Daybreak

Okay at this point just go back and read from wherever you last left off! 

Dashing back down the steps, she saw Lay, Chen and Tao waiting there for her, looking ready for anything. Adrenaline was still coursing through her body, and she said, “I need you to bring me to Suho and Eunju’s home. I’ll show you the way!”

Yet again, Lay picked her up, following her directions as she pointed them down side streets and past homes with all their lights on, as people waited, anxiously, with their children by their sides, afraid of what the night would bring. At last, she saw the humble abode of the Kim family, saw the lights on the bottom floor. Yulhee leapt out of Lay’s arms and hammered feverishly on the front door.

Eunju opened it, Suho behind her, their faces distraught. “Yulhee! Where were you? Where’s Kyungsoo? Your family is worried sick! What’s happening?” Suho demanded.

Eunju gave a shriek of alarm as she saw Lay, Chen and Tao. “Oh my goodness, you’re…you’re the White Rabbit! I can see you! I can see all of you!” she cried, reaching out and yanking on one of Lay’s ears. He gave her a look like a kicked puppy.

“How can she see us?” Tao asked wretchedly, “Is this another sign we’re dying? I don’t want to die, Chen…”

“Shut up Tao, you ain’t helping.”

Yulhee pushed past, darting towards the kitchen and throwing open one of the drawers. The lighter she found when she had come for dinner – she seized it immediately. When Eunju and Suho came over to see what was going on, she tossed the story at them. “Kyungsoo has been taken into Wonderland. Suho, they’re going to kill him.”

He went ashen, still caught between staring at his wife, who seemed to have lost her mind, and Yulhee’s face. Eunju was intently flipping through, gasping out. “You can’t be serious –”

“Wonderland exists because of belief, do you understand? Eunju, that’s why you can see them, because you believe they exist. It’s real, Kim Junmyeon. I’m going to go and save Kyungsoo. There’s nothing you can do unless you believe in it,” Yulhee told him.

“Junmyeon, she’s telling the truth. I can see them. And this story – it’s exactly like what I was telling you. Is that what they are, Yulhee? They’re fairy tale characters that we dreamed into life?”

“Yes, that’s what they are. I need that now, Eunju.” She turned towards the waiting creatures, clutching the book and the lighter. “I need to get to Wonderland.”

“I’m the fastest, and I can reach the execution grounds,” Chen declared. Yulhee nodded. Then she was swept up into Chen’s arms, and they were flying. Yulhee felt them lift off into the air, Chen’s wings beating wildly, as they soared through the night sky beneath the stars. She gasped, feeling the wind rushing through her hair, turning in Chen’s arms to see the forest far below her, a great glittering emerald. “Don’t move so much. You’ll fall and die.”

“Duly noted,” Yulhee murmured, as they dipped down towards the trees. Her skin prickled, and she knew at once that they had crossed the boundaries between the worlds. Kai knew she was here. But he didn’t know that she had the truth now that could make or destroy his world within seconds. Chen flew over the chessboard fields and the trees and great rivers, as the decay warped and ravaged the boundaries of Wonderland. She saw the creatures look up and see them, watching, knowing that their world was coming to its End.

Then a crossbow bolt shot through the air, nearly taking out one of Chen’s wings, as they reached an open space at the front of the great palace of red and white stone. There was the execution ground, in the centre of the King’s front gardens. There was a large board, which read, ‘trial for conspiring against Wonderland’. She saw Kai standing there, glaring up at her as Chen began to circle downwards. Beside him was Kyungsoo, hands cuffed, as a tall, thin executioner in a dark dress stood holding an axe. He looked up and saw her, a smile breaking out across his features.

Sitting around the gardens were the jury, she realised, made up of so many different creatures of Wonderland. Amongst them she saw Luhan and Chanyeol, who cheered as Chen dropped her down onto the ground. Yulhee landed in a run, holding the lighter in her hand, and the book in the other. One of the Card Soldiers tried to grab her, but Yulhee dodged him.

Another grabbed her elbow, wrenching her around. Then there was a puff of smoke, and Chanyeol was resting on the man’s shoulder. He bared all his teeth. “Touch her and I claw your eyes out.”

The Soldier gasped, letting go, and Yulhee sped forward until she stood before Kai, who watched her with quiet fury. Kyungsoo was watching her with quiet hope. "Let Kyungsoo go," she said, voice hardly wavering, "Or I burn the source of your world."

“A book?” he said, tilting his head and smiling. “Wonderland is not contained within a book, loud human. You must be confused. Someone get this child help! She has been hit on the head too many times!”

“Wonderland is a story,” she said, her voice loud and clear, as the creatures began to murmur around her. She saw Luhan sit up and look at her. “Lee Chul-soo was a human man who wrote a story for children about a magical kingdom – this place, and all of you. Through belief, the story was brought into our world. But over time, the story was forgotten and less and less people believed in you. If you kill Kyungsoo, you will have one less person who believes in Wonderland, and your world will die sooner.”

“I don’t believe you,” Kai stated, shaking his head, as Kyungsoo gaped. “Is that even a real book? Are you old enough to