"How do you like me now, Alice?" the young man asks me in his male voice. He waves at his girlfriend and she approaches him. They kiss. Once they do, the grin transfers to her. "How about now, Alice?" the young girl grins at me. She leaves her boyfriend and I follow her through the grounds, where she helps an old man find his wallet. Once she touches him, he becomes the new Cheshire. "And how about now, Alice?" the old man says. He drops his wallet again and the kid with the lollipop hurries and brings it to him. It's only a second before she has the grin on her face. "Do you like lollipops, Alice?" She offers me hers.
I stand paralyzed. Now I know why Lewis couldn't catch the Cheshire, why his power was the most evil power in the world. The Cheshire was no one, yet everyone. It was like spreading evil through the world by the touch of a hand. I watch the girl kneel down and pet a stray cat. The grin transfers to the cat. She meows at me and runs through the crowd. I trail after her. Wherever I look, someone has the grin for a brief moment.
I stand in the middle of the quadrangle, feeling lost. There is nothing I could ever do to catch the Cheshire.
Chapter 70
The Pillar’s Cell, Radcliffe Asylum, Oxford
The Pillar lays on his back on the couch. He is still smoking and listening to Alice in the Sky with Diamonds. The butterfly in the jar is calmer now. It doesn't push her way out of the glass. I am too exhausted to be here, but thought I'd tell him that I am ready for the job. I am ready to save lives.
"I see the butterfly is calmer now," I remark.
"I had to send her some of my hookah smoke to ease her," he says.
"I wonder why you keep her."
"I am a caterpillar, Alice," he chortles. "One day I am going to be as beautiful as her. She helps me remember this."
"Whatever," I don't have the strength for another riddle. "I'm here to tell you that I'm..."
"Ready to save lives?"
"Yes."
"Ready to accept that you're Alice, even if it makes no sense?"
"Yes."
"Ready for accepting the madness in your life?"
"Yes." I am reluctant about this part.
"How about the None Fu techniques? Did you master those?"
"Not at all," I laugh. "I tried it, and it doesn't work. It's such nonsense. How is Jack by the way?"
"We went on a date together. It was a Carrollian date, where neither of us paid because we snuck into the restaurant when it was rather late. He tried to kiss me, but he smelled of playing cards. I'm not going out with him again." He doesn't even catch his breath when he jokes like this.
"It means you haven't seen him," I say. "And he is hard to track. With all his nonsense, I was warming up to him. I mean he is a stalker, but he just wanted a date with a mad and lonely girl like me. What more could I ask for? I hope he is alright."
"I am sure he will be," the Pillar says, "You should get some sleep. Now that the Cheshire is on the loose, I wouldn't be surprised if you and I are invited to a tea party in a few days."
"In the Parliament, I imagine?"
"Or the Queen of England's palace," he tops my mockery. "You haven't discovered who the Red Queen is and why she always said, ‘off with their heads’ yet."
"Please," I raise a hand. "Enough for today. I don't want to know. You're right. I have to get some sleep."
"How was the meeting with Carroll?" he catches up before I go. "Did he give you anything, if I may ask?"
"Not at all. He just advised me to save Constance," I am feeling the key Lewis gave me in my pocket. I am not going to tell the Pillar about it. I don’t trust the Pillar with this piece of information. "Since you have a writing desk in your cell, aren't you going to tell me what a raven and a writing desk have in common?"
The Pillar turns his head toward me and smiles. He knows I am changing the subject like he always does. "Not now. But I could let you ponder over an even crazier question, one that historians always skip and never investigate thoroughly."
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"What does Lewis Carroll and Red Riding Hood have in common?" he says.
"What? Are you crazy? Of course they have nothing in common." I roll my eyes and begin to walk. "I never thought I'd say goodnight to a serial killer, but goodnight Professor Pillar."
"One more thing, Alice," he stops me. "There is something that still puzzles me."
"Puzzles you?" I raise an eyebrow.
"In the previous days, you have never tried to look up your bus accident, neither on the Internet or anywhere else," he says. "I wonder why that is."
"I don't know," I reply. "I guess I was busy."
"Unlikely."
"Maybe I am just not ready to see the faces of the friends I killed. Adam told me something like that in my dream."
"Oh," he drags from his pipe. "That's most likely it."
He turns off the lights and disappears in the dark.
Chapter 71
Alice’s Cell, Radcliffe Asylum
In my cell, I put my umbrella next to my Tiger Lily and prepare to sleep. Waltraud tells me there will be no shock therapy today. She thinks Ogier went overboard last time, and I ended up hallucinating. I don't even try to understand why she doesn't believe me.
When I enter the cell, Waltraud doesn't lock the door behind me. Before I check out the reason, I am surprised to see I have a visitor in my cell.
"Fabiola?" I wonder. "I mean, White Queen?"
"How have you been, Alice?" she smiles serenely as usual. "I thought I'd surprise you."
"How did you get in?"
Her smile widened, as if she is telling me she can do a lot of things like this.
"I am honored by your visit, anyways.”