"I almost forgot," Chassie suddenly bursts out. "Rayé says—-"
"Who?"
"The Cheshire Cat," she answers. "That's his name. Rayé, and I almost forgot—-"
"Forgot what?"
"His message," Chassie says excitedly. "He has a message for you."
And that's all it takes.
Six words, and I'm thinking to hell with being practical.
"What is it?" I ask breathlessly.
A small teasing smile curves over the other girl's lips, and I resist the urge to shake the message out of Chassie.
C'mon now, just say it!
"He says..."
Oh for the bloody love of...
"He misses you, terribly."
He...what?
"You're blushing," Chassie gasps.
"Oh, shaddap." But the words are completely without heat, and next thing I know, Chassie's doing her best to stifle her smile while I'm struggling not to fantasize about dating were-tigers and giving birth to adorable babies (or should it be cubs?) with moss-jade eyes.
Looking back at Chassie, I say suspiciously, "Be straight with me. Is that his standard pick-up line?"
Chassie quickly shakes her head. "Gosh, no. I mean..." She gives me an apologetic smile. "He's famous throughout Wunderland, so he doesn't really need a line to, you know..."
Jerk. I know it's not the were-tiger's fault he's gorgeous and sexy, but I don't care. Jerk, jerk, jerk!
"If you ever hear how the girls of Winter talk about him..." Chassie's cheeks turn pink, and I have to remind myself that the other girl's a nice person, and so she probably doesn't realize how she's tormenting me with all this talk about the Cheshire Cat and his fangirls.
However...
"Why Winter specifically?" I can't help asking with a frown. Thanks to Chassie, I know that seasons in Wunderland also work like territories, and you just have to travel to one place if, say, it's your dream to eternally bask in the summer sun.
"I'm just not seeing the connection," I add. "What makes him extra popular in Winter?"
Chassie's eyes widen. "I thought you knew."
"Knew what?"
"Rayé..." She gives me an uncertain smile, saying, "He's one of Winter's rulers."
I stare at her blankly. "You mean the measuring tool...right?"
"Uh..." The other girl chokes back a laugh. "I'm sorry, no. He's a ruler, like...a king?"
No bloody way.
Mr. Snow Tiger...a ruler?
When he seems too playful to even know what rules mean?
Then again...
He can shift into the meanest-looking tiger if he wants to, so...I guess I can see why he'd also work as a ruler. He'd probably just need to roar to remind everyone how sharp his canines were, and everybody's sure to do his bidding.
"The other two rulers," Chassie goes on to say, "are Haine—-"
"Who's Haine?" I'm already bristling, my mind having conjured up an image of a sexpot queen just constantly throwing herself at the were-tiger. "I can't remember reading anything about some Haine in Alice—-"
"There's no need to be jealous." Chassie's eyes are twinkling. "Haine is the Mad Hatter, and he's just as gorgeous as Rayé."
"I was just surprised," I say huffily, "not jealous!"
"I see." But she clearly doesn't, with the way she's having a hard time not smiling again. "Anyway, the last of the three is His Majesty, the King of Hearts—-"
"The small, cowardly dude?" Because if we're talking about the same person, said king seems more likely to be the were-tiger's chew toy than his colleague.
Chassie, however, is shaking her head again. "That's one of the biggest lies in the book, actually. King Luís—-"
"Do you mean the author, Lewis Carroll?"
"Um..." Chassie suddenly looks sheepish. "I guess I should've started with the backstory?"
"Definitely." Because right now I'm thinking this Wonderland has one too many kings, and it's getting hard to keep track of all of them.
"Wunderland—-" Chassie sees the way I blink at her pronunciation, and her brows furrow. "That's another thing I forgot. It's Wunderland, not Wonderland. If you don't pronounce it right, you get punished."
"Touchy bunch, huh?" I only say it as a joke...because I thought she was joking, too. But when Chassie suddenly looks flustered, I quickly apologize and promise to keep her words in mind. No idea what has her knickers in a twist, but I decide to play it safe by changing the subject. "You were saying about Lewis Carroll..."
"Oh, right. So Lewis Carroll is actually Wunderland's first king in disguise. He's Luís I, the grandfather of the current king, and he wrote the Alice books as a way to open up a portal between our world and his. Wunderland basically draws her energy from people's fantasies, and when there aren't enough humans reading the book, that's when Wunderland allows for a few more openings..."
"Like quicksand traps," I say darkly.
"Err..." Chassie's biting back a smile.
"Never mind." She's obviously too nice to say a bad thing ever, and that's for the better. "So about those openings..." I clear my throat and try to sound really casual as I ask, "How do I find another one if I ever want to go back?"
"Do you want to go back?" Chassie teases.