14. Chapter Thirteen #2
"Just trying to understand the world I'm stuck in," I replied, aiming for casual but hearing the edge in my own voice.
Chi materialized closer, his chair somehow now directly beside mine without him having visibly moved.
"We've known each other through several reigns, several wars, and countless smaller conflicts.
" His tail curled thoughtfully behind him.
"Varik was quite different when we first met. More... revolutionary."
"Revolutionary?" I couldn't imagine the careful, measured Hatter as any kind of rebel.
"Oh yes," Chi purred, eyes gleaming with old memories, "The Hatter led one of the greatest uprisings Wonderland has ever seen.
Before he was the Hatter, he was known as the Clockwork Rebel.
" Chi's voice dropped to a theatrical whisper.
"He created magnificent devices that disrupted the Red Queen's magic, allowed common folk to slip past her Card Guards unseen. "
I stared at Chi, trying to reconcile this image with the cautious, protective man I'd come to know. "What happened?"
"What always happens to revolutionaries who get too close to victory," Chi said, his playfulness momentarily eclipsed by something darker.
"Betrayal. Sacrifice. Loss." His tail swished pensively.
"He lost someone very dear to him. After that, he retreated to the Tulgey Wood, became the Hatter, and focused on smaller magics—hats and clockwork and teapots. "
I couldn't help but wonder if that someone had been an Omega like me. The way Varik was so protective, so careful with me—it suggested old wounds, deep ones.
"And you?" I asked, turning the conversation away from Varik's past. "What's your story? Were you always..." I gestured vaguely at his form, which seemed to shimmer slightly at the edges even when mostly solid.
Chi's smile widened, a Cheshire grin in the truest sense. "Always changing? Always between states?" He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a silky murmur. "I was once as solid as you, little Alice. A courtier in the earliest days of Wonderland, when the first Queen still ruled."
"The first Queen?" I repeated, fascinated despite myself.
"Long before the current monarchies divided the realm," Chi nodded, his eyes growing distant with memory. "She was neither Red nor White, neither Hearts nor Clubs nor Spades nor Diamonds. She was simply the Queen of Wonderland, and the magic bent to her will like flowers following the sun."
I leaned forward, drawn by the rare seriousness in his voice. "What happened to her?"
Chi's form rippled slightly, the edges of him blurring into transparency before solidifying again.
"She faded. Or perhaps ascended. The stories differ.
" His tail curled thoughtfully around the leg of his chair.
"Some say she became Wonderland itself—that her consciousness merged with the realm she ruled until there was no separation between monarch and domain. "
"Is that... possible?" I asked, trying to imagine a consciousness expanding to encompass an entire world.
"In Wonderland? Many impossible things happen before breakfast," Chi replied, his grin returning.
"But whether it's true or what truly happened, no one knows for certain.
" He sipped some tea, where he got it I had no clue, the liquid casting strange shadows across his face.
"What matters is what came after—the splintering of power, the rise of competing courts, the endless struggle for dominance that has defined Wonderland for centuries. "
I considered this, rolling the silver bracelet absently around my wrist. "And where do you fit in all this history? You still haven't told me how you became... whatever you are now."
Chi's eyes gleamed with mischief. "Curious little Alice.
Always asking the most dangerous questions.
" He leaned back, his form becoming slightly more transparent as he relaxed.
"I was a courtier who loved secrets too much.
I discovered things the new Queens preferred remained hidden—truths about Wonderland's nature, about the source of their power.
When they realized what I knew..." He gestured at his own shifting form.
"They tried to erase me. But knowledge, once gained, is not so easily destroyed.
I became... something else. Neither here nor gone. Neither solid nor spectral."
His tail curled around the leg of his chair, and for a moment, genuine emotion flickered across his face—something ancient and wounded that made him seem suddenly vulnerable.
"So you've been hiding from them ever since?" I asked softly.
Chi's laugh shattered the serious moment, scattering into multiple echoes around the kitchen.
"Hiding? Oh no, sweet Alice. I've been tormenting them.
Appearing in their private chambers, stealing their secrets, whispering truths they'd rather forget directly into their ears while they sleep.
" His grin widened to impossible proportions.
"It's much more entertaining than hiding. "
"I imagine the Queens aren't too fond of your methods," I said, finding myself warming to Chi's rebellious spirit despite my lingering wariness.
"They've tried to capture me for centuries," Chi replied with obvious pride. "The Red Queen has an entire division of Card Guards dedicated solely to my apprehension. They call themselves the Cat Catchers." His laugh rippled through the air. "Most unimaginative name, but they do try so very hard."
"You're incorrigible," I said, shaking my head but unable to keep the smile from my face.
"A quality that has kept me alive for centuries," Chi pointed out, his tail swishing with self-satisfaction. "The truly predictable rarely survive Wonderland's whims."
I studied him more carefully, noticing how the light seemed to pass through parts of him while other sections remained solid. "Does it hurt? Being... in between like that?"
The question seemed to surprise him. His perpetual grin faltered slightly, something vulnerable flickering in those teal eyes before he masked it again.
"Sometimes," he admitted, his voice softer than I'd ever heard it. "On days when reality feels particularly... stubborn. When I wish to touch something and find my fingers pass through it instead." He flexed his hand, watching as it momentarily became translucent before solidifying again. "
"It's a strange existence," he continued, the usual mischief in his voice subdued.
"Not quite living, not quite... anything else.
But it has its advantages." His smile returned, though it seemed more genuine than his usual predatory grin.
"Few prisons can hold me. Few secrets escape me.
And I've witnessed more of Wonderland's history than almost any other being. "
I reached out impulsively, my fingers hovering just above his hand where it rested on the table. "May I?"
Chi's eyes widened slightly, genuine surprise replacing his usual calculated expressions. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded once.
I gently lowered my hand to touch his. There was resistance—not solid like human flesh, but something more like pressing against dense fog or thick water.
Warmth radiated from the contact, and beneath my fingertips, I could feel a subtle vibration —like a purr made tangible.
The silver patterns beneath my skin flared brighter, responding to his strange energy.
"Fascinating," Chi murmured, watching the silver light trace up my veins. "Your magic recognizes mine."
"Is that unusual?" I asked, mesmerized by the way my hand seemed to glow where it touched his semi-solid form.
"Extremely," he replied, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "Most living beings experience my touch as cold, almost painful. But you..." He turned his hand beneath mine, his semi-transparent fingers intertwining with my solid ones. "You're channeling the energy rather than rejecting it."
The sensation was strange—like holding hands with living electricity, warm and tingling and somehow deeply intimate. I felt a connection forming, delicate as spider silk but growing stronger with each heartbeat.
“You always surprise me dear Alice.” Chi purred, I could feel the heat of his eyes on me.
I found it difficult to look away from our intertwined hands.
The silver glow had spread up my arm, pulsing in time with my quickening heartbeat.
Something about this connection felt dangerous yet irresistible.
"What's happening?" I whispered, not pulling away despite the strange intensity building between us.
Chi's eyes had darkened to a deeper teal, his pupils expanding until they nearly swallowed the iris. "A resonance," he murmured, his voice lower and rougher than I'd heard before. "Your magic recognizing mine, reaching for it."
I felt a sharp tug in my chest, like an invisible cord pulling taut. Chi's form seemed to solidify further where our hands connected, becoming more present, more real. The kitchen around us dimmed, as if the house itself was holding its breath.
"Should we stop?" I asked, my voice barely audible even to my own ears.
Chi shook his head slowly, those teal eyes fixed on mine with an intensity that made my heart race. "Not dangerous. Just... unexpected. The magic is creating a channel between us."
The silver light traveled higher, reaching my shoulder now, while a corresponding glow—ghostly blue and violet—spread up Chi's arm. Where our hands joined, the colors swirled together in mesmerizing patterns.
"I can feel your heartbeat," Chi whispered, wonder replacing his usual sardonic tone. "Your thoughts... they're like whispers at the edge of my consciousness."
I gasped as I felt the same—a gentle brushing against my mind, like fingers testing the surface of water. Not invasive, but present. Curious. The sensation was nothing like the forceful push of an Alpha command. This was a request, an invitation.
"Is this... normal?" I managed to ask, though I couldn't bring myself to pull away.
"Nothing about you is normal, Alice," Chi replied, his voice a low purr that seemed to vibrate through our connection. "You've been in Wonderland less than a week, and already you're forming magical bonds that should take years to develop."
The door slammed open suddenly, breaking the moment. Varik stood in the doorway, his wild eyes widening as he took in the scene before him—our joined hands glowing with intermingled magic, the kitchen dimmed around us like we existed in our own pocket of reality.
"What's happening here?" Varik demanded, his voice sharp with concern as a growl left the back of his throat. The air in the kitchen immediately shifted, reality snapping back into focus as our hands broke apart.
The silver glow retreated beneath my skin like water soaking into sand, leaving only a faint shimmer behind. Chi's form rippled, becoming less solid as he leaned back in his chair, that familiar mischievous smile returning to mask whatever had just passed between us.
"Just a little magical experiment," Chi said airily, though his eyes remained unusually bright. "Alice was curious about my... condition."
Varik's gaze darted between us, skepticism clear in his expression. "That looked like considerably more than curiosity."
I rubbed my hand where the warmth of our connection still lingered.
"We were just talking about Wonderland's history, and I wanted to know what it felt like to touch someone who's not fully solid," I explained, though the words sounded hollow even to my own ears.
Something significant had happened—something I didn't fully understand myself.
Varik's expression remained skeptical, but he seemed to decide against pursuing the matter. "We have more pressing concerns," he said, removing his hat and running a hand through his disheveled hair. "The White Rabbit's information is helpful.”
Varik gave me a small smile, “Use the rest of the day to relax. I have to set up some meetings with the Tweedles. I think them and the Caterpillar's meetings should be right away.”
“I shall stay and see about teaching her a few things while you go do that.” Chi spoke, his eyes still dark as they looked at me.
Varik stared at Chi for a long moment, the tension between them palpable. Finally, he nodded curtly. "Very well. But defensive techniques only. She needs to master protection before attempting anything offensive."
"Of course," Chi purred, his tail curling with barely concealed excitement. "I wouldn't dream of pushing our Alice too quickly." The way he said "our Alice" made something flutter in my stomach—not entirely unpleasant, but unsettling nonetheless.
"I'll return before nightfall," Varik said, his eyes lingering on me with concern. "The house will protect you, but stay within its boundaries. The forest has grown... watchful."
After Varik departed, Chi turned to me with that unnervingly wide smile. "Shall we continue your education, little dreamer?"
I rubbed my palm where the lingering warmth of our connection still radiating through me. I had a feeling this training was going to be very interesting.