Death of the Mad Hatter (6 page)

“
I don’t know how you people think,” she said, looking over my shoulder. “I really should get going. I do believe a hall monitor is making his rounds. It’d be a crying shame for you to get another pink slip on the second day of school.” 

How did she know I got the first one?
“Us people?” I asked, refusing to get distracted with the possibility of detention. It was what she wanted. How she knew I had gotten a tardy didn’t matter. She was trying to throw me, which meant I was onto something. I stepped closer so I towered over her, hoping she’d be intimidated.

“
I can’t quite follow Otherworlders thought processes anymore,” she said, and then trailed off like she revealed too much information. “You’re an odd duck, you know that?”

The feeling was mutual.

She suddenly looked on top of the lockers like something had caught her eye. The soft echo of a cat’s meow resonated. It was so faint I
had
to have imagined it, until I saw Alice Mae’s eye twitch. Did she hear it too?

“
What do you want now?” she said, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

Seriously?
We were back to the beginning of our conversation again. I was getting a tension headache just from talking to this girl! Apparently migraines came with the territory. A hissing sound echoed in the hall. Since I saw no cat, the only logical explanation was that the school’s pipes were malfunctioning.

“So Hearts did like the photo that Mr. Ruth delivered?” she asked.

Trying to follow the conversation detour, I said, “The photo that wasn’t of me?”

“Precisely,” she stated
absent-mindedly. It was like she was having a conversation with someone else. Maybe her invisible friend? When she finally looked back at me, she wore a bored expression. “I hate to cut our unproductive conversation short, but I must go at once. I’ve been summoned and don’t like to keep people waiting, especially the Queen B. I don’t trust her around Mr. Ruth. They have a bad history,” she said, and then slit her throat with her finger.

“You’re not going anywhere until I get some answers.”

“Let me know how that works out for you,” she laughed and expertly turned on her heels.

“Answers.
Spill!” I grabbed her arm. A whimper escaped her throat. My stomach dropped at the sound, but I pretended it didn’t crumble my heart.

Her tiny hands were clenched so tight I actually thought she was going to
backhand me. But she didn’t move; she was frozen still. I could see the hardened look of pure anger in her eyes. Time was irrelevant as we had a staring contest. “Next time you touch me, you’d best be better prepared.”

I smirked
. “Better prepared? For what?”

“For me,” she said under her breath and stepped closer so that our shoes were touching. “Because I fight dirty and don’t care who knows it.”

With one swift movement, her knee got friendly with my manhood. I dropped—instantly. I lay on the cold floor, crumpled in a ball. I cursed. This little thing of a girl just got the better of me! She knelt beside me and put her finger to my lips, stopping the slew of R rated words coming from my mouth. Her skin tasted like caramel. Instantly, I licked my lips and immediately regretted it. I’d licked her finger. Her finger! My reaction made me want to face plant into the floor—oh, wait, I already had.

“You stupid, stupid boy,” she said, tucking my hair back. “
You won’t make it a day in the Red Court.”

I opened my mouth to
rebut, call her out on the cheap shot, or at the very minimum spit in her face, but my mouth became sticky, like I had caramel sticking to my teeth. The more I moved my jaw, the stiffer it became. The little wench probably hit a nerve when she kicked me!

“
I. Will. Get. Even,” I said through gritted teeth.

Her comeback: A
raised eyebrow. Her grin deepened as she watched me writhe in pain with my hands clutching my pants. I wanted to scream at her, but my jaw was now locked shut. She patted me on the head like I was a dog. I couldn’t be happier the hall was empty so no one else could witness this humiliation.

“
Next time, think twice about making me mad. I won’t hesitate to nut-drop you again. So, be a good boy and think about that while Hearts and I take care of the adult stuff.”

C
HAPTER
S
IX

(
Alice Mae: Present Time)

G
etting the dirt on others—that was my civic duty to the Queen of Hearts, but I hadn’t always been her minion. After a particular misfortunate event that ended with a death, I had been appointed as the Queen of Hearts’ informant, for lack of a better job description. I took care of her dirty laundry, not because I particularly wanted to be a part of her Reign of Terror, but because I was talented at manipulation. I understood what people wanted to hear and see so I used it against them. When I was growing up, this little talent led me into juvenile trickery, but now that I was older, a slap on the wrist was a desirable punishment.

M.H.
could attest to that… if he still had the ability to speak. The queen was quite imaginative when it came to punishments. Her methodology usually involved the Joker and a very pointy object.

Dressed in black clothing, trimmed with crimson red lace, was the queen. Hearts was shorter than most. I
’d be surprised if she was five feet. A black brooch in the form of a heart with a dagger sticking through it was pressed on her collar. Her bright red hair was pulled up into a loose bun. Hearts fanned her face with the snapshot I’d taken of Ryley. Pulling Mr. Ruth out from the side pocket of my backpack, I thanked him for delivering the photo yesterday. Secretly, I was just pleased that he’d done it without any catastrophe occurring between him and the queen. I pulled out the white frog stool that was placed across from her throne and sat down. I kept Mr. Ruth safely on my lap and placed the monocle over his good eye. He trembled in my hands, but at least he wasn’t leaving little poop balls like he usually did after losing his eye.

T
he One-Eyed Hare had a few run-ins with the queen. When I first met him, he was a two-eyed Hare, but that was a long time ago.

I glanced at the
faded red, heart-shaped clock that hung next to the massive portrait of the deceased king, who was affectionately called Eddie by most everyone in Wonderland. Yet, she sneered his proper name—Edward—whenever possible. He had the same hue of brown eyes as Ryley, warm with a streak of darkness.

The queen caught me staring at her late husband and slapped
two pictures on the table to draw my focus back to her—attention hog. Tea splashed over the edges of two tea cups. A yellow-eyed porcupine, wearing a white uniform, almost tripped over his own two feet when he raced onto the table in an effort to quickly clean up the mess.

It only lasted a second, but a blood-red line encircled the greens of her eyes. It faded quickly.
“If you insist on taking your sweet time, I’ll tie catnip on your sleeve and let Chez loose.”

T
he porcupine’s mouth dropped, and his yellowish eyes faded so that they were stark white. As soon as he regained the ability to blink, he wiped up the rest of the spilt tea and ran away so fast that he looked like a blur.

Studying an old
photo of Eddie and then the Polaroid of Ryley, Hearts said, “You’ve finally found Robert’s son.”

I nodded and reached for the
teapot. Very little tea had splashed out from my cup, but I knew from personal experiences that miniature spies, or big people with a little Drink Me juice in them, could hide in the most creative places—like a tea pot. So, topping off my tea was purely a preventative measure to make sure there were no eavesdroppers.

Hearts
took a sip of her tea only after I did. “You know what you have to do next, don’t you?”

“
A plan is already in place,” I said. “I was able to convince Becky, a girl classmate of his that he was keeping secrets, dangerous secrets that may be devastating to her friend, Courtney. I consider it a sidebar plot to keep him on his toes. It probably isn’t necessary since the boy is already quite curious about me. He thought his secret about his father was well kept, and now he is surely plotting a way to get me to spill the beans about how and what I know about his dear old dad.”

“
Another shenanigan? I do hope you don’t plan on luring him to Wonderland using a damsel in distress method or by threatening the underprivileged boy.” The queen’s light tone was laced with a pungent threat. Mess up her plan, and she’d find a way to extend my debt to her. Got it.

“
Nothing so juvenile.” A sideways smirk grew across my face, mimicking hers. “I actually got the idea from rumors the Otherworlders whispered in the school halls.”

“
Don’t be so pretentious. Just tell me your plan.”

There were times that I hated being so good at being dirty.
“Make him fall so irreversibly in love with me so that he’ll chase me anywhere—even here, to Wonderland.”

C
HAPTER
S
EVEN

(
Ryley: Present Time)

“
I’m a moron.”

The words flew out of my mouth like I had some
sort of self-incriminating Tourette’s. Why, you may ask, was I talking so fast, or that my palms were drenched in sweat, or why I’d suddenly developed an eye twitch? Yes, an eye twitch. I had taken on the personality of a deranged ogre.

Tugging on my baseball cap to hide the twitch, I
hoped that Courtney hadn’t noticed the symbolic drool hanging from my mouth. But really, how could she not know the effect she had on me, or any warm-blooded guy, when she wore her skin-tight cheerleading outfit? I mean, come on! She couldn’t have looked more…
Come hither,
with her rosy red nose, as she blew warm air into her cupped, cold hands.

I had to take a personal time-out on life and look away before I attempted anything foolish, like
to try to warm her with my ice cold hands. Intruding the “person bubble” of a peeved woman was
never
a good idea. I glanced around the stadium. It was jam-packed with fanatic football fans, witnessing my pathetic excuse of an apology. Some girls on the stand pointed at me and giggled. If their response was any clue to my foreseeable future with Courtney, I was going to strike out big time.

Dax sat in front of the band with two steaming cups. He nodded to the scoreboard.
I had exactly four minutes and seventeen seconds to convince Courtney to give me a second chance before she picked up her pom-poms and cheered the Ravens to victory.

I
stuffed my hands in my pockets and waited for her to either forgive me or send me away. Courtney exchanged a sideways glance with her Cheer captain and BFF, Becky.

Becky
’s expression was one that I’d seen many times before. More often than not, I saw it when I was dismissed and instructed to ‘go to hell.’ She looked me up and down. I’d accept that there wasn’t much to take in, but the girl sure took her time giving me the once over. “There are at least six other football players,
and John Luke,
who promised me that they’d take you out of the picture if you do something stupid or rash, where Courtney is concerned.”

John Luke—the quarterback and homecoming king—yeah, I was
“vaguely” aware of who he was. Pretty sure he was the extra-large version of a “non”-steroidal guy who was glaring at me from the football field. He also happened to be Courtney’s ex.
Yippee
.

“
And I’m sure
none
of them are looking for a way to get into her pants,” I said, sarcastically.

“
Are you planning to de-pants Courtney?” Becky said and then popped her gum. “Because I can guarantee you a black eye if you break Courtney’s heart.”

Three minutes and forty-two seconds left.
“Courtney, can you call off your guard dog so we can talk in private?”

Becky’s mouth dropped.
“You’re calling me a dog?”

“
Yep.”

“
Tell me why you were checking out the new girl, and I’ll leave,” Becky said, looking past me.

I glanced over my shoulder. Alice Mae hid in the shadows underneath the bleachers. She clutched to the support beam like she was
convinced that she’d fall off the face of the Earth if she let go. Her dress was covered in dirt and her skin was muddy. Her smile lit up her eyes. It was that kind of a smile one wore when she was about to prank an unsuspecting bystander.

“
Becky, you can’t tell me Alice Mae isn’t something of an interest to look at, prancing around in a 1950’s outfit and looking like she got into a fight with a garden gnome using a bungee cord as a hangman’s noose,” I said.

“
You’ve got two minutes,” Becky said and then left to join the other cheerleaders.

“
Why should I give you a second chance, Ryley?” Courtney asked.

I did something rash—
I tucked her hair behind her ear. She didn’t swat my hand. She was giving me a green light?

“
Because I do want to hang out with you,” I said.

“
You’re a horrible apologizer. I’m pretty sure if Becky was a witch, she’d do some voodoo stuff to you tonight.”

“
Then I’m over-freaking-joyed that she’s
just a bitch
.”

“
Hey, she is my best friend!” she said, and turned away to go fetch her pom-poms.

“That may be, but you know I’m not lying about her.” I called out
. She didn’t slow her walk. Okay, name calling probably wasn’t the best idea, but it was the truth. “I’m sorry! Forgive me?”

“
No.” She didn’t look back at me.

I
couldn’t have been misinterpreting her body language so poorly… could I? I ran up next to her. I nudged her shoulder. She nudged back.

“
So next Friday, do we have a date?” I asked.

“
I’ve got an out-of-town game.”

“
Saturday?”

She bent over t
o snatch up her pom-poms. Beside them was a hot chocolate and her phone which she picked up and then opened her schedule app. I stole a peek. There was nothing booked the day after her game. “It looks like I’m busy washing my hair that night.”

“
Fine, I can take a hint,” I said and turned away.

Before
I was two steps away she called out. “The next weekend I’m free.”

I
didn’t look back. Instead, I just raised my hand up in the air and gave her the thumbs up. I finally did it! I landed a date with
Courtney!
As soon as I had rounded the corner, I threw my hands up in the air in victory.

…
And walked right into Alice Mae.

I
quickly inspected my now-muddy clothing. I knew, without a shred of doubt that if Becky saw my dirty clothes, she’d start rumors that Alice Mae and I had been neckin’ under the bleachers.

“
What hole did you crawl out of?”

“
A filthy one,” Alice Mae said. She bit her bottom lip and tried to wipe off the mud that had ingrained into my jacket.

S
he was only making it worse. I grabbed her shoulders and held her away from me. “Just stop and stay away from me.”

“
You’re the one holding me still.”

Swearing under my breath, I let go of her. This girl would be the end of me! I
had every intention of walking away, but the desperation in her eyes stopped me. I didn’t know if it was the sparkling light from the football field or if there was a lunar eclipse, but her blue eyes turned to the darkest shade of midnight blue I’d ever seen. A tear trickled down her dirty cheek.

“
I’m truly sorry, Ryley.”

Oh, hell. A muddy jacket wasn
’t worth tears, even if I didn’t like her. “It’s fine, Alice Mae. It’s just a jacket. Nothing a little soap and water won’t get out.”

She frowned.
“What are you talking about?”

My jacket
, I wanted to yell. Why did this girl make everything so damn confusing? Was my dismissal about the dirty clothing so baffling? Hadn’t she just tried to clean it? How could she not connect the dots? She got me dirty, tried to clean it, teared-up because she couldn’t fix it, and I told her it wasn’t worth crying about—then she gets confused?

I took a deep breath before speaking.
“The jacket—it’s not worth crying about.”

“
Oh, that.” She glanced at the smudged stains. “I thought we were past that incident. I was actually—”

She stopped
talking when a stray, orange cat crawled out from under the bleachers and rubbed up against her leg. She nudged the cat with her foot so it would bother someone else, but the feline wasn’t taking the hint to get lost.

“
I’m truly sorry for making a mess of your life, Ryley.”