Wonderland (Intergalactic Fairy Tales Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

gaping, showing its fangs.
    “What is this Absolem fellow like?” asked Alice, trying to break free of the terrible thoughts the red planet had brought up in her mind.
    “Oh, he’s not a bad sort, really,” said Rabbit. “Not a good sort either, though. Pragmatic, I guess is the word. Now hold tight, atmosphere again.”
    Alice gripped the arms of her chair and watched the planet’s surface draw closer and closer. The red color she’d seen from space wasn’t a natural phenomenon as the coloring of Nedra was, from its foliage and oceans. On Wonderland, nearly everything glowed with lights, mostly neon, like the open signs in the front of shops on Nedra. Some places, entire buildings were covered in lights. Many of them depicted crude things her mother had always told her she wasn’t old enough to talk about yet, which was ridiculous because they had taught basic sex education two years before in school.
    Ever since then, Anna had been obsessed. She invited Alice over and then dragged her up to her room and pulled out a whole pile of dirty magazines she’d found in her older brother’s room. Alice had found them both disgusting and intriguing. They were for private time, though, and the images on the screens and in the moving lights were broadcast large enough for the whole planet to see. It was disturbing.
    Thankfully, not all of the images were so upsetting. Some of them depicted strange and exotic animals eating leaves. Others showed acrobats performing the most amazing feats Alice had ever seen. If they were willing to show that just in an advertisement, Alice couldn’t imagine what the full show would be like. They flew at high speed, each giant screen was only visible for a few seconds, and yet they just kept coming. Wonderland appeared to be one humongous city, sprawling as far as the eye could see and then some. “Where is the countryside?” asked Alice when she was able to close her mouth and wet her tongue again.
    “There isn’t one,” replied Rabbit. “Why do you think I was scavenging mushrooms on your planet?”
    “I honestly hadn’t given it much thought,” she said, her eyes still glued on the city below, expecting to see a break at some point, even if it was just a park with a few trees. On and on it went, until they finally made it to a part that had a few less lights than the rest.
    “Well, you may want to start giving things more thought,” said Rabbit, banking to the right and downward at a sharp angle. “Not thinking in Wonderland can get you into a lot of trouble.”
    Alice sighed and rolled her eyes. She’d just left her parents behind, and here was her ship, telling her how to behave. She’d do exactly as she pleased and deal with the consequences herself. She was a strong pirate woman and she didn’t need help from anyone.
    Rabbit slowed to a crawl and then stopped altogether before dropping to hover just above a large patch of pavement. Small dirty buildings huddled around the open space, as if they were just waiting for an opportunity to move out into it and get some more distance from their neighbors.
    The buildings themselves were in various states of disrepair, except for one. It was larger than the others and was in immaculate condition. It even managed to have a bit of space between it and its neighbors. The space was still paved over, but it was covered with potted plants, some of them full grown trees. The house was light blue with a bright red door. Approaching from the walk that led to the house was a large figure. It was night on this part of Wonderland and it wasn’t possible to make out much more than shapes unless they were in direct light. What Alice could see of the shape was large…and undulating . It sent a shiver up her spine.
    The hatches on either side of Rabbit opened, like they had when he was picking mushrooms. Alice had decided The White Rabbit was a he, though his voice wasn’t particularly masculine or feminine. There was just something about his