and his rumperbabbit friends to dig several holes.”
“But that would go against the Jack’s advice,” M.H. said. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“ Isn’t it obvious? Wait for the child named Al or Roberts’s son to fall down a hole.” The queen laughed, growing louder and louder as the seconds trickled by. “I’ll tell the Joker to get his sharp toys ready because we are going to kill the Bleeding Heart Prophecy before time stops.”
C HAPTER F IFTEEN
( Ryley: Present Time)
I Googled Wonderland. One small town in Arkansas showed up on the search engine as well as a few places in the United Kingdom. Few places in the world still practiced the art of beheading . A family conspiracy was the only answer I could fathom. Alice Mae and the Maude sisters had to be jerking me around.
“ Well, if Alice Mae was from another dimension, it would explain her accent,” I said and looked up at Mr. Ruth who was perched on the kitchen table. Until I conducted amateur background checks on the Liddell family via the World Wide Web, he was under close surveillance. Why was the innocent looking stuffed animal under observation? Because when I returned home from the gas station, my mom’s ceramic frog was gone. It vanished.
I glanced at the wristwatch my old man had given me. It was a quarter to four, and I still hadn’t figured out what Courtney and I were going to do for our date. I mean, I knew what I wanted to do with Courtney—kiss and not stop until I ran out of air. But, I couldn’t get a particular blue shade of lipstick out of my head…
“ Is this stuffed rabbit giving you any good advice?” my mom asked, walking into the kitchen.
“ He’s not much of a helper.”
“ Rumperbabbits usually aren’t.”
“Did you just call rabbits rumperbabbits?”
Mom blushed. “It was just something your father used to say. He used made-up words often and sometimes spoke in riddles. He kept little secrets, but that was a long time ago. What’s troubling you?”
Mom sounded like Alice Mae. I shook her from my mind for the nine hundredth time that hour. “I have a date with Courtney, and I haven’t a clue of what I’m going to do.”
Sitting down beside me , she said, “The standard dinner and a movie is a failsafe.”
I pushed my phone toward her so she could see the screen. The night showcase was on it. “A solid line up of chick-flicks, and I want this date to be unforgettable.”
“ Your father used to take me to the movies all the time.”
“ Your point?” I asked, and then winced at my insensitivity.
My mom took her time to respond. Usually , I kept my personal opinion of my dad buried deep, but sometimes it showed its ugly face—at my mom’s expense. Times like this I wished there was a rewind button to life so I could take back what I had said.
“ Robby wasn’t all bad you know.”
“ So why did he insist that we move towns so often?”
“ You know Robby was diagnosed with paranoia, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t brilliant.”
“ So we moved all over the country because he once was a smart man and you followed his lead?” I took my mom’s hand and gave it an extra squeeze. “He’s not the man you married, Mom. Dad isn’t there anymore.”
“ Ryley, he asked me to relocate often to keep you hidden.”
“ From who? The boogie monster?”
H er stern expression stopped me from saying anything more regrettable. “He asked that of me before you were born, Ryley. It wasn’t a request made after his mind broke. Someone wanted revenge, and your father had it in his head that they were going to take you away—far, far away from us.”
“ Why?”
“ He said that I was forbidden to know. Years later, right before he was institutionalized, he rambled on about beheadings and prophecies. It was one of the few promises he asked of me, and I wasn’t going to let him down—no matter what.”
C HAPTER S IXTEEN
( Alice Mae: Third visit to
“But that would go against the Jack’s advice,” M.H. said. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“ Isn’t it obvious? Wait for the child named Al or Roberts’s son to fall down a hole.” The queen laughed, growing louder and louder as the seconds trickled by. “I’ll tell the Joker to get his sharp toys ready because we are going to kill the Bleeding Heart Prophecy before time stops.”
C HAPTER F IFTEEN
( Ryley: Present Time)
I Googled Wonderland. One small town in Arkansas showed up on the search engine as well as a few places in the United Kingdom. Few places in the world still practiced the art of beheading . A family conspiracy was the only answer I could fathom. Alice Mae and the Maude sisters had to be jerking me around.
“ Well, if Alice Mae was from another dimension, it would explain her accent,” I said and looked up at Mr. Ruth who was perched on the kitchen table. Until I conducted amateur background checks on the Liddell family via the World Wide Web, he was under close surveillance. Why was the innocent looking stuffed animal under observation? Because when I returned home from the gas station, my mom’s ceramic frog was gone. It vanished.
I glanced at the wristwatch my old man had given me. It was a quarter to four, and I still hadn’t figured out what Courtney and I were going to do for our date. I mean, I knew what I wanted to do with Courtney—kiss and not stop until I ran out of air. But, I couldn’t get a particular blue shade of lipstick out of my head…
“ Is this stuffed rabbit giving you any good advice?” my mom asked, walking into the kitchen.
“ He’s not much of a helper.”
“ Rumperbabbits usually aren’t.”
“Did you just call rabbits rumperbabbits?”
Mom blushed. “It was just something your father used to say. He used made-up words often and sometimes spoke in riddles. He kept little secrets, but that was a long time ago. What’s troubling you?”
Mom sounded like Alice Mae. I shook her from my mind for the nine hundredth time that hour. “I have a date with Courtney, and I haven’t a clue of what I’m going to do.”
Sitting down beside me , she said, “The standard dinner and a movie is a failsafe.”
I pushed my phone toward her so she could see the screen. The night showcase was on it. “A solid line up of chick-flicks, and I want this date to be unforgettable.”
“ Your father used to take me to the movies all the time.”
“ Your point?” I asked, and then winced at my insensitivity.
My mom took her time to respond. Usually , I kept my personal opinion of my dad buried deep, but sometimes it showed its ugly face—at my mom’s expense. Times like this I wished there was a rewind button to life so I could take back what I had said.
“ Robby wasn’t all bad you know.”
“ So why did he insist that we move towns so often?”
“ You know Robby was diagnosed with paranoia, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t brilliant.”
“ So we moved all over the country because he once was a smart man and you followed his lead?” I took my mom’s hand and gave it an extra squeeze. “He’s not the man you married, Mom. Dad isn’t there anymore.”
“ Ryley, he asked me to relocate often to keep you hidden.”
“ From who? The boogie monster?”
H er stern expression stopped me from saying anything more regrettable. “He asked that of me before you were born, Ryley. It wasn’t a request made after his mind broke. Someone wanted revenge, and your father had it in his head that they were going to take you away—far, far away from us.”
“ Why?”
“ He said that I was forbidden to know. Years later, right before he was institutionalized, he rambled on about beheadings and prophecies. It was one of the few promises he asked of me, and I wasn’t going to let him down—no matter what.”
C HAPTER S IXTEEN
( Alice Mae: Third visit to
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