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Meg gently lay Alice down on as dry a mound as she could find with the moon's light guiding her. "Rest," she insisted, trying to catch her breath. The pain in Alice's broken ankle caused her to cry out, and she bit her fist in an attempt to stifle herself.
The mirror kept them pointed in the direction they felt they needed to go, but unfortunately it was leading them back through the woods where the Headless Horseman apparently held dominion. Meg set a smooth stone under Alice's ankle to try to alleviate the pressure.
Alice wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry you have to carry me."
"You're not the problem, Lilies. It's the convertible hibachi chef." The truth was, Meg was getting worn out. Alice wasn't heavy in short bursts, but they'd been scrambling through uneven terrain for well over an hour and having to dodge the sound of approaching hoof steps a good half dozen times by hiding behind whatever brush was available to them. "Doesn't he ever clock out?"
"He may be patrolling," suggested Alice. "Perhaps he follows a set pattern."
Meg fidgeted with the mirror. "This thing would be more useful if it had a night light."
"Miss Meg, you know you have some of the most peculiar idiosyncrasies when it comes to describing things."
"Well, I don't really understand half of the words you use either."
"I mean no disrespect," Alice insisted. "It's just that...it's only occurred to me how little we know of each other."
Meg instinctively gave her an incredulous look, but not wanting to harm the already wounded girl's feelings she quickly suppressed it. "I guess a little information wouldn't hurt in case we need to contact each other's next of kin. Where are you from?"
Alice expected herself to answer without hesitation but the information stalled in her head, like a sequence of numbers one could rattle off without thinking but become lost once thought is applied. "London?" She hadn't intended to inflect it as a question, but her memories of home came to her as images instead of names. "Westminster," she decided. "Yes, I'm certain of it."
Meg touched Alice's hand. It hadn't been comforting for either of them to be dealing with such unreliable memories, but at least it was taking the twelve year old's mind off her ankle. "It's okay Lilies. I'm only about sixty-seven percent sure I'm from Thebes."
Alice shook her head. "I'm disappointed with myself. I should have attended to my lessons with greater discernment. I do hope this is only a temporary amnesia."
"You didn't do this to yourself."
"I've filled my head with nonsense."
"I've been dead before. And I mean literally soul-split-from-body dead. Trust me, whatever this Acheron is you weren't pushed in because you skipped Pythagorean-" Meg heard the sound of galloping. Alice was about to ask a question but Meg shushed her while wrapping a protective arm across her. "Here comes nonsense's Ginsu again," she whispered.
They both held their breath as he passed by, the trail only a few yards away. By now they'd grown accustomed to the horseman's periodic arrivals and departures. It was clear he wasn't looking for them, and may not have even been aware of their presence in the woods. But this time he let out a loud cackle that jostled Meg. It seemed to echo from deep inside an empty shell and carry through the whole forest. And again, he was gone. But Meg lay still for several moments longer than necessary, just in case that had been a performance for them.
"How can he laugh without a head?" Meg growled. "Better yet, how can he even see where he's going?"
"Those are valid questions Miss Meg," said Alice. She stared at her ankle. The makeshift splint was making her travel possible, if only slightly bearable, and she really wasn't looking forward to having to move again. "Do you think we stand any chance of surviving the night if we sleep here?"
"No. Too exposed. And too close to the trail." Meg glanced around at the lower branches in the area, wondering if any of them had the kind of elastic resilience that could theoretically knock the horseman to the ground. It was a possibility, although a huge gamble as his horse might not cooperate with an unfamiliar rider. And there was still the issue of Alice's injury which would no doubt be further aggravated by bouncing on the animal's back. She collected the mirror that Alice had been cradling against her chest and stared into its darkness. "Okay, let me think."
"Miss Meg?"
There was a seed of despair creeping into Alice's voice that Meg chose not to acknowledge. "Something to spark an idea. It's too dark where we are," she thought out loud, "and anything nearby that the glass can show us would be in darkness-"
"There's an unpleasant reality we may have to consider-"
"No, Lilies." She gave the tip of Alice's nose a gentle but stern tap. "Not gonna happen."
"I haven't said-"
"-and you're not going to," Meg interrupted. "I'm not leaving you behind."
Alice had been masking how afraid she was behind a decided curiosity and a lexicon she was only mostly sure of. But at this one moment the facade was cracking, and she covered her own chin to try to prevent it from quivering. "I can't see a way out."
Meg stroked the hair out of the girl's face. "Doll, I was a slave in the Underworld. If there was ever a dark place that kept you from seeing a way out, it was there. I've seen a lot of people come through; every one of them holding onto any grasp of hope they had. Like a candle. A flickering, dying candle. And they all had the same look in their eyes the moment that light went out. A surrender of hope."
"What none of them realized was, the way out is still there whether you can see it or not. The darkness can take your light but it can't take your hope. It's always your choice to sacrifice it. And people do, all the time. They give it up for no reason except that the darkness has tricked them into thinking they'll never see the-"
Wait a minute. Meg peered into the glass. The black void peered back. Waiting for instruction. She knew it could only show things in the present, but some things were always there. Somewhere. It could work. She held the mirror up and commanded, "Show us the sun."
The reflection shimmered. And almost a second too late she thought to turn the glass downward as the vicinity in which they'd taken refuge lit up in a concentrated spotlight. Meg looked at Alice as uncontrollable smiles appeared on both their faces.
"Eureka," Alice giggled.
"What a spark!"
It was high noon somewhere; in fact, the sun was beating down on the roof of the local saloon. The gravel road was barren, save for a string of recent paw prints that nobody was likely to notice. And in the back of the saloon a wooden door, carefully painted to blend in with the wall, opened ever so cautiously.
Bugs poked his head around the frame at floor level to check for any sign of immediate threat. Bagheera joined him. The two of them waited silently, listening for anything amiss. Moments passed, and nothing. They exchanged a confirming glance and Bugs hopped out onto the saloon's floor.
"I knew dis tunnel lead somewhere. Good eyes, O'Malley."
Bagheera crept out a little more alertly. "It looks like we're in a man-village."
"Deserted. Lucky us." He gestured to the overhang with the heads of a buck, bison, and moose mounted on it. "We should fare better'n dese Easter eggs."
"It's unusual that this place is empty."
"Galaxy's Edge must've reopened." The rabbit sprang over the bar and began wiping out the cups. "What can I getcha Slim?"
Bagheera gave Bugs a perplexed look. "Getcha?"
"To drink. Before da show let's out." He duck behind the counter and rummaged through the supply. "We got it all. Strawberry Colada, Banana Bomber, Kungaloosh; eh, it looks like the censors figured out the Old Panther gag."
"What show are you talking about?"
"Da one with da banjos." Bugs popped back up and slid a bright pink cocktail with four umbrellas and a bendy straw down the bar to where Bagheera sat. "Do you guys never get off da lot? We're in Frontierland."
The name wasn't familiar. "Is this a place I should know?"
"I always t'ought dey covered da tour on day one. Da theme parks? Main Street, parades, da castle cable dat no one will admit to?"
Bagheera snorted. "I understand the words you're saying..."
A tired voice from the road outside disrupted the panther's thought. "Alex!"
"That was Elsa."
"Good. We're outta ice." Bugs poured his own fruit cocktail. "Your name ain't Alex Bagheera, is it?" But the panther had already darted through the door. Bugs sighed and downed his beverage, grimacing at the aftertaste.
Outside Elsa was steadying herself against a hitching post. The continuous heat was causing her to feel lightheaded, and at first the sight of a large cat sprinting towards her appeared like a mirage. Her first thought was that she was about to be mauled, and she took a defensive stance even though she didn't have the strength to protect herself with ice. She just hoped it would be over fast.
"Elsa!" Bagheera called to her.
"Thank goodness," the Ice Queen's hand slipped and she fell to the ground. Bagheera reached her spot and nudged his way underneath so he could carry her back to the saloon. "Alex. Did you see him?"
Confident that Elsa was balanced enough to not fall off him, Bagheera scurried as steadily as he could. "Who's Alex."
"Fur," Elsa muttered. "Long ears." She was fighting to stay conscious, but any more words that entered her head never made it to her mouth until she felt the indoor temperatures touch her skin.
Bagheera let her slide gently onto the floor of the saloon and gave Bugs a nod to help her. The rabbit poured two glasses of juice. "Are you talking about him?"
It took Elsa a few seconds for her eyes to focus. "Yes," she said as soon as Bugs's shape became clear but changed her mind once she realized the color was off. "No. He's brown."
"Another rabbit?" Bugs asked.
"Donkey," Elsa gasped. "He's alone."
"Drink dis." Bugs held the first glass up to her lips but she refused it.
"Please! He's scared!"
"I'll go look," Bagheera assured her. "Your thirst needs quenching."
"Thank you." Elsa took the glass in her hands and tried to sip but wound downing the whole concoction.
"Take care of her," Bagheera told Bugs.
"On the job."
The panther was out the door again, and Elsa finished off her second glass. Bugs took them both back to the bar for a refill. "I guess it's da heat dat bothers you in several ways. I'll keep 'em coming 'til you're ready to slow down."
Elsa drew in a deep breath but only exhaled a puff of cold air. The fluids were helping but she'd really dehydrated herself. "You were the one on the beach."
"Being shot at, yeah. Except dis guy weren't no stormtrooper."
Elsa struggled to get into one of the empty chairs and Bugs stopped what he was doing to help her up.
"You know," he said, "if you need to go to sleep dere's some towels under da counter; we can build you a mattress."
"I'll be fine."
"Anybody on da beach get hurt?"
"Tarzan was."
"Really? How bad?"
Elsa told him about her own wound and how Tarzan had taken care of her, but then the creature of fire had awakened. And she described the image she'd seen of him afterwards, where he was motionless. Almost like he'd been frozen solid. To her surprise, Bugs reacted with understanding instead of confusion.
"Yep," he said. "Sounds like the poor guy's outta the game. It's a pity, 'cause he had all da information."
"What game are you talking about?"
Bugs pulled out a second chair and sat down. "I probably shouldn't be tellin' you dis, because I don't think I'm supposed to know myself, but I got a pretty good look at da roster before dis whole thing started. See, we're all in a game. Kind of a Survivor/Musical Chairs kinda thing. I think if you die in here, you go into a stasis until the game is over. But Tarzan was a plant; he was in on it. Every game like dis needs someone on da inside to keep things moving and nudge the rest of da group in da right direction."
Elsa's eyes widened. "So he's the reason why we're here?"
"No, you're why you're here. Apparently you don't remember it, but you agreed to be part of da game. We all did." He stopped himself, realizing just how complicated this was about to get. "Elsa, do you know what Disney is?"
She shook her head.
"Oh wow. Dey really did a number on you guys. How am I gonna explain dis? Frozen was a movie- Wait, strike dat." That was going to make no sense at all to her. "Have you ever heard of Little Red Riding Hood?"
"Yes."
Great. Now what? "Okay. What do you think she did on her off day?"
Elsa stared at him. "I don't understand the question."
"When Red Riding Hood wasn't in her story, what do you think she did?"
"What do you mean when she wasn't in her story?"
It was rare that Bugs felt like he was out of his depth, and he rubbed his eyebrows. "Don't you think Red had a life outside of dis one day where she met a wolf on da way to Granny's house?"
"I've heard a different version than that." Elsa was really trying to follow him, but she seemed to only be frustrating him further. "Are you talking about the character Red Riding Hood, or are you talking about whoever the girl was that the character was based on?"
"Let's go with da second one."
She nodded. "So you're wondering what her life may have been like?"
Bugs decided he was going to make one last attempt before abandoning the conversation. "Imagine if dat little girl inspired a story dat people told over and over; she knows the details inside and out. But den one day she gets cursed. All her memories are gone and all she knows about herself is what's in dat story."
Elsa mulled that over. "So she would think she's a character in a story."
"Exactly. But she wouldn't know dat it's a story."
Her brain finally had the flash of connection. "Are you saying where we are right now is the result of a curse?"
No, but...Bugs shrugged. "Sure. We'll go with dat. It's affecting all of you. Jasmine, Kronk, What's-his-name, even old Battle Cat. Dat's why you all have such a limited understanding of who you are and where you're from. It's a group curse dat's kind of a game."
"So Tarzan is alive?"
"As far as I know, yeah. But I think he's gonna be stuck where he is until all dis gets resolved."
Elsa leaned back and eyed the rabbit. "So why is it you know so much then?"
"Dat's a good question, and I don't have a good answer. But I know one thing dat we all need to keep in mind whatever we decide to do."
"What's that?"
"Only ten names on dat roster. You, me, Tarzan, Bagheera, Jasmine, Kronk...um..." He trailed off.
"Frollo?"
"Yeah, all dere. Dat's seven."
"And then there was a woman I met with horns on her head."
"Yeah, Maleficent. She's got a key to somethin', by the way."
"And then Alex." Elsa thought back to the woman and child she'd seen on the monitors. "And two more. That's eleven."
"Little blonde girl and a purple hourglass figure?"
Elsa blinked. "I think so."
"Dat's Alice and Meg. Both on da list. Guess who da odd one out is."
"Oh," was all she could say. It meant something, she didn't know what. But they wouldn't get answers unless Bagheera could find him.
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