Okay, if this chapter seems a little jumpy, it's because I wrote it backwards. Yeah, I knew where I wanted to get at the end of it but I wasn't sure how I was going to get there, so I started at the end and worked my way to the beggining. It turned out better than I expected though. ^^ Anyway, enjoy!

The March Hare wasn’t quite sure what the Mad Hatter had meant by, “Keep it under our hats.” Really the invention wasn’t under a hat at all, but a blanket knitted by Hare’s mother. They had been tweaking the final touches on the machine and had just thought of a name for their invention when they remembered the Queen’s party. When Hare had asked what if they should tell everyone the name at the party Hatter had replied, “Oh, we’ll just keep it under our hats until the convention,” and it confused Hare deeply. Besides it would have been silly to hide the invention under a hat, unless it was a really big one. In the end he decided that the excitement of the upcoming contest was getting to Hatter and that he wasn’t thinking straight.

Presently the two of them arrived at the Queen’s garden. It was decorated with hearts and red roses, as usual, with a large banner strung across two trees that said, “First Day of Spring.” Hatter and Hare went to the food table and set their contributions among the other foods. Hatter had made a special watermelon tea for the occasion and Hare had baked cinnamon crumpets. “It’s a recipe my mother taught me,” he had told Hatter proudly.

“There we are,” said Hatter. “Can’t wait for Saturday, how ‘bout you?”

“It can’t seem to come fast enough!” Hare replied, grinning.

“What’s on Saturday?” Alice asked, approaching them. She, the Walrus, and the Tweedles had arrived before them.

“The National Wonderland Invention Convention,” Hare explained.

“And Hare and I have entered in the invention contest,” Hatter added.

“Sounds great,” Alice beamed, “What does your invention do?”

The two of them shrugged. “I haven’t the slightest idea,” Hatter replied.

“Nor I.”

Alice frowned, confused, “Well… how can you invent something but not know what it does?”

“It’s quite simple really,” Hatter said as he adjusted his gloves. “You just take some mechanical parts, along with some nuts and bolts, attach it all together, put in a battery pack and some flashy lights, and call it an invention.”

“Well, aren’t you two going to test it before the convention to see what it does?”

Hatter and Hare burst out laughing at this.

“Why on earth would we do a thing like that?” Hare asked.

“Really Alice, you think too much!” The two of them strode passed her to talk with the Tweedles, snickering as they did so.

Alice shook her head and reached for a cherry tart from the table. As she did so, a brown mouse with glasses and a tuff of fur on his head popped up from a teapot in the middle of the table. She jumped at his sudden appearance but smiled.

“Hello Alice,” Dormouse said cheerfully.

“Hi Mr. Dormouse,” Alice held out a tart for him, “Would you like a cherry tart?”

Dormouse shook his head, “No thanks, I’m on a strict treacle-free diet.”

“Treacle?” Before Alice could ask what treacle was, the White Rabbit entered the room on his roller blades. He abruptly stopped at the doorway and almost fell on his face. Gaining his balance, he straightened his black bowtie and clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Lady and Gentlemen,” he said crisply, taking into account that Alice was in fact the only lady there, “May I have the duty- er, I mean pleasure of introducing… the Queen of Hearts!”

All applauded as Queen entered in her usual humble manner- red gown flowing, jewelry sparkling, face craving attention.

“Good day, my loyal subjects,” she proclaimed loudly, “and welcome to my annual First Day of Spring Celebration!” The guests broke out into applause again.

“Annual?” Dum asked Dee, “This is the first First Day of Spring party we’ve ever had.”

“There you are Piniped!” the Walrus yelled over the applause, “I’ve been searching for you everywhere! Where on earth have you been?”

Everyone watched as the Walrus walked to an unoccupied space in the garden and put his arm around some invisible person.

“What’s that Piniped? Ah, you had to get some rocking-horseflies out of your kitchen. Yes, those can cause a great deal of trouble. I remember one time—”

“Ahem!” The Queen looked at the Walrus with impatience and tapped her foot.

“Oh, my deepest apologies Your Majesty,” the Walrus said bowing, “And Piniped is dreadfully sorry for being late to your party.”

“He’d better be,” the Queen murmured with indignance but then turned back to her guests with her large smile returned to her face. “As I was saying, today marks a very special day of the year, in which flowers thrive and birds fill the forest with song.”

“She just wanted to have an excuse to have a party,” Alice heard Rabbit grumble and it made her giggle.

“And so without further ado,” the Queen concluded, “Let us rejoice on this happy occasion!”

The party went smoothly for a while. Everyone chatted and enjoyed the crumpets, tea, tarts, and cakes. Things became chaotic when Hare decided to show everyone a magic trick he had learned. He was supposed to poor some tea into an empty paper sack and then pull it back out as a dove. But instead of a dove, he got a large toad which proceeded to jump on the faces of everyone at the party and eventually landed on the Queen’s head. She was so furious with Hare that she forbid him from doing anything but card tricks at her parties.

“An easy mistake to make, Your Majesty,” Hatter said in his friend’s defense. When he asked Rabbit and the Tweedles if they would come see Hare’s magic show in a couple weeks, Rabbit replied, “As long as he doesn’t try to pull me out of your hat!”

Things quieted down afterwards and Alice found herself drinking tea with the Walrus and Piniped. Walrus enjoyed Hatter’s tea immensely and decided to ask for the recipe.

“Hatter, a word please,” he said approaching him. “This tea of yours is absolutely divine!”

“Why thank you. I do have a specialty for my special tea,” he chuckled at his own bad pun.

Walrus didn’t think it was so funny, “Piniped and I were wondering if you could give us the recipe.”

“Oh, of course,” Hatter paused. “You know, by the end of the party I’ll probably forget to do it so I’d better go home and get it now.”

“I can get it for you Hatter,” Dormouse offered from his teapot, “In fact I think I have a copy of the recipe in my teapot back a home.”

“Well thanks little buddy!” Hatter replied.

“No problem,” Dormouse disappeared into his teapot and opened a small trap door at the bottom. A while ago, Hatter and Hare had installed an underground network of tunnels throughout Wonderland so that Dormouse could travel easily from place to place. Each exit came up as a teapot.

Dormouse placed a hat with a flashlight on his head and plopped down the tunnel, closing the trapdoor behind him. He navigated his way through the maze of tunnels until he came upon the exit to his own teapot on the Mad Hatter’s tea table. Coming up, he took off his hat and bolted down the trapdoor.

“Now let’s see,” he muttered as he retrieved his recipe book from a shelf. “Where did I put that recipe?”

“Hey, you think it might be this thing?”

“No Gnat, I think it’s the other machine under a blanket!”

“Well, excuse me!”

Dormouse’s ears pricked up. Putting down the recipe book, he put his paws on the teapot lid and gave it a shove. His eyes widened at what he saw. A man dressed in black and a giant Gnat were taking Hatter’s and Hare’s invention!

“Hey!” Dormouse exclaimed, instantly recognizing the man in black, “I know you, you’re the Copy-Catter Hatter!”

CC Hatter scowled and whipped around to face Gnat, “I thought you said that everyone would be at that party!”

“I did!” Gnat said in his defense, “Can you blame me?”

“You’re not even supposed to be in Wonderland,” Dormouse continued, “and that invention belongs to Hare and Hatter!”

CC Hatter groaned. He didn’t have time for this, “Gnat!”

“I got this,” Gnat offered and flew at Dormouse.

Dormouse let out an, “Eep!” and disappeared inside his teapot. He hastily fumbled with the bolt on his trap door; he had to warn everyone. Before he could lift open the door, some invisible force flung him to the side of the pot. Pictures flew off the wall and chairs and tables were turned over. Dodging the shower of dishes falling from his cupboards, Dormouse went for his trapdoor again. But when he opened the door, he saw that he was levitating six feet above the tea table. He quickly closed it again, his heart pounding a mile a minute.

“Put me down!” He screamed, pounding the side of his teapot. His reply was a good shake from Gnat that caused his glasses to fall of his face.

CC Hatter sighed, “My apologies… Dormouse was it? But I’ve got plans for this machine and I can’t exactly let the Mad Hatter, or anyone else for that matter, know that I’ve returned just yet.”

Dormouse put his glasses back on with shaking hands and climbed up the spout of the teapot. He couldn’t fit through but he could see CC Hatter hauling away the invention. It was still under the blanket.

“It’s bad enough this thing is so heavy,” CC Hatter complained, “no we’ve got to take this rat along with us.”

“I could just eat him and then we wouldn’t have to bother,” Gnat offered. Dormouse froze.

“No Gnat, you can’t eat him,” said CC Hatter, “Besides, I thought you were a bloodsucker.”

“Hey, at my size, you don’t get all your vitamins through just blood,” Gnat replied as he followed his companion, Dormouse’s teapot clutched firmly in his legs, “Every now and then you’ve got to have a little meat. Fruit’s good too. Did I ever tell you that my father was part fruit fly?”

Gnat went on but Dormouse wasn’t listening anymore. He slid down from the spout and scanned his house. His kitchen table was upside down on his bed and all of his dishes and knick-knacks coated the floor. A picture of him, Hatter, and Hare lay on the ground by his feet, its frame and glass broken.

Dormouse picked it up gingerly and sat on the floor. Besides the fact that Gnat’s flying caused the teapot to swing back and forth, he seemed to be having a hard time standing.

“Oh dear,” he sighed as he wrapped his tail around his legs. He stared hard at the picture of his friends, wondering if he would ever see them again.

Let the insanity begin. *maniacal laughter*