She stood in a long corridor filled with locked doors, which lead to a familiar curtain. Where there once was a glass table, the White Rabbit sat instead. A slight grin broke the teen's stoic features, remembering the days of chasing the Rabbit throughout Wonderland, but there was something different this time. The frantic appearance was gone, he was in no rush to bound off to whatever engagement he was late for, but calm and collected.

“Do mine eyes deceive me? Is this the same White Rabbit that I chased through this same hall so many years ago?” she teased.

“I believe you are the deceiver, Alice. You are not the same girl.”

“We all must grow up someday.”

“No, it is because you stopped chasing time that it has now caught up with you. Did you never notice that as long as you were in Wonderland, you did not age? Or have the booze addled your mind?”

“Chasing time? I don't understand?”

“You did once,” he said as he pulled a pocketwatch out of his waistcoat.

“Are you implying that you are time?” she laughed at the absurd idea.

“What a naïve thing to say. If you wish to visit Wonderland, you should dismiss such thoughts. This is not the same as the world you lived in and you should do well to remember that the rules here are different.”

“Of course I remember.”

“Then drink,” he said, handing her a small phial.

She did as the White Rabbit commanded, and drank the potion from the phial. As expected, she shrunk until she was small enough to fit through the door behind the curtain.

“Do not forget,” the Rabbit said from behind her, who was already shorter. “Only those who are mad may enter Wonderland.” He held out a hand with a golden key.

“So everyone keeps reminding me,” she growled and snatched the key.

Alice pulled aside the curtain, revealing the familiar doorway that would take her to the deceptively beautiful garden. She unlocked the door and opened it, only to be surprised by what she found on the other side. The garden was gone, instead there was town.

“Where is the garden?” she cried.

“Things have changed since you last visited.”

“But I liked Wonderland the way it was.

“And we liked you the way you were, but you changed. Do not speak so selfishly. If you wish to see what has become of Wonderland in your absence, then I suggest you hurry through the door, it will not remain open forever.”

Feeling dispirited at the words of the White Rabbit, Alice entered the town and heard the door shut behind her. Would she be able to leave through that door? the teen wondered. At first glance the town appeared empty, but as she came closer, she heard singing. Was there a party? She wandered down to the road that went through the town and searched for the source of the singing, but in the end she could not find anyone.

“That is just like Wonderland, to have singing with no voice to sing it with.”

“What a silly thing to suggest. There are plenty of voices to sing with here, but to think that there must be voices for song to exist is foolish.”

Alice turned to find the Cheshire cat once more, sitting on one of the fences in front of a townhouse.

“But there must be a source of the noise.”

“In the world you lived in that maybe true, but it is not here. If a tree falls and there is no one around to here it, does it make a sound?”

“Yes, it does. There doesn't have to be a person or animal present, it will make noise even if no one is there to hear it.”

“Then there does not have to be a voice for a song to be sung.”

Alice wanted to correct him, but she knew with his Wonderland logic, her words would never make sense, so she did not bother.

“Are you here to bug me again?”

“The world does not revolve around you, Alice.”

She could not help but roll her eyes. He sounded like her mother.

“You mother does not really exist, remember?”

“Riiiiight, because I am part of your imagination.”

“It sounds as if you still do not believe me.”

“Why should I? You have no proof that I am make-believe.”

“Have you ever wondered why the White Rabbit was in your world that day when you first came to us?”

“Well...no.”

The cat shook his head as he began to fade away. “Poor Alice.”

“Wait, where is everyone? This town looks deserted.”

“What are you talking about?” the cat's floating mouth asked. “This is the busiest town in Wonderland.”

As if cued by the Cheshire cat's words, there were many sorts of creatures bustling about the streets of the town. They were similar to the creatures of Tulgey Wood, but that place was in the sister land, only accessible through a mirror.

“What are these things?”

“What are you?” one of the passing creatures retorted.

“I am a girl, that is obvious.”

“Not to those who have never seen a girl before.”

“Whatever, just answer my question. What sort of creature are you? I have never seen you in Wonderland before.”

“And I have never seen you in Wonderland before either, but I am not so rude.”

“I am not—!” Before she could finish, the creature strutted off, back into the commotion of the streets. “Now whose being rude?” she muttered.

“Do not mind him, he is always grumpy,” another creature remarked behind her.

The teen glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, well, you seem nice enough. Can you tell me what you are? This is my first time in this town.”

“We migrated here from Tulgey Wood.”

“How? Tulgey Wood is on the other side of a looking glass, Wonderland is not. How can you cross over from one world into another?”

“You are not a very imaginative girl are you?”

“I a—was, once.”

“Why not anymore?”

“I don't know,” she shrugged. “A lot of things changed.”

“How silly, I knew that.”

“How could you know?”

“Change is the daughter of Time, things will always Change as long as there is Time. But you chose to Change, or else you would still be imaginative.”

Alice was starting to get a headache, something she had never experienced while in Wonderland. Because she was no longer a child, nonsense was painful to listen to and annoying. She was starting to wonder if she had truly changed so much that her negative outlook on Wonderland had made it seem worse than it really was.

“I need to find someone, do you know where the Hatter and the March Hare are?”