BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON
T he Queen of Hearts stared down from her balcony at the hordes of citizens wanting to break into the palace and kill her.
If it hadn’t been for her guards, she’d have been killed and eaten by those lunatics by now. Those awful human beings. Not only had they humiliated her and every Wonderlander in the Circus, but now they wanted to kill her.
“Margaret!” the Queen yelled. “You ugly Duchess!”
“Yes?”
“What happened with sending someone to find out if the Pillar found a cure?”
“I contacted the Cheshire, who said he’d send someone after him,” Margaret said. “But I haven’t heard from him since then. Besides, the citizens ransacked many phone towers. It’s hard to connect with anyone now.”
“So, you failed, as always.” The Queen stepped up that tall chair so she could shout at Margaret in the face. “I should have your head chopped off,” she said. “Who thought Lewis Carroll would just pop up and lash this madness onto us. He’s about to destroy the world before I can have my fun torturing everyone.”
“I have an idea, My Queen,” Margaret said.
“What now? All your ideas are as ugly as you.”
“I saw a video of Lewis Carroll looking for the drug for his migraines, which isn’t sold in this world, as you know.”
“Of course I know it. We used to call it Lullaby. The one pill exclusively made to handle Carroll’s hallucinations.”
“He’s been walking around like a madman, killing pharmacists to stop the headaches. Why not fool him into thinking we have it and bring him here?”
“Here?” The Queen’s eyes widened. “You know how much I’m afraid of him.”
“He scares us all, but every monster has his weakness. Besides, you can always bring down a man with the power of your endless guards,” Margaret said. “They could torture him until he tells us about the cure. Bear in mind that the migraine is killing him. We could give him something that’ll worsen it. He will then be weak enough to spill the truth.”
“The truth.” The Queen waved her hands, the chair underneath her rattling a little. “Everyone wants to know the truth these days. Look, this is your last chance to make things right. Find him and bring him to me – on his knees, if you can.”
“Of course, My Queen. I’d say an hour or two, and you will have him in here.” Margaret said, having no idea how she could catch a monster like the Lewis Carroll man.