"It's a rhetorical question," I mutter.
"I see."
Chassie's doing her best to disguise her giggles behind a bout of coughing, but since she's a lousy actress, it just has me rolling my eyes. "Cute. Really cute."
"Sorry about that." The other girl coughs one last time. "Anyway...about going back to Wunderland, that's kinda tricky, actually..."
"How tricky?" I ask right away.
"Like...no-way-to-know-tricky?"
"Yeah right," I scoff.
"I'm not saying it's hard," she qualifies hastily. "I've known a lot of Rabbits and Alices come and go practically every night, but...it's more like, you can't ever tell when or how it will happen?"
I'm waiting for her to tell me she's just pulling my leg, but when the other girl only gives me a helpless shrug...
Un-bloody-believable.
A jumble of emotions has me shoving food in my mouth in almost robotic fashion while my mind struggles to grasp the logistics of what she's saying. On one hand, yay that going to Wunderland doesn't necessarily require a visa or even a flight ticket, but on the other hand...
Does this mean it's also possible I'd never ever return to Wunderland?
"I know someone who might know more about this ..." Chassie's voice draws me out of my thoughts. "I'll ask him about it," she promises, "and I'll let you know right away if he tells me anything important."
"You're too sweet," I tell her honestly, and she proves me right by squirming in discomfort even as her face glows with happiness. It has me laughing, of course, while Chassie just makes a face.
"What about you?" I ask curiously. "Don't you want to go back to Wunderland yourself?"
"I just realized..." The other girl's suddenly unable to meet my gaze. "I haven't finished telling you about King Luís."
"Oh, uh, sure." Since I'm exceptionally good at minding my own business, I can tell right away when someone's politely asking me to do the same. "Where were we again?"
"You mentioned earlier about how the King of Hearts was portrayed in the books," Chassie ventures, "and King Luís I and any of his descendants are nothing like that."
"Not small then?"
"Every man in the royal line is six-feet-plus."
"Cowardly?"
"Is it even possible," Chassie asks thoughtfully, "if you can turn into a sabre-toothed cat?"
"He sounds nothing at all like the King of Hearts," I say suspiciously. "Are you sure you're not winding me up?"
Chassie vehemently shakes her head.
"And the Queen of Hearts?" I question dubiously. "I suppose she's the opposite, too?"
"Actually...she doesn't even exist."
"Seriously?"
"King Luís just made her up. He believed that every good story needs an equally good villain. It stimulates the imagination," the other girl explains, "which then feeds more energy into Wunderland."
"But you also said the current king is his grandson," I argue.
"King Luís I did eventually father a son, but he didn't marry the boy's mother, and the same thing happened with King Luís II." Chassie's voice lowers. "There's been talk in court, though, that Winter's present king is thinking of doing things differently."
"He wants a daughter instead?" I ask sarcastically.
"Actually..."
I'm beginning to dread these 'actually' moments of hers.
"They say he's looking for a woman—-" Chassie squirms in her seat. "—-to become the Queen of Hearts."
"Okaaaaay." The way Chassie's looking flustered all of a sudden, you'd think she confessed about King Luís being Jack the Ripper.
The other girl gazes at me searchingly. "That's it? You don't mind then?"
My confusion grows. "Mind what?"
"It's why Rayé wants you to come back," Chassie said, her tone just as confused as mine now.
I shake my head. "I honestly don't get it. Does he want me to be his date at the king's wed—-" Chassie's already shaking her head, and I frown. "So not that either?"
She shakes her head again, but this time, her face's completely on fire.
"Just spit it out," I urge her.
"Rayé, Haine, and the King are co-rulers," she reminds me haltingly.
"Yeah, so?"
"So..." She gives me a helpless look. "Whoever becomes the Queen of Hearts...is automatically married to all three of them."?? Un-bloody-believable! ??IT'S WEDNESDAY ALREADY, and although over twenty-four hours have already passed, that word is still the only thing I can think of, whenever thoughts of Wunderland manage to wriggle out of their cage and stream insidiously into my consciousness.
Un-bloody-believable!
Some of those pesky little thoughts are memories, others are made-up fantasies. Doesn't matter either way. As far as I'm concerned, Wunderland is just a dream, and I'm never going back to that messed-up place—-
Ouch.
Chassie, who's seated on my right, has just kicked my ankle to grab my attention. We finally have a class together (History), and one thing that Wunderland's done right is how she no longer seems as vulnerable as before, and it's enough for the mean girls to move on and find themselves an easier victim to bully.
When I turn to Chassie, the other girl looks like she's on pins and needles. She nods towards my desk...and I end up almost falling out of my chair when I finally see what has her so worried.