The Looking Glass Wars Read Online Free PDF Page A

say nothing of the trifling matter to the queen or the Lord of Diamonds, only when he heard the boy greedily munching on a tarty tart, did he set out after Alyss and Dodge. Cocking his head, as might a dog hearing a strange, high-pitched noise, he listened to far-off sounds. He heard a husband and wife discussing their upcoming safari in Outerwilderbeastia. He heard a shopkeeper totaling up his accounts three streets away. And then he heard a mishmash of humble voices. Using his hearing as a guide, he made his way out of the palace.
    Alyss and Dodge ran through the servants‘ tunnels, Alyss yelping with laughter and quite enjoying herself, Dodge all business, until he shouldered open a door and they stepped out into the light of Wondertropolis. For the first time in her life, Alyss Heart was outside the grounds of the palace.
    ―Whoa.‖
    It was a festive scene: Wonderlanders dancing, playing musical instruments, and acting out mini-theatricals. A shopkeeper spotted Alyss and, with respectful expressions of good wishes for her health, dropped to his knees. Seeing who was among them, Wonderlander after Wonderlander followed his example and, in less than half a minute, Alyss and Dodge were standing at the center of a bowing, reverent audience.
    ―Uh, yeah,‖ Dodge said in a loud voice to no one in particular, ―she looks a lot like Princess Alyss, doesn‘t she? But her name‘s Stella. She‘s nobody.‖
    The Wonderlanders lifted their heads and turned to one another. How could this beautiful girl with her soft eyes and her black hair styled like the princess‘ not be Alyss Heart? Their confusion vanished with the appearance of Bibwit Harte. If the royal tutor was after her, then the girl had to be Princess Alyss.
    At the sight of Bibwit, Alyss shouted, ―Run!‖ But the scholarly albino was pretty fast and would have caught up with them in no time if his robe hadn‘t sprouted the fluorescent feathers of a tuttle-bird, ballooned around him, and lifted him into the air.
    ―Alyss, noooo!‖
    Dodge glanced back. ―What—?‖
    ―I didn‘t exactly mean to do it,‖ said Alyss. This was not how she should have been using her imagination and she knew it. ―I just didn‘t want him to catch us.‖ She‘d had the faintest glimmer of an imagining to slow Bibwit down and then—bam!—it became a reality.
    Bibwit dropped from the sky into mud-choked grass, slipping and sliding as he tried to get out of it, but Alyss and Dodge were already gone. They ran down brick lanes, cut through alleys, and crossed thoroughfares. Eventually, the polished shop fronts and glistening streets of the capital city gave way to a wood. The trees and flowers chirped in surprise at the sight of the princess, making sure to look as in-full-bloom as possible while moving their branches and petals out of her way as she and Dodge ran, jumping over rocks and creek beds until they came to a cliff and could go no farther. Alyss looked down from the vast height of the rock face. Below her stretched a body of water surrounded on all sides by a crystal barrier.
    ―What is it?‖ she whispered, partly in awe and partly because she didn‘t want Bibwit to track her with his hearing.
    ―It‘s called the Pool of Tears,‖ Dodge answered, also whispering. ―They say that if you fall in, it takes you out of Wonderland, but no one knows for sure. People have gone in, but nobody‘s ever come back.‖
    Alyss said nothing.
    ―People sometimes come here and wait for the return of those who‘ve fallen in. They cry and let their tears drop into the water. That‘s how it got its name.‖
    Alyss stared down at the water. It wasn‘t fair. How could the world be so sad on her birthday?
    She tried to imagine what she‘d do if Dodge or one of her parents fell into the Pool of Tears.
    What would life be like without them? But she couldn‘t do it. Imagination failed her.
    ―We should go back,‖ Dodge said.
    ―Yes, yes,‖ said the trees and shrubs closest to