She stood there shivering for a moment, from anxiety or cold she wasn’t sure, wondering what to do next. She half-expected Wade to appear out of thin air, but when he didn’t, she decided to call him. Her iPhone had no signal though, no matter which way she turned.
There wasn’t anything else to do but follow the driver before he got too far ahead.
She used the “flashlight” function on her iPhone and with that little bit of light made it to the side of the building where the driver had gone. It was solid black brick as far as she could tell, no windows or doors. So how had he disappeared?
Alice swept the light from her phone this way and that. She walked down the wall, frowning, perplexed, her heels unsteady on the gravel. Sighing, she ran her hand along the wall like she had when she was a kid as she paced and was about to turn and go the other way when the wall ended. Startled, she used the light on that part of the wall and realized it had depth. There was a section missing here, but the brick was so black, so seamless, it all ran together.
She slipped through the opening and found herself on a stairwell leading down.
There was nothing else to do but descend. And descend. And descend. There was a handrail on her right, and the steps were wide stone, cold radiating from them the deeper she went. She took her shoes off after a while and carried them because her feet began to hurt, and because she could travel faster that way. Thanks to her phone, she could at least see where she was going, but the end still came so abruptly she nearly ran into the door at the bottom.
She contemplated the door. It had no handle or window and appeared nearly seamless. Remembering how she’d run her hand along the wall, she reached out to touch the door. It was metal, smooth, and when she pushed, it gave.
“Curiouser and curiouser.” She pushed harder and it swung inward, letting out a bit of light and the scent of something musky and a little wild, like an animal’s lair. She didn’t have time to contemplate that though, because there was a hallway, and Alice saw the driver in the dim light hurrying down it, his white gloves flashing at his sides.
“Wait!” she called, hurrying after him. He was her only connection to the outside, to Wade, to anything familiar, so she followed him as fast as she could manage. The floors and walls were stone down here too, the way lit with bare bulbs strung far apart across the ceiling.
The driver took so many twists and turns she knew she would be hopelessly lost if she stopped and tried to go back. Her only hope was to catch up. She walked quickly and then started to run, calling after the driver, but no matter how fast she went, she couldn’t seem to catch him.
“Please!” She sounded desperate, and she felt that way too, she realized. The driver seemed to have slowed and that made her hurry even faster in spite of the stitch in her side. She was closing the distance. “Please just tell me where we are!” He stopped and turned, the white outline of his hand pushing open a door. She was only ten feet from him now and the light coming from the room he’d opened was inviting. Panting, she made it another five feet, calling out, “Please! Where is Mr.
Knight? Where are we?”
“Why, don’t you know?” The driver flashed a distracted smile as she neared, pushing the door fully open and waving her through. “This is Wonderland.” She stepped through the doorway and found herself in an oddly shaped room.
The floors were black and white parquet and the ceilings sloped upward to a point in the middle. They were draped with fabric, red and white, like a circus tent. There appeared to be no doors or windows, and when the driver stepped into the room, the door behind them disappeared into the obsidian wall.
Alice stood, stunned to silence, perplexed, watching the driver cross the room.
He pushed against the wall and another door appeared.
“Wait!” she called, rushing after him, determined not to be left behind again. “Can you take me to Mr. Knight?”
He stopped, turning only briefly, a distracted look of pity crossing his face. “You should take heed of the instructions on the table. Don’t worry, Miss. I’m sure he’ll join you shortly.”
“What table-?” She turned to look at the room and he was gone, the door disappearing as if it had never been there. Alice growled in frustration, pushing at the wall in the same spot, but it didn’t give. She dropped her shoes and put her phone back into her purse, leaving that on the floor as well and went all around the room, finding it had eight sides, like an octagon, pushing and pushing, looking for a way out.
She didn’t find one, but she did find the little table with the instructions the driver mentioned. She hadn’t noticed it at all when they arrived but there it was, a little glass bistro table set with a plate and a wine glass. The glass was full of a red liquid she could only assume was wine. The plate held an hors d'?uvre of some sort. She couldn’t identify it, but when she got close, it smelled sweet, like honey.
She’d been hoping for a long list of instructions, or perhaps just the words, “Wait, I’m coming for you.” She would have waited for him forever. Instead, there were two small notes, scrawled in someone’s handwriting, not Wade’s she was sure. The one by the glass said, “Drink me.” The one by the plate said, “Eat me.” Which first? She picked up the little hors d'?uvre and contemplated it. She could almost hear Maddie screaming in her head. Don’t do it! What are you thinking? It could be anything! Poison! A date rape drug! Allliiiiiiiiccce!
She defiantly popped it into her mouth and chewed. Honey, she’d been right about that much. Honey and pecans and cream cheese on a tasty little cracker. Yum.
She licked her lips and cleaned her teeth off with her tongue, looking at the other note.
The honey was still so sweet and bright in her mouth she hated to wash it away with wine. She’d never been much of a drinker.
Of course, she would drink it anyway, if that’s what Wade wanted her to do. She smiled and took a slow turn around the room, looking up at the red and white stripes of the fabric hung from the ceiling. It didn’t really look anything like it, but it made her think of Wade’s ‘Sanctuary.’ It had the same feel, the same vibe. The thought made her flush with warmth. The anticipation she’d been feeling upon getting Wade’s phone call returned as her fingers brushed the smooth, dark walls, her bare feet cold on the stone floor, wondering what came next. She probably should have been afraid-she knew Maddie would have been terrified-but she wasn’t. She trusted Wade, and he had brought her here.
Did he, Alice? Are you sure? Maddie’s imagined voice made her stop and cock her head like a dog listening for its master. Wade has always come for you himself in his own car. He takes you to his place, or maybe out to a club. But he’s never sent a driver, and he didn’t tell you about this place, whatever it is. And by the way, what is it exactly?
All of that was true, but it didn’t mean anything. Besides, strange drivers didn’t just show up unannounced on people’s doorsteps to take them to unfamiliar places in the middle of the night for no reason. She was sure someone had paid him. That Wade had hired him. What other explanation was there?
She didn’t have any more time to ponder the question because a door burst open behind her out of nowhere. Alice’s heart leapt, but when she saw her visitor wasn’t Wade, her belly clenched with fear. The man who entered was a mountain, dressed in a red velvet robe from head to toe, all trimmed in silver. He also wore a silver crown that sat cockeyed on his head. He smiled at her though-that was encouraging. Perhaps he was here to take her to Wade.
“Alice in Wonderland.” The man laughed, delighted, and took her hand. She watched, bemused, as he lifted it to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles. He had a mustache that tickled her. She was so involved she missed the other figure standing behind him until she spoke.
The woman was similarly dressed, all in red with silver trimmings and a crown, but she wore far less material. Her corset was red with silver lacings, but it ended below her heavy breasts, pushing them upward. The bottom of the thing was open as well, showing the shaved swell of her mound. The outfit was covered by a red lace peignoir that hung open to reveal her lush body.
Alice saw the woman’s sharp look and slowly withdrew the hand the man was still holding. She didn’t know who they were, but they were clearly together, and the older woman didn’t seem to like the attention the man was paying young Alice.
“You curtsy before the Red King, my dear, or you’ll lose your head.” The woman’s lips were as red as her outfit as they stretched into a slow, sly smile.
“I didn’t know,” Alice said by way of apology, awkwardly approximating a curtsey before the king. An idea struck her and she turned to the woman, curtsying even lower before her. “Then you must be the Red Queen.”
It was simple deduction but the queen seemed pleased as Alice rose again, looking between them both. Clearly this was some sort of game, a scene being played out. She’d been to enough BDSM clubs with Wade to know what they looked like, how it all worked. But where was Wade?
“Come child, it’s time to play our game.” The Red King moved so quickly Alice wondered at his speed, given the man’s bulk. He was more executioner than king, at least in size, but he moved as swiftly as a cat, and before she knew what was happening, her dress and wrap had been slipped from her shoulders to a puddle on the floor and leather manacles were attached to each wrist and ankle. They were secured to the floor with a silver length of cord as thin as thread, but when Alice pulled on them, they held fast.
Then the floor began to rise.
Panicked, Alice tried to jump off the dias but the restraints tightened and kept her in place. The Red King jumped up onto the platform beside her as it rose, but the Red Queen stayed below. Alice let him hold onto her, afraid of heights as she was. They were four feet in the air now, on a round raised section of floor.
“Don’t be afraid.” The king breathed his words, warm against her neck, and it made her shiver. “This is only a test.”
Alice relaxed almost immediately. Of course. Wade had created this scenario to test her. But why? How? And what should her response be? Already she could feel the king’s strong hands squeezing her upper arms, the way he held her naked body back against his robed one. He had intentions. But were those Wade’s intentions?
“Transmission!” The queen called out from below and Alice gasped when something flickered across the room against the black wall, a faint glow growing in the dimness. She stared as a picture began to take shape and when she recognized it, she whimpered in response.
“Alice, you have been chosen.” Wade’s words were spoken with a smile. “If you pass this test, you and I will be together. Forever.” The words made her belly clench, her heart race. She knew very well how phobic Wade was about commitment. At the beginning, Alice had talked about marriage and children and houses in the suburbs, but Wade’s silence on the subject had quieted her too. She’d learned to let him go at his own pace. You couldn’t push a man like Wade.
So she had waited and hoped. There had been times, especially with Maddie’s voice in her head, that she’d considered breaking it off. But Wade had a way of keeping her coming back for more, yet always leaving her wanting, just a little.
“Kitten…” His pet name for her. She melted at the word, at the almost shy look on his handsome face. “All you have to do is say yes.” If this was it-well, it was a hell of a marriage proposal. Strange and distant and yet sweet and exciting, just like Wade. Alice felt tears stinging her eyes.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”
Behind her, the Red King chuckled.
Then the picture went back to black, and the Red Queen cried out, “Consent! We have consent!”
“Wait-” Alice struggled. She’d almost forgotten her restraints, that the king was still holding her in the bulk of his arms.
“No time for that now.” The king stomped hard on the floor with one foot and Alice felt things began to change beneath her. The floor itself was moving. No, it was softening, melting, turning into some other substance. She expected to look down and see herself covered in some sort of goo, but the stuff was solid and it cushioned her feet. It was strange, impossible, but true.
The king let her go and she stood, still manacled, in the middle of the dias. He walked around the edge of it, studying her naked body. Alice flushed and went to cover herself, but the instant she even thought about it, the leads on her restraints tightened and prevented the motion.