Beatrice DuPont was still standing in the smoke shop, her face squashed against a very solid surface. “What!” She backed away in disbelief. “No!” She tapped and then banged on the mirror.

“Easy!” Mad Hat cautioned.

“But, I have to get home! Wizard! Wizard, get back here!” She pounded some more, hoping to jolt the device back into action.

“Be careful!” a strong hand was trying to pull her back but she wouldn’t have it.

“I’m not going to be stuck here! I don’t belong in this stupid nightmare! Let me out! Goddamn-it, let me wake up!”

“Calm down, Sweetheart!”

She whirled around. “I am NOT your Sweetheart, and I am NOT staying here!”

With another fierce beat, a long, spidery crack appeared in the glass. The assailant looked stunned and froze. “What have I done?” she gasped. “What-”

“It’s broken.”

“What do I do? How do I fix it? Call him back! Make him fix it!”

“Beatrice,” Mad Hat said softly. “He can’t come back now.”

“He has to! I’m not staying here!” She yanked off her wig and threw it to the floor. “I’m not staying here! I can’t! I won’t!”

A loud bang shook the shop and it was evident that someone had just burst through the front door. “Check the office!” the Prince’s voice ordered.

Beatrice and Mad Hat looked at each other in panic. Moments later, the Prince with his perfect wig-like hair and his men swept through the back room. They searched high and low, but they couldn’t see between the splinters in the wall like the two fugitives could.

“That little cretin had another mirror! He’s escaped through it and destroyed it!”

“Shall we pursue through the other one, My Lord?”

“No. I don’t need that dopey magician anymore anyway. Continue the search for the girl, and find Mad Hat! I expected a report from him by now.”

Madoc Chapeau stood in a hidden compartment in the wall next to the blank faced girl who would secure his spot on the head chopping block if anyone found out he was helping her. “We need to get away from here... lay low for a while.” He got no response. “I’m sorry the mirror didn’t work, but we can’t stay here.”

He finally had to drag his despondent companion out the back door where they discovered that the sun had come up. “The Folly Forest is a bit out of sorts, but it’s our best bet while we figure out how to get you back.”

There was a scoff. “Is that even still possible?”

“Ah, she speaks.”

She scoffed again.

“The Prince still has the other mirror, right? We just need to work out how to get to it.”

“Oh, well that sounds easy enough...”

“It won’t be.”

“Whoa!” Beatrice leapt backwards. They had gotten a ways into the woods and she had seen a giant creature moving not too far ahead of them.

“Shh… it just an urcheon.”

“A humongous frickin’ hedgehog, that’s what it is! Why aren’t we running away?”

“It won’t hurt you - just keep to the side.” He led her out of the animal’s lumbering path and wound a way around the hundred foot tall trees.

“If this is a dream I have one heck of an imagination...”

“How many times do I have to tell you this isn’t a dream? This is real.”

“So says the figment of my imagination.”

Mad Hat shook his head.

“Well… if this is real, and I’m not saying I think it is! But, on the off chance… how do we get back to the Prince’s palace from here?”

“You’re the Queen. You choose which way to go.”

“What? Are you calling me a diva for wanting to get back home? I don’t know how to get around this world! You’re the local. How do we get to the other mirror?”

“We can’t go back the way we came. We’ll just have to keep going forward.”

“Do you know where we’re going?”

“No, so I guess it doesn’t matter which way we take to get there.”

The two fugitives had been hiking for awhile before the forest of giant trees finally cleared and gave way to a meadow of tiny ones. “Oh!” Beatrice halted in surprise. “These trees are fully grown but they’re only knee high! And look! Miniature flamingos!”

“I’d be careful if I were you.”

“Careful? About what?” She bent down to pet one of the small pink birds and soon learned the answer to her own question. “OW! It bit me!”

“I warned you,” Mad Hat smirked.

Beatrice sucked on her wound and glared at the offending animal. The flock of birds squawked and all flew away in a small pink cloud. They continued on their trek through the woods, picking their way around the undersized oaks, and elms, and pines, until eventually the trees became normal sized.

“What’s that?” Beatrice remarked of a low rumbling sound that was steadily growing louder.

Mat Hat shrugged. “It sounds like someone snoring...” They turned in the direction of the noise and saw movement in the foliage. Something was coming towards them rapidly.

“Watch out!” Beatrice warned, but it was too late. The pair were swept up on top of what seemed like a very solid river of curious creatures. “What are these things?” she shouted over the sound of the stampede.

“They look like turtles!” Mat Hat shouted back.

“What? Turtles don’t move this fast!”

“Maybe they’re fake ones then!” And just as abruptly as they were swept up, the surfers were hastily deposited back into what appeared to be a loose pile of hay.