Read Online Malice in Wonderland #1: Alice the Assassin by Lotus Rose - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lotus Rose
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begins to shake all over. His eyes roll up into the top of his head. He lurches to the side and drops off the mushroom, and Alice is yanked and falls too, because she is too clumsy from the spice.
The Caterpillar thuds heavily onto the ground on his backside. Alice lands on top of him. She hears the hookah land somewhere to her left.
She feels groggy and dazed and for a few long seconds, they lie that way. She feels the Caterpillar’s chest rise as he takes in another deep breath.
Several long seconds pass. Alice looks around, trying to plan her mode of getting off the bastard. Should she just roll off and trust she’ll land okay?
But now the Caterpillar’s body starts convulsing, causing her to slide off. She sits up and watches.
The Caterpillar’s body is rippling spasmodically, his many dozens of legs twitching while moving, as if he is trying to run somewhere. His eyes are open wide, staring into space, the hose is still taped to his mouth, but the hose part is broken away from the rest of the hookah.
The Caterpillar flails and convulses and shudders, rolls to his right side on top of the hookah and then he is still.
Alice approaches him to see his face. His eyes are still open wide in terror, but the life seems to have left them. She places her hand over the open end of the hose so that he won’t be able to take any more breaths of fresh air, and watches for several minutes.
The Caterpillar doesn’t take any breaths, his eyes remain open the whole time.
Finally, she says to him, “Watch out for the spice. That stuff’ll kill you.”
She searches around a few minutes. The Caterpillar never kept any other possessions than his hookah, and he didn’t wear clothes, so he has no pockets to search. Her heart is not here. So she supposes she’ll go see the Hatter next.
CHAPTER NINE
What Alice Sees
Alice feels as if someone is toying with her as she stumbles about—it’s as if someone is shifting the ground beneath her feet.
She blinks as she looks at the mushroom. “That can’t be right,” she mumbles, as she stares at it in alarm, for it now seems to be floating in the air upside down. She remembers that often when you invert things, it causes them to become evil. “So is that an evil mushroom?”
She glances at the Caterpillar, then does a double-take, because where the Caterpillar once was, there is now a cocoon. The hookah hose is slithering away like a snake, pulling part of the hookah with it.
She notes that there’s much too much bright blue and red in the things she sees, and everything seems to blur and shift.
“Why, this must be a…a…uh…hallucination! Well, time for me to return to my regular size.”
She grabs a piece of the right side of the mushroom, taking a guess, because she doesn’t know if it being upside down causes its left to become right, and vice versa.
She begins nibbling. She feels her head begin to expand first.
The cocoon is wriggling. It cracks open while Alice is growing. A black butterfly unfurls its wings then flutters off.
“Finally! He seemed to have been stuck in perpetual adolescence! But he grew up way too fast.” She giggles. “As am I!” She stops nibbling because she is normal size now.
She stares wide-eyed, because standing in front of her is Humpty Dumpty, but he looks cracked all over like a boiled egg that’s been tapped all about by a spoon. She notices he’s wonkily-shaped now, not very round, almost cubicle.
Alice says, “Weren’t you just a round—”
He scowls. “I’ve been around, yes, no thanks to you! You stay away from me! The king and his men put me together again, and I’m starting all over again. I’m building a brand new wall I am, in an entirely different spot I am, away from you!”
“But I’m right here! You really couldn’t have chosen a worse spot.”
“Technicalities. Don’t bother me with them.” He produces a brick in one hand. “I shall build my wall brick by brick.”
The Caterpillar thuds heavily onto the ground on his backside. Alice lands on top of him. She hears the hookah land somewhere to her left.
She feels groggy and dazed and for a few long seconds, they lie that way. She feels the Caterpillar’s chest rise as he takes in another deep breath.
Several long seconds pass. Alice looks around, trying to plan her mode of getting off the bastard. Should she just roll off and trust she’ll land okay?
But now the Caterpillar’s body starts convulsing, causing her to slide off. She sits up and watches.
The Caterpillar’s body is rippling spasmodically, his many dozens of legs twitching while moving, as if he is trying to run somewhere. His eyes are open wide, staring into space, the hose is still taped to his mouth, but the hose part is broken away from the rest of the hookah.
The Caterpillar flails and convulses and shudders, rolls to his right side on top of the hookah and then he is still.
Alice approaches him to see his face. His eyes are still open wide in terror, but the life seems to have left them. She places her hand over the open end of the hose so that he won’t be able to take any more breaths of fresh air, and watches for several minutes.
The Caterpillar doesn’t take any breaths, his eyes remain open the whole time.
Finally, she says to him, “Watch out for the spice. That stuff’ll kill you.”
She searches around a few minutes. The Caterpillar never kept any other possessions than his hookah, and he didn’t wear clothes, so he has no pockets to search. Her heart is not here. So she supposes she’ll go see the Hatter next.
CHAPTER NINE
What Alice Sees
Alice feels as if someone is toying with her as she stumbles about—it’s as if someone is shifting the ground beneath her feet.
She blinks as she looks at the mushroom. “That can’t be right,” she mumbles, as she stares at it in alarm, for it now seems to be floating in the air upside down. She remembers that often when you invert things, it causes them to become evil. “So is that an evil mushroom?”
She glances at the Caterpillar, then does a double-take, because where the Caterpillar once was, there is now a cocoon. The hookah hose is slithering away like a snake, pulling part of the hookah with it.
She notes that there’s much too much bright blue and red in the things she sees, and everything seems to blur and shift.
“Why, this must be a…a…uh…hallucination! Well, time for me to return to my regular size.”
She grabs a piece of the right side of the mushroom, taking a guess, because she doesn’t know if it being upside down causes its left to become right, and vice versa.
She begins nibbling. She feels her head begin to expand first.
The cocoon is wriggling. It cracks open while Alice is growing. A black butterfly unfurls its wings then flutters off.
“Finally! He seemed to have been stuck in perpetual adolescence! But he grew up way too fast.” She giggles. “As am I!” She stops nibbling because she is normal size now.
She stares wide-eyed, because standing in front of her is Humpty Dumpty, but he looks cracked all over like a boiled egg that’s been tapped all about by a spoon. She notices he’s wonkily-shaped now, not very round, almost cubicle.
Alice says, “Weren’t you just a round—”
He scowls. “I’ve been around, yes, no thanks to you! You stay away from me! The king and his men put me together again, and I’m starting all over again. I’m building a brand new wall I am, in an entirely different spot I am, away from you!”
“But I’m right here! You really couldn’t have chosen a worse spot.”
“Technicalities. Don’t bother me with them.” He produces a brick in one hand. “I shall build my wall brick by brick.”
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