Page 20 of Madness Becomes Her

Anger roots inside me at the mention of my friend. I don’t like this woman at first sight, and that all my friends are working for her makes me downright furious.

“Get the elixir. The one beside my throne that Lewis gave me. I’ll get her down from there.”

“Your Majesty, I really should be going. Perhaps we should…” Hatter stops in his tracks, looking up at me from below with fright painted on his face. “Eleanor?”

“Eleanor? What is an Eleanor? You know this beast?” the queen asks.

Hatter’s eyes deepen with worry, and I swallow the same feeling.

If he’s afraid for me, I shouldn’t have come.

In his defense, he tried to tell me.

“I do. She’s my… ward.”

“Well, your ward, as you say, has escaped your home, stolen into my hedge maze, and eaten my security cupcake.”

“Daft girl, that one. Just look at her head. Perfectly awful to walk around with a head like that, don’t you think?” Hatter riddles.

The queen looks up at me. “Mm. You have a point, dear Hatter.”

The Seven of Clubs comes running back, holding a bottle. He hands it to the queen, and then she holds it up to me.

“I’ll allow her leave this once because she helped me prove Lewis’s magic works, but if I catch her again, Hatter, I will kill her.”

Kill me?

I knew they said she was horrible, but murder?

I take the bottle, swallowing what tastes like a drop of something, considering how large my mouth has gotten, and slowly, I shrink.

My clothes, however, do not.

Hatter removes his coat, covering me with it and helping me to stand on my tiny, wobbly legs.

“Take her home. Come back tomorrow to finish my hat.” With that, the queen and her massive red gown sashay toward the palace, her guards in tow. “Where are my Tweedles? Find them for me. They’ve wandered off again!” she tells the guards, and they scramble to listen.

“I told you not to come!”

“Eleanor?”Someone shakes me awake, and I bolt up from the ground, my heart racing.

“It’s only me.” Lewis looks down at me as I gain my bearings. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was trying to…” I swallow. “I was trying to go home. To my home. Up there.” I point toward the sky.

“Only I got lost.”

“Mm.” He nods.

“Let’s get you up.” He helps me stand, and I give him a once-over. Something seems off.

“What’s the matter?”

“Horrible business, especially when one considers we were on time.”

I’m puzzled but can’t get much out of him as he leads me back to Hatter’s house, leaving me right outside the tree line.

When I’m inside, I find Hatter stirring about in a panic. His forehead is covered in blood, and he’s throwing things around the living room haphazardly.