Page 19 of Madness Becomes Her

“That sounds like a fun afternoon.”

I swallow. “I don’t want it. You said it had magic in it, and I’m human. Magic disagrees with me.”

“Pish posh. Eat up, little human girl. So we can see what happens.” The second boy, clearly the more intelligent of the two, walks closer and hands me the cupcake.

I don’t live in Wonderland; I visit now and again, but I know I shouldn’t eat anything save for things given to me while in the presence of Hatter.

Even so, I take the cupcake, peel off the wrapper, and eat half.

A gripping pain clenches my stomach tightly, and I cry out, dropping the other half of the uneaten cupcake to the ground.

Both bald boys jump back, worried about whatever the cupcake contains now that they’ve seen the results.

Suddenly, I’m lifting off the ground.

No. Not lifting.

Growing.

“Oh, God! Help! Make it stop!”

At this rate, I’ll draw attention to myself, and I don’t want the Red Queen’s attention.

The two bald boys make haste, rushing out of the maze. I watch them move through it with ease and follow them.

Half the maze gets crushed when one of my feet flattens a hedge like a pancake.

Being big is kind of fun.

“You there! Come down from there this instant!” a man shouts.

Looking down, I see two guards with staffs chasing after my ankles.

They’re playing cards, I realize.

The Seven of Clubs and the Five of Hearts.

“Come down from there, or else!” the Five of Hearts shouts.

“I can’t. I don’t know how to get back to my typical size!” My voice is louder, booming, even.

They look at one another before the Seven of Clubs says, “Get the queen.”

The Seven of Clubs remains with me, jabbing his staff toward my ankles. Doesn’t he realize I could flatten him?

“Oh, dear heavens. What is it?”

A woman’s voice draws my attention downward, where the Seven of Clubs stands with his arms crossed.

“She says she can’t come down. I ordered her twice.”

“Ma’am, Your Excellence,” I correct. “I don’t know how to get small again. I ate a cupcake in the maze, and…”

My eyes fixate on her abnormally large, strangely shaped head. No wonder Hatter feels so inclined to hat her.

She lets out a mad laugh. “She ate the cake. Oh, it worked. Lewis told me it would, and now we see the result.”

Lewis?