A few minutes later, Lewis watched Alice come out into the rain. She nodded briefly but continued walking away. Many years later Lewis would swear the Alice who came out was someone else entirely than the girl who’d entered.
“Where are you going, Alice?” He called from behind her.
“I’m going to kill Him,” She said, not looking back.
“You know He is indestructible,” Lewis said. “You can’t kill him.”
“Sure I can,” she said, talking louder. “I just have to find his weakness.”
“He has no weaknesses,” Lewis argued. “You know I’ve tried.”
“Everyone has a weakness, Lewis,” She said. “All I need is to get close enough to find it.”
“He will burn you, Alice. He will smoke you and puff you into the wind.”
“Not if he thinks I’m a friend, not a foe,” She said, turning back, raindrops distorting the beauty of her adolescent face.
The look in her eyes intimidated Lewis. “What do you have in mind, Alice?”
“From this day on you have to forget about me being an Inkling,” She said. “I’m going to befriend Him. I’m going to spill blood with Him. I’m going to be his apprentice. I’m going to make him trust me. Hell, I’m going to make him need me. From this day on you will always see me by His side.”
“What?” Lewis grimaced, his migraines slowly returning.
“Please forget about me, Lewis. You, Fabiola, Jack, the March, and the little girl,” Alice said. “I’m not one of you anymore. No more Good Alice. From this day on, I’m Black Chess.”
“W-why?” Lewis said. “A-Alice, th-this can’t be t-t-true.”
Alice turned around, took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and walked away, slowly disappearing into the mist. “I can only know His weakness and kill Him if I’m on his side. And knowing how devilish he is, it’s not easy to gain his trust. I have to become a Bad Alice.”
Lewis stood paralyzed, not sure what to say. He couldn’t speak. Alice’s decision broke his heart, and for the first time in his life he began stuttering.
It never went away.