Stood before us was the most beautiful garden I'd ever seen. Cobbled paths led through enormous bushes covered with flowers I'd never seen before in my life. The spindly trees shot up sky high and pink blossoms twirled to the ground.
"It's beautiful," Queenie breathed. "Like something out of a dream." We all stepped through and followed the cobbled path. I was too astounded to speak. We wandered through it in amazed silence, until Chess stopped dead. I followed her gaze and before us was the white rabbit.
"Hey!" Queenie yelled. The rabbit hopped away frantically. For the third time that day, we chased after it. We seemed to be getting a lot of excercise. As we ran I noticed something strange. There were giant roses on the sides of the path. Was it just me, or did they have faces? I ignored it for the time and kept running. We were really catching up with it this time. Chess dived and rugby tackled it to the ground. There was a little shriek of suprise as it fell. Chess held it's arms down so it couldn't escape. It cowered beneath her.
"Oh please! Don't hurt me!" Upon hearing it's pathetic voice, I felt a little sorry for it.
"If we let you go, you promise not to run away?" Queenie asked. The rabbit nodded, still whimpering. Chess hesitated for a moment, then released him. The rabbit jumped to his feet, but remained where he was.
"We've got some questions," Queenie began. He was still quivering a little, so Queenie stroked his ear to try and ease him a little.
"First of all," Chess began. "Where are we?" I suddenly burst into laughter. They all looked at me, confused.
"Isn't it obvious?" I cried. "Look around you! The clothes, the garden, even him!" I pointed to the rabbit. "We're in Underland!" Queenie's eyes lit up, and Chess grinned.
"Second," Queenie continued. "Why are we here?" I couldn't answer that one.
"W-w-well," the rabbit stammered. "It was all a bit of a mistake really. You see, I was looking for HER."
"Her?" Chess asked.
"Miss Alice," I looked at my feet.
"Rabbit, Alice is dead."
"What!?" he cried.
"She was a victorian girl. And that quite a long time ago."
"Oh gracious. What am I going to tell Absolem?"
"Third," I said, changing the subject. "How do we get home?"
"The only way to get home is by drinking the blood of a Jabberwocky. I think the last batch belongs to the Hatter." Sensing no more questions, the rabbit hopped away, muttering to himself.
"Looks like we need to find the Hatter" I said. Chess shrugged, and Queenie nodded. We set off in the direction of a forest.
I whistled to pass the time, and to block out the determined silence. I stopped whistling when we reached the edge of the forest. We slipped between the trees and trudged through. The ground was moist, and occasionally tiny mushrooms sprouted. At one point Chess tripped over a root, and went flying into the air. Remarkably, she stayed postponed in the air, her arms waving.
"Hey, what gives?" she cried. Suddenly, something grinned from a branch of the tree. A big, toothy grin, now accompanied by some dazzling turquoise eyes. A blue furry body appeared, and we could now see another blue tail wrapped around Chess'.
"Its the Cheshire Cat!" Queenie exclaimed. The Cheshire cat grinned graciously.
"Well, well, well," he began. "What have we here? Three little girls, lost in the Underland woods. My, my what a lovely tail you have."
"Thanks," Chess said. "But would you mind putting me the right way up?" The Cheshire cat lifted Chess onto the branch next to him.
"Better?" Chess nodded. "Now, you three remind me of people." He looked us over. He peered at me and gasped. He grinned again.
"Well look at that!" he purred. "I didn't realise Hatter had a little sister."
"I beg your pardon?" I asked, a little confused. He wrapped his tail around the branch and swung down so we were face to face.
"You're the exact image of him," he continued. He took off my hat and examined it. "Where did you get this?"
"I found it." The cat chuckled.
"Hatter's gonna love meeting you, what's your name girl?"
"Hatter" I said. "No wait, I mean Megan." The Cheshire cat seemed to find this hilarious.
"Hatter! Since when do you have two names?"
"It's her nickname," Queenie said. "We all have one."
"Oh?" The cat stared at her. "And who might you be?"
"Queenie."
"Ah! So that's who you remind me of!"
"And I'm Chess!" Chess called from the top branch. The cat swung back up to her and grinned.
"It seems I've got my own little friend. I can teach you some things if you want." Chess clapped her hands.
"We actually need to find the Hatter," Queenie said. "Can you show us the way?" The cat pointed carelessly behind him.
"Just follow the forest until you reach a clearing. You're little friend and I will be along soon." I waved at Chess as we continued on into the forest.
It was about ten minutes before we started to notice the clearing. I could just make out a table and people chatting.
"Wait Hatter!" Queenie cried.
"What?"
"We've grown again." I looked around us. It seemed we had. How very odd. Suddenly the chattering stopped, and turned to harsh whispers. I could just make it out.
"There's someone in the bushes!"
"Spoon!"
"Hatter, you go flush them out!"
"Why me? You've got the sword!"
"Yes but they could probably squish me!"
"Oh fine." One of them got up from the table, and began walking towards us. We stood, ready to be discovered. A man in a brown jacket and trousers entered the forest. His bright orange hair stuck out from under his hat. His eyes went wide when he saw us. I smiled.
"The Mad Hatter, I presume?"
