Malice in Wonderland #1: Alice the Assassin

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, then,” says the shadow. “Let’s see what Malice is up to right now. Hold on.”

  Alice’s shadow disappears. It’s quite an unnerving occurrence.

  Alice doesn’t have much time to “reflect” on it though, as it were, before her shadow pops back—for a brief moment, it appears to have kitten ears.

  The shadow says, “Oh, you shan’t believe this! Malice is going to try to summon the Cheshire Cat. If that hat works, now would definitely be a good time to use it.”

  Alice and her shadow point to the hat on the ground.

  Alice and her shadow put it on and tap the top.