Her tears stopped momentarily as she turned to find a man standing behind her. He was tall and dark-haired, dressed in a sharp suit and leaning on a walking stick. His dark eyes looked her up and down with a calculating gaze. The side of his mouth tugged up, nearly twisting into a crooked smile, but he quickly turned it into a bored frown.

"Who are you?" Alice whispered.

His eyebrows shot up. "I should be offended that you don't remember. Although, that's likely my fault."

Straightening up, he twirled his walking stick about before resting it on his shoulder like a weapon and slowly approaching her. His height was even more exaggerated up close, especially as Alice was kneeling on the ground. A smug smile spread across his face, and he offered her a gloved hand.

"I am Time. It's a pleasure to meet you again, Alice Liddell."

Alice stared at his hand, too confused to take it. "How do you know my name?"

His eye twitched at her rudeness, but rather than say anything, he withdrew his hand and returned to leaning against his walking stick. "Oh, I know much more than your name, Ms. Liddell. Much, much more. I know that you are the only daughter of Alice and Reggie Chataway." His lip lifted in a sneer as he spoke the names. "You are the sole Heir to the Throne of Thieves. You were raised by a Mr. A. Lupin Ferret, brought up to be a petty thief in the Kingdom of Hearts. I know that you stole a heart from the Sisters, banded together with a group of misfits, and overthrew the Queen of Hearts, becoming the new ruler."

Staring at him incredulously, Alice watched as he sauntered about and casually rattled off facts about her life.

"But more than that, I know that you like chocolate cake, that you cry at the drop of a hat, that you stole several candlesticks at the former Queen of Heart's tea party, and that you still haven't told your friends and family about your limited ability to manipulate time."

Hearing him list so many truths about herself—some that even her closest companions were not aware of—cause Alice's blood to freeze. "How do you know all of this?"

He eyed her and quirked an eyebrow before holding out his arms and saying, "I'm Time, my dear. I know all and I see all." He glanced down at something behind her. "Just like I know that your husband is dying."

The memory of Ace being stabbed came back to her mind, and she quickly turned to see him lying beside her. She threw herself onto him, listening for a heartbeat. But there was nothing. His heart and his chest were still. She looked at his face and found that it was frozen in the same distant expression as before.

The watch.

She was still holding it, the hands frozen just seconds before her minute was up. She turned back to Time. He was watching her carefully, as if waiting for her to make some sort of connection.

"What happened? Why is my time not up?" she asked.

He knit his eyebrows together. "I thought you were supposed to be clever. Look around. Do you not notice something a little different?"

She did as he said and realized for the first time that she was no longer in Dodgson's tent. She wasn't in a tent at all. Or seemingly in Wonderland. Was this even a physical place? There appeared to be walls, but they were more like swirling clouds of purple and white. Looking down, she found that the ground was much the same. Nothing looked solid, but she was clearly kneeling on something tangible.

After one last glance at her surroundings, she returned her gaze to Time. "Where am I?"

"Nowhere," he replied, tucking his walking stick under his arm and walking about.

"Nowhere? We're obviously somewhere."

"No, that's what I call it. Nowhere. Technically we're in the stream of time, but since time isn't an actual location, we really are nowhere. So I thought it was fitting."

Alice's eyes darted about the dreamlike place. This was the stream of time? What did that even mean? How could it be possible? And then her attention returned to the man who was watching her with a strange glimmer in his eye.

Time. This man was Time.

And then it all clicked.

She looked down at the pocket watch again. "This. You really did give this to my mother, didn't you?"

"Indeed I did."

"Why?"

"Reasons."

"Did you know my mother?"

A shadow fell over his face. "I did."

Tilting her head, Alice tried to read his dark expression. There was pain in his eyes. Pain and anger and resentment. And something else. Something even stronger. A thought came into her head. "Did you—"

"I'm surprised you're so interested in the long-dead when you have the almost-dead lying before you," Time said irritably.

Alice glanced at Ace and gripped his cold, still hand. "Can you fix this?"

"I can."

Hope filled her heart.

"But there are conditions."

The hope stalled, and she stared at him suspiciously. "What sort of conditions?"
Clearing his throat, Time swiped his fingers across the air, bringing up an image. It was Dodgson. "I need your assistance in destroying this man."

"My stepfather? Why do you want to destroy him?"

Narrowing his eyes at the picture of Dodgson, Time replied, "Because he destroyed something very important to me."

The pure hatred in his expression hinted at a history with this man. A deep, personal history. Had they met before? Or was this connected to her mother?

Before she could ask further questions, Time swiped at the image, and it changed. It was now a close-up of Dodgson's neck and the strange clock mark engraved upon it.

"I saw that mark. When I snuck into the camp. It moved, even though I had stilled time."

"That's because I created it and I have power that trumps that watch's ability."

"What happens when it strikes twelve?"

"He will cease to exist."

"He'll die?"

"Something like that. But I prefer to be a bit more poetic in my choice of words."

"What makes it move?"

He turned his eyes to her. "You do."

She started. "Me?"

"Well, mostly you. What causes it to move are events that bring him closer to his end. You play a large part in that."

A chill went down her spine. "Are you saying I'm part of a prophecy or something?"

"Prophecy is such a dramatic way of putting it."

"Well, you're the one who likes to be poetic."

A smile tugged at his lips, and he looked at her in a very familiar way. "Yes, well, you were bound to be a part of his undoing one way or the other since you're the rightful Heir. However, I have involved you a bit more than you otherwise would be. Particularly when I gave you that watch."

Alice glanced down at the watch still in her hand. "But the Sisters gave this to me."

"At my request."

Of course Time would be the only one able to coerce those creepy little girls into doing favors. "So what do you need me to do?"

With another swipe of his hand, the image of Dodgson's neck disappeared, returning to swirling clouds. He turned back to her. "I need you to allow your stepfather to take that watch from you."

"Why can't I just give it to him?"

"Because then it would be a gift and I wouldn't be able to act against him."

"I'm confused."

Sighing, Time again began to pace back and forth. "As a rule, I am not allowed to raise my hand against anyone."

"Rule? You have rules?"

"Yes."

"Who made the rules?"

"I have no idea."

"Then how do you know that there are rules?"

Letting out another exasperated sigh, he glared at Alice. "The resemblance is really uncanny."

"What?"

"I recall having a nearly identical conversation with your mother. The rules have always been. From the moment I became Time, I knew these rules. They were ingrained in my head."

Alice waved her hands in front of her face. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You became Time? What, do you have to apply for the job? Or is there a school?"

Time pinched the bridge of his nose. "Great pendulum above, it's almost verbatim," he mumbled. He looked up at Alice. "I don't know how I became Time. Any memories I had of my previous life have been completely locked away."

"Really? That's so sad."

Averting his eyes, he adjusted his gloves. "Sometimes retaining memories brings more grief than losing them."

The pain in his expression as he spoke brought forth so many questions. He had known her mother. Apparently he had known her well. He had had extensive conversations with her and had even given her a gift. Was this before or after she had married Alice's father? Had it been strictly friendship? Or had it been more? Could someone like Time even have a romantic relationship?

But thinking about love and romance reminded Alice that Ace was still frozen in time, his life poised to slip away. She needed to focus. "All right, so you need me to find a way to let Dodgson steal the watch from me. Because then you'll be able to kill him."

Smoothing out his lapels, Time turned back to her, seeming relieved that they had returned to business. "Yes. I can only act against a person if they have they have stolen or destroyed something as valuable and relevant to my line of duty as that watch."

"Does he even know about the watch?"

A sly smile spread across his face. "Oh, yes, he does. He's far more clever than he deserves to be."

Swiping his hand through the air once more, a new image appeared. But this one moved. It was Dodgson again. He was sitting on the bed in his tent, holding a mirror. He lowered it and took a deep breath.

"I will find her. And I will kill her."

His voice came through as clearly as though he were right there with them.

"And then I will save myself from whatever fate this clock has in store for me, and I'll secure my place as the King of Thieves."

He grinned down at the mirror and chuckled.

"Time will have no hold on me."

The image dissolved away. Alice turned to Time, astounded by his abilities. "Did that just happen now? How did you get the image here?"

"No, that happened after you snuck into the camp and froze time. He caught a glimpse of you and conjectured what had happened. As I said, he's far more clever than he deserves to be."

She looked back at the empty space where the moving image had been. "But how did you—"

"Because I'm Time. Really, I don't understand all of this astonishment. Getting back to the subject at hand, yes, Dodgson knows about the watch. He figured it out by watching your mother. Knowing that the mark on his neck is counting down to something ominous, he will do anything to get his hands on that pocket watch in order to escape his fate."

"All right. Then how do I let him take it?"

Twirling his walking stick about, he pointed it at Alice. "I am leaving that up to you."

She stared cross-eyed at the stick that was just inches from her face. "Me? Why? Can't you come up with an idea?"

"That would involve me far too much. I'd be afraid that I would be stepping over the line, and I'd hate to be sacked before I accomplish my goal."

Alice thought for a moment. Could she do this? Dodgson had already duped her once. Was she even capable of fooling him? She recalled his words about knowing people. Time was right. He was very clever. Perhaps more clever than she was.

"I don't know that I can do it on my own," she admitted.

Time gave a soft laugh. "My dear, I've watched your life enough to know you are anything but alone. You have plenty of people willing to assist you, both in Hearts and in Hickory Dickory. You have madmen and maids, thieves and sisters, fools and queens."

Alice furrowed her brow. "Fools and queens?"

He mirrored her confusion at first, and then realization dawned on his face. "Ah, right. You don't know. Well, I won't spoil the surprise. I'm sure that obnoxious hatter friend of yours is just itching to tell you himself."

"Hatta? You know Hatta?"

"Of course. He's been trying to make a mockery of me for years." He glanced at Alice, and his expression softened. "But I suppose I enjoy the game. Anyhow, you have plenty of individuals at your beck and call. Use them to accomplish our goal."

"I don't want to use anyone."

"Use, employ, bribe, whatever you want to call it."

Chewing on her lip, Alice's eyes strayed to Ace. "And if I do this, you'll bring him back to life?"

"Death is not reversible, my dear, not even for Time. If it were, I would have no need to be seeking retribution now."

Again, his expression darkened, and Alice couldn't help but believe he was referring to her mother. What had happened between them? She was aching to know, but something told her she would never be able to get the full truth out of this man.

He snapped out of his daze and turned to her. "Lucky for you, your husband is not dead. He is dying. You stopped time just before he perished. Thus, I am able to undo what has been done. So yes, if you succeed in the task I have given you, I will save your dear husband."

Her heart swelled. Ace. She could save him.

She looked down at her still husband and ran a bloodstained hand through his hair. "I'll do it." Setting her jaw, she lifted her face to Time. "If it means saving Ace, I'll do it."

The corner of his mouth lifted, and there was a triumphant glimmer in his eye. "Very good. In the meantime—"

He lifted his hand, and Ace disappeared. Alice gasped and reached out to where he had been, clawing at the strange floor. But he was gone. There was no trace of him. She turned back to Time, angry tears brimming in her eyes.

"What did you do with him?"

"Don't worry, he's quite safe. Remember, I can do no harm. Now, go out there and lure Dodgson Skeffington to his well-deserved end."

Before Alice could object, the world around her blurred. Time and his strange Nowhere land faded from view, and she began to fall into a void. She tried to cry out but her senses failed her. She fell further and further until she finally tumbled out of a door and hit the hard ground.