Beatrice DuPont stood in the back office of the club. It was rather cluttered with papers, and odds and ends. It was where she wound up after crawling quickly away from the bar and the men who seemed to be in cahoots to do her harm. She surveyed the space and saw a long coat hanging from a coat rack. She slipped it on and found it was quite a bit big for her, but she decided to keep it on anyway. She took the matching hat that went with it and slipped out another door that led thankfully back outside.

Nothing looked familiar. Every street she went down looked like a back alley and she couldn’t seem to find a front door to anywhere. She thought she heard people walking around but never seemed to see any of them. Finally, two uniformed men came marching down the block towards her, but just as she opened her mouth and raised her arms to flag them down a pair of strong arms reached out and grabbed her once again.

A hand pressed over her mouth but it was bare this time and her nose was still free to breath. The arms had pulled her through a dark doorway and the person attached to them was holding her firmly, yet gently, in the shadows.

“Don’t scream,” a voice in her ear ordered, a hand still held to her face. “Those aren’t men you want to be asking any help from.” The uniformed men passed by and the figure relaxed from what Beatrice realized had been a highly tensed state. The hand disappeared and a face with bright eyes came into view.

“You!” Beatrice hissed.

“Yes, me. You ran off with my hat. I want it back.” He lifted it from her head and examined it closely for any possible damage.

“Your hat?”

“I’ll take my jacket back too.”

“Aren’t you going to kidnap me again?” Beatrice questioned as she relinquished the coat she wore.

“Do you want me to? Although, I didn’t kidnap you in the first place, so there’s no need to say ‘again’.”

“But, you were going to sell me back to the guy who did take me!”

The man with the hat looked indignant. “I was going to do no such thing!” he protested in his charming accent.

“Weren’t you, though? You told him you had ‘just the right girl for him for a price’!”

“I didn’t mean you. I specialize in Tartz.”

“Excuse me?”

“My SweeTartz. The girls you saw in the club? They are highly trained in the companion services - a special commodity here.”

“Oh... I’m sure they are.”

“People pay a lot to rent out my Tartz. The Prince on the other hand… he’s not always too keen on returning them.”

“If you’re not going to kidnap me and turn me into a tart, can I go now?”

“Sure… Do you have any idea where you’re going?” he asked.

“As far away from here as humanly possible.”

“You’re not from around here are you?” he smirked.

“No, I don’t think I am.”

“Then you’ll need my help.”

She scoffed. “Your help?”

The man with the tarts looked playfully offended. “What? Don’t trust me, Sugar?”

“I don’t trust anyone! Especially not a pimp...”

“You can trust me. I promise not to sell you to the Prince or anything like that.” He held out his hand. “You can call me Mad Hat. Everyone else does.”

“Except the Prince.”

Mad Hat chuckled. “Except the Prince.”

Beatrice sighed. “Well, everyone calls me Beatrice.” She shook his hand but narrowed her eyes, “And I still don’t trust you.”

“What choice have you got?” he grinned.

Beatrice DuPont wondered why she was following this man… this Mad Hat. They were currently skulking through the shadows, avoiding who knows who. She certainly didn’t. “Where are we going?” she asked her guide.

“To see the Wizard.”

“Of course we are!” she said sarcastically and incredulously.

“Yes, of course we are. He can help you get back to wherever it is you’re from.”

They stopped in front of a door that was seemingly indistinguishable from all the others they had passed. Mad Hat held it open for her and she stepped inside.

Beatrice found herself in a small shop with walls lined in glass blown objects and clear jars filled with what looked like little green pine cones.

“Huh... wizard,” she mumbled.

“Kel?” Mad Hat called out. He maneuvered to the back of the store where another door stood open. “Oh,” he said softly. “Kel?” he called again with more uncertainty. “Are you in here?”

Beatrice came up next to him and saw the distress he did. What should have been an office and work shop looked more like the aftermath of a tornado-earthquake. “What happened?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“Looks like you’re not the only one getting kidnapped around here.” They stepped tenderly around the mess on the floor and examined the crime scene. “This is not good. Kelebeck’s the only one who knows how to move between your world and ours,” Mad Hat said, half to himself.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘your world’?”

“You’re really not from around here, are you, Honey.”

“Yeah, no, but… are you saying this is a whole other plane of existence or something?” She looked skeptical.

“Well, it’s more than just 'the other side of town'.”

“Yeah... so, I guess I must be dreaming,” Beatrice decided, “and if I am, I’m lucid dreaming and that means I can make anything I want happen.” She closed her eyes and thought hard. When she opened them again her companion was looking doubtfully at her.

“Is this what you wanted to happen?”

“No.” She started pinching her arm methodically. It hurt.

“Then I don’t think you’re dreaming, and I’m sorry, but without Kel, I don’t know how to get you back home.”

“Oh, well that’s fine.”

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow.

“No! Doesn’t ‘your world’ have sarcasm?”

“My world doesn’t have people from yours in it, so we should probably work on fixing that. Look around for clues as to who could have taken Kel.”

“Fine, I’ll play along for now.” Beatrice frowned and scanned the room. She picked up a couple of things and peered at them, not sure what anything was. She came to a chalkboard and absently drew with a piece of glittery chalk. She formed a little doodle of a flower and a butterfly. “Whoa!”

Mad Hat turned sharply at her exclamation.

“Oh, I am definitely hanging on to this!” Beatrice held up the chalk as a bright daisy fell softly to the ground and soft wings fluttered around her head.

“Don’t mess with anything. We don’t know what’s dangerous.”

She rolled her eyes. “Any idea where this wizard guy could be?”

Mad Hat tilted his head sideways and stared at the wall behind the wizard’s desk. “No, but I might have an idea of what was taken with him." There was a large, pale rectangle where something had hung on the wall until recently.

“A painting? Why would they kidnap this dude for a painting?”

“I don’t know… it must be important. It must be more than a painting - like that chalk is more than just chalk.”

“Well, what do we do now?”

Mad Hat picked something up off of the desk. “I have an idea. We need to get back to my club.”

“Is the Prince still there?”

“He shouldn’t be, but all the same, you’re going to need a disguise.”