11. Alice

    “Man, what a trip…”
    Alice sighed and ran a hand through her pale hair. She had been in Wonderland for a month now, after falling through the Chasm with Mina. One moth since she had been in her world, with her older brother and sister, with the worries of getting into a good college.
One moth since she had been introduced to the White Clubs and been brought into the Game Wars. She had to admit though; Alice had come a long way in that one month.
    She had learned to properly control her Mimsies and she hadn’t gotten killed by any Knights. She had managed to form some sort of bond, no matter how small, with the other members of the Clubs.
    But sadly, for all her accomplishments, she had just as many failures. Markus and Jasper were still unsure of how to get Alice back home. They still hadn’t found anything about the Red Queen’s weaknesses or her identity. And of course, the biggest of all, they hadn’t found Mina.
    “Why so glum…Alice?” a small voice said with a hint of a yawn.
    “You’re starting to mope again, girl. Stop this instant!” another voice, much bossier, commanded.
    Alice turned and offered a weak smile to Dorothy and Vivian, both of which stared on in their own versions of concern. Dorothy’s mouse ears and tail twitched and drooped as she shoved her hands into her jumpsuit pockets. Vivian, always the queen, simply scowled and tapped her fingers against her scepter, but her green eyes still held a slight bit of worry.
    “Easy answer to that one, Mouse.” Alice sighed. “I found myself in Wonderland, right in the middle of a war. Hell, I still don’t even know if I’m dreaming or not!”
    THUNK.
    “OW! Dammit, Vivi, what was that for?!?” Alice glared at the Queen of Hearts.
    “You are acting pathetic, Alice!” Vivian replied indignantly. “Here we are, in the middle of a war, and you are moping like a small child! It’s ridiculous! Good grief, even the twins don’t act the way you do!” Vivian huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
    “Well EXCUSE me, Queenie!” Alice barked back. “How would you like it if you suddenly found yourself in a weird wonderland with now way of getting home? I have a family to get back to!”
    As soon as she said it, Alice instantly regretted it. Vivian’s face turned pale, then red, then she held out her arm as if she were about to summon her broad axe. It was only Dorothy’s quick reflexes that stopped the Queen of Hearts from taking Alice’s head.
    “Vivi, please!” Dorothy begged as she easily put the redhead in a headlock. “You know Alice didn’t mean it. Besides, you know she has a point.”
    Dorothy turned her black eyes towards Alice.
    “Icy, I know you’re upset with all of this, but you have to keep up heart.” The Dormouse pleaded. “We need you here. You heard Continua; without Mina we have no way of stopping the Red Queen, and you’re the only one who can find her.”
    “But why?!” Alice exclaimed. “Why me?!?”
    Inside the headlock she had yet to be released from, Vivian let loose a dry laugh.
    “Really, Alice, really.” She chided. “You are the only one who can find Mina because you are ‘Alice’ and she is ‘The White Rabbit’. You know how the story goes: ‘Alice travels all around wonderland, in search of the White Rabbit.’ It’s what you are meant to do.”
    Alice sighed. Never once did she hate being a descendant of Lewis Carroll, but this was just too much. All because his books were true, Alice had to go along with this crazy mission to free all of Wonderland from the Red Queen and her Black Knight army. It was madness!
    “And don’t forget, Alice,” Dorothy added. “You aren’t alone here. All of us Clubs stick together.”
    “Exactly.” Vivian nodded. “You have Dory and I, plus Josh, Markus, Jasper, Dom and Dee-dee, and of course Continua…”
    “And your Mimsies.” Dorothy pointed to Alice’s charm bracelet. “You have powerful allies in the Bandersnatch, Jubjubbird, and the Gryphon. Never forget that. And we have Mina, wherever she is, too!”
    Alice looked down at the bracelet hanging from her wrist. Its three charms swayed lightly, just waiting for her to summon them at any time. Lowell the Gryphon, with his wisdom. Lacie the Jubjubbird and the courage she gives to others. And of course Remus, her faithful Bandersnatch, who would do anything to protect other.
    And then there were the other members of the White Clubs, the small rebellion set against the Knights. All of them stuck together and if you messed with one of them you messed with all of them. A rag-tag little “family” thrown together by circumstance. But they all welcomed Alice in with open arms when she first arrived.
    It was time to take a stand. For Vivian, who had lost her throne and family at the hands of the Red Queen. For Joshua, who had his sister taken from him. For every repressed Wonderlander under the grip of the Knight Army.
    The reign of the Red Queen would end.