Hatter's Heart - Erin Bedford Page 0,13

Ah!" Her phone buzzed and chimed. "There she is right now. I suppose it's better late than never." She sighed and put her phone down. "Now, where might you be going?"

Trip jumped in before I could answer bouncing all around the living room. "Trip goin' home. Yes, Trip is. Hatter missing. Hatter missing."

"Oh, my!" Kat's grandmother covered her mouth with her hand. "Well, I shouldn't keep you then. It's quite the walk to the entrance. Please do be careful."

I nodded eagerly, heading for the back door.

"And you stay out of my carrots," she shouted after us.

"Carrots? Where are carrots? Trip likes carrots. Trip does."

Mop smacked Trip on the back of the head. "She be talkin' bout ye. Donna touch her carrots."

Trip's ears drooped and his eyes dropped to the ground.

"I have some carrots back at my house. I will give them to you when we get back."

Trip's ears shot up, his tail thumping and he hopped around again, this time knocking the tea pot off the table. It crashed to the ground in a mess of glass and liquid.

"Sorry," I shouted to our hostess. "I will replace that as soon as I return."

"Don't worry about it. I got it at a flea market for a nickel," she called back in return.

I sighed. This was exactly why I ended up on the wrong side of the Seelie Queen. I cared too darn much.

"Let's get goin' before we lose the light," Mop grumbled, taking the front of our little group.

As we walked across the grassy plains, I wondered about Mercury. Did he really expect to find what he was looking for in a single day? Certainly, he would have told me if he planned to be gone longer.

Or maybe not.

Current circumstances told me Mercury wasn't exactly thinking with a full tea pot. I could not assume anything at this point. For all I know, Mercury had done full Wonderland on me. Talking in riddles and speaking in rhyme.

I sighed, my steps a little more forceful than before.

"What be ye problem now?"

Stopping to jerk my heel out of the dirt from where I stomped too hard, I grunted with the effort. "This is all so very ridiculous." I jerked and swung my arms around me. "I thought we were done with adventures. We have a house, a nice tidy income to live on, and friends who actually like us!" I hopped in place and scowled. "But no, he could not be happy with that. He had to go and risk it all!" I stalked over to Mop. "Tell me, please, because I have to know. Am I not enough?" My eyes brimmed with angry tears as I sank to the ground in a heap. "Have I not paid enough for my sins? Is this my punishment? Give me a tiny taste of happiness and then rip it all away?"

Trip and Mop were silent for a moment before Mop placed a hand on my back. "That not be how it works, Alice. Sometimes things a happen and ye canna blame yer self."

I picked at the grass around me and muttered, "Sometimes I think maybe I’m still in the Hall of Mirrors and this is all some elaborate dream I cooked up to keep myself sane."

Mop slapped me.

My hand went to my cheek as I gaped at him. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Stop feelin' sorry fer yer self." Mop plopped his fists on his hips. "The world ain't out to get ya and I ain't gonna be listenin' to yer bitchin' and moanin' the whole way there. Now come on, time's a wastin’."

Not waiting for me to respond, Mop marched away muttering under his breath such obscenities they would make a pirate blush.

Trip sat at my side and I looked down at him. "I’m being quite silly, aren't I?"

The Opalaught's big beady eyes peered up at me.

"Oh, you do not have to say it. I know." I pushed up off the ground and dusted my skirts off. "Sometimes I let my emotions get away from me." I took a deep breath and released it. "Well, you heard him. On we go."

We hurried after Mop into the woods and then to a creek where a cave hid behind a waterfall so small it could hardly be called one at all.

"Mop?" I called into the cave, searching for the brownie. "Hello?"

"Well, donna stand there all day," Mop's voice called out from the dark.

I glanced down at Trip. "Want to hold my hand?"

Trip nodded jerkily and