QUADRANGLE, CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
I stand in the middle of Christ Church's quadrangle with the Cheshire's mask in my hand. There a few students here and there, a couple of professors, and even a mother and her little child with a lollipop in her hand. I think this is a night gathering for some reason. None of it concerns me. I am here to give the Cheshire his mask and get Constance back.
The Cheshire doesn't waste time. It's only moments before I see the old woman before me.
"I believe you have something that was stolen from me," she says.
"Where is Constance?" I say.
"With her parents. I drove her myself, and they invited me for ice cream before I left." The woman grins. "Call the Pillar to make sure."
I do. The Pillar replies with a yes. I ask him to put Constance on the phone because I don't trust him. When she talks to me, I ask her about who she thought I was before jumping from the clothes tower. She says, "Mary Poppins." Now I am sure it's her.
"Here is your stupid grin." I hand him the mask.
The woman puts on the mask immediately. This time, it dissolves into the pores of her face, like soap. She closes her eyes for a brief time, then opens them with the creepiest grin ever on her face. I can tell this is the Cheshire's real grin. It's not something you want to stare at for too long, or it will suck your soul.
"This feels good," the woman says. "If I were you, I would start the countdown."
"To what?"
"The end of the world, dear Alice." The woman's grin has turned permanent. "You don't think I had my revenge yet, do you?" She tickles my chin with her finger and walks away. I feel helpless. Although I saved Constance, I just booked the world a first-class ticket to hell.
"Nine lives aren't that hard to kill," I say over my shoulder. She stops. "I know who I am now, and I will kill you nine times if I have to."
"With what, your magic pink umbrella?" The woman turns around and approaches me again. "Do you really want to see a glimpse of the grandness of my power?" She doesn't wait for an answer and gestures at a young man walking by. She taps him on the shoulder, and suddenly the man turns to me with her grin on his face.
"How do you like me now, Alice?" the young man asks me in his male voice. He waves at his girlfriend, and she approaches him. They kiss. Once they do, the grin transfers to her. "How about now, Alice?" The young girl grins at me. She leaves her boyfriend, and I follow her through the grounds, where she helps an old man find his wallet. Once she touches him, he becomes the new Cheshire. "And how about now, Alice?" the old man says. He drops his wallet again, and the kid with the lollipop hurries and brings it to him. It's only a second before she has the grin on her face. "Do you like lollipops, Alice?" She offers me hers.
I stand paralyzed. Now I know why Lewis couldn't catch the Cheshire, why his power was the evillest power in the world. The Cheshire was no one, yet everyone. It was like spreading evil through the world by the touch of a hand. I watch the girl kneel and pet a stray cat. The grin transfers to the cat. She meows at me and runs through the crowd. I trail after her. Wherever I look, someone has the grin for a moment.
I stand in the middle of the quadrangle, feeling lost. There is nothing I could ever do to catch the Cheshire.