Page 51 of Wondrous

“Ugh!” Alex said.

“I know,” I murmured. “I think he misses Jack.”

“Misses watching him eat other moths by the handful?” Maria shook her head. “I think we’re lucky that nature only makes moths in extra small.”

Grackle fluttered up to my shoulder, and I stroked his wing, like Jack used to. I wondered if Grackle was upset that Jack had abandoned him. I tried to look Grackle in the eye, to share in a bit of empathy, but Grackle’s eyes were tiny black dots, barely visible against his dark brown head, so this didn’t accomplish much.

I poured our tea—fortunately, Alex and Maria had their own cups. I didn’t trust what the more-dangerous cup might do to me, so I was still drinking from the wisdom cup, which I was starting to think was a dud. I didn’t feel any cleverer than I’d been before. But then, as I’d already observed, wisdom wasn’t the same as confidence. Perhaps it was difficult to notice your wisdom if you didn’t believe in yourself.

“You still have your tea shop, Alice,” Maria said, smiling as I handed her a cup. “It’s just smaller now.”

“Oh,” I said. An unexpected smile spread across my face as I realized she was right. I still had my pot and kettle and several teas, which meant I could still whip up a rustic tea service in a pinch. The thought made me feel a little more at home, even in the middle of the wilderness.

“Not sure how much you were charging, though,” Alex said drily. “We’ll have to pay you back. Unless you accept fireworks.”

“Or—” Maria rustled around in her pockets. “Pocket lint!” She blinked at her hand. “No, wait—that’s a burnt moth! Ugh! How did that get in there?”

She flailed her hand so energetically that Alex and I laughed.

“If it makes you feel any better,” I said with sympathy, “I’m pretty sure I have dead moths in my hair.”

“Speaking of moths,” Maria said, “do you think Jack will come back for his pet?”

“No,” I said quietly, drawing my legs up. “I think he’s gone. I turned him into a human boy, which was all wrong—I never should have done that to him. He doesn’t fit in our world.”

“Maybe he didn’t fit as a jabberwock, either. I’ve certainly never heard of a jabberwock like him.” Alex gazed into the fire, her expression distant. “But I think I know what that’s like. To feel like you’re wrong.”

Maria bumped her shoulder gently, then turned to me. “What’s going on between you and Jack, Alice? You were giving each other looks last night.”

“I—I don’t remember looking at him, particularly,” I said warily.

“Well—that’s true,” Maria said. “It was more how you didn’t look at each other. He would watch you for a while and then look away when you looked at him. And then you would watch him for a while and look away when he looked at you. You just went back and forth like that, like a tennis match. I mean, he is appallingly handsome, but—well. Surely you don’t…” Her voice trailed off.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said. My face was hot, and I knew exactly what Maria meant, and that I didn’t want to discuss it. I still hadn’t worked out for myself how I felt about Jack, which was such a curious mixture of things, half of which were sensible things to feel about a jabberwock and the other half of which were decidedly not.

Alex shot me a quick glance, then said casually, “I don’t understand you, either, Maria. If you ask me, Jack is too handsome to be handsome. Beauty is like sugar—wonderful in small amounts, but too much can make you sick.”

Maria snorted. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.”

They began to bicker about it, and I felt a wave of gratitude. While Alex often acted aloof and could be plainspoken to the point of bluntness, I was beginning to realize that this didn’t mean she was coldhearted—quite the opposite, in fact.

Maria eventually rose to refill our teacups. She seemed to have forgotten I hadn’t answered her question. Alex, meanwhile, was sniffing at a lock of her hair.

“Yuck,” Alex said. “I smell like mock dragon now.”

Maria scoffed. “What does mock dragon even smell like?”

Alex made a come here gesture. Maria leaned over and smelled Alex’s arm.

“Ah,” she said. “You’re right. Mock dragon smells like that.”

I snorted with laughter.

“Alice, you must smell even more like mock dragon than either of us,” Alex said. “After all, you’ve caught two of them.”

They were both watching me with friendly, relaxed expressions. I gazed back at them, and I knew this was the moment we would become friends. I would tell them how I’d found Jack and then how we’d caught the first mock dragon together—tell them the story, not just the facts as I’d done before. They would tell me why they’d come back to Wonderland and what adventures they’d had before we met. Maria opened her mouth to speak.

“I’m tired,” I said. “I think I’ll have an early night.”