But she had a feeling tonight wasn’t a vanilla sort of night. He’d mentioned a surprise last week, just a casual comment, and she hadn’t pressed him. She’d learned to wait patiently for Wade to reveal what he wanted, when he wanted. It was always better that way, less punishment involved. Besides, the anticipation was delicious.
In the scheme of things, she never had to wait too long. The black car pulling up in front of her little bungalow was proof enough of that. But strangely, it wasn’t Wade’s car-and Wade wasn’t in it. Instead, a driver appeared, a tall man in a dark suit and hat with pristine white gloves, to open the door in the back for her.
“Ms. Lydel?” he called, motioning her forward. “Mr. Knight sent me.” She rushed off the porch, jolted out of her surprise by his words, her mind buzzing with possibilities. Her body was already flushed and ready for whatever Wade might have in store. She thanked the driver as she got into the car. It wasn’t a limo, but it was a long, sleek black thing that prowled through the streets with a low rumble and a secret sort of power in its haunches, as if it might launch them into outer space or another dimension with the slightest tap of the gas pedal.
She didn’t ask the driver where they were going, she just sat back and waited, watching the world pass breathlessly by. It seemed as if they drove forever, through city streets, then onto a highway and off, the scenery changing to black nothingness after a while, with only faint lights painted on the darkness in the distance. And he drove very fast, making her clutch her little purse in one hand and the edge of the seat in the other.
“Are we in a hurry?” Alice gasped when he took a sharp curve fast enough to tilt her torso nearly parallel to the seat.
“Late,” he replied shortly, the car hurtling through the darkness.
She didn’t know how they could possibly be late. Wade had told her fifteen minutes and she’d been out there in ten. When they finally stopped, Alice took the driver’s white-gloved hand and let him help her out, feeling disoriented. The driver was mumbling to himself about their tardiness as he shut the door behind her.
“She won’t be pleased,” he remarked, shutting the car door with a thump that made Alice jump. She looked around, trying to see if Wade was waiting for her somewhere, but there was nothing, nothing at all, just a long gravel drive leading up to a building of some sort she couldn’t even really see. The night was complete darkness, no streetlights, not even a moon to light the way.
“Excuse me?” Alice called to the driver but he was already striding toward the building, not much of him visible except for the flash of his gloves. “Can you help me?”
“No time,” he called back and then he disappeared.
She stood there shivering for a moment, from anxiety or cold she wasn’t sure, wondering what to do next. She half-expected Wade to appear out of thin air, but when he didn’t, she decided to call him. Her iPhone had no signal though, no matter which way she turned.
There wasn’t anything else to do but follow the driver before he got too far ahead.
She used the “flashlight” function on her iPhone and with that little bit of light made it to the side of the building where the driver had gone. It was solid black brick as far as she could tell, no windows or doors. So how had he disappeared?
Alice swept the light from her phone this way and that. She walked down the wall, frowning, perplexed, her heels unsteady on the gravel. Sighing, she ran her hand along the wall like she had when she was a kid as she paced and was about to turn and go the other way when the wall ended. Startled, she used the light on that part of the wall and realized it had depth. There was a section missing here, but the brick was so black, so seamless, it all ran together.
She slipped through the opening and found herself on a stairwell leading down.
There was nothing else to do but descend. And descend. And descend. There was a handrail on her right, and the steps were wide stone, cold radiating from them the deeper she went. She took her shoes off after a while and carried them because her feet began to hurt, and because she could travel faster that way. Thanks to her phone, she could at least see where she was going, but the end still came so abruptly she nearly ran into the door at the bottom.
She contemplated the door. It had no handle or window and appeared nearly seamless. Remembering how she’d run her hand along the wall, she reached out to touch the door. It was metal, smooth, and when she pushed, it gave.
“Curiouser and curiouser.” She pushed harder and it swung inward, letting out a bit of light and the scent of something musky and a little wild, like an animal’s lair. She didn’t have time to contemplate that though, because there was a hallway, and Alice saw the driver in the dim light hurrying down it, his white gloves flashing at his sides.
“Wait!” she called, hurrying after him. He was her only connection to the outside, to Wade, to anything familiar, so she followed him as fast as she could manage. The floors and walls were stone down here too, the way lit with bare bulbs strung far apart across the ceiling.
The driver took so many twists and turns she knew she would be hopelessly lost if she stopped and tried to go back. Her only hope was to catch up. She walked quickly and then started to run, calling after the driver, but no matter how fast she went, she couldn’t seem to catch him.
“Please!” She sounded desperate, and she felt that way too, she realized. The driver seemed to have slowed and that made her hurry even faster in spite of the stitch in her side. She was closing the distance. “Please just tell me where we are!” He stopped and turned, the white outline of his hand pushing open a door. She was only ten feet from him now and the light coming from the room he’d opened was inviting. Panting, she made it another five feet, calling out, “Please! Where is Mr.
Knight? Where are we?”
“Why, don’t you know?” The driver flashed a distracted smile as she neared, pushing the door fully open and waving her through. “This is Wonderland.” She stepped through the doorway and found herself in an oddly shaped room.
The floors were black and white parquet and the ceilings sloped upward to a point in the middle. They were draped with fabric, red and white, like a circus tent. There appeared to be no doors or windows, and when the driver stepped into the room, the door behind them disappeared into the obsidian wall.
Alice stood, stunned to silence, perplexed, watching the driver cross the room.
He pushed against the wall and another door appeared.
“Wait!” she called, rushing after him, determined not to be left behind again. “Can you take me to Mr. Knight?”
He stopped, turning only briefly, a distracted look of pity crossing his face. “You should take heed of the instructions on the table. Don’t worry, Miss. I’m sure he’ll join you shortly.”
“What table—?” She turned to look at the room and he was gone, the door disappearing as if it had never been there. Alice growled in frustration, pushing at the wall in the same spot, but it didn’t give. She dropped her shoes and put her phone back into her purse, leaving that on the floor as well and went all around the room, finding it had eight sides, like an octagon, pushing and pushing, looking for a way out.
She didn’t find one, but she did find the little table with the instructions the driver mentioned. She hadn’t noticed it at all when they arrived but there it was, a little glass bistro table set with a plate and a wine glass. The glass was full of a red liquid she could only assume was wine. The plate held an hors d’œuvre of some sort. She couldn’t identify it, but when she got close, it smelled sweet, like honey.
She’d been hoping for a long list of instructions, or perhaps just the words, “Wait, I’m coming for you.” She would have waited for him forever. Instead, there were two small notes, scrawled in someone’s handwriting, not Wade’s she was sure. The one by the glass said, “Drink me.” The one by the plate said, “Eat me.” Which first? She picked up the little hors d’œuvre and contemplated it. She could almost hear Maddie screaming in her head. Don’t do it! What are you thinking? It could be anything! Poison! A date rape drug! Allliiiiiiiiccce!