Alice sat up and heaved a sigh. She glanced down at Ace's sleeping form beside her and ran a hand through his messy, chestnut hair. The corners of his lips twitched, and he murmured something that sounded like her name. Smiling, Alice pulled her knees up to her chest and watched him for a moment longer.

In an effort to evade the bird cage woman, Alice and Ace had ducked into the woods for cover. They wandered until nightfall, finally making camp in a small clearing. Although Alice was just as exhausted as Ace, her curiosity was making it impossible to sleep.

Turning her gaze to the dwindling fire, Alice's mind wandered back to the dream with the Sisters. Who in all of Wonderland could convince those ghastly little girls to deliver a gift to her? Pierrot? Alice shook her head. No, Pierrot was gone. He had never really existed in the first place. Besides, he had been more a prisoner of the Sisters than someone with any power over them. The former Queen? Again, that made no sense. The Sisters were just as mad at her as they were at Alice. After all, while Alice had stolen back the Queen's heart from them, the Queen had admitted to being in the wrong for handing it over to them to begin with. Anyhow, why would the Queen want to give her a gift? She hardly knew her.

Alice pulled the pocket watch out of her vest pocket and examined it once more. It seemed like an ordinary timepiece. Holding it up to her ear, she could hear the familiar ticking and grinding of gears that came with any sort of watch. She held it up close to her eyes. It was old. Could it have belonged to Mr. Ferret? It seemed unlikely. Mr. Ferret had been terrible at keeping secrets. Anyway, it wasn't shiny enough to be something he would have treasured.

As Alice ran her fingers along the top of the watch, she felt something out of place. Turning it over, she squinted in the low light of the dying flames. It looked like a ring of some sort. She tugged at it gently and pulled out a tiny key. It was made of the same brass as the watch and was only half the length of her pinky finger.

What was the use of such a little key? Pursing her lips, she stared at it until her eyes nearly crossed. Unable to figure out the mystery, she shook her head and returned the key to its hiding spot. It locked into place with a soft click. Alice turned her eyes back to the fire.

And her mouth fell open.

The fire had frozen. Not frozen as in turned to ice. It had frozen in time. The tiny flames that had been desperately lapping at the kindling had gone still, and the smoke rising from the glowing embers was motionless in the night air.

Panicking, Alice jumped to her feet and searched the woods for a sign of life. But there was nothing. No crickets, no birds, no rustling leaves. Everything had gone completely dead. A lightning bug hovered in the air by Alice, still as the world around her. She moved closer, taking in every bit of its tiny body, from its wiry wings to its glass vile body that held sparks of electricity inside. None of it moved. Not an inch.

But how?

The pocket watch.

Alice opened the door of the watch and found that the second hand was still moving. Less than a minute had elapsed since the world had gone still. Or so she thought it was the world. As far as she could tell, the only things unaffected by the standstill were herself and the pocket watch.

Still dumbfounded, Alice looked up at her eerily silent surroundings once more. As her eyes passed over the unmoving wildlife, she caught sight of a figure hidden in the brush. Squinting, she was able to make out an individual whose face was obscured by a dark hood.

The hooded card player. It was them.

Why were they here?

Before common sense could talk her into rationality, Alice gritted her teeth and bounded into the brush. However, at that very same moment, the world around her resumed movement, and the hooded figure took flight.

Rather than come to a halt, Alice picked up her speed.