Wonderoz Chapter Ten: Alice

During the day while the Cabaret was closed the twins took Alice out walking through the Giant Garden teaching her about it and taking her to the small town located inside its shadows. The Cabaret was just one of the many businesses hidden underneath the leaves and petals. There were tea-houses, curios, a restaurant or two, and a bookstore where the twins bought Alice several hand-bound journals.

“I have never seen a girl ask for a journal.” Dee hummed.

“At least not one to write in.” Dum laughed, his hand on Alice’s shoulder.

Alice cleared her throat. “You didn’t need to buy me so many. Once I start working at the Cabaret I promise I’ll pay you back.”

“None having.” They argued.

Dee started. “This is our gift to you.”

“Happy un-birthday!” Sang Dum.

“Well look a what the Cheshire drug in!” Snap sang as he came into the picture.

I whisked over to him and hissed silently into his ear. “I resent that remark.” Then I went back and hovered around the unawares Alice.

Snap shivered and continued smiling. “What brings you two and a half out and about?”

Dee sprang into the conversation. “We were just showing Alice around town. She said she wanted some journals so we got her some.”

Snap’s ears perked up. “Journals? Really?” He looked down at Alice and smiled pleasantly. “Too many thoughts so precious and sweet, you have to write them down as treasures to keep.”

Alice gasped. “That was beautiful, who wrote that?”

Snap folded his palm across his chest. “I did. I like to fancy myself a sort of a poet.” He laughed, leading Alice away from the twins.

“And what sort would that be?” Dum growled.

Snap winked over his shoulder at him. “Words are contagious, are they not? One word is simply not enough. And by the time you realize it a journal has gone and disappeared into nothing but words.”

“That’s what Dorothy always tells me.” Alice said with a warm smile. “She calls my journals ships amongst an untamable sea of words and phrases.”

“Cleaver girl. Dorothy, she is your sister correct?” Snap asked, smirking.

“Yes.” Alice answered excitedly. “She’s always saying really clever things. But she tells me all the time to make sure they’re written down. She doesn’t like writing too much.”

Snap tapped one of the journals hugged close to Alice‘s bosom. “And I take it you don’t like talking to much.”

Alice hung her head slightly. “No one understands me.” She then quickly corrected herself. “No one like Dorothy anyways.”

Snap put his arm around Alice’s shoulder casually and gave her a soft, pleasant squeeze. “Try me.” He whispered. Behind them the Twins were steaming and seething.

Alice blushed and tried to hide her face behind her collar. “Okay…well…” She hesitated, glancing around to make sure the twins were still around. They were and they were very close.

“Where could I possibly begin?” Alice chuckled bashfully.

“How about a cup tea?” Snap asked, then looking over his shoulder at the Tweedle Twins. “My treat of course.”

Dum sniffed. “Of course.”

Dee cut his eyes sideways, trying to avoid Snap‘s eyes. “Much appreciated, Mr. Snap.”

In a moments notice, Snap had the four of them sitting at a quiet little corner in the Rosehip Tea Cottage. Dee leaned over to Alice and touched her hand. “Be careful what you say around this guy.” His whispered warningly.

“What do you mean?” Alice asked, looking genuinely surprised.

“He’s a crook.” Dee hissed while Dum looked up to check if Snap was returning from the hostess stand. “He’d sell your soul for a dollar if he could detach it.”

Alice furrowed her brow. “But last night…”

“We bought him to watch you.” Sighed Dee. “He was of no harm to you then. But now,” he hesitated and glanced over towards Snap talking to the hostess, “now he’s just looking for trouble.”

Alice looked suspiciously back and forth between Dee and Dum. “I know exactly what he is. He told me last night. I trust him. Can’t you?”

Dum snorted, rolling his eyes. “Trust is a hard thing to earn. And you can’t buy trust from Snap H. March.”

Snap came back to the table and sat down. “So, do we know what we’re ordering?”

Dee and Dum leered at him from across the table. But Alice, who was in that toxic little mixture of intrigue and forbidden romance, blushed softly and hid her face behind a menu.

Why is it that all good, sweet, little girls fall for the bad boys? As I sit on the shelf above their table I sigh despondently. Dum hears me and crooks his head up to look at the teapot he thinks just breathed on him.

“You might like anything from the North.” Snap suggested, cutting in between Alice and her menu. “It’s all very sweet.”

Alice nodded. “Okay. But I was looking at this Emerald Tea.”

“It’s good.” Cut in Dee. “I highly recommend it.”

Snap shrugged then snapped his fingers loudly. “Emerald Tea!” He announced to the waitress, who had yet made it to their table. “In fact, we’ll take the Emerald Tray.”

“Huh?” Alice couldn’t help but ask.

“He’s ordered us the whole Emerald tea party.” Dee huffed. “It comes with the hors d’oeuvres, the sweets, a light meal. Its extremely expensive.” He sneered towards Snap, his lip curling.

Snap smirked. “What? Do you have a problem with me treating you and the lady?” He sighed.

“Not when it is you.” Dum spoke up. “You snake in the grass, what do you want from her?”

Snap looked as if he were heartbroken. “It isn’t every day I am graced with the chance to amend my ways, let alone to people who know me and my business. But I can at least make a fair impression on someone new and hope for a chance at redemption.”

“Come on guys.” Alice spoke softly, reaching across the table and touching the Twin’s hands. “Please be nice, if not for him then for me.”

Dum settled back down. His cheeks flushed and his eyes dripping guilt. Dee turned slightly, looking away from Snap. He wouldn’t be as easy to sway as Dum was. He’d need more than Alice’s warm hand to coax the mistrust from him.

It was awkward silence from that point. But for me that was when I learned the most about a person. Alice was, unfortunately, used to these silences. She paid them no mind unlike horseflies swarming around ones head. Instead, she sat there painting images in her mind. Planning which journal she would use first and what she would write first inside them.

Too many thoughts so precious and sweet

you have to write them down as treasures to keep.

Yes, she smiled romantically, that would be what she would write first. In fact, she would write that as her first line in every journal from hence forth. (Once again: Why do the good girls always fall for the bad boys?) She then watched as Snap took his napkin and folded it carefully in his lap. He then proceeded with removing his pristine, white gloves. His hands were big with long, elegant fingers. He wore a big black ring on his right index finger. There was an ivory crest set in the black stone, but Alice couldn’t make out what it was.

Had Dorothy of been there, she would have been able to pinpoint Snap as the perfect candidate for Alice’s affections. She knew better than anyone how Alice felt about bad boys and outcasts. Back on the farm Dorothy found it almost laughably predictable as to who would receive Alice’s schoolgirl crushes. Had Dorothy been around she would know immediately this affection would fall upon Snap. No one had ever known Alice had fallen for them. Anyone but Dorothy and now Snap who knew the girl was slowly being wrapped around his crooked finger.

It was uncanny how well he figured out Alice’s growing affections. Alice was used to hiding herself. But Snap figured her out in a second. And, on top of another surprise, he was genuinely flattered. But he didn’t want her affections. He wanted what she knew. He wanted to take her mind and sell it to the Queen. Emotions weren’t exactly Snap’s top priority.

“So.” Snap sighed, finally breaking the silence like a hammer would break a wall of glass. “Why don’t you tell me about Dorothy.” As soon as he uttered her name a pain sliced through his head that so disabled him he actually fainted ad crashed onto the floor.

“Snap!” Alice gasped and raced to his side. Dee and Dum rose from their seat and stood over Alice as she plucked Snap in her arms.

“Is he alright? What happened” The Twins echoed.

The twins exchanged strange looks then looked back down at Alice as she tried to coax Snap to open his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Alice asked. “Are you alright?”

Snap slowly opened his eyes but immediately closed them. The light was painfully searing and taunting. He took a calming breath and spoke to himself in his mind.

“I said her name.” He thought quietly. Even his thoughts verged on causing him pain. “I sold everything I know about her to Maddox. Then why did that happen? Was there another stipulation on our transaction that he didn’t tell me about?”

“Snap?” Alice whispered. Her hand felt cool on his forehead.

“It’s going away.” Snap murmured angrily. “Whatever it was.” He brought his hand up to his forehead. His hand brushed against Alice’s as he did so and an electric shock went through his body. But it was a good kind of shock.

He opened his eyes and smiled up at Alice. “Thank you. No one has ever worried about me like that in such a long time.”

Alice smiled bashfully. “I doubt you give them a chance to.”

Snap laughed. softly “You’re right.” He strained as he got back up. His bones felt like pudding, his muscles like taffy. He groaned and popped his neck.

“So what happened to you?” Dee asked, crossing his arms. He was worried for the well being of another but he was also interested in knowing what kind of pain had been inflicted on an enemy.

Dum smirked victoriously. “Did your greed finally stroke you out, or, did Alice’s goodness make your evil vomit internally?”

Snap laughed again. “I deserve that.” He placed his chair upright and sat. “But it was just a  little migraine.” He lied. “I woke up with one this morning, so I’m not surprised it decided to rear its ugly head again.”

“Your eyes were blue.” Alice murmured.

Snap looked over at her as he sipped his tea. “Hmm?”

“The first time you tried to open your eyes they were blue.” Alice motioned over to the Tweedle twins. “Like their eyes only…” she calculated the words inside her said before she spoke them. “Only yours had a sort of pearly iris.”

Snap furrowed his brow in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

Alice nodded gently. “I know what I see, Snap.” She said with a knowing smile on her lips. “Stories you can’t believe, but sights you can prove.”

Snap brought his cup back to his lips. “Not always.”