“Who are you?” My question floated in the golden air. My voice cut through the brilliant rays of light streaming down from somewhere above, filling the space between us with light. The beams were thick before dissolving into warm patches and pools on the wooden floor of the old house. I wanted to step into one of the shafts of light just to feel its soft and gentle burn on my skin.
Adrianna held my stare. She smiled at me with her striking green eyes. “You know who I am,” she replied. “And it’s true. I am your great-aunt.”
I was standing in the foyer, still a little jittery from the adrenaline rush from arriving in Wonderland. I struggled to catch my breath. I looked around for Tasha and Topher. They’d been with me just seconds ago. The three of us had held each other’s hands spiraling through the warm, comforting dark. Into another dimension. Maybe even another world.
But when I opened my eyes, my friends were already gone.
Adrianna was posed on the last step of the staircase, wearing a pale green tulle party dress. The soft, almost pastel color matched the shade of her haunting eyes perfectly. The pleated bodice was trimmed with tiny jewels. They sparkled without her even moving, shooting wild patterns of reflected light all around us. She glittered in the warm dim glow of the chandelier above. Her platinum hair hung loosely in large curls around her face, spilling down to her bare shoulders. She looked like a Greek goddess, a modern-day version of Aphrodite.
Or a fairy godmother in training.
Just seconds ago I was standing in front of the massive house, blown away by the complete transformation. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I climbed out of the beat-up pickup truck, stood on the sidewalk, and gaped in awe at the beautiful sight before me.
Something wonderful had happened to the decrepit house. The Victorian architecture was still the same, including the castle-like tower, but now it evoked a stunning allure, welcoming rather than repelling. It radiated from within with an inviting luminosity. The landscaping surrounding the estate was exquisite. I’d never seen so many white roses and red tulips. It was a vision of lush and romantic grandeur.
“What happened?” I asked Tasha and Topher.
“What do you mean?” Topher replied.
“This place…it looks completely different,” I said, still staring in disbelief. “How is this possible? We were just here yesterday.”
Tasha laughed a little. “Once you’ve been inside Wonderland, it never looks the same again,” she explained.
“You’re able to see the magic now,” Topher added. “Just like us.”
Arm in arm we walked through rays of silvery moonlight to the wooden front steps and up to the freshly painted porch. We rang the melodic doorbell and waited with anticipation.
Now Adrianna and I were standing face-to-face in the foyer. She was giving me an inquisitive look, like she knew I had more questions to ask.
“None of this is real, is it?” I said. “All of this is in my imagination.”
“On the contrary,” she replied. “This is very real.”
“It can’t be,” I insisted.
“Why not?” she asked.
I stared at her skin, her flawless, smooth complexion. She was like a painting that had come to life. Or, in her case, back from the dead. “People say you died over twelve years ago.”
She offered me a gentle smile. “Death is a tricky thing,” she said. “It’s very complicated.”
“Much like life?”
“You seem frustrated, Destiny,” she decided. “Have I upset you in some way?”
“I’m scared that I’m crazy,” I explained. “Have I gone completely insane?”
“I can assure you,” she said, “your sanity is perfectly intact.”
“Maybe this is my fault,” I wondered aloud. “Maybe because of what happened to my mother, I’ve snapped somehow and this is my way of dealing with it. Before my mom got sick, I was just a normal girl in Chicago.”
“Without a care in the world?” she asked.
“Something like that,” I agreed. “None of this makes sense.”
“You’re looking for an explanation,” she said with a nod.
“Yes,” I said. “Why am I here?”
Adrianna came down the last step. She moved toward me in a smooth, gliding manner. She reached out her hands and covered mine. Her palms and fingertips felt like spun silk. She looked deep into my eyes. “Because I chose you,” she said.
“But why?” I persisted. “There’s nothing special about me.”
She gave me a look of confusion. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
Adrianna turned away and moved quickly through the house. I followed the scent of her powerful perfume into the library. She was lying across the red velvet chaise, curled up next to a very sleepy Montgomery. I sat across from them in the plush gold velvet love seat. My vintage-style dress flared out in a circle of cobalt blue and crinoline.
Adrianna cleared her throat, as if to command my attention.
Is it my imagination, or did the room just get darker?
“You have a choice to make, Destiny,” she said. “It’s important, and you must make it now. Otherwise, I will have to ask you to leave Wonderland and never come back.”
I swallowed. “Ask me,” I said.
She rested an elbow on the arm of the chaise lounge. Every movement she made was slow and graceful. Like liquid. “Do you believe in true love?”
I glanced away. The floor-to-ceiling walls of books had momentarily distracted me. I wanted to read them all. I wanted to spend the next week inside this room, devouring every book I could get my hands on and drinking endless pots of tea. I wanted to listen to Beethoven on the phonograph and imagine ballroom dancing with heroes and princes who would spring to life from the pages of a classic novel. I wanted to take a catnap next to Montgomery, bask in the constant puddles of sunlight, and dream my parents were still married and I was an only child. I wanted Adrianna to like me. I wanted her to tell me about my past. My ancestors. Family secrets.
I want to see my mother again.
“I don’t know,” I answered.
“Answer the question,” she said.
“I did.”
“I’ll ask it again. You have to be certain. There’s no room for hesitation. Do you believe in love, Destiny? Something worth dying for? Do you believe it’s possible that two people are meant for each other?”
“You’re asking me if I believe in forever, but I’m only fifteen,” I reminded her. “I can’t even drive yet. How am I supposed to know if true love exists?”
“What does your heart say?” she pushed. “Never mind what others have told you.”
An image of my mother and father floated into my mind. I was in the backseat of our old car, drifting off to sleep as most six-year-olds do during a long car ride. It was nighttime. There was a light rain tiptoeing across the windshield. My mother was in the passenger seat. I saw her face, her profile, when she turned and looked at my father. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t touch him. She didn’t have to. I knew from the love in her eyes everything she was feeling in that moment.
“Yes,” I said. “I believe.”
She nodded. “I know. I just needed to hear you say it.”
I licked my lips. I suddenly felt very thirsty. “Is that why you brought me here?”
“When the time is right, how things work at Wonderland will be explained to you,” she said. “Everything you want to know will be revealed. Even the questions you’re too afraid to ask.”
“You won’t tell me tonight?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’ll know when you’re ready,” she said. “So will you.”
I looked at the books again and back to a sleepy-eyed Montgomery. I focused on my beautiful great-aunt sitting like a platinum-haired version of Cleopatra on her velvet throne. “I’ve never been in love before,” I confessed. “For some reason…guys don’t pay very much attention to me.”
“Perhaps you haven’t met the right gentleman yet,” she suggested.
“Is he here?” I asked. “Dominic?” It was the first time I’d said his name. The word felt natural for me to say. Like I’d been saying it all my life. Like it belonged to me.
“Yes,” she said with a sly smile. “He’s been waiting for you since he arrived last month. You’re his dance partner tonight. You’re the guest of honor.”
“Did you bring me here just so I could meet him?” I asked.
Now it was her turn to look away. “You could say that,” she replied.
“Why are you being so vague?”
She met my eyes from across the coffee table. “You’re here for many reasons, Destiny. Very few people are invited to Wonderland. You’ll come to learn this is a very special place. And it takes an exceptional person to believe in it. Wonderland can’t exist without it. You have to have certainty in your heart. Doubt and fear will destroy this place. Love and magic is what makes Wonderland happen.”
“Magic,” I repeated. “Everyone keeps asking me if I believe in it. Ever since I got to Avalon Cove.”
“I already know your answer,” she said. “You are my brother’s only granddaughter. He always knew you believed in magic. Even if you didn’t know it for yourself.”
“Is that what this is?” I asked. “Is Wonderland just one big magic trick? Am I stuck in an optical illusion?”
“You’re in the center of many hearts,” she said. “Some find their way here on their own. Some have to be shown the way. Others are lost until they get here.”
“And me?” I asked. “Was I lost?”
She straightened her posture. “Never,” she replied.
“I wish I would’ve known you,” I said. “I mean, when I was younger.”
She shook her head. “I would’ve been of no use to you then. I died when you were three.”
“But we’re related,” I said. “We’re family.”
“Yes, we are,” she said. “But we both know family isn’t always biological.”
“Are you talking about Clark and my Uncle Fred?” I asked. “They’re a family.”
“Absolutely,” she agreed. “And what of Tasha and Topher? In a very short time, they’ve come to mean a lot to each other. And to you.”
“I like them,” I said. “But I don’t know them very well.”
Adrianna leaned forward a little. There was concern in her voice. “I’m worried about Topher.”
“I thought everything was perfect here,” I said. “It seems like there are no worries in Wonderland.”
“Here he is safe,” she assured me. “We all are. But he can’t stay here forever. In fact, he’s already running out of time. It’s the outside world that concerns me. It’s a very cruel place for a boy like Topher.”
The fear on her face told me the answer to my question, but I asked it anyway. “Because he’s gay?”
“He’s tormented every day by those young men.”
“They’re idiots,” I said.
“That’s easy for you and me to say,” she said. “Imagine what they are to Topher.”
“Monsters,” I said. “He probably feels like he’s living in a nightmare.”
“Just because he’s different,” she said. “Because he’s brave enough to love. For that he should be persecuted and punished?”
“He has Tasha,” I reminded her. “And me.”
“Does he?”
“I know Tasha protects him. And my uncles treat him like family. Or so he says.”
“Everything will change for Topher after tonight,” she said.
I gave her a look. “What do you mean? For the better? Or for the worse?”
“That’s still to be determined. I’m giving him a chance at true love,” she explained. “It’s a gift I’m giving to each of you.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “So you’re a matchmaker?”
“In conventional terms, yes. But Topher has the greatest risk. It won’t be as easy for him to love as it will be for you or Tasha. The men in your world give greater permission to women.”
“I’m not sure why you’re telling me this.”
“Because he’s going to need you,” she said. “They both will. And you’re going to need them.”
“Is that why we met?”
“Everything happens for a reason,” she said. “Don’t you agree?”
“So far it seems that way,” I said. “So my mother had to die in order for me to come to Avalon Cove so I could meet Tasha and Topher and they could bring me to Wonderland…to you?”
“The reason you’re here is much more complex than that,” she said. “It’s bigger than you.”
“I’m here because of love?”
Adrianna swung her legs over the edge of the chaise. I watched as her transparent Cinderella-like high heels touched the wooden floor. She stood, reached for me with both hands, and breathed with an infectious urgency, “It’s time. It’s now.”
I hurried to my feet, quickened by the anxiousness in her eyes. “What? What do you mean?”
“He’s ready,” she decided. “You both are.”
“How can you tell?”
“Ask questions later. You don’t get very much time with him. I don’t want to waste a second.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Follow me,” she instructed. I did as I was told. We left the library and moved through a maze of hallways. I felt dizzy and disoriented, like I was trapped in an endless corridor full of sharp twists and turns. There were sconces on the walls with flame-shaped lightbulbs in them. They pulsed and flickered like genuine candlelight, but I knew they were artificial. The effect cast our moving shadows on the surfaces around us, splashing our figures across the gold and cream-colored striped wallpaper.
The haphazard hallway ended, opening up into a beautiful old-fashioned kitchen bathed in blue and silver strips of moonlight pouring in through an open window above the porcelain sink. White lace curtains trimmed with embroidered patterns of pastel greens, pinks, blues, and yellows billowed and fluttered from a cool night breeze tumbling inside from the open space between the sill and the wooden frame of the window. At once, the refreshing air clung to my skin, bringing me a sense of relief and calm.
Then I saw him. I stopped in my tracks. He was an old man sitting at the kitchen table in a red vinyl-covered chair. He was bent over a game of solitaire. He held a card in one hand—the queen of hearts. He had a head of thick gray and black disheveled hair. My eyes drifted down to his bony knuckles, his wrinkled and splotched skin. He looked up. Our eyes met. It seemed as if he knew me because his mouth lifted into a warm, welcoming smile.
“Destiny,” he said.
Adrianna touched my arm, jolting me back to the task at hand. “There isn’t time for him right now,” she said. “I don’t want you to be late. You only get one dance with Dominic.”
“Who is he?” I asked Adrianna. When she didn’t respond, I turned to him. “Do I know you?”
The old man continued to smile at me in response. I fought with the urge to go to him and embrace him. There was a kindness in his eyes I’d never seen before.
“He never got the chance to meet you,” my great-aunt said. “He’s my husband. He’s Alfred. He died before you were born.”
“She looks like her mother,” he said. “Like an angel.”
“You know better,” she reprimanded him gently. “We never use that word in Wonderland.”
“My apologies, my queen,” he said. His attention returned to his card game.
Adrianna led me to a wooden door in the far corner of the moonlit kitchen. Was she sending me down to a basement? Outside to a backyard? “Are you ready?” she asked.
“You would know that answer better than me,” I replied.
“What you’re about to experience is something most have never had the chance to. Only a select few have ever made it this far in Wonderland.”
“I’m one of the lucky ones?”
“No,” she said. “This has nothing to do with luck. You’re here because you believe in love.”
“And magic,” I reminded her.
“Once I open this door and you cross the threshold, you need to know…there’s no turning back, Destiny.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
“You’re going to be faced with the most difficult choice of your life. Even the choices that are still to come in your future—none of them will compare to this one, do you understand?”
“What am I choosing?” I asked.
I watched her hand move to the shiny brass door knob. Her fingers wrapped around it. She turned it slowly. “Between life and death,” she answered.
She pulled the door open. The hinges creaked with a loud groan. I saw nothing in front of me except never-ending darkness. “You don’t have much time,” she explained. “Make the most of it while you can.”
I looked into my great-aunt’s eyes. “I’m not afraid,” I assured her.
She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I know,” she said. I felt her palm on the middle of my back, guiding me gently toward the sea of black. “Some answers you will find inside,” she explained. “The others will be given to you when you return.”
I took a step forward. The door closed behind me. My entire body began to tremble. An intense sensation took my breath away. I felt something or someone wrap around my body and pull me forward with great speed. It was the same thrill as the first big dip on a roller-coaster ride. I was flying in the air. I could feel the wind against my ears. Then my body was tilted forward. I began to free fall, face first. Soaring through nothing but darkness, I felt euphoric.
I gave in to the impulse to shut my eyes. That’s when I landed. My body collided with something soft and delicate. Pillows? Clouds? A giant mattress?
I opened my eyes. I was on my back. The first things I saw were Chinese paper lanterns. There were hundreds of them, clinging to silver wires crisscrossing above me. Each lantern was illuminated from within, casting a warm glow. No two lanterns were the same color. A few of them swayed in the gentle breeze, gliding from side to side with a rhythm all their own. The sight of them was stunning. I watched them with an almost trance-like intensity, mesmerized by the beauty of their light and the colors they emitted.
Instinct kicked in and reminded me I was somewhere new and unfamiliar. I stood up quickly and turned in slow circles to take in everything surrounding me. My high heels sank into the soft earth. I glanced down expecting to see grass or dirt. The entire surface was covered with what looked to be tiny shards of multicolored broken glass. It was if someone had split open a million kaleidoscopes and scattered their contents all over the ground beneath my feet.
I was standing in the middle of a garden of sorts. Or was it a courtyard? It was a square plot of land, surrounded on all four sides by ivy-colored gray stone walls. There was no entrance. There was no way out. Unless I wanted to scale my way up toward the star-filled sky and tiptoe across constellations.
I didn’t feel threatened or in danger. In fact, I felt quite the opposite. A tickle of invincibility began to stir inside me. Within seconds, I felt convinced anything was possible. It was a swell of confidence mixing wildly with an electric burst of optimism. I had no doubt. No fear. No worries.
I never wanted to leave.
I was surrounded by more flowers than I could count—every type, every color, and every scent. It was intoxicating. I leaned in toward a row of white carnations. I inhaled deeply, weakened by their sweet fragrance. I realized then that it was difficult for me to breathe. I placed my hand across my chest. My heartbeat vibrated against my skin.
You’re okay. Just breathe.
“Don’t worry,” a familiar voice said. I turned and smiled when I saw Tasha standing beside me in her peach-colored halter dress. She was holding a bouquet of wildflowers. “I’ve been here for a few minutes. It gets easier to breathe in a moment or two.”
Tasha was right. Almost at once, I felt at ease. A sudden calm washed over me, and any lingering apprehension dissipated. My shoulders relaxed. My body felt light. The euphoria continued to surge through me.
“I’ve never felt like this before,” I confessed.
“Me either,” she said.
“It’s like…” I stopped, searching for the words. “Absolute bliss.”
“I know what you mean,” Tasha said. “I haven’t stopped smiling like an idiot since I got here, and I don’t even care.”
“Where exactly are we?”
Tasha gestured to a formal dining table positioned perfectly in the center of the courtyard. It was covered with a cream-colored silk tablecloth. There were elaborate place settings for at least twenty guests. “At the dinner party, I think.”
“Wow,” I heard myself say, marveling at the table. “Have you ever seen anything so incredible before?”
“Do you hear that?” Tasha asked. “The music. Someone’s playing the piano. It’s beautiful.”
“Moonlight Sonata,” I replied. “I hear it.”
“There,” Tasha said. She pointed toward one of the corners of the courtyard where a beautiful young woman with long auburn hair was playing a white baby grand piano. She was wearing a white dress with silver drops of light that sparkled with every one of her movements. She had on a matching headband keeping her gorgeous hair out of her eyes. She looked up. She caught us staring at her. Tasha and I both blushed. She smiled, urging us to join her with a friendly wave of her hand.
“Who is she?” I asked.
An expression of pure hope filled Tasha’s eyes. “Juliet,” she answered. My friend moved away from me, practically floating across the glimmering courtyard. She reached the edge of the piano. At once, Juliet moved over on the piano bench, making room for Tasha beside her. Tasha sat down. Even from across the courtyard, I could see awe shining in her eyes.
I turned my attention to movement in the opposite corner. It was Topher. He was sitting on the rounded edge of a white marble fountain, running his hand across the rippling surface of the sparkling water. Behind him a sculpted mermaid was frozen forever, leaping out of the center of the fountain.
Standing nearby was a handsome dark-haired young man who was intensely painting on a canvas propped up on a wooden easel. He stopped what he was doing—like it was an instinct. His paintbrush paused midair, just inches away from the surface of the canvas. The man looked up from his masterpiece-in-progress and was clearly distracted by the sight of Topher sitting there in his burgundy blazer and shiny black shoes. He moved away from the easel and took a step in the direction of the fountain. He seemed captivated by Topher, studying his every movement, like he wanted to memorize them so he could recreate each gesture later. They communicated with their eyes for a moment. Finally, the painter with the curly dark hair moved to Topher and slowly extended his open hand. Topher looked up into the beautiful boy’s eyes and smiled. He accepted the painter’s hand into his and stood up.
“I’m Pablo,” I heard the boy say. I detected some sort of accent in his voice. Italian, maybe.
Topher grinned and replied, “I know who you are.”
I turned away and moved to another corner. There I found a different scene. A magic show was in progress. Yet I was the only one watching the performance. My grandfather was wearing the same outfit my Uncle Fred did at the Magic Mansion, complete with the top hat and black floor-length cape lined with crushed red velvet. He looked just as I remembered him with a gray beard and pot belly and an adorable twinkle in his blue eyes.
My grandmother was his reluctant assistant in a scarlet sequined gown, accessorized with a black feathered boa. Her gray hair had a pink tint to it and was piled on top of her head in what looked like an attempt at a beehive hairdo. She was obviously less than thrilled with her role in the show, and this was more apparent when she spoke. “George,” she said. “No one wants to watch a magic show.”
“And why not?” he asked her.
“Because it’s redundant, dear,” she explained. “This is Wonderland.”
“Ah, yes,” he said. “But where do you think the magic comes from?”
My grandmother turned to me. “I give your grandfather a hard time because he expects me to.” I smiled at her. “But if you want the truth, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Your great-aunt is the mastermind behind all of this. Adrianna hired us as the entertainment for these dinner parties she has. I’m no Connie Francis, but then again, he’s no Harry Houdini.”
“I miss you, Grandma,” I said, feeling a few tears slide down my cheeks. I stepped forward, wanting to hug her. She held up a hand to stop me.
“Go,” she said. “Love is waiting for you, Destiny.”
I moved to the last corner of the courtyard. I stood beneath a crooked string of lanterns. One of them had burnt out, and another was flickering to a slow death. From where I stood, I could see all three scenarios playing out at the same time. Juliet was still playing the piano, serenading all of us with the haunting sounds of Beethoven. Tasha couldn’t take her eyes away from Juliet. Topher and Pablo were sitting beside the mermaid fountain, holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes. My grandmother was chasing an escaped white rabbit through a bed of marigolds. My grandfather was waving his glitter-tipped magic wand up toward the moon as if writing his initials across the sky with the sparkly silver tip.
I stood alone, waiting for the unknown. I was nervous. I was starting to sweat. I desperately needed something to drink.
For the first time since I’d been inside Wonderland, a thin layer of doubt started invading my thoughts.
Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe he saw you arrive and decided you aren’t the one for him. Maybe true love doesn’t—
“Destiny?” I felt the word on the back of my neck. “You’re wearing my favorite color.”
I turned around. Dominic and I stood, face-to-face. “Cobalt blue,” I said.
He was just an inch taller than me. His dark brown hair was cut short. His eyes were hazel. Looking into them created a warmth inside my body I’d never felt before.
His Mediterranean skin was smooth and sun-kissed. He looked Italian like Pablo—or maybe he was Spanish or Latino.
“Dominic,” I heard myself say. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
He reached out and brushed his knuckles softly against my cheek. “Are you real?” he whispered. I shuddered a little when he touched me, when we made physical contact. “You’re beautiful.”
I shifted nervously in my white high heels. I couldn’t stop staring at his mouth. His lips looked like they were begging to be kissed. “I’m real,” I said, followed by an awkward giggle. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. The ridiculous dress had no pockets.
I should’ve worn a sweater. Or jeans. Why does he keep staring at me?
I was just as guilty. I couldn’t stop staring at him. I was enamored with his every movement, with every breath he took.
Dominic reached for my hand. “May I have this dance?” he asked.
I couldn’t speak. I nodded in reply. I placed my palm against his. Our fingers meshed together.
A perfect fit.
Dominic led me to the center of the courtyard. I slipped my arms around his neck. He placed his hands on my waist. We started to dance, swaying to the aching piano Juliet played with the longing she now felt for Tasha.
Over Dominic’s shoulder, I spotted a beautiful crystal punch bowl filled with a pink-colored liquid, covered with a top layer of orange slices. I thought about stopping our dance long enough to grab a quick glass, but Adrianna’s words rang in my head.
You only get one dance with Dominic.
I knew our time together could end at any moment, without warning. I wanted to enjoy every second I was with him.
I felt safe in his arms. His body was athletic and solid, but not overly muscular.
As if he could read my mind, he said, “Being with you is as wonderful as I expected.”
“We only get one dance,” I said.
He shook his head. “No. That’s not fair. I’ve waited for you…”
Topher and Pablo joined us in the middle of the courtyard. I watched as they started to dance, lost in each other’s gaze. Tasha and Juliet soon followed, oblivious to the world around them.
Arm in arm, my grandparents stood nearby watching with approval.
I shifted my attention back to Dominic, to the incredible way his body felt pressed up against me as we moved together as one. I knew the kiss was coming before our mouths met. But when I felt Dominic’s lips against mine, it took my breath away.
“Wow,” he said, grinning. “You’re incredible.”
I realized we weren’t alone. Someone was standing behind me. Close. I could sense it. I could feel her presence.
My mother.
“Don’t turn around,” she said. The sound of her soft voice caused my heart to ache. “If you do, it will all go away.”
“Mom?” My voice cracked. I began to cry. “Don’t leave me.”
“Destiny,” she said. “You have to make a choice soon.”
I felt Dominic’s fingertip on my cheek when he brushed away my tears. We looked into each other’s eyes, knowing.
I felt my mother’s hand on my back offering comfort and reassurance. “I want you to choose love,” she said.
I nodded. “I will,” I promised.
The music stopped.
The Chinese lanterns flickered and died.
Blackness covered the courtyard, muting the moment.
Before I knew what was happening, I felt my body being lifted into the air with tremendous force as if a giant hand had reached down into the garden and picked me up.
As I ascended above the garden, now shrouded in darkness, I realized Tasha and Topher were in the air beside me. We reached for each other, clutching hands as we continued to rise.
The garden grew faint below us. The twinkle of the stars grew closer above.
Fearing I would never see Dominic again, I closed my eyes.