THE PAST: RADCLIFFE ASYLUM, OXFORD
W altraud pulls me by my hair. She drags me outside into the hallway I’ve seen a thousand times before.
Same old story. Same old torture. And same old madness.
Only it’s a different time. This is what Mrs. Tock warned me of. I’ve returned to a day after the accident.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask her, unable to figure out what to do next. I’m in a vicious loop. In the past, but at a time when my memories are no different from the present. I can’t possibly know where the keys are. Nor do I know why I killed everyone on the bus.
Back to square one. Welcome to hell all over again. My first day in the asylum. Am I going to relive the two worst years of my life?
“The doctor needs to see you,” Waltraud says. “He has to assess the fresh loons and advise the proper treatment.”
“Dr. Tom Truckle, you mean?”
Now she pulls me harder, a little distressed. “Who are you, girl? You know too much about this asylum. You’ve been here before?”
“Yes.”
“I never saw you. When?”
“I come from the future.”
Waltraud glares at me then bursts out laughing. “Hilarious. I’m going to have so much fun with you.”
“You have to believe me,” I say. “I know about you. About Ogier.”
“Ogier?”
“The other warden.”
“I asked for another warden to help me, but they haven’t sent one yet.”
“See? I know things. His name is going to be Thomas Ogier. Bald. Tall. And Dumb.”
“What else do you know?” Waltraud stops and pushes me against the wall.
“I know about Tom Truckle’s pills. His terrible family. About the VIP ward upstairs. I know about the Mushroomers. Isn’t that what you like to call the mad in here?” I take a breath. Waltraud’s eyes scan me feverishly. “I’m not mad. I was here before. You have to let me go.”
“That’s what it’s about, then,” Waltraud says. “You figured out a few things about this place, maybe one of the Mushroomers told you, so I’d believe your silly time-travel story and let you go?”
“No, you don’t understand. I need to leave. I need to find my Wonder.”
“I will wonder you to death in the Mush Room, darling.”
“Please.”
“Not in a million years.” She drags me across the floor again. “I think it’s the pill that did this to you.”
“The pill?”
“I was against giving you the pill this morning,” Waltraud mumbles. “I told them it’s too soon. They didn’t believe me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Its effect will wither away within an hour,” Waltraud says. “Until then, I’ll have my fun with you.”
Think, Alice. Think.
I can’t let this keep going. I need to escape the asylum now. I need to find Mrs. Tock so that we can correct the path. This isn’t right. If Waltraud puts me back into my cell, I won’t be able to get out before twenty-four hours. I will die the worst death, in a time that isn’t mine, in a cell I left some time ago.
I take a deep breath and kick Waltraud in her most delicate place.
She drops down on her knees, her face reddening with pain. Her cheeks turn into gum bubbles that are about to explode. I wriggle my hair out of her hands, but she grips a handful as I run away.
Panting and writhing, I remind myself of the whereabouts of the main door. All I have to do is run. Kick some guards — although I have no None Fu in me now — and then get upstairs and out. I can’t stay here.
The first guard attacks me, but I slash my arm at his weapon, throwing him off balance. I pick up the gun and fire at him.
I didn’t need to do that. What’s going on with me?
The Mushroomers go wild, rapping at their steel bars in their cells. “Alice. Mad Alice!”
The next guard stands before me, hesitant to shoot back. The fear in his eyes is perplexing. Was he so scared of me when I first arrived?
“Put your gun down, or I’ll shoot,” I say.
Surprisingly, he cooperates. “Please don’t kill me,” he says. “I’ll open the door leading upstairs for you.”
This is too easy. What’s the catch?
“Move.” I point my weapon. “Tell the others to open the gate upstairs. I want a car I can drive right away.”
“But of course.”
I feel like a commando, a fearless warrior, but it still doesn’t make sense, the way he’s scared of me.
The guards open the door for me, then lie flat on their stomachs, as if I am robbing a bank, hands behind their heads.
I step up to climb the stairs the moment when my greatest weakness attacks me. The one weakness that always messed with my escaping plans. I remember the one thing that matters to me the most.
This sucks. Now I have to go back to my cell, willingly. Because I can’t leave my Tiger Lily behind. Now I know what it means to me.