Alice! THE Alice! In Wonderland!

She’s finally here!

“It’s her!” Robin murmurs, her eyes wide.

“Shhh,” I say. “Don’t interrupt the story. If she doesn’t see us, maybe her story can continue the way it’s supposed to.”

Alice doesn’t seem to see us. That’s because we’re all still tiny, so we’re basically down by her feet. So are the two White Rabbits.

Alice frowns at the table with the DRINK ME sign.

“Oh! I am very thirsty,” Alice says, going over to the table. She picks up the bottle. “It does say ‘Drink Me.’ So I should probably drink it.”

Seriously? I shake my head. Didn’t her parents teach her not to drink from random bottles?

Then again, we’ve been eating and drinking random stuff all day.

Frankie, Robin, Penny, and I watch as Alice takes a sip from the bottle.

“Ahhh!” she cries as her entire body starts shrinking. “Why am I getting smaller?” She’s suddenly a foot high like we are.

Frankie squeals with excitement.

“Oh! I didn’t know anyone else was here!” Alice says, noticing Frankie. Then she sees me, Robin, and Penny. Then the two rabbits. I guess we’re interrupting her story after all.

“How curious!” Alice exclaims, glancing down at herself and her itty-bitty blue dress.

I see her look up at the giant table. I can tell she’s confused.

I’m about to tell her about the magic potion she drank, when Robin rushes over and gives Alice a big hug. Well, a tiny hug.

Robin’s face is flushed. “Alice! Alice! It’s you! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. This is amazing. It’s you! It’s really you! Alice!”

“What? You know me?” Alice asks, stepping back and looking even more confused.

“Of course we know you,” Frankie says breathlessly. She bites her thumbnail, looking a little shy again. “You’re Alice.”

“Well, I don’t know how you could possibly know that,” Alice responds, her hands on her hips. “We’ve never met.”

“We just did,” Robin says, jumping and clapping her hands the way she does when she’s super excited.

“This place is getting curiouser and curiouser!” Alice says.

And she just got here. Wait till she takes a stroll around the rest of Wonderland.

“Could I have your autograph?” Robin asks. “Please, please, please? I forgot my autograph book at home, but maybe you could sign a piece of paper for me?”

Alice takes another step back from Robin, alarm in her eyes. “So sorry,” she says. “But I can’t help you.”

“You can write on our arms,” Frankie offers. “Do you have a pen?”

“I have a pencil in my pocket,” Penny says, reaching into her jeans. “But it won’t write on skin. I so wish I had my sketch pad.” She’s gazing, mesmerized, at Alice, just like Robin and Frankie are.

Alice is looking at the three of them as if they’ve lost their minds.

“I love your dress,” Robin gushes to Alice.

“I love your dress, too,” Penny says. “And your hair. We’re practically hair twins! Maybe we can form a Blond Hair Club.”

I roll my eyes. This is a little embarrassing. I mean, it IS very cool to meet the real Alice. And sure, my friends are new to this. But I’ve met a lot of fictional characters before.

There’s no way I was this awestruck when I met Snow White.

No way.

Was I?

Maybe.

Alice frowns. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Sorry.” I finally speak up, and step forward. “They’re just excited to meet you. I’m Abby, and the redhead is Robin, the girl with the glasses is Frankie, and the other blonde is Penny. And you already know the White Rabbit. Or at least one of them.”

Alice looks at the rabbit who fell in before her. “Well, I wouldn’t say I KNOW the White Rabbit. But I heard him saying he was late for something. I’d never seen a talking rabbit before. So I followed him. And fell down the hole.” Then she looks at the other White Rabbit. “There are two of you?”

Yes, but only one is the REAL White Rabbit. The other is someone in disguise. And I’m going to figure out which is which.

Somehow.

The rabbit who fell in right before Alice is glaring at the other rabbit. “Why are you wearing my clothes and pretending to be me?” he demands.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” the rabbit sitting on the table says. “I’m just me!”

“Pretending to be ME!” the rabbit standing near Alice says.

Wait a minute.

I know which is the REAL White Rabbit.

The rabbit who was sitting on the glass table when my friends and I came in has to be the FAKE rabbit. Because Alice follows the REAL rabbit down the rabbit hole. It’s her story, after all.

“You’re the fake rabbit!” I say, pointing to the impostor rabbit on the table. “You’re the one who tricked us into eating the queen’s tarts so we’d get in trouble!”

“Are you sure about that, Abby?” Robin asks me worriedly.

“I’m sure,” I say, still glaring at the fake rabbit. “So why are you in disguise? Who are you really?”

The fake rabbit sticks out his pink tongue at me. Real mature.

Except he’s not quite the same as he was a moment ago. He’s getting slightly bigger, for one. His white fur disappears. His floppy ears disappear. He’s transforming from a rabbit — into a person. Suddenly, he’s a short, skinny man with a big head and a long, narrow nose. His face is an orange-peach color and his teeth are pearly white.

Oh, wow. Oh, no.

“Ah, back to myself,” the little man says, scratching his arm. “Being a rabbit gets itchy and hot. And carrots are disgusting. Blech. I am never eating another carrot again.”

“Uh … um … what are you?” Penny says.

“I have a better question,” I say. “Who are you?”

He glares at me. “I’m Gluck.”

“Gluck?” Penny says. “What kind of name is that?”

“It’s the kind of name evil fairies have!” Gluck yells.

I shiver. No. No. No. I hate evil fairies! Why do stories always have evil fairies?

“But … but … but …”

Gluck narrows his beady eyes at me. He pulls a tiny walkie-talkie from his coat pocket. “Guards! The thieves are in the hallway! Hurry!”

ACK.

Before we can even think about running and hiding, one of the blue doors bursts open.

All of a sudden, five cards storm the hallway. Oh no oh no. It’s the Three of Clubs and her henchmen.

I glance back at Gluck.

He smirks right at me, looking very pleased. “Gotcha,” he says. “Now you’re trapped!”

“But why?” I ask. “Why are you trying to trap me?”

“You know why,” he says.

Huh? “I don’t know why!”

He smirks again, and then POOF — he disappears.

“There are the thieves!” the Three of Clubs shouts, hitting her club against her palm. “Apprehend them at once!”

“NO!” I yell. The Five of Clubs grabs my arm.

The Six of Clubs grabs Penny.

The Seven of Clubs grabs Frankie.

The Eight of Clubs grabs Robin.

The Nine of Clubs grabs Alice.

“You five girls are under arrest for stealing the queen’s tarts!” the Three of Clubs announces.

“But that’s not fair!” Penny cries. “They weren’t even good! They were sour! And Frankie and Alice weren’t even there!”

I slap my free hand against my forehead. Penny just admitted she ate a tart! In front of witnesses!

Frankie kicks at her guard. “Take that, you piece of cardboard!”

Go, Frankie.

“Off with her head for sure,” the Seven of Clubs growls as he rubs his shin.

“What are you going to do with us?” Penny asks. “I demand to know!”

“Oh dear oh my oh goodness,” says the real White Rabbit, hopping about worriedly.

“Prisoners aren’t allowed to make demands, so shush!” the Eight of Clubs bellows at Penny.

“Let go of me!” Alice says to the card who is gripping her by the arm. “I haven’t stolen anything! I just got here!”

“Sure you did,” the Three of Clubs says. “You are a little girl like the others — you are probably in cahoots.”

“Cahoots bashmoots!” Alice yells. “This can’t be happening! Dinah! Dinah! Where is Dinah! Attack the cards, Dinah, attack!”

Who’s Dinah?

“You’re coming with us,” the Three of Clubs says. “All five of you tart stealers will be put on trial immediately.”

The cards pull us toward the small door. Noooo!

“Oh dear oh goodness oh dear,” the real White Rabbit says again, watching us go.

“I am sorry we ruined your dream,” Frankie says to Alice as we’re all dragged outside.

Alice tilts her head. “This is a dream?”

“No,” I say. “This is a nightmare.”