every cell in my asylum.”
“Maybe you don’t know much about your asylum,” I tell him. “The Pillar has proven that already. Who is that same person who wrote the message, March?”
“All the writing is signed by someone who calls himself Patient 14.”
“Oh, not again.” Tom waves a trembling hand in the air.
“You know who that is?” I ask.
“It’s all a myth, Alice,” Tom says. “Just like the writing. It’s some abracadabra nonsense written by the Mushroomers.”
“Tom!” I interrupt. “It’s time to tell me everything you know about this Patient 14.”
Chapter 25
“It all started with Waltraud Wagner and Thomas Ogier,” Tom begins.
“Who are they?” the March asks.
“The two wardens responsible for me when I was in the asylum,” I explain to him. “They enjoyed frying my brains out in the Mush Room. Do you know what the Mush Room is?”
“Of course I do.” The March’s eyes glaze with a bitter taste of a memory. “They repeatedly used it on me when I was in the Hole, the asylum underground where we first met. But that’s before they installed the light bulb in my head.”
“Good.” I face Tom. “So what’s Waltraud and Ogier’s relation to Patient 14?”
“First, you have to understand who Waltraud and Ogier really are,” Tom says.
“I don’t understand. Are they not who they pretended to be?”
“No.” Tom lowers his head, lacing his hands nervously. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. Lewis told me to keep the asylum’s secrets for myself.”
“It’s too late for that, Tom.”
“I agree,” he says and stares back. “Waltraud and Ogier are Wonderlanders.”
“That’s really a bad joke,” I comment. “I mean they never seemed to know about anything that was going on.”
“That’s because I made sure they didn’t remember,” Tom says. “They were Black Chess’ best assassins. They were brutal.”
“How did you make them forget?” The March is curious.
“Lullaby pills,” Tom says. “Lots of them.”
“Why did you want them to forget?” I ask.
“Lewis had always wanted to avoid the inevitable Wonderland War. One of his plans was to get Wonderland Monsters hooked on Lullaby pills. It worked with Waltraud and Ogier, but rarely with the rest.”
“So Waltraud walked the asylum in a haze, not knowing who she was, all this time?”
“Not in the beginning. The pills took some time to work.”
“So which Wonderlanders were they?”
“Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”
Chapter 26
I don’t comment. I’m not sure what to think of this.
“This doesn’t explain anything about Patient 14,” the March says, sounding overly interested. I think it’s because he can sympathize with every patient who’s been to an asylum before.
“Patient 14 is a legendary patient, a myth like I said, one I’ve never met,” Tom says. “According to the legend he knew of a great secret every Wonderlander sought after. Somehow, when we Wonderlanders crossed over to this world, he ended up in an asylum in Austria where Waltraud and Ogier worked.”
“I’m assuming this was not a coincidence,” I say.
“Not it wasn’t. The Tweedles, or as some call them, the Dum brothers — I like to call them Dumb Brothers, but that’s another story — had been placed by Black Chess to interrogate this mysterious patient and find out the secret he kept. All of this happened in the 19th century when mental patients were still treated in violent ways.”
“And of course the Dum Brothers took turns in tormenting him.”
“Indeed. But Patient 14 was strong. He never spilled the secret. In fact, he influenced a lot of his mates to help him escape, but he failed,” Tom says. “Then later, he was sent to Britain where I was told by Lewis to catch any Wonderland Monsters I came across and feed them the Lullaby pills.”
“You don’t look like you’re capable of catching a Wonderland Monster,” the March says.
“That’s correct. So I lured
“Maybe you don’t know much about your asylum,” I tell him. “The Pillar has proven that already. Who is that same person who wrote the message, March?”
“All the writing is signed by someone who calls himself Patient 14.”
“Oh, not again.” Tom waves a trembling hand in the air.
“You know who that is?” I ask.
“It’s all a myth, Alice,” Tom says. “Just like the writing. It’s some abracadabra nonsense written by the Mushroomers.”
“Tom!” I interrupt. “It’s time to tell me everything you know about this Patient 14.”
Chapter 25
“It all started with Waltraud Wagner and Thomas Ogier,” Tom begins.
“Who are they?” the March asks.
“The two wardens responsible for me when I was in the asylum,” I explain to him. “They enjoyed frying my brains out in the Mush Room. Do you know what the Mush Room is?”
“Of course I do.” The March’s eyes glaze with a bitter taste of a memory. “They repeatedly used it on me when I was in the Hole, the asylum underground where we first met. But that’s before they installed the light bulb in my head.”
“Good.” I face Tom. “So what’s Waltraud and Ogier’s relation to Patient 14?”
“First, you have to understand who Waltraud and Ogier really are,” Tom says.
“I don’t understand. Are they not who they pretended to be?”
“No.” Tom lowers his head, lacing his hands nervously. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. Lewis told me to keep the asylum’s secrets for myself.”
“It’s too late for that, Tom.”
“I agree,” he says and stares back. “Waltraud and Ogier are Wonderlanders.”
“That’s really a bad joke,” I comment. “I mean they never seemed to know about anything that was going on.”
“That’s because I made sure they didn’t remember,” Tom says. “They were Black Chess’ best assassins. They were brutal.”
“How did you make them forget?” The March is curious.
“Lullaby pills,” Tom says. “Lots of them.”
“Why did you want them to forget?” I ask.
“Lewis had always wanted to avoid the inevitable Wonderland War. One of his plans was to get Wonderland Monsters hooked on Lullaby pills. It worked with Waltraud and Ogier, but rarely with the rest.”
“So Waltraud walked the asylum in a haze, not knowing who she was, all this time?”
“Not in the beginning. The pills took some time to work.”
“So which Wonderlanders were they?”
“Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”
Chapter 26
I don’t comment. I’m not sure what to think of this.
“This doesn’t explain anything about Patient 14,” the March says, sounding overly interested. I think it’s because he can sympathize with every patient who’s been to an asylum before.
“Patient 14 is a legendary patient, a myth like I said, one I’ve never met,” Tom says. “According to the legend he knew of a great secret every Wonderlander sought after. Somehow, when we Wonderlanders crossed over to this world, he ended up in an asylum in Austria where Waltraud and Ogier worked.”
“I’m assuming this was not a coincidence,” I say.
“Not it wasn’t. The Tweedles, or as some call them, the Dum brothers — I like to call them Dumb Brothers, but that’s another story — had been placed by Black Chess to interrogate this mysterious patient and find out the secret he kept. All of this happened in the 19th century when mental patients were still treated in violent ways.”
“And of course the Dum Brothers took turns in tormenting him.”
“Indeed. But Patient 14 was strong. He never spilled the secret. In fact, he influenced a lot of his mates to help him escape, but he failed,” Tom says. “Then later, he was sent to Britain where I was told by Lewis to catch any Wonderland Monsters I came across and feed them the Lullaby pills.”
“You don’t look like you’re capable of catching a Wonderland Monster,” the March says.
“That’s correct. So I lured
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