“I t all started with Waltraud Wagner and Thomas Ogier,” Tom begins.
“Who are they?” the March asks.
“The two wardens responsible for me when I was in the asylum,” I explain to him. “They enjoyed frying my brains out in the Mush Room. Do you know what the Mush Room is?”
“Of course I do.” The March’s eyes glaze with a bitter taste of a memory. “They repeatedly used it on me when I was in the Hole, the asylum underground where we first met. But that’s before they installed the light bulb in my head.”
“Good.” I face Tom. “So what’s Waltraud and Ogier’s relation to Patient 14?”
“First, you have to understand who Waltraud and Ogier really are,” Tom says.
“I don’t understand. Are they not who they pretended to be?”
“No.” Tom lowers his head, lacing his hands nervously. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. Lewis told me to keep the asylum’s secrets for myself.”
“It’s too late for that, Tom.”
“I agree,” he says and stares back. “Waltraud and Ogier are Wonderlanders.”
“That’s really a bad joke,” I comment. “I mean they never seemed to know about anything that was going on.”
“That’s because I made sure they didn’t remember,” Tom says. “They were Black Chess’ best assassins. They were brutal.”
“How did you make them forget?” The March is curious.
“Lullaby pills,” Tom says. “Lots of them.”
“Why did you want them to forget?” I ask.
“Lewis had always wanted to avoid the inevitable Wonderland War. One of his plans was to get Wonderland Monsters hooked on Lullaby pills. It worked with Waltraud and Ogier, but rarely with the rest.”
“So Waltraud walked the asylum in a haze, not knowing who she was, all this time?”
“Not in the beginning. The pills took some time to work.”
“So which Wonderlanders were they?”
“Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”