The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor Page A

inexperienced. Alyss and Hatter were no longer in the Continuum; they raced through a pitch-dark wood. Alyss could see nothing ahead of her or behind, and she wouldn‘t even have known they were in a wood if she hadn‘t heard the whispering voices of the trees all around. It started to rain, to thunder and lightning.
    The wind picked up. How could Hatter see where he was going?
    From overhead she heard the sound of screaming, pain-riddled banshees.
    ―Seekers,‖ Hatter said, more to himself than to Alyss.
    Yes, seekers alerting whoever was following them of their location. Because someone or something was definitely following them. Hatter could hear it speeding toward them through the underbrush, breaking branches and splashing through puddles in its headlong pursuit.
    After what felt to Alyss like a lifetime, the Whispering Woods opened onto a wide expanse and they came to a precipice. It took her a second to realize where she was: the cliff overlooking the Pool of Tears, where she and Dodge had stood only a short time earlier. How she wished Dodge were with her now. The water was dark and roiling. All at once she understood.
    ―No one ever comes back,‖ she said, looking forlornly into the pool.
    ―But you will,‖ said Hatter. ―You have to.‖
    Which was when The Cat burst into the clearing and sprang at them, his arms extended. Hatter jumped. The Cat snagged the sleeve of the princess‘ birthday dress, tearing it off with his claws, but that was all he got. Alyss Heart, holding tight to Hatter Madigan, plummeted toward the surface of the water below.

CHAPTER 12
    ―P OINT YOUR feet down!‖ Hatter shouted, holding himself as straight as he could. He knew that if he and Alyss didn‘t hit the water with as little impact as possible, it would be like landing on a sheet of diamond and they‘d be killed.
    Alyss barely had time to do as he instructed before they shot deep into the pool. She lost her grip on the Millinery man. He reached for her, but she panicked, flailing, and then she was out of reach. Falling deeper underwater, she opened her eyes, saw nothing but foam and a rush of bubbles, and shut them again, not wanting to face the unknown. Just when she thought that she couldn‘t hold her breath any longer and would drown in the depths, she stopped and reversed directions, heading up toward the surface with the same force and speed as her descent.
    Whoosh!
    She was out of the water and in the air, cannonballing out of a dirty puddle in the middle of a street where a parade was taking place. People dressed in various shades of dull, with strange, anonymous faces, were crowding the pavements and applauding her.
    All these jumping and spinning and juggling people. And…are those soldiers? She had been mistaken for a member of a gypsy troupe tumbling and twirling and performing magic tricks alongside a marching regiment.
    ―Bravo! Bravo!‖ the crowd applauded.
    Five bowler hats, an ivory-tipped cane, a pair of tortoiseshell eyeglasses, a rolled-up newspaper, a potato, and two plates of steak and kidney pie took to the air and circled overhead. The rolled-up newspaper smacked into a boy sitting on his father‘s shoulders. One woman ended up with pie in her face. Dazed, Alyss didn‘t even realize it was her imagination that had caused the objects to take flight. She was keeping her eye on the dirty puddle, hoping Hatter would appear.
    Then a gilded open carriage pulled by eight horses decked out in jeweled harnesses splashed through the puddle and she caught a glimpse of a woman—a queen, surely it was a queen!—
    inside, waving to the crowds.
    ―Mother?‖
    It was possible. Genevieve might have arrived in this world before her. If anyone could do it…
    And maybe being a queen in one world meant you were recognized as such in another? Alyss forgot about the dirty puddle and chased after the carriage, at which point the bowler hats, eyeglasses, cane, potato, and steak and kidney pie dropped to the