Four knocks echoed through Time's office, and he couldn't keep a smile from tugging at his lips. He quickly smothered it, though, as a door opened and Alice came barging in with several loaves of bread piled in her arms along with a folded blanket.

"Honey, I'm home," she sang out, giving him a teasing grin.

Despite her mocking tone, Time's heart leapt in his chest, and he averted his eyes as he cleared his throat. "What's all this?" he asked, casually waving a hand at the bread.

"Dinner!"

Alice took several more steps towards him and dropped the loaves on the floor. Time raised an eyebrow as he nudged one with his foot. "Dinner?"

"Dinner, supper, lupper, whatever you want to call it. I think it was close to dinner time when I left, but I'm not sure how that works here."

"It doesn't."

Alice made a face. "What do you mean it doesn't?"

Bending down to pick up one of the loaves, Time sniffed at it and was overwhelmed by the mixture of spices that assaulted his senses. "Just that. There is no dinner here. Or lunch or breakfast. Not even tea time."

"You have got to be kidding," Alice said as she shook the blanket out and laid it on the floor.

"Do I seem like the kidding type?"

"Is it just that there's no appointed time for meals?"

Time shook his head. "No, it's just that I don't eat."

Alice's mouth fell open at this, and she plopped down on the blanket and stared up at him. "The rules don't let you eat?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, they—"

"What's with these rules?"

"I told you before, they—"

"I know, I know, they were ingrained in your head since you can remember. But who makes them?"

"The powers that be."

"And who are they?"

"I have no idea."

"You have no idea? So they could be anyone? They could be feeble old men or wicked queens or lazy fat mice?"

His mouth twitched. "Lazy fat mice?"

"All I'm saying is, these rules from unknown 'powers that be,'" she wiggled her fingers mysteriously as she said the phrase, "seem a little ridiculous. Seriously, a rule that you can't eat?"

Sighing, Time awkwardly sat across from her on the blanket, trying to do so in a dignified manner but failing miserably. "There's no rule that says I can't eat. I just don't need to."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I am not like you. I don't age, I don't sleep, and I don't need to eat in order to stay alive."

She scrunched up her face in disgust. "That sounds terrible."

He shrugged. "I have no memory of a life before this, so I really don't feel like I'm missing out on anything."

"Well, trust me, you are."

"Thank you, that's very comforting."

Grinning devilishly, Alice picked up a loaf. "How bout you break the rules? Just this once?" she said, waving the bread under his nose.

His eyes followed the movement of the loaf. "Like I tried to tell you, there's no rule saying I can't eat. I just don't need to."

"There are plenty of times I don't need to eat, either. But when someone shows up with five loaves of spiced bread, trust me, I'll eat." She broke off a piece and held it out to him. "Come on. You know you want to."

He stared at the piece for a moment before raising his eyes to her. There was a teasing glimmer in her eyes and a ghost of a grin in the corner of her mouth. His stomach twisted and his heart fluttered. Swallowing, he took the bread and popped it into his mouth. It tasted just like it smelled—sweet and warm and slightly spicy.

Very much like the young woman who was watching him expectantly.

Time cleared his throat and looked away. "It's good."

"Ha, told you! Here, have as much as you'd like. I've got plenty."

She passed him another chunk, and Time took it if not just to have something other than Alice to concentrate on.

"There's a little bakery in Hickory Dickory that makes it," she went on as she picked up another load and took a huge bite. "It's my favorite food in the whole world, so I make sure to steal plenty of it to have on hand."

"You steal it?"

She gave him a look. "Duh, I'm the Queen of Thieves."

Adjusting his legs so as to be sitting more comfortably, Time fiddled with his bread and glanced up at her. "So how does that work? Were you elected Queen? Or were you born into the title?"

"My mother was Queen before me and her mother before her. I think it was my mother's mother's father before that. I dunno, it goes pretty far back."

"So you're royalty."

Alice beamed. "Indeed I am."

"Do you enjoy being Queen?"

She shrugged. "It's not bad. My tribe is great, and for the most part, I haven't had to make any major decisions concerning all the tribes as a whole. So that's good."

Time took a bite of bread and chewed slowly. "When did you become Queen?"

"When I was thirteen."

"So young?"

"Well, my mother died pretty suddenly." She glanced up at Time, and for the first time since he had met her, he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. "She got sick. Our healer did all he could to help her, but it didn't work."

"I'm sorry."

She sighed. "Yeah, well, anyhow I was next in line, so despite my age, I became Queen."

"What about your father?"

She shook her head. "It's passed down by blood, not marriage. I mean, if an Heir is ridiculously young, then yeah, the remaining spouse would take over for a time. Or if the deceased ruler had no children, their spouse would gain the title. But it didn't matter in my case anyhow since my mother and father weren't married and I had no idea who he was. Still don't, actually."

Time cleared his throat. "Your tribe was all right with having such a young ruler?"

"I think they were a little worried at first." Raising an eyebrow, she gave a crooked grin. "I can be pretty wild."

He laughed softly. "You don't say?"

"But some of the older thieves have helped me out here and there, and they realized that even though I'm young and reckless, I take my responsibilities seriously."

Nodding, Time glanced down at the crumbs of bread in his hands. "Is it what you would have chosen to do?"

"What do you mean?"

He looked up and met her eyes. "If you had had a choice, would you have become Queen? Or would you have done something else?"

Turning her gaze upward, Alice hummed. "I guess I try not to think about it too much since there wasn't really anything I could do about it. But since you brought it up," she turned back to him and leaned forward, an eager smile on her face, "I would've liked to have been an adventurer."

He cocked an eyebrow. "An adventurer?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. I'd love to travel the world and see new lands and meet new people and discovery oddities and curiosities. I love finding things that baffle me. It gives me such a thrill!"

Squeezing her hands together, she gave a squeal of delight. Time couldn't help but smile at her excitement. She opened her eyes and leaned towards him again, making his pulse stutter.

"I think that's why I'm so fascinated with you and this place," she said.

Her face was so close. He could feel her breath on his lips. And he could see every fleck of color in her eyes. At this angle he realized that they weren't just green—they were many different shades of green, like intricate kaleidoscopes.

"What about you?" she asked, pulling away but settling down much closer to him than she had been before.

He blinked, unable to keep his thoughts away from how her knee was just barely brushing against his own. "What about me?"

"If you weren't Time, what would you want to do?"

Furrowing his brow, he swallowed hard and tore his eyes away from her lips. "I don't know. I've never thought about it."

"Seriously. Come on, Time, use your imagination." She took hold of his arm and shook him gently. "If you could be anywhere in the world, anywhere at all, where would it be?"

Where would he be? It was never something he had considered before. He was Time. Nowhere was where he belonged, so why think about being anywhere else? Besides, he could technically go anywhere he pleased. He just didn't. What was the use? According to the rules, he wasn't supposed to interact with anyone, so how would going to another place be any different from watching it from Nowhere?

And then his eyes wandered back to Alice. Her fingers were still wrapped around his arm as she waited for his response. Physical contact was something he had never experienced before, at least not that he remembered. It was warm and made his entire body tingle. His stomach twisted and flipped, and his heart felt light and fluttery. Is this how it always felt when someone touched you? Or was it just Alice?

Whatever it was, he liked it. And he wanted it to continue forever. But he knew it couldn't. This was a temporary thing. Alice was a temporary thing. Even after she was long gone, he would still be here, alone once again.

Still, he couldn't help but smile. Looking up at her, he took a breath and replied, "I'd choose to be right here in this very moment."

A grin slowly spread across Alice's face, and she gave his arm a squeeze. The light in her eyes seemed to dance as she gazed up at him, and for a single moment, Time forgot where he was. Nowhere did not exist. Time did not exist.

There was only Alice.

The spell was broken when she leaned down and scooped up another loaf of bread. Breaking off a piece, she brought it up to his lips and popped it into his mouth. "That was a very good answer."