Malice in Wonderland Bundle 2
Contents
Title Page
PART ONE Malice Hates Fairy Tales #1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
PART TWO Malice Hates Fairy Tales #2
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
PART THREE Malice Hates Fairy Tales #3
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
About the Author
Copyright Page
Books by Lotus Rose
More info at loteyrose.com
The Corruption of Innocence, The Doll Queen, Poniworld Chronicles
Twisted Holiday Specials
SinEaster
Merry XXXmas, Charlee Frown
BlackHearts Day
Gothic Lolita Series
Gothic Lolita
Gothic Lolita 2: Heirloom
Gothic Lolita 3: Pageant
Malice in Wonderland Saga
Malice in Wonderland Prequel
Malice in Wonderland #1: Alice the Assassin
Malice in Wonderland #2: Alice the Angel of Death
Malice In Wonderland #3: Alice the Girl Who Will Tear Your Heart Out and Show It To You Before You Die
Malice Hates Fairy Tales Trilogy
Jabberwocky Trilogy
Faerie Brace-Face Trilogy
Faerie Brace-Face
Revenge of the Faebots
The Return of Mackenzie
PART ONE
Malice Hates Fairy Tales #1
Chapter 1
Malice peers around the croquet ground. She is searching for one of the mallets she had broken in half yesterday and thrown in a fit of her heart “malfunctioning”.
“Morrrlleey!” she calls out.
She hears Morley’s muffled voice calling from somewhere inside the castle, “Yes My Queen, what is it?” Now the pink flamingo comes shuffling through one of the garden’s entrances. “You called me?”
Morley is now standing in front of her, breathing heavily, but Malice knows he is merely exaggerating for effect, and will probably throw another hissy fit, she just knows it.
Malice opens her mouth, about to inquire about her mallet, when Morley interrupts. “I’m sorry I’m so out of breath, Your Highness, it’s just that I’m so unused to traveling without my much-needed electric scooter.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t start that again. I told you I’m not switching time back to the future. And besides, the watch is broken.”
Morley narrows his eyes in irritation. “So you say…”
“Gah! I say it because it’s true! And it’s been three weeks, so please get over it!”
Morley continues taking deep gasping breaths of air, and seems to have trouble saying what he’s about to.
Malice thinks to herself, My my my, he sure is dedicating himself to this role, isn’t he?
Finally, Morley gasps out, “It’s just that I could so much better serve you with my electric scooter, and plus I like so much better the younger version of you.”
She points at him in her fury. “You! Off with your—” She shakes her own head.
I’m angry, she thinks to herself as her kindness subroutine kicks in. Of course I’m angry, but I shouldn’t lose my head, nor should any else lose theirs either. “Arggh. Just…shut up…please!” That last “please” was provided by the injection of her ticktock heart’s kindness subroutine.
“As you wish,” Morley says, now he sets his beak firm and fixes her with a withering look.
I must remember to be nice. After all, I am not like the Queen of Hearts. My hair is black, not brown, and my dress is much less poofy, oh, and I don’t wear clown makeup like her either.
Malice tries to use a softer voice as she says, “Don’t you think if I could change my age back, that I would? But no, I’m 15 now, and we’re back in 1865’s ‘primitive’ technology, and all your whining won’t do a confounded thing to change either!”
A few weeks ago, Malice had grown disenchanted with all the futuristic technology that had recently come into fashion in Wonderland, so as one of her first acts as the new Queen of Wonderland, she had decided to reset everything in the land back to 1865. The year in Wonderland doesn’t change on its own, and no one ages either, except Malice and Alice. So she’d used a magic watch that had once belonged to the March Hare. Of course, she didn’t know what she was doing, and had managed to rapidly age herself two years before resetting Wonderland technology back to how it was when she’d first been “born”. But of course she’d ended up breaking the watch by winding it backwards, which apparently, watches aren’t designed to do.
Malice hears an irritatingly familiar chuckle behind her and angrily whirls to glare at him.
There he is, just his creepily grinning head, floating in midair. The Cheshire Cat.
He gasps. “Oh! Good morning, Your Royal Highness,” he coos soothingly, but she knows he’s just mocking her. He’s always mocking. He peruses her scowly face, and adds, “Having a change of heart?” His brow raises expectantly.
But Malice’s kindness subroutine does its job and forces her to smile at him. She can see the disappointment in his face as she pleasantly says, “I really wish you would stop saying that ‘change of heart’ thing. My heart is fine.”
Behind her, she hears Morley huff.
The Cheshire Cat’s floating head looks skeptical, as he says, “So you’re not feeling particularly murderous this morning? Because there’s something I’ve been thinking of telling you about the Queen.”
“I’m the queen,” Malice says. “I replaced her, remember?”
The Cat tuts and makes a sour face.
Behind her, Morley says, “Then why do we still call her Queen of Hearts?”
The Cat quips, “Because that’s the only name she’s ever had.”
Malice huffs at the foul, floating feline’s head. Without turning, she says, “Morley, Your Queen requests you find Our mallet, quickly.” She is pleased to note that she said that quite pleasantly. She’d become alarmed lately that her ticktock heart would continue malfunctioning. It had already completely stopped providing her with genius level thoughts. It still provided her the kindness programs, but sometimes that would shut off for hours at a time.
“Yes, milady,” Morley says. “Despite having to go by foot.” She hears him stomp off.
The Cat chuckles. “Has our good ol’ ‘refined
poet’ been complaining about the lack of technology again?”
“Yes, but I’m not messing with time anymore. I don’t want to mess things up anymore than I already have.”
He nods. “I do like how it broke your heart. I much prefer the old, heartless version of you.”
“It’s not broken.”
“I hope you’re wrong. Why, when you’re beautifully gloriously malicious, you’re almost as cruel and bloodthirsty as the Queen of Hearts herself. Oh, it is then that I find you most beautiful.”
Malice had been “born” without a heart, so she had once been cruel and heartless, but then she’d acquired the Ticktock Heart, which had computer programming that gave her a conscience. Unfortunately, when she’d reset technology in Wonderland, it seemed to have affected her ticktock heart, causing it to malfunction occasionally. She was just grateful her heart hadn’t vanished completely, though she wasn’t sure why it had been spared, but she suspected it might have to do with how she was wearing the watch around her neck at the time.
Malice squares her shoulders. “Well she’s in the dungeon for a reason.”
“Because you refuse to kill her,” says the Cat.
Malice says, “Because she was a cruel ruler, who was always having people and creatures beheaded.”
“And you refuse to kill her.”
“Yes, because of my kindness subroutine, I refuse to have anyone killed.”
“That’s a pity. I do so love seeing the rightfully accused being bloodily dealt justice. Speaking of her, I wish to inform you of something about her.”
“You said you wanted to tell me something about that…lady in the dungeon?”
The Cheshire Cat’s always-there creepy grin twitches. “You mean, the Queen?”
“There it is!” she hears Morley call out in the distance.
“Yes,” Malice answers the Cat.
Now, the Cat says, “Which one? The Red Queen? Or…” He’s intentionally drawing things out, teasing her.
Malice loses her temper. “The Queen of Hearts, you stupid cat!” She realizes her hands have formed into fists at her side.
The Cheshire Cat’s floating face lights up with glee. “Ah, there she is! My beautiful angry Malice. Do you wish to finally give the Queen of Hearts what for?”
Malice shakes her head to clear it, tries to compose herself. “No. I’m sorry I yelled. But what do you want to tell me?” She’s worried, she feels like her anger is barely contained—she wants to do mean things—her ticktock heart doesn’t seem to be doing its job at the moment.
Her fists tighten and relax as she struggles to maintain control, and she can feel the Cat’s stupid, judging eyes watching her, appraising her, making her angrier.
The stupid cat purses his stupid cat mouth. “Perhaps I shan’t. You know I don’t like to interfere. I’m an observer…at heart.”
Malice explodes. “Confound you…you…you gormless feline!” It is at this awkward moment that Morley chooses to come up next to her, holding the upper half of her broken croquet mallet in his beak.
He drops it, now says, “Your Royal Highness, I found your mallet, though without my electric scooter, it has exhausted me ever-so-much.”
Malice turns to him. She is sure her face must be red with anger. She can’t take it anymore. “Don’t…” she warns.
The Cat teases, “The other queen wouldn’t put up with that mouthiness, that’s for sure.”
In a whiny voice Morley says, “It’s just, why can’t you just try to reset things? I miss my scooter.” And now he starts that fake heavy panting again.
Malice feels her mechanical heart cease its ticking.
And something snaps inside her and she can feel the hold of the kindness program slip away. And she finds herself yelling, “You! I’ve had enough, you faker!” And she is kneeling, and now picking up the mallet.
And the Cat is chuckling, saying, “Ah, there she is, she emerges!”
And she is surging with anger and hatred—she can see Morley’s face become full of fear. “Uh oh,” he says.
“I’m going to kill you!” Malice shouts. She swings at him, but the creature twists aside, turns around and runs.
Malice chases him while screaming, “I shall beat you…” She swings. “…black and blue!” Swing.
And the Cat laughs as he floats beside her. “I love you so much right now!”
And Morley is running so fast and turning and ducking so much, that none of Malice’s whooshing swings connect.
I want to see that confounded bird’s head in the guillotine! I want him dead!
Swing! The mallet whooshes through empty air.
“Almost got him,” the Cat encourages.
But Malice has to stop. She is panting for air, and she’s not playing it up like Morley had.
Morley, by the way, takes the opportunity to escape through one of the doors into the interior of the castle.
“Oh no,” says the Cat, sounding bored.
Malice screams in frustration and throws the mallet forcefully into the ground. “I shall have the guards capture him and then have his confounded head separated from his stupid, confounded neck!”
“That’s the spirit! Oh, now I think you’re in the proper mood for my news about the Queen of Hearts.”
“Eh, what news?”
“Well, she’s attempting to escape. Well, more accurately she was. I’m sure she already has by now.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
He sniffs. “Well, she told me not to tell you until after she was gone. And you know I don’t like to interfere.”
Malice doesn’t have time for this stupid cat. She must make sure the Queen of Hearts doesn’t escape. She cups her hands in front of her mouth and calls out, “Guards!”
The Cat says, “Oh please tell me you’ll dispatch her in a gruesome and bloody way if you catch her. I do so love my gore!”
She ignores him.
Chapter 2
Malice is racing through the hallways of the castle in a frenzy. “Guards!”
A couple of the human-sized cards with arms and legs and heads poke out from a hallway. “Yes, My Queen?”
“We must go to the Queen of Heart’s cell at once! I believe she may be trying to escape! Go go! I’ll meet you there!”
The guard cards scurry away, carrying their spears.
About a half minute later she hears one of the guards yell from the dungeons, “The Queen of Hearts has escaped!”
On her way down the stairs, one of the guard cards is coming up the opposite direction. He says, “I shall alert all the guards to search for her!”
Malice continues down the stairs. She has to see for herself, so she makes her way to the Queen of Heart’s cell. On the way, she passes the Red Queen’s cell—she’s the other queen locked in the dungeons. Malice peers into the little window to see she’s there, doing her usual thing of running in place while levitating in midair.
But when Malice gets to the Queen of Heart’s cell, the truth of the situation can no longer be denied. The door is wide open, and Malice is not met with the usual clown-face makeup of the Queen of Hearts. (Her face had been transformed by Malice’s tears, though the Queen of Hearts herself is in denial of the transformation.)
Near the far corner of the wall, a pile of dirt rings the edge of a hole tunneling up from the ground. It instantly reminds her of one of the Groundhog’s burrows.
If the Groundhog dug up a hole for her to escape, surely the guards I posted outside the door must have heard!
The chairs they were sitting in are empty.
One of the guard cards she had assigned to sit in one of them appears from a hallway and runs toward her. “I’ve searched the dungeons, Your Highness, and she is nowhere inside here.”
Malice’s heart suddenly starts ticking again. And so she feels pity for him. Sometimes the forced kindness from her ticktock heart goes way overboard. “Aww, I’m sorry my little smooky guardy poo, but methinks the Queen of H
earts has gone outside, yeah?” She winks. Malice herself is completely aware how sickeningly sweet she can get at these times.
The guard card stammers, “Of course, it’d be stupid for her to hang around here, but I was told to do a search anyway.”
Malice pouts at him pityingly. “There there.” She pats his arm. “Just because you were assigned a stupid task does not mean that you yourself are stupid.”
His features relax. “Thank you My Queen. But I’m sure they’ll find out where that tunnel leads and they shall be searching for the missing prisoner.”
“Yes,” Malice says sweetly, “and I am sure they will do their best to hunt her down despite their complete incompetence.” She smiles big and her dimples pop. She embraces him in a tight hug, rocking side to side.
Chapter 3
The Queen of Heart’s rescue had taken her completely by surprise. She actually yipped in alarm when she saw the Groundhog’s snout pushing out from the ground. She was lucky the guards outside her door hadn’t heard.
Once the hole was big enough for the Groundhog to poke his head through, he did so, and then whispered, “Come through the burrow to the outside of the wall, if you please, My Queen, some of your loyal followers have come to rescue you!”
The Queen of Hearts didn’t have to be asked twice. Her dress was poofy and wide, but the rather-quite-large Groundhog had made the burrow extra wide for her. Outside of the wall, four guard cards awaited, pledged their loyalty and led her away from the castle into the forest.
“Almost there,” says one of the cards. He points with his spear. The Queen of Hearts looks where he points.
Her eyes go wide with dismay. She sees a makeshift arrangement. There are a bunch of tents set outside the mouth of a cave set in the side of a hill. A wooden sign is posted in front of the cave and on it have been sloppily painted the words, New Cassle.
The guard card next to her says, “We intend to build you a new castle for your new kingdom. We just haven’t had enough time to do anything yet.”
The Queen of Hearts stomps her foot and whines, “But I want my castle and my kingdom.”