ACT 3
The Unseen Relationship Chart
After the first Survey Meeting, things went back to normal in Hatter Mansion. Elliot, the twins, and most of the other mobsters went in and out of the place as they dealt with dangerous “jobs.”
Still, it felt like the raids on the mansion had let up a bit. And when Alice was organizing the books in the reference library one time period, she asked her assistant maid a question about it—and received an unexpected reply.
“Well, sure-! Battles are basically banned during the entire time of the Survey Meeting-.”
“Really? I heard fighting’s prohibited during the meeting, but I thought that restriction only applied
to the area around the Coliseum?”
“The Survey Meeting isn’t like that-. Even if the first round is over, the second one will start up soon-. The Survey Meeting goes on until all rounds are over-.”
“So one meet-up isn’t the Survey Meeting—that’s the collective name for all the meetings?”
In the Country of Hearts, the Ball had only lasted one night. But it was true that in the Country of Clover, the Assembly had occurred several times... maybe the Survey Meeting was more like that.
“You know how the Survey Meeting itself works now, right-?”
“More or less. The leaders of each territory choose one of five national forces and compare strengths.”
“You got it-. In other words, the contest between the leaders is decided by the numbers, and if there’s a battle, that changes the numbers. So if they kept fighting during the Survey Meeting, it wouldn’t be an accurate survey-.”
“Oh. That makes sense, I guess.”
Alice knew the main reason for the “entertainment event” was to put people in close proximity for
discussions. But the Survey Meeting was also a competition that pitted forces against forces—any fight between leaders would have a direct effect on the strength or size of those forces.
Especially with how violent people are in this world. She wouldn’t put it past Elliot to raid the other territories if he thought it would help Blood win. And Dee and Dum would brave just about anything to increase their winnings.
Alice rose on her toes to slide a book onto a high shelf. But as she stretched her arm up, someone snatched the book out of her hand.
“Hey!”
“She’s correct,” Blood said evenly. “It’s an aggravating rule, but it’s still a rule. We can’t ignore it.”
Alice sighed and turned to the man, who flipped open the captured book.
This was another “fun” feature of the Survey Meeting—Blood was actually spending time in the reference library. He no longer just sent a servant. Alice was ready to suggest that he start doing that again to preserve more of his time.
“I asked you to gather some books for me last time period,” he muttered as he flipped through the pages. “Where are they?”
“I put them in a pile here... Huh?”
Alice tilted her head in confusion. A pile of completely different books lay in the spot where she’d placed her own.
“Oh, those-? I took them with some other books to the warehouse-...”
“What?” Alice blurted.
The maid swiftly apologized. “I’ll go get them now-,” she declared as she rushed out of the room.
Alice was left alone with Blood. He glanced up from the pages to lock that blue-green gaze on her.
“I know you work hard here,” he offered. “So I believe that you didn’t misplace them. And if they were all together, the maid will probably find them quickly. Don’t mind me—just go on with what you were doing.”
Alice let out a breath. “Okay. But if you need anything, just ask me.”
He hummed an affirmative.
Although she’d never said it to Blood directly, she
was really grateful to have the work of organizing the reference library. It housed a wide variety of tomes, including some blissful books from other collections that weren’t about violence. Alice loved books and enjoyed the job.
The moment she started concentrating on her work, she stopped worrying about other eyes that could be in the room. This was a place where she could ignore the fact that she still lived under surveillance.
She was using a ladder to reach a high shelf—a crafts book hidden within the culture category— when Blood suddenly spoke again, reminding her he was in the room.
“Do you like books?” he asked simply.
“Hm? What did you say?”
As she descended the ladder to answer Blood’s question, she realized that he had stopped reading the book in his hand at some point. His eyes were on her.
“I asked if you liked books. You seem to perk up when you’re in this room.”
Alice smiled. “Yeah. I enjoy organizing them, but what I really love is reading.”
She let one hand fondly trace down a book’s spine. This particular bookshelf had been a disaster when she’d started—now it was neat and organized by title, with only a few empty spots.
She was living a life surrounded by books again. She never would’ve guessed that organizing and delivering books for a publishing house in her old world would come in handy in a place like Wonderland.
“You said you wanted to borrow a book before, young lady. Have you finished reading it?”
“Oh, you mean that misshelved mystery novel? I had it finished before my next work shift.” She shrugged, but she heard her voice bounce a little. “I found the killer’s trick predictable, but the detective had an interesting character and backstory.”
Blood inhaled. After a long moment, he said, “But it wasn’t enough for you.”
“Huh?”
“It’s written on your face. You wish I had a wider variety of books. Not satisfied with the selection in my house, hm?”
Alice furrowed her brow. “That’s not what I mean. I just...”
She was organizing a reference library—not exactly the place for pleasure reading. And even though she received a more than decent salary for it, she was also working for a Mafia organization in the middle of a turf war. It wasn’t like she could leave and pop over to town to buy some pleasure reading, like she’d done when working at Heart Castle.
“You let me read whatever I want here, and I like the job. Besides, I’ve never been picky about genre—I can enjoy whatever books are in front of me.”
As Blood stared at her, she superimposed a memory of the old Blood over him. Books in this world always made her think of Blood in the Countries of Hearts and Clover. He’d always recommended and lent books to her, to read between work shifts at Heart Castle. He usually handed her books about tea or roses, granted, since they seemed to be his biggest hobbies—they weren’t as formal as technical manuals, but she learned a lot of new things from them. Even if they were (probably) part
of his strategy to manipulate her.
That was always a little frustrating, but she liked aspects of it. A little nonfiction was good for the soul. And learning about what he loved was like learning more about him.
She liked that memory.
“When I think you’re coming, ” he would say, “/ find myself wondering what book is worth choosing for you. I’m just happy for the distraction. ”
They’d both been busy people in Hearts and Clover, but they’d always maintained an oddly unhurried relationship. They’d never been apart for long. Considering he was a fearsome Mafia boss and she was a powerless Outsider, she imagined they made an odd pair.
And probably still did in Diamonds.
“If there’s any book you want,” Blood said at last, turning back to the tome in his hands, “just tell me. You work hard and you have decent taste. Just tell the maid, and I’ll see if we can get it.”
That took Alice by surprise. “Uh...what?” she blurted. “But this is a reference library. I can’t just order things that I think are fun .”
“It doesn’t have to be for here—we can leave it in your room. I’m sure you have space there for some books.”
“Well, yeah, but.. .are you sure?”
She was slightly more welcome in the mansion now, but that didn’t make her a pampered guest. And she didn’t know if she’d suddenly vanish from Diamonds someday, just as fast as she’d appeared— so she didn’t keep many personal possessions. Had Blood noticed that?
“You’re living and working in my house, and / don’t care if you have a few books in your room. You’ve barely touched your salary, so you can use that to pay for them.”
Alice frowned. “You’ve kept good tabs on me.”
“All you talk about in this library is work,” he murmured, a teasing edge to the words. “It’s a shame.”
Alice rolled her eyes to the ceiling. How could 1 forget what kind of man this is? she mused. Watching her from the shadows, cutting in with surprising insight. That level of intelligence fueled his bad attitude, after all.
“You don’t dress up like other girls your age,” he
went on. “And you don’t spend money on hobbies. It isn’t hard to figure out that you don’t know what to do with the money you’ve made so far.” He shrugged. “If you don’t feel any material desires, there’s nothing I can suggest. It’s just not a bad thing to invest yourself where your interests lie.”
Alice was surprised at how much he was pushing it. She hadn’t expected Diamonds Blood to talk like that, considering they weren’t exactly friends here. Maybe they were finally shedding the cold formality between a boss and subordinate.
After a moment of silence, she nodded. “Okay. Um...thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything worth thanks.”
He hadn’t turned his eyes up from the book in his hands. She cleared her throat.
“Should you really be here?”
“Yes. If I take the book with me, it’s a pain to return it afterwards. I just needed to quickly check something.”
“Oh. Uh...” While Alice tried to formulate an answer. Blood slid the book back onto the shelf and
grabbed another. He picked book after book and flipped through the pages.
He was head of the Hatter Family. He could just send a servant to the library to fetch a book, and then send the servant back to return it. So Alice figured he had other reasons for coming.
Still, his attitude and behavior baffled her. Even if the Blood in the other countries had liked her, she knew, all self-deprecation aside, that Diamonds Blood saw her as a friend at best.
Maybe there was some good to being in Diamonds, after all. She’d stopped constantly wishing she was back in the Country of Hearts.
I can never ...make up my mind. Do I even want to go back now?
The memory of Blood in the other countries remained vivid in the back of her mind. He’d invited her to the tiny rose garden in so many night periods. He’d always pushed her to leave the castle and move in with him.
It had probably just been lip service at the time, but that had been his version of courtesy. After all,
no member of the Mafia, let alone a boss, would be so welcoming of someone who was nothing more than an Outsider.
But Alice had always refused. She’d never felt that the Hatter Mansion was “her place” in the world, so she always answered the same way.
She watched the profile of the man reading a book nearby. Even if she’d accepted the invitation of the old Blood, that would have meant living with the old Blood. Not this Blood.
What kind of relationship did she want with this Blood? She pursed her lips and turned back to her bookshelves.
She lost her train of thought when she suddenly noticed the mess before her. She groaned aloud. “Not again.”
“Is something wrong?” Blood asked.
“I had this whole shelf perfectly arranged two time periods ago. But someone already messed it up!”
Blood walked up behind Alice and peered over her shoulder. She tried not to be self-conscious at the warm presence looming over her.
She swallowed and pointed toward a book’s spine. “See?” she asked. “This shelf’s supposed to be for books on construction materials. So what the heck is this?” She plucked the offending book from the shelf and furrowed her brow at the large image of a castle stamped on the red leather binding. “I guess the maid only looked at the cover when she put it away—”
“Wait,” Blood interjected. “I was just wondering where I put that. It was there?” To Alice’s surprise, a small, nostalgic smile flitted across Blood’s face.
She blinked at him. “This book is yours?”
“Yes. I own it—not the Family. I assume the maid accidentally added it to her stack when she was collecting reference books to return. I guess she stuck it here... Oh. That book over there is mine, too.”
His gloved hands gestured toward a bookshelf. About half the books were lined up on the shelf, but in seemingly random order. Alice’s eye twitched.
Her hand automatically went to pull the new book he pointed at, but then she stopped herself. “Wait. You mean this one?”
It had a familiar title; she even remembered the
author’s name. She opened the cover and looked at a number of pages.
She did know this one. She’d borrowed this very same book in the Country of Clover from Blood.
“What’s wrong with it?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she answered quickly. “Uh...yeah. Do you want me to have your books delivered to your room?” She’d been to his bedroom in the other countries plenty of times and knew he had massive bookshelves in there.
Blood shot her a dubious expression, but it quickly vanished from his face. “Sure. You can bring them to my room later.”
“Uh... You want me to bring them?” She hadn’t been in his Diamonds room yet; she wasn’t sure she was allowed there. “Are you sure?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Alice opened her mouth, then closed it. “Okay, then.”
And with that, he turned to leave. “I imagine the maid will be back soon,” he called over his shoulder. “Bring those books I ordered with you when you deliver mine.”
Alice once again asked if he was sure, and Blood waved a confirming hand as he exited the room. No more than a few moments later, the maid returned through a different door.
“Sorry for the wait-!”
Alice took a long breath. She carefully finished collecting her research material, tucked it in a file, and piled it with Blood’s books. She clutched everything to her chest and stepped into the hallway.
This Hatter Mansion had the same general layout as in Hearts and Clover; she walked the familiar corridors, enduring wary gazes from the Diamonds mobsters. But none of them stopped her beeline for Blood’s room.
Two guards stood at the door. She cleared her throat.
“Blood asked me to deliver these... Can I come in?”
“Of course-. Step right in-.”
Alice’s hands were full, but one of the Family mobsters opened the door for her. He waved her in.
The room hadn’t changed much between countries; she felt a rush of feelings well up in her heart. Nostalgia, relief...even a little discomfort.
An uncharacteristically big mess of papers and books covered his desk, in front of a wall of bookshelves stuffed with tomes stacked sideways or perched precariously. She didn’t smell the familiar, soothing scent of roses and hot tea.
Now she saw why the disorganized reference library hadn’t really fazed him. He was a bit of a mess. Blood shuffled through papers at the desk and glanced up as she stepped in.
“That was quicker than I thought,” he murmured. “I’m glad you’re so dedicated.”
“Well, I don’t have much to do other than my job.” She gestured to her books. “Where should I put the reference stuff?”
“On the table over there is fine.”
He pointed his pen at a coffee table between two couches used for meetings. Alice placed the folder on the edge of the table and held up his personal books.
“And where should I put these?”
“Wherever. Up to you.”
Is he busy? I expected him to have more opinions.
She headed to the messy bookshelf. Since most people organized their bookshelves by author or genre or something, she assumed he had a system. She wouldn’t let the chaos of the reference library spread to his personal space...especially since this was a much smaller job.
She slid the first book onto the shelf in its apparent space, righting and correcting the books around it. Then she moved around to place the others.
“Urn... This would be landscaping, and this is...”
Alice moved left and right across the bookshelves that lined the walls. As she tucked the final book—a detective novel—into its space, she puffed out a sigh and tilted her eyes up.
The shelf right above eyeline held a full row of children’s books. While she scanned the titles, her hands slowly dropped to her sides.
She recognized a series of five books in the comer bookshelf. But counting the volumes again, she found something puzzling.
“These books...”
Just like the book in the reference library, these were tomes that Blood had lent her in the Country of Clover. But in Alice’s memory, there were only three in the series. Alice had assumed Diamonds was a country stuck in the past, even if it wasn’t a completely perfect version of the past... so the two extra spines confused her.
“Is there something about those books that interests you?” Blood asked from behind her.
“I.. .guess you could say that.”
“Then take them.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” She heard his papers shuffling as his voice took on a hint of disgust. “No one loves reading more than I do, but I’m all tied up with the Survey Meeting right now.”
Alice brightened. “Thanks! Do you mind if I borrow all five books?”
“Go ahead.”
As Alice pulled the series from the shelf, she double-checked the titles and authors against what she remembered. Yeah, this is it.
She hugged the books to her chest, slightly irritated. She’d be leaving with as many books as
she’d come with.
When she turned back to him, he was still buried in some document. “From what I hear,” he murmured, “you hardly ever leave the mansion. Would you be interested in some entertainment?”
“Well, it isn’t so much that I don’t leave, but that it’s hard to leave... Oh. Yeah, I would.”
Was he teasing her? Still, she instinctively slid one hand into her pocket to run her fingers over Jericho’s ticket. She figured that if any of the servants found it, she’d come under even more suspicion, so she always kept it on her.
She’d made a promise never to leave the mansion without Blood’s permission, but since she didn’t intend to run or spill the place’s secrets, she was getting a little sick of being suspected for no reason. She didn’t get to talk to Blood in private much, so she figured she’d take a chance. She cleared her throat.
“Say, Blood...the next time I have a day off, would you mind if I went to the art museum?”
“Hn. The art museum...?”
Maybe he didn’t expect the question, but he
looked up from his documents with a wicked smile on his face. The nib of his pen tapped the paper over and over.
“You’ve already seduced the Gravekeeper?” he drawled. “Rumor has it that everyone loves an Outsider, but I think you also have a knack for using your charms.” Tap tap went the pen. “I can’t say I approve of your tastes, though. He’s already a dead man.”
Alice blinked. “A dead man?” she repeated, her stomach tightening in discomfort.
Blood leaned back in his chair. “If you really want to go, I won’t stop you. But if you manage to romance any good information out of the Gravekeeper, pass it on to your boss, will you?”
Alice furrowed her brow. “Please don’t make assumptions like that. And...I should get back to work.”
She didn’t like his answer, but it did seem like permission. I’ll take it, she thought.
Alice turned and left the room. Blood said nothing as the door shut behind her.
Alice spent some quality time in her room, splayed out on her stomach on her bed. She voraciously plowed through the books Blood had lent her.
She was already coming toward the end of the third book, but her heart filled with doubts. “There are different plot twists here,” she complained aloud. “When I first read it, this monk character wasn’t in it.”
It was a tale of a traveling group, and as far as Alice remembered, the main character had five companions. But by the end of the third book, one more had joined them: a monk. The group still had the same purpose for the journey, and all of the other companions and their backgrounds were the same... there was just a monk now. It confused her.
She finally finished the third book. As she put it down and reached for the fourth, her hand stopped. It slowly slid back to the sheets.
She sighed and closed her eyes. “It’s kinda like me as I am now,” she muttered. A completely unknown person joining a group.
The books even had plot developments that Alice had never read before, and of course, there were two extra volumes. Alice had stronger and stronger doubts about the books’ very existence.
Then Diamonds isn’t just a past version of the world I knew.
“If it has a different beginning,” she mused, “then of course it’ll have a different ending. But that’s not very... satisfying.”
If Peter hadn’t pulled her into the Country of Hearts first, then Alice would have had a very different point of view on the Country of Diamonds. The Hatter Family wasn’t as mature an organization; with such short-tempered thugs, Alice probably never would’ve chosen to stay there. Alice was, after all, a realist—she tried to protect herself from dangerous situations.
“I first thought Wonderland was a dream, and that drove my attitude. But now with everyone against me, I doubt I could even fake that attitude.”
Without any attachments or friendship, she might have just passed Hatter Mansion and kept going.
Thinking that, she let out a sardonic laugh.
“Maybe I wished for something different .”
Maybe somewhere in Alice’s heart, she’d wanted to build a different relationship with the people of Wonderland—something distinct from what she’d had in the Countries of Hearts and Clover. She knew worrying about it wouldn’t help, but the thought kept whirling around and around in her mind.
Like the spinning hands of a clock. She shook her head to clear it and rose from the bed.
She’d already decided to take Jericho up on his invitation and go to the art museum during the next time period. She guessed a Hatter guard or two would probably follow her there, since they still didn’t seem to really trust her. Their organization was still building its forces and clearly hated taking chances.
The downside of being a young, female Outsider around insecure mobsters.
She wanted a change of pace, so she left her room and ducked outside for a walk within the mansion grounds. As usual, she cut through the other Faceless wandering around, their eyes burning holes in her back.
“Good evening-,” one of them called, his voice careful. “Out for a walk-?”
“Good evening,” Alice replied politely. “Are you guys on patrol?”
“Yes, night patrol-. It’s such a pain, huh-?”
“It’s hard to find intruders when they use the cover of night-.”
She knew they were under pressure to watch her, so she couldn’t exactly blame them.. .but she wanted some space. Alice made for a place she knew would be more-or-less deserted.
As she traveled deeper into the mansion’s outdoor grounds, the weeds grew thicker under her feet; she tried not to trip on them. A bird hooted somewhere nearby.
Was that an owl? Alice followed the sound to the trees, curiosity compelling her.
In the shadow of a tree, she saw a human shape that didn’t look like a Hatter Faceless. The dappled moonlight played on his white suit jacket.
“...Blood?”
She squinted; the person vanished into the trees.
Had that been him? She followed the shadow.
She figured that if this place were forbidden to her, someone would’ve tried to stop her—like earlier. But no one had said a thing. She took a breath and ducked under an overhanging branch.
As she followed the white shadow deeper into the deserted area, Alice started to hatch a theory about where Blood might go. She didn’t know if the secret rose garden existed in Diamonds or not, but that place only admitted the few people who knew of it. Even Elliot had never been in the place. Blood had always saved it for himself, his sister...and Alice, whom he’d invited on a whim.
She hiked through the woodsy grounds, but couldn’t catch sight of Blood’s trail. She wrinkled her nose.
“I was sure it was this way...”
Maybe it was her own fault for letting him disappear. She glanced right and left, ignoring her feet until they suddenly rammed into something.
“Aagh!”
By the time she realized that someone had tripped her, she was spilling toward the ground. A rock-hard hand gripped her arm, yanked her up, and shoved her against a tree.
“B-Blood, what are you—”
Blood abruptly pinned her wrists above her head. His other hand shoved his cane against her throat.
“Didn’t anybody tell you this area is off-limits?” he hissed. “I stayed quiet and followed you, and I was thrilled to have finally uncovered your assassination plot.. .but here you are, unarmed as usual.”
Alice choked. “Assassination plot? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Decent ladies don’t chase men in the dark.”
“N-no, I was just...” She tried to swallow against the rod rammed up under her chin. “Whatever I did, I don’t deserve this!”
Maybe he wasn’t as bad as Elliot, but Blood in the Country of Diamonds wasn’t a patient man. She stared at him, imploring him to at least lower the weapon, but he only gave her a short, nasal laugh.
“If this is your idea of a come-on, you should try whatever you used to seduce the Gravekeeper on me. That sounds more fun” His lips curled. “But not in the woods. I like my women in my room.”
The cane dragged from her throat and started to trace the line of her body over her clothes. She felt less sexually threatened and more in danger of him killing her as he whispered in her ear, “Or maybe you like this kind of action.”
His low voice sent ice down her spine. This man acted on whims. That could make him do anything.
She cringed from the lips in her ear. “Stop it!” she cried. “I only thought you were going to the secret garden!”
Blood went silent as death.
He pulled back, his hand still gripping her wrists. Any expression on his face had disappeared, but something severe shone in his blue-green eyes.
Hostility.
That gaze pierced through Alice’s body and cut into her heart. She was terrified that she’d said too much.
Blood had told her how he’d kept his garden secret—he’d murdered the builders outside the mansion grounds, then created a hard and fast rule that no one was to enter the area without his permission. The only people who knew it existed
were the only people allowed in.
And Blood in the Country of Diamonds had never told her about the garden.
She could barely breathe as he stared at her with murder in his eyes.
“You,” he said, his voice razor-sharp and very, very cold. “What do you know?”
Alice tried to calm her pounding heart. Blood wouldn’t kill her yet. If she had information that he wanted, that had to come first.
She stared, morbidly fascinated, at the man who loomed over her. She didn’t know why she did that, when he could kill her right then and there.
His eyes, violent and disturbed, sparkled in the night gloom. He was interested in her. And in the intensity of that gaze, something deep in her chest clamored for her attention.
It wasn’t fear. Alice chewed on her lip as that sensation throbbed in her heart.
What’s happening to me? she thought in a panic. Am I crazy? He thinks I’m an enemy!
Was it that she’d become far too familiar with the insanity of Wonderland? She honestly didn’t
know. After a moment of thought, the words came smoother than expected.
“If you want to know something,” she told him, “then do your research. Or is it too hard for a Mafia boss to investigate one little Outsider girl...?”
She knew it was provocative. But she didn’t want to be the only one trembling.
She felt locked in a staring match as the silence dragged on. But the bitter cold between them finally drained away.
He released her wrists and took a breath.
She still sensed animosity as she slowly lowered her hands. But the threat in his voice had blurred together with an emotion she hadn’t seen in him before.
“I guess that’s true,” he murmured. “I see the value in investigating you. I’ll expose whatever truths you’re hiding.”
“I.. .look forward to what you find out.”
The words that tumbled out of her taunted him, but she was still confused about her own feelings.
This wouldn’t have worked on the old Blood. He would’ve never risen to such a cheap provocation from a teenage girl.
But it had worked. And Alice had an idea of what was coming next.
The question was, if it went as Alice thought, would she be happy or sad about it? What did these two Bloods have in common? How were they different? Her feelings toward them were so complicated she couldn’t explain it if she tried.
“Come to the secret garden whenever you like, ” the old Blood had said. “My word is law here, and I say you can visit anytime the mood strikes you. ”
The secret rose garden at night. She’d managed to gain access to his hard-won sanctuary...
But this place wasn’t his. It belonged to a different Blood Dupre.
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