White Hearts Hospital
L ewis Carroll had just told Fabiola about Patient 14. How he supposedly knew about the Keys, and how Waltraud and Ogier chased him for so long. But then the conversation stopped and he wouldn’t say more.
Instead, he insisted that Fabiola should work on finding her healing powers within her mind and so find a way to cure her wounds, so she could get up and help the Inklings.
“It’s not that easy,” Fabiola said. “Some of my wounds have healed, but not enough to get up and fight.”
“You have it in you, Fabiola,” Lewis insisted. “Be true to yourself. Free your mind and trust in what matters the most.”
“Power talk won’t work on me, Lewis. I’m not a child.”
“I know you aren’t. But my books don’t just influence children. Adults as well. Trust in your own self.”
“Even if I do,” she said. “I haven’t made up my mind about Alice.”
“You have to before it’s too late.”
“It’s hard to choose.”
“These are not times to stay in the grey, Fabiola. These are times of black and white. Black Chess and Inklings. Choose a side or drown in the current of the river in between.”
“If you tell me about Patient 14, I will choose a side.” Fabiola was left with no other choice but to bargain.
Lewis sat down and laced his hands. The rabbit ducked into his pocket, remaining silent as if it knew some secret and feared speaking would spoil it.
“You once asked me what the Wonderland War is about,” Lewis began.
“And you said ‘the most precious thing.’”
“Indeed. I’m not going to tell you what it is about right now because you may not understand. But I’m going to tell you that the Six Keys make or break it in winning this war.”
“That’s a given already.”
“The Six Keys were once in my possession.”
“I could imagine that too, though I was never sure.”
“I’ve always thought they were safe with me.”
“They should be.”
Lewis raised his head and met her eyes. “That’s not quite true,” he said. “At some point I feared I would misuse them.”
“Don’t be silly, Lewis. You? Misuse such a precious thing?”
“Not exactly me. But my other me.”
“Carolus?”
He nodded. “After Alice left to join Him and Black Chess, I lost it. I began to stutter. I missed her so much. And the migraines returned. This time severe and brutal. I was changing inside. Carolus was taking over. The evil side of me. He wanted to join Alice. Black Chess. I had to fool him. I needed to find a way to hide the Keys from the other me inside.”
“Oh, Lewis. I can’t imagine…” Fabiola stopped midway, her mind reeling with possibilities. “Did Carolus get them? Is that why he is working for the Queen of Hearts?”
The rabbit bobbed its head out of Lewis Carroll’s pocket. “The Queen of Hearts is dead!”
Lewis gently patted the rabbit back into his pocket. “No. The Keys aren’t with Carolus.”
“But you seem to know who has them, right?”
“I do,” he said, sounding embarrassed. “In a way.”
“Another puzzle?” Fabiola chuckled.
“I gave the Keys to someone.”
“You did? Who?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Really?” Fabiola was furious. “What’s with everyone not remembering? It’s such a cliché.”
“I had to make myself forget, deliberately.”
“You did what?”
“If Carolus knew about the new keeper of the Keys he would have told Black Chess.”
“I see.”
“I gave the Keys to someone while Carolus wasn’t present, then chewed a rare flower that helped me forget this particular memory.”
“Oh, Lewis. That’s foolish.”
“I know, but it seemed smart at the time.”
“So you have no idea to whom you have given them?”
“I don’t,” Lewis said. “But he does.” He pointed at the rabbit sticking its head out. “I’m not sure, but he claims he knows.”
Fabiola turned to the rabbit. And without asking, the rabbit said: “Patient 14.”