Текст книги "Hookah"

Автор книги: Cameron Jace

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Chapter 42

Nazca Desert, Peru

“It’s a complicated question with a complicated answer,” the Pillar replies. “In short, we have no idea what the Nazca desert was really meant to be. We just stare at it like primitive monkeys and try to make sense of it. Photographing it, analyzing, and puking theories. Just like Wonderland. It has secrets of its own.”

“So why are we here, then?”

“The Executioner told us the meeting took place in the Dodo, right?”

“Yes?” I grimace. “I don’t see the connection, other than that it’s the same name of the company that manufactured the hookah.”

“I am beginning to see the whole picture now. But before I tell you about the connection, I need to make sure you know all about the Dodo,” the Pillar says. “Not the one we’re looking for but the one in the Alice in Wonderland book.”

“What about him? I thought he was a silly lovable character, although I never understood the significance of his appearance.”

“The Dodo is Lewis Carroll’s alter ego,” the Pillar says. “You remember his real name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, right?”

I nod. Of course I remember.

“So Lewis used to stutter a lot—I’ll get into why he did later. Usually when he tried to say his name was Dodgson, he’d stutter and say Do-Do-Dodgson. Get it?”

“Do-Do,” I repeat the words. “The Dodo. That’s where it came from?”

“Exactly. Except that this is the kind of stuff historians will tell you,” the Pillar says. “I’m not saying he didn’t pick the name to reflect on his stuttering. But that wasn’t just it.”

“There is a bigger picture?”

“There is always a bigger picture if you open your eyes. The dodo is also an extinct bird. And it couldn’t fly. There are only records of it, and some claim they see it every now and then, but without concrete evidence.”

“Are you saying Lewis was pointing to the bird, too? Why? I don’t see a connection.”

“Of course you see a connection, an immense one, for that matter.” The Pillar points downward, right underneath the chopper.

I look, but it takes me a moment to see it.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s huge. Immense, like he said. But that’s the reason I couldn’t grasp what I was seeing at first.

But now I do. There is no question about it. One of Nazca Lines is of a Dodo. And I am staring at it right now.

Chapter 43

St Peter’s, The Vatican

The White Queen couldn’t believe her eyes.

Standing at the basilica’s entrance, the world in front of her had slipped into chaos. It had begun a few hours back after Alice left yesterday. A few tourists began shouting and fighting with one another. But it wasn’t much. The police took care of the matter immediately.

And then last night the news of the plague had spread everywhere in Italy. Rome in particular had spiraled into a mad hole of swearing and kicking, something its people were naturally attracted to.

Then the madness escalated at the speed of light.

People everywhere were simply trying to hurt others. You couldn’t really make out what the fighting was about, since it was usually caught in its last stages, where fighters uttered no coherent sentences.

It reminded Fabiola of all the wars in the history of the world. Wars that last as long as thirty years, if not more. At some point in, you’d ask either side what they were fighting for, and you could not get an answer. Because none of them remembered what had started this.

This was what the Vatican was turning into. The world was turning into.

Now Fabiola was standing before the basilica, appalled by the fighting taking place in the piazza.

This was a place where people from all over the world came to share common beliefs. This wasn’t a place to fight one another, let alone kill one another.

But she had made her decision.

She was allowing the uninfected people to enter the basilica for shelter—it was easy to pick them out; they simply didn’t want to hurt anyone else.

Fabiola was about to face a peculiar decision. In a few moments, she was going to close the doors to the basilica and shelter herself with the uninfected. Something she hated to do, because she hated to give up on anyone, even the damned – like her.

Chapter 44

Nazca Desert, Peru

Landing in the middle of the Dodo artwork, I am starting to feel like the Alice in Wonderland in the book all over again.

I mean, most of my journey is about meeting up with the weirdest of the weird characters like in the book. It’s like my mind is being opened up to so many ideas and worlds it’s driving me crazy. So many times I find myself an observer, yet I can’t help but want more.

Curiouser and Curiouser.

“So let’s get this straight,” I ask the Pillar as we stand alone in the middle of the desert, the chauffeur having taken off again with the kids, “Lewis Carroll knew about this Dodo mark in Peru and decided to mention it in his book?”

“No, that’s not it.” The Pillar has picked up his cane again, looking around as if searching for an address in this endless maze of desert sands. “The Dodo is Lewis’s alter ego, sort of mocking everyone who mocked his stuttering, but at the same time Lewis knew something about the Nazca Lines.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t you get it?” The Pillar stares back. “Lewis Carroll knew something of the creation of this world. Like his knowledge of Wonderland, he knew of the past secrets of this real world.”

“Let’s just hypothetically say that’s true.” I don’t buy any of it. “What does this place have to do with it?”

“I don’t know what it is exactly. All I know is that the drug industry in the world was created by the likes of the Executioner, who was once a Wonderland Monster—“

“And I assume you’re one of them.”

“Yes, Alice. I was a drug lord,” he says as if it’s about the norm. “And when I was in the business, the Dodo was a major meeting place to pick and hand over certain packages and money. Don’t ask me why. What matters is that we’re waiting for the man who met with Lewis Carroll and told him how to cook the plague two years ago.”

“Okay.” I calm myself, trying to cope with too many puzzles. I remind myself that finding the cure is my priority. “So this man who met Lewis here is supposed to just arrive?”

“He usually does when he sees someone waiting here. It’s not like you’d find two people arriving here every day.”

“I suppose so,” I say. “So who is he, the man we we’re waiting for?”

“He is a nobody.”

“Excuse me?”

“Like I said. We’re waiting for nobody.” The Pillar points at the vast emptiness.

“Excellent,” I resist rolling my eyes this time. “I see nobody on the road.”

The Pillar turns to me with a smirk on his face. “Funny, that’s exactly what Alice said to the King of Hearts in the book, Alice Through the Looking Glass.”

Chapter 45

Surprisingly, I do remember this part in the book, when Alice tells the King of Hearts, ‘I see nobody on the road.’ It’s in the chapter called The Lion and the Unicorn in Alice Through the Looking Glass.

In the book, the King of Hearts replies and says, ‘I only wish I had such eyes. To be able to see Nobody! And at the distance too!’

The whole idea of that part is that Lewis Carroll had listed Nobody as a character in the end of the book. Talk about Carrollian madness.

“One of the most underestimated characters of Wonderland.” The Pillar points toward a hazy figure arriving on a bicycle in the horizon.

“That’s Mr. Nobody, I assume,” I say. “The man who we’re supposed to meet.”

“Here is the catch,” the Pillar explains, flashing a wide fake smile at Mr. Nobody. “Those few men who pass valuable information through the desert are all called Nobodies in the drug industry. Why? Because you’re not supposed to know their names or see them again. Get it?”

“So you drug people used Lewis Carroll’s book references in your sick business.”

“On the contrary,” the Pillar says. “Nobody and the Executioner lived in Wonderland once.”

Before I can comprehend this, Nobody arrives.

He is a bald man, sweaty, too heavy for the meek bicycle he’s riding. He grips a large handkerchief, the size of a beach towel, and uses it to mop sweat off his forehead.

Who drives a bicycle in the desert?

“Nobody looks exhausted,” I comment.

“That’s a double entendre, dear Alice.” The Pillar amuses himself. “Do you mean Nobody looks exhausted, or nobody looks exhausted?”

“What’s your business here?” Nobody demands in a suspicious tonality.

“The Executioner sent us,” the Pillar begins. I assume the word hasn’t spread yet about the Executioner’s death. “We want to ask you about a certain man you met here two years ago. The one who asked you to cook that hookah plague.”

“Ah.” Nobody grins. “I remember him. I’ve also seen the plague’s effect in the news. So what’s in it for me? Why should I tell you about him?”

“What do you want?” I say. “Money?”

“I have enough of that,” Nobody says. “Offer me something I can’t resist, or I will tell you nothing.”

The Pillar and I exchange brief glances.

“What can a somebody offer a Nobody?” The Pillar rubs his chin.

“If I were you, I’d make it fast,” Nobody says. “In case you haven’t heard, the plague has wreaked havoc all over the world. At this moment, people are killing each other in the streets. Whole towns are at war with their neighboring towns.”

“What?” I haven’t had the chance to check the news since I landed in Mushroomland.

“The world is ending much sooner than you think.”

Chapter 46

Buckingham Palace, London

The Queen of Hearts stared down from her balcony at the hordes of citizens wanting to break into the palace and kill her.

If it hadn’t been for her guards, she’d have been killed and eaten by those lunatics by now. Those awful human beings. Not only had they humiliated her and every Wonderlander in the Circus, but now they wanted to kill her.

“Margaret!” the Queen yelled. “You ugly Duchess!”

“Yes?”

“What happened with sending someone to find out if the Pillar found a cure?”

“I contacted the Cheshire, who said he’d send someone after him,” Margaret said. “But I haven’t heard from him since then. Besides, the citizens ransacked many phone towers. It’s hard to connect with anyone now.”

“So you failed, as always.” The Queen stepped up that tall chair so she could shout at Margaret in the face. “I should have your head chopped off,” she said. “Who thought Lewis Carroll would just pop up and lash this madness onto us. He’s about to destroy the world before I can have my fun torturing everyone.”

“I have an idea, My Queen,” Margaret said.

“What now? All your ideas are as ugly as you.”

“I saw a video of Lewis Carroll looking for the drug for his migraines, which isn’t sold in this world, as you know.”

“Of course I know it. We used to call it Lullaby. The one pill exclusively made to handle Carroll’s hallucinations.”

“He’s been walking around like a madman, killing pharmacists to stop the headaches. Why not fool him into thinking we have it and bring him here?”

“Here?” The Queen’s eyes widened. “You know how much I’m afraid of him.”

“He scares us all, but every monster has his weakness. Besides, you can always bring down a man with the power of your endless guards,” Margaret said. “They could torture him until he tells us about the cure. Bear in mind that the migraine is killing him. We could give him something that’ll worsen it. He will then be weak enough to spill the truth.”

“The truth.” The Queen waved her hands, the chair underneath her rattling a little. “Everyone wants to know the truth these days. Look, this is your last chance to make things right. Find him and bring him to me – on his knees, if you can.”

“Of course, My Queen. I’d say an hour or two, and you will have him in here.” Margaret said, having no idea how she could catch a monster like the Lewis Carroll man.

Chapter 47

Nazca Desert, Peru

“How about we make you a somebody.” The Pillar grins back at Nobody.

“You can’t keep living your life being a nobody.”

Nobody doesn’t find it funny.

But seriously, we have nothing to offer this man in this forsaken desert.

“Then I’m sorry.” Nobody turns around, about to drive away. “I can’t help you.”

“Wait,” the Pillar says. “I have something for you.”

What could the Pillar possibly have?

And in a most devastating moment, the Pillar pulls out a golden key and shows it to Nobody.

It’s the key the Hatter took from me.

“Is that what I think it is?” Nobody stares at it with hungry eyes.

I stare at the Pillar as well, only I’m both furious and feeling betrayed.

Did he really fool me last time, playing me all along to get the key?

“It is,” the Pillar tells Nobody. “One of the Six Impossible Keys.”

“Thank you.” Nobody snatches the key from the Pillar’s hands while I’m still cemented in place with disappointment. “Now, tell me what you want exactly?”

“What’s the cure to the plague?” That’s me asking. That’s me talking. It helps me put the Pillar’s betrayal behind my back for now.

“There is no cure,” Nobody says, tucking the key in his pocket.

Furiously, I pull him by his sleeves and roar in his face. “I swear if you don’t tell, I will make a somebody out of you, a somebody you will not like at all.”

“But what I’m saying is true.” He is choking in my hands. I can’t help but notice my violent episodes are increasing. And I’m not sure if I like this side of me. “The man who cooked it said so. A plague that can’t be cured.”

“Who is the man who cooked it?” I tighten my grip.

“They call him the Scientist.”

“No name? Just the Scientist?”

“Yes, I swear to God.”

“Where can I find this Scientist?”

Nobody is reluctant to say for a moment. He glances toward the Pillar, who’s smoking his cigar, fully amused by my anger.

“Tell me!” I shout at Nobody.

His face reddens more, bubbling now, staring pleadingly at the Pillar.

“He’s unable to talk, Alice,” the Pillar remarks. “You think you’re hurting him, but you’re actually killing him.”

My hands snap away from Nobody. I stare at them as if they aren’t mine. What’s happening to me?

“The Scientist lives in Brazil,” Nobody says, breathing heavily. “He is attending a festival at the moment.”

“Having a party while the world is ending,” the Pillar says. “Neat.”

“I’d go find him now if I was you,” the panting Nobody says.

“Suddenly caring about the world?” The Pillar raises an eyebrow.

“You don’t understand,” Nobody says. “It’s not just any festival. It’s the famous Brazilian Hookah festival!”

Chapter 48

Nazca Desert, Peru

The moment Nobody tells us where to go next, the Pillar’s chopper shows up in the air, ready to pick us up.

“This is when I usually disappear,” Nobody says and starts to frantically pedal away.

“You’re going to let him leave with the key?” the Pillar says.

It’s times like these when I don’t know what to do with him exactly. The kids shouting my name in the air distracts me from staring back at the Pillar. I turn and walk in their direction, smiling like a kid myself.

Again, it’s funny how little things, like a child’s smile, make all the sense in this world of continuous nonsense. Even the Keys to Wonderland don’t matter much all of a sudden.

“Hey, Nobody!” the Pillar yells. “You still have my key.”

“Who’re you talking to?” Nobody twists his head back, mocking the Pillar. “There is nobody on this bicycle.”

I actually admire this comeback as the chopper lands before me. The spiraling wind feels refreshing all of a sudden.

“Then I assume nobody is going to fall off the bicycle now.” I hear the Pillar suck on his cigar behind me, calling out for the man on a bicycle.

I hear Nobody’s bicycle swerve and fall to the ground.

“Ouch!” Nobody wails on the desert floor.

I turn to look.

“I think I heard nobody say ouch.” The Pillar strolls casually toward Nobody—which is a boggling sentence, in and of itself.

I suddenly realize the absurdness of a bicycle in the desert. But I am not going to stir my head around that. I’ve seen madder things in my short life.

The Pillar stands over Nobody and demands the key under the threat of the gun he is pointing at him.

I sense something bad is going to happen. I turn back to the kids and distract them so they don’t look.

When Nobody argues he won’t give it back, the Pillar shoots his leg. This search for the cure is getting bloodier by the minute.

But it works, and the Pillar gets the key back—my key!

“Don’t kill me, please,” Nobody begs.

“Only if you tell me the last missing piece of the puzzle,” the Pillar says. “Now that we know the plague was cooked by this Scientist, it’s time to tell us who ordered it in the first place.”

“I thought you were sure it was Lewis Carroll,” I interfere from the distance. “Isn’t he the Wonderland Monster who’s behind this?” Of course, I still have my doubts about Lewis being a monster, but I haven’t been sure of anything for a while.

“Who is it?” The Pillar lowers his gun toward Nobody, neglecting me.

“Carolus Ludovicus!” Nobody finally speaks.

This is the moment a whirlwind sweeps through the desert, almost knocking me off the earth.

When it slows down, I see the Pillar is still pointing his gun. Even from this far, I can see the worried look on his face.

Carolus Ludovicus?

The name sounds villainous. Another drug lord from around here? Then what about this Lewis Carroll walking the streets of London?

“You understand now when I told you the plague is incurable?” Nobody tells the Pillar.

The Pillar says nothing, turns around, shoots the man dead without looking, and walks toward me.

The look on his face is tense.

“You didn’t have to shoot him.” I talk to him as he gets on the chopper. “I know he was a bad man, but I’m fed up with all this killing.”

“Did I shoot someone?” The Pillar fakes an innocent face. The children laugh.

“Yes.” I get in. “You shot Nobody.”

The children laugh again, and now I get the joke.

“Exactly.” The Pillar signals for his chauffeur to take off. “I shot nobody.”

Chapter 49

Radcliffe Asylum, Oxford

Tom Truckle, protected by the asylum’s guards, welcomed his twin son and daughter and pulled them inside immediately.

“Issue Plan-X now,” he ordered his guards, hugging his teenagers.

But Todd and Tania weren’t fond of their father. They never had been. Tom knew they’d only accepted his call to shelter themselves from the apocalypse outside.

Tom showed them to the underground ward and tucked them safely in the best cell possible.

“It’s not clean,” Tania protested.

“Horrible,” Todd followed. “Just like you, Dad.”

“How about a little patience?” Tom argued. “Once all is set, I’ll get Waltraud or Ogier to clean it for you.”

“Waltraud?” Tania raised her thick eyebrows.

“Ogier?” That was Tom.

Both of them laughed hysterically. Although boy and girl, sometimes when they laughed like this, he couldn’t tell who was who for a moment. All Tom knew was that his kids tended to be a little evil from time to time.

“Enough with that,” he said. “Look, why don’t you two play with that lovely Flamingo in there?”

Todd and Tania marched toward it, not lovingly but more like they were disgusted by it.

“Okay.” Tom pulled them back, realizing he cared for the Flamingo more than anything. “Just wait here. I know who can show you discipline around here. Waltraud!”

But Waltraud didn’t reply.

Tom called for her again.

And again.

Finally, one of the guards told him Waltraud had left the asylum.

“Why?” Tom questioned. “She loves it in here. She adores the Mush Room.”

“But she loves the world outside better now,” the guard said. “She took her baseball bat with her and told us she wouldn’t miss all those fights outside.”

Before Tom could comment, his twins, Todd and Tania, summoned him again, complaining about something else in the cell. No matter how hard he tried to please them he couldn’t, but he had to go grant them one more wish.

“Yes, Tweedles,” he said. “I’m coming over.”

Their mother used to call them Tweedledum and Tweedledee when they were younger.

Chapter 50

Hookah Festival, Brazil

The festival isn’t going to start until the sun goes down. We have no choice but to wait until then. Which is a big risk. Our journey has taken about two days, and I remember Carolus saying it would only be three days before the plague took its course to end the world.

But even so, I spend the time with the kids, showing them around and buying them clothes and candy. The Pillar provides the money for the clothes, but that doesn’t mean I want to talk to him.

Every time I remind myself that he was the real Mad Hatter, playing me around to get the key, I can’t bring myself to look him in his face. I truly regret going back for him in Columbia. I should have left him to get eaten by the Executioner’s men.

I am aware I still need him for this mission, so I won’t push it. But after this ends, the Pillar and I will part ways. I don’t care what his story is. It’s a sensitive issue when someone betrays me.

I will even talk again to Fabiola about the Inklings. We should find a way to pay the Pillar back—although I don’t see how it’s possible. Maybe that’s why he bought it for me; to use it to manipulate me, make me feel in debt, so I would never stand up to him.

Deep inside, I admit I feel he is a much better man than he seems to be. I mean he saved me from the Executioner. But every time I tell myself that, he turns the table on me in a blink of an eye.

My predicament is truly weakening me. I mean, even Lewis Carroll is some kind of a monster now. How am I going to live with that? Am I really supposed to not trust anyone but myself? Are these the rules of the game?

The kids try their clothes on. They seem to be fond of brightly colored dresses. I don’t blame them. They lived in a dim mushroom world for so long.

I make sure everyone gets what he wants, not knowing what I am going to do with them. I can’t take them back to the asylum. That would be like transporting them from one hell to another.

But I’ll figure it out.

Right now I have to send them back to the chopper, so the Pillar and I can get ready for the hookah festival that night.