Bargain price

CHAPTER 49

T HE KEY to the Looking Glass Maze pulsed with radiance. Alyss was surprised to see it in her palm, but an Intended never left the maze with less than when she entered-although hopefully, as in Alyss’ case, she left with much more.

Holding the glowing cube in one hand and the white heart scepter in the other, Alyss stood unflinching amid the fighting. A Four Card tried attacking her but she blew at him and he went crashing back through a wall of the puzzle shop.

“Princess!” Homburg Molly shouted.

“She has the scepter!” Bibwit’s joy would have had him speared on the end of a Two Card’s blade if

Molly hadn’t jumped in front of him with her hat-shield.

A couple of Three Cards broke away from Hatter, but before even he could react, with a quick one-two, Alyss jabbed the pointed end of her scepter into the medallion-sized area above their breastplates. The card soldiers folded up, forever inactivated, as a seeker careened into the shop and snatched the glowing cube out of Alyss’ hand. Molly was about to throw her hat at the creature when-

“Let it go,” Alyss said. “We don’t need it anymore.”

She could hear the seekers disperse through the sky, heading back to Mount Isolation. Now for the rest of the card soldiers. Alyss banged her scepter on the floor and it splintered into many smaller, identical scepters. With a sweep of her hand, the miniature replicas launched themselves into the vulnerable spot of every single card soldier, each of which folded, no longer a menace. The Alyssians stood in sudden peace with the dead members of The Cut scattered about them.

Dodge, General Doppelganger, the chessmen-all turned to their princess. The vaguely luminescent quality she’d had as a child was now unclouded by immaturity, uncertainty, or reluctance. She stood like a sun among them, radiant with newfound strength, and any lingering doubt in the Alyssians’ minds about her ability to lead them vanished at the sight of her.

“I’d say she’s ready, wouldn’t you?” the rook said.

The Alyssians cheered, all except for Dodge, whose opportunity for revenge had never been so close. Alyss’ luminescence faded to a steady glow as she studied her childhood friend. Her experience in the maze had made her more wary of his behavior. She would have to keep an eye on him, as she would on anyone who stoked their potential for Black Imagination with the tinder of hatred.

“More of The Cut will be coming,” General Doppelganger warned. “Let them come,” Alyss said.

She left the puzzle shop and the Alyssians followed. She walked out into the middle of Emerald Drive and gazed up at the rotted buildings and towers of the surrounding neighborhood, as if able to feel the pain of these inanimate structures, the toll exacted by Redd’s rule on her beloved Wondertropolis. Then she turned her imagination to the holographic billboards around the city. Without so much as a wince of effort, she imagined her own face in place of their usual advertisements and reward offers.

“I’ve finished running from you, Redd. It’s time for you to run.”

As Alyss spoke the words in Emerald Drive, her holographic images voiced them on every street. Wonderlanders paused amid lawful and unlawful pursuits to stare at the beautiful woman speaking from signs on which, until now, they had only ever seen Redd. More than a few wanted the mistress of Black Imagination to remain in power, knowing how to profit in a world such as hers, but most, though not yet daring to cheer aloud, celebrated Alyss’ rise in their hearts.

“I, RUN?” Redd guffawed. She squinted out the Observation Dome as Alyss’ transmission ended. “Alyss Heart’s misplaced confidence will be the death of her.”

“Today, Wonderland will be rid of Alyss Heart for good!” Jack of Diamonds asserted with a puffing out of his already puffed-out belly. He was perhaps too eager to please, because Redd flicked an annoyed glance at the Wig-Beast. “I…I beg your pardon for speaking, Your Imperial Viciousness,” he said.

“Beg all you want, you powdered and pampered idiot. If I don’t get into the Looking Glass Maze soon, it will make no difference to your fate.”

The Cat grinned and smoothed his whiskers. The Lord and Lady of Diamonds, the Lord and Lady of Clubs, and the Lord and Lady of Spades-who together made up Redd’s Cabinet of Military Oversight-shuffled their feet, cleared their throats, and in general enacted every nervous tic available to people unsure of how to ingratiate themselves with their moody, unpredictable leader.

“Your Imperial Viciousness?” the Lady of Clubs ventured. “With all due respect, even if Alyss is not a threat, we think you should move the Heart Crystal to a more secure location.”

Redd thought this funny, in a pathetic sort of way, since neither the Lady of Clubs nor any of the other cabinet members knew where the Heart Crystal was.

“‘We’?” protested the Lady of Diamonds. “The Lady of Clubs speaks for herself, Your Imperial

Viciousness.”

“Absolutely speaks for herself,” seconded the Lord of Spades.

And Redd, raising an eyebrow, asked the Lady of Clubs, “Did you just tell me what I should do?” “I apologize, Your Imperial Viciousness. I spoke out of-”

“You think my strength is not protection enough for the Heart Crystal? Do you, in fact, suppose that my reign is in danger?”

“No, of course not. What I meant-”

The Lady of Clubs was fortunate that the strangled-baby cries of homecoming seekers interrupted them. The Cat bounded out of the dome and returned in less time than it took Redd to grow impatient. In his paw he carried the glowing cube, key to the Looking Glass Maze. Redd held out her hand and it flew to her.

“In any case,” she said, pressing each of the cube’s sides, squeezing it all over, turning it this way and that, “none of you need worry about the Heart Crystal. It’s not here at the fortress. Why can’t I get this to work?”

Jack of Diamonds stepped forward. “Allow me, Your Imperial Viciousness.”

Jack took the cube. He pressed each of its sides, squeezed it all over, turned it this way and that. He began shaking it close to his ear, listening for loose parts inside, while Redd addressed her cabinet.

“I refuse to leave this fortress. It would look cowardly when I have nothing to fear. If Alyss wants to fight me, so much the better. I’ll put an end to her. But let no one say that Queen Redd is insensitive. If I have no power, you people have even less than I let you believe. Alyss wouldn’t spoil you as I do. If it will make you all feel better, order The Cut to prepare a defense. The Cat will see to the Glass Eyes.”

“Your Imperial Viciousness?” The Cat said, and drew Redd’s attention with a nod to Jack of Diamonds, who was still tinkering with the glass cube.

“What?” Jack said. “It’s not broken. It takes a minute to decipher the code, but I’ll have it soon enough. It’s not broken, I say.”

“It had better not be,” Redd warned through thin, bloodless lips.

She swooped out of the dome, down the spiraling hall, and across the open expanse of a ballroom that had never been used. The far wall of the ballroom was decorated with a huge quartz and agate mosaic of the queen’s face and, as Redd approached it, the portrait’s mouth opened and she entered a secret passage known only to herself and The Cat. The passage led to a balcony overlooking the hollowed-out heart of the fortress. It was here, in the secret heart of the fortress, girded about by supports, that the Heart Crystal burned a dark crimson, as it had since Redd’s assumption to power. She leaned over the balcony’s edge and placed her hands on the crystal, its power surging through her, strengthening her for

the coming battle.