A madness that all people who created had. He’d also envisioned her as being a little…naughty. Well, she was certainly living up to his daydreams. Madeline. His mind-voice was wistful.

Just thinking about how sexy she looked in that skimpy, silk negligee made him hot. His cock hardened slightly in his pants.

Alister slid a trembling hand down into his boxers and gripped his length. A groan slipped past his lips. He was just about to start stroking, when-

“Can’t sleep?” a purring female voice asked.

“Ack!” Alister quickly removed his hand from his boxers and rolled over so that he was facing the other side of the bed where Katrina was lying on her side and facing him. Alister swallowed and tried to compose himself. It didn’t appear as though Katrina had noticed that anything was amiss. “No. Not really. I’m afraid to find out what happens when a person dreams within a dream.”

Katrina’s playful expression turned thoughtful. “I can cast a spell on you if you want. You’d have a dreamless sleep.”

Alister shrugged. “Sure. Do it.”

Katrina waggled her fingers at Alister’s face. They glowed with a purple light.

Moments later, Alister’s eyelids felt heavy, drooped shut, and he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Katrina shifted into her cat form and curled up into a ball, snuggling up against Alister’s side so she could get warm. She was soon fast asleep too.

 ***

After Alister had gotten a few hours of much needed sleep Katrina was waking him up by licking the tip of his nose. Alister groaned as he started to stir and stretched his arms over his head. “Ngh. Five more minutes, Mom…”

Katrina giggled. “I’m not your mommy-”

Alister’s eyes snapped open at that, and there was a purple and pink striped cat sitting on the bed with him. He noted that Katrina was in her cat form again.

“Hello, Katrina,” Alister greeted sleepily. “Is it time to get up already?”

“Yes…if we want to get a head start on the other contenders,” Katrina said simply.

“Alright, then let me just get dressed.” Alister yanked the down comforter off his body and was just about to step out of the bed, when-

Madeline took that opportunity to open the door and casually waltz inside. “Alister, I made you some new clothes for your journey.”

A sly smile spread across Katrina’s furry face and just to be mischievous she transformed herself back into her ‘human form’.

Madeline’s jaw dropped at the sight before her - Katrina and Alister in bed together. She accidentally dropped the pile of clothes in her arms, and they fell to the floor. “You two are…but I thought…!”

Alister flushed at what Madeline was obviously implying, and swiftly leapt out of bed before approaching the Mad Hatter. “It’s not what it looks like. She’s a cat, remember?”

Madeline folded her arms over her chest, and let out an irritated huff. “First cat I’ve ever seen with breasts.” A slight green tinge was starting to appear on Madeline’s cheeks.

Alister watched, intrigued as Madeline’s face began to turn green with envy - literally. “Are you jealous?” Alister asked in a surprised tone.

“Me?” Madeline scoffed. “Jealous of an animal? I think not. Hmph!” She flipped her long, curly orange hair over her shoulder in a gesture of denial.

Katrina leapt off the bed with feline grace, and landed lightly on her feet. “Who are you calling an animal, you Mad Hat!” she hissed in Madeline’s face.

Uh oh…catfight. Alister thought to himself with wry amusement. Alister moved to stand between them with his hands up before him in a placating manner. “Ladies, there’s really no need to fight over me since I have no interest in either of you.”

Katrina blinked at Alister’s harsh, blunt words, and burst out laughing at the pinched, unhappy look on Madeline’s face. Katrina pointed her finger at Madeline. “Rejected!”

Madeline flinched.

“I can’t be in a romantic relationship with anyone,” Alister continued in an apologetic tone to Madeline. “But, I would like to be your friend, Madeline.” He gave her a hopeful look.

Madeline pouted. “Well, of course, we can be friends, Alister.”

“Good.” Alister picked up the pile of fallen clothes. “Did you really make me these clothes? By hand?”

“Yes.” A pink tinge rose to Madeline’s pale cheeks. “I hope they fit alright. I just eyeballed your measurements after all.”

Alister was impressed. The clothes appeared to be extremely high quality. “That’s amazing.”

Madeline preened from Alister’s compliment, and started to grow excited. “There’s a hat to match too!”

“Brilliant,” Alister said with a lopsided smile on his face. “I’d better hurry up and get dressed then. If you’d ladies…” He gave them an expectant look. Katrina and Madeline gave Alister blank looks in return. Alister coughed. “I’d like a little privacy, please.”

Madeline grabbed Katrina by the back of her frilly dress and started to drag her out of the room. “We’ll be just outside if you need us for anything.”

Alister chuckled softly as Madeline shut the door. He carried the pile of clothes over to the bed, set them down, and began to inspect them. Wow. Madeline had really outdone herself.

The Victorian-style, Steampunk outfit consisted of a sky-blue, long-sleeved, button-down shirt, a white vest with the pattern of black diamonds, spades, and clubs on it that reminded Alister of a pack of playing cards, a sky-blue and black striped trench coat, a pair of blue silk pants, and a pair of black dress shoes.

Completing the fashionable look was a black mini top hat with a sky-blue ribbon tied around its base that Alister decided to fasten to the side of his head like he’d seen other human denizens of Wonderland do fashion wise.

There was also a gold pocket watch among the pile of clothes. The vest had a pocket for the watch so that only the chain would be visible. There was also a special, long, rectangular-shaped pocket on the front of the vest that was perfect for storing his magic paintbrush, and that would allow him easier and faster access to his brush than an inside jacket pocket would have.

The outfit was flashier than anything Alister would normally wear, but when in Rome…

He quickly finished dressing, and then checked out his reflection in the full-length mirror inside of the room. Alister lifted his shoulders in a shrug. Well, he definitely looked like a kooky denizen of Wonderland now that’s for sure!

Feeling a little self-conscious and shy about his new look, Alister tentatively made his way down the stairs and into the hat shop that was on the first floor where Madeline and Katrina were still literally hissing at each other.

Alister cleared his throat to get the girls’ attention, and Madeline and Katrina instantly turned to face him. Katrina’s jaw dropped open slightly while Madeline’s green eyes literally turned into two pink hearts.

“Well, ladies, how do I look?” Alister questioned with more confidence and bravado than he actually had.

Katrina smiled widely, showing off her pointed incisors. “Like you belong here.”

“You look very handsome, Alister,” Madeline complimented softly. “And I see you’re even wearing the hat I made.”

Alister arched a quizzical eyebrow at her. “You didn’t think I’d wear it?”

Madeline started to nervously twirl a strand of orange hair around her index finger. “I just didn’t know if you would like it. I mean, I hoped you would. But, it is a little flashy by Earth standards.”

“We’re not in my realm, now are we?” Alister pointed out. “I rather blend in than stand out.”

“That might be hard with your handsome face.” Madeline tossed him a playful wink.

“Enough flirting, you two,” Katrina butt in. “We should get going, Alister. Eat a small piece of mushroom that came from the underside of the mushroom cap.”

Alister groaned. “I have to get small again? So soon?”

“You’ll never be able to get into Underland that size,” Katrina pointed out in a dry tone.

Alister let out a defeated sigh. “Alright, fine.” He whipped out a piece of mushroom from his pants pocket and took a small, careful bite this time. Alister quickly began to shrink until he was ten-inches-tall.

Katrina took that as her cue and shifted into her cat form. “Get on.”

Alister hopped up onto Katrina’s back and gripped her fur tightly. He looked up at Madeline, who now towered over him at five-six. Alister swallowed. Madeline was scary when she was that big. “What will you be doing while we’re gone, Madeline?” Alister asked curiously.

“Oh, I’ll just be waiting here for your valiant return, of course.” Madeline crossed her fingers behind her back as she said this.

Alister noticed the nervous look that had flittered over Madeline’s face, and knew that she was hiding something, but had no idea what it could be. He opened his mouth to say something, but realized he didn’t even know what to say. He felt very out of his depth in this strange new realm. “Right…well, wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” Madeline said easily.

Katrina turned and headed for the front door, which opened of its own accord as they approached it.

“Try not to get eaten by a giant centipede!” Madeline called after them as they crossed the threshold.

“Hey, wait, what!” Alister called over his shoulder in alarm.

Despite Alister’s obvious panicking and the increased strength of his grip on her fur, Katrina continued her way through the forest, heading to Salome’s favorite smoking spot, which happened to also be the entrance to Underland.

When Salome’s distinctive, large red and white spotted mushroom came into view Alister noted that the blue caterpillar was not in her usual spot perched on top of the mushroom cap. “There’s the mushroom, but where’s Salome?” Alister mused aloud.

At that moment, the sound of a raised voice reached their ears. Alister flinched in pain and was forced to cover his ears to try and block out the loud roar of the person’s voice. “Ow. Bloody hell.” Alister felt Katrina stiffen beneath him and then she suddenly went invisible. This was incredibly unnerving to Alister who could now see the ground beneath him. To onlookers he looked like he was floating now. “Katrina? What’s wrong?”

“I demand to know where the entrance to Underland is, you pathetic little worm!” a male voice that was filled with malice snarled. “How do I get inside? You’d better tell me or else I’ll squash you like a bug.” A pause. “Oh, wait, you are a bug!” An evil chuckle filled the air.

“Where the hell is that voice coming from?” Alister glanced around and spotted a tree. He blinked when he realized that what he’d originally thought were two black trees standing side by side were actually someone’s legs. Alister craned his neck to look up past the mushroom caps and saw that there was a gigantic man in their midst. A giant!

Alister began to inwardly panic before he remembered that since he was only ten-inches-tall at the moment, a normal-sized man would appear to be a giant, which meant the man was probably an ordinary human. More importantly, Alister caught sight of what was currently clenched in the man’s right hand - it was Salome!

Salome cried out in pain. “I already told you, you fool! The entrance is right here-”

“Where?” Crim drawled. “I don’t see anything, worm! How dare you lie to me.”

The man may have been human, but he was definitely a jerk. Before Alister realized what he was doing, he slid off Katrina’s back and stalked over towards one of the man’s enormous feet. “Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, you big bully!”

“W-Who said that?” Crim demanded as he glanced around his surroundings nervously.

Alister kicked the man’s foot, but only managed to stub his own toe. “Ow. Dammit. I wish I had a needle to pick this jerk’s foot with…oh, wait.” A devious idea suddenly came to mind. Alister whipped out his paintbrush, and stared at it pensively. Will this actually work? He took a deep breath, and began to paint on the ground. Alister had chosen to paint a medieval broadsword.

Once his painting of the sword was complete the image glowed with a golden light, and the sword materialized as it became real.

Alister sucked in an astonished breath. He quickly pocketed his paintbrush and reached out to pick up the sword, his hand wrapping around the sword’s hilt. He picked the sword up and inspected it curiously. The sword was quite heavy, had a double-edged, steel blade, and was most definitely real. “Well, let’s see how real this sword is!” Alister raised the sword in a two-handed grip and brought it down to prick the giant’s toe.

“Ow! Fuck!” Crim shouted in pain and glared angrily at his surroundings. “W-Who did that? Show yourself, you coward!”

“Down here, idiot!” Alister called up in a snarky manner.

“Idiot?” Crim exclaimed in a tone of disbelief. “How dare you insult me? Do you have any idea who I am?”

“Besides an idiot and a bully? No.” Alister shook his head even though the giant couldn’t see what he was doing. He cupped his hands in front of his mouth and continued to speak to the man in his loudest voice. “The entrance to Underland is at your feet. You see that red and white spotted mushroom? Eat a piece from the underside of its cap and you’ll be able to enter Underland.”

“And why should I trust someone I can’t even see?” the man scoffed.

“Suit yourself. I guess I’ll be entering Underland first then. Bye!” Alister said loudly.

“Hey! Wait! Damnation!” The man let out a frustrated huff before setting Salome back down on her usual spot on the very top of the mushroom’s cap. Then he reached down to rip off a small piece of mushroom from the underside of its cap. He plopped the piece of mushroom into his mouth and rapidly started to shrink until he was only 10-inches tall.

Alister watched curiously as the man who was now his size spotted him and approached casually. As he drew closer Alister was able to make out the design of red hearts on the man’s black Victorian-style suit. Red hearts? Alister had a bad feeling about this and his gaze zipped up to the top of the man’s head. Sure enough, Alister’s suspicions were confirmed when he saw the glittering, gold crown encrusted with rubies that was sitting on the man’s head. The man’s identity was quite clear. Oh shit. Alister had just accidentally helped out the King of Hearts!

The Red King approached Alister with a haughty air about him. “Thank you for your assistance, peasant,” he said in a snide, condescending tone.

Alister’s eye twitched in irritation. “You’re welcome…Your Majesty.”

Crim gave Alister a pensive look, and took in his short, silky, blonde hair and blue eyes. Then his sharp gaze caught sight of the paintbrush that was sticking out of his vest pocket. “You! You’re…!” Crim strode forward towards Alister with swift steps.