Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 20 Hatter

I slowly come awake I start to stretch out my limbs. I feel an unfamiliar pain course down my back. The memories from earlier quickly resurface in my mind and I smile at the thoughts of what Alice and I did just a few hours ago. I roll over to see if she's still sleeping, but she's not in the bed so I quickly look around and don't see her anywhere in our room. I grab a pair of pants and slip them on as I walk down the hall towards the kitchen and living room area of our home. No fresh smells are in the air so I know she hasn't been cooking while she waited for me to wake up. Maybe she went outside to clean up a bit.
I walk out to the tea table and see it's still in disarray from earlier. I feel a cold trickle of fear run down my spine. Did she leave? Did she portal cross back to the other world? Was I too rough for her? I quickly dismiss that thought. She wouldn't have cum so many times or so hard if she hadn't enjoyed it. Still, though, where could she have gone? I walk towards the lemon trees hoping to see her picking the fruit or admiring the flowers. She wasn't there though and she wasn't in any of the gardens either. Where could she have gone?
I run back to the bedroom and start looking for a note or anything that may be a clue to where she went. I feel panic settling in my bones as I tear apart the house looking for anything. I feel myself slipping into a mix of panic, rage, and madness.
"Hatter? What are you doing?" Cheshire's voice snaps me out of my panic and I look at him. I hadn't realized how badly I had torn apart my home until he snapped me out of my haze.
"She's gone." I'm panting as I push some broken furniture off of my lap.
"What do you mean she's gone? Do you mean Alice? She wouldn't have left without at least a note or an explanation." He looks at me worried before he starts to look around, smelling for her. He slowly looks at me with fear and panic.
"I don't smell her here. I could smell her magic at the table and leading her, but I don't smell her magic here. How is this possible?" I merely shrug and walk to the kitchen. I wave my hand and two glasses of water appear.
"Hatter, what happened to your back?" Cheshire hops onto the counter and just looks at me curiously.
"Alice and I got carried away. She scratched me so hard she drew blood." I hear his gasp before he quickly asks me.
"Did you draw her blood to? What were you doing when she made you bleed?"  He looks at me shocked.
"Yes. I accidentally bite her to hard and she bleed. And what do you think we were doing?" I snapped at him while I angrily went hunting for a shirt. I needed to find her. I'd tear apart all of Wonderland to see where she'd gone. I'm even considering crossing to the other side and see if that's where she went. I hear Cheshire's voice behind me, he still sounds worried, but I can hear some amusement in his voice.
"Well I guess you two were going to seal the bond sooner or later. I never would have guessed you'd do it your first time alone and on accident at that! Ha!" He laughs lightly and I look at him as I tug on my shirt.
"What do you mean seal the bond? I thought it was more complicated than that." He rolls his eyes at me before he explains.
"For those who have less magic in their blood, then yes the process is more complicated, but for the royal lines its simple. You two have the most magic in your blood that Wonderland has seen in generations. The ritual for the royal blood lines is merely drawing the others blood while you two are connected, to put it nicely. Usually you'd  have a small ceremony and a blade, but you both have always been unconventional in your ways." I have so many questions running through my mind, but only one or two that are important.
"So where is she? Why can't I feel her magic here?" He looks at me and ponders his response. I grab my shoes and tug them on before I loose my patience and tell him.
"Show me how to cross the portal. If she's gone back to her family then I need to be by her side. I won't break my promise now." He nods at me and follows me out of my house. We only pause briefly as I wave my hand and clean and clear my table. The dishes are safely back in the cupboard and the scraps of her dress are tucked away in my wardrobe. I grab my signature hat and we walk towards the woods.
"I'll guide you through and I'll help you find her. I can't break my promise either. The other world can hear my voice so they'll look at you like your mad, but listen to me and follow my lead." I nod and follow him down the path. With one last look at my home I silently promise myself that I'd return. If for nothing else than to collect my things. I told Alice I wasn't going to leave her side and I intend to keep my word.
We go deeper into the woods than I've been in years. I can almost feel the vibrations coming off a tree that sits in-between the crossroads of my home and Hares burrow. I'm used to taking a short cut to Hares burrow so I didn't have to go through the woods. Cheshire stops in front of it and grins at me.
"This is Alice's portal tree. This leads directly to her family's farm. This is the tree she first crossed over from and the same tree she fell from a few days after your tea party with her. She bled enough on the roots that the magic accepted her bloodline back into Wonderland. That's what the guardians have been looking into lately. Why the magic seemed more stable even with one family missing from the royal deck. Her blood basically added the last piece we needed to keep our world stable again. We also found that the royals can travel back and forth without worry again. So your leaving thankfully won't throw the world into chaos." I place my hand on the large trunk and I swear I feel Alice's magic sparking under my palm.
"Now, let's not waste anymore time. Let's bring our girl home again." He quickly jumps onto my shoulders and tells me how to cross.
It takes me a few tries before I can fully cross. When I finally cross I hear Cheshire chuckle.
"Guess Alice has more magic in her than you do." I roll my eyes before I look around the farm. It was exactly how she had described it. The tree on this side had a bench around it and blackberries growing.
"The cars are all here so they should be home. If she's here, they'll know." I walk up to the front door and pause. The doubt spreading through my chest makes it almost impossible to knock. What if she truly didn't want to be with me?
"Stop overthinking and knock already. Driving yourself mad won't help anyone. Just knock."  Shaking myself I finally knock. We stay still for a few moments when a young lady around Alice's age answers the door. She's tall with long black hair and she smells faintly of the Tabaco fields back home. Cheshire whispers in my ear.
"This is Alice's cousin. Lorraine." I nod at him before she speaks.
"Can I help you? Did your car break down or something?" She looks me up and down and I can see the confusion on her face. I clear my throat before I ask.
"Is Alice here?" She looks surprised for a moment when I see a young man walk up behind her. They look like siblings, so maybe they are Alice's cousins.
"What's going on Lolo?" He looks at her face before he looks at me fully and I see the recognition in his eyes. His voice is barely above a whisper.
"This can't be real. I have to be dreaming." Lorraine looks back at the guy confused.
"Jack, what are you babbling about? And where is Alice? I haven't seen her since we got done with the pictures and that was a while ago." Jack still hasn't stopped staring at me. He finally looks at Lorraine and says.
"Where have you seen that hat? Doesn't his face look familiar?" She sighs, but finally looks at me closer. And I see the slight confusion in her eyes.
"Why does he look so familiar? Did you go to school with Jack and Alice?" Jack exclaims in frustration before he runs into the house. Lorraine watches him disappear before she turns back to me.
"Sorry, but we haven't seen Alice for a few hours since we took some family pictures earlier today." I look at Cheshire and I can feel him tense on my shoulder before Jack comes running back with Alice's sketch book in his hands. He's frantically flipping through pages of horse drawings before he lands on a drawing of me.
"Lolo. It's fucking him!" He shoves the book into her hands pointing between the picture and me. She drew my likeness perfectly, she drew me in my usual suit at the table. I know I look absolutely mad right now.
"And it's the same cat too. I'd bet all my snacks that their the Hatter and Cheshire that Alice has been drawing for years!" He flips between pages of me, Cheshire, and even Hare. My little tart has quite the talent for drawing. They're both still flipping through pages staring between her work and my face when an older gentleman walks up behind them.
"Are you two going to keep letting the air out or invite the gentleman in?" He looks at me and gestures me inside. I walk around Jack and Lorraine and move to shake the mans hand.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Martin Hart. Please excuse my son and my niece, they seem to have lost the last brain cell they share when their around each other." He rolls his eyes and laughs. So this was Alice's father. I can see some similarities in their features, he must be descended from Beatrice.
"It's my honor to meet you Mr. Hart. I'm Hatter." He looks at me oddly. I'm guessing names on this side are more complicated than the ones back home.
"Dad. He's the one from Alice's drawings. He's fucking real! I've been telling you she wasn't crazy, but you and mom refused to believe us!" Jack shoves the book into his fathers hands as shock seems to settle over his face as he realizes his mistake. Doubting his daughter for 20 years, calling her crazy or dismissing her as she tried to talk.
"Tilly! Maria!" He yells out as he looks between us all. His face pales as he looks at Cheshire and Cheshire just grins back.
"I love when karma comes calling." Cheshire whispers in my ear and I look at him confused.
"What's karma?" Cheshire chuckles and two women come into the room. Both are covered in flour and look like they've been baking. They look at Alice's father then at the other two taking in their confused and shocked faces before they look at me.
"Oh shit." The taller of the woman curses.
"Mom!" Lorraine scolds her mother. We are all standing staring at each other and the tension in the room grows. I can see they know exactly who I am. They've been denying my existence to Alice for years and yet here I am living breathing proof that they were all wrong.
"Let's sit at the table. Before someone has a heart attack." Alice's mom quickly walks back the way she came and everyone else follows mindlessly behind her.
"Do we really have time for this Cheshire? We need to find Alice."
"We need to let her family adjust to this new information. We can't just leave now. A small detour so we don't break her family's mind. We owe it to Alice." I let out a frustrated sigh before I follow her family deeper into their home. I see most of them seated at a small table with her sketch book in the middle. They all look up at me and I sit at the opposite end of the table. Her mother comes in with a tray of various foods and a few drinks.
"I'd like to start by saying, I told you so!" Jack practically yells his parents and Aunt. His mother looks like she wants to scold him, but looks at me and says nothing.
"I am aware that you've been doubting our existence since the beginning. Alice told me all about it when she came by for tea earlier. She's told me about the last 20 years for her. How you all doubted her. How you dismissed her when she spoke of us. How alone she's felt the last 20 years." I feel Cheshire dig his claws into my shoulder and I realize I'm getting off track.
"I just need to find her. Is she here?" They all look at me confused and a bit ashamed. Now that someone is finally calling them out for their actions.
"As I said earlier no one has seen her for a few hours." Lorraine looks at the others confirming that they haven't seen her either.
"I'll go and ask Butterscotch. If she went off to be alone, that's where she'd be." Cheshire nods to the others before he hops off my shoulder and runs off. They watch him run off before Jack pipes up and asks.
"Where's the cat going?" I raise my eyebrows at him.
"His name is Cheshire. And he's been around since before people came to Wonderland. He's the guardian of your bloodline and I would advise you to respect him. His magic isn't bound by one skill. He's only held back on you all because despite everything Alice loves you all. And he's off to speak to someone named Butterscotch." They look after him and I can see the confusion on their faces.
"Butterscotch? The horse? He can speak horse?" I bark out a laugh.
"You people hear, but don't listen. Of course he can speak to other animals, he's mostly an animal himself. Even Hare can speak some of the animals languages, but so do most of the hybrids in Wonderland. Though most people stay away from some of the more feral of the hybrids." Martin and Maria look at each other with worry.
"So Alice has been telling the truth? All these years we were worried that her falling out of the tree did something to her head. How could she even find another world in a tree? And what kind of feral half human animal thing would she encounter? Would she even know  who's safe to talk to and who isn't?" Her father makes a good point. Alice doesn't know about the Hunter in the woods.