella cried out angrily, standing and stomping her foot for
emphasis. “I thought he was just a dog!”
“How could you have been so stupid?”
“How was I supposed to know that he was some sort of shape shifting dog? Who thinks that a dog
is anything but what he appears? In my world --”
“In your world do the rabbits routinely wear waist coats? Do girls fall down holes and then shrink
when they hit the bottom? No, no they do not! So what makes you think anything from your world
applies here?”
“I just --” Bella sat back down heavily on the settee, her mouth still working but no sound coming
out.
“What are we going to do?” I muttered and began to pace the length of the parlor, pinching the
bridge of my nose. “I had hoped that I would have months to prepare you for meeting her. She‟s
notoriously difficult to please and her court is riddled with intrigue. One false move, you‟re sure to
make a false move because you don‟t know the rules to her game, and it will be off with your head
and your carcass fed to the Jabberwocky. There‟s nothing else to be done for it!” I grabbed her
upper arm and pulled her into a standing position. “I‟ll have to take you to Esme.”
“Esme? What‟s Esme?”
“The White Queen,” I answered her decisively. “She‟s got the ability to send you back. I‟ll take you
to Esme and she‟ll arrange for you to go back to your world, safe and sound. She‟ll make you
forget and then you‟ll be safe. Victoria will just have to find another way to feed her monster.”
“What?” Bella jerked backwards pulling her arm from my hand. “What do you mean send me back?
You can‟t! You wouldn‟t! You said we belonged together! You said I --”
“I said nothing about keeping you here and letting you walk into your death!”
“Then teach me what I need to know,” she pleaded. “Tell me what I should do so that I don‟t have
to leave you!”
“You think I can just teach you the rules as we go? That you can just pick it up as we go along?”
“No!” She dropped back onto the settee and wrapped her arms tightly around my upper legs,
clinging to me. “I know it won‟t be easy. But you could teach me everything that I need to know in
a month. I‟ll listen to everything you say, do everything you order. Then,”
“Then what? The minute Victoria gets you alone you‟ll falter, you‟ll misstep and then it will be off
with your head.”
“I won‟t leave your side,” she swore. “I won‟t step outside the door unless I‟m glued to your side. I
swear, I‟ll do whatever you ask. Just don‟t --”
“Bella,” I groaned miserably. Why was she doing this to me? To us? Surely she knew that I didn‟t
want to send her back to her world? That I would be lost without her? My life would be an empty
abyss without her in it. In Wonderland we mated for life and once we‟d found our mate they could
not be replaced. Indiscretions could be entered into easily -- left when they no longer suited either
or both of the parties, but an Alice -- a mate -- was a lifetime commitment. There could be no
other for me after Bella -- there would be no other.
“Please don‟t send me away,” she whimpered and I could feel wetness on the leg of my trousers,
where her face was pressed against it and felt my will crumble. I couldn‟t bear the idea of her
tears.
“Bella,” I dropped to my knees in front of her.
“I know what I did was wrong,” she sobbed. “Punish me, I don‟t care, but please don‟t send me
away. Anything but --”
“There may be a way,” I sighed. “It wasn‟t something I wanted to do but,” I looked at her, “it could
work. It would be a way to protect you.”
“Could I stay here?”
“You wouldn‟t have a choice,” I shook my head. “It‟s not something --”
“Do it,” she threw her arms around my neck and clung to me sobbing. “Whatever it is, do it. But
you can‟t send me away! I can‟t --”
“Shh,” I ran my hands up and down her back, soothing her. “It will be all right.”
“I can stay here with you?” her voice was muffled against my neck.
“Yes,” I pulled away from her, bringing her face up to mine. “It‟s just, what I‟m going to do, well it
won‟t be pleasant.”
“It doesn‟t matter.” She shook her head and I couldn‟t help but sigh. “Just do it.”
“Bella,” I tried to caution her.
“Edward,” she clung to me, “I don‟t care; just don‟t send me away.”
“Right,” I agreed and placed one of my hands on each side of her face, bringing my forehead to
touch hers.
“Will it,” she pulled back slightly. “I mean, if it does that‟s okay but I just want to know --”
“It won‟t hurt,” I promised her, taking in a shaky breath. “Just,” I exhaled. “Just relax.”
I let myself slip into her mind, a place I‟d tried my hardest to avoid lingering, it wasn‟t fair that I
could read what she was thinking and she couldn‟t do the same for me. I had become an expert at
blocking out others but now I needed to focus on her mind‟s inner workings. I found the tiny
pulsing point that I was looking for, testing the strength of the bonds already on it with my mind.
The point moved and I tried to hold fast to my courage. I quickly severed the bonds upon it and
distantly, as if it were coming to me through a large pool of water, I heard Bella gasp. Rather than
pull away from her mind, leaving her completely disoriented, I quickly focused on repairing the
tear, manipulating the cobwebs that appeared inside my mind‟s eye to reconnect the rapidly
dimming point and restore its brightness. I felt a click inside my own mind and groaned as the
connection completed. Slowly, I opened my eyes and pulled out of Bella‟s mind. Pulling my
forehead away from hers, I saw that her eyes were glazed, trying to focus as she stared at me.
“It‟s --” she shook her head, disoriented.
“It‟s a link between us,” I explained. “A bonding. Now the protection you have inside the
boundaries of the fence extend to everywhere.”
“Protections?”
“I told you today not the go beyond the gates because inside them no one could do you harm.
You‟re my Alice and as long as you are within my sphere, you cannot be harmed; that protection
ends when you step foot into the common grounds or onto someone else‟s lands in Wonderland.
Now the hold I have is on your mind as well as your body. No one here will be able to drag you
beyond the gates now and harm you.”
“Harm me?” she shook her head.
“Do you have any idea what Jake intended to do to you?” I snapped, anger flaring in my chest at
how oblivious she had been. “Do you have any idea at all, Bella?”
“No,” she shook her head, wincing and that was when I realized she could feel my anger coming
through the link.
“He wanted to persuade you to leave the gate,” I explained. “Once you were free of the gate he
could have dragged you into the forest to kill you.”
“But --”
“After he‟d had his fun, of course.” I remembered the montage that Jake had shown me and Bella
gasped, the link allowing her to see it as well. “You think that‟s bad,” I challenged her inside my
mind. “He would have done worse if I hadn‟t claimed you already.”
“Claimed? You mean --”
I allowed my memories of this morning to flow through the link and saw her blush. “Yes, claimed.
Mounted, stolen your innocence, if you prefer that term. Regardless, the fact that your virginity
now belongs to me means that he couldn‟t take you himself.”
“And a fat lot of good that would have done him,” Bella snapped. “He was repulsive!”
“And it wouldn‟t have mattered. Whoever claims an Alice first owns her. She must obey them.”
“But --”
“Jake would have wasted no time in taking you to a healer and establishing the link between you.”
“The link, you mean --”
“What I just did, yes. He would have linked you and then compelled you to do his bidding. And
don‟t doubt that what he‟d do would have made you beg for the Jabberwocky‟s jaws.”
“Edward, I don‟t understand,” she shook her head and bit her lower lip. “It‟s like I can feel
everything you‟re feeling, I can hear your thoughts, what did you do to me?”
“I linked us.” I looked down at her lap. “It wasn‟t something I wanted to do but I have to keep you
safe and since you refuse to leave --”
“I understand,” Bella nodded.
“Now,” I pinched the bridge of my nose again and sighed. This wasn‟t something I looked forward
to. “It seems I‟ll have to test the link by punishing you, not something I wanted to do if I had a
choice.”
“Punish?” Her eyes widened. “But --”
“Bella, what you did was dangerous. You could have gotten yourself killed because you didn‟t follow
my instructions.”
“And I won‟t do it again,” she answered, her eyes wide. “We‟re linked now so I can‟t do anything
that would cause me to disobey you.”
“But you could,” I answered. “Because you don‟t realize the danger you placed yourself in by
letting Jake inside the house.”
“I do now!” She insisted.
“And punishing you will make sure you don‟t forget,” I countered. “Now, stand up and take off your
dress.”
“What?” Bella shrieked as her legs immediately stood and her hands flew to her top button,
working quickly down the row of them until the dress hung open in the front, exposing her to me.
“If you hadn‟t been wearing clothes, would you have opened the door?”
“No,” she shook her head.
“Not even for the dog?”
“No,” she looked down. “I wouldn‟t have wanted anyone to see me. I would have left him in the
back garden.”
“Well then, it seems to me that until you learn some sense,” I glared at her and held out my hand
palm up. “You can‟t be trusted with clothes. Give them to me.”
“But --”
“You‟ll get them back when you need them. Now give me your clothes! Immediately, Bella!”
She sobbed once as she slipped the dress of her shoulders and handed it to me. She reached
behind her and unclasped her bra, slipping it down her arms and baring her supple breasts to me.
The bra lay in my hand, on top the dress, and her fingers twitched as if trying to defy me when it
came to her panties.
“All of it,” I warned. Her fingers immediately flew to the waistband and she skimmed them over her
hips, pushing them down her legs. She quickly handed them to me and stood there, trying to cover
herself, as she fought back her sobs.
“Go into the bedroom and bend over the side of the bed.”
Another convulsive sob escaped Bella as she turned and walked into the bedroom, her shoulders
slumped and I knew what I‟d find when I stepped into the bedroom. There she was, face down
across the mattress, her feet planted firmly on the floor and her round ass high in the air. “You‟ve
realized of course what the link does?”
She nodded against the mattress and I heard another sob. “It allows me unfettered access to your
mind, your emotions, and I can feed you whatever I like through it as well. If I choose, I can make
you feel anything I like. Allow you to read my mind. That‟s fine, a link between an Alice and her
mate that cannot be broken by distance or circumstance. Of course the downside is that I can
manipulate the link to compel you into doing whatever I ask. I could make you do anything with
just an order, Bella.”
She sobbed again, louder this time and her body shook. “Do you want to know what Jake would
have done to you? He‟d have raped you, beat you, made you beg to be defiled, made you enjoy it
even.” She was sobbing so hard now that the mattress was shaking with it. “Then he‟d have
ordered you into the pen with the Jabberwocky. You would have had no more power to resist than
you did when I took your dress. Is that what you want?”
She shook her head back and forth, sobbing inconsolably now. “Answer me.”
“No.”
“Do you know I could take off my belt and beat you until my arm was sore, bruise your ass until
you couldn‟t walk, and you‟d stay perfectly still while I did it? Thank me even if I requested it? Is
that what you want, Alice Isabella? Do you want me to beat you?”
“No,” she whimpered.
“No,” I agreed. “I didn‟t think you would. But something needs to be done so that you don‟t forget
what I tell you from now on. Plus this will allow me to test the strength of the bonding. Roll over
and sit up.”
She sniffled again and obeyed me, rolling over and sitting on the edge of the bed. Her eyes were
puffy and red, swollen from her tears. She was trembling and her shoulders shook with her held
back sobs.
“I don‟t want to hurt you,” I ran my fingers through her hair and felt my anger melt slightly as she
leaned into my hand, trusting. “I won‟t hurt you. But Bella, you must learn to listen. I don‟t give
you orders because I want to be a controlling lout.”
“Edward --”
“Lean back,” I told her gently, sinking to my knees in front of her, pressing her legs apart with my
hands.
“But --”
“Perhaps this will teach you that it‟s better when you obey my orders,” I murmured as I pressed an
open mouthed kiss against her inner thigh. Grabbing her hips firmly, I scooted her forward and
buried my face inside her pussy, lapping at her heated flesh with my tongue.
“Oh,” I heard her gasp and smiled. She was quickly becoming wet and I redoubled my efforts. I
wanted her to feel good, to enjoy what I was doing to her.
“Does this feel good my darling Alice Isabella?”
“Yes,” she moaned.
“Good,” I murmured. “I want you to enjoy it. I want you to feel good.”
“Edward,” she shifted her hips slightly, pressing her clit against my mouth and I flicked around it
rapidly with my tongue.
“You want to know what your punishment is?” I asked, my voice roughed by my need for her.
“Uh,” she grunted, and I glanced up to see that her whole body was flushed pink and her head
thrown back, eyes closed.
“You are not allowed to come without permission,” I announced and I heard her moan as her hips
shifted forward again. I sucked her clit into my mouth and began to suck on it furiously, bringing
her right to the edge and allowing her to linger there. When she began to whimper I released her
clit and glanced up. Her fingers were clutching onto the blankets and I brought my eyes down to
stare at her glistening folds and could see that her clit was swollen and red, throbbing slightly, and
knew that she was on the brink. I traced a finger between her wet lips and she shivered. Standing
up, I unfastened my belt and undid the button of my trouser, letting them slip off my hips and pool
onto the floor, pushing my underwear off with them. Stepping out of them, I looked down at her
and could see that she was staring at me, licking her lips, as I undid the buttons on my shirt,
pulling it from my shoulders.
“Do you want me Bella?” I asked, desperate for her. I wouldn‟t force her though. She had endured
yet another traumatic day and I refused to force myself upon a woman that didn‟t want me.
“Yes,” she nodded and a surge of lust hit me through the link between us.
“Well,” I smirked as I sat down heavily on the bed next to her and pulled her into my lap. “Do
something about it.” She bit her lip as I positioned her above my cock and slid her onto me, my
toes curling as her heat surrounded me.
“Edward,” she moaned and I shifted my hips upward, pressing myself as far as I could inside of
her. She began to move hesitantly, and I let her set the pace, keeping hold of her hips as she
worked herself along my length. I dropped my head forward and began to plant kisses along her
shoulder and neck. Bowing my back slightly I could capture her nipple with the tip of my tongue
and began to tease it unmercifully as she gasped and squirmed, working herself into a frenzy.
“Edward,” she cried out, jerking spasmodically around me, twitching and moaning, clutching at my
shoulders and back. “Please,” she moaned. “Oh please.”
“No,” I grunted, my resolve weakening as my balls began to tighten. I squeezed her hips to hold
her still and snapped my own against her, two thrusts and I felt my cock twitch hard, spilling my
release inside her. I couldn‟t help the groan that escaped me as I buried my head in her shoulder
and shuddered.
“Edward,” she wailed. “Please!”
“I love you,” I crooned and began to stroke her heaving back. She shifted her hips against me,
struggling to find the friction she so desperately wanted. “Promise me,” I warned. “Swear to me
that you‟ll never disobey again.”
She nodded, biting her lip, as she shifted her hips against my growing erection, rubbing her body
lewdly against mine. I was instantly hard again, something that had never happened before Bella,
and shifted her onto the bed, on her hands and knees facing the headboard.
Crawling up behind her, I planted loving kisses on her back and shoulders as I positioned myself
and slipped back inside her. “Oh,” she moaned, pressing back against me with her ass.
“I love you,” I panted as I slipped my hand around and began to fondle her clit again, causing her
to buck and writhe in front of me.
“I love you too,” she wailed. “Please, please, Edward, I promise I‟ll be good. Just please let me
come.”
Her legs began to tremble and I could feel her desperation as she tossed her head fitfully,
slamming her hips back against my own; her need making her rough and demanding. “Come for
me, sweet Isabella,” I moaned and she let out a gasp, convulsing around me and the contractions
of her walls pushed me into my second orgasm of the night.
“Oh holy crow,” she gasped as we both stilled and I pulled out of her. She collapsed face first onto
the pillows and her whole body began to tremble. I fell heavily beside her and pulled her into my
arms.
“I‟ve never been as scared as I was today, seeing him there in the corner,” I muttered. “Please,
please don‟t ever do anything so stupid and reckless again.”
“I‟m so sorry,” she sighed. “I really didn‟t know. I just thought he was a dog.”
“Bella,” I buried my head in her shoulder. “Remember, nothing here is what it appears to be. It is
never what it appears to be. Never just assume something is what it appears to be. Promise me.”
“I promise,” she nodded and let out a shuddering breath.
“Thank you,” I sighed and pulled her tighter against my chest, breathing in the scent of her hair.
She drifted off and I began to hum, lulling her deeper into sleep; preparing to spend the night
watching her as I tried to figure out exactly how we were going to keep her head off the block.
Chapter 7.
I scurried around the kitchen, putting the final touches on dinner when I heard, well more like felt,
the pull of Edward leaving the forest and making his way to the house through the link. I couldn‟t
help but giggle, he had been very conscious of not using the link between us, trying to be
respectful, but I‟d found that I had come to rely upon it. The link let me know when he was
thinking about me, when he wished he was at home, or when he was irritated about his day. I
could use the link to tell me what sort of foods he was craving or to send subliminal suggestions to
him so that he‟d crave whatever I had planned for dinner that night. More and more frequently
over the last two weeks he‟d come to rely on communicating to me through the link, practicing for
a time that we would need to use it.
As soon as I was sure that the roast was resting, I whipped off the apron and hurried into the
bedroom, fumbling with the buttons of my dress as I went. I giggled as I skimmed the dress from
my shoulders and quickly unfastened my bra, pushed down my panties, and threw my
undergarments into the dirty laundry with the dress. Edward had apologetically given me back my
dress the very next morning after establishing the link between us.
“Bella,” he had risen from the bed and was preparing for his day as I huddled under the sheets,
naked and sore from our activities the night before. “About last night --”
“I am so sorry,” I repeated fervently. He had to know that I hadn‟t intended to cause trouble for
us.
“No,” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I mean, you didn‟t know.”
“I should have listened to you, Edward. I should have known that things weren‟t the same here as
they were where I come from and I should have listened to what you told me.”
“About how I acted last night,” he looked at his hands forlornly. “I shouldn‟t have treated you like I
did.”
“Oh,” I felt my cheeks flame as I remembered what had taken place between us. “It was um,
rather, uh well --”
“Oh,” Edward‟s ears reddened. “I meant about scaring you and making you cry. I shouldn‟t have
yelled at you.”
“Oh,” I glanced down at my own hands, twisting in the bedclothes. “It‟s all right. You were just
scared.”
“And,” he turned and reached out to grab the scrap of blue lying on the chair. “I didn‟t mean what I
said about your dress. It looks really pretty on you. I mean,” he laid the dress on the side of the
bed. “We can go get you some other dresses and things one day if you‟d like. I didn‟t know what
you would like when I was picking it out but that one just seemed right. If you don‟t like it though
we‟ll get something you like more.”
“No,” I shook my head, just as embarrassed. “I think it‟s really pretty. I mean, I like it.”
“I just don‟t want you to think I‟m some sort of ogre that would actually make you stay naked all
day long,” he muttered.
“Right,” I agreed softly and sighed as he left the bedroom and I heard the door to the cottage
close. I‟d been anxious and uptight for the rest of the day, uncomfortable in the dress I‟d admired
just the day before. My anxiety had only increased as the day wore on and by the time Edward
came through the door that evening both of us were virtual wrecks.
“I‟m sorry,” he murmured in my ear as he engulfed me in his arms and carried me, feet dangling
down, through the cottage to our bedroom. “I‟m so sorry I made you cry,” he muttered as he
began to plant kisses all over my face. “I‟ve been miserable all day thinking that you were mad at
me.”
That was when we‟d realized that the link worked both ways and our moods could and did feed off
each other. I‟d been surprised to learn that I had just as much control over his moods as he did
over mine. Unfortunately, the physical control that he could exert through the link was one sided
and try as I might, I couldn‟t compel him to do anything against his own will -- much to his evident
humor every time I tried.
“You are not allowed to come,” I growled at him forcefully the first weekend we spent together;
Edward having left his assistant, Tyler -- a dormouse, to open the store so we could find me some
appropriate clothes -- at some point.
“Oh really,” he laughed as he squirmed underneath me, lifting his wrists slightly from the bed
where I had him pinned.
“No,” I answered. “You are not allowed to come.”
“Hmm,” he smirked. “Well then, Alice Isabella, neither are you.”
I felt the tightening of something inside my skin and wondered if perhaps I would feel it every time
Edward gave me an order through the link between us. Shouldn‟t I have felt it though when I
compelled him? Maybe it only worked on the one receiving the order? I glanced down and Edward
simply grinned at me like the cat who had eaten the canary as he grabbed my hips quickly and
flipped me over, pining me to the bed as he slipped inside me. His hands cupped my bottom and I
moaned as he filled me completely, thrusting inside me urgently.
“Oh,” I moaned as I felt him brushing against the spot inside of me that made my pulse race. “Oh
Edward!” His neck was next to my mouth and I couldn‟t resist lifting my head to nip at it, licking
the sweet tang of him off his skin. My fingers clawed at his back, the blunt nails tearing at his flesh
as I writhed underneath him.
“My sweet Bella,” he moaned as the hands cupping my ass moved to wrap my legs around his hips
and he shifted our positions slightly, his cock hitting spots inside of me in wholly different ways.
“Oh my sweet, sweet Bella.”
“Edward,” I screeched, balancing on the edge of a precipice and knowing that I couldn‟t topple over
into the pleasure of his touch without permission.
“Oh my Bella,” he groaned, burying his head in my neck and then I felt his hips snap forward as his
body convulsed in my arms and his cock pulsed inside of me.
“What?” I gaped as he lifted his sweaty forehead and smiled at me.
“Mmmm,” he purred. “Did I forget to tell you, my Alice Isabella?”
“You just --”
“The link doesn‟t work that way for me,” he kissed the tip of my nose chastely and then slipped out
of my body before standing up. I pressed my thighs together as the ache between them grew. “I
can compel you to do things,” he waggled an eyebrow, “or not in this case.”
“But --”
“You can‟t compel me.” Edward‟s grin was full blown and I could tell he was almost chuckling in
malicious glee. Turning, he retrieved clothes for himself out of the wardrobe and sauntered into the
bathroom. He came out a few moments later to find me still lying naked atop the sheets, glaring at
him through the door and imagining all sorts of painful ways to kill him -- after I had climaxed of
course.
“Why aren‟t you dressed?” He grinned at me again. “We need to get you some more clothes.”
“Edward,” I felt my face flame but I couldn‟t help it. Instead of fading, my desire for release was
growing exponentially.
“What?”
“Um,” I twisted my fingers in the blankets and looked down momentarily, collecting myself. “You
haven‟t given me permission.”
“Permission?”
“From earlier,” I prompted.
“Oh!” His eyes twinkled. “No, no I haven‟t.”
“Well?”
“I don‟t think I want to,” he smirked. “Not yet at least. Now get dressed,” he walked out of the
bedroom. “If we don‟t get the shopping done I may forget to lift it all together.”
I learned that day just how wicked Edward‟s sense of humor was. By the third store in Liddell, the
village nearest our cottage and where he kept his shop, I had realized that he was feeding my
arousal through the link, implanting naughty fantasies inside my head to make me squirm. My
cotton panties were drenched and it was all I could do not to rub my thighs together for the
delicious friction I craved, as I met an interminable amount of people -- all of them curious about
the newest Alice to arrive.
In the dress shop, I was in the tiny changing cubicle, trying on another dress -- this one royal blue
with gold trim -- while trying to keep my arousal at bay as Edward fed a particularly delicious
fantasy into my brain of him pinning me against the mirror and using his mouth on my poor,
swollen clit, sucking it with abandon while I tried my hardest not to scream.
„Are you wet for me, my Bella?‟ He teased through the link, and I could hear him talking about
trivialities with the girl working the counter who was desperately flirting with him.
„God yes,‟ I whimpered internally.
„Hmm,‟ he chuckled darkly. „Well, we can‟t have you suffering now, can we? Why don‟t you go
ahead and come for me?‟
My vision clouded and suddenly I could „feel‟ him between my legs, sucking determinedly on my clit
as his fingers hit all my most sensitive spots. My whole body began to quiver and I sat down hard
on the bench, arching backwards as my body shuddered and then white lights exploded behind my
eyes as I climaxed, sobbing with relief from the pressure. When I regained my breath, I glanced in
the mirror and saw that my cheeks were flushed and my eyes sparkled, while the dress I‟d been
wearing was decidedly rumpled. Pulling it off quickly, I slipped into my own dress, slipping the
sodden panties off and into the pocket, as I gathered my belongings and stumbled out of the
dressing room.
“They meet your approval?” Edward arched an eyebrow at me.
“Yes,” I stammered. “Yes, they‟re great. Thank you.”
“Do you want to try on any more?” Edward‟s tone was entirely gracious. “I‟m sure Jessica would
help you find anything you need. Wouldn‟t you, Jessica?”
I mentally growled at the salesgirl simpering at Edward and he laughed suddenly. “What‟s so
funny?” she looked perplexed.
“Nothing,” he smirked at me. “I think we‟re finished. Alice Isabella?”
“Yes,” I agreed immediately and sat the dresses on the counter. “We‟re finished. If you could ring
us out please?”
“Well, um,” the girl seemed flustered. “I could just tally it up and bring it by your shop later? When
I pick up my new bonnet?”
“Sure,” Edward grinned. “Just tell Tyler I said to take it out of the till.”
“You won‟t be there?”
“No,” Edward took the package she‟d packed from her and wrapped his arm around my waist. “My
Alice and I are still in the „honeymoon‟ phase you could say.”
I looked around the cottage and tried to find the place to best arrange myself. „Casual indifference,‟
I reminded myself. You just happened to be naked and -- I was stymied. What was an activity that
would seem completely natural to be naked for that I would be doing by myself in the middle of the
day? A bath? No, he wouldn‟t interrupt me during a bath. Besides, I knew he was just down the
lane and that meant I had literally minutes to be ready and waiting.
Reading! I scampered into the parlor and threw myself across the sofa, grabbing one of the novels
and opening it to a random page. I kept my eyes trained on the front door, waiting expectantly for
Edward and when I saw the latch turn, I immediately tried to focus on my reading.
“Well hello,” Edward chuckled. “Enjoying a bit of light reading?”
“Oh?” I tried to sound surprised at his arrival. “Sorry, I was just reading.”
“I can see that,” Edward nodded.
“Is that okay?”
“Of course it is,” he agreed, a wide grin on his face. “You just happen to be reading naked.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, no,” he shook his head and his grin spread. “I just can‟t help but think you‟ve done this to lay
a trap for me.”
“Why would you think that, Edward?”
“Well,” he was giggling now, “it‟s just -- well,” he erupted into laughter and I sat up -- glaring. “It‟s
just I can‟t see how that book can be very enjoyable, since you‟re reading it upside down.”
“Oh,” I looked down at the book in my hands and saw that, in fact, the plays of Shakespeare were
upside down. “Oh, well, so much for that then,” I huffed as I slammed the book onto the table and
stood, turning to go into the bedroom and redress. “Dinner should be ready in a few minutes.”
“Bella,” he grabbed for my elbow and pulled me back to him. “I didn‟t say that I didn‟t like it.” He
pressed me back against the couch and began nibbling at my ear.
“Shouldn‟t we --” I gasped as he began fumbling with the buttons of his trousers. “The bedroom, I
mean?”
“Why?” He bit down lightly on my neck as he shimmied out of his trousers and I felt his length
press against me.
“But I mean --” I felt my cheeks redden. Wouldn‟t it be more appropriate if we were in the
bedroom? Surely someone might see us from the window, the road does run right outside the
cottage.
“No one will see,” he answered hastily and immediately I felt a wave of calm envelope me and my
thighs parted slightly.
“No fair,” I muttered.
“No fair?”
“No fair dazzling me into getting your own way.”
“You‟ll like it,” he promised as he slipped inside me and I felt my hips rise to meet his. Twenty
minutes later, completely spent, I sighed in his arms.
“I think the roast has burnt.”
“We‟ll have those sandwich things you made the other day,” he shrugged and kissed me on the top
of my head.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” he murmured.
“Um, Edward?”
“Hmm?”
„Can we talk?‟ I inquired inside of my mind.
„We need to,‟ he answered silently. „Who do you want to go first?‟
„Maybe I should?‟
Edward nodded and I shifted so that I was looking at his face. „What are we?‟
“Huh?” Edward looked perplexed. “I‟m Edward and you‟re my Alice -- the love of my life.”
“But I mean,” I felt myself blush. “How would we introduce each other to people?”
“I would say „hello, my name is Edward Cullen and this is my Alice, Isabella.‟”
“But what would I say?”
“Pleased to meet you?”
“Edward,” I huffed.
“I don‟t understand,” he kissed me gently. “Explain to me what you mean.”
“Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“I would think we‟re quite a bit more than that actually,” Edward sighed. “We have a home
together, we‟re bonded.”
“So we‟re like -- married?”
“People don‟t,” Edward shifted.
“People don‟t?”
“They don‟t marry in Wonderland. I know what you‟re asking and yes, by Wonderland standards,
we‟re what you would call married but the thing is we‟re not.”
“We‟re married but we‟re not?”
“Because no one in Wonderland does marry,” Edward pointed out. “It‟s a needless ceremony.
People wouldn‟t know what to say if I called you my wife or you called me your husband. There
isn‟t even anyone to marry us properly.”
“Oh,” I tried to think about that. We weren‟t married -- we were living in sin inside of my dream
that I wasn‟t sure I could get out of any longer -- but not because he didn‟t want to be. “But if
people in Wonderland did get married --”
“Then I would be first in line, my Alice Isabella,” he assured me. “Compelling you along behind by
force if need be.”
“Oh,” I blushed and buried my head in his shoulder. “Well that‟s okay then.”
“Is that all you‟re curious about?”
“Well,” I buried my face a little deeper.
“What is it?”
“Aren‟t you worried because we aren‟t taking any precautions?”
“Precautions?”
“When we --” I knew my cheeks were flaming. “When we make love. Aren‟t you worried I‟ll get
pregnant?”
“Women don‟t --” Edward‟s cheeks flushed. “Haven‟t you noticed there are no children in
Wonderland?”
I thought back to our trip to Liddell and realized that Edward was right. There had been no children
in the village that day. “Then how do you get more people?”
“Well,” Edward squirmed. “I told you, Wonderland wasn‟t like the regular world didn‟t I?”
“Yes?”
“Well, people aren‟t born in Wonderland Bella. They just sort of appear.”
“Oh,” I looked at him confused.
“I don‟t really understand it,” he shrugged. “But you don‟t have to worry about getting pregnant.”
“Right,” I felt a slight twinge of regret and pushed it back. It wasn‟t as if it was Edward‟s fault after
all. They were just the circumstances we had been given.
“I‟m sorry,” he seemed sincere.
“No, no,” I smiled and tried to be reassuring. “I‟d never really thought about having children
before. I mean, my family wasn‟t really the best sort to have growing up. Who knows how I‟d
screw up at being a mother? What was it you wanted to talk about?”
“We need to leave tomorrow if we‟re going to reach the White Queen‟s delegation in time.”
“Tomorrow?” I felt my heart clench, all thoughts of children fleeing my head as I realized what
Edward was telling me. Tomorrow we would leave to join the White Queen‟s delegation to the
Annual Chess Match and my immanent meeting with the Red Queen and her monster, the
Jabberwocky.
Chapter 8.
“Are you ready?” I looked at her warily as I shouldered our knapsack and watched her standing in
our cottage‟s doorway. I really didn‟t want to make this trip. As hard as she‟d been trying, I knew
she wasn‟t prepared for the Annual Chessmatch but I couldn‟t help but hope that somehow she‟d
be able to pull it off. Thankfully, my Isabella was smart, and she‟d been conscientious about
developing the link between us -- and using it. I‟d evened the playing field for her as best I could
until we arrive. The only thing left to do was introduce her to the White Queen and hope that Esme
decided to protect her as much as possible from Victoria.
“Yeah,” Isabella nodded and ran her fingers over my piano wistfully. “I guess.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“No,” she shook her head and I looked at her skeptically. I knew something was bothering her; it
had been since I‟d told her that we would need to leave for the tournament. Unfortunately, I
couldn‟t tell exactly what was bothering her, just that something rather indefinable was.
“What‟s wrong, my Bella?”
“I don‟t want to leave,” she whispered. “It‟s silly --”
“What‟s silly?”
“It‟s like the first real home I‟ve ever had. And that‟s silly because, I mean, it‟s not like I was
homeless before I fell down the rabbit hole.”
“But?”
“That‟s always been my parents‟ home,” Bella shrugged. “I never had the right to make any real
decisions while I lived there. I lived how they saw fit. But here, this is our home.”
“We‟ll be back in a few weeks,” I reached my hand out to her and she took it slowly.
“I know,” she shrugged. “It‟s just --”
“You‟re going to be homesick?”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “What if whatever it is that I have to do to wake up is at the Red Queen‟s
Palace and I accidentally do it and then I wake up?”
She was still worried about „waking up‟? I tried not to let my exasperation show through the link. I
knew that Bella was honestly worried that she would do something and it would cause her to wake
up, trapped, in her own world and unable to return to Wonderland. “Bella, I meant what I told you
the last time we talked about this. No one has ever disappeared from Wonderland.”
“What about the other Alices? The ones that haven‟t survived?”
“They died,” I answered her gently.
“But what if that‟s how you get back?” Isabella sounded panicked and I could feel her nervous
energy surging through the link.
“Isabella,” I tried to sound soothing as I pulled her against my chest. “I will not let you go to the
Jabberwocky. I promise you, we will not let that happen.”
“But what if --”
“Then the Jabberwocky will have to eat me first,” I told her firmly. “I won‟t live without you and I
won‟t willingly let you go to the Jabberwocky. So the only way you‟ll ever end up between it‟s jaws
is if they‟ve killed me and let the monster eat me first. And I have no intention of ending up that
thing‟s tea.
“Now, we have to go. If we don‟t leave today then we‟ll miss Esme‟s official entourage and we‟ll be
forced to arrive alone. Personally, I‟d prefer to present you to the Red Queen with as many of
Esme‟s vassals and soldiers at my back as possible. Ready or not, we have to face this.”
“Right,” Bella swallowed and I could feel her mentally stiffening her spine, setting her mind to the
task in front of us.
“Look at it this way,” I tried another tack. “You‟ll get to see all of Wonderland on our trip. It could
be like a honeymoon.”
“Of a sorts,” Bella nodded and then smiled at me. I knew that it bothered her that we hadn‟t
married according to topside traditions but by Wonderland standards instead. In the past two
weeks we‟d talked extensively, trying to get to know each other intellectually as much -- if not
more so -- as physically. I knew that her family had what was considered, for her time, to be very
conservative views about things like religion, relationships between men and women, and most
especially about sex. The views that they held didn‟t seem as strict to me as they would to some
because they were very much like the Victorian morals that I had been raised with before my own,
rather abrupt, appearance in Wonderland. But in comparison to Wonderland they were almost
extreme.
It hadn‟t taken much for me to convince Bella that by Wonderland‟s standards we were married. I
could tell, through our link, that she was looking for any excuse that would make what we were
doing acceptable. I had been able to mask myself slightly during that discussion so that I could
easily lie to her.
„Well,‟ I corrected myself. „I hadn‟t really lied to Isabella. More of a lie of omission for her own
happiness.‟
While it was true that people in Wonderland did not -- as a rule -- marry according to topside
traditions, there were some that had. They simply didn‟t advertise it to the rest of the population.
Carlisle had been the son of a minister, a deacon himself at Christ College, and he knew the proper
way of how a marriage should be done -- at least in the Anglican faith. I wasn‟t sure if that was
anything remotely close to the faith that Isabella‟s parent‟s had raised her in but I thought that
even if it wasn‟t and she still desired to marry properly, perhaps Carlisle could either perform the
ceremony or would have some ideas about it. If nothing else, I wanted her to have some time to
talk to him -- he had helped everyone in our family group, including the two other Alices, to
survive inside Wonderland, and I was sure he‟d help her make sense of what had happened to her.
“Well,” she smiled as she stepped back and linked our hands together. “If we‟re going to go, we
should go.”
“Let‟s go then,” I tried to appear enthusiastic. She didn‟t seem upset that we would be making a
good part of the journey on foot, camping along the roadside as we went, until we reached
Brideshead and the White Queen‟s castle there. Allowing her to precede me through the door, I
pulled it shut behind us and made sure that the lock had caught, sealing our little home from
anyone besides the two of us. Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I led her down our garden
path and out the front gate, sealing it behind us as well.
„Good bye little house,‟ Bella thought wistfully and I had to laugh. “What?”
“We‟ll be gone a month at most,” I pointed out. “And, besides, our house is just that -- a house.”
“And are you sure it won‟t change while we‟re away? Become a barn perhaps?”
“Not likely,” I laughed again. “The only building that would have mind to do that is perhaps
Garrett‟s Public House. It‟s been known to shift it‟s ears a few times, wiggle it‟s nose when the
business is exceptionally good.”
“The public house?” she raised an eyebrow. “Is that in Liddell?”
“Um,” I coughed. “Yeah, it‟s um, shaped like a hare.”
“A hare?”
“Yes,” I nodded and swallowed, just barely concealing my nervousness. “Garrett is a March Hare
and his pub is also a very large, sort of enchanted, March Hare House.”
“So why didn‟t we go see it when we were in Liddell?” She dug her elbow gently into my ribs. “You
took me everywhere else, why not a pub that looked like a rabbit?”
“Well, um,” I coughed and Bella immediately looked at me. How should I broach the subject
delicately about why we hadn‟t gone to Garrett‟s Public House? Why had I been bloody stupid
enough to even mention the place to her?
“What‟s the deal with Garrett‟s pub?”
“Well, it‟s a bit more than a pub really,” I tried to be delicate. “I didn‟t think it would be somewhere
you would be comfortable, all things considering.”
“What else is it?”
“It‟s, um --” I tugged at the collar of my shirt with my free hand. Why had it gotten so bleeding hot
all of a sudden? “Well, there are ladies there.”
“Ladies? You mean --” Bella‟s eyes were the size of tea saucers as her face flushed the color of a
tomato.
“Look!” I pointed out helpfully. “There‟s a butterfly!”
“Edward --” I could hear her exasperation as I pulled her quickly along the path in search of a
nonexistent butterfly I had just made up to cover my obvious, awkward knowledge of what other
things could be acquired at Garrett‟s Public House.
“Shit,” I snapped as I stopped suddenly at the opening to the clearing. Inside of it was a garish
pink house with blue shutters and I could see a blonde woman in the garden, wearing what I knew
was a green and white striped dress with canary stockings bordered with matching green ribbons.
What had possessed me to go this way again? I had meant to detour into the forest and bypass
this particular clearing. „The butterfly,‟ I thought derisively. The butterfly I had made up to cover
up the fact that you could purchase the services of a whore in Garrett‟s Public House, which I had
brought up as a way to make her laugh because it was shaped like a hare and she thought our
cottage might turn into a barn. „Next time you should just tell her that in Wonderland the houses
stay stationary and don‟t change. Leave it at that, you moron.‟
“Yoohooo!” I heard an annoying, high pitched call float across the clearing and when I looked up I
could see Tanya waving energetically at me. “Eddiekins!”
“Who‟s that?” I could feel Bella‟s curiosity -- mixed with annoyance -- as she stared at the other
woman, who was now hopping up and down and flailing her arms as she tried to get my attention.
“That‟s Tanya Denali. She‟s a resident here in Wonderland. I don‟t really know her that well, so just
a brief stop to say hello and then we‟ll be right along.”
“Um, okay,” Bella agreed and I could tell she didn‟t believe me, even without the link. I was so
fucked and not in the pleasant, „yes Bella, please love, do that a little bit more for me‟ sort of way.
I let her tow me, reluctantly, to the horrid little house and plastered a smile on my face.
“Eddiekins!” Tanya squealed as she raced through the open garden gate and launched herself at
me, wrapping her arms around my neck and beginning to plant kisses on my cheeks. “I‟ve missed
you SOOOO much!”
“Uh,” I let my arms hang limply at my sides, one hand still clutching Isabella‟s. “Hi, Tanya. How are
you?”
“I‟ve been so lonely,” Tanya let go of me and slid back onto the ground, looking at it and then
attempting to coyly look at me through her lashes as she tried to play the part of the innocent
schoolgirl, shuffling her feet together. “It‟s been three months since you came to visit me! And last
time you were just out of your head, talking nonsense. I was starting to get worried that you were
ill.”
“Tanya,” I shook my head, “I haven‟t been ill and I told you very plainly I wouldn‟t be coming to
visit anymore.”
“But --”
Okay, it was time to take charge of this situation. Pulling Bella closer, I pushed her almost under
Tanya‟s nose to make my point. “Tanya Denali, this is my Alice, Isabella.”
“Your what?” Tanya screeched, taking two steps backwards in horror.
“My Alice,” I answered calmly and wrapped my arm around Isabella‟s shoulder. “Her name is
Isabella.”
“What do you mean, Your Alice?” she stuttered.
“I‟m his Alice,” Bella broke in. “I chased the white rabbit, fell down the hole, drank that foul
smelling potion so that I could shrink and Edward found me. From what he says, that makes me
his Alice.”
“Well,” Tanya glared angrily at Bella. “It may be a surprise to you but up until three months ago, I
was Eddiekin‟s Alice.”
“No you --”
“Oh, so Edward‟s bonded you as well then?” Bella squeezed my waist.
“Bonded?” Tanya‟s face blanched. “You mean you‟ve ... You‟ve bonded, I mean with --”
“Hello All,” a disembodied, cheerful voice announced just behind Tanya, and I wasn‟t surprised to
see the wide smile appear hovering over the garden gate. “Seems you‟ve decided to introduce your
Alice to your old, tired, worn-out piece of ass. Not real bright, Eddiekins. Not if you‟re hoping she‟ll
want desert later anyway.”
“Hello Emmett,” I let out a sigh of relief that help had arrived in the way of Emmett McCarty, who
had the dubious distinction of being a shapeshifter who could also make himself disappear and
appear while in cat form. And float, you shouldn‟t forget that he could float. All–in-all, he was a
rather remarkable creature.
“Emmett,” Tanya hissed.
“Don‟t be mad at me peanutbutterpuss. Oh, wait, was Alistair not supposed to let that slip?
Naughty, naughty, naughty. I‟d say kinky, kinky, kinky, but it‟s you, and well, you‟re just nasty
enough to let a member of the pack do whatever as long as his silver‟s good.”
“That‟s none of your business,” Tanya snarled and then stamped her foot.
“Ugh, except now I‟d say you‟re a public health concern. Must be the reason you and Irina moved
out here rather than stay in the Public House. Is that it? Garrett put you out because you‟d take
anything‟s silver?”
“Don‟t be stupid! Garrett‟s loyalty to the White Queen shouldn‟t hamper business!”
“Ah, so that is why he put the two of you out. I wondered, but Kate doesn‟t like to talk to me so
much anymore so I didn‟t know for sure.”
“Well,” I saw my opportunity as Emmett fully materialized. “We‟ll just be going then.”
“But --” Tanya focused on us. “I don‟t understand.”
“That‟s not surprising,” Emmett retorted. “You‟re not exactly bright.”
“Shut up,” Tanya snapped. “You stupid cat!”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Emmett chastised. “Be nice now.”
“Tanya,” I was still trying to back up and away from the arguing pair. “I don‟t know what‟s so hard
to understand.”
“I thought I was your Alice!”
“You? An Alice?” Emmett laughed hysterically. “You appeared just like the rest of us. You‟re too
stupid to manage falling down a hole.”
“How dare you!” Tanya yelled and stepped menacingly toward Emmett, who simply hiked his leg
and licked his own balls.
Grabbing Bella‟s hand, I decided to not wait any longer as I dragged her away. Half way across the
clearing, I heard Tanya give a shout and then the slam of a door. Emmett must have finally gotten
to her and she‟d stormed inside.
“Edward!” Emmett called out, “wait up!”
Once we were inside the trees, I halted and sighed wearily, pinching my nose. Emmett‟s smile
appeared and Bella jumped slightly.
“So this is your Alice?” Emmett phased into his bulky human form.
“Isabella,” she smiled at him politely, still pressed into my side.
“It‟s my pleasure to meet you.” Emmett took her free hand and bent over it. “And may I say just
how lovely you are? Surely, too good for Edward.”
She giggled and I could see that she was blushing. “Thanks, Emmett,” I winked at him as I leaned
down to kiss the top of her head.
“You‟ll meet us in Pullman at the Northern Lights?” Emmett raised an eyebrow. “We‟ll travel to
Brideshead together?”
“Absolutely,” I nodded. “I prefer that pub to the Compass after all. We‟ll be there within the week.”
“Next Friday then,” Emmett agreed as he kissed Bella‟s hand again and then began to slowly
disappear. The last part of him to remain was his two large, blinking eyes. He winked at her and
then disappeared.
We set out down the path, hands clasped and I bent to kiss the top of her head again. “Edward?”
“Huh?”
“What did Emmett mean that Tanya appeared like the rest of you?”
“Only Alices come down the rabbit hole,” I answered evasively.
“But, you told me people aren‟t born in Wonderland, so how did you get here?”
“Well,” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I‟d known that eventually we‟d have to talk about the
realities of how Wonderland came to exist, but I‟d wanted to avoid it as long as possible. The other
two Alices had been unsettled when they learned about it and I was sure Bella would be as well.
“It‟s a long story.”
“Edward?”
“Yes?”
“We‟re on a rather long walk.”
“Right,” I nodded.
Chapter 9.
“Well,” I could tell that Edward was nervous by the way he pinched the bridge of his nose. “It‟s a
long story.”
“Edward?” He had been horribly evasive about the, I guess you could call them, mechanics of
Wonderland and how people ended up here since my arrival. But after what we‟d just witnessed
and with where we were going, I felt as if I needed to know. I didn‟t want to be the only one in the
dark. Especially if my life was on the line like Edward thought it was.
“Yes?”
“We‟re on a rather long walk,” I pointed out.
“Right,” he nodded and then sighed. “So I guess there‟s no time like the present is there?”
“Well,” I shrugged. “It does seem like something I should know before we arrive in Pullman.
Starting with that, where is Pullman exactly?”
“About 25 miles from here,” Edward answered. “We‟ll meet Emmett and his Alice and Jasper and
his Alice there and then go together to the Crystal Palace.”
“It‟s only 25 miles? Why did we start out so soon then? I mean, I know we‟re walking but surely it
won‟t take us a full week to get there?”
“I, well,” Edward‟s ears blushed lightly. “I wanted us to be able to take our time. I thought if you
wanted to explore a bit, we could, and there would be no need to rush each morning, or walk when
you were tired, or gulp down our meals as we walked. Plus, I thought you‟d want to sleep roughly
as little as possible and there are two small villages between here and Pullman so I thought we
could just stop when we reached them and stay at the inn. Besides, if we get to Pullman early,
we‟ll just rent a room and wait for the others.”
“Oh,” I laced my fingers through his. “That was very considerate, Edward. Thank you.”
“It‟s no big deal,” he mumbled. “I just wanted to be sure you were comfortable.”
“Now,” I nodded. “I think it‟s time you told me about Wonderland.”
“Right,” he agreed. “So, according to Emmett‟s Alice --”
“That would be Snap Dragon?”
“Yeah, although I‟m not sure that‟s her name actually.”
“Anyway ...”
“Sure, anyway, according to Emmett‟s Alice, there was a story written about Wonderland and she‟d
read it. It didn‟t sound like it was all right but at least something existed.”
“Lewis Carroll‟s Alice in Wonderland? Everyone‟s read it or at least seen the movie. I mean, it‟s
pretty much a standard of childhood topside. But you‟re right -- the story is nothing like the real
thing.”
“Well, Dodson always did like to make things appear nicer than they really are,” Edward growled.
“Dodson?”
“The Dodo bird. If I can help it, we won‟t see him while we‟re walking but I‟ll be forced to introduce
you at the Chess Match. I‟ll try to keep it as brief as possible.”
“What does the Dodo --” I looked at him curiously. “Wait! You mean he‟s here? Charles Ludwig
Dodson is here?”
“Oh yes,” Edward shook his head, “still wreaking havoc on all our lives, the dumb animal.”
“But you called him a Do --” I tried to keep up. “Did he appear in Wonderland as the Dodo bird?”
“That‟s how he inserted himself into the stories,” Edward agreed. “I don‟t think he intended to do
it. I mean, he was really surprised when he ended up here.”
“Was he? But how did he end up here?”
“Well, you know Dodson believed in some stuff that wasn‟t quite approved of in Oxford, right? I
mean, it was fashionable to be interested in the occult, and all over the place the high born were
having their little societies into the different aspects. Dodson, though, well, he really believed it.
Thought it would give him power of a sort; make him a more attractive man, more successful, give
him power. He used to brag about how he was just a deacon but one day he‟d be a full don at the
University -- be someone to be reckoned with.”
“So are you saying Wonderland is some sort of magic incantation that went wrong?”
“No, no, I‟m just trying to give you some background. Dodson believed all of this stuff and, at the
time, the high born were pushing all these boundaries. It became fashionable to tweak your nose
at all of society‟s rules and what all the highborn wanted was to be fashionable. So you had
occultists and then there were the opium dens, hash was coming in from the Queen‟s Indian
Empire, laudanum, morphine, absinthe; if you wanted it, then you could find it in the higher circles
of society.
“Emmett‟s Alice told us the story about how Dodson claimed he started this story while on a boat
with the Liddell sisters. Meanwhile, we don‟t need Alice herself to tell us it‟s a load of manure.
We‟re all here aren‟t we?”
“What do you mean?” I looked at him puzzled.
“Maybe he got the idea on a boat, I don‟t know,” Edward continued. “But when it comes right down
to it, we‟ve all pieced together what happened. Dodson used to call on the Liddell‟s every day. He
worked with their father and well, no one‟s said it out loud, but he had a bit of a fascination with
the Liddell sisters. Something happened though -- Alice has never said and she claims that she
doesn‟t know -- and Liddell banned Dodson from ever coming back to the home, forbid him from
seeing the girls.”
“I know,” I answered. “It‟s infamous in literary circles. No one ever gave any reason for what
happened, just that one day the Liddell‟s banned him. Critics tell you that it was possible that
Carroll intended for Alice in Wonderland to end differently, a trite little fantasy for a child muse, but
it became this sort of lament to innocence lost when she was taken from him.”
“Whatever,” Edward agreed, “the original story did end differently. The Liddell‟s banned Dodson
from their home and he went into a spiral. So he‟s stoned, devastated to lose his muse, heavily
wrapped up in the occult, and he writes this story. Down the rabbit hole, young Alice tumbles but
what awaits her isn‟t the story that was published. So away he scribbles his tale, mumbling over
the paper about how he‟ll get his revenge. But the thing is, to build an entirely new world for young
Alice to explore, he‟s got to have people. Dodson can‟t be bothered to create new people so he just
goes about stealing people from his everyday life, throwing them in as he needed them. You could
argue of course, that he had no idea what would happen to any of us. We were just clever side
characters to make Alice‟s time more interesting.”
“So wait, you knew Charles Dodson? How?”
“We‟ll get to that in a bit, but to answer your question; yes, I knew Charles Dodson. I was an
apprentice in the store where he bought his hats. He thought I was a clever boy. Always used to
laugh about how if I‟d just been born „better‟, I‟d have been one of his top pupils. Then he‟d pat me
on the head and tell me that my head for math would always come in handy since a merchant
always needs the ability to do basic sums. The bastard.
“Back to the story now. He writes the story and uses us to fill in the holes. Little does he know that
as he‟s writing, we‟re disappearing; people like Emmett, who he‟d only met once but had made an
impression on him, Jasper and Carlisle were both colleagues from Oxford, Garrett ran the pub he
liked to frequent, Esme was his cook, and Victoria a former landlady.”
“Mike?”
“A former student. Jake and the rest of his pack were part of a traveling Wild West show that
Dodson saw in London. So was Emmett.”
“So,” I looked at him in horror. “You‟re telling me that Lewis Carroll --”
“Dodson,” Edward corrected. “We call him Dodson the Dodo here.”
“Right, Dodson,” I agreed. “You‟re telling me that Dodson wrote Alice in Wonderland high, while
messing around with the occult and somehow he enchanted all of you here?”
“Yeah,” Edward agreed. “He claimed he was horrified when he finally sobered up and went back to
work. It took him a while but he realized that people were missing and they were all trapped inside
of his story. The public noticed Carlisle and Jasper being gone -- they were dons at Oxford. Mike
disappeared on a tour of the continent so I‟m sure some story was created to explain his
disappearance. But a missing apprentice? I‟m sure I was thought to be a runaway. Everyone else
were just poor people, no one in Victoria‟s Empire took any notice of them. Shop girls and
seamstresses, tavern wenches, we were invisible to society.
“He claimed that he didn‟t realize he had done it. That it was a mistake but he was afraid to burn
the manuscript. Claimed that he thought he could find a way to get us back out.”
“But the story was published!”
“Dodson‟s a greedy bastard,” Edward nodded. “Here he had this great idea, this powerful idea
even, sitting right in front of him. All he had to do was write it up in a way that was publicly
palatable. So he sits down and he rewrites Wonderland, but he can‟t get the magic quite right and
so nothing here actually changes. We‟re still trapped in the original story -- which is not the one
that was published.”
“So he never found a way out for any of you?”
“Found a way out?” Edward laughed. “I don‟t think he ever really tried. He enjoyed the power too
much. No, he didn‟t find us a way out. Instead, he kept writing in secret. He built the world even
more; added people because now he realized he could, and extended the lore. Soon, any girl who
tickled his fancy was sent down the rabbit hole. The ones he liked survived. The ones he didn‟t,
well --”
“Is that how Emmett‟s Alice got here?”
“She met him at a tea. Her family had sent her to England to visit an Aunt so she could get a bit of
polish before they launched her into society back home in America. She met Dodson at a tea and
they got along. She told him she was a fan of his work and he signed a copy of Alice in Wonderland
for her. Then, that night, he went home and wrote her into the story.”
“That‟s --”
“Horrible? Cruel? Sadistic?” Edward laughed darkly. “You can see why we don‟t like him now.”
“But Edward, I‟ve never met Lewis Carroll. He‟d been dead for decades before I fell down the rabbit
hole.”
“I was getting to that,” Edward agreed. “Dodson kept writing about all of us until the day he died.
What he didn‟t realize is that he‟d written himself into the story. He‟s barely in it, a periphery
character, but he‟s there. And...”
“Everyone in the story ended up in Wonderland,” I whispered, horrified at the thought. “He didn‟t
realize that he‟d end up here?”
“Who knows? Maybe he thought that he‟d get to finally be with his Alice? Maybe he didn‟t care?
Maybe he thought that he was stronger than whatever power he‟d used to enchant the entire
story? I don‟t know, but end up here, he did, and just as he had written himself -- a periphery
character. And instead of crumble, Wonderland took on a life of its own. It fought back against him
and took control of itself.”
“Wait, you mean you waged war on him?”
“Not us,” Edward answered. “The world itself. He tried to write more scenarios, control the world
from inside, but whatever magic he conjured took control and now nothing he writes even stays on
the page. Now, it‟s whatever magic that controls Wonderland that decides when an Alice should
appear. It keeps the children from being born. Randomly, people will appear and we can‟t explain
why. The world has taken on a life of its own.”
“So, Wonderland itself chooses the Alices now?” I shook my head.
“The Alice,” he corrected. “And I have to say it was a bit of a shock.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Edward shrugged. “We were all rather surprised when Mike started to get the itch to go
topside again. Then I started to get the compulsion to be at the rabbit hole and it just played out
from there. The thing was, none of us were really sure that it would work.”
“What would work? What do you mean Edward?”
“Bella,” he stopped and turned to face me. “You‟re the only Alice to come down the rabbit hole
since Dodson arrived. And none of us are exactly sure how you got here.”
“Wait, wait,” I was trying to make sense of what Edward was telling me. “This doesn‟t make any
sense.”
“What doesn‟t?”
“Alice, the original Alice,” I pointed out.
“What about her?”
“She didn‟t disappear. She grew up, got married, had children. She has a recorded life, Edward.
How can she be in Wonderland?”
“We don‟t know that either,” he answered. “But she is. According to Alice Alice, she came down
with a terrible fever after her parents and Dodson fought. She was so ill she was placed in
quarantine away from her sisters. She was having fever dreams and the next thing she knew, she
was here. Who knows what the magic did to cover its tracks?”
“So she‟s still a child?” I finally caught on to what he was saying. Edward was a young man, barely
in his twenties from what I could tell, and that meant he hadn‟t aged. If he hadn‟t aged, that
suggested that Alice hadn‟t aged and if she were an Alice --”
“That‟s a strange thing,” Edward shrugged. “Dodson aged her as soon as he realized we were all
trapped here. She‟s the only one in Wonderland who ever aged.”
“So she‟s old?”
“No, he aged her until she reached 21 and then he stopped and so she‟s stopped aging.”
“But it took time didn‟t it?”
“Yeah,” Edward shrugged. “And she stayed with Carlisle and Esme until she came of age and then
she got together with Jasper. It was confusing for a while.”
“Confusing?”
“Well, Jasper felt this compulsion toward her because he was the one who found her and guided
her through Wonderland. She was his Alice and he was linked to her.”
“So you mean he was,” I curled my nose, “lusting after a child?”
“No,” Edward looked at me in horror. “Of course not. That‟s not what you feel when you find an
Alice. What you have is the overwhelming desire to protect this other person, to care for them.”
“But what about,” I felt myself blush and I glanced down at our linked hands.
“Not everyone lusts after their Alice like I do after you,” Edward murmured. “Once Alice Alice came
of age, she and Jasper realized they were mates; Emmett and his Alice are mates; but the other
Alices? The lust wasn‟t always there for them. Meanwhile, Esme was never an Alice and Carlisle
feels the same about her as I feel about you. There are others who have bonded that way as well.
Carlisle thinks that it has more to do with being mates and less to do with whether or not someone
is an Alice.”
“Oh,” I nodded. “So you and that woman --”
“Tanya,” Edward swallowed. “We were involved.”
“Involved? As in boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“It was more casual than that,” Edward muttered.
“Casual?” I prompted. “What do you mean by casual? And why did she think it was more then
that? Because she seemed to think it was something more than casual.”
“I don‟t know why she thought we were something more,” Edward answered.
“Edward,” I grimaced. “I know you‟re not a, well not a ...”
“Yeah,” Edward answered my unasked question. “But I never told her it was a serious thing.”
“But your actions,” I pointed out.
“Bella,” he looked decidedly uncomfortable. “A lot of people have that sort of relationship with
Tanya and her sisters. It‟s, um, how they make their living.”
“You mean she‟s a --”
“Well, she claims she‟s not anymore,” he shrugged lamely. “She told me that she‟d stopped and
that she wanted a relationship with me.”
“And you said?”
“I always told her that I didn‟t want her as a mate,” Edward said and I could tell he was telling me
the truth.
“Oh,” I nodded and kept my gaze focused on the ground.
“I‟m sorry,” he said softly and I immediately felt his remorse and felt guilt well up inside me. It
wasn‟t fair that I blamed Edward for having a life before my arrival in Wonderland. I had a life
before him, even if it wasn‟t a very good one, and I couldn‟t blame him for having the same.
Especially since he‟d lived so much longer than I had.
“It‟s okay,” I shrugged.
“I love you,” he pulled me close and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“I love you too.”
“And I love both of you,” a voice announced and I looked around, shocked to think that we were
being spied upon.
“Hello Jasper,” Edward called out and tugged me toward a group of very large mushrooms and I
saw a large, green caterpillar sitting on top of one with a red and white polka dot cap, smoking
from what appeared to be a very large, very elaborate, water bong.
“Hello Edward,” the caterpillar nodded cordially and then turned to look curiously at me. “And just
who are you?”
Chapter 10.
“Who are you?” the caterpillar inquired and I glared at him, upset that he‟d obviously been spying
on our conversation.
“What do you mean, who am I?” I snapped. “Who are you?”
“That‟s not nearly as interesting of a question,” the caterpillar rolled his eyes. “Everyone knows
who I am. What‟s important is who are you?”
“I‟m Edward‟s Alice, my name is Isabella.”
“That‟s all?” the caterpillar scoffed. “Just Edward‟s Alice? That‟s rather boring if you ask me.”
“Well I didn‟t,” I argued. “And what do you mean, just Edward‟s Alice? I don‟t understand.”
“We‟re going to be here a while aren‟t we?” the caterpillar asked Edward dryly as he passed him
the mouthpiece and hose to the bong.
“Be nice,” Edward cautioned as he readily took the mouthpiece and stuck it between his pouty, red
lips.
“When aren‟t I?” the caterpillar intoned solemnly. “I simply asked a rather important question for
your Alice. One she should have no problem answering but people always do.”
“I didn‟t,” Edward said before he took a long hit and I could smell the sickly sweet smell of the
marijuana as he inhaled and then exhaled a few moments later.
“You did not,” the caterpillar agreed. “Very self aware, you were. Now, get in touch with your inner
self and let me question this captivating captive creature.”
Turning back to me, he blinked again. “I repeat, who are you?”
“I don‟t really know exactly.”
“Well,” he took the bong back from Edward and handed it to me. “Who do you want to be?”
“I‟m not really sure,” I answered. “I mean, I thought I knew who I was but --”
“But?”
“Well, then I fell down the rabbit hole and the Isabella I was, was not the Isabella I became.”
“And did you like the Isabella you were?” the caterpillar asked as he motioned for me to smoke. I
took the mouthpiece between my lips and took in a shallow drag, coughing on the smoke as it
entered my lungs. He waited patiently for me to quit coughing and then crossed his arms.
“Take a deep breath in to clear your lungs,” he instructed. “And then a lung full of smoke.” I
followed his directions and took in the sweet tasting smoke, holding it in my lungs easier, now that
I knew what to expect. “And exhale,” the caterpillar said calmly.
“Oh,” I giggled, as I handed back the bong and the caterpillar took a hit and passed it to Edward
again.
“Now,” he looked at me stern faced. “You said you were one Isabella before you fell down the
rabbit hole and another now that you had. Did you like the Isabella you were before?”
“There was nothing wrong with her, I guess.” I shrugged.
“But you like the new Isabella better?”
“I like where the new Isabella is better,” I agreed.
“So it wasn‟t that you didn‟t like the old Isabella, just that you prefer the environment the new
Isabella finds herself in?”
Edward passed me the pipe and I took another long drag of smoke, contemplating on what the
caterpillar had asked me. Had I really disliked where I was before in my life? I didn‟t think I had
but now that I looked back on my time topside and the environment I had been raised in, I realized
that I wasn‟t really happy there.
I could see the future that my parent‟s had mapped out for me if I would have stayed where I was.
My parents would have insisted that I marry Eric, because there were rumors about our
relationship and no matter what I said, no matter how I proved that they weren‟t true, my parents
would have forced the issue to „keep the rest of the congregation from talking.‟ I realized then just
how much of our lives were led for show, to keep up appearances with the rest of the community.
My entire youth had been led to please my parents and by extension, the congregation they were a
part of. Even my college major had been chosen by my mother so that I took something that would
be pleasing to my future in-laws, something ladylike that would allow me to do good works like an
upstanding Christian girl should.
I had never wanted to be a teacher, I‟d wanted to be a writer, but my mother had just laughed
scornfully at the idea. “Be reasonable, Isabella. Being a teacher will allow you to be a good
Christian influence on young minds. That‟s something a husband can be proud of. Plus it will show
his parents how good you are with children. What would people say if you told them that you lived
with your head in the clouds, writing nonsense all day?”
I‟d tried to tell her that not all books were nonsense and the conversation was cut short as she
pressed a Bible into my hand and informed me that “it was the only book I would ever need bother
to read.”
“Yes,” I looked at the caterpillar and tried to keep my face serious, even though my head felt
weightless from the pot we were smoking. “I like the environment that new Isabella finds herself in
better than the old.”
“Well,” the caterpillar looked at me sternly. “I would hypothesize that you are, in fact, the same
Isabella, it is just that your circumstances have changed.”
“No, no,” I argued. “I would never have been so free about things before.”
“But maybe you would have if the circumstances were different,” he answered. “If you had been
allowed to be freer before would you have been?”
“No, because it would have been a disappointment to my parents.”
“And now?”
“Edward just wants me to be myself,” I answered. “He told me so. He wants me to be free to
express myself.”
“And why would he do such a thing as that?”
“Because he loves me,” I said and knew instinctively that it was the truth.
“Exactly,” the caterpillar agreed. “And when you love someone you should always accept them for
who they are. Help them to be better if you can but love them for the person inside, even if they
make mistakes. Especially silly mistakes.”
“Silly mistakes,” I followed his gaze over to Edward, scratching idly at one of the polka dots on the
next mushroom cap.
“Try a bite of that one,” the caterpillar called out. “The effects are rather delightful.” Turning back
to me, he broke off a piece of the red cap he was sitting on, just at the edge, and handed it to me.
“You‟ll want to try this one of course.”
“Why this one?” I looked at the piece of red mushroom cap in my hands.
“The red are for women, I did try for pink but the mushrooms only want to be primary colors, so
I‟m afraid the females are red. The blues are for men and the greens for shapeshifters.”
“What about the purple?”
“Never,” the caterpillar looked at me sternly. “Never eat from the purple. There‟s nothing good that
comes from purple mushrooms.”
“Okay,” I answered quickly and took a bite of the mushroom cap in my hand.
“Now,” the caterpillar returned to our previous conversation. “Love means you should forgive. Even
the stupid mistakes.”
“Stupid mistakes?”
“Like trying to deny that an Alice is coming so you run off to a strumpet instead,” the caterpillar
suggested. “Or then accepting that an Alice is, in fact, coming and going back to said strumpet so
that you can practice.”
“Practice? Why would you go back to practice?”
“To learn how to please an Alice, of course,” the caterpillar winked knowingly. “You are all rather
complicated, what with the hidden bits and all.”
“Hidden bits?”
“Not at all like a man. Very straightforward, men.”
“Men are straightforward?” I laughed.
“Of course they are,” the caterpillar insisted. “Put a hand down a man‟s pants and fondle his balls
and he‟ll follow you anywhere you want to go.”
“Um --”
“Put him in your mouth and he‟ll crawl behind you kissing every place you‟re feet have stepped.
Women though --”
“You mean I should,” I blushed.
“Get eye to eye with the one eyed lizard? Kiss the tinkling stick? Have the Hatter for desert?”
“Yes?” I squeaked.
“I think you would have a very happy Hatter on your hands,” the caterpillar agreed. “Especially
after he eats the rest of that blue mushroom.”
“You mean...”
“Well it has that sort of effect. So do the red ones for women.”
“You mean it‟s an aphrodisiac?”
“If by aphrodisiac you mean he‟s going to be as horny as a hare, hard as a pipe and ready to go for
hours, then yes, it‟s an aphrodisiac. If not, well then, no, it‟s not an aphrodisiac. Neither is that bit
of red mushroom you‟re eating. Best if I be going now though.”
“But --”
“Don‟t worry, I‟ll bring my Alice and we‟ll meet at the end of the week in Pullman. She‟s been very
anxiously awaiting your arrival, you know.”
“Your Alice?”
“Of course, I can‟t very well leave Alice behind when I go to visit the Queen‟s. She‟ll be dreadfully
put out if she misses the chance to see them all in their finest.”
“Wait!”
“Yes?”
“Um, you‟re a --”
“I‟m a what?”
“A caterpillar,” I giggled.
“Oh,” he raised himself up slightly. “Well, only when I want to get high. It does seem to be so
much simpler of a body to maneuver after all.”
With that, the caterpillar, who I thought might be Jasper but my head was fuzzy and I wasn‟t sure,
disappeared. Once he‟d gone, I noticed that my clothes were rubbing against my body in all sorts
of strange, intriguing sorts of ways. Suddenly, I could feel the cotton of my bra rubbing against my
nipples, teasing them, and the silky material of my dress was caressing my legs. A flush went
through me and I felt wetness begin to seep out from between my legs.
“Edward?” I glanced over to find my mate leaning back against the stalk of the large mushroom,
following my movements with his eyes, stalking me like a very large, bronze mountain lion.
“Yes Bella?” I could see that he was smirking, one corner of his mouth raised as he curled a finger
first toward me and then himself in a „come hither‟ motion.
“I feel really strange,” I told him as I stumbled over to where he was, the ground seeming much
less even then it had previously.
“A good sort of strange?” he asked as he grabbed my arm and pulled me flush to him. “Or a bad
sort of strange?”
“A good sort,” I moaned as I felt his rock hard cock rubbing up against my stomach and I began to
writhe against him. “A very, very good sort of strange.”
“That‟s good,” he nodded, looking down at me with feral interest in his eyes. “I would never want
you to feel anything bad.”
“Edward?” I was exceedingly horny, my body straining to be touched as fluid poured unbidden
down my inner thighs, soaking me to the knees just at the sound of his voice; but I wondered if
what the caterpillar had told me was correct? Could Edward really want me to --
I decided not to think about it too much and to just act instead. I wanted to do what the caterpillar
had suggested and I doubted that Edward would actually complain. Dropping to my knees in front
of him, I began to slowly undo the buttons on his trousers and, once I was done, looked up to see
him staring at me with dark, burning eyes. Licking my lips, I looked back down at the thick, hard
cock in front of my face and asked myself a very important question. How exactly was I supposed
to fit all of that inside my mouth?
Leaning forward, I placed a soft kiss on the tip and then began to lick slowly around the head as if
it were one of the lollipops my mother had forbid me from having as a child. “That‟s the idea,”
Edward hissed. “Just open your mouth and ...” I slid the head of his cock past my lips and began to
suck on it.
I had barely taken half of him into my mouth before he hit the back of my throat and I glanced up
at him. “Hands,” Edward gasped. “Use your hands on the rest of me, please.”
“Mmm,” I agreed as I let my right hand come up to grasp the bottom of his shaft, licking the crown
of his cock as I did.
“Oh shit, Bella,” Edward groaned. “I, I, I ...”
“Hmmm?” I hummed around him again and his hips bucked forward, pushing him farther into my
mouth.
“There‟s something I want to try,” he moaned. “Just, you have to stay very still, okay?”
“Mmmhmmm.” I swirled my tongue over the top of him again since he seemed to enjoy it.
“Just hold still,” he moaned and I stopped what I was doing. „Now,‟ he continued through our link,
„relax your throat for me.‟ I felt the familiar tightening of the bond between us and then my throat
immediately relaxed.
„Swallow,‟ Edward coaxed and I did so convulsively, feeling him slip down my throat. „Now just stay
still.‟
I froze like a statue, the only part of me capable of moving was my tongue and with the way he
filled my mouth it was restrained against my bottom jaw, completely captive, as Edward buried his
fingers in my hair and then began thrusting his hips forward, pushing more of his length down my
throat.
“Look at me,” he growled and I glanced up immediately. “Oh fuck,” he moaned and snapped his
hips forward one last time. A thick, viscous liquid poured down my throat and I swallowed it
reflexively. Edward moaned again, loudly, as he withdrew from my mouth and stared at me, open
mouthed, and I was amazed to see his cock instantly hardening again.
“Is that --”
“Forget about that,” Edward growled again as he grabbed my arms and pulled me up against him,
picking me up and lifting me so that my back was against the stalk of the mushroom, my legs
locked around his head instead of their normal position around his hips.
He wasted no time and immediately began lapping at my clit, working it roughly with the flat of his
tongue, moaning against my flesh as he began to suck instead. Immediately, I began to feel the
familiar prickle of my own climax and moaned. Edward pulled his head back and quickly kissed the
top of my mound.
“We‟re going to have to camp here for the next two nights,” he announced. “Because you won‟t be
able to walk tomorrow after I get done with you.”
“Oh,” I whimpered as he returned to his previous employment, nibbling at my sensitive flesh until I
was screaming out my release.
“Very good,” Edward moaned in approval as he pushed my legs off his shoulders and began to
lower me toward the ground, flipping me once I was halfway there so that my back was to him and
my body pressed against the rough stalk of the mushroom.
“Oh God,” I gasped as I felt him slide into me with just a single thrust.
“No,” he growled in my ear. “Not God. Sorry, try again!”
He pulled back and thrust into me harder, causing every sensitive bit of flesh on my front to rub
against the mushroom, causing me to shiver at the sensation. “Edward,” I moaned.
“Very good,” he planted a kiss behind my ear. “Do try to remember which of us you‟ll be screaming
for tonight. I would hate for you to get confused.”
Chapter 11.
I felt Edward throw his arm over me and pull me closer to him in the tiny inn bed. He snuffled into
my hair and let out a long sigh. “Edward?” I pressed my ass back against him and he groaned.
“No,” he groaned lowly.
“No?” I giggled. We had made good time to Pullman, especially considering we had stopped
frequently on the road for „rest breaks‟, and had spent the last two nights in the Northern Lights
Inn. I had come prepared and gathered bits of both the blue and red mushroom caps before we left
the caterpillar‟s -- who I later learned was called Jasper -- field. Edward and I hadn‟t seen any of
Pullman because we‟d been indulging, both in the mushrooms and each other.
“No,” Edward confirmed. “I can‟t believe I‟m saying this but my body needs rest. “My cock is
aching and not in a good way.”
“Oh,” I rolled over and wrapped my arms around his neck, playing with the hair at his nape. “Did I
break you? What can I do to make it better?”
“Honestly,” Edward sighed. “And it devastates me to say this -- don‟t look at it, don‟t touch it, don‟t
even breathe on it until I‟ve recuperated.”
“Poor baby,” I crooned and kissed him lightly, keeping my hips away from his. Apparently ten
times in one day was Edward‟s limit, which was really unfortunate since I was craving him again. I
hated to admit it, but Edward‟s cock was quickly becoming one of my favorite things in life. I loved
how it felt inside of me, stretching me --
“Ugh,” Edward groaned and pressed his hips against me, his hard cock twitching between us. “I
should have told you not to even thinkabout it.”
“Sorry, sorry,” I muttered as he began running his hands up and down my sides. “I forgot about
the link.”
“No, no,” he shook his head and began kissing his way along my neck. “The mind is willing even if
the flesh protests.”
I groaned as he rolled me so that my back faced his chest and began kissing the nape of my neck,
underneath my hair, as his hands came around to tug on my nipples. “Are you sure?” He
murmured as he kissed his way down my spine. “You have to be sore.”
“Oh yes,” I moaned as he pushed my legs so that they were bent as if I was sitting in a chair and
lifted the upper one to open me up, resting my upper thigh on his shoulder and letting my lower
leg hang down his back.
“Yes you want to or yes you‟re sore?” He whispered as he let his fingers trail down my body and
brush across my sensitive, swollen clit.
“Both,” I whimpered. “I want you so badly though.”
“Slow,” he murmured as he slid into me, literally sideways, and then leaned down to kiss the flesh
behind my ear. “We‟ll go really slowly. Okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed as he filled me and my walls stretched to accommodate him again. He was right,
I was sore from how much we‟d been making love, but the connection was strongest between us
when we were physically connected and I had quickly gotten addicted to the euphoric feelings that
sex generated inside me.
He was good to his word and began slipping in and out of me slowly, setting a slow but steady
pace. We were silent except for the tiny gasps and sighs that each of us emitted during our
deliciously slow lovemaking. One of Edward‟s hands began to caress my exposed front, the other
bracing him, as he turned his head and began kissing the leg resting on his shoulder.
“Oh,” I groaned.
“Shhh,” Edward crooned. “Shhh.”
His hand trailed down to my clit and began to stroke it gently, coaxing me into my orgasm. I
shuddered as the heat began spiraling inside of me, unable to move as much as I would like
because of the restrictive position I was in.
“Edward,” I gasped as he kissed the inside of my knee again and I began to orgasm intensely, the
connection between us feeding me Edward‟s pleasure as well, letting it flow between us like ocean
tides.
“I love you,” he moaned as he buried himself fully inside of me and then shuddered, staying
perfectly still as his cock twitched and released inside of me.
The sharp rap on the door caused both of us to jerk our heads up and our eyes widened. We
looked at each other and Edward pulled out of me quickly, letting my leg slip off his shoulder as we
stared at each other in horror. Had someone heard us? Had they been sitting outside the room
listening?
“Edward?” an overly enthusiastic voice announced as the knocking resumed. “The innkeeper told
me this was your room! Open up!”
“Alice?” His eyebrows knitted together.
Alice? I felt a wave of annoyance flood through me. Which Alice was outside of our door and why
was she speaking so familiarly with my Edward? What right did she think she had to come to our
room and pound on the door?
“Yes,” the voice sounded excited now. “The innkeeper said you were here and Jasper told me about
meeting your Alice and I can‟t stand waiting anymore. Open the door!”
“We‟re busy,” Edward muttered as he flopped down heavily beside me. “Come back later. We‟ll
have lunch.”
“Don‟t be silly!” She squeaked. “I don‟t want to spend time with you; I want to meet your Alice, so
open up.”
“Alice,” Edward ran his fingers through his hair and looked at me apologetically.
“Are you naked?” Her voice was much louder now, as if she were screaming, and I was sure
everyone in the hallway could hear her. Possibly the people in the common room could hear her,
she was talking so loudly. “Were you having sex? This early in the morning? Are you still in bed
with each other --” Edward stood with a muffled curse and grabbed his trousers, tugging them on
and then handed me my dress.
“ -- naked?” Edward jerked the door open just as I had finished struggling into my dress, the hem
just over my hips as he reached out and dragged a tiny, sprite like creature into our room.
“Happy now?” he growled and she simply smiled at him.
“Oh yes,” she agreed and then gave him a hug. “It‟s been too long.”
He hugged her in return and kissed her cheek briefly. “That depends entirely upon your point of
view Alice.”
“Oh shut up,” she laughed and then turned to look at me, sticking out her hand as if she hadn‟t
just disrupted a personal moment between Edward and someone who was a stranger to her. “You
must be Edward‟s Alice, Isabella.”
“Yes,” I took her hand cautiously and shook it. “And you are?”
“Oh I‟m Alice Alice,” she answered as she looked me over appraisingly. “And you can‟t imagine how
happy I am to meet you! I just know we‟re going to be fast friends.”
“Are we?”
“Oh yes!” She suddenly hugged me and my eyes widened as I looked over at Edward. He simply
smirked and shook his head, as if this was something that I should expect from her. “I sometimes
just know things and I know we‟re going to be the best of friends.”
“That‟s wonderful,” I agreed and tried to sound enthusiastic even though I was wary.
“Now,” she looked at Edward. “You need to go downstairs to the pub and meet with the other guys
while Rosalie and I take Isabella shopping.”
“It‟s,” I stopped as she turned to look at me. “It‟s Bella actually.”
“Bella?”
“I, um, go by Bella.”
“Right,” Alice nodded. “Bella, open your knapsack so that I can see what we need to buy while
we‟re out shopping today. I just know that Edward hasn‟t gotten you all the things you need for the
week.”
“Things I need?”
“Yes,” Alice nodded. “You‟ll need several fashionable dresses for the Annual Chess Match. I won‟t
allow Victoria to treat you like some sort of charity case to get her jollies. She‟ll treat you like an
Alice and I don‟t care if it kills her. I won‟t let her have any excuse to behave badly.”
“Um,” I looked between her and Edward who was shaking his head. “Edward?”
“It‟s probably for the best,” Edward sighed. “Alice knows more about these things than I do and
she‟ll see to it that you‟re properly prepared for the trip.”
“Okay,” I nodded. “Who is Rosalie though?”
“Rosalie?” Alice looked at me. “Rosalie is Emmett‟s Alice.”
“Oh, you mean Snap Dragon?”
“Snap Dragon?” Alice looked at Edward who simply shrugged. She shook her head and then shooed
him out of the room. “Go to the pub already and leave Isabella to me.”
“Don‟t keep her out longer than she wants,” Edward warned as she pushed him out the door and in
return she slammed it in his face before spinning around to face me.
“We‟re supposed to meet Rosalie in their room in just a few minutes, so if you‟re ready then we‟ll
go.”
“Okay?” I nodded slowly, still unsure about what we were doing as she dragged me down the hall
behind her.
“So, when did you come from?” Alice asked pleasantly as she pulled me to a room at the far end of
the hallway from mine.
“Oh, I‟m from Forks, Washington.”
“I have no idea where that is,” Alice shrugged. “But what I‟m really curious about is when you‟re
from. What time period? What was the date when you fell down the rabbit hole?”
“Oh, um, 2009. It was October 2009.”
“2009? Really?” Alice‟s eyes widened.
“Is that strange?”
“Well, Rosalie came down the rabbit hole in 1890 and she‟s the last Alice, well really one of the last
people to arrive before Dodson, and no one‟s arrived since Dodson.”
“No one at all?”
“Just you,” Alice confirmed.
“That‟s --”
“Rather strange,” she agreed. “And more than a little curious, you must admit. Perhaps,
Wonderland believes that it needs you to do something important?”
“Something important?”
“Perhaps,” Alice agreed as she knocked on the door and it flew open, a glacial blonde standing on
the other side.
“Alice,” she nodded and stepped aside. “And who is this?”
“This is Edward‟s new Alice, Bella.”
“Bella,” Rosalie stuck out her hand and I took it, shaking it quickly before letting it fall. “I hope you
don‟t mind but we don‟t stick to formalities between the two of -- well the three of us now, isn‟t it?
So, I‟m Rosalie and this is Alice.”
“Rosalie, Alice,” I smiled and nodded. I had been unsure of what to expect in the other Alice‟s but
now seeing them, being welcomed by them as one of their own, I immediately relaxed.
“She‟s from 2009,” Alice broke in suddenly and bounced on her toes.
“2009?” Rosalie‟s eyebrows raised and her eyes went wide. “That‟s why mine and Emmett‟s cottage
has gotten all the new things in it? All of those things are from 2009?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh,” Alice giggled. “Every time a new Alice arrives, the home she‟ll live in updates so that it has
all the creature comforts she‟s accustomed to. Strangely, when a new Alice arrives all the other
Alice‟s get the same upgrades as well.”
“Well that‟s rather --” I stopped. Actually it seemed no more peculiar than anything else here did.
“That thing that sits on the counter and cooks the food very quickly?” Rosalie looked at me
excitedly. “I love that thing. And the thing that keeps all the food cold?”
“You mean the microwave and the fridge?”
“Which is which?”
“The microwave is the fast cooker and the fridge is the thing that keeps it cool,” I answered.
“Well, whatever, they‟re both brilliant.” Rosalie enthused. “I‟ve always had a thing for technology. I
know it‟s not really seemly for women to like things that are mechanical but I‟ve always been
fascinated with them.”
“Okay,” Alice clapped her hands. “Enough chatter about the kitchen gadgets it‟s time to shop now.”
“Volturi‟s?” Rosalie suggested.
“No, no, I was thinking more of Tia and Kebi‟s. They have a much nicer selection of dresses.”
“But Volturi‟s will definitely have something appropriate for the Red Queen‟s ball. Why go to Tia
and Kebi‟s when we‟ll just have to go Volturi‟s afteward?”
“Because everyone in the Red Queen‟s entourage shops at Volturi‟s and we don‟t want Bella looking
as if she‟s a member of their court now do we?”
“Fine,” Rosalie huffed. “I see there‟s no way to decide this except to battle.”
“Amaranth,” Alice answered.
“Buff.”
“Carnelian.”
“Denim.”
“Eggplant.”
“Fallow.”
“Gamboge.”
“Heliotrope.”
“Ivory.”
“Um,” Rosalie looked at me wide eyed. “Um.”
“I win,” Alice crowed. “Tia and Kebe‟s it is.”
“Fine,” Rosalie huffed. “We‟ll end up at Volturi‟s in the end and I‟ll just say I told you so.”
“We‟ll see,” Alice answered as she looped one of her arms through one of mine and then Rosalie
took the other as they led me out of the room, through the common room -- where I saw Edward
at a table in the corner with three other men -- and into the street of Pullman.
“We‟ll see,” Rosalie grumbled. “Why do we even bother to argue with her?”
“I don‟t know,” Bella shook her head.
“There‟s no point,” Rosalie agreed. “But enough about her, tell me about you.”
“What about me?”
“How well do you know Edward?”
“Well,” I blushed, “I am his Alice.”
“I know,” Alice trilled. “I did knock as he was reminding you of that.”
“So how much of you belongs to him?” Rosalie looked at me slyly.
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Rosalie continued. “Emmett always has a cat tongue so it‟s not like I complain when he --”
“Oh!” I felt my face flame. “You mean does he --”
“Well obviously he‟s claimed you,” Alice snorted. “What else have the two of you done?”
“You want to know about --”
“Oh there are no secrets between us,” Alice smiled reassuringly. “You see, I can see visions of the
future.”
“Visions?”
“Well, I never could before I came to Wonderland and Carlisle thinks it might be something to do
with the fact that the world was built for me but yes, I can tell everything that‟s going to happen,
which means I actually know everything that has happened. I try not to look when it comes to
personal things but I did see Edward link the two of you together and then how horribly he
behaved.”
“But,” I stuttered.
“Bella,” Rosalie patted my arm soothingly as we walked through the town. “You don‟t have to tell
us anything but, just so you know, we‟ve been in your position and we want to help as much as
possible. And I do mean all of it.”
“All of it?”
“Well,” Rosalie shrugged. “Not with the actual mechanics, but if you need any advice or want to
talk to someone about things --”
“Oh,” I nodded and swallowed. “Thanks.”
Chapter 12.
“Are you sure about this?” I brushed my hands down the sides of my blue skirt again and looked
over at Edward nervously, biting my lip. “What if she doesn‟t like me?”
“She‟ll like you,” Rosalie answered. “She doesn‟t have a choice in the matter really.”
“But --” I glanced at Edward and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder while Alice took my
other, clammy hand in her own and squeezed it reassuringly.
“She‟ll love you,” she reassured me and I let out a sigh of relief. In the past two days, Alice and
Rosalie had become as close to me as Angela had been and much closer than Jessica ever would
have been. It was strange, I had only known them a handful of days but they already seemed like
the sisters I had always wanted growing up.
Why was I so close to them so quickly? I wondered. Was it because we were in the same situation?
They could understand acutely what I was going through; the separation from my own time and
place, the tension of finding myself somehow mated -- and madly in love -- with a man I barely
knew, and my sudden awakening as a sexual creature after years of being repressed by a
conservative society. Maybe it was all of those things together? Perhaps, instead, it was that we
had all been chosen for a specific purpose and none of us were sure what that was exactly? Maybe
we were meant to get along? Surely the enchantment holding together Wonderland wouldn‟t have
chosen Alices that couldn‟t tolerate each other?
“I think you‟ll really get along with Esme,” Edward whispered in my ear as he leaned down to plant
a kiss on the crown of my head. “I can honestly tell you that even if you had webbed feet, as long
as you made me happy, you would make her happy. She‟ll see what a wonderful woman you are
and adore you as much as I do.”
“Do you think so?”
“I‟m sure of it,” he replied.
“Hey Bells!” A smile popped up in front of me suddenly, hovering just in front of my face.
“Yes Emmett?”
“I was wondering about something and I thought you could tell me.”
“Sure Emmett,” I answered warily.
“How do you feel about peanut butter?” His eyes appeared suddenly and he winked one of them at
me as his grin widened.
“Peanut butter?”
“Go,” Edward snarled. “Go now, Emmett, or I swear I will tie you up in a sack and send you home
with Dodson.”
Rosalie chuckled and when I looked over, even Alice was trying to suppress her giggles. “What? I
don‟t get it.”
“Well,” Jasper chortled. “Um, well, you met Tanya Denali, right?”
“Yes,” I growled angrily as I thought about the slut who had thrown herself at Edward and then
had the nerve to actually try and claim she was his rightful Alice. “We‟ve met.”
“Oh yes you have,” Emmett giggled. “I‟ve never seen Edward look so out of sorts as when he
accidentally dragged you right into her meadow.”
“Emmett,” Edward‟s face looked thunderous.
“Well,” Jasper interceded and then reached out to grab Emmett -- who let out a loud squeak -- by
what I realized was his invisible but still very bushy tail. “You know what Tanya does as a
profession?”
“She‟s a --,” I blushed as I thought about exactly what she was. Why couldn‟t I just say it? Why
couldn‟t I just say the word?
“She‟s a whore,” Rosalie said bluntly. “No need to sugarcoat it. Tanya Denali gets fucked for cash.”
I immediately felt my face flame. Of course I knew what Tanya Denali was, and what that entailed,
but to hear it put so bluntly still stunned me.
“Anyway,” Jasper interjected again. “So we all know how Tanya makes her silver. Well, one of her
customers -- Alistair -- went by to see Tanya a few weeks ago and he heard some rather unusual
noises coming from inside her cottage.”
“Unusual?” I repeated. “What do you mean, unusual?”
“Well,” Jasper continued. “He heard the typical noises you expect to hear when someone like Tanya
is actively plying her trade -- moans, groans, that sort of thing.”
“Yes?”
“Well, he also hears these growls and then these sounds like an animal eating. So Alistair thinks
that maybe the moans and groans he‟s hearing aren‟t exactly business related and perhaps
someone has broken in --”
“Like Jake and his pack,” Rosalie snapped and I immediately flinched as I remembered the
shapeshifter‟s appearance in mine and Edward‟s home.
“So?” I prompted.
“Well,” Jasper looked at Alice and shifted uncomfortably.
“Oh tell her, Jasper, there‟s no need to be delicate about it. Everyone will be gossiping about it
behind closed doors anyway so she‟ll certainly hear about it.”
“Go on,” I coaxed. “I promise you won‟t offend me.”
“Well,” Jasper nodded. “Alistair barges in and finds that he was partially correct but also very, very
mistaken.”
“Mistaken?”
“Tanya was entertaining Jake and another member of the pack -- Sam -- but it was purely by her
own choice. She had simply not required them to shift into human form before transacting business
with them.”
“You mean they were still --” I felt my face flame as my eyes went wide. I looked over at Edward
who was also tomato red and coughing.
“That‟s not the best part,” Emmett crowed. “You‟ve got to tell her what they were doing!”
“I can imagine,” I tried to intercede.
“Oh no,” the eyes and the smile moved suddenly and I realized he was shaking his head. “No, you
can‟t. That‟s the absolute best part of the story. Tell her, Jasper!”
“Go on,” I swallowed and tried to keep myself collected.
“Um,” Jasper took a deep breath. “What has all of Wonderland in a stir, besides the fact that she
didn‟t make them shift, is what they were doing.”
“What were they doing?” I found myself oddly curious now because he was so uncomfortable
telling me.
“She had,” Jasper coughed and I could see that Edward was pulling at his necktie, suddenly
nervous.
“She‟d spread peanut butter all over her woohaa and was letting them lick it off!” Emmett
announced.
“What?” I gasped.
“She‟d spread peanut butter --”
“I got that part,” I wheezed.
“Oh, well then what?”
“Wasn‟t she afraid they were going to bite?”
“That‟s what I said,” Alice broke in with wide eyes of her own.
“Would have served her right if they did,” Rosalie muttered. “Taken her clit clean off and it would
have been her own fault.”
“That‟s --”
“Disgusting?” Alice asked.
“Nauseating?” Edward suggested.
“Perverse?” Jasper added.
“A good way to guarantee you‟ll never want a peanut butter sandwich again?” Rosalie piped up.
“Sick but still strangely fascinating and erotic?” Emmett sounded hopeful.
“I was going with unsanitary,” I shrugged. “But the others work too.”
“Even the erotic part?” Emmett chimed in.
“No, not that part.”
“Oh, damn.”
“Sorry.”
“No, no it‟s okay. You just had my hopes up for a second. How would you feel if it were with a
feline? We have much better tongues. Better at getting between delicate folds, textured for
pleasure --”
“Emmett,” Edward snarled and curled his arm around me tighter, bringing me against his side
possessively.
Rosalie glowered at the rapidly fading grin. “Emmett,” she narrowed her eyes.
“I meant in a group capacity,” he said quickly. “Everything is always meant in a group capacity.
Surely you know that Rosalie? Rose? Rosie baby? My beautiful, long-stemmed Rose?”
“It may be best if you‟re silent until we reach the Crystal Palace,” she smirked. “We‟ll discuss how
you can make it up to me later.”
“Score,” Emmett smirked. “I‟m getting to do makeup work later. Best if I go get things ready in our
room! I hate to make mischief and run but, well, there‟s kink to plan and I‟m just the cat to do it!”
“I‟m sorry about him,” Rosalie shook her head. “Normally he‟s not so --”
“Rose,” Jasper shook his head and smiled.
“Okay, he‟s normally exactly like that but he‟s not bad about it. He‟s just sort of Emmett and he
doesn‟t mean any harm.”
“It‟s fine,” I laughed. “I figured he was just trying to make me blush.”
“Pretty much,” Alice giggled. “He sees it as a sport. Don‟t worry though; if he didn‟t like you he
wouldn‟t tease you so much. I mean after all, he rarely teases Edward.”
“Haha,” Edward laughed sarcastically.
“So, really, what‟s the gossip with Tanya?”
“What do you mean?” Alice asked happily.
“Why was Emmett really giving her grief? What did Alistair see?”
“Oh,” Jasper blushed. “Um, well --”
Edward coughed and I noticed he was beet red again.
“Bella,” Alice giggled.
“Yeah?”
“He was telling the truth about that part.”
“You mean she actually --”
“Yeah,” Rose answered and her voice sounded strangled. Looking over, I could see that she was
barely containing her laughter.
“Oh,” I nodded. “Well let‟s hope she can contain herself if they serve sandwiches at the Chess
Match. I do think that would be a bit of a shocker.”
“Not for Tanya,” Alice giggled. “But I agree, let‟s hope she can behave. I for one happen to like
Laurent‟s food. He makes an amazing strawberry tart. It is to die for. Really!”
“Bella,” Edward nudged me and I turned to face him.
“Yes?”
“Just at the top of this hill,” he whispered, “close your eyes and let me show you something.”
“That‟s never a good way to start the night,” Rosalie joked.
“Shut it,” Edward growled good-naturedly. I closed my eyes as he directed and felt him lead me to
the top of the hill we‟d been slowly meandering up. Once I felt that we were at the top, he stopped
and stepped behind me,, wraping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.
“Open your eyes.”
I followed his command and allowed my eyes to flutter open, focusing my gaze down the hill and
gasped. The Crystal Palace was just that, an entire citadel made of translucent outer crystals,
shooting rainbow sparks outward and glistening in the sun. “It‟s --,”
“Welcome to the Crystal Palace,” Edward whispered as he leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Otherwise
known as your second home.‟
“My second --”
“Carlisle and Esme act almost like our parents,” Edward answered. “All of us have lived at the
Palace at one time or another and we always know we‟re welcome back whenever we like. You‟ll be
welcome whenever you like as well.”
“Oh,” I breathed in deeply as I took in the beautiful sight before me. “I don‟t know what to say.”
“Say you‟re happy and you never wish to leave Wonderland,” Edward whispered. “Please?”
Please, I smiled. It wasn‟t an order if he said please at the end and I was free to disobey. It was a
request and I could refuse requests.
“I am so very, very happy and I don‟t ever wish to leave you or Wonderland,” I replied and then
leaned my head back to kiss his cheek. “I would die if they ever made me leave you.”
“As would I,” he agreed.
“Really?”
“No,” Edward shook his head. “I wouldn‟t.”
“You wouldn‟t die without me?”
“No,” he answered solemnly. “I would spend the rest of your life trying to get you back to
Wonderland. I would fight every moment to have you returned to me.”
“And if you failed and I could never return?”
“Then I would have no choice,” Edward shrugged.
“No choice?”
“I cannot live without the hope of you,” Edward answered. “I would be glad to destroy myself if all
hope was definitely gone.”
“Edward,” I sighed and prepared to chastise him.
“Enough of this melancholy though,” he stepped back to my side and began to pull me down the
hill with the others, who‟d gone ahead to give us privacy. “Miss Isabella Marie Swan, Alice who
graced me with her wondrous presence when she arrived rather abruptly in Wonderland, light of
my heart, reason for my existence, my one true love and soulmate --”
“Yes?”
“May I please introduce you to my parents -- the White Queen and her Royal Consort?”
“I would be delighted to meet your parents,” I smiled and he gave me a grin.
“And they‟ll be delighted to meet you in return.”
Chapter 13.
“Edward!” I could hear Esme calling out from the balcony and pulled Bella in closer by my side.
“Alice! Jasper! Rosalie!” I watched as she turned, looking back into the palace. “Carlisle, they‟re
here. The children are back!”
Children, I wanted to laugh. Esme had been barely 30 when she was sent to Wonderland, just six
months older than Jasper and a year older than Emmett. There was only ten years age difference
between Esme and Rosalie and twelve between Esme and I. While women in my time had certainly
married and began raising families at a younger age than what Bella told me was presently the
norm -- they certainly had not began as early as that. The only one of us she had mothered, at all,
was Alice herself. Carlisle was only three years older and had been a colleague of Jaspers. Yet,
somehow, she had ended up mothering all of us at one point or another and we‟d become our own
unique version of a family. A family in which Esme found herself as a mother, standing on her
balcony and craning her head to see us coming through the main gates, calling for Carlisle to join
her.
I bent down to kiss my Bella on the top of her head again and smiled as I led her up the path to
the palace. “It‟s --”
“Welcome home,” I replied.
“It‟s beautiful,” she answered, sounding awestruck and I could feel her trepidation as we drew
closer to the house. I knew that in her own time Bella‟s circumstances had been comfortable but
not wealthy, solidly working class, and that she was intimidated by any show of ostentatious
wealth.
“Not nearly as much as you are,” I replied.
“Edward,” she admonished and I could feel her delighted embarrassment at my compliment
through the link. “Your family is right here.”
“And?”
“And,” she blushed and I couldn‟t help but laugh. “You shouldn‟t make a scene.”
“A scene.” I reached down to wrap my arms around her waist, picking her up and spinning her in a
wide circle so that her skirt belled out behind her. “You mean like this?”
“Edward!”
“Yes my love?”
“Stop it.”
“No.” I shook my head as I shifted her so that she was cradled in my arms, bridal style. “I don‟t
think that I shall.”
Walking up the front steps to where Esme was now waiting excitedly on the front porch, I smiled
down at her and then winked. “Esme,” I turned my attention to my mother. “This is the woman
that has changed my life forever. May I present my Alice, Isabella Marie Swan?”
“Oh,” Esme squealed in delight as I set Bella on her feet and Esme promptly hugged her. “Carlisle
told me that your Alice had finally arrived! No one had any information about her though.”
Pulling back, she looked at Bella. “I‟m Esme, technically the White Queen, but please just call me
Esme. I am so happy to meet you.”
“I‟m happy to meet you as well, ma‟am,” Bella replied stutteringly.
“Esme,” she insisted. “And I‟m sure we will be great friends.”
“I hope so,” Bella smiled.
“I‟m sure I‟ll adore anyone who makes Edward as happy as you seem to have.” Esme replied as
she wrapped her arm through Bella‟s and led her into the house, the others following behind, as
she began to chatter happily to Bella.
“Carlisle,” I stayed on the porch and drew the other man‟s attention.
“Yes?”
“Can I speak with you for a moment?”
“Of course, Edward,” Carlisle nodded. “What would you like to speak about?”
“Well, it‟s about Bella.”
“How is Bella doing? Are the two of you happy together?”
“Very happy, well,” I amended. “I‟m very happy and when I ask, Bella says she‟s very happy and
she‟s given me no reason to doubt her word. So I would like to say she‟s happy but without her to
confirm it, that seems impolite.”
“We‟ll go with the assumption for now that you‟re correct though and Bella is happy. What can I do
for you? Or for Bella?”
“Well,” I twisted my hands together. “I had two questions. First, I was wondering if you could talk
to Bella. I know that when one first arrives in Wonderland it‟s a big adjustment and quite normal to
have problems. I‟ve tried to help Bella as much as I can but there was an incident --”
“Ah yes,” Carlisle scowled. “I did hear that Jacob had shown up at your home and tricked Bella into
letting him inside. She‟s very lucky that things didn‟t go badly.”
“Yes, well,” I muttered. “When I came home and found them, I was angry and scared and may
have --”
“Behaved injudiciously?”
“That‟s a polite way of putting it,” I muttered. “So, I‟ve been trying to help her acclimate since then
but I don‟t know how successful I‟m being because I don‟t know how much of her is really
acclimating and how much is her doing what she thinks I want to keep from making me angry.”
“And you would like me to talk with her?” Carlisle suggested.
“If you don‟t mind. I know that it helped tremendously when I found myself here and it‟s helped all
the others as well. Your perspective is helpful.”
“It would be my pleasure to speak with Bella. If you‟d like I‟ll do so before dinner.”
“Thank you,” I agreed.
“You said you had two questions,” Carlisle prompted.
“Bella brought up marriage,” I blurted out nervously.
“Understandable,” Carlisle agreed. “You are living together as man and wife essentially.”
“Yes, but she brought up marriage in the topside tradition.”
“Once again, understandable, most women would, considering how you‟re living together. It‟s not
unreasonable that she‟s trying to determine what her status is socially within Wonderland and
unfortunately for women, their status is often defined by their relationship with the opposite sex.
That‟s true topside as it is here. Alice is Jasper‟s Alice. Rosalie is Emmett‟s Alice. Never do you hear
Jasper referred to as Alice‟s Consort and the same with Emmett.”
“But you‟re referred to as Esme‟s Royal Consort?”
“That‟s a quirk of the monarchy,” Carlisle shrugged, “and wouldn‟t exist except that Dodson is
horribly attached to the English idea that a monarch can be female if no male heir is present. That
and his complete adulation of Her Majesty Victoria.”
“So,” I looked at him quizzically.
“Bella is trying to figure out her place and with the sexual component of your relationship with each
other, she‟s trying to figure out how that relates to this society‟s morals and social expectations. In
her world view, and the world view you were raised in as well, good girls did not have sex with
men they weren‟t married to. Yes?”
“Yes,” I agreed.
“It was a sin and it was shameful?”
“Yes,” I agreed, thinking back to what Bella had told me about her upbringing.
“Therefore, I assume Bella is a good girl and doesn‟t wish to do anything shameful. Therefore,
she‟s trying to rectify the situation she finds herself in, rather abruptly, where she had a sexual
relationship with a man she cares deeply about who isn‟t her husband.”
“Right,” I agreed. “I understand all that.”
“Well,” Carlisle looked at me. “What‟s your question then?”
“Would you marry Bella and I? I mean, if she wanted to of course.”
“Have you asked her?”
“Not yet, I wanted to ask you first.”
“Well, that‟s rather silly. I can‟t marry you without a bride. But yes, if Bella agrees, I‟ll marry you
after she and I have spoken.”
“Thank you.” I nodded as we walked into the house, following the sounds of the others. When we
reached the library, I saw Bella sitting between Esme and Rosalie completely absorbed in
conversation. I walked up behind her and leaned in to smell her hair, brushing my nose against it,
before lowering my face to her cheek and giving her a chaste kiss.
“May I speak with you alone?”
“Of course,” she agreed and followed me from the room.
“Bella --” I wasn‟t sure where to start.
“Yes?”
“I‟d like for you to speak with Carlisle for a bit.”
“Speak with Carlisle?”
“He‟s rather good at helping people acclimate to Wonderland,” I said. “I thought that he might help
you.”
“Have I been behaving improperly?” Her eyes widened.
“What? No, no,” I reassured her. “It‟s just that Carlisle can help you deal with anything that may
be bothering you. I know your arrival here was a bit abrupt and more than a little shocking.
Everything‟s moved so fast, I just thought you might like someone to speak to about it; someone
who‟s good at listening.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “That would be nice.”
“He‟s a really good listener,” I agreed.
“Okay, when would you like for me to speak with him?”
“Well,” I shrugged. “He‟s willing to talk to you at any point. I was thinking perhaps before dinner?”
“Before dinner? Why the rush?”
“Well,” I began to twist my fingers together nervously. “I was hoping we‟d have other plans right
after that but I‟d like you to talk with Carlisle first.”
“Edward,” she blushed and then glanced down at the floor. “Your family is in the next room!”
“What? Oh! No, no, not that.” I felt my own face flame -- something that hadn‟t happened in a
very long time. “Um, well, you see --” I dropped to one knee and took her hand in mine.
“Edward?”
“Bella-will-you-marry-me?”
“Huh?”
“Would you marry me?” I repeated, hopeful.
“But I thought you said that people in Wonderland don‟t get married?”
“They don‟t, as a rule, but you want to and Carlisle is an ordained minister -- or he was before he
ended up here -- and he has married both Alice and Jasper and Emmett and Rosalie. I thought, if
you wanted, we could have him marry us. I talked to him about it outside and he thought it was a
wonderful idea. As long as you agreed, I mean.”
“Agreed?”
“To marry me?”
“Oh,” her eyes widened and she nodded. “Of course.”
“Of course? Of course it depends on you, or of course --”
“Of course I‟ll marry you, silly!” She shook her head. “But not tonight.”
“Not tonight?” I stood up abruptly, my heart crashing to my feet. She was willing to marry me but
not now? Why did she want to wait?
“If it won‟t hold up our leaving, I‟ll marry you in the morning,” Bella agreed.
“In the morning?”
“Edward,” Bella whispered as she raised herself on tiptoe and put her lips to my ear. “We‟ve been
sleeping in fields and pubs for a week. The only chance I‟ve had to clean up has been in
washbasins to scrub off the visible dirt. If you think I‟m going to get married in a filthy dress with
mud on the hem and dirt under my fingernails, you have another thing coming.”
“So you wanted something more grand?” I asked quickly. “I‟ll set Alice to planning and by
tomorrow morning she‟ll have a wedding prepared to rival a queen‟s.”
“No, no,” Bella shook her head. “I don‟t want anything grand at all; just the two of us and your
family. I don‟t want grandeur but I do wish to be clean. Properly clean and wearing a fresh dress.
Is that too much to ask?”
“No, no,” I shook my head. “I should have expected as much. It‟s just --”
“Just?”
“It seems like a very long time between now and breakfast.”
She simply smiled and led me into the library. I was right, of course. It was a very long time until
breakfast. Especially since, directly after dinner, Esme, Alice, Rosalie and Bella retired to Esme‟s
private chambers and locked out all of us -- citing the need to prepare Bella for our wedding. They
even refused to let me see her before I gave up and went to bed alone.
It didn‟t seem fair exactly. I had proposed marriage and ended up alone, in a cold bed, without
even a good night kiss from my Bella, and three grumpy friends who were sleeping alone as well.
Why had I thought a proper topside marriage was a good thing?
Chapter 14.
I tapped my fingers impatiently as I waited for Alice to finish curling my hair with what appeared to
be a mixture of an antique kitchen hand tool and a torture implement from the Civil War that she
called curling tongs. “Hold still,” she admonished.
“I‟m sitting here in my slip and a pair of stockings waiting for you to burn my scalp,” I retorted. “I
mean, seriously, you just pulled that thing out of the fireplace.”
“Don‟t be ridiculous,” Rosalie laughed as she took the dress that Esme had given me from off its
hook and smoothed the fabric across the bed. I bit my lip as I stared at it, immediately distracted
from Alice‟s torture as I gazed at the confection of ivory silk and lace lying across the bed. I‟d
never cared a bit about things like clothing or wedding dresses before, I hadn‟t even really cared
last night when they had dragged me into Esme‟s dressing room to find something appropriate for
the wedding. All I‟d cared about was that I had wanted to be clean for my wedding. Clothing wasn‟t
my thing but I did have some sense of occasion and I was getting married after all -- I shouldn‟t
have snarls in my hair while I did it.
Then, Esme had pulled out THE DRESS. That was how I thought about it now, all in caps, as if a
gigantic neon sign were over the top of it, blinking with an arrow pointing down at the fabric. It
was, quite simply, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and not only was she letting me wear it
to get married, she had also given it to me as a gift.
There was a sharp rap at the door and I jerked my head up instinctively, singeing my own scalp
from the curling tongs after I‟d warned Alice not to and she simply chuckled. “That‟ll be Jasper,”
Esme said softly and patted me on the hand.
“Jasper?” I tried to reach for something to cover up with but Alice had rolled another lock of hair
around the burning hot tongs and I was imprisoned by my own fear of burning my scalp again.
Instead, I watched as Esme and Rosalie opened the door just enough for him to fill their arms with
bunches of white roses and garland before he closed the door silently and went away. “For your
hair,” Esme told me. “I didn‟t have anything to make you a proper veil so Rosalie and I thought
that these would look nice in your hair and then you could carry a bouquet as well.”
“Thank you.” I smiled and began to tap my fingers nervously again. I couldn‟t believe I was
actually getting married. Well, I could believe it. Edward and I were essentially living as man and
wife even though we hadn‟t exchanged vows, so in a normal world it wouldn‟t be considered at all
strange that we were „making it official‟. But, he had told me that people in Wonderland didn‟t
marry, so I had given up on the idea. Then, last night he‟d sprung it on me again -- suddenly --
and now, here I was, with very little planning, about to marry a man I‟d known less than a month
and all but half an hour of that we‟d been acquainted in the very essence of the Biblical sense.
Somewhere, my mother had been suffering from heart palpitations and my father was having
irrational urges to shoot people. I, meanwhile, thought I was going to throw up.
“Bella?” Rosalie looked at me anxiously. “Breath in and out through your mouth. Everything will be
fine.”
“I‟m fine,” I assured her. “Really, I‟m fine.”
“You don‟t have to do anything that you don‟t want to,” she continued calmly as she grasped my
hand.
“No, no,” I almost shouted. “I want to marry Edward, I do.”
“Then why are you currently sweating and whiter than your slip?”
“It‟s just --” I stopped. Why was I so nervous? It surely wasn‟t that I had any doubts in my mind
that I loved Edward, because I did and I knew that it would never change. I also didn‟t doubt that
he loved me or that we were soul mates. So why was I nervous? Because it was sudden? I wasn‟t
nervous about that when I fell quite suddenly into his bed or when he bonded me. Surely those
were much bigger steps than the simple ceremony we were about to take part in?
“What if I trip and fall?”
“Don‟t be silly,” Alice giggled. “The front parlor is a perfectly flat surface.”
“But all those people who have come to follow Esme‟s entourage,” I replied feebly. “They‟ll be
watching from the windows outside. What if I make a fool out of myself?”
“Then we‟ll all have a good story to tell about your wedding,” Rosalie answered and then shooed
Alice away. “If you curl her hair anymore you‟ll make her look like a poodle.”
Taking my hands she helped me up and then reached for the dress, motioning for me to raise my
hands above my head. When I did so, she gently lowered the long, tulip shaped skirt down my
body and then stood to adjust the bodice. Esme came behind and began to lace the back, working
with a steady hand that immediately soothed me. Once it was tightened to conform perfectly to my
body, she began interspersing flowers in my hair while Alice arranged a small bouquet of roses.
“Something‟s missing,” Rosalie announced and Alice and Esme came around to peer at me as well.
“Well,” Esme hurried over to her vanity and began to root through her jewelry box. “Here they
are,” she cried, extracting a sapphire pendant and earrings. Rosalie fastened the necklace around
my neck while I added the earrings, thankful that I‟d defied my mother‟s orders at 13 and let
Jessica Stanley pierce them even though my mother said it looked vulgar.
“Okay,” Alice nodded. “We have something old -- that‟s Esme‟s dress.”
“Something new is the flowers,” Esme added. “I had them cut just today.”
“Something borrowed and blue are the earrings and necklace,” Rosalie agreed.
“But something‟s missing,” Alice nodded.
“Wait,” Esme announced as she turned to the other two. “I know what‟s missing. Out you go. Go
find Jasper and tell him that we‟re ready.”
“But --” Alice looked perplexed.
“I‟ll handle it,” Esme answered sternly. “Now go find Jasper.”
Once the other two were gone she planted a kiss on each of my cheeks and then smiled. “You
really are the most beautiful bride I‟ve ever seen and I‟m so happy you‟re marrying my Edward.”
I immediately felt myself flush with pleasure from her approval. Surely she had told both Alice and
Rosalie the same thing but somehow, it didn‟t make the sentiment any different. I smiled and she
smiled in return.
“That should do it,” she nodded to herself as a knock sounded again on the door. Hurrying over,
she opened it and ushered Jasper inside.
“Well,” he looked me over appraisingly. “Have you decided who you are yet?”
“Yes,” I smiled.
“And do you like her?”
“I do,” I agreed.
“And you think she‟ll like what you are to become?”
“I definitely think she‟ll approve.”
“Perfect,” Jasper smiled and reached out to take my arm, guiding me from the room and out into
the corridor. “That‟s all that anyone can ask for.”
I took a deep breath and let him lead me through the corridors of the house and into the main
parlor. Just outside the closed double doors he stopped and turned to look at me. “Take a deep
breath in,” he instructed and I did. “Now hold it until the count of three and exhale slowly.”
The minute I followed his instructions I felt the tension leave my body. “Now,” Jasper smiled,
looking at how much more relaxed I was, “you‟re ready.” Reaching out calmly, he pushed down on
the door handles, opening both of them wide and then turning to take my arm again. Looking up, I
saw Edward in a lawn pair of trousers and a mocha colored velvet jacket, a white shirt underneath,
and a formal, old fashioned necktie. He was absolutely breathtaking and I was so in awe of how
handsome he was that I completely forgot about Esme‟s subjects peering in the window and my
own clumsiness. I didn‟t stumble once before I reached him and Jasper gave him my hand.
“Dearly beloved,” Carlisle intoned, somber in his formal black suit. “We are gathered here today to
bring together Edward Anthony Cullen and Isabella Marie Swan.”
I heard some soft murmurs from the people outside as Carlisle gave a brief sermon, reading Paul‟s
Letter to the Corinthians, and then focused on the two of us. “Do you, Edward, take Isabella Marie
to be your lawfully wedded wife? In sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in good times
and in bad, for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Edward said immediately, his voice showing no trace of insecurity or doubt.
“Do you, Isabella, take Edward Anthony to be your lawfully wedded husband? In sickness and in
health, for richer or for poorer, in good times and in bad, for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” I answered without any trace of doubt either.
“Then, by the power invested in me by God and the White Queen‟s authority, I now pronounce you
husband and wife. Edward, you may kiss your bride. But please, for propriety‟s sake, make it
brief.”
I couldn‟t help smiling as Edward leaned down to kiss me chastely and then stood back up,
beaming, as the people around us began to clap.
“I hate to interrupt,” Carlisle said softly. “But we really need to prepare for our journey. The Red
Queen is not patient.”
“Of course,” Edward nodded. “I‟ve already had our trunk sent down. All that‟s left is for us to
change and we‟ll be ready. Ten minutes at the most?”
“We‟ll meet you at the carriages,” Carlisle answered.
Edward shrugged and then took my arm, leading me away from the group in the parlor as Carlisle
began to shepherd them outside. “I‟m sorry,” he murmured.
“Sorry?” I looked at him, perplexed. “Whatever for?”
“For everything being so rushed,” he answered. “I would have preferred something more leisurely,
a nice brunch afterward perhaps, instead of rushing you to meet the most vile woman in
Wonderland.”
“Edward,” I stopped him, grabbing his biceps to hold him still, making him look at me. “I‟m married
to you. That in itself is enough to make this the happiest day of my life.”
“I love you, Isabella Cullen,” he murmured as he leaned down to kiss me again, not nearly as
chaste since we were now alone.
“Edward!” Alice came scampering into the hallway, breaking us apart.
“What? We‟re coming!”
“No.” Alice‟s eyes were wide with horror. “She‟s here.”
“Who‟s here?”
“The Red Queen,” Alice replied. “She‟s come with her entourage. She‟s suggested that the Match
be held here instead. They‟re in the ballroom. She wishes to meet your bride.”
“We‟ll just change and --”
“Edward,” she was wringing her hands. “You need to come immediately.”
“Right,” he agreed and took my arm again. Turning his head to look at me, he tried his best to
smile.
“Wait,” I pulled back as Alice scampered back down the hallway.
“What?”
“The marriage doesn‟t count yet.”
“What do you mean it doesn‟t count?”
“Edward,” I could feel my face flame. “We, um, haven‟t well – We haven‟t consummated the
marriage. You‟ve warned me that she tries to sneak through loopholes in the rules. The marriage
doesn‟t count until we‟ve, well you know.”
“Oh,” Edward‟s eyes widened and he looked around the hallway before pulling me into an empty,
abandoned room with a large, floor to ceiling mirror and a black grand piano positioned in the
center. “This wasn‟t how I intended to do this,” he apologized.
“It‟s okay. I mean, we‟ll have a chance at a do over this evening won‟t we?”
“Definitely,” Edward said as he pressed me back against the mirror, before bending down to kiss
my throat and his hands began to pull the bunch my dress up around my waist. I wrapped my left
leg around his hip and whimpered against his mouth as I felt his erection pressing against my
stomach.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“And I love you,” he said as he fumbled his trousers open and pressed inside of me slowly.
„Don‟t worry,‟ he soothed through the link as he began to slowly move his body against mine,
sending shivers of pleasure through my body. „Everything will go fine. I promise you that
everything will be okay.‟
Everything will go fine, I thought to myself as we stepped into the ballroom a few moments later
and I focused my eyes on the flame-haired woman in garish red and black striped silk standing
domineeringly over Esme, a greasy looking man in a coat that matched her hair, standing at her
shoulder. Everything will go fine, I repeated to myself.
Then she turned and stalked toward me, fury pouring off of her in waves. “So you would be the
new Alice?”
„Be polite but not deferential,‟ Edward cautioned through the link.
“I am,” I agreed.
“And I see you‟ve claimed her, bed her, bonded her, and wed her, without a by your leave,” she
snapped at Edward.
“The White Queen gave her blessing,” Edward answered. “And as I live within her lands, that was
all the „leave‟ necessary.”
“I see,” her upper lip curled instinctively and she turned around, flouncing away as the man who‟d
been standing beside her shifted his eyes on me, taking his time in looking me over appraisingly.
Edward shifted so that he blocked me slightly and the man sneered at him before turning and
following her away.
Panic gripped me and I felt my hands begin to sweat. Everything most definitely was not going to
be fine.
Chapter 15.
The brunch that Esme‟s servants hurriedly prepared was -- tense. Bella looked as if she were going
to gnaw her bottom lip off and it was all I could do not to soothe her, knowing that it would draw
attention instead to her nervousness. The last thing she needed was for Victoria to smell blood in
the water, so to speak. The woman was a shark and fear was the elixer that she thrived on.
„Everything will be fine,‟ I cautioned her through the link. „This is better than we could have hoped
because she has no real power here.‟
„Then why is she here?‟ Bella sounded frantic.
„She means to throw Esme off guard. If she catches her unprepared then she thinks she‟ll have a
better chance of winning. She hasn‟t won a game against Esme since all of this began.‟
„Then why keep playing?‟
„Wonderland requires it. And every game is a wager. Each time she loses more of her land comes
into Esme‟s control.‟
„And that‟s bad because --‟
„It‟s not bad for us,‟ I smirked. „It‟s better for all of Wonderland if Victoria‟s kingdom is as small as
possible but for her, well no one wants to lose their kingdom.‟
“Queen Victoria?” Esme said, breaking into our internal conversation.
“Yes?” I could tell that Victoria was nervous and trying to hide it. Perceptively I knew that she had
shown up here, trying to throw Esme off her guard and thereby win back some of her lands, and
that she thought she had the upper hand that way. But, I also knew Esme and it took more than a
few hundred people showing up unexpectedly at her palace -- in the middle of her youngest son‟s
wedding -- to unnerve her.
“My steward has just informed me that we‟re ready to begin. If you would like, we can proceed into
the formal garden now.”
“Of course,” Victoria nodded and I could see her anger and disappointment beginning to surface as
she realized that her plan had failed. James, her consort, stood and offered her his arm. She took it
and together with Carlisle and Esme they began to move through the formal ballroom and out the
large French style doors to the formal gardens beyond.
Esme, being the host, walked along the length of the life sized chess board, touching each of her
soldiers in turn, offering them words of support and thanks for their agreement to take part in the
match, before she took up her station on the other side. As we followed, I watched James and the
wolves begin to unload the prisoners they had taken for their pieces, forcing them onto the
enchanted squares they could no longer leave.
“Oh heavens,” Bella buried her face into my arm as I hurried her into the stands behind Esme,
discreetly tucking her behind Emmett‟s broad back so that if she chose she could bury her head in
my shoulder and not watch the game without to many people staring at her. “They‟re actually
going to --”
“Yes,” I said softly as I pulled her closer to me. “Just hide your head in my chest and it will all be
over soon. Esme is really a very good player.”
“But those men are going to --”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Some of them will die. It‟s the nature of the game though, pieces will be
sacrificed.”
“But her pieces,” Bella sniffed and I could see that she was staring angrily at Victoria. “They aren‟t
soldiers are they? They‟re --”
“Prisoners,” I nodded.
“They‟re going to die through no fault of their own.”
“Better to die here,” Emmett muttered.
“But --”
“She feeds those that survive the game to the Jabberwocky or let the wolves hunt them and eat
them for sport,” Emmett said.
“I think I‟m going to be --”
“Here,” Rosalie quickly handed back a hankerchief and I smelled the combination of lemon balm
and lavender it was infused with. “Breathe through it and it will help calm your nerves.”
Turning, she looked at me. “If she looks faint I have some smelling salts as well.”
“Thank you.”
“Pawn to E4,” Esme called out and everyone‟s attention was soon fixed on the game.
“Pawn to C5,” Victoria answered.
“Knight to F3.”
“Pawn to E6.”
It didn‟t take long for Victoria to sacrifice her first pawn, and I had scarcely had time to bury Bella‟s
head into my chest and cover her ears before Esme‟s pawn loped off the other‟s head. He had
acted quickly, doing his best to make short work of the other man, and then bowed low as Esme‟s
stewards dragged the remains away and wiped the blood and gore from the square.
Victoria was not of the disposition to be successful at chess and I‟d often wondered if that was why
Dodson had chosen that particular game for the Queen‟s to battle in. For all his faults, Dodson
adored Esme when she had been his cook and had been the one to teach her how to play chess. He
was a coward and a blackguard but even I had to admit that he was a damn fine chess player and
because of him so was she. He also knew Victoria, and loathed her, so surely he had devised this
as his own personal revenge on the landlady who had always mocked his stutter? I turned my head
to look and saw him sitting in the stands, happily munching on a snack of some sort and kicking his
stubby legs like a toddler, truly enjoying the carnage before him.
Victoria brought out her Queen quickly, trying to force a win against Esme and everyone in the
crowd could tell at that point the match was over. She moved pieces in haste, angering when they
were taken and then letting her anger build with each failure. By move 30 the Queens were head
to head and no one in the stands could doubt that Victoria‟s would fall imminently.
“White Queen takes Black Queen,” Esme announced and I watched as the wretched beggar woman
Victoria had kidnapped drank the poison Esme‟s Queen gave her. She swallowed convulsively,
shuddered once and then collapsed into a silent, dead heap. No one moved, the entire garden
silent, as three stewards came to carry her body away.
Two moves later Esme announced checkmate and the entire crowd sighed in relief. Victoria
stomped her foot angrily and then turned to glare at the members of her entourage. “Gather the
prisoners,” she spat. “The Jabberwocky will make them pay for their failure.”
“Perhaps I could buy them from you instead?” Esme called out. “Surely, I could use more help in
the palace and they could be of more use here than in the Jabberwocky‟s pen.”
“No,” Victoria snapped. “It‟s the Jabberwocky for all of them.”
“As you wish,” Esme sighed and I could see her shoulders trembling while the prisoners were being
dragged from the board and back into the pens she‟d brought them in. “Thank you for a lovely
game.”
“You cheated,” Victoria announced.
“I did not.”
“You did,” Victoria repeated. “I don‟t know how and I can‟t prove it but I know you did.”
“Well,” Esme answered. “When you can prove it please the facts to the Dodson and I‟m sure he‟ll
see it right.”
“Don‟t be stupid. Dodson sides with you on everything. Why do you think all the Alice‟s end up in
your kingdom?”
“That‟s rather easy,” Esme replied. “They fall down the rabbit hole and the rabbit hole is quite
securely a part of my kingdom. There‟s no way they could fall into your part of Wonderland. Also,
Michael is my subject, not your‟s, and he‟s the only one who can lead an Alice to the rabbit hole.
There‟s no conspiracy in it, just luck and placement.”
“You think they‟ll help you remove me from Wonderland,” Victoria spat.
“No, no,” Esme said. “I highly doubt that you can be removed from Wonderland. You‟re trapped
here under the same enchantment as the rest of us. I‟ve told you this before Victoria. None of us
are going anywhere so it would be so much better if you tried to get along with those around you.”
“You think this one is who the prophecy foretold of,” Victoria accused.
“Maybe,” Esme shrugged. “Maybe not.”
“Prophecy?” Bella whispered.
“There‟s a prophecy that one day a woman will fall down the rabbit hole and make things right
here. She‟s supposed to break the curse.”
“And Esme thinks I‟m --”
“No, the rest of the prophecy hasn‟t been fulfilled. Besides, Victoria‟s forgotten the most important
part of the prophecy.”
“What‟s that?”
“The Alice who breaks the curse must leave and then return. No one can leave so the prophecy
can‟t be fulfilled.”
“We‟ll see about that,” Victoria announced and I looked up to see her glaring at the two of us.
“Don‟t be ridiculous Victoria,” Esme shook her head. “The prophecy is nothing more than fantasy
that Dodson came up with just before he died. Even he‟ll tell you he didn‟t know if it would work.
Besides, Bella has only been here a little while. She certainly hasn‟t left and then returned through
the „still lake of smoke and glass‟.”
“The still lake?” She looked up at me and I shrugged.
“No one has any idea. Not even Dodson and he wrote it. To be fair, he was dying and more than a
little out of sorts at the time.”
“Well,” Victoria said. “Let‟s just be sure. Shall we?”
“What do you mean --”
“Evanish!” She announced and threw her arms out toward Bella. I felt a strange heat and then the
space beside me began to spark. Turning, in horror, I saw that my Bella was quite simply gone.
She‟d disappeared from Wonderland as if she‟d never been there at all.
Chapter 16.
“Bella?” I could hear muted voices and my first thought was that I had fainted in front of the entire
population of Wonderland. How embarrassing. “Bella?”
“What?” I closed my eyes tightly, my head pounded and the voice was making it worse. Why was
this annoying woman calling out my name and now -- yep, now she was shaking me.
“Oh Bella!” Now the woman wasn‟t shaking me she was, choking -- no wait, hugging -- yes, she
was hugging me. There was only one person I knew who hugged you as if trying to drain the life
out of your body and mold you entirely to her will.
“Mother?” I groaned and opened my eyes. “Mother, what are you doing here?”
“You didn‟t think I‟d let you come to the hospital alone did you?” Her voice rose to an alarming
octave and from its pitch, I could tell that she was performing her „doting mother‟ act. Someone
else must be here with us. Struggling, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and found myself
staring at Eric Yorkie and two rather unpleasant looking people, who I could almost guarantee were
his parents.
“Eric?”
“Bella,” he nodded stiffly and then stood, walking over to very formally take my hand in his own
and then patted it mechanically. “I‟m so happy to see that you‟re better, darling.”
“Better? What do you mean? Where am I?”
“Oh Bella,” my mother fluttered her hands dramatically. “Don‟t you remember?”
“Um, no?”
“Well,” Eric cleared his throat. “We were out walking in the Mallory‟s back yard, next to the pool
and I asked you to marry me. Do you remember that?”
“Yes,” I nodded. Then I had began to hyperventilate, Eric had gone for water and I had chased a
white rabbit down the rabbit hole where I met Edward and married him. That still didn‟t explain
how I had gotten here; topside, and very far away from Edward and my home.
“Well,” Eric shifted my hand so that I could see the -- WHAT THE HELL? There was a silver band
with a garish emerald cut diamond in it where my wedding ring from Edward should have been. My
eyes widened as I began to look furtively around the bed and the bedside table. When I looked
down at my right hand I saw that the gold band Edward had given me this morning was snug on
that ring finger.
“You agreed,” Eric continued as I stared at him blankly. “And you were so excited that you tried to
jump into my arms in your joy and somehow, well, you know how clumsy you are Bella, you
slipped and fell.”
“I fell?”
“Yes,” Eric‟s left eyelid twitched and I could tell he was lying, “and cracked your head on the
concrete before I could catch you. It was quite horrible actually. You lost consciousness and I
picked you up and carried you back to the house. We brought you here to be checked out. They
admitted you because you have a concussion.”
“A concussion?”
“Yes,” Eric said, “a very severe concussion. They want to observe you for a few days to make sure
there aren‟t any serious after effects but they said everything should be fine.”
“Oh Bella!” my mother interrupted. “Isn‟t it exciting?”
“That I have a concussion?”
“No,” she rolled her eyes. “That you‟re engaged.”
“So wait,” I looked over at Eric, who was studiously trying to avoid my eyes. “Did I actually say
yes?”
“Of course you did,” my mother answered. “Why wouldn‟t you have?”
“Well,” I looked between the four people staring at me. “The thing is I don‟t remember saying yes.”
“What?”
“Mother, I don‟t remember saying yes.”
“Well, you did,” Eric said.
“And why wouldn‟t you want to marry my son?” The woman sitting on the ugly, split pea colored
sofa huffed.
“I didn‟t say that. I just said -- I don‟t remember anything after Eric‟s actual proposal.” I lied.
Better if I didn‟t tell them the rest of it. Maybe it was some sort of hallucination brought about by
the head injury? But, if so, why did I remember Edward so vividly and why was his ring still on my
finger?
“Oh,” Eric nodded. “The doctor said that could happen. That you might have forgotten the few
moments before your fall. It‟s perfectly normal.”
“It is?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Okay. So I guess I said yes then?”
“Do you want me to ask again?” Eric rolled his eyes.
“Well,” I grimaced. “It is sort of one of those moments in a girl‟s life.”
“Fine,” Eric dropped down to one knee beside my hospital bed and took my left hand in his own. “If
it will make you happy. Isabella Marie Swan, will you please do me the honor of becoming my
bride? If it‟s not too much trouble and you haven‟t changed your mind during your concussion that
is?”
“Yes?” I looked over at my mother who was fairly vibrating with excitement.
“Good,” Eric nodded and then stood. He leaned down and kissed my forehead as his parents stood
from the couch and made their way to the door. “Now that everything‟s handled, I‟ll have my
mother contact you, Mrs. Swan, to set up the arrangements. I‟m sure something can be hashed
out in the next few weeks.”
“Next few weeks?” I glanced, wide eyed at my mother as Eric and his parent‟s left the room.
“Isn‟t it wonderful? When he told us I have to admit I was shocked. Utterly shocked. I mean, only
you could be so stupid as to embarrass this family by fainting when an eligible young man like Eric
Yorkie proposes. Seriously, you will have to learn how to behave appropriately before you can
become a minister‟s wife. How do you expect Eric to ever climb the ladder in church politics if you
keep making an utter fool of yourself?”
“Apparently, I tripped and fell mother. I assure you it was an accident.”
“Well,” she sniffed. “See that it doesn‟t happen again. I was mortified in front of the entire
congregation. Forced to leave the Mallory‟s social and bring you to the emergency room and then,
poor Eric, felt as if he had to leave as well to be with you. How do you know he didn‟t miss out on
an opportunity to meet someone who could be influential to his career?”
“Once again mother, it was an accident. I do try to avoid falling and causing myself injury but as
it‟s an accident, I can‟t help it.”
“Yes, well thankfully, it hasn‟t deterred young Eric from marrying you anyway. We spoke while you
were being examined and he told me how urgently he wishes to have this matter handled.”
“Matter? Handled?”
“The wedding silly,” my mother rolled her eyes again. “He wants it all handled and the two of you
wed before he‟s ordained. He feels it will make for better appearances.”
“Excuse me, mother, I just thought that I would marry for love and that it was something to
celebrate and not a „matter to be handled.‟”
“Don‟t be like this, Isabella,” she warned. “I‟m telling you right now, I do not have the patience for
it, young lady. My nerves are shot because of you and I will not tolerate a sassy mouth from you
on top of it.”
“Mother?”
“Yes?”
“I remember what happened before I fell and hit my head.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I do. I told Eric no.”
“No?”
“I rejected his proposal.”
“No you didn‟t.”
“Yes, yes I did. I told Eric no.”
“Listen to me, Isabella.” My mother was vibrating furiously now as she reached out to grab my jaw
and wrenched my face toward hers. “No you didn‟t. Your engagement has already been announced,
young lady, and you will not embarrass yourself, Eric, this family, and most importantly, ME, by
calling the wedding off now.”
“But I don‟t love him.”
“I couldn‟t care less if you love him,” my mother assured me. “He‟s going to be an immensely
powerful member of the congregation and being his mother-in-law will garner me a respect I
wouldn‟t be able to gain otherwise. It‟s entry into all the most coveted circles as people beg to do
my bidding in the hopes I‟ll say a word to my son-in-law the minister.”
“But what about how I feel?”
“Isabella, what makes you think I give a damn at all about how you feel? You have been nothing
but trouble to me since the day you were born. First, you didn‟t have the decency to be born a son
that I could make my future secure with. Then, your father was so disgusted by the sight of me
pregnant that he wouldn‟t touch me after your birth so I had no chance to try for a second, more
willing child. To add to that, you just had to be as plain and scholarly as the day is long. You
couldn‟t be bothered to make yourself alluring to suitors; refused to take a page from Miss Lauren
Mallory‟s book. No, no, my selfish daughter must persist in making herself as homely as possible
and then taking herself off to college so she could be smart. As if any man truly cares about that.
“Now, you have landed a far bigger fish than I had ever expected of you and you will not let him
get away just because all of a sudden you‟ve decided that what you think and feel matters,
Isabella. Because let me tell you this -- you don‟t matter one bit. Not one bit beyond what you can
do for me. Do you understand what I‟m telling you?”
“Yes mother,” I nodded and felt my heart sink. Surely this was all some horrible nightmare and if I
could just get back to sleep, I would wake up with Edward curled around me?
“Good,” she nodded. “Now, I‟m going to return to the Mallory‟s and let everyone know that your
fine. When the doctors decide to discharge you in a few days, give me a call and I‟ll arrange for
your father to pick you up. In the meantime, I‟ll call Mrs. Yorkie and begin making the
arrangements for your wedding.”
With that, she stood and gathered her coat and purse, not even bothering to glance at me as she
swept out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The minute she was gone, I began to sob
brokenly. Surely this had to be some sort of mistake? There was no way that Edward would ever
allow me to be trapped here again, forced to marry Eric and live the rest of my life under my
mother‟s thumb. The problem was, even though I could see the ring he‟d given to me this morning,
I could no longer feel him. It was as if the link between us had been severed and I couldn‟t help
but wonder what that meant for my chances of getting back to Wonderland.
Chapter 17.
I paced the length of the tiny dressing room in five steps. It took five steps to cross it long wise
and then one step to turn before taking five steps back to the door. One step more to turn and
then the process resumed all over again. I could feel my stomach begin to lurch and I hurriedly
grabbed the trash bin, retching the last of my breakfast into it, and then moaning weakly as a
sweat broke out all over my body.
The dress my mother and Mrs. Yorkie had picked out was a heavily brocaded and beaded affair
that weighed 15 pounds on its own and itched uncomfortably. The ornate veil was attached to a
headpiece that weighed another five pounds and looked like something that should be used for
some sort of arcane, and possibly bloody, ritual. The gigantic fluff of veil added almost six inches to
my height and made my neck wobble to hold my head up. Together they pinched at my temples
furiously and my entire head ached.
My stomach twitched again and I rested my hand against it reassuringly. “It‟ll be all right. We‟ll get
this over with and then, as soon as possible, I‟ll find out a way to get us home.”
Us, I thought to myself bleakly as I looked in the full length mirror hung on the door. The only
reason that I hadn‟t tried to delay the wedding any was that two weeks after I‟d been discharged
from the hospital, I‟d been late. I hadn‟t thought anything about it because Edward had made it
seem as though there was nothing to worry about, and I‟d never been exactly regular. The next
week the morning sickness had begun, along with an intense craving for eggs -- something I
normally couldn‟t stand -- and I began to wonder.
Edward had told me that no one changed in Wonderland. And because of that stasis, the women
didn‟t conceive. The enchantment of Wonderland acted as a birth control of its own sort; as long as
one was still in Wonderland. And since no one before me had ever left Wonderland, no one realized
that Wonderland‟s enchanted birth control failed should the woman somehow leave the sphere of
the enchantment‟s influence.
Our interlude in the abandoned music room had left me with Edward‟s sperm merrily swimming
toward an egg that in Wonderland would have been clad in the enchantment‟s version of titanium
shielding. Instead, Victoria had sent me back to my own world and Edward‟s happy little sperm
instead found a nice, warm, welcoming egg to fertilize. Now, all I could hope was that Eric would
be stupid enough to believe that this was one of those miraculous honeymoon babies that just
happened to come weeks early and full sized. And that it had Edward‟s bronze hair. As completely
irrational as it was, I so very much wanted our baby to look like Edward -- no matter how much
gossip and scandal it caused later.
“Bella?” I looked up and saw him staring at me in the mirror, the music room reflected instead of
the tiny dressing room at the church where I was waiting to get married.
“Edward?”
“What are you wearing?” He cocked his head to the side and seemed perplexed. “Darling, you look
absolutely hideous in that dress.”
“Wait, what?”
“That dress, it‟s the most God-awful thing I‟ve ever seen.”
“Edward! Forget about my wedding dress and tell me how you got into my mirror!”
“Your wedding dress? That‟s not your wedding dress; Esme has your wedding dress here. Wait, you
mean --”
“Eric Yorkie. Do you remember I told you about him?”
“Yes,” Edward looked confused and furious in equal parts.
“He and my mother are forcing me to marry him and I don‟t have a choice in the matter unless you
have some way to get me back to Wonderland in about -- oh, five minutes? Maybe less if my
mother decides to come up and check on me earlier than she said she would.”
“But why? Why didn‟t you run?”
“Because I‟m pregnant.” I rolled my eyes. “Now, can you get me out of here or not?”
“You‟re --” Edward swallowed and his face paled. “You let him, I mean, you and he --”
“No, you idiot!” I snapped. “It‟s yours.”
“Mine? But it can‟t, we can‟t, people in Wonderland --”
“The enchantment only holds as long as you‟re in Wonderland. And your little fish were still
swimming toward the promised land of a ripe, fertile egg when Victoria sent me back!”
“You‟re pregnant?” His face lit up suddenly as if the idea had finally burrowed into the conscious
parts of his brain and he was coming to terms with it. “We‟re going to have a child? Really? Oh
Bella, that‟s so wonderful!”
“Edward!”
“What?”
“All of it goes down the drain unless you have some plan to get me out of here and back to
Wonderland. Forced marriage, remember?”
“Oh right.” Edward suddenly reached through what had appeared to be solid glass and held out his
hand. “Take my hand and step through.”
“Step through?”
“It‟s perfectly fine, Bella, the mirror isn‟t solid.”
“It‟s not?”
“Not as long as you‟re holding my hand and I‟m still in Wonderland. It turns out that the mirror in
the music room is a portal.”
“A portal?” I took his hand and let him draw me through the mirror, shivering as I actually touched
the smoke. It felt as if everything warm in the world had suddenly died. The feeling finished as
abruptly as it started and I found myself in the music room where Edward and I had spent our last
morning together.
“One second.” He let go of my hand and then stepped half way out of the mirror. I saw him remove
something from his pocket and toss it into the room before he stepped back into the music room
and turned his back on the mirror.
“Let‟s go somewhere else to talk.” He gripped my elbow and pulled me out of the music room.
Following him down the corridor to our room, I tried -- unsuccessfully -- to remove the hair pins
holding my veil in place.
“Just wait,” Edward said over his shoulder. “I‟ll help you get out of it and then we‟ll burn the whole
mess once we‟re in our room.”
“Tell me what you meant about the music room mirror being a portal? Did you know that before?”
“No,” Edward shook his head. “No one knew. Not even Dodson. He knew there was a portal,
somewhere inside Wonderland, but he couldn‟t remember where he had put it.”
“So you just stumbled onto it?”
“Yes, but not right away. I spent an entire year looking for the mirror portal, Bella. A full year after
you disappeared, searching every mirror, every piece of glass, every still body of water, to find the
portal.”
“A year? Edward it‟s only been --” I stopped. The first time I had been in Wonderland we had been
together for almost a month and it had been a mere, two hours topside.
“It‟s been two years,” Edward turned to look at me, tears streaming down his face. “I spent the
whole first year looking for you in the mirrors, never even thinking about this one. I‟d forgotten
entirely that it was there. Then, after that first year, I came back to the Palace. I couldn‟t go back
to our cottage, it just didn‟t seem right to be there without you.”
“You came back here,” I said as he led me into what had been our room and I noticed that nothing
had changed since I‟d left. My clothes still hung exactly where they‟d been placed when I first
arrived at the Crystal Palace.
“I didn‟t know what else to do,” Edward continued. “I was lost, trying to find a way to die, and one
night I stumbled into the music room and realized that it was the last place we had been alone
together. I‟d had quite a bit to drink and when the mirror started to get smoky, I thought that I
had passed out and it was a dream. Then I saw you, I saw you and you were in a room, lying on a
bed and crying so despondently. I knew that if it were really a dream, I would never allow you to
cry and that‟s how I knew that what I was seeing was real.”
“Wait, you saw me before today? Why did you wait so long to rescue me then?”
“It had to be a full-length mirror,” Edward explained, “something that you could step through all at
once. I didn‟t want to take any chances of the mirror closing before all of you was through.”
“Okay,” I said. I could see why he had wanted to use a full-length mirror and why that had made it
difficult. My mother believed that mirrors encouraged vanity so our home only had two. A small
one in my room to do my basic grooming and the silver backed hand mirror that sat upon her
dresser and had been inherited from my grandmother Swan.
“And you had to be alone,” Edward continued. “Something your mother was loath to let happen too
often.”
“I understand,” I nodded as he shifted me to stand facing away from him as he began ripping the
hairpins out of my headpiece, wrenching it from my overdone curls before he attacked the
fastenings of the wedding dress from hell.
“It wouldn‟t have stopped me,” he said quietly as he spread the back of the dress open and pushed
it off my shoulders. “If you‟d married him, I would have still come back to claim you.”
“You would have?”
“I would have given you the option to return to me,” Edward answered as I stepped out of the skirt
and kicked it into a pile in the corner. I struggled out of the petticoat and pushed off my pantyhose
as Edward retrieved me one of his shirts from the wardrobe and I slipped it on.
“Thank you,” I smiled as I did up the buttons on the shirt I was wearing. “For saving me.”
“Thank you,” he countered.
“For?”
“Loving me,” Edward answered and wrapped his arms around me lovingly as he bent to kiss my
forehead.
“Loving you is easy,” I answered and then gasped as a searing pain ripped through my body and
my legs gave way. Edward clung to me tightly, lifting me easily and carrying me like a child to the
bed. I began to shiver and he placed me under the covers, going around to the other side and
curling up behind me.
I felt horrible. I was cold and shaky but covered in sweat as my muscles all cramped hard at the
same time. “Edward?”
“Shhh, my love,” he crooned and the feel of his breath on my neck was like a thousand fiery
brands piercing my skin. “It will be fine.”
“What‟s . . . Edward, what‟s happening? What if it‟s --”
“You‟re dying,” Edward held me tighter.
“What! Edward what about the --”
“The two of you are dying,” he answered. “It‟s the only way that you can stay in Wonderland. That
was how you could leave and none of the rest of us could. In topside time, all of us would have
been long dead but you were still alive. Someone found you before your body could disappear from
the topside and then, because there were people around, the enchantment had to keep you in both
places. But if you stay here, then there you have to die, Bella.”
“But what about --”
“I don‟t know,” he whispered. “I really don‟t. I hadn‟t planned on --”
“Just,” I gasped as another pain ripped through me. “Just hold me.”
The only thought that comforted me was that none of my pains were the stomach cramps that I
had so horribly feared. Where the child rested was the only part of my body not in any pain.
“I love you,” Edward clung to me and I closed my eyes, hoping that it would all be over soon.
Chapter 18.
“Bella?” I glanced around the corridor and then sighed when I saw the music room door open. She
was in front of the mirror again. I stepped into the room and saw her sitting there; staring at what
should have been her reflection with her head cocked to the side. “Bella?”
“Oh,” she turned to smile at me, bleary-eyed from the general lack of sleep we were both suffering
through recently.
“Masen is asleep.”
“Finally,” she retorted.
“Mmm,” I agreed as I came around behind her and sat down, pulling her back against my chest.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she nodded slowly and I could tell she was lying.
“What‟s wrong?” I looked at the reflection in the mirror and saw that it was her parent‟s home.
“Renee has gotten rid of everything to do with me. It‟s as if I never even existed in my own home.
She‟s even forbidden my father to speak about me. She‟s posthumously disowned me.”
“Is that what you‟ve been coming here to watch all these nights?” I squeezed her tightly, trying to
comfort her.
“I just don‟t understand, and I keep thinking that maybe if I watch her long enough, I‟ll understand
her. I‟ll see that she really was a different person when there wasn‟t other people around.”
“And?”
“She‟s not,” Bella said. “She‟s the exact same person alone as when surrounded by people she‟s
trying to impress. She‟s cruel and calculating and cold. I kept thinking that at some point she
would let that guard down and she‟d be a good person.”
“But?”
“She‟s not and I --”
“You?
“I just don‟t understand. My mother really is a cruel, vindictive, hard-hearted, selfish witch of a
woman and she really does hate me. I mean, not just hate what she thinks I did, but she really,
really hates me. And I‟m starting to think that she always did. My own mother hated me.”
“Bella I‟m sure it‟s just how she deals with grief.”
“No,” she shook her head. “I don‟t think it is, Edward. I just wish I understood why she hated me
so much.”
“I don‟t know, my love,” I answered. “The only thing I can tell you is something that Esme told me
once. There is no screening process for motherhood. No one makes sure that you‟re a good person
before they allow you to become a mother. Sometimes that means that people who shouldn‟t be
mothers are and they aren‟t any happier about it than the poor people they‟re inflicted upon. I
think maybe it was that way with your mother but I don‟t know.”
“I think you might be right,” she sighed wistfully and leaned her head back against me.
“Do you know what I do know, my love?”
“What?”
“You are an excellent mother and your son and I are both so privileged to have you sharing our
lives.”
“You‟re pretty amazing yourself,” she chuckled and then craned her face upward to kiss me.
“You know what else I know?”
“What?”
“Your son will be up again in four hours, hungry, and it‟s your turn to feed him, Alice Isabella. And,
you and I both know that the Crown Prince of Wonderland cannot be kept waiting.”
“Or what?”
“His very first words may be „off with her head!‟”
“I highly doubt his grandmother, the Queen, will tolerate that.”
“I don‟t know,” I shrugged. “She‟s pretty besotted with him. She might do it if she thought it made
him happy.”
“Well,” Bella gave me her hands and let me help her stand. Then she wrapped her arm around my
waist and let me lead her back to our suite of rooms. “Then perhaps we should retire. I would hate
to chance it.”
“Edward,” she asked later, just as we were both drifting off to sleep.
“Yes, my Alice?”
“I miss our little cottage.”
“So do I. I promise, as soon as Masen is old enough to handle the journey, we‟ll go home.”
“Really?”
“I think it‟s better if perhaps the crown prince of Wonderland grew up playing in the fields of Liddell
instead of being catered to by a Palace full of people. Now that people are aging here, someday
he‟ll have a chance to rule and I want him to know how his subjects live from experience so that he
can be a good king.”
“So do I,” Bella mumbled as she drifted off to sleep. “I love you.”
“And I love you, my Alice Isabella. My life became complete the minute you fell down the rabbit
hole and landed in front of me.”
“You were everything I never knew I was looking for,” she answered and then let out a loud snore;
perfectly content to sleep, and possibly dream, safe inside my arms in Wonderland.
And of course, they lived happily ever after.
The End.
Outtake 1. Without You
What did Edward do while Bella was gone? It's angsty but you know how it ends so
you're okay.
Two years, he thought to himself as he clutched onto the bottle tighter and brought it to his lips,
taking a long drink of the bitter alcohol. Two years since the bitch Victoria had stolen his Bella
away; tossed out a curse at his darling wife as carelessly as someone would toss out a piece of
broken crockery.
Two years since the massacre that followed in the aftermath of Bella‟s disappearance; since the
people of Wonderland rose up against the Red Witch‟s forces. Two years since he‟d killed the Red
Witch with his bare hands, breaking her neck and leaving her to rot in the mud churned up against
the other combatants in Esme‟s formal garden.
He took another drink as he thought about the day they had executed the rest of her court,
dragging them through the streets of Cambridge town like common criminals to die on the pyre.
Esme. Edward grimaced as he thought about the White Queen -- Empress of all Wonderland -- and
her decree that her rival‟s body be exhumed from its hastily dug battle grave, beheaded and then
burned.
“I‟ll not have anyone falling into line behind the banner of a dead pretender,” she‟d said stiffly. “Let
them see that there is nothing to rally to. The Red Queen is no more and her standard will never
rise again.”
A mother lion, Carlisle had called her once and Edward realized that day just how right the other
man had been. She considered Edward one of her own and to hurt one of her own was to die.
There was no quarter where Esme was concerned. No forgiveness could be granted and no mercy
shown.
“She thinks it will lift the curse,” Alice whispered to him that day in the square as they stood,
watching Victoria‟s followers and their sympathizers go to their deaths, the sky heavy with smoke
and reeking with the stench of the pyre.
“What will lift the curse?” He‟d begun to drink himself into oblivion each night by that point, six
months after Bella‟s disappearance. Dodson had told him he couldn‟t remember where the portal
was, or if the portal even existed at all. He‟d searched everywhere he could think of. Esme had put
the other man to the question, torturing him until the Dodo had been completely broken, sobbing
and pleading for mercy. Once she‟d released him he‟d gone to the farthest corner of Wonderland
and hadn‟t been seen since. Edward had accepted then that if there was a portal between
Wonderland and the topside, Dodson didn‟t know where it was.
“Killing Victoria,” Alice replied. “It‟s part of the folklore.”
“What‟s part of the folklore?”
“Burn a witch and her curses will break. They cannot withstand the heat of the flames. As the
body‟s consumed the curses will lift.”
“So?” Edward had held out hope then. Surely she would appear? He waited for days, wandered the
castle grounds, searching for her. He‟d gone to the rabbit hole and beat his fists against the door
until they were bloody but the door had remained firmly locked, overgrown with brambles like the
rest of the garden.
On the first anniversary of her disappearance he decided to try to break the curse on his own. One
of the books in the library had claimed that a witch could pass her curse onto a familiar and then
even if the witch died, the curse would remain as long as the familiar survived. The wolves were six
months dead, as was the Jabberwocky. Emmett and Jasper had both volunteered to go under
questioning by Esme‟s guards to prove they weren‟t Victoria‟s familiar. When he refused, both men
took it as a matter of pride and submitted themselves against his wishes anyway. Of course, he
had known neither of them were her familiar. The only one left was the bat and he‟d trapped her
easily; wringing her neck and watching as she struggled through the last, desperate to breathe.
Half of Wonderland had found themselves relieved of a myriad of petty curses but Bella still hadn‟t
returned. He was still alone.
He rested his head against the wall and took another drink. She was gone and he would have to
accept it. Except, he could never accept the woman he loved was dead. He could still feel her.
Surely she had to still be alive because her ring was still on his finger and he was still breathing
and what sort of world would let him live if she was no more? Not even the magic of Wonderland
was cruel enough to let him survive while she was gone? Hadn‟t the magic caused James to die the
instant Victoria breathed her last? Hadn‟t each member of the wolf pack collapsed as their mates
were put to death; killing two with each fall of the ax? Surely those monsters wouldn‟t be granted
mercy and he left behind to suffer?
No, Edward shook his head. He could still feel her in his heart and that meant she was still alive.
And if she was still alive, he would find her. He would search every building, every home, every still
body of water -- again. He would make Alice retry every enchantment she knew to bring Bella back
to them. He would allow Esme to call forth all of the wise women and offer the Red Queen‟s palace
and possessions to whichever one could conjure his love back to Wonderland and this time perhaps
one would succeed. He could still feel her and that meant she was still alive. He refused to believe
otherwise.
It was just --
He moved to take another drink and realized the bottle was empty and he wasn‟t sure exactly
where he was inside the castle. Perhaps the door behind him was to the kitchen? He‟d been looking
for the kitchen when he left his solitary apartments in the castle. He knew this part of the castle.
Surely it was because he was near the kitchens? Maybe he had stumbled into the library instead?
He knew Carlisle kept his good brandy inside the globe. What if he‟d decided to go to the library
and have a brandy instead of to the kitchen for rum?
He dropped the bottle carelessly onto the floor and reached for the knob to the room he was
almost positive was the scullery cabinet. Didn‟t Esme‟s valet keep the ale in here?
The room was dark and he stumbled, reaching for a counter, anything really that would keep him
upright but found only air as he stumbled forward, falling onto his knees. His head spun sickeningly
and he thought he might be ill. He was weak kneed and instead of trying to stand, he crawled
further into the room, mentally laughing at his own debasement. Crawling on all fours like one of
the Red Queen‟s animals. That was what she‟d reduced him to in the end -- a mindless animal unfit
to be around people, but unable to die; a monster of the worst sort.
His head rapped against something hard and he cried out in surprised pain. He brought his hands
up slowly, feeling the object and was instantly ill. Curled into a tiny ball, he rolled under the piano
and began to retch up the contents of his stomach, heaving with each breath as he remembered
where he was and that he was too drunk to find his way back out again.
He must be dead, Edward decided. Surely he was dead and this was Hell? He was trapped in the
music room where they‟d shared their last happy moments together; their first happy moments as
man and wife -- their only happy moments as man and wife.
He heard Bella sobbing and retched again. Not only had he gotten his wish to die and ended up in a
prison cell in hell, he would spend his eternity trapped with the sound of her crying out for him as
well. Her sobbing grew louder and he couldn‟t help but wail at the sound of it.
What had he done to deserve this torment?
“Oh give me a break,” he heard someone snap. He sat up quickly, cracking his head against the
underside of the piano -- uncaring about the pain. There wasn‟t anyone in the room with him.
“I don‟t understand you at all Isabella,” the voice continued lecturing and he crawled out from
underneath the piano to stare at the mirror that took up the full length of the wall opposite the
piano. The mirror they had, Edward swallowed, and realized the mirror wasn‟t clear, reflective glass
any longer. Instead it was a smoky mist and he was sure he could reach his hand through if he
dared. “I‟ve done absolutely everything for you and still you insist on being completely ungrateful.
Do you know how many young women would be thrilled to have the opportunities that I‟m giving
you?”
“Not nearly as many as you would think,” Bella said softly and his heart broke. He peered into the
mist and saw his love, his wife, from a distance, sobbing on what looked like a tiny bed. Why did
she sound so close but her body look so far away? Edward ran his hands over the glass and found
it was a solid sheet, hard to the touch, except for a small square directly in front of him that was
soft. When he reached his hands through the mirror, he curled them around and patted, the other
side of the mirror was solid there as well.
Following a hunch, Edward stuck his head and shoulders through the mirror and then shifted his
body so that he could turn and stare back into the mirror at himself. Just as he‟d thought -- she
wasn‟t far away at all. In fact, his darling Alice Isabella was less than 100 yards away, sobbing as
the horrible woman stood over the top of her lecturing. She seemed farther away than she really
was because of the size of the mirror he was seeing her through. On his side of the mirror it was
full length, hers was barely the size of his father‟s shaving glass.
It didn‟t matter how tiny the mirror was, he could fit through it and that meant he could rescue his
Bella and beg her to forgive him for taking so long to find a portal that had been just beneath his
nose and return to Wonderland with him. Instead, he pulled himself back through the mirror before
the other woman could see him and watched as she berated his darling wife again.
Surely such a cruel woman would not simply allow Bella to leave and live with him in peace. He
knew from looking at her that this was the woman Bella had described as her mother -- a hateful
shrew that reveled in the misfortune of others. She had wanted to force Bella into a marriage with
a man she didn‟t love to further her own position and he was sure that if she hadn‟t already, she
was scheming to find someone to marry his Bella and take her away from him.
She would fight if he tried to take Bella away, Edward realized. She wouldn‟t allow them to just
leave in peace. What if the mirror portal closed before he could return with Bella? No one else knew
where it was and he‟d wandered away from the palace so many times in the past two years that no
one would even think to look for him. What if . . . ? He swallowed. What if she tried to grab onto
Bella as they were crossing through and the portal closed with her between Wonderland and the
topside?
He couldn‟t risk the possibility that she would be hurt or killed because he hadn‟t thought things
through. He would sleep on the floor of the music room, watching her through the window between
their worlds and in the morning he would announce to everyone else he had found her. Together
they would find a way to bring his Alice Isabella home. Surely that would be the easy part?
Wyszukiwarka
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