10 The White Rabbit

WYATT HAD PREPARED to leave the Ragan estate ahead of time. As such, when the carriage arrived at the palace gates, it was still hours before the ball would officially begin. Of course, the spare time was not meant for mere sightseeing and fun. Wyatt Ragan had rushed to the palace early for work-related reasons.

"I'll be off. The crown prince is expecting me." With his eyes trained on the hands of his pocket watch, Wyatt relayed a few words of instruction to his younger brother. "Charlie, take care of Alice. Perhaps show her around the palace gardens. As long as you don't wander too far off into the royal family's private quarters, you're free to roam as you wish."

The youth was already bouncing on the balls of his feet, more than eager to hop down the corridor and towards the crown prince's study. However, a part of him wasn't confident in his younger brother's abilities to show Alice around the palace grounds and not get into some form of trouble. In his eyes, Charlie was still a mere young boy that needed guidance to steer clear away from mischief.

"Yes, Brother." Charlie made a shooing motion with his hands. "I'm old enough to know my way around. Things like what not to do and where I shouldn't go have all been ingrained by you long ago."

Regardless of Charlie's confident answer, Wyatt still looked as worried as before. His lips were tilted down into a frown, eyebrows furrowed and eyes sharp with a thousand questions. Yet strangely, no words left his lips. He couldn't seem to summon his voice to his aid. The other half of him knew that Charlie was more than grown and Wyatt had been constantly babying him for far too long. Nevertheless, Charlie was still his baby brother. He had all the right to worry.

Before he left, Wyatt reached into his briefcase, pulling out a single pale blue mask that had silver lace trim. The color matched Alice's dress perfectly, obviously a matching set that was made to go together. He held the mask out for Alice to hold, passing it to her before retracting his gloved fingers to reach for his pocket watch again.

"Wear this once the ball begins, Alice," he said. Then, he tilted his chin back to look at the younger boy. "Charlie, I believe you have your mask with you?"

The latter reached into his pockets, pulling out a sleek black mask that was adorned with vibrant magenta flowers, wiggling it a little in the air wordlessly.

"Good. Well then, I'm off. Make sure not to get into any trouble, both of you."

With his final parting words in the air, Wyatt wasted no time in heading towards his next destination, scurrying down the palace halls, expertly weaving past obstacles, turns, and corners until he was eventually out of sight.

Since the Ragans were a well-known noble family which held close ties to the crown prince, neither Charlie nor Wyatt's movements were restricted in the palace grounds. The two brothers had practically grown up with the princes, their familiarity with the layout of the palace on par with the rest of the royal family. However, with Alice around, Charlie was unable to bring her around the royal family's personal wings. There still had to be some form of a distinction between those with royal blood and those without. Regardless, there were still more than plenty of places to showcase to the newcomer.

"Charlie," Alice called out.

In her hands was the periwinkle mask, delicate as freshly fallen snow. When it caught the light of the sun outside, the mask sparkled like a bejeweled accessory though without even a single gem embedded on it. The shimmery lace was enough to give it a frosty look, cold yet elegant, almost to a fault.

Her companion turned around, staring at her questioningly when he heard his name being called out. Tilting his head to one side, he observed Alice's movements. When she didn't make a move to continue her question, he prompted her instead.

"What is it?"

She asked, "Why's there a need for the mask?"

Hearing her question, Charlie barked out in laughter. He clutched at his stomach, the other hand raised to hover over his lips before shaking his head in a mixture of disappointment and amusement.

"It's a masquerade ball, Alice!" He chortled, his voice reverberating through the hallway with the help of the immensely high ceiling. "Of course you'll have to wear a mask."

"But wouldn't it be dangerous for the royal family? A deviant might sneak in," she pointed out.

"There will be guards patrolling the palace grounds at all times. The knights of our kingdom are not to be underestimated. I'm sure you've already seen what Miles is capable of, after all. And besides, there will be security checks at the gate before each carriage is allowed in. At the security checkpoint, the attendants are not allowed to put on their masks. They'll have to wait until right before they enter the building itself."

Chest puffed out in pride, Charlie started to walk down the hallway, leading them towards an unknown destination. However, his movements were practiced, seemingly having gone through the corridor a million times. As such, Alice didn't have to worry about getting lost if she had Charlie as a guide. Not to mention, the given insight on the security of the royal palace gave Alice a peace of mind. She had read too many novels and watched too many shows about the dangers of a high society ball. If the knights were truly as skilled as Charlie suggested, then there seemed to be a calming difference between fiction and reality.

Alice found that she liked the world which she had chanced upon more and more.

"Is there anything in particular you might want to see? The royal library? Or maybe the portrait hall? Perhaps we can head over to the ballroom to see the preparations. I heard from Brother that they've spared no effort in decorations this year. It's supposed to be the party of the century!" One by one, Charlie listed off the different rooms off his fingers, a skip in his step as he eagerly led Alice around like a mother hen guiding its duckling.

At the current hour, there weren't many people around. After all, most guests have yet to arrive. They were still in their respective estates, tucked away in their own dressing rooms, preparing themselves to the nines for the ball. If it weren't for Wyatt's duties to the crown prince, perhaps Alice might still be stuck in the Ragan household, trying on yet another dress.

However, it wasn't just the lack of guests around the palace halls. Even the servants were sparse in number. Every once in a while, Alice would spot a lady garbed in a black dress with white frills darting around the halls with a thick stack of decorative cloth in her hands, or she might catch a sturdy man dressed in the same color scheme hulling vases of beautiful, fragrant flowers.

"They're all preparing the ballroom for this evening," Charlie supplied once he had caught Alice's questioning gaze. He gestured towards the direction where the staff had disappeared. "It's over there. We can go and take a look if you would like."

Alice parted her lips, ready to respond in agreement. Unfortunately, before she could utter a single word, someone else had spoken up first.

"Young Master Charlie!"

The duo swiveled around just in time to see a portly butler run after them, his forehead glistening with beads of perspiration. He heaved and panted, waving a single gloved hand high up in the air in an attempt to catch Charlie's attention.

"Young Master! A moment please if you will."

When he finally caught up, he quickly dipped into a bow, offering brief greetings before launching off into an onslaught of words that were spoken in rapid-fire.

Alice was stumped.

She took a step back in surprise, gaping at the man's insane speaking speed. Nonetheless, it seemed like she was the only one who was struggling to keep up with the butler's words. When she had looked over at Charlie, she was stupefied to see how serious he had turned, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed, nodding every once in a while. He seemed more than capable in the art of catching the butler's sentence, swiftly delivering his own reply at an equal speed which made Alice's head spin.

From what she could make out, there were the words "problem" and "help needed". It wasn't much but it did the job in painting a vague image in Alice's head that there was something going wrong, most likely with the preparations for the ball.

Throughout the conversation, Charlie's frown simply worsened. He shook his head, clicking his tongue in annoyance. From the corner of her eyes, Alice caught sight of Charlie's thumbs frantically twiddling as he thought up possible solutions.

However, one thing was still in Alice's mind. If there was a problem with the ball, why had the butler gone to Charlie? Even if Wyatt wasn't available, shouldn't he have gone to a member of the royal family? Wouldn't they know better?

The young man sighed. "Where is it? I'll check it out myself. My brother is a little busy now, with helping out Prince Hartley and all that. He, nor the prince, will be able to make it in time."

"This way!" The butler jumped, extending his hand to lead the young lord. "Thank you so much for your assistance, Young Master! If it weren't for you, we poor servants might be doomed!"

In his hurry to get the issue solved, the butler and Charlie had completely forgotten about Alice. They scurried away, to which Alice tried her best to keep up with but her shoes were a hindrance to her speed. In the end, when a tuft of white hair caught her eye from a distance, she stopped short to look. When she turned back to search for Charlie, not even his shadow remained.

She was left alone in an empty hallway in a foreign castle which she knew nothing of.

"Charlie?" She called out, taking a few steps forward and rounding the corner.

Even so, the hallway only led to further more, seemingly no end in sight. There was a glass door further down on the left of the hallway that led out to the open garden. However, Alice wasn't sure if she should stay under the roof or head out into the open sky.

With a huff, Alice turned to face the garden outside. To her left was a glass window with gold-colored frames, almost as large as the entire wall itself. Golden sunlight streamed in easily through the glass, filtering through to create a rainbow when viewed from certain angles. Outside the window was a beautiful sprawl of green, followed by a sea of vibrant red flowers that resembled the scarlet dawn.

In the midst of all the vivacious colors, a single ball of white fur was huddled right in front of the bush. It had two very long ears, raised high and mighty, darting around every few seconds in search of curious sounds. A pair of ruby red eyes met Alice's, staring at her for a moment too long before it hopped a short distance away.

"A rabbit!" Alice exclaimed under her breath. She was a little more excited than she should be, for someone her age. After all, rabbits weren't a rare sight back in the twenty-first century. She had even kept some for pets before in her childhood years.

Nevertheless, her feet moved before the cogs of her mind could turn. They were already sending her out the glass door, her large skirt in her hands as she held them up, holding them away from the mud and grass. Walking on the balls of her feet, Alice was careful not to sink her heels too far into the dirt. Her light and quick steps allowed her to almost float through the beautiful lawn outside, darting after the rabbit which was trying its best to lose her.

The little creature almost seemed to be taunting her. Every few meters or so, it stopped in its hopping to look back at her, its whiskers wiggling as it moved its furry little nose. Those beady ruby eyes were trained on Alice's figure, watching and making sure that she was keeping up with it before it continued on its merry way. However, although it occasionally stopped for her, it was merciless once it started to move. More than once Alice had to pick up her pace to keep up with the small creature. It expertly maneuvered through the shrubbery and flowers, easily running through the fields. It was obvious that the rabbit knew the palace grounds like the back of its paw.

"Wait!" Alice instinctively called out, panting a little from the exercise. She wasn't unfit, per se, but the layers upon layers of fabric and jewelry were drastically weighing her down.

As the rabbit turned a corner and disappeared behind a building, Alice urged her feet to move faster. Now, she was just determined to catch the rabbit and hold it in her hands. Without any company in this strange palace in an equally strange world, she would grab onto any form of comfort she could find.

To her surprise, when she had rounded the corner where she had last seen the rabbit, she wasn't met with a tuft of white against emerald grass. Instead, her face crashed headfirst into someone's chest, but not before she saw a flash of a mixture of white, gold, and bright, burning red that resembled blood on a battlefield.