Twisted Wonderland Book 1: The Rose-Red Tyrant

Chapter 18: A Surprise Tip

After the incident at the garden, Briar, Deuce, Ace, and the others decide to simply walk around the Rose Maze and try to think about the situation they're in. Of course, while Ace and Deuce are still expressing their frustration, Sereia and the others are helping comfort Briar. Grim however is busy trying to get the collar off of him.

Ace is still very frustrated and upset, "Rrrgh! I hate that little ginger megalomaniac! Does he think HE is the Queen of Hearts?"

Deuce feels the same, but for a different reason, "Banished by the housewarden from my own dorm... My dream of becoming an honor student is slipping further and further away..."

Sereia asks Briar, "Are you okay, Briar?"

"I think so. I'm starting to feel better now," Briar says.

"Thank goodness," Tanzanite says, relieved.

"I still can't believe you got a massive headache," Jasper says.

"I have to wonder about that as well. Why did you suddenly have a severe headache?" Deuce replies.

"I... I'm not entirely sure... All I wanted to do is to get out of there," Briar says.

"Stupid collar! It's so tight! Grrr..." Grim says, as he tries to pull the collar off.

Suddenly, the group hears a voice, "You're really racking up those collars."

Everyone looks up and to their shock, they see a floating head. The head is a boy that has short, choppy purple hair with his bangs cut in a curve, as well as three bobby pins pinned to the bang on the left side of his face. He has a pair of purple cat ears with a piercing of a speech bubble containing the word "up" in his left ear as well as three arrow piercings in his right ear. He has yellow eyes with slitted cat pupils.

"Quite the impressive collection," The boy says with a grin.

Everyone screams in pure fright, "BWAH?!"

Grim runs behind Briar as he screams, "Myah! A ghost head!"

"Oh dear. It seems I'm not all here," The boy says like it's nothing.

Then the rest of his body appears. He wears a baggy white shirt over a striped purple t-shirt, and blue pants with a purple belt that has the sentence "Do you stand on your head?" printed on it. He has purple painted nails and wears a ring shaped like the Cheshire Cat's smile on his right hand. And having a full appearance, he looks to be a couple years older than Briar, Ace, and Deuce, probably around the same age as Trey.

Deuce becomes shocked, "What? Er, so you do have a body, then?"

"Who... Who are you?!" Briar asks, shocked.

"The name's Artemiy Artemiyevich Pinker," The boy says. "Am I a cat? Am I a purrrson? A mimsy borogove, perhaps? A mome rath with a knack for magic?"

"Um sure. It's uh nice to meet you. I'm Briar. And these are my friends, Grim, Sereia, Trinket, Tanzanite, Ace, and Deuce."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I must say, it's a surprise to see a few young ladies in an all boys school," The cat says.

"Um yeah, my friends and I had a special case of you like to call it that," Briar replies.

"Uh, look, Ar... Arte..." Ace says, but has trouble saying his name.

Then asks, "Run the name by me again?"

The boy chuckles, "Heh heh. People usually just call me Che'nya. Let's just say I'm not from the other side of the looking glass."

"Oh great. We have to deal with another weirdo," Jasper says.

"You think so? I'd say by the standards here, I'm no more mad than anyone else," Che'nya says.

"I see. If you don't mind me asking, which dorm are you from?" Briar relies.

"Why don't you try to guess?" Che'nya question.

Then Grim answers, "Oh, I know! He's got animal ears, so he's gotta be from... uh... Bananaclaw, was it?"

Briar turns to Grim, "Grim, you mean Savanaclaw!"

"Bzzzzzt!" Che'nya replies, "Incorrect. Bananas grow on trees, do they not? I, on the other hand, am a cat."

"And besides, other dorms have students with animal ears, too," Deuce says.

"And he doesn't seem to be wearing the uniform for it," Tanzanite adds.

"After the insanity that teapot tyrant put me through, I'm not in the mood for whatever this is. Just leave me alone," Ace says, still annoyed.

"Riddle the teapot tyrant... Heh heh. Well, I can't dismiss that perspective as wrong. He's always been quite strict," Che'nya says with a grin on his face.

Curious, Deuce asks, "Do you know something about him?"

"Perhaps there are things that I know, and perhaps there are things that I don't," Che'nya replies, having his hands behind his head.

"That's not an answer!" Grim replies.

Then Che'nya asks, "Is there something you wish to know about Riddle?"

"Yeah, what created such a control freak?" Ace replies.

Che'nya answers, "I believe his four-eyed friend may have the answer."

"Four-eyed friend?" Sereia says, confused.

Then Deuce asks, "You mean Trey?"

"He's known Riddle since we were all little boys," Che'nya answers. "If you want to know more about Riddle, I would begin my quest there."

This really catches them off guard.

"They're childhood friends? I didn't really get that impression," Deuce replies.

"If you're so perceptive, then what are you asking me for? Buh-bye!" Che'nya says, and makes most of his body disappear.

Deuce calls out, "H-hey!"

"Ha ha ha ha...!" Che'nya laughs as his head disappeared.

"I tell ya, no one makes any sense around here," Grim says.

"What a weirdo," Jasper says.

"That boy does seem rather uh, complicated," Tanzanite says.

"Well, we're not going to be able to do much in the way of schoolwork with these collars on," Deuce says.

"Well, I guess the best we can do for now is to talk to Trey and see if he knows anything about Riddle," Briar says.

"If you're gonna say 'apologize to Riddle,' you can forget it!" Ace says.

"It's okay Ace, we won't make you do anything like that," Briar says.

Then says, "But still, we will need to find a way to talk to Trey from outside of the dorm."

"You're right. We'll need to find Trey and talk to him. Maybe there's a way we can, well, get through to Riddle. Even if it is a long shot," Briar says.

"It's better than nothing," Ace says.

And with that, the group decides to leave the Heartslabyul Dorm to figure out a plan on how to talk to Trey.