Stupidly, my phone slips from my anxious finger. It drops to the floor and scatters in pieces. Looking at it, I feel my jaw hurting from the tension in my body. I have screwed up.

What have I done?

The clock on the wall says it’s 11:02 a.m.

Chapter 18

Downstairs, Alice Wonder's house, 7 Folly Bridge, Oxford, 11:00 a.m.

“No one knows what we’ve done, Edith.” Lorina picked up a mirror and checked her carefully drawn eyebrows, still sitting on the couch. “Boy, I hate my eyebrows. I mean, I love my eyebrows, but not enough not to hate them. Ugh.”

“How can you be sure that no one knows?” Edith pressed against her wound.

“It’s a mad world, sis.” Lorina plucked a stray hair away. A smile captured her lips, as if she’d conquered Rome. “Even if someone knows, who’d believe them?”

“I don’t know.” Edith sighed, frustrated with her sister’s carelessness. “But...”

“But what?” Lorina was done with her eyebrows. “Listen, sis. You need to get yourself together. Actually, you need to go out on a date, but we’ll talk about that later. Right now, we don’t care if anyone knows. Besides, even if someone does? it’s not like we’re alone in this. A lot of people have got our back. Do you think this mirror is a bit foggy?” She wiped the mirror with the tips of her fingers.

Edith said nothing. She only stared at her younger sister. Outsiders usually considered Lorina the airhead, boyfriend-hungry sister, who’d trip wearing her heals in a party. Little did they know that Lorina was the cruelest creature in the world, even compared to Edith.

“So I shouldn’t worry?” Edith said.

“Damn this mirror.” Lorina plowed it against the wall. She looked like a maniac for a second, but then returned to her Barbie-like look again. She stood up, rubbed her middle finger gently onto her lower lip, and approached Edith. “Sis, you can count on me.” She rested her elbows on the kitchen table, facing Edith. “What we have done in the past stays in the past. We’ve done our part. Others will do theirs. Soon it will all be just fine.” She pulled Edith’s hand up and smoothly wiped the blood away. “Is that the knife?”

Edith nodded silently.

“Well, aren’t you sentimental, keeping such evidence at hand.” Lorina rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you have destroyed it about twelve years ago?”

“It’s a good knife,” Edith argued. She had no idea why she had kept this knife so long, sharpening it every few months. “You still keep the dress.”

“Ah.” Lorina looked at it. “The housemaid dress. But fair enough. Each of us is keeping a piece of the memory. Blood on the dress. Blood on the knife.” She snickered. “Which reminds me.” Lorina clicked her fingers. “Did you get rid of the girl’s body from last week? The girl from Drury Lane?”

“I did.” Edith snickered, influenced by her sister’s morbidity. Sometimes, Lorina’s ease at doing horrible things was the best way to bond the sisters together.

“Chopped her to pieces?” Lorina raised an eyebrow.

Edith nodded, eyes wide open.

“Good, sis.” Lorina patted her. “Sorry I couldn’t help with the chopping. I had just manicured my fingernails.”

“It’s okay.” Edith rammed her knife through the carrot again. “I love chopping.”

Both girls laughed and forgot about the message.

It was a short-lived moment of happiness, though.

Lorina’s face changed all of a sudden. “Did you hear that?” She cocked her head upward. “I think Mother dropped something upstairs.”

“Mother isn’t in the house, Lorina.” Edith’s face dimmed again.

Both girls stared at the ceiling until they heard something moving upstairs. They lowered their heads and glared at each other. “A stranger is in the house!”

Chapter 19

Downstairs, Alice Wonder's house, 7 Folly Bridge, Oxford, 11:02 a.m.

I pick up the pieces of the phone and put them together again, cursing my clumsiness and irresponsibility. Thank God the phone wasn’t smashed. I just need to put the battery back in and clip it together. As I press the ON button again, my heart is racing. I could be responsible for children dying in some kindergarten somewhere. It seems so random, but even though I know none of these children, I have to save them.

The phone is on, and I message back:

I will do whatever you want, just restart the bomb!

I click send and stare at the clock on the wall. It’s almost 11:03 a.m. Did I miss the time? The wait is killing me.

My personal phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out. It’s the Pillar again. Why would he be calling me while he is watching my sisters downstairs?

The other phone beeps again. It’s an MP3 file. I click it open.

Playing the file, I realize I am listening to a conversation between my sisters. Strangely enough, I don’t recognize their voices immediately. Only when they start talking about me. What is this? I hear them talking about an “event.” A secret event no one’s supposed to know about? But that’s not the harsh part. I hear them talking about “what happened to me.”

What does that mean?

I feel the haze closing in on me again. My mind is spinning. Then the phone beeps one more time. A message from the Hatter:

I will reset the bomb once you pick up the next clue. It’s a housemaid’s dress, hung in the kitchen downstairs. Good luck with confronting your sisters!

On the other hand, the Pillar keeps buzzing my personal phone. Too many things happen at one. The clock on the wall says it’s 11:04 a.m. A surging sting rushes through my body. Hate. Anger. Insanity.

I tuck the gloves and fan in my back pockets of my jeans. I have a feeling I will need them later.

I open the door and dash down the stairs. Since the Hatter can see and record everything around me, I assume he is nearby. But I can’t waste time looking for him. I don’t even know what he looks like exactly. I do this to save the children—and to confront my sisters.

Chapter 20

Downstairs, Alice Wonder's house, 7 Folly Bridge, Oxford, 11:05 a.m.

At the foot of the stairs, I see Lorina and Edith staring back at me. They’re appalled at seeing me. I’m appalled to see them appalled to see me. One happy, appalled family.

Without hesitation, Edith waves a glinting knife in my direction. It’s as if she has seen a ghost. The look in her eyes suggests she wouldn’t hesitate killing me. How is this possible? Isn’t she my sister?

Still stiffened by the heaviness of the moment, I turn and look at Lorina. Maybe my Barbie girl sister will be kinder to me. But she isn’t. She looks upon me with pursed lips, as if I am unworthy of her gesture.

Previously I knew my sister rather mocked my insanity and blamed me for killing my classmates. I have been thinking about it for many a night in my cell: what have I done to them that made them hate me this much?

“Look what the cat dragged in.” Lorina almost sings the words, as if she is Waltraud making fun of me in the asylum.

“I think we should get rid of her.” Edith’s face is a bubble of hatred and evil.

“Kill her, you mean?” Lorina asks.

“Chop her like carrots and then kill her.” Edith snickers.

I can’t believe my ears. I must be insane—if I had a shilling every time the thought crossed my mind. This can’t be how the world operates. My sisters can’t be so cruel. It must be me who’s gone Willy Wonka.

“What have you done to me?” The words escape my mouth ever so slowly. “I heard you talk about me. What is this event you’re talking about?”

Then I see the dress hung on the wall behind them. I shouldn’t be wasting my time asking about me now. I shouldn’t be this selfish. My priority should be to get the dress and stop the bomb. But I can’t help it.