"Alright then, here you go. Remember,
you need to take a left and go forward until
you?ve spent twenty-three minutes hopping on
one foot. Then, after you reach the twig-sized
tree, you need to turn left backwards. From
there, it?s easy to start heading towards the
Cave of Detwhee.?
?What? The Cave of Detwhee?I don?t
want to go there, I want to go to the Cave of
Between!? I exclaimed.
The Mad Hatter tilted his head, placing a
finger on his chin, ?Are you certain? I could have
sworn that you were going to the Cave of
Pettie... or was it the Bave of Catherine??
I shook my head and snatched the map
from the Hare. Reading over it I sighed, at least
the map had the correct name on it. Now about
the very... specific details of how to get there.
I forced myself to bring one of my feet up
and began to hop. I took the required left turn
and continued forward. This is ridiculous! I
thought as I tried to hop over a log and face
planted into some mud. Bringing myself up from
the ground, I told myself that only 22 more
minutes of hopping remained, but it didn?t help.
Eventually, I just gave up and went ahead
on two feet until I found a stick that so happened
to be stuck upright in the ground. That must be
the twig tree, I supposed. Now if I have to turn
left backwards... does that just mean turn right?
Heading toward the right, I found myself
nearly falling over a very high cliff. I checked the
map and found there was no mention of such a
cliff. I quickly turned around and practically ran
back to the twig in the ground. Ah, the Hare
must have meant to turn to the left while facing
backwards, I thought to myself as the twig came
into view. Deciding that it wasn?t necessary to
walk backwards, I continued to the left facing
forward.
After a few minutes of hopping and a half
hour of walking, I eventually came upon a large
and very dark cave. Even though the setting sun
was shining right into it, the cave seemed darker
than any hole I?d ever gone down before. I was
almost too afraid to go into it until I heard the
Queen screaming at her men in the distance.
?Move faster, you lousy deck! Find that
outrageous Knave of Hearts, or, I should say,
Knave of Spades! That worthless card shall
never work for me again!?
Hearing the cards coming closer, I
ignored my fears and ran into the cave.
After just a few minutes, I regretted my
decision. As I ran through the cave, I could no
longer hear the Cards shuffling about, but I
could no longer see anything either. I began to
stumble around in the darkness, not knowing
which way to go. Every turn I took revealed
more turns to choose from. Every decision I
made ended with me being in even further
darkness. Every step I took got me lost deeper
"Family sticks close?" I read.
As I did the words began to
glow brighter. "Family sticks
close, family sticks close!"
and deeper in the dark Cave of Between.
Eventually, I fell to the hard ground which
was so cold that when I touched it, I began to
shiver. I began to shake uncontrollably, not only
from the cold, but also from exhaustion,and I
thought of my family. I thought of my father and
the way he lovingly taught me how to be a
Knave. I thought of my mother and the way she
always gave me one of her delicious treats.
?Family sticks close?? I read. As I did the
words began to glow brighter. ?Family sticks
close, family sticks close!? I exclaimed as the
words became as bright as the sun.
Led by the light of my necklace I moved
forward, slow at first but gaining speed. I kept
gaining speed until I was practically running
through the cave. I skidded to a stop when I
came to a fork in the path. One of the new paths
read ?To the Land of Hearts? and the other read
?To the Land of Spades.? It took me little time to
move toward the path reading ?the Land of
Spades.?