They had been wandering through the Forest for three days.

Several times they had heard the Queen's men nearby, but with Alice's knowledge and cleverness, they had managed to keep out of sight. Alas, a formulated plan still had not been decided upon. Every night as they took turns sleeping and keeping watch, Alice watched Hatta stare at his chessboard, intensely fixated on the game. And yet he never came up with a strategy.

It worried her slightly. Was he going to lead her to the Castle and just expect her to somehow defeat the Queen? She was clever, but not that clever. And how was she going to defeat her? The Queen had loyal guards at her disposal, men trained in the art of battle. What did she have? A very heavy sword that she had absolutely no idea how to wield. She thought about practicing with it, in case she needed to use it once more, but she did not even know where to begin.

So on they wandered, without a plan, without a destination, without a hope.

Alice glanced up at Hatta, who, despite their lack of a plan, was rather nonchalant. She wondered at his being mad. True, back in the prison cell he had seemed a bit touched, but now he at least had the semblance of sanity. Did it perhaps come and go?

"Hatta," she said at last.

"Alice," Hatta replied, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I have a question."

"I can't guarantee that I have an answer."

"Mary Ann told me a bit about the Queen before she became the Queen. Back when she was Lady Pinkerton."

Hatta's expression fell slightly. "The maid does have a bit of a loose tongue, doesn't she? I believe that's what got us into this situation in the first place."

Alice furrowed her brow in confusion but shook her head, refusing to be distracted from the subject. "She mentioned a man that the Queen was in love with. Jest."

There was a sharp intake of breath as Hatta stopped short for a moment. Haigha bumped into him, stumbling back into Mary Ann, who managed to catch him. Hatta turned on them with a vicious gleam in his eyes.

"Quit crowding me, you blasted twits!" he snarled.

The two cowered at his rage. Hatta continued on, his pace quicker than before. Though taken aback by his sudden ire, Alice was not deterred. She trotted after him.

"Who was this Jest?" she asked.

"Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance," Hatta replied mindlessly.

Once again confused, Alice tried to pursue the matter. "If I knew more about Jest, perhaps I could use that information to defeat the Queen."

"If he or you had lost a limb, which would have suffered most?"

"Hatta, please, I-"

Hatta whipped his walking stick in front of her, forcing her to stop. "What goes up but never down?"

"What? Oh, pins and bobbins, I don't know! Hatta, this is import-"

"Think, think! What goes up but can't come down?"

Alice sighed and thought for a while, trying to decipher the riddle. "Rain? No, that comes down not up. A tree? No, no, my oak tree certainly came down." She gave an exasperated growl. "Hatta, I don't know!"

He scoffed and gave her a dismissive wave. "Much muchness, muchier much. Always coming and always going, one is here and one is there. Coming or going? Coming or going?"

Perhaps he truly was mad. How had the simple mention of a name from so many years ago caused this? Who was this Jest? What sort of person was he to have had such an effect on so many people in Hearts?

She was dying to know.

"Hatta, I didn't mean to send you into-" Alice began, hoping to pull him back into relative sanity. But then she stopped as she realized where they were. Frantically, she grabbed Hatta's coattails and pulled him back. "Stop! Don't go any further!"

The hatter sneered at her, pulling his coat out of her grip. "Refrain from pawing at me, love," he said coldly.

Haigha and Mary Ann had been giving Hatta a wide berth after his outburst, but now they hesitantly rejoined the two. "We're near the Flowers," Alice whispered.

"The Flowers?" Hatta repeated skeptically.

Alice nodded.

"Should we be afraid?" Mary Ann asked nervously.

"We should be wary."

"Why? Do they eat people?" Haigha asked, visibly trembling.

"No, they won't do us any bodily harm. But they have very loud mouths."

"But they don't use their mouths to eat people?" Haigha confirmed.

"Why must we fear their mouths?" Hatta asked irritably.

"Well, they're not very fond of me," Alice said.

"Did you steal from them?" he asked, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"No." Alice winced. "Well, yes, but that's not why they dislike me. Actually, it's not just me. It's any female. They hate women. They call them ugly flowers and say they smell bad."

"Why?" asked Mary Ann.

"They like men, and they hate for anything or anyone to distract male visitors from their own beauty. I'm afraid that if they see us-well, me and Mary Ann-they may alert the Queen's men. And let me tell you, they really know how to make a scene."

"I see," Hatta said, stroking his chin as he gazed further into the Forest. "But they like men?"

"Yes, very much so."

A grin spread over his face. "Then I will use my charm to convince them to mislead the guards," he decided as he made his way towards the Flowers.

"Are you so confident in your abilities?" Alice called after him.

He threw a smirk over his shoulder and continued walking. Alice wondered if he would truly succeed. He was rather charming when he cared to be. So long as the flowers didn't mention Jest, he might actually pull it off.

As Alice waited for Hatta to return, she heard a low growl from the bushes. Before she could even turn around to investigate, she was tackled to the ground by a snarling beast. Sharp claws raked across her chest, and she let out an agonizing scream. Somehow she managed to struggle out of its clutches, and when she was again on her feet, she saw that it was a Bandersnatch. But not just any Bandersnatch. This beast was missing one of its back toes. Pus and infected flesh were all that remained where once there had been a menacing claw. Alice gulped as the monster focused its attention upon her, grinning to reveal its sharp teeth dripping with saliva.

"Alice," Mary Ann whispered, her voice quavering as she and Haigha crouched down helplessly in the underbrush.

"It's after me, not you," Alice said slowly. "On three, you two go get Hatta."

"But Alice-"

"Three!"

Alice threw herself into a mad gallop, not sure in which direction she was even running. The heavy gait of the Bandersnatch pounded closely behind her, and she knew she wouldn't be able to outrun it. Plunging her hand into her smol, she pulled out the heavy Vorpal Sword, not certain what she could do with it but knowing she needed to at least try to defend herself.

Stopping short, she turned to face her foe, raising the weapon between them. The Bandersnatch stopped, and Alice could have sworn its eye twitched ever so slightly at the sight of the blade. But it did not run. Instead, it began to circle her. Alice followed its movement, not daring to turn her back on it.

"What is that ugly flower doing?"

"She brought a filthy pet. How rude!"

"We did not invite you or your cat, weed! Leave now!"

Alice's eyes darted about, only now realizing that she had run straight into the Flowers. They were all gazing down at her, their beautiful petals marred by scowls. If she were here amongst the Flowers, that must mean Hatta was nearby. Holding the sword as steady as she could, she glanced behind her, hoping he would be there to help. In that single moment, though, the Bandersnatch saw its chance and leapt at her. With a shriek, Alice stumbled backwards. The beast let out a yowl, and as Alice regained her footing, she saw Hatta backing away after having jabbed the Bandersnatch with his walking stick. With an irritated snarl, the creature swatted him away, throwing him into a tree. With a loud grunt and a sickening crack, Hatta crumpled to the ground.

"Hatta!" Alice exclaimed, moving to help him.

But the Bandersnatch was on her again. Desperate to both stay alive and help the hatter, Alice wracked her brain for an idea. Knowing she was rubbish with the sword, she decided that her only hope was to somehow distract the beast. But how?

That's when her eyes caught a glint on the blade of the Vorpal Sword. She glanced up at the sky where the sun was peeking through the leaves of the Forest's canopy. Returning her attention to her opponent, she decided to try her luck. Angling the sword just right, she managed to reflect the sun's light off of the metal and straight into the beast's eyes. It growled and swiped at the invisible pest, and while it was temporarily blinded, Alice attacked. Charging with all of her might, she drove the sword into the Bandersnatch's chest.

The cry it let out was earsplitting, and Alice was desperate to get away. Pulling with everything she had, she finally managed to dislodge the blade from the monster's flesh. She got out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed under the Bandersnatch's body as it fell to the ground. Blood seeped from the wound, staining all it touched. The Flowers were complaining about the mess in the background, but Alice paid them no heed. She turned to Hatta, hoping he was still alive.

But before she could take more than two steps, the dying Bandersnatch grasped at one last chance for revenge. Stretching its neck out, it clamped its menacing maw around Alice's right ankle. Screaming, Alice collapsed. The pain was excruciating, and she tried to scramble away from the cause of it. However, as she did, she realized she had left something behind in the mouth of the Bandersnatch: her foot. Fear and pain and hysteria ran through every inch of her mind and body. Desperate to soothe the throbbing in her ankle, she groped blindly for her smol. Digging into it as far as she could reach, she managed to grab hold of an object. She hauled it out of the purse, hoping and praying it was something that could end her suffering.

It was heavy, and in her weakened state, she found that she could not lift it. Dropping it on the ground, she crawled pathetically towards it. It was a very oversized hand mirror, large enough to be one of the odd doors in the Crossroads. She peered inside, her breath ragged and her vision blurry. On the other side of the glass was a meadow. And sitting in that meadow was a very old well.

Alice did not think as she pulled herself closer to the scenic reflection. With the Vorpal Sword still clutched in her hand and desperation pulsing through her, she leaned forward and toppled into the mirror.

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I didn't come up with any of the riddles in this chapter. I am not clever, so I had to look them up online. And some of the lines that Hatta says are from Lewis Carroll's poems (I think they were "The letter in the trial" and "The Lobster Quadrille.")

Anyone hear that Marissa Meyer's new book has been announced? November 7th! I'm psyched! She is such an amazing author.