Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 1 - Cheshire

The Harts live on a simple two acre farm. I've seen a few different kinds of farms in my hunts on this side. This one is on the smaller side of what I've seen. They had fewer animals, a few horses and some goats, but nothing like the strange animals I've seen before. The odd birds they called an emu still baffles me, though if someone were to see the animals on our side, they may seem strange as well. These farms around here seem to keep the more docile animals for meat, company, or the occasional pelt. The few families that keep animals around Wonderland are mainly for meat. The docile animals that weren't kept for meat liked to roam as they pleased. The more dangerous ones liked to keep to the deeper parts of the forest where not many ventured, on purpose anyways. The animals that are native around the Hart farm seem docile enough. At least the few wild animals I've stumbled upon in this area have been friendly to me. That always seemed to be the struggle for me, figuring out what animals were harmless and which ones could kill. We didn't have that problem too often at home. Thankfully none of the portals that lead to Wonderland were around the more dangerous animal's territories, so I didn't have to worry about someone getting mauled by a bandersnatch if they accidentally tumbled through.
The animals around the farm seemed to be the least of my worries. Temperamental animals are the least of my worries these days. Their spring season seemed to still have freezing nights even though the days have finally started to warm. I've taken to sleeping in their barn for the past few weeks, the horses enjoy my company. Apparently their last barn cat passed away and the mice have taken to eating their grains again. I refuse to hunt the mice, but I've been trying to keep them out of their food. The horse named Butterscotch has been sharing her stall with me. She's the most talkative of the four. The other three are polite, but Butterscotch says they don't fully trust my motives. I don't blame them in the slightest. I don't know how well I'd trust someone who'd paraded into my home and was watching the people I loved.
The days were starting to drag on for me and I could feel myself getting tired for longer stretches of the day. I needed to test the girls and soon. I couldn't  hibernate on this side. Who knows what that could do to the balance of magic back home.

It's a beautiful spring day when I finally set my plan into motion. They told time so differently on this side. Their days never slowed down or sped up like ours did. They never had to wonder if time was going to stop suddenly. I almost envied them for that little trick, but it also seemed to make their lives more predictable. Their years were so short compared to ours and they actually counted out the years and not by the long term events. When I crossed this time I looked at the thing they called a calendar and it said it was the year 2002. In Wonderland it was the springtime which had already lasted a few years. Though if Time had already started his sleep cycle then who knows how long this spring could last. We'd be happy if Time decided to drift in the spring this year. We almost didn't survive that ruthless winter.
I've been watching how the children interact with this world. Both girls seem to be a bit odd for this world, but if I'm right then the girl who can hear my proper voice is the one I'm looking for. I found that on this side the people can't hear my voice, they only hear a normal cat's meow. I'm hoping the one with magic in her blood will be able to hear my usual speaking voice. It's mid afternoon when I see the children playing. Alice and her brother Jack were running to hide while Lorraine counted by the barn. I figured I'd try to speak with Lorraine first. Today was as good a day as any.
They were playing in the front of the main house, it was the largest part of open grass away from the animals and the barn. The portal tree was directly in between the house and the barn, nothing seemed to grow close to that tree. Not that it surprised me, the magic that seeped into the ground wouldn't help promote anything else to grow around that might take from the tree. Though around the house are gorgeous rose bushes that may even put Hares mothers roses to shame. And an herb garden with plants that smelled divine. I may have to steal some for myself if these girls aren't who I'm looking for. Might as well get something from another fruitless trip.
Lorraine starts counting as I walk out from the barn. I watch as Alice and Jack turn her around a few times before they start to run in opposite directions.

I watched as Alice climbed up the portal tree to hide and then I saw Jack run to hide in the rose bushes in front of the house. I smile as I walk up to Lorraine, I sit in front of her feet as I wait for her to finish counting.
"...99...100! Here I come!" Her voice rings out through the yard as she uncovers her eyes. She takes a step and almost steps on my tail before she finally notices me. She smiles as she says.
"Hello! I haven't seen you here before. Are you lost Kitty?" She bends down to pet me.
"I'm not lost. Can you understand me?" I ask her as I watch her face for a reaction. She just smiles at me and continues to scratch behind my ears.
"Well, that answers that question." I say more to myself knowing she can't understand me. Well that rules out Lorraine as the heir. I give her hand a quick rub before I trot off in the direction of the portal tree to see if Alice will be able to understand me. I chuckle as I see her trying to hide her bright blue dress amongst the leaves to stay hidden from her cousin. Luckily for her, Jack can't seem to stop giggling from his hiding spot in the roses. I sit down in the grass and grin as I watch Lorraine run to the bushes and try to find Jack. It's been years since I took time to actually observe children playing. The previous families I checked only seemed to have a single child. I missed watching children enjoy garden games. In Wonderland if I'm not helping the Guardians then I try to sleep through my loneliness. I've missed having people to watch over. Though I occasionally have tea with Hatter and Hare, it's not quite the same. A Guardian without their line has either gone completely mad or they chose to pass with their line. I've been lucky that I've had the hunts for my line to keep my sanity in check or I fear I may have gone mad long ago.
"Come on kids! Time for lunch!" I hear Lorraine's mother call out from the front door breaking me out of my thoughts. I watch Lorraine and Jack pop up from the bushes and run in the house. I smile as I turn back to the tree and watch as Alice tries to climb down in her dress. I slowly walk over towards her, I have my new plans forming in my mind in case she isn't the heir either.
She's almost out of the tree when she slips and scrapes her knee. Poor thing. She'll be ok though from this angle it doesn't look too bad. She pauses a moment to look at her knee and she looks like she's going to be sick. And I have to turn away. I hate seeing people get sick. I've seen too many people retch after portal travel. You never get used to the sight or the smell. After a few moments of silence I look back and she's...gone? Where could she have gone? I would have heard her come down the tree or at least seen her.
Unless. No. It's not possible. She's a child! No child has ever portal traveled without an adult to guide them. It takes me a few moments to process what just happened before I finally jump into action. I have to get to her before she wanders too far or gets lost.
I cross the portal and find myself in the woods between Hatters tea table and Hares burrow. The main path that runs through the woods splits between the two so I'll have to guess which path to take and hope I'm right. Part of me wonders if they're both having tea together still, but mostly I feel fear coursing through me. How could I be so careless? I should have watched her closer or tried to talk to her sooner. I finally found my line after searching for so long and I let her slip through my grasp. And for someone with no knowledge of our world one wrong turn could mean certain death especially with someone as young as Alice. As long as she stays on the path though she's bound to find someone responsible to watch her till I can get to her.
After a few moments looking at both paths I decided to take the path to Hatter's table first. That feels right, almost like her magic is tugging me closer to protect her. Now that she's on this side her magic should be waking up more. Thankfully she's still young enough it won't affect her too much. Only time will be able to tell though.
I pick up my pace as I run to Hatter's table. As I get closer I can hear laughter faintly through the trees. She must be there, I haven't heard laughter like that coming from that table in years