Choking, scratching, screaming, Terrant wakes up from sleep. He turns to the empty side of the bed, looks around the room, picks up the blankets, turns the pillows over, bends over the edge of the mattress, almost falling on the cold stone floor, and checks under the bed.No Alice.ts out of bed, flies out of the apartment, runs along the corridors, almost falls from the stairs, and continues to run. In her old bedroom, which has not been used for a long time: no Alice. In his workshop: no Alice. On the croquet field: no Alice. The sound of voices pulls him into the kitchen.
The door swings open, hitting the occupants of the room. He studies each of them twice to be sure! - but ... No Alice.
- Hatter!
He blinks.
-All right!
In the center of a long wooden table, Malyamkin holds a spoon, standing next to a jug of cream, as if she plans to throw it in his direction.He hears desperate sighs and, after a moment, realizes that it is his own breath. He closes his eyes for a short time, clears his throat and asks in an almost calm tone, “Where ... Alice?”Thackery giggles and hides under the bench. Malley warily waves a soup spoon. This is the voice of an invisible cat that answers his question.
“Your dear Alice is fine.” She is in Shuhland with the Queen. Today is the eighth day. She will be back on the evening of the sixteenth.Terrant twitches at a reminder, "Cheshire?"“Yes, I'm here,” the cat appears in the air next to him, holding his clothes, “And you are here, and Alice will be here in eight days.” Although, meanwhile, perhaps you would agree to put on a bathrobe?
He looks at himself and realizes that he only got out of bed in his pajama pants, those that Alice asked the Royal seamstress to do for him after he loudly admired her. He feels the heat of his face and takes off his robe, very securely tying his belt. A pair of slippers protrudes from under the kitchen table, thanks to the courtesy of Thackery. Terrant enters them and falls on a bench by the table, holding his head in his hands.“Another nightmare?” - asks Mallie, finally laying down a spoon.
He nods. "This ... was different from ...?”He shakes his head. No, this dream was exactly the same as everyone else: a duel on a croquet field with an undetected opponent, the disappearance of spectators, grass, a silver bell ... and then, the checkered battlefield, Alice's death ... in his hands.
Terrant forces himself to take three deep breaths, trying to calm his heart, pounding head and frantic pulse. He tells himself that everything is in order. Alice is in Shuhland, and Bayard would send one of his nearly adult puppies with the news if something was wrong, although it might take a day! to arrive in Mramoria from a distant kingdom, and then Alice may already be dead, and it will be too late to save her ...!- Hatter! Belatedly, Terrant realizes that he was screaming, his fingers tangled in his hair.
He closes his eyes again and clears his throat. Taking his hands out of his hair, Terrant takes another thoughtful breath, leans back and declares, “I'm fine.”- Trump! Thacker yells suddenly.Terrant blinks and notices the fact that there are three stacks of cards on the table, face up, so that everyone can see.
“We just spent time,” Cheshire comments.
- Will you play? - invites Mally.
The Terrant sighs, “Yes.” Lay on me.
Thackery picks up the deck and, bending a stack of cards, shoots them in the direction of Terrant. Choosing five at random, he lays on the table in front of him.
“You don't want this one!” - tells him Mally, indignantly, - Take her!No matter, Terrant does it. He replaces the King of Spades with the Three of Clubs and throws an extra card into the Cheshire pile.- I will never win with this pathetic addition! - the cat mourns, offendedly moving the Six of Worms in the direction of Thackery.“Six impossible things before breakfast,” Terrant muses. He closes his eyes and tries to imagine six things that Alice will choose for today: first ...
- Pancakes! - shouts Thackery.
- Oh yeah. Would you like one? - Cheshire asks cautiously, passing the plate.Terrant takes the dish and throws it over his shoulder, without even looking at its contents.
Cheshire grumbles, “Simple:“ No, thanks, ”would be enough.
“No thanks,” Terrant says flatly.
Malley giggles hysterically and Thackery knocks down a cup of Cheshire with his foot.
- Thackery! - Cheshire shouts, - You are an uncultured leper! Next time, when I see at least one finger on the countertop, I will take these cards and ...!
- Fingers! “Thackery enthusiastically looks down to carefully examine his fluffy legs ... under the countertop.”
Cheshire sighs quite.
“Did you find something unexpected there?” Mulli asks, running across the table to help Thacker with his inspection.