“O kay.” He sighs, his white-gloved hands on the wheel. “Remember two weeks ago when Margaret fooled Fabiola into thinking she is her insider in the Queen’s palace?”
“I do.”
“When I figured it out, I found a way to listen to a meeting in Margaret’s office in Parliament. I heard her talking to unknown members of Black Chess about the next step to get the keys. She proposed using Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock to make you time-travel and locate them.”
“I assume you know Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock from Wonderland.”
“They’re the worst of the worst. Exceptionally mean. But you can’t do anything to them. They don’t die.”
“Because they’re time itself.”
“That’s right.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because they wouldn’t approach you until everyone thought I was gone. I’m thinking this isn’t just about the keys, but something much bigger. So I let them think I was gone and followed you here to help you. After all, it’s not a bad idea to find the keys all at once.”
“I’m sure you have your own devious intention to have them, as always.” I eye him. “But how did you time-travel yourself?”
“I used the Tom Tower. It was risky, but I had a secret parchment with a secret formula by Nikola Tesla — you know who that is, right? — about how to use the tower for time-traveling fourteen years into the future.”
“Why fourteen years? What’s with the number?”
“I never knew. I only heard Margaret telling Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock fourteen years.”
“This is so crazy.” I hold my head in my hands. “Why send me into the future, not the past, to get the keys? I asked them, but they told me some gibberish I couldn’t fathom.”
“It doesn’t matter,” the Pillar says. “Nor does it matter how you left a note to remind you about the whereabouts of the keys. Maybe you have been into the future before. What matters is that we find the keys as soon as possible, then figure out a plan to hide them. You can’t go back with the keys, or Black Chess will have them.”
“Okay,” I say. I like the Pillar when he is on point. “The note says I have to find the Mock Turtle in the Oxford Asylum. You know who he is?”
“Met him a couple of times in Wonderland. Don’t even remember how he looked. He was pretty much no one. Can we go find him now?”
“Yes. I needed to know a few things first. God. I can’t believe the university is an asylum now. And did you see Parliament turning into a circus?”
“Some things never change.” He drives ahead. “Have you seen Mac Burger? It’s Rat Burger now.”
“Nothing surprises me now.”
“All but the fact that we may need help to get into the asylum.” He points ahead. I look and see the Oxford Asylum is heavily protected with Red mercenaries after the fire.
“Just drive through them with your truck,” I say. “We can always fix the past later.”
“Can’t do it. We need to sneak into the asylum, not break into it, or we won’t have enough time to find this Mock Turtle.”
“How do we get inside, then?”
“I have an idea. A rather mad one.” He turns the wheel to the left and guns it through the streets. “Glad to have you back in the future, Alice.”