Our story begin as these stories often do, with someone who is ready for a change and someone else who wishes for the opposite.

A young woman sat, pressed as close to the window as slouching in her seat would allow. Her forehead rested against the cold pane of glass and she stared blankly through the window; not even bothering to focus on the landscape that flashed by. Her hair was mussed and the hood of her shirt was doing a poor job of hiding the fact, but the music playing on her headphones was pleasantly drowning out the noise around her.

She didn’t even notice the man across the aisle who was snoring loudly, slouched in such an awkward-looking fashion it was a wonder he could remain in an unconscious state.

The child near the back of the bus, fussing and pulling at his mother’s jacket and his own jacket barely caught a moment of Alice’s attention when she had boarded the bus an hour before.

When the bus had paused at the station in the wee hours of the morning, she had barely noticed, even then. All she had been doing was sitting there, focused on the rain that the wind kept threatening to hurl in her direction.

Not that she cared.

It was obvious by the way she had managed to ignore the glares from the woman in the seat in front of her for the first part of the journey from Alice having her feet propped up just behind the woman’s headrest. After a few minutes of trying to ignore her, the woman had given up and relocated.

Alice soon dozed off, stretched out as much she could manage and it took the jolting stop at the bus station to wake her up.

“This is the end of the route. We hope you’ve enjoyed your trip as much as we’ve enjoyed being of service to you.” The sarcasm in the weary bus driver’s voice was barely disguised as he made the over-rehearsed announcement over the intercom.

After managing to stand to her feet, Alice lifted the strap of her backpack up over her shoulder and trudged tiredly down the aisle, down the stairs, and into the chilly wind that greeted her.

She trudged down the sidewalk slowly; most people didn’t even notice her pass them by. She blended in with just about anything in her faded jeans, scuffed sneakers and washed-out hoodie, and her posture didn’t help the matter. She was one of millions and she knew it, but she didn’t care; or at least pretended not to. One could never know for sure when it came to Alice.

She reached the pay phone after what felt like an eternity and fished enough change out of the pocket of her backpack to make the phone call. After punching in the numbers, she heard the dial tone and slouched back against the scratched glass wall of the booth.

After two rings, she heard a quiet voice on the other line say, “Good Morning. This is White. How may I direct your call?”

“It’s Alice,” she said impatiently.

”Ah, yes…”

A drawn-out silence prompted her to ask, “So….what do you want me to do? Do I need to get on another bus or what?”

Within another minute, she had directions for where to wait for someone to pick her up. Just minutes later, a shiny, black limousine pulled up next to her and she stared at it until the driver finally got out and came over to see her.

“Miss Alice?” he asked, tipping his black cap to her politely with a white-gloved hand.

She rolled her eyes at him, “Is that really necessary?” staring up at him as defiantly as the words she spoke.

“Master White requested that I come find you immediately and bring you back to the manor.” He smiled patiently and opened the door of the limo for her, “So here I am, following orders from Master White and Her Highness.”

Alice begrudgingly stepped into the black leather interior and settled onto the seat, tossing her bag carelessly on the floor of the limousine.

“I can take your luggage for you, if you like, Miss Alice,” the driver offered, holding out one hand.

“That’s really alright,” she said, refusing to look at him again.

“Very good, Miss Alice,” he said, and then gently closed the door.

A moment later, they were on their way to Master White and “Her Highness’s” manor that was located just on the outskirts of the city, nestled in an old forest.

When they came to a stop, Alice hurriedly grabbed her backpack, got out of the car and brushed her short, light orange hair out of her face. The driver came around behind her and closed her door softly.

“So this is the new location?” she asked, barely giving the driver a glance before turning her attention back to the stately building before them.

“Yes, Queen thought it suited her muse far better than that old warehouse.” The driver looked up at the building for a moment, and then allowed himself one quick look at her; she had changed so much.

Alice walked a little further down the drive and up the worn stone steps that led down a short walk between the great white columns that supported the stone arch overhead.

The driver stayed behind her and a little to the left to give her space as she adjusted to their new home. The only time he overtook her was to open the door and lead her into the entrance hall that had hallways branching off in four different directions.

In the center of the entry way was a ring of couches and chairs and nestled in the corner sat a poker table. It was in this lounge area where three other people sat.

The driver had tossed his shiny black cap onto one of the side tables in the lounge and unbuttoned the two top buttons of his crisp, white shirt. His black slacks seemed hardly affected by the drive or his attempts to assist “Miss Alice.” He was seated comfortably on a settee next to a girl who appeared to be a couple years younger than Alice.

The driver’s companion was a petite, drably dressed girl with dirty blonde hair and ice blue eyes that stared furiously in Alice’s direction. She tugged at the sleeves of her loose-fitting dress and seemed to dig her fingernails angrily into the fabric.

Across from those two, sitting regally at a poker table with a cigarette in one hand and playing cards in the other was a gorgeous dark-haired woman who was more than aware of her beauty. This was the “Her Highness,” who had been referred to earlier. Her tanned skin showed her Latin heritage, and she was dressed in a slightly clinging black silk suit with a boldly cut crimson shirt underneath. She hardly seemed to notice the new addition to the group.

The man sitting silently across the table from “Her Highness” was watching Alice out of the corner of his eye. He seemed surprisingly comfortable in his loose, light grey, pinstriped shirt only buttoned halfway and a pair of pants that were only slightly darker than his shirt.

The driver gestured towards Alice to get his companions’ attention.

“This, colleagues, is Alice.”

They all glanced at Alice for a moment before turning their attention back to what they had been doing before. The only gazes that lingered on the waif-like girl who was still standing still in the entryway were those of the driver and the girl next to him. After some whispered words exchanged between them, the girl rested her hand on his shoulder, possessively, and moved slightly closer.

“Did you really feel the need to re-introduce us?” Alice asked, giving the driver a strange look.

“Well,” said the driver who came to her side to lead her to the lounge. “You have been gone quite a while and it’s only right that they acknowledge that you’re back,” he said while tucking her hand into the crook of his arm. “But seeing as they’re all pouting,” he whispered confidingly, “I’ll do it for them.”

“Chesch,” he said, gesturing to the upset girl he was next to just moments before, “She won’t bite.” Alice smirked at the comment.

“At the poker table are Queen and White, whom you’ve already spoken to,” he said,

Alice nodded, took her hand back and crossed her arms. “And you are?”

The charming young man next to her smiled and bowed slightly, “Madd, at your service.”

“Well, now that the formalities are over, would it be possible to get settled in?”

“I suppose that could be possible. We don’t have any work for you at the moment.”

“What am I supposed to do in the mean time?” Alice asked, shifting from one foot to the other uneasily.

“I suppose Chesch and I could take you to your room, then, unless you had anything else in mind?”

“No, that’s fine,” she said, going over to pick up her bag and sling it over her shoulder.

“Excellent. We’ll show you to your room right away. Come along, Chesch,” Madd said, holding out his hand which Chesch took a little too eagerly.

Madd and Chesch led the way down the leftmost hallway and down a strangely traditional candlelit hallway to a staircase that was built along a carved marble staircase that spiraled up to the second level of the manor.

After flourishing a set of keys, Madd tried to slip a couple keys off the ring and hold them out to Alice; this was mad slightly difficult as Chesch refused to let go of his other hand, choosing instead to glare venomously at Alice.

“If you just tell me which room to go to, I’ll get out of your way so you two can go do whatever you wish…” Alice offered, turning to stare at the two who remained in the doorway.

Madd glanced at Alice, then at Chesch, “If that’s what you-”

“Excellent! Let’s go, Madd!” Chesch interrupted and tugged at his hand impatiently.

“Your room is at the top of the stairs,” he said. “The maids will be up to see to you as soon as you’ve settled in.” He then turned to follow Chesch back down the hallway.

Alice quickly climbed the staircase and unlocked the door to her room. She slumped down onto the floor wearily after locking the door behind her and examined her surroundings. Coming from such a rough area of the city, their manor could not have been more different from what she was accustomed to. It was full of the finest furnishings and tastefully decorated by those she worked with and for.

She seemed to have sat down in the middle of an entryway, quite like the main entryway to the manor, whose beautiful wood flooring extended into two other rooms; one of which appeared to be a sitting room and the other a dining room.

She got up, wandered into the sitting room, and noted the television, and library that took up two walls of the room, framing two windows, covered with sheer champagne-tinted curtains. There were a couple sofas and chairs covered in crimson and chocolate brown-accented upholstery with a few throw pillows nestled carefully in the corners. In the far corner, seemingly alienated from everything else sat a grand piano with a faint layer of dust over its frame and lonely black-and-white keys.

Alice wandered back to the entryway and looked into the dining room; occupied by an oak table carved in such a way that it was large enough to seat a group of people without making the room seem too small for everyone present. A few windows along two walls of the room lit it up adequately as well.

Her room was just as beautiful as the others she had seen, and she was especially relieved to see a queen-sized bed. She overturned her bag of belongings onto the bed and sorted out the items of clothing.

One item she had kept bundled up inside two sweaters fell onto the velvet duvet coverlet on the bed and she snatched up the weathered book and hugged it to her chest protectively. It was everything to her, and she had come so close to losing it so many times…or so it said.

She set it back down onto the bed long enough to fold her clothes up neatly and put them in the dresser that sat along the wall. After completing what little straightening up she had to do, she hid the book under one of the pillows at the head of the bed and walked out of the room to try to find the bathroom.

Ten minutes later she was sitting in the claw-footed bathtub soaking in a bubble bath, washing away the grime and uncertainty she'd felt for far too long.

After soaking in the bath until the water was cool, she grabbed one of the soft towels on the stand next to the tub and stepped out onto the cool marble floor. Alice wrapped herself up in the towel and tiptoed over to look in the mirror.

The face looking back at her masked what she was really feeling with little difficulty. She thought she had a good poker face most of the time and it took someone who really knew her to know what she was hiding behind her expressionless face. The truth was there, though. Always there, hiding behind her intense green eyes.

She reached a hand up to tousle her damp, short orange hair. It eventually settled back into its characteristic unruliness, framing her cheeks gently.

Alice pulled another towel up and around her shoulders and went back to her room.

She sat at the foot of the bed and looked down at her toes as she dug them into the dark green shaggy rug on the floor. Eventually she lay back on the bed, wondering if this was how it would always be; if she was destined to come and go at erratic times, throwing off plans and the rest of life for a few days. It wasn’t that she disliked traveling, but she didn’t like complicating her job or relationships.

A knock on the door woke her out of her wonderings.

“Alice?” she heard from the outside.

“Yes? Who is it?” She said, sitting up suddenly, looking around frantically for some decent clothes to put on.

“It’s White. I just wanted to make sure you were alright after your journey.” The unspoken question managed to make itself known under the layers of disguise.

Alice crossed the room, pulled open one of the drawers in the dresser, and pulled out a few different articles of clothing. “It went very smoothly, thank you,” she replied.

“Excellent. We will be having supper in the main dining hall this evening, if you would like to join us.”

Alice held a short, slate blue jumper up to her chest and nodded thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t miss it,” she said then picked out a darker blue shirt to put on underneath the dress, along with a pair of black leggings and after further consideration pulled a gray button-up shirt on as well to fight off the chill that had settled into her thin frame the night before.

After finishing getting dressed, she looked around for any sort of footwear to put on and found some that sat neatly by the door. She quickly slid them on her feet and wandered back down the staircase and off to find the dining hall sometime before supper.

The only person she saw on the way there was Queen and she seemed preoccupied with a stack of papers on a desk in an office that was in an out-of-the-way office that was down the hallway arranged parallel to the one that led to Alice’s own suite.

Alice walked over to the desk and cleared her throat, hoping to get Queen’s attention. With no apparent reaction, she took a deep breath and gathered enough courage to say a quite, “Hello.”

Queen glanced over at her for a moment, then looked up and surveyed Alice carefully.

“What do you want?”

This question completely caught Alice off guard and she meekly said, “I was just hoping to say hello since I’ve just come back?”

“Is that all?” Queen asked, impatiently drumming her fingers on the desktop.

“I suppose...” Alice’s voice drifted off quickly, as if it was desperate to avoid any further interrogation.

With no response, Alice continued.

“The manor is exquisite. I’ve never even imagined that I could live somewhere like this.”

Queen looked Alice over once more and sniffed. “It wasn’t entirely intentional. White and I discussed it several times and finally concluded that it would be more convenient for everyone involved if you resided in the same building as the rest of us. After all, could you possibly be an assistant if you had to commute from the city everyday?”

“I...couldn’t?” Alice offered.

A short, haughty laugh made Alice flinch. “Of course you couldn’t. You need to be thoroughly involved if you’re going to be of any use to us.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? What sort of things do I need to learn?” Alice asked, hoping that by showing some sort of interest she could escape any further scrutiny.

“Everything. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure why we hired you in the first place, but White insisted and I should let him have something that he wants every once in a while,” Queen rested one hand disdainfully on her hip.

Alice frowned slightly at this. “I’m sorry I’m not the person you had in mind,” she replied carefully.

“I suppose you will have to do, for now.” Queen rested one finger on her lips for a moment, staring at Alice calculatingly. “Now go make yourself useful to one of the others. You’re only getting in my way here.”

Alice shrugged and made her way quickly out to the hall and found a door that let her outside, muttering to herself. “Where in the hell am I supposed to find the others?”

She suddenly stumbled over something and turned to see what it was, coming face to face with Chesch.

“Watch where you’re going, damnit, “Chesch said, practically snarling at Alice.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there,” Alice started to apologize.

“Save it. I don’t care what you did or didn’t see.” Chesch’s bangs fell back from the right side of her face where they had been concealing a patch that was carefully placed just so it wouldn’t be noticed at first glance.

“What happened to-“ Alice asked.

“Why do you care? You don’t even know me, and I don’t even know why you’ve come back. You’ll only cause trouble,” Chesch said angrily before running past Alice and back inside the manor.

“Psycho much?” Alice asked of no one in particular.

“Not exactly,” White said, seeming to appear out of nowhere. He had been leaning against the wall just around the corner smoking. “She’s just very insecure and more than a little possessive. Just stay out of her way and you won’t get hurt.” He took a drag from his cigarette.

“What is it with everyone here? They’re all so strange.”

“And you’re not?” White countered, exhaling a stream of smoke slowly.

Alice rolled her eyes. “I’m strange in a different way.”

“That’s what everyone says. We’re all cookie cutter people. We all just have different chips off our shoulders.”

Alice nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe.”

“Well, I should get back inside and help Queen.”

“Yes, that might be good. She nearly bit my head off earlier.”

White smiled wryly and tossed his cigarette on the ground, crushing it under the sole of one of his shoes. “She’s like that with everyone. I’m surprised you’re not used to it.”

“What does everyone here want me to do then?” Alice asked exasperatedly.

“Wait for now. Help when it’s asked of you. Otherwise,…figure your own thing out. That’s what we’re doing.” White said just before going back inside.