A Curious, Mad Dream

Quick Review:

Acelin: AZ-LEEN
Rhett Avira: RET UH-VEER-UH

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I trembled uncontrollably in my seat as everything hit me all at once. Vincent had kidnapped me to this strange world so that he could let the queen murder me? I thought he had told me before he left that he had done this all for me. How was planning my death something I could one day forgive? If the queen were to capture me…I’d no longer see Henry. What would my mother think? She’ll never know I was taken to her childhood dream. I could see it now. My mother falling to her knees with tears streaming down her beautiful face as she realized I wasn’t returning home. Would she send out the police to search for me? How would she break the news to Henry? What if I could never return and was forever trapped here hiding away like some convicted criminal?

“Oh god,” I breathed feeling the lungs inside my chest tighten making it difficult to catch my breath. I inhaled ragged, shallow breaths quickly; black spots swimming along my vision.

“Acelin? Acelin, you need to breathe,” a familiar male voice worried, sounding as if from far away. The walls around me began to spin causing everything to blur. I could feel my body break out into a cold sweat. What…what was happening to me?

Suddenly a paper bag was shoved in my face to cover my mouth.

“Breathe,” the voice instructed calmly. Following orders, I inhaled deeply closing my eyes. Relief washed through me as large amounts of oxygen swept inside my lungs. I wrapped trembling fingers around a large, masculine hand that was holding the bag to my face.

I felt fingertips brush across my forehead to tuck a lock of damp hair behind my ear. My eyes fluttered open glad to see the room remained still and the only thing in my vision being Sinclair’s troubled face. Worry darkened those metallic eyes as they watched me nervously.

“Are you okay?” he asked with concern. My smile was hidden by the bag as I nodded in response to his answer.

Sinclair carefully removed the bag from my face afraid that I might revert back into another panic attack. He laid the bag on the table continuing to watch me.

“Sorry for making you worry,” I apologized softly glancing away from those silver eyes.

“Do you think I’ll ever see my mom or Henry again?” I watched with curiosity as Sinclair stiffened in his seat.

“Henry?”

“Uh…yeah. My friend?” I clarified wondering why his body had suddenly gone so rigged.

“It’s possible. As long as you complete your purpose for being here,” he coolly answered tearing his gaze from mine. He acted like he hadn’t just gone all weird at hearing Henry’s name being spoken.

“Wait what?” I hissed; his words finally clicked into place for me. “Are you saying I can’t leave unless I somehow die?”

“No,” Sinclair firmly stated ending the conversation completely. “Maybe you should go get some fresh air and cool yourself off. You’re still glistening with sweat. Plus, I think it might be best for the both of us to have time to ourselves before I answer any more questions.”

I gaped at him. “You can’t be serious!”

“Just go, Acelin. Please don’t argue. I’m tired and just…I just need to think over some things,” he sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Why? So you can think of more things you should hide from me?” I snapped. Those steel grey eyes clashed with mine burning deeply with rage.

“Fine,” I bit out as I stood from the chair. I adjusted the dark green shirt to keep it loose over my breasts.

“Go up to the balcony. DO NOT go anywhere else. Understood?” he ordered trying to catch my eyes.

I rolled my eyes before stalking out of the room. Once the front door slammed shut behind me, I became shrouded in darkness. Irritated by the lack of lighting inside the clock tower, I felt my way along the wall as I slowly climbed the short, curving staircase. I mean seriously? How hard would it be to install a few torches along the staircase; if not for convenience then at least for the safety of others? My hand brushed along something slick and round. I wrapped my fingers around the doorknob in relief jerking the door open. A warm breeze blew across my skin causing my body to shudder as it cooled the remaining sheen of sweat that glistened along my skin.

I stepped out onto the balcony shutting the door behind me. The balcony circled around the entire tower from what I could tell as I stepped forward and glanced in either direction. I pivoted on my heel to face the doorway I had exited. Next to the door was a giant, dimly lit clock that stretched across the wall. Making my way in full circle around the balcony, I noticed there were three large clocks on the wall of the tower. Each face of the clock was pointed in a different direction. One was pointed to a mansion, the other towards a castle, and the one I stood in front of now (with the door) pointed out towards a vast expanse of forest.

“Interesting,” I mumbled to myself whirling back around to begin walking up to the ledge of the balcony. I hopped up onto the flat ledge and leaned back against the thick column allowing one leg to swing out over the side.

What if I never saw my mom or Henry again? Would they miss me? As time passed…would I even be remembered by anyone? Sinclair said I would have found Wonderland on my own eventually, but why? How? Up until now, my mother’s bedtime stories of this place had been locked away in the back of my mind as nothing more than lies. Yet here I was living inside my mother’s dream world. Was my only purpose in being here because I am Alice’s daughter?

Sinclair had mentioned before that I couldn’t leave until it was over. Until what was over though? Now, as I thought about it, there was no way he could have meant my death. Otherwise how could I leave if I were dead? Unless it was one of those dreams where you had to die in order to wake up. If that were true though…how did my mother escape? No, there was something else I was meant to do—something much bigger—but what?

I slid the watch pendant out of the pocket of Sinclair’s pajama bottoms. The weight was heavy in the palm of my hand as I brushed my fingers along the clock’s face. The hands still refused to move so I could never know the time. My eyes slid over to the large clock on the tower. To my surprise, I noticed the hands on that clock weren’t moving either. Dropping my gaze to the pendant then back to the tower, I became aware that both faces’ hands were stuck at the time 6:28.

“How odd,” I murmured curiously to myself.

“It was the time at which Alice left Wonderland,” a male voice answered from nearby. It was a voice I didn’t recognize. I stuffed the pendant back into my pocket as my eyes scanned the area looking for the source of the voice.

“Hello?” I called out continuing to search the perimeter.

“When she left, abandoning us, time was lost,” the voice sighed near my ear causing me to almost topple off the balcony ledge.

I swung my legs around to touch ground as I frantically looked for the man that the voice belonged to.

“But maybe something—someone—will give time a reason to return,” the light male voice chuckled. A gentle breeze caressed my arm feeling like fingers trailing along my skin. I jumped back from the odd touch of the wind.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” I demanded hoping the man didn’t catch onto the slight quivering of my voice.

“Although day sets into night and night dawns into day…who’s to say the moon has not confused itself as the sun and the sun as the moon?”

“I’m getting tired of your games!”

“Have you never wondered why the moon shines brighter among the stars than the sun against the day?” he questioned as another light breeze circled around my body like a tail.

“Considering I just arrived last night? No, I haven’t,” I snapped in irritation.

“Yes, I know. You are Alice’s daughter, Acelin Hart.”

“Yeah, apparently I’m famous around here,” I grumbled leaning back against the balcony ledge still keeping an eye out for the man.

“Indeed. The queen desires your heart,” he giggled that voice of his seeming to come from everywhere, but nowhere at the same time.

This all seemed familiar to me somehow. Where had I seen this before? No…not seen…heard. My mother had told me of something like this happening to her in a forest. She’d had a conversation with a man…a man that could turn into air. He had the ability to disappear with the wind and appear anywhere at any moment. She had always warned me to never tell my secrets to the wind because even if no one was around, he was always listening. The man whose voice would surround you as it came from every direction, but yet sounded from nowhere. However, there was something else. I squeezed my eyes shut as I thought back on the memories I had kept suppressed for so long.

~|~

“But how could a man be made of air?” I asked skeptically of my mother pursing my lips in disbelief. Her blonde hair shimmered like spun gold under the light of my bedroom lamp as she shook her head. A kind smile graced her rose painted lips.

“It is Wonderland, Ace. In this place you begin to believe in all things impossible,” she softly reminded me.

I grabbed for the handmade purple and black plush cat my mother had made for me and squeezed it tight against my chest. Its golden button eyes reflecting the light from the lamp.

“But how did you know if it was just the wind or him?”

“Whenever you see a wide crescent moon in the sky…that is him smiling down upon you,” she answered sweeping my bangs away from my face.

“What was his name again, Mommy?”

~|~

I snapped open my eyes and swung around to gaze up into the afternoon sky. Or what I assumed was afternoon since there was no sure way of knowing. After gazing up into the sky for a moment, I realized the voice was right. The sun’s rays didn’t shine nearly as bright in the light blue sky. I could clearly make out the dark circular shape of the sun without becoming blinded by the sight. However, next to the sun was a wide crescent moon that seemed to stretch a tad thinner at the ends. Yet, the curve of the “moon” was turned to form the shape of a smile.

“I know who you are…Rhett Avira,” I called out with a smile of my own.

Slowly, the shape of a man formed around that wide smile as Rhett approached the balcony ledge where I stood. His black boot clad feet gently touched the concrete ledge; his hands rested upon those narrow hips. A fluffy black tail swung back and forth behind his back; the two gold loop piercings on the furred tip glistening under the rays of the sun.

“It seems I am famous as well,” he teased jumping down to stand toe-to-toe with me. Although he was nowhere near as tall as Sinclair, the cat still towered over my own short stature. He appeared exactly the same as when my mother had described him nearly 15 years ago.

The bottoms of his tight black jeans were stuffed into the mouth of his untied black combat boots; the tongue of the boot turned down over the loose laces. The dark skinny jeans clung tightly to the lean muscles in his legs like a second skin. Hanging loosely around his narrow waist were two wide, white belts that crossed over one another. To connect the two thick strips of pale, faux leather was a single turquoise belt buckle shaped like a spade with a keyhole at its center.

Shifting my gaze up, I took in the sight of his tailored amethyst vest that had two black strips of fabric running across the center to keep it from exposing his bare chest underneath. The top dipped down into a deep V to flash a teasing view of his toned, muscular chest while the bottom of the vest exposed his bellybutton. A tattooed trail of black paw prints ran up beside his navel to continue on under his vest making me curious to know where it ended and began.

Pulled over the vest was a tailored, sleeveless jacket that complimented the top underneath and accentuated the subtle curve of his frame as it narrowed down from his broad shoulders. While his shoulders weren’t as wide across as Sinclair’s or Vincent’s, they fit his slim, athletic build well. The jacket fell around his hips; the slim lapels and back of the clothing being a deep black color. Along the sides were horizontal amethyst and blue stripes running from the back to the front. A thick lining of faux amethyst fur bordered the neck and along the bottom hem of the jacket.

Circled around Rhett’s neck was a black, studded collar where a chain hooked to the front and fell down to curve and connect to the fasten on the back of his black fingerless glove covering his right hand. Once more I saw a spade design cut into the back of his glove. Over on his left hand, wrapped around his wrist and a part of his forearm was a purple tie with a black spade design stitched into the fabric. Obviously the cat had a thing for spades.

Those golden catlike eyes met mine with about as much fascination as mine held upon gazing at him.

“I imagined your clothing to look much…different,” Rhett admitted cocking his head to the side. The snowy white strip of his bangs shifting away from his face as his golden eyes dropped to stare at my choice of attire. I followed his gaze down to look at Sinclair’s black pajama bottoms and large, dark green shirt.

“Yeah, well, mine kind of got destroyed on the way here,” I replied bitterly thinking back to last night.

“Let me help with that,” he grinned disappearing into thin air.

“Rhett?” I called out spinning around to look for him. By the time I had turned in a full circle, Rhett had returned. He held out a package that was wrapped with an emerald green paper and had a black string tied across the soft object. There was a shining silver tag attached to the string.

“What is it?” I asked flipping over the tag.

“A gift personally made by the Hatter for you.”

To the daughter of Alice in the hopes we shall meet very soon.

~Hatter

“The Hatter?” I asked Rhett meeting his gaze.

“Alice made the sun shine brighter, yet brought war and bloodshed upon our virgin soils,” Rhett began blatantly ignoring my question.

“What?” the word left my mouth as a whisper as Rhett steadily approached me. I backed up as far as I could until the moment my back brushed against the tall column of the balcony.

“Because of her we lost our hearts to a queen she betrayed,” he softly spoke, his fingers brushing a warm trail across my jawline. I gripped the soft package tightly to my chest; my heart racing a mile per minute.

“You, however, are the light shining brightest amidst the night. What will your presence bring upon our world? Will there be more pain and destruction? Or…” he breathed the question in my ear; his breath washing hot over my face as he pulled back to lock those pools of liquid gold with my violet orbs.

“Will love lead you to do what your mother could not?”

Rhett captured my lips with his in a searing hot kiss before disappearing with the gentle breeze that swept across my body leaving me with a chill that danced down my spinal cord.

Every time I thought I was beginning to make sense of this place and my purpose in it…something always caused me to doubt those thoughts. More and more questions were piling higher onto the original stack that had yet to be answered. When was I going to discover all the answers to my never-ending list of questions? If that was even possible in this world. When would my true purpose of being here be revealed? Surely I wasn’t just here so the queen could have my heart. Yet, the question that remained was…how long would it be until I was able to return home to my mother and Henry?

I sunk to the ground; my back scratched against the stone of the column as I tucked my knees tightly to my chest. I glanced down at the tag on the package signed under the name ‘Hatter’. Something deep inside my chest told me he could answer all my questions. Or, at the very least, the ones Sinclair refused to answer once I went back inside.

Except…how would I be able to find him if I didn’t know where he was or who he was? Rhett must know. He had gotten this package from him…so he HAD to know. Just like he had seemed to know I’d be out here at this exact time. That settled it. Tonight, I would return to the balcony where Rhett would no doubt be waiting for me.

And then…the Hatter and I were going to have a little chat.