Guinevere ran out the doors to the squeal of tires and the sight of a car charging off towards the city.
“They have your parents!” Tobias said, racing to a parked car that belonged to one of her guests. “Let’s go!”
Guinevere wasted no time in following him, and Ava, Alice, Sheena, Elliot, Hector, and Ninian were hot on her heels.
“I’ll drive!” Elliot said, something frantic in his voice.
“Definitely not,” Tobias said, flinging open the driver’s door.
“Ooh, you can drive?” Alice asked, eagerly climbing into the backseat. It was a deluxe-sized automobile, with a pair of backseats facing each other in a spacious rear section, with ample floor space for three dogs to occupy. Alice and Guinevere took the seats facing forward, while Sheena and Ninian took the seats facing backwards, and Elliot climbed into the passenger’s front seat.
“He doesn’t have a license,” Elliot said.
“Neither of us do,” Tobias said, shutting his door and starting the car. Where had he gotten the key?
“Wait, you can’t drive?” Guinevere asked, panic rising in her.
“I can,” Tobias said. He shifted the car into drive and hit the gas so hard that Guinevere was flung back in her seat, the sharp pain of whiplash flaring through her neck. Next to her, Alice cheered.
“You never passed your driving test!” Elliot said, his voice quavering in fear. Guinevere saw him holding tight to the edges of his seat, his shoulders taut with tension.
“I got farther than you,” Tobias said, eerily calm as he swung the car into a sharp turn that knocked Guinevere into Alice, crushing her against the door — but Alice just laughed.
“I’m not the one who crashed my testing vehicle!” Elliot yelled, and then yelped in panic as Tobias pulled off another tire-squealing turn that knocked Guinevere against the other side of the car, Alice bumping into her, giggling uncontrollably.
“It wasn’t my fault, and you know it!” Tobias said.
“You crashed!?” Guinevere asked, suddenly deeply regretting her decision to get into the car. Her heart lurched into her throat as Tobias zig-zagged onto the main road, seeming unable to stay in one lane. But, to his credit, the car they were pursuing was in sight, not that far ahead of them.
Now they were in the city, though. Police cars and fire trucks were racing past them towards Guinevere’s manor, sirens wailing. Traffic was thick in the streets and on the sidewalks, curious onlookers wondering what was happening at the Queen’s Manor, along with plenty of people going to and from their nightly business.
And in the midst of that were two vehicles ignoring all the laws of traffic in a desperate, frantic chase. A disruption through the normal pulse of civilization, they took less than thirty seconds to get walkers screaming, and send cars careening off the road, angrily honking their horns.
“You’re gonna get someone killed!” Elliot screamed.
“Have a little faith,” Tobias said, wrenching the wheel back and forth to veer between traffic, eliciting a frantic yelp out of Guinevere when he bumped against another car, cracking Elliot’s window and demolishing that side mirror.
“Tobias!” Elliot yelled.
“Sorry,” Tobias said, and he did sound mildly chagrined, but he was too focused to worry too deeply. Their quarry was making a sharp turn down an alley, and Tobias flung the car into a wildly uncontrolled turn to pursue them. The back of the car bounced off of a fire hydrant, and Guinevere looked back to see it knocked off its side, water pouring up into the air like a geyser.
“Can’t someone else drive?” Guinevere asked hysterically, looking hopelessly at Sheena.
“I’ve never learned how,” Sheena said, sitting unperturbed, Akko secure in the folds of her kimono, his little head poking out to watch the world fly by.
“We can’t stop to switch, we’ll lose them,” Tobias said, stepping harder on the gas as if to punctuate his claim.
“Elliot would probably be too careful to keep up, anyway,” Alice said, petting Flynn — who seemed to be enjoying this as much as she was, sitting on the floor in front of her, his head up, ears perked, watching out the window. Ava had laid down in a ball atop Guinevere’s feet, a secure anchor for Guinevere. Hector staggered and stumbled and couldn’t keep his footing at all, but he looked like he was having the time of his life.
“Watch out for the —” Elliot shouted, pointing.
“I see it,” Tobias said sharply, veering around a light post at the last possible second. The car ahead pulled a sharp, tire-screeching turn, its back end knocking over a stack of heavy crates as if intentionally, cluttering their pursuers’ path with debris.
Tobias didn’t worry about that at all, charging right through the crates, shattering them and bowling over their contents. It was a sudden bumpy, jolting ride, and then they were past it, zooming down the street after the car with Guinevere’s parents.
And the traffic was thicker than before. A scream escaped Guinevere’s mouth before she could stop it, and she gripped the handle of the door beside her like a lifeline as Tobias swerved back and forth, at one point fish-tailing dangerously. A chorus of cries of fear (Guinevere and Elliot) and delight (Alice) suddenly halted as the back end of their car struck another car, jolting them back onto a straight drive.
“Stop hitting other people!” Elliot yelled.
“It’s not like I’m trying to,” Tobias said. Guinevere caught a glimpse of Tobias’ face in the rearview mirror, and saw eyes fixed with steely focus, a jaw clenched in taut tension.
And then he swerved again, and Guinevere was jolted in her seat as they hit another fire hydrant, sending water bursting into the air behind them.
“Do you at least have a plan!?” Elliot asked.
Tobias said nothing. But beside Guinevere, Alice chuckled, and Guinevere wondered if she saw something no one else did. Then they swerved around a sharp corner, hot on their prey’s heels, and Guinevere realized they were, against all odds, gaining on them. Tobias started to switch lanes, then jerked back just as Elliot yelped and a car came down that lane from the opposite direction. Narrowly avoiding that head-on collision, Tobias tried shifting lanes again and then somehow managed to hit the gas a little harder. They surged forward, and when the front of their car came alongside the rear of their enemy’s car, Tobias jerked the wheel hard, ramming the back of the other car. Guinevere screamed, Elliot screamed, Alice laughed, and amidst a horrible sound of crunching metal, there was a moment of blind panic as Guinevere couldn’t stand to look.
But then there was a screech of tires, and their car came to a sudden stop — and not from a crash. Guinevere looked up, and saw they were parked right beside the other car, which had come to a hard stop against a stone wall, its front end only slightly crushed, its engine coughing steam into the air. A door swung open, and a member of the Anti-Promise League staggered out, his hand fumbling for the sword at his side.
Guinevere flung open her door and leapt out of the car, drew her sword, and stabbed the League soldier through the shoulder. He cried out and then dropped to his knees, clutching the wound. His partner stumbled out of the driver’s door and tried to get the back doors open to reach his hostages, but he was too disoriented from the crash. Guinevere raced to him and put her blade beneath his chin. “Cast aside your weapon and get on your knees,” Guinevere said.
The man didn’t need to be told twice. He drew his sword only to toss it aside, and then got on his knees until Elliot came to him and pulled his arms behind his back, holding him as a pair of police cars came to a screeching stop, sirens blaring. Officers stepped out, and Elliot explained the situation, while Guinevere opened the rear door.
Inside were her mother and father, their hands bound, their faces stricken with abject terror. “Are you hurt?” Guinevere asked.
They stared straight forward, gasping for breath, as if they didn’t see her or hear her.
“Mother!” Guinevere snapped, as her mother was closer to her. Her mother jerked to look at her, eyes wide, and it seemed to take her a moment to realize who she was looking at.
“Guinevere,” her mother said softly. “You… you saved us.”
“Are you all right?” Guinevere asked, holding out her hand to help her mother out. Her mother took the aid and stepped out of the car, swaying on her feet for a moment before Guinevere steadied her.
“I’m… a little hurt,” her mother said. “But I’m… I’m all right.” On the other side, Tobias was helping Guinevere’s father out of the car, checking on him.
“Guinevere,” Guinevere’s mother said, staring at her.
“Mother…?” Guinevere asked, wondering where this was going.
“You saved me,” her mother said, her voice hushed, awed. “You saved… the entire ball. You took away the fire, and the smoke, in an instant. What would have taken an entire fire brigade hours to put out, you did away with, with a snap of your fingers. All by yourself.”
Guinevere was stunned to hear the undisguised pride and amazement in her mother’s voice. But there was also a sorrow mingled with it. A hint of tears were in her mother’s eyes. Softly, she said, “You don’t need me.”
Guinevere stared back at her, but she had no idea how to respond. She felt as if she was seeing her mother for the first time, or seeing some side of her mother she’d never known existed.
“You’re much stronger than you look, lad,” said Guinevere’s father, slurring his words heavily as he leaned on Tobias for support. “Excellent Knight. My personal company could learn a few things from you.”
“Don’t worry, sir,” Tobias said, holding up the very large, very drunk man without complaint. “We’ll get you home right away.”
“Quite right,” Guinevere’s father said, nodding too many times. “Quite right indeed.”
“The officers will take the rest from here,” Elliot said, returning to them. “And it appears Lancelot has come with a car, if you’d like a less damaged vehicle and a smoother ride home.”
“Driving in a chase and driving someone home require two very different approaches,” Tobias said, sounding slightly offended as he helped Guinevere’s father to the limousine Lancelot had brought for them.
“I thought you were brilliant!” Alice said, following with Flynn. “Flynn did, too.”
“We can’t exactly drive a stolen, damaged vehicle back to the Manor, though, can we?” Elliot asked.
“Whatever you say,” Tobias said.
“Well,” Guinevere’s mother said. “I suppose… we should go home?”
It was strange, Guinevere thought, that she should phrase it as a question. But then she saw her still misty, aching gaze.
“You don’t need me.”
“Let’s,” Guinevere said. She offered her arm, and her mother took it. Together, they went to the car.
Back at the Manor, Guinevere was surprised to find that none of the guests had left. They were all waiting for her, and lifted up a grand cheer as she re-entered the devastated ballroom. “Three cheers for the Promised Queen!” someone shouted. “Three cheers for our hero!”
Guinevere stood, and accepted the praise, even as the adrenaline of the night was wearing off. Even as she felt she was ready to collapse into her bed and sleep for a week…
The night was not yet over. The Queen still had work to do.
She checked to see that cleaning and repair crews had things organized, then checked on medical personnel and was glad to see that everyone who had been wounded — eighteen Knights and three guests — would all make it without any permanent injury. She met with all of the guests, one by one, to make sure they were all right. She started with the first few by apologizing to them for the way the night had gone — but they all turned away her apologies, and instead thanked her, both for the ball, and for keeping them safe. So she dispensed with apologies as she went through the crowd, instead offering her own gratitude for everyone’s safety.
This could have gone so wrong. The Anti-Promise League, even if they failed to capture or kill me, could still have turned goodwill against me. I’ve always been just a pretty trophy, trotted out on special occasions to look nice and let people fawn over me before going back into my gilded cage. Lessons with Tycho were a wondrous blessing, but no one outside of the Manor, except for Fiore, knew about those.
So what should anyone expect of their Promised Queen, really? If danger strikes, if the worst happens, what good is a pretty little princess?
I suppose… I’ve proven myself to them.
She could see it in their eyes, hear it in their voices. Many of those she had met on numerous occasions before this, who had clearly come to her with an agenda, looking to gain something or use her in some way… many of them were now looking at her with undisguised awe and respect. She was not one to use, not some empty symbol.
For once, the Promised Queen was more than a Promise, more than a song. For once, she was more than just an icon, an expectation.
She hadn’t brought about a new Golden Age. She hadn’t reopened Elysia.
But she had kept her city and her people safe. And it had changed everything.
Guinevere was especially anxious to come to the students and teachers from Saint Gloriana’s, as well as Rose and Teddy. Thankfully, the children and their chaperones were safe and sound, and many of the children, rather than being terrified after two calamities in such a short amount of time, were amazed and excited about how Guinevere had saved the day. The way they told it, she’d done it single-handedly, and while she held immense gratitude towards the Knights and others who had fought the real fight and gave them all the credit in her heart…
She wasn’t about to dissuade the children of their lofty notions of her.
“You were right fantastic, Guin!” Rose said, beaming at her. “Almost as dazzlin’ as Cap’n Grants herself, and that’s no easy feat. And fightin’ in a dress and all! Like a warrior goddess or summat, out of the Age of Myths — beautiful and fierce all in one.”
“Thanks, Rose,” Guinevere said. “I’m just glad you and Teddy are safe.”
“Don’t you worry ‘bout us,” Rose said, puffing up with pride. “A big sis has gotta protect her little brother, after all!”
“You didn’t do nothin’, though,” Teddy said. “We were already by the stage when things went crazy. We just stayed there.”
“I stayed right by your side, that’s what I did!” Rose said. “It’s not my fault Guin got here in time to hold back the rampaging hordes. And that Anti-Promise League should be happy she did, ‘cause they avoided a right stompin’ from your big sis.”
“Uh-huh,” Teddy said, completely unconvinced.
Guinevere met with Rosalie and her squad next, only to learn that the three horrifying Nocturnes her squad had dispatched had been a pair of Class Threes and a Class Two. Nothing close to the Class Five they’d been hunting.
“But that means none of them were even a Class Four?” Guinevere asked, thinking back to just how monstrous the first two Nocturnes had been. And the third, the Class Two, had been barely held back by the combined efforts of Elliot and Sheena.
“You don’t want to see a Class Four,” Rosalie said. “But you shouldn’t. They’re as rare as they come. Which makes this Class Five… well. Leave worrying about that to me.” She smiled. It astonished Guinevere to see that, for all the fighting she and her squad had done, with Rosalie fighting right at the front against these horrifying beasts, Rosalie was unharmed, her cap still in place, her hair still neatly tied back, her uniform unrumpled, let alone torn or stained.
She truly is in a class of her own. A Class Six — that all the Nocturnes fear!
“But you were incredible,” Rosalie said. “It’s kind of a shame for you to be leaving against so soon, after you showed the city who you really are and what you’re truly capable of. But don’t worry. I’ll keep things just as you want them. You won’t be able to ask for a better steward.”
“That’s why I asked you,” Guinevere said, beaming. She pulled Rosalie into a tight embrace. “Thank you. For everything. Let’s talk again tomorrow, before I leave.”
“You’d better not just run off without saying goodbye,” Rosalie said, laughing.
Things started to wind down, to settle into a sense of order. Guests finally started to leave, spreading the word of all that had happened. Guinevere couldn’t face the press right now, exhausted as she was, so Rosalie stepped up as the journalists of Ars Moran congregated at the Manor’s front gate. “My first act as your steward,” she said, giving Guinevere a wink before heading out to address the press.
And so Guinevere was finally done — for now. There would be more to attend to in the morning, but she just couldn’t keep going. She needed to sleep.
Which brought up challenges of its own.
“I suppose I’ll… have to sleep here,” she realized. She was sitting in a private sitting room in a distant wing of the manor, far from the ballroom, with Tobias, Alice, Sheena, Elliot, Ninian, Flynn, Ava, Hector, and Akko. Ava was curled atop Guinevere’s feet, and Akko had come over to nestle in her lap — a surprise, to be sure, but a very welcome one. Guinevere finally got to pet the little squirrel-like creature for the first time, and she was astonished at his delicate softness. His rabbit-like ears were the main attraction, twitching adorably, and often moving towards her hand, as if inviting her to pet them more.
“What’s wrong with that?” Alice asked. She and Tobias were on a sofa, with Flynn curled up between them, his head in Alice’s lap. “This is your home, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but… it hasn’t much felt like one,” Guinevere said. Not just in these past ten years, since the Promised King’s presumed death and her mother-enforced house arrest.
Ever. It had always been Artorius’ home where she felt at home, always with Artorius and his parents where she felt as if she was with family.
This grand palace, fit for a Queen… it was practically foreign soil, despite all the years spent in these halls.
“Maybe now’s a chance to start changing that?” Sheena offered. “We could stay here with you tonight, if you’d like.”
“I would like to go home, actually,” Alice said, raising her hand. “I just… I’ll be leaving again soon. Mister Carroll gets ever so lonely, so I should give him as much attention as I can while I’m here.”
“Then I’m going with you,” Tobias said. There was something meaningful in his gaze, in his tone. A worry that hadn’t been there before.
“Of course, after…” Alice started, then looked around. “Oh! We haven’t told you our side of the story yet, have we?”
And so the pair told the story of what had delayed them in joining the fight in the ballroom for so long. Charles Baskerville, perhaps the most feared contract killer in the realm, had come to assassinate Alice, under orders of someone only known as “the Black Queen.”
“You fought Baskerville?” Elliot asked, gaping at Tobias. “And won? Alone!?”
“I wasn’t alone,” Tobias said, as Flynn trotted over to Elliot and headbutted him in the knee.
“You know what I mean,” Elliot said. “That’s… I…” He shook his head, letting out a sigh. “You’re not even impressed with yourself.”
“I did my job,” Tobias said.
“He was amazing!” Alice said, beaming. “Oh, you should have seen him, not even half as tall as Baskerville, darting in and out of his attacks, fighting off the Hound with Flynn’s help, backflipping all over the place…”
“I only did one flip,” Tobias said. He kept a straight face, but Guinevere thought he seemed a bit embarrassed by the praise — and slightly confused by it. As if there was nothing to be proud of, and defeating famed contract killers single-handedly was just another day in the proverbial office.
“Still, this Black Queen business…” Elliot said, musing. “I’ve never heard of her. What would she want with Alice?”
“I wish I knew,” Alice said, dropping her gaze. “Or… maybe I don’t. I don’t understand this at all.”
Ninian sang, and Elliot nodded. “We can make some inquires at headquarters,” he said. “See what we turn up. Then I guess tonight we’ll all go our separate ways — to reconvene in the morning.”
“I can stay here with you,” Sheena said, smiling at Guinevere. “Akko’s clearly not ready to be parted from you. And I’m glad to see you two start to bond.”
“And Tobias, Flynn, and I will go back to my house,” Alice said. “Should we all come back here in the morning?”
“Yes,” Guinevere said. “I’ll have to make sure everything’s in order before I set off, so I could be here for some time. But right now… I really need to sleep.”
“Don’t we all?” Alice asked.
And so the group that had stuck together since Guinevere had met them all disbanded for the night. Elliot, Hector, and Ninian leaving wasn’t so strange, as they’d been relatively new to the group. But bidding Tobias, Flynn, and Alice goodbye had put a strange lump in Guinevere’s throat.
You’ll see them again tomorrow. And… it’s good to miss them. Thinking back to how all this started, it’s really wonderful to know that we’re friends, now. Amazing how wrong first impressions can be.
——
Back at Alice’s manor, she happily greeted Mister Carroll and explained the situation. The happiness swiftly faded as she and Tobias told the tale of Baskerville and his employer, and Alice saw a shadow pass over Mister Carroll’s face at the mention of the Black Queen.
“Do you know something?” Alice asked.
“She… is like Lacie,” Mister Carroll said, his tone grim and haunted as he sat by the fireplace. “She should not be waking, should not be active. Something has gone terribly wrong.”
“But who is she?” Alice asked. “Like Lacie how? What does she want with me?”
“I think… perhaps it is time to open the Librarian’s gift,” Mister Carroll said. And he produced from his pocket the gift-wrapped box that the Librarian had given Alice.
“You opened it?” Alice asked, staring. But it looked untouched, and Mister Carroll shook his head.
“What he said to you — that this belongs to you, and that you and he have something in common — struck a chord with me,” Mister Carroll said. “And then I felt a strange power coming from your room, and realized it was from this box. A power of memory.”
“Memory…?” Alice asked.
“If you are ready, Alice,” Mister Carroll said, “I think it is time you opened it. If I am right, then what lies inside may hold the answers you seek.”
Alice stared at Mister Carroll now. The way he said that… and the look in his eyes…
It’s not just about the Black Queen. It might not be about her at all.
There was so much that she hadn’t told Tobias. So much she’d kept to herself, that only she and Mister Carroll knew.
Her wish. Her quest. Her deepest longing… and the greatest mystery of them all. What she and Mister Carroll had been working towards, trying to understand and solve, for so long…
Could the truth be in this box? And if she opened it…
She looked aside at Tobias and Flynn.
For the first time, my secrets might be laid bare to more than just Mister Carroll.
And yet, that didn’t frighten her. If anyone was going to know who she really was, and what it was she really sought…
It should be Tobias.
“All right,” Alice said. Gingerly, she took the box from Mister Carroll. Whatever power he felt from this box, she didn’t feel it. But Mister Carroll had always been particularly sensitive to such things. Alice took a deep breath, and then carefully undid the wrappings. Slowly, she lifted the lid of the box.
Inside was… a shard of glass. A piece of a mirror, no bigger than the palm of her hand.
Alice looked at Mister Carroll, a question in her eyes. As answer, he nodded.
Alice looked back at the mirror shard. An icy dread trickled down her spine.
But, no. She couldn’t be afraid. Not now. Whatever this shard held… it could mean so much.
It might save her.
Slowly, she reached out. As soon as her finger touched the glass, light blossomed from the shard.
And Alice, Mister Carroll, Tobias, and Flynn were transported to another world.