They sat around a table beneath an awning as they talked. It was an incredibly frustrating process. Caterpillar refused to speak directly to anyone who wasn’t Jack, Mom, or very occasionally her father. For his part, Dad was mostly staring off into space again. Charlie started out trying to look noble and ended up nodding off with his head on his ( Read more... )

When Alice was twenty years old, she committed high treason for the first time.

To be fair, the past couple of years had been hard on her. For one thing, once you reached Ace rank, promotions tended to slow- not so for her; she was an Eight, and it had taken her only three years since entry into the Ace ranks to get there.  She had the ( Read more... )

He stomped his way up to the tree; Jelly inched her free hand to the gun under her arm, wondering if she’d left any of the shadows he tracked by, or if he’d spotted her already. He was almost directly below her; she could see the top of his head, where the ear she’d shot off had left some wiring and metal exposed. Then March’s head jerked, ( Read more... )

It really was very dark in the forest. She was used to the more gentle grayness of the city at night, where even if there wasn’t a streetlamp on your corner, there were plenty glowing above it. Here the only source was the moon that grinned maliciously down at her, and the stars that twinkled just a bit too brightly.

Jelly tore through the woods, ( Read more... )

When Alice was eighteen years old, she realized that she needed to start watching herself.

It had been one of those days that had started out bad, rapidly declined to wrongwards, and ended up plunging straight through rock bottom. Her hand had been in charge of the Queen’s protection detail as she visited the city for her unbirthday celebration. ( Read more... )

Hatter beached the boat beneath an overhang, and made a crowflight for a pile of large, broad branches to cover the boat. Jelly helped Jack out of the boat, and then went to go help Hatter with the branches.

“Are we meant to be in the Forest of Wabe?” Jack asked as they worked.

“Yes,” Hatter replied. “I don’t know who that weirdo leading the ( Read more... )

When Alice was fifteen years old, she was in danger of being executed for the first time.

She’d been sentenced to death before, and the first couple of times it had been scary, yes. But she’d been young, and by and large in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one had seriously expected her not to be pardoned. Today, however, was a bit different.
( Read more... )

For example, in her dream she sat at her kitchen table in her little yellow house. To her left was Dormie, asleep as always, to her right was Hatter, his hat blown to comically large proportions, and across from her was Mad March, huge, fuzzy rabbit ears replacing his regular ones.

“You’re dead,” she told the assassin.

“No, you’re dead,” ( Read more... )

When Alice was fourteen, she became a Spade.

It wasn’t a decision she’d made lightly. There were four different types of Suits, and although you had to be appointed to the Hearts, if she’d really wanted to dress up and fawn over the Queen all day, she could have certainly used her friendship with Jack to that end. She could have been a Club; ( Read more... )

( Chapter Two )