Chapter 2

She was in Wonderland.

That had to be it. Wonderland. And not the good kind, with invisible cats and cartoon cards. It was one of those horrible dark, live action Wonderlands made by adults who should be locked up and let nowhere near children.

Mary reached down to touch one of the red daisies by her feet. Nope, not painted.

The thirteen year old looked around the circle of park benches. They were all here. All of them. The dead ... well, the missing. And she knew them. Had memorized them. Dreamed of them. Given them personalities, voices. Anthony, the Manager. Dark haired, mustached. Thin, but strong. Afraid of nothing. Tammy, the office girl. Blonde, sweet, shy. Alicia, the scar faced cheerleader. Sad, but bubbly. Melinda, the geek. Smart, awkward. Nona, the dark skinned cashier. Foreign, mysterious. Chuck, the stock boy. Chubby, cheerful. Justin. Short, brown skinned. Good singer.

And now they were real.

Or she was dreaming. That was it. It would explain the four eyed monkeys and bear kids. Wonderland was always a dream, wasn't it? Alice always woke up. She'd wake up, and be with Dad again...

Mary's eyes went to her mother, sitting next to her on the bench. The woman she had dreamed of every night for as long as she had lived gave her a smile of such sadness, such loss...

Mary didn't want to wake up. Not yet.

"Twelve years..."

Mary turned to look at Chuck. The boy, man, was sitting between Melinda, who's glasses seemed to sparkle in the light, and the skirt wearing, blue furred four eyed monkey girl with suspenders that were also a bra. Wearing seemingly hastily donned blue pants and white shirt, he was just shaking his head. As if ... as if it was SHE that had the outrageous story! She was confusing THEM! She looked around, trying to understand.

"How long has it been for all you?"

"Not even a year," Chuck replied. One hand went to his forehead. "And it's not even consistent with what Goldie and Danny told us! Damn it, the timelines don't match at all!"

Against her better judgement, Mary's eyes flicked over to the two ... creatures.

She didn't think she had overreacted when first seeing the furry Goldie. The creature now sitting on the grass was hideous, a cute girl's face on the body of a small bear. That the girl looked to be about her age made it worse, as if an evil witch had turned the girl into this, and it was to be Mary's fate!

The fact Mary was incredibly tired and disoriented hadn't helped.

The boy, though ... he had come running down, dressed in just shorts, ready to rescue whoever was screaming. He was ... was...

A God.

That was it. If his skin was black, he'd be like that dog headed Egyptian God.

She looked away, blushing.

A freak, that's what he was. A hunky, shirtless, redheaded freak, with the most beautiful eyes...

"What about my parents?"

Mary looked over at Nona. The dark girl looked back with wild, worried eyes. She was alone on her bench, the only one so isolated. Well ... that wasn't true. The dirty blonde Tammy was on the bench next to her, also alone ... wait, what was the question?

"Nona," Anthony said, voice not as strong as Mary had pictured it, "don't. If we can't go back, it's best to just assume our families are well. We can't do anything, so there's no point..."

"I HAVE to know! Please, Mary! My Mom, Dad ... are they OK? Have you heard anything?"

Had she heard anything? She tried to think. It was hard. She had been up early that morning, the excitement of the yearly trip on the anniversary of Mom's disappearance. Then the storm, Dad canceling the trip, her disobeying and trying to make the trip in the snow with her friend's older brother anyways ... then, naturally, this whole thing.

Her mom stroked her hair.

"It's OK, Honey. You don't have to answer. I know you're tired. Maybe tomorrow, after we all get some sleep..."

It flashed before her eyes. An article she had seen online. She'd recognized the names...

"I'm sorry, Nona..." Her eyes met the girl's. Nona's expression became one of horror, denial. Slowly, she rose to her feet.

"No, no, no, no..."

"Two years ago. I saw their names. I'm sorry..."

"FUCK ALL OF YOU!"

The Malaysian girl was off, running. Mary saw a door in a wall open, the girl vanishing into it. Nona had almost seemed to throw herself through, with no concern for gravity. It closed behind her. Mary buried her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"It's OK," Anthony sighed. He reached over and stroked her arm, even as Mom hugged her tight. His touch ... it felt like Dad's. The mustached man looked out at the now closed door. "Should someone..."

"I'll talk to her," Tammy said, rising. "She probably went to her old cabin."

Anthony nodded, standing as well.

"We should all go to our rooms, get some sleep."

"Some of us WERE sleeping," the scar faced Alicia said, but there was no anger in her voice. Rising, joined by the dark skinned boy and the blackish grey furred monkey with glasses (would that make her eight-eyed?), she came to stand in front of Mary. "I'm happy to see you, Mary. Your mother has talked about you so much, missed you so much. I wish we had been the ones to travel to you, but..."

"Me too," Mary whispered.

Tammy pushed off down the ship corridor.

Well, wasn't this a fine kettle of fuck.

Life had been calm. Routine. No major emergencies, at least none since Chuck had to have his wisdom teeth removed. No emotional conflicts, now that the Daium/Rinda war was over (she still didn't know exactly what the problem had been. Rinda had been quiet, even when they spent the night together). It had been the calm before the expected storm of childbirths in a week or two.

Now, it was the chaos before the chaos.

Grabbing a handle on the wall, she stopped herself in front of the cabin door. Nona had to be in there. Really, where else would she go? It was her quiet place. Tammy knew that. While the others had almost completely moved into the new gravity equipped rooms, apart from when floating sex was desired, Nona had kept her limited possessions split between two bedrooms. Maybe it was symbolic? After all, she was the only one alone.

Well...

Tammy sighed. Now wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself. She had partners, when she wanted them. If she lowered herself to going to Melinda, or Rinda, and asked them to leave their lover's side for an hour to keep her company. She was asking less and less, as it satisfied her less and less. But, Nona didn't even have that. The girl wanted it. Tammy could see that. She WANTED someone to hold her. NEEDED someone to hold her.

And there was nobody to do it.

Tammy would.

In a heart beat ... with her heart beating so fast...

No. Put that aside. This was about Nona. She needed comforting, comforting that was NOT in any way sexual. Tammy would NOT use this to take advantage of the poor girl. Damn it, she could never live with herself if she did that. She had seen guys do it to friends of hers, and it was the lowest a human could get.

No.

She took a deep breath.

"Focus," she muttered. "Be strong for her."

Exhaling, Tammy pressed the keypad on the doorframe.

Tammy's heart caught in her throat.

Nona had ripped her clothing off. They floated, orbiting the teen like moons of sorrow. The dark skinned Malaysian was curled into a ball, arms around her knees, slowly rotating in the darkness as she shook. The sound coming from her buried head was almost a low moan, punctuated by uncontrolled sobs.

Tammy's eyes filled with water. Never ... never had she seen anyone like this. Someone so sad ... and, so ... so beautiful. Nona's skin, in the faint glow from the hallway light, was flawless. A smooth light brown stretched over graceful limbs...

No!

Don't!

Better to back off than to approach a girl who has already shown no interest!

But ... Tammy found herself floating forward with no conscious effort on her part. Nona needed her. Needed to be held. Needed some connection to humanity, to tell her she wasn't alone.

Behind her, the door slid silently closed, plunging them back into darkness. Not total darkness, though. There was a light. Faint. Rectangular. Floating with the clothes. Her phone. The screen was dim, battery saving settings in the process of shutting it down. As she approached the sobbing girl, the screen finally went dark ... but not before Tammy saw a photo of two adults who could only be her parents.

She wished she had met them. Wished she had known the people who had produced such an extraordinary daughter, who had inspired such love. Her own parents ... Tammy had not talked to them in years. Didn't even know if the phone number she had was current. Didn't know if she'd care, if...

In the darkness, her outstretched fingertips touched soft skin.

It felt like a shoulder. Moving her hand, she felt the rounded joint that connected arm to body. Guessing, Tammy moved her other hand to where the head should be, and felt hair. Mind filling in the rest of the girl's body, she pulled herself closer and wrapped her arms around the slowly spinning girl. Her head pressed against Nona's, mouth next to the sobbing girl's ear.

"Shhh ... it's OK."

The shaking doubled in intensity. Tammy began petting Nona's black hair, forcing the silky strands against the girl as they strove to float however they wished. Her cheek slid against Nona's.

"I'm here, Nona. I'm here for you. If you need me, I'm here..."

They floated in the darkness, two humans adrift in space. Eventually, Tammy gave up speech. She just held Nona, hoping it was enough. The girl had done nothing to acknowledge her. Tammy didn't even know if Nona knew she was there.

Time passed.

Sobs and moans gave way to silence, the occasional sniffle. Maybe it was over. Tammy rubbed her cheek against Nona's. Maybe she had done some good. Nona shouldn't suffer...

Freed from giving all her attention to the girl in her arms, Tammy suddenly became aware of herself. What she was doing. Her left hand ... had slid down Nona's back. It had traced the girl's spine ... and now was slowly heading lower. Her fingers were reaching the cleft of Nona's...