Chapter 3

It had been a long night so far, and I knew I would regret leaving my jacket with the escaped prisoner. But lack of Tea always makes me a little warmer, that's just the way it is. It also makes me irrational, hence leaving the jacket there in the first place. People with my splice tend to show random acts of kindness in a weakened state. After that is an obsessive need to count things.
One step..... two breaths..... three loose bricks.... its torture. But in that state of mind, it's necessary for the continuing existence of the universe.
But then the beginning stage of the splice start to surface. Paranoia.
And by the time we made our way down the road towards the Tea Party, I was pretty nervous of Kat walking so close to me, smoke or not.
We took a small off road concealed by thick, tangely bushes that led into the forest to a small, run down cottage. It had once been a two story family house, but nothing to special. And if it was nothing to special then, then it was down right ordinary now. Roof caved in, walls crumbling, glass missing from every window. Small mice scurried over everything, whispering to themselves about crumpets and cheese and tidbits. Normal rodent conversation I could guess.
When we reached the cottage, I was staying as far away from "Smokey" as I could. No reason not to be careful. I fell behind as she reached the door but instead of stopping to open it, she past right through the cracks without a whisper.
That gave me a start. Apparently even seemingly normal things can put me on edge. Like a girl vaporizing threw a door.
I hurried to the door after her, but with my pistol drawn and a shell racked. No was was I taking a chance like that. But when I opened the door, she was no where near it. She was in fact standing next to a sink across the long room the composed the living room and kitchen in the same. She was trying to turn the faucet but was not doing very well. Her smoke hand was passing right over the metal handle.
She looked up frustrated, "Hatter, for goodness sake, put the gun down and help me. We need Tea and I'm not going to hurt you."
I paused.
"OK," i replied with a small smile.
Apparently trust is another random pop up for my emotions. I holstered the gun and walked threw the dilapidated cottage. Four broken chairs, one crushed table, one hole in the roof, through which I could see seven stars and a quarter of the moon.
I made my way over to Kat and turned the rusted faucet. Water sputtered out in brown bursts. I reached into the cupboard above the sink and retrieved a dirty glass. Once about half full, I shut off the water and turned around. Spotting the fire place, I strode past fifteen cobwebs and poured the water onto a hearth.
Nothing happened at first, except that Kat managed to make me draw my gun again because she sneaked up on me. But then the water trickled onto a carving of a small crocodile with its mouth open. As soon as the water hit the scales on the carving, a bright yellowish light erupted but was soon replaced by a golden glow. The fireplace rotated and to reveal a narrow, descending staircase.
I paused in relief that we had not died. Then smiled excitedly, "Tea time."



O O O

The next morning, I awoke on my cot in my small, prison cell of a room. Technically that is what it used to be. A small prison for the Cards. The original opening had been sealed off leaving the whole instillation locked underground. At least until I got to it. With the help of a few comrades, we had it cleared out and running in a few months.
the only light in my room came from a dozen or so candles and the only sound came fro ma small dancing alarm clock that hopped across my bed side table. I brushed aside the empty Tea bottles, which clanked to the cement floors adding to the noise, and turned off the clock.
I stood and stretched. And in the process realized i had fallen asleep with my cloths on. It didn't really matter to me. I would be wearing the same thing anyways. I dropped to the floor and got out something like thirty push ups and matching crunches to get my blood flowing and then left. I didn't bother closing the heavy steal door because, in all honesty, what would anyone steal? The alarm clock? There were ten more just like it in the garden outside.
I realized after a few yards down the hall that I was having problems remembering everything from last night, showing a sure sign that I had cut it a little to close. So i decided to go see Kat, to make sure everything was filled in.
The way to Kat's white room was windy and long, but I didn't really care. I could stop by a few places on the way. I greeted some of the people that I passed in the hall but all of them greeted me.
My couple of stops ended up not working out. Epsilon was not awake yet and March was taking Tea. So on to Kat's I went.
The door to Kat's white room was open so I let myself in, not to worried about walking in on anything personal, as she couldn't take off her cloths.
"Kat, hey. I need you to fill me....," I paused out of shock. Kat wasn't alone. The small girl from last night was sitting on the floor in front of me.
"I told you to leave her Kat."
"You know I couldn't do that. She needed help and is a prisoner. She could be spliced which means she is more of a threat for us out side then in here where she could keep her stocked on Tea."
"You've endangered the Tea Party. Kat! If the Cards are looking for her then...." I was getting angry and needed to get it under control. Anger was a sort of, trigger for me. And no amount of Tea could prevent an..... accident while I am angry.
Kat pushed forward, "Hatter, we can't kick her out now. She knows where we are and if she isn't spliced, then the Cards will not be looking for her. In which case she could be of use as a fighter. Imagine! One more fighter who doesn't need tea. "
Blast. She makes sense.
I gave in.
"Fine. Find her a room and get her into some normal cloths. Next start her training to find out if she is of any use."
I stormed out.
"Where are you going Hatter?" Kat called out after me.
I turned around but kept walking, "To see March. He should be done taking Tea by now."
It was going to be a long day.