Corbin Read online

  When I reached the gate, I found Hank and Florin waiting for me.

  “Well?” Hank asked.

  “He told me to go protect the princess.”

  Hank nodded. “Then that’s what you’ll do. Ever been to the States before?”

  “The States?”

  At that, Hank Haberdasher, the Mad Hatter’s grandson, gave me a wild grin, the kind that unnerved me to my very core.

  9

  Of Teapots, Giraffes, and Wands at the Ready

  “Lift the wand like this,” Hank said, showing me how to hold Al’s wand. The wand, which had made me the target of a lot of teasing when I was just a boy, was the only thing I had left of Da or Granny Al. My da had pushed me through a lake, landing me in the middle of Cork, and had never come back. After wandering the streets for a few days, the garda had picked me up. I’d stayed in foster homes or group homes for boys after that. Now, this stranger who had sucked me into a world I didn’t even recognize, was trying to teach me how to use my wand for real, to conjure real magic, not just to help me with a hustle.

  Hank modeled the pose then handed the wand to me.

  “Why don’t you have a wand?” I asked him.

  “I prefer the teacup. It’s more…elegant.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “There are many tools a person can use to conjure magic in Wonderland. Teacups, wands, staves, even weapons. In fact, almost any object can be used as a conduit. You will learn. Now, aim the wand at the pot and say, into pieces,” Hank said, pointing at a teapot sitting on a table in the garden of his Wonderland home.

  After we’d left the Caterpillar, Hank had brought Florin and me to his home in Wonderland, a tiny, crooked cottage in the middle of the garden on the outskirts of somewhere called Rose Kingdom.

  I aimed the wand. “Into pieces,” I repeated.

  The end of the wand sparked, but nothing else happened.

  “Ugh, it’s no use,” Florin, who was sitting on the top of the shovel, said with a shake of his head.

  “On the contrary, that wand nearly liberated Wonderland the first time. The Tumtum tree, which gave its branch to Alice, knew what it was doing. Corbin will learn,” Hank said then turned to me once more. “You have to feel it, imagine it in your mind. See the pot shatter into pieces.”

  I frowned at the dormouse. I didn’t like it when people doubted me. People had doubted me my whole life.

  I lifted the wand once more. Steadying it, I stared at the pot. My mind flew back in time, seeing Mum smash all of Al’s china. That day, she’d shattered my life into pieces too.

  “Into pieces,” I said firmly.

  A blot of blue light shot from the wand toward the pot, which shattered in a puff of plaster dust.

  “Huzzah!” Hank yelled. “Now you have it, cousin. By the Bandersnatch, there’s nothing but dust left.”

  I gave Florin a knowing look.

  He shrugged.

  “Now, a Wonderland wand can be used to cast any spell. The trick is putting your thoughts, your feelings behind it. That is where the magic lies—the feelings, not the words. That’s why you can cast almost anything your mind imagines. For example,” he said, then pulled out his teacup. He waggled his fingers over the teacup then said, “In the shape of a giraffe.” He lobbed the glimmering ball of magic that had formed above his teacup at a nearby tree.

  The moment the magic touched the tree, the limbs and roots changed shape, the tree reforming into the shape of a giraffe.

  Hank grinned then swirled his hand over the cup once more. “Now, watch this. Become a giraffe,” he said, then sent another blast of magic sailing.

  The tree stilled. It glimmered golden for a moment, then with a pop, the magic transformed the tree into a giraffe.

  “Make it pink,” Florin called.

  “You make it pink,” Hank replied, then turned to me. “Now, fix the pot,” he said, motioning to the spot where the teapot had been sitting. A heap of dust lay on the table. I looked from the dust to the giraffe.

  “You going to do something about that?” I asked, motioning to the giraffe who, accepting his surroundings, had simply turned and started eating fruit—some odd-looking apple that was purple-colored—from the nearby tree.

  “Let’s have him get lunch first. Now, the teapot?”

  I shook my head then lifted the wand once more. “What do I say?”

  “Anything you want. You just need to mean it.”

  I inhaled slowly and deeply. I remembered Granny Al fixing the broken china, how the pieces had wiggled and slid across the table. “Whole again,” I said.

  Again, glimmering light shot from the wand. The golden light engulfed the broken dust and pieces, repairing the pot once more.

  “Well done,” Hank said, clapping me on the back. “Remember, you can cast anything with this wand. It already wants to work with you. You just need to see it in your mind’s eye, feel it. That is the only way.”

  I nodded.

  “Good,” Hank said, then clapped his hands. He pulled out his pocket watch. “That should be enough.”

  “Enough of what?”

  “Training. Now, we will return you to Overthere. I have the address of the princess. Your job is to keep an eye on her until she leaves for Wonderland Academy.”

  “And what am I supposed to do then?”

  “Oh, well, you’ll be attending the academy as well.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Oh, yes. You’re on the recruitment list. When it’s time, Florin will come with your acceptance letter.”

  “I’m not going to some bloody magic school. Do I look like the boy who lived to you?”

  Hank’s brow flexed. “What are you talking about?”

  I shook my head. “Nevermind. I’m not going. It’s…ludicrous.”

  “But how else will you keep an eye on the princess?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Get me a job there. Or I can just skulk around.”

  Hank shook his head. “I hate to tell you, but you and Wonderland Academy are destined. I’m not the one forcing you to go. Your name was already on the recruitment list.”

  “And where, exactly, does that list come from?”

  “It’s generated.”

  “By what?”

  “A device at the academy that produces a list of recruits. These recruits are sent admissions letters. The letters bring the students to Wonderland. Simple.”

  “I see. And this device, how does it work, exactly?”

  “Oh, I have no idea. It’s all very secret. A person couldn’t possibly whisper to it and suggest people for recruitment. Or enchant it or anything like that,” Hank said with a wink.

  I looked at Hank. I accepted that we had the same grandfather. But it was abundantly clear to me that I was much more like Alice and Hank was far more like the Hatter. But Al had always said her love was a madman. And her eyes glimmered with delight every time she remembered him. It was her memory I believed more than the man in front of me. Hank Haberdasher, the Hatter’s grandson, was not the Hatter. And he was hiding something. What, I didn’t know.

  “And what, exactly, am I supposed to do at the academy?”

  “Study. There will be people there who know who you are, associates of ours. We will keep an eye out for you. You will know us by our code phrase: Why is a raven like a writing desk.”

  “I have no idea.”

  “What? Oh. Why is a raven like a writing desk is the code phrase.”

  “Okay, so what’s the answer?”

  “Because they both produce notes that are flat. Obviously.”

  Obviously. Right. “I see.”

  “Now, while you do need to study, your true mission is to protect the princess.”

  “Any suggestions about how I go about that?”

  “Befriend her. Get close to her. Do whatever you have to do to keep her close to you.”

  “You’re asking me to manipulate some girl I don’t even know. That’s not me.”

  “Does
it help to know that if you don’t, and if they find out who she is, they’ll probably behead her?”

  I frowned.

  “Do what you need to do. Stay close. I’ve seen to it that you share a few classes with her. The rest is up to you.”

  I didn’t like the idea that they wanted me to get close to some girl under false pretense. It just wasn’t right.

  “Now, we have everything set up. She lives in a town called Chancellor, in New York. You’ll watch her before it’s time to depart for Wonderland. We’ve arranged for a vehicle for you,” Hank said, handing me some keys. He pushed the envelope at me. It was full of money.

  “Christ,” I muttered. There must have been five grand in there.

  “The girl…she goes by the name of Lacey. Here is her address,” Hank said.

  “What, exactly, am I supposed to be watching for?”

  “Anything. Everything. But most specifically, someone from Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts’ agents have been murdering the new recruits for Wonderland Academy. They don’t have Lacey’s name yet, but just in case. And, of course, the worst-case scenario is that they figure out who she is.”

  “The heir to the White Kingdom.”

  Hank nodded. “In which case, they will definitely try to murder her.”

  “You said they are murdering Wonderland Academy recruits. Why doesn’t someone do something? Why doesn’t someone try to stop them?”

  “What do you think we’re doing?” Florin asked.

  “Wonderland is at its breaking point, Corbin. Bringing you and Lacey to Wonderland is the most important thing right now. If we fail…keep her safe,” Hank told me. “And keep this close by. Remember what I taught you,” Hank said, tapping my hand holding the wand.

  I nodded. “Seems a gun might be more feasible.”

  “Ugh, Overthereians,” Florin said. “Can’t turn a man into stone with a gun, can you?”

  “You can do that?”

  “With a wand, yes,” Florin said.

  Hank pulled a pocket watch from his pocket. “People from Overthere have to return to their last entry point in time. It’s a rule. Time is…confusing between here and there. It moves differently. We Wonderlandians can come and go as we please. But you,” he said, then set the watch time to when we had left my world to come to Wonderland. “Set the time to your last point. Click the watch then use a mirror to return to Overthere. To get back here, you only need a mirror. Any mirror works. Remember that. Just say where you want to go and come through.”

  “How will I know when it’s time to come back?”

  “We’ll send for you.”

  “And if something goes wrong?”

  “If something goes wrong… just remember your task. Keep her safe. The rest…well, the Caterpillar chose you for a reason. Just listen to your gut.”

  My gut was telling me a lot of things in that moment, but I wasn’t sure if Hank would appreciate the sentiment.

  From his pocket, Hank produced a small hand mirror. He held it in front of me. My face was still bruised, a dark ring under my eye.

  “Chancellor,” Hank told me. “To Lacey.”

  I nodded. “Right then. Chancellor. To Lacey,” I said then set my hand on the glass.

  With a tug, the looking glass grabbed me, transporting me once more to my own world—Overthere.

  10

  Playing with Hearts

  I woke to the sound of a muffler rumbling. I opened my eyes in time to see Lacey pull out of the driveway. It was still early morning. Sunrise hues of pink and red colored the sky.

  “Shit,” I whispered, turning on the engine. When I reached up to grab the steering wheel, I felt the ache in my fingers, but at least my head didn’t hurt anymore. I pulled out onto the street and followed along behind her.

  “Now, where are you off to?” I wondered. Lacey never went anywhere. Home. Work. Starbucks. That was about it. The same rounds over and over again.

  Following along, I drove behind her into the small town. When she pulled into the pharmacy, I parked on the street nearby. Maybe it was the headache. Maybe it was because I was still feeling paranoid because of what happened the night before, but my senses were on edge. The day started off too early, and I had a gnawing ache in my stomach. I could blame the feeling on a lot of different things. But in the end, I knew what it meant. Something or someone from Wonderland was nearby—and not just the mermaid.

  I eyed the streets. It was morning. With the local community college campus not far away, students were bustling past to get coffee or breakfast at the fast-food joint on the corner. Otherwise, it was relatively quiet. Nothing seemed afoot. But, of course, nothing ever seemed wrong unless you knew what to look for. I waited.

  I could just catch sight of her inside the pharmacy. She was waiting in line. She gave the pharmacist a weak attempt at a smile when it was her turn. When she was done, she turned, white paper bags filled with medicines in her hand, then headed back outside.

  She was wearing jeans that were ripped at the knees and on a hoodie that looked like it belonged to someone much taller than her. As always, she had that distracted expression on her face. In the days I had been watching over her, I had never seen her truly smile. I knew who she was: Alice Lacey Crane, the girl I was destined to protect, a girl with a great destiny about which she knew nothing. I knew more about her than she knew about herself. And at the same time, I didn’t know her at all. Why did she look so sad?

  She stuffed the prescriptions into her pocket, then headed down the street to the Starbucks.

  My stomach twisted again.

  She crossed the street but paused when she neared the coffee shop, her steps slowing. And then I saw why. Standing just outside the café was a panhandler. Or, at least, someone dressed as a panhandler. A couple passed her and went inside. People from Overthere almost never saw Wonderlandians. Lacey did.

  Shite.

  Popping open my glove box, I grabbed the wand hidden there and slipped it into my back pocket. I opened the door to my truck and headed out.

  Lacey skirted around the vagabond, pretending he wasn’t there, pretending she hadn’t seen him, and then headed inside.

  But she had seen him.

  Lucky for her, so had I.

  So focused on his task, the agent from Hearts hadn’t noticed me. How many students who’d been identified for recruitment had gone dead or missing in the last few weeks? The Queen of Hearts was closing Wonderland one murder at a time. And since no one in Wonderland paid any attention to what happened in Overthere, what did it matter? Hearts had been killing their way through this world, and no one from Wonderland even knew.

  Well, almost no one.

  But the bloody queen wasn’t going to get her way today.

  The vagabond watched Lacey through the glass of the café window. Moving slowly, he pulled a dagger from the back of his pants and slipped it up the sleeve of his shirt. And then, he waited.

  Moving silently, I slipped up behind him. I pulled out my wand and pressed it onto the back of his neck. “Think again,” I whispered.

  The man grew perfectly still. “Put it down,” he growled.

  “I think you’ve got that backward, Hearts. You’re the one who’s screwed here.”

  The man stiffened then turned on me. I wrenched the dagger from his hand then dragged him to the nearby alley, shoving him to the ground. When he fell, I spotted the telltale black-and-red uniform hiding under the ragged coat he was wearing.

  “Reckoning trash,” he hissed at me, and then from the pocket of his coat, he pulled out a teacup. Whispering an incantation, he waggled his fingers over the cup. A golden orb began to form.

  Oh, hell no.

  Rushing him, I knocked the cup from his hand and pushed him to the ground. It occurred to me that one good thing about dealing with people from Wonderland was that they wouldn’t expect a real fight. Magic? Yes. A punch in the face? No.

  The man struggled to get up, but I hit him again.

  He reeled
then squirmed away from me, hopping back on his feet once more. Dipping into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of powder.

  “Sleep,” he said, blowing it at me.

  I pulled out my wand. “Like a shield,” I called. An instant later, a shield made of white-blue magic popped up before me, deflecting the concoction.

  Pissed, I rushed the man, grabbing him and bashing him against the wall. I set my wand on the man’s neck. “Confused,” I said.

  A blast of silver light exploded from my wand.

  The agent, who’d been struggling to escape, suddenly went limp.

  He gazed all around him. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  “Shite,” I whispered. What to do now?

  “Do I know you? Where are we?” he asked.

  The bell above the door to the café rung. Before I even saw her, I knew it was Lacey. Turning, I aimed my wand toward the end of the alleyway, “As it was before,” I said, willing the alleyway to appear to her just as she had seen it.

  “What’s that? Is that a stick? What did you just do? Why is everything so…glittery?”

  Lacey passed by, drinks in both hands. She slowed as she passed the alley, staring down the narrow space.

  I stood not ten feet from her, but she didn’t see me.

  Scrunching up her brow like she was confused, she turned then headed back to her vehicle.

  “Hey, I think I know that girl,” the agent said.

  I needed to get the bastard out of here.

  “Come on,” I told the agent, tugging him behind me.

  “Is that yours?” he asked, eyeing the teacup on the ground.

  “No. It’s just rubbish. Come on,” I said.

  When we reached the end of the alleyway, I waited until Lacey pulled out. She turned her car back in the direction of her house. She was headed home. Of course, she was. At least with this bastard in my grip, she was safe…for the moment.

  Taking the man by the arm, I led him across the street to my truck and pushed him in. I slid into the seat beside him.