The night was deep. SoYoon mumbled as she watched the scenery pa.s.s by the window, "I never realized I would be this close to a perverted serial killer."
"I do have an obsession with gla.s.sware, but there"s no reason to call me a pervert."
SoYoon sighed so he could hear. Mad Hatter copied her sigh.
Mad Hatter glanced at her and said, "White Rabbit, you are at this very moment...Hmm."
Mad Hatter mumbled incoherently and went back to concentrating on driving. Fifteen minutes later, they were able to see the Wonderland sign. Before entering Wonderland, Mad Hatter parked the car and instructed her.
"Take out both boxes from the car, and carry just one of the boxes over. You can carry the big one. Unlike you, a brawny nitwit, I am a detail-oriented person."
SoYoon followed his directions and went into Wonderland with the box. There was the sound of a car exploding behind her, but she didn"t pay it any attention. She waited in front of Mad Hatter"s door. Within five minutes, Mad Hatter arrived. SoYoon waited until he went inside, then knocked, and waited for him to invite her in. As she stepped in with the box, she heard noises.
"This way."
Mad Hatter was in the kitchen. Unlike the living room and lab, he had organized the kitchen well. SoYoon realized that this cleanliness had nothing to do with food preparation. The kitchen"s only purpose was to contain the sink, cupboards, and refrigerator.
"What are you standing there for? You can put that down here."
SoYoon put down the box where Mad Hatter indicated. When she stood back up, she felt dizzy.
"White Rabbit?"
Mad Hatter called her. SoYoon shook her head.
"If I have to help you organize it also, then pay me first."
SoYoon received the 400,000 carol, including the taxi fare from Mad Hatter, and left the house. Mad Hatter clicked his tongue at her wavering walk.
She didn"t know how many years it had been since she"d gotten the flu, but it affected her greatly. Fever and lethargy and body aches that felt like her bones would squeak in protest made it difficult for her to get home. She didn"t want to run into anybody. And of course her wish was not granted.
"White Rabbit? It"s you, right? Where are you going so late?"
A slow baritone voice called out to her. It was the potion master, Duke. Under the night sky, Duke looked like the corpses he so loved. His yellow eyes watched her creepily.
"A young girl like yourself should not be wandering around this late. Really, you don"t even look well, and you are all alone...You are a bad child. You need a proper scolding from an adult now, don"t you? You are wavering. It looks like you will need some medicine. Why don"t we go to my house?"
Duke walked toward her with his long arms and legs swinging. He reminded her of a praying mantis. As he reached out his hand, SoYoon pulled out the knife she hid behind her back and stuck it right up to his nose.
"Get lost."
Duke was the only drug dealer in Wonderland. That was also the only reason this sc.u.m was able to survive in Wonderland for this long. But if I didn"t kill him, and just chopped off two of his legs, wouldn"t it be okay?
Sensing the danger reflected in those brown eyes, Duke backed away in fear. She put away her knife as she saw him running away.
Arriving at home, SoYoon replaced her patch and went to sleep and slept until the six-hour alarm she always set went off.
The next day, SoYoon woke late and stared a moment at the blurry ceiling above her, then closed her eyes again. She was s.h.i.+vering from the fever and cold sweats.
She hugged the blanket closer to her body and checked her cellphone. Heart had left a message to meet him around lunchtime. It was 11:17.
SoYoon got up slowly and went to the bathroom, splashed water on her face, and checked herself in the mirror after getting changed. She had a fever rash. Covering her right cheek with the mask, she no longer looked ill. With the sword and knife in place, she left the house.
The cool autumn wind blew past her neck and filtered through her clothes. She pulled up the zipper of the hoodie.
There was no way the attackers would stop because she was sick. SoYoon waved her sword at the constant flow of attackers. Arriving drenched in more blood than usual, she was shoved into the shower on Heart"s orders.
SoYoon stood in the hot stream of water. She grabbed her shaking shoulders with all her strength. Heart saw this as he stepped inside the bathroom, but she didn"t realize he had entered until he announced his arrival.
Finding Heart"s interested gaze, she asked, "What?"
"I was going to give you clothes to change into, but looking at you, I think this might be better."
The "better" were silk pajamas. He explained who the giant pajamas belonged to. So Yoon ignored him and s.n.a.t.c.hed the original clothes out of his hands. It was the clothes she had left behind a couple of weeks ago. She sat on the sofa and dried her hair with a towel.
"Business?"
"I called you to eat lunch together. I hear you went to help Mad Hatter with cleaning house at Outhouse yesterday. Is that locator spell all figured out, then?"
"Mostly. Give me another towel."
Heart threw a dry towel over her head, then playfully rubbed the towel harshly into her head. She thought about stopping him, but thought she might as well let him do it if it would dry her hair without her effort. She was just happy her wet hair was getting dry. After he finis.h.i.+ng drying her hair, Heart felt SoYoon"s forehead.
"As I expected—hot. Have you taken medicine?"
SoYoon didn"t answer. Heart jumped on top of her and laid her down. As he looked down, his ginger blond eyelashes fluttered like a b.u.t.terfly, and he looked through them at her.
"Do you want to sleep peacefully, or should we sweat some of this out?"
He placed his finger in the knot of his beige tie. He loosened the tie and unb.u.t.toned the first b.u.t.ton of his collar. His Adam"s apple moved as he swallowed.
SoYoon, with a dry mouth, exclaimed, "Give me the blanket."
Heart, laughing, got off of her. She took the blanket from Heart and closed her eyes. She could feel Heart looking at her but, used to people watching her, she soon fell asleep.
Heart looked at SoYoon upon hearing her toss in her sleep. She looked like a rabbit in a rabbit hole with just her head sticking out of the blanket. Quietly he crept over and saw her face red from fever.
"Mom, Mom. Where are you, Mom? I"m sick. Mom…"
With cracked lips, she cried like a small child. Heart froze for a moment then headed over to the medicine cabinet.
"Stubborn girl."
Heart walked back to SoYoon with the medicine. Since she was a research experiment, her tolerance would be high, so he brought five just in case. He remembered that it should be taken 30 minutes after eating, but he doubted that she had a sensitive enough stomach to cause trouble. He grabbed her chin. Drunk on sleep, she slowly opened her brown eyes.
"What...are you doing…?"
Heart didn"t answer and instead shoved the capsule in her mouth and poured in water. SoYoon, although half delusional, realized that a drug was in her mouth and tried to spit it out. Heart got on top of her and pinned her arms down with his knees. Then he blocked her mouth and nose.
"Mmm…! Mmm!"
"Swallow!" Heart commanded. SoYoon felt her throat move. Her eyes barely open and having no strength, she told Heart to get off of her. He got off without a fight. SoYoon was furious.
"Heart…!"
"Relax, relax. You have to get better if you want to do stuff. For example, a game for the position of White Rabbit."
SoYoon shut her mouth the moment Heart said this. However, her eyes were still glaring at him. Heart continued laughing.
"I really like you. Then shouldn"t you get back to health? To make sure you can keep White Rabbit"s position?"
Heart said something normal, which was uncharacteristic of a Wonderland powerhouse. "Although it"s not bad getting to play with you when you are so weak," he added.
"When?"
"I don"t know. When you are all better?"
Heart grabbed the long rope that was at his desk.
Soon, Heart"s minions came in pus.h.i.+ng a cart. Heart pointed to the sofa, and they put the tray of food in front of her.
"Since you"re awake, let"s eat."
SoYoon realized she hadn"t eaten since yesterday afternoon. As she got up, Heart sat opposite her. Thick potage (French potato soup), roasted chicken, salad topped with ricotta cheese, warm bread, steak with perfect grill marks, and even a pudding drizzled with caramel sauce lay before her. The smell itself made her hungry.
SoYoon took a spoonful of the potage. The potent taste of cheese spread through her taste buds. SoYoon ate to her heart"s content, not minding whether Heart was watching her. As she ate, the medicine kicked in, reviving her senses, so that the food tasted even better.
After finis.h.i.+ng the meal, Heart said concisely, "You eat well."
"It"s been nine years since I"ve eaten good food. It was delicious."
SoYoon thanked him after finis.h.i.+ng the entire pudding. They had given her only frozen or packaged food at the research facility, and the food at Central was disgusting. So with 100 percent sincerity, she thanked him.
"Coffee?"
"If you have it."
Heart stepped toward a small table. There, a cream-colored ceramic dripper and filter stood atop it. He placed a light brown filter into the dripper and with an antique-design hand mill started grinding beans. As he ground the beans, the office filled with the scent of coffee.
According to Wonderland, Heart loved coffee. SoYoon remembered the scene where Heart served Alice coffee. In the book, it only showed them drinking the coffee together, but she realized there was a lot of preparatory work before it.
The ground coffee was placed over the filter. He shook it lightly to make sure it lay even, then poured the hot water over it.
"The drip pot uses magic to stay hot. It"s designed so that nonmagical people can use it also," Heart explained, realizing SoYoon"s gaze upon the drip pot.
After the coffee was ready, he poured it into a white mug. The blue-tinted white ceramic complemented the deep dark color of the coffee. Steam rose from it, and she could taste the slight bitterness mixed with a subtle sweetness and could smell earth.
She was reminded of the hand drip coffee she had had at the cafe across from her school. The taste and smell that tantalized her senses were similar to those of the coffee from Papua New Guinea. SoYoon drank in the memory with her coffee.