The Looking Glass Wars Read Free Page A

to any other princess. But he found nothing too much when it was in appreciation of Alyss. Among the assembled guests being led in song by the garden‘s sunflowers, tulips, and daisies, Bibwit spied various members of the suit families (he bowed to the Lady of Diamonds when he caught her eye) and General Doppelgänger, commander of the royal army, who suddenly split in two and became the twin figures of Generals Doppel and Gänger, so as to lend two voices to the song instead of one. Bibwit bowed to the blue caterpillar—that oracle of oracles, sage of sages, wisest of the wise—sitting curled in a corner of the garden, puffing on his hookah while a gwynook—a small creature with a penguin‘s body and an old man‘s wrinkled face—waddled about on his back.
    ―Waddling is an underappreciated art,‖ Bibwit heard the gwynook say to the caterpillar. ―Say, let me have a puff of that.‖
    ―Ahem hmm hem,‖ grumbled the caterpillar, who never shared his pipe with gwynooks, even on the happy occasion of Alyss Heart‘s birthday. ―Smoking‘s bad for you.‖
    ―It is indeed a special day when a caterpillar comes all the way from the Valley of Mushrooms to partake in the celebration,‖ Bibwit Harte murmured, watching two spirit-danes pull a giant cake toward Alyss, a host of tuttle-birds glowing and flapping their wings in place of candles. Next to the birthday girl stood the queen, and behind her, Hatter Madigan, leading member of Wonderland‘s elite security force known as the Millinery, and the queen‘s personal bodyguard.
    Carrying the backpack common among Millinery men, wearing a long coat and bracelets, and the top hat he took off only in times of violence, he alone in the crowd remained stoic, alert.
    The song ended. The guests applauded, and Queen Genevieve said, ―Make a wish, Alyss.‖
    ―Besides wishing that Father had never gone on his trip,‖ Alyss declared, ―I wish to be queen for a day.‖
    Her mother‘s crown lifted into the air and floated toward her head. The guests laughed—all except Hatter Madigan, who never laughed.
    ―Hatter Madigan,‖ sighed Bibwit, ―even you should relax sometimes and enjoy yourself.‖
    ―You‘ll be queen soon enough,‖ Genevieve said to her daughter. The queen‘s imagination was not exactly weak, and the crown floated back onto her head.
    Alyss noticed Bibwit standing at the library doors and decided to have a little fun. It was the least she could do until she found Dodge. She whispered, ―Do you want some cake, Bibwit Harte?‖
    The tutor nodded and she brought him a slice of cake on an edible chocolate plate.
    ―Happy un-birthday to you,‖ she said. ―It‘s raisin-butterscotch with peanut butter, marshmallows, and gummy wads. It‘s the best.‖
    Bibwit stared at the cake. ―Yes, well…thank you, Alyss. But I‘m afraid you won‘t be so nice to me after we begin our lessons tomorrow.‖
    ―I won‘t need any lessons,‖ Alyss said. ―I‘ll just imagine that I know everything and then I will, so you won‘t have to give them to me.‖
    Bibwit picked at the cake, examining it, squinting at it. ―My dear,‖ he said, ―you can‘t imagine everything because you don‘t know everything there is to imagine. That‘s precisely where the lessons come in. Trust me, I know what I‘m talking about. I taught your grandmother and your mother when they were your age, and yes, I did try to teach the woman who shall not be named—namely, your aunt Redd—but we won‘t go into that.‖
    Not at all sure that it was the right thing to do, Bibwit put a bit of cake into his mouth. He chewed once, twice, but something was amiss; the stuff in his mouth felt like it was moving.
    Alyss started to laugh. Bibwit spat the half-chewed cake into the palm of his hand and saw that it wasn‘t cake at all; it had turned into a handful of gwormmies.
    ―Got you!‖ Alyss shouted, and ran away.
    The gwormmy prank hadn‘t been nice, not nice in the least, but Bibwit was