Malice in Wonderland #1: Alice the Assassin by Lotus Rose

his face still in the pie tin. He doesn’t move, so she assumes he’s dead.
    She stares at him for several long seconds, then nudges the Dormouse. “Whaddya think of that, aye?”
    The Dormouse doesn’t respond at all. Usually, he responds a little, in his sleep, then goes on sleeping.
    Unsteadily, Alice stands up. She’s still quite out of it. She grabs the Dormouse by the back of the head (She misses the first time she tries, but gets it the second), then yanks his head up.
    The Dormouse’s throat has been slit. Red blood has poured out over his body, but she hadn’t seen it till now.
    She says, “Well that’s a problem, isn’t it?” She chuckles. She lets go of the Dormouse’s head and it plonks onto the table. She takes the Hatter’s hat and sets it atop her own head.
    And even though she knows she’s inebriated and not thinking straight, she just gives in to the sudden impulse because, why not? After all, she’s been wanting to do this for so long, but never had the heartlessness to actually go through with it.
    So she pushes the dead Dormouse and Hatter out of their chairs onto the ground. She puts her hands under the edge, then she flips the table, shouting at the top of her lungs, sending china flying.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
    Shadow
     
    Underneath her chin, Alice hears a female voice say, “Sickening! Why you ought to be ashamed!”
    Alice’s eyes bug out comically. She can’t see her own eyes, but she can imagine, and the thought makes her giggle. She tries to look under her chin, but peers instead at her chest.
    “No dummy!” says the voice. “Down here. On the ground.”
    Alice looks but only sees…
    “Yes,” says the voice. “I’m your shadow!”
    “Well well well, has my shadow come out to play?”
    “I want to speak to you, because I’m outraged by your recent behavior—separating from your reflection and running around. Why it’s just not proper!”
    Alice blinks. She realizes that the shadow’s voice sounds similar to her own, only flatter and less colorful. She stammers, “Well I. Um. I’d like to change that.”
    “You better! How am I supposed to decide which of you two to be the shadow for? Why, I’ve been hopping back and forth between you two! I’m so tired!”
    Alice and her shadow wipe her brow.
    Alice scowls. “Well, pick one! Aren’t shadows supposed to be silent? I don’t need your attitude.”
    Alice and her shadow put their arms akimbo and say, “No! This can’t go on much longer! Unless you two get back together, I’m leaving you both! Then you’ll have no reflection and no shadow either! I don’t think you’ll like that, will you?”
    Alice’s and the shadow’s shoulders slump. “I wish I could recombine with Malice, but I don’t know how.”
    Alice and her shadow raise a finger in the air. “I know how. You must both go to the Looking Glass and be reflected by it at the same time. That will undo all of this separateness silliness.”
    Alice knows where the Looking Glass is. It was the entrance she went through when she first arrived in Wonderland, and she’s always dreamed of going back out of Wonderland through it. It’s inside a house on an eighth square of the chessboard, guarded by the Jabberwock. She wonders if Malice would voluntarily meet her there just to become a reflection again. “But—”
    Alice and her shadow put a fingertip to her lips to quiet her. “Shhh. You’re wondering, why would Malice agree to that? Well don’t worry. I will convince her. I’ll even lie if I have to. I am so sick of this hopping about! So, here’s my plan. You make your way to the Eighth Square where the Looking Glass is, and I’ll persuade or deceive Malice into doing the same. And hopefully we’ll go back to being one big happy family again, and I can go back to being your silent shadow. Agreed?”
    Alice and the shadow nod. Now Alice and the shadow each takes one of their hands in the other and makes a hand shake.
    “Okay,