Page 42 of Wondrous

“They were spying on us,” he said with a mixture of glee and indignation, shoving the first stranger to the ground. A stranger who, I realized, was Alex, and the other was Maria—the Alices who had tried to recruit me back at the Queen’s castle.

“What should we do with them?” Jack said. Maria was not actually floating but ensnared by invisible tentacles like coils of seaweed. As I watched, the tentacles loosened, and Jack shoved her to the ground beside Alex.

I tried to bring myself into the present—a part of me felt as if it were still sitting on the branch, too close to Jack. Everything had happened so quickly.

“Why were you spying on us?” I said at last. The memory of the first Alice I’d met made me quake, and I scanned the dark forest behind them. “Are there more Alices back there? You didn’t team up with Alicia, did you?”

“Alicia?” Alex glanced at Maria. Belatedly, I remembered that Maria’s first name was Alicia, too. What a confusing quest this was!

“She’s pale, with red hair and—” I paused, wondering why I was bothering to look for polite language to describe someone who had tried to murder me. Yet my politeness, it seemed, was an involuntary muscle. “An unmannerly temperament,” I finished.

“That nasty piece of work, you mean,” Alex said, grimacing. “No, she’s not with us.”

“Shall I tie them up?” Jack said. Before I could reply, he advanced on them with a handful of vines.

“No,” I said. “Let’s see what they want first.”

He looked crestfallen. “But they could be our hostages.”

“We don’t need any,” I said, exasperated. I realized that he was enjoying himself, and he saw dealing with spies as part and parcel of the grand adventure we were having together. I wondered once again what I had gotten myself into, teaming up with him.

“Are you another Alistair?” Maria said to Jack.

“Ah—no,” I said. “This is Jack.”

“I don’t remember seeing you at the castle,” Maria said.

“I’m not one of you,” he retorted, and the air briefly rippled around him, as if stirred by a lashing tail. “I’m not a hero. I’m Alice’s sidekick.”

“My—what?” I was so startled, it came out as a croak.

“Sidekick?” Maria repeated. “How’d you get one of those, Alice? I wouldn’t mind a sidekick myself.”

“I’m not sure who he is,” Alex said slowly. “But I know he isn’t an Alice. He—he moved too quickly to be an Uplander. And his face changed—just for a moment. I saw…” Her voice trailed off. “And there was an odd sort of—of burbling sound.”

“Burbling?” Maria’s eyes went round. “Are you a jabberwock?”

“No,” Jack said. I knew immediately that it wasn’t the correct answer; the correct answer was to laugh at the silliness of such a question. Jack had sounded far too defensive. Also, there was something sinister about how he’d found the deepest patch of shadow to stand in, which cast his eyes into darkness and framed him like a door he might disappear through.

Sure enough, Alex’s and Maria’s gazes swung to me, full of worry and amazement. “Is he?” Alex demanded.

“I—” I began. Jack gave me a pointed, exasperated look, and I understood—he mistrusted heroes with all his heart, even if I had become an exception. No doubt he thought Alex and Maria would view him as a trophy to be won if they knew the truth.

“Of course not,” I finished.

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Why did you take so long to answer that?”

“It isn’t really—something you should have to think about,” Maria added. “Oh! And his name’s Jack. Jabberwock.” She sounded the word out slowly.

“It fits,” Alex agreed.

“Look, it’s a ridiculous question, that’s all,” I huffed. “I would appreciate it if we could start over and you would explain why you were spying on us.”

“We weren’t really spying,” Maria said, with another nervous glance at Jack. “We—well, we’ve been following you. Since this morning, anyway. We happened to run into the Cheshire Cat, and he told us you may have come this way.”

“The Cheshire Cat!” I cried, feeling betrayed. “Why would he get involved?”

Maria shrugged. “All he said when we asked was that sometimes he has many reasons for doing things, and other times, none at all. He’s very mysterious, isn’t he? But we still want to make an alliance with you, Alice. We were both hoping we’d have another chance to convince you.”