The castle was quiet now.

  A few hours had passed since the battle. Card soldiers patrolled the corridors in pairs, their movements stiff and uncertain—following the King's orders, but clearly unsure what to do without the Queen's constant commands. The Queen herself had retreated to her chambers, refusing to speak to anyone.

  Maggie sat on a bench in one of the castle's inner gardens, watching roses that glowed faintly red in the perpetual twilight of Wonderland. Locke lay at her feet, dozing.

  Jay sat beside her. He hadn't said much since waking up.

  His hand kept drifting to his throat, fingers tracing the scar that circled his neck. He'd catch himself doing it, force his hand back down, then do it again a minute later. The staff he'd taken from the Ace lay across his knees, but he wasn't holding it like a weapon anymore. More like something he didn't know what to do with.

  "You okay?" Maggie asked.

  "Yeah." Jay's voice was flat. "Just thinking."

  "About?"

  He didn't answer right away. His fingers found his throat again.

  "It was dark," he said finally. "When I... you know. There was nothing. No light, no sound, no anything. Just me holding onto something I couldn't see." He swallowed. "I thought that was it. Game over. No continues."

  Maggie didn't know what to say to that. So she just sat with him, watching the roses glow.

  · · ·

  They found the King in his study, surrounded by papers that were still reorganizing themselves when he wasn't looking. He looked up when they entered, and something like relief crossed his face.

  "You're leaving," he said. Not a question.

  "Time to go." Mark stood in the doorway, Locke at his side. His coat was still torn from the battle, but he'd cleaned most of the blood off. "You'll be alright?"

  "I think so. For now." Charles glanced toward the door that led to the Queen's chambers. ""She's furious, of course. But the declaration bought us time." He glanced at Maggie. "Though I understand it won't last forever."

  "Good luck," Mark said.

  "Thank you. For everything." The King stood, extending his hand. Mark shook it. "You're welcome here anytime. All of you."

  Jay stepped forward. He held the staff out toward Charles.

  "Here," he said. "I don't... I think this should stay in Wonderland."

  Charles looked at the staff, then at Jay. "Are you sure? You earned it."

  "Yeah." Jay's hand went to his throat again, then dropped. "I don't think I need it anymore."

  The King took the staff with a solemn nod. "I'll keep it safe. In case you ever want it back."

  Jay almost smiled. Almost.

  · · ·

  Alice met them at the castle gates.

  She was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching them approach with that slight smile that never quite reached her eyes.

  "Leaving so soon?" she asked. "The tea hasn't even gone cold yet. Well—some of it hasn't. The Hatter's been experimenting with temperature again."

  "We've overstayed our welcome," Mark said.

  "Nonsense. You've barely stayed at all." She pushed off the wall and walked toward him. "But I suppose you have other places to be. Other strays to rescue. Other dragons to fight."

  "Something like that."

  Alice stopped in front of him. For a moment, something softer flickered behind her eyes.

  "Come back more often," she said. "It gets boring here without you."

  "You have the Hatter."

  "Exactly my point."

  Mark almost laughed. "I'll try."

  "Liar." But she was smiling. She turned to Maggie. "Take care of him. He's terrible at taking care of himself."

  "I've noticed," Maggie said.

  "And you—" Alice looked at Jay. Her expression shifted, becoming something closer to gentle. "You did well. Better than most."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Jay tried to straighten up, tried to find some of his old bravado. "Yeah, well. The great Jayden doesn't—"

  He stopped. His hand had gone to his throat again.

  "Thanks," he said quietly. "For everything."

  Alice nodded. "Safe travels."

  Maggie took one last look at the castle behind them—the red spires, the heart-shaped windows, the throne room where she'd faced down a Queen. It felt strange to be leaving. Like walking out of a room she'd never see again.

  She turned and followed Mark through the gates.

  · · ·

  The transition out of Wonderland was less dramatic than the entrance. One moment they were walking through a garden of impossible flowers, the next they were standing on grey pavement under a grey sky.

  The Dreamscape. The real one—or as real as anything here got.

  Jay looked around at the empty streets, the muted colors, the fog that hung between buildings. He didn't say anything about crystal cities or flying islands. Didn't ask about adventures or quests.

  He just looked.

  "So," Mark said, stopping in the middle of an intersection. "You ready?"

  Jay blinked. "Ready for what?"

  "To leave."

  The word hung in the air. Jay's hand went to his throat—then stopped halfway, clenching into a fist at his side.

  "I..." He swallowed. "I don't know if I can."

  "You can. The question is whether you want to."

  "That's the thing." Jay's voice cracked. "I do want to. I want to go back. I want to wake up and see my room and eat actual food and—" He broke off, breathing hard. "But I'm scared. What if I forget all of this? What if I wake up and it's like none of it happened?"

  Mark was quiet for a moment.

  "You probably won't remember," he said. "Most people don't. The Dreamscape fades like any other dream. You might get flashes—déjà vu, strange feelings, dreams that feel too real. But the details?" He shrugged. "Gone."

  Jay looked like he'd been punched.

  "So everything I learned—the magic, the fighting, the—" His voice rose. "I died here. I actually died. And I won't even remember it?"

  "Probably not."

  "That's not fair!"

  "No. It's not." Mark's voice was calm. Matter-of-fact. "But that's how it works. The Dreamscape isn't meant to be remembered. It's meant to be survived."

  Jay stood there, fists clenched, jaw tight. For a moment Maggie thought he might refuse. Might dig in his heels and insist on staying, consequences be damned.

  Then his shoulders slumped.

  "I don't want to go back to being... nothing," he said quietly. "Before all this, I was just some kid who played games and watched anime. Nobody special. Nothing mattered."

  "And now?"

  "Now I know I can do things. Real things. I summoned fire. I created a Doppel. I—" His hand finally touched his throat. "I survived dying. That has to mean something, right?"

  Mark studied him for a long moment.

  "You know why you ended up here," he said. It wasn't a question.

  Jay flinched. "I don't—"

  "You gave up. On something. On everything, maybe. That's the only way strays end up in the Dreamscape." Mark stepped closer. "But here's the thing, Jay. The skills you learned here—they might fade. The memories might disappear. But the part of you that refused to stay dead? The part that held onto your anchor when everything else went dark?" He tapped Jay's chest. "That stays. That's yours. Forever."

  Jay's eyes were wet. He blinked hard, trying to hide it.

  "So what do I do?" he asked. "When I wake up? How do I... how do I not just go back to how things were?"

  "You give up on giving up."

  Jay stared at him. "What?"

  "That's the first step. The most important one." Mark's voice was steady. "Whatever made you end up here—whatever you were running from, hiding from, giving up on—you face it. You stop running. You fight for your life the same way you fought to come back from the dead."

  Maggie felt something tighten in her chest. Give up on giving up. The words weren't meant for her, but they landed anyway.

  "I don't know if I can," Jay whispered.

  "You already did it once." Mark almost smiled. "Do it again."

  Jay stood there for a long moment. Then, slowly, he nodded.

  "Okay," he said. "Okay. I'll try."

  "Good." Mark raised his hand. "Ready?"

  Jay swallowed. "Not really."

  "That's normal."

  "How does it work?" Jay looked at Mark's raised hand. "Waking up, I mean. What do I do?"

  Mark was already snapping his fingers.

  "Wake up."

  Jay vanished.

  No flash of light. No dramatic exit. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't. The space where he'd stood was just empty air now, grey fog drifting through where a person used to be.

  Maggie stared at the spot. The intersection felt bigger somehow. Emptier.

  "Huh," she said.

  Mark lowered his hand. "Yeah."

  They stood in silence for a moment.

  "What about you?" Mark asked. "You want to leave too?"

  Maggie considered it. Thought about waking up—wherever her body was. Thought about the memories she still couldn't access, the gaps in her mind that she'd been carefully not looking at.

  "Not yet," she said. "I don't remember everything yet."

  Mark nodded once. Didn't ask why. Didn't push.

  Maggie glanced at him—the torn coat, the glasses, the calm expression that never quite gave anything away.

  "What about you?" she asked. "How did you end up here? Twenty years is a long time to be stuck somewhere."

  Mark kept walking. For a moment, Maggie thought he wouldn't answer at all.

  "Not now," he said finally. Something flickered across his face—there and gone before she could read it. "Maybe later."

  Maggie let it go. She'd learned to recognize when Mark's walls went up. Pushing wouldn't get her anywhere.

  "Didn't expect him to grow that much," Maggie said, looking at the empty space where Jay had been. "When I first met him, I wanted to punch his face in."

  "You did punch his face in."

  "Right. And I wanted to do it again, multiple times." She shook her head. "But he actually became... useful. More than useful."

  "He did," Mark agreed.

  "What actually happened to him? Before the Dreamscape, I mean. Why was he here?"

  Mark shrugged. "Don't know. Never asked." He kept walking. "I just hope he'll be okay."

  Maggie fell into step beside him, Locke trotting between them. "Yeah. Me too."

  "Now we go somewhere that isn't Wonderland."

  "Any suggestions?"

  Maggie thought about it. Remembered a promise made in a coffee shop, what felt like a lifetime ago.

  "Johnny mentioned the Sky Gardens once," she said. "Said he'd take me there after I learned to control my thoughts. Seemed pretty excited about it."

  "The Sky Gardens are nice. But we can't go there yet."

  "Why not?"

  "I promised to visit Her Highness." Mark glanced at her. "After everything that happened with the cats in the plaza, I owe her an explanation. And probably an apology."

  "Her Highness?" Maggie asked. "The Queen of Cats?"

  "Something like that."

  "Is she dangerous?"

  "Only if you forget to scratch behind her ears." Mark glanced at her. "Don't hold back on the petting. Cats here are very particular about proper worship."

  "Worship."

  "They're cats. What did you expect?"