CHAPTER 15: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR TRAIN

A new morning broke. A morning of goodbyes.

Suho watched his guests packing up their things and ready to leave. The cave and the whole Mermaid Cove would be an empty desolate place once more.

Baekhyun was back from his long leave in his usual translucent form. When asked of his absence, he answered: "Reflected lights enter our eyes just the way they are. However, your brains did a bad job interpreting them!" That wasn't even an answer. It hatched more question marks instead.

"All right, everyone." Suho began his parting speech as a human standing on his two feet before his fellow resistance fighters. He had the air and manner of a loving, excuse me, grandfather. "I shall miss these days when laughter filled my place. You all—you all had brightened my days. Thank you." Suho bowed and the others bowed in turn.

Suho continued, "The last time I felt like this was when my friends were still around... The Caterpillar, the White Rabbit, the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, the Doormouse... All the inhabitors of Old Wonderland. I shall miss you guys, too, as much as I missed them."

"Wait a second," Lay raised his hand. "How old are you?"

"Four hundred?" Suho's eyes glinted. "You guess?"

"Nah." Kai crossed his arms. "No use trying."

"I'm as old as these tickets." Suho blinked and gave seven browned-out train tickets to his parting companions. "Take them with you. You'll need them to go to the Scientists' Domain. Kris, you'll master two more elements there. To the others, have fun! I hope that you'll love that place as much as I do."

The seven of them examined their tickets.

Wonderland Express?

The station looked old and abandoned, just like the White Rabbit's house they once had entered. There weren't any other people around, spare the seven of them. Most of the signboards were charred and the clocks' hands moved backwards under a pair of watching poster eyes. Blackened, life-sized twin figures of friendly-looking women served well to greet their clients professionally, though mute. At the edge of the platform, however, a new-looking signboard stood.

WHITE AREA

WONDERLAND EXPRESS CLEARED OF PARTISAN ACTIVITY

WE SHALL LIVE IN PEACE AS ONE

-GOVERNMENT OF WONDERLAND

A little above the same white heart-shaped insignia, it was written that the signboard was approved and personally signed by the Prince Regent of Hearts and the Minister of Internal Affairs. The signatures had not dried yet. The first one was easy to read, the Regent's first name decorated with a pair of googly eyes while the second one looked like a combination of a Chinese letter and some Roman alphabets. There was a prominent 'X' at the centre. X marked the spot.

"Your tickets, please?" a guard put his arms akimbo and tapped his feet.

Everybody was busy scrutinising the new signboard and paid no attention to him.

"Show me your tickets! Or there'll be no ride for you!" the exasperated Guard raised his voice and went on in an angry tone. A rumbling chorus of voices repeated his words.

"Oh, here are the tickets, sir." A started Lay handed the seven tickets to the Guard. The chorus of voices went on as well. The Guard's eyes, apparently, fell on Xiumin. A shocked expression crossed his care-worn face.

"As for you, young sir," the Guard swallowed and fanned himself with his uniform collar. "You may have a free ride."

"Thank you," Xiumin hopped into the train without taking his eyes off the Guard. The rest bowed politely, said their 'kamsahamnida' and followed Xiumin into the train.

The gargantuan, brass-plated steam locomotive whistled and puffed. The train hacked out more steam and soot than what the stuffy underground air needed. They stepped inside. The interior of the train seemed new. A recent makeover was involved, maybe?

Eun-soo's heart was stuck in when she took a better look at the passengers. They were identical, almost faceless, flat, no nose, no mouth whatsoever with a pair of TV static for eyes at the sides of their heads. All the passengers were gaunt, long-haired, shrivelled, and pale, dressed in tattered black school uniforms. Between the wide spaces of their 'eyes', a card was stuck. It was the same ace of hearts. Bubbling black liquid trailed underneath.

They all turned their head to Eun-soo in unison. The grating static crackles grew louder and the scattered speck of noises on their eyes grew crazier. Their body shook, convulsing, but stiff as a doll. The image on their eyes sharpened to play a video of a young student, a beautiful black-haired girl. She was locked in a high-pitched scream for several seconds before settling into a pure black screen. The passengers dropped their heads soon after, moving not an inch. Only everlasting static ruled the train.

"Hello, may I have a seat?"  Eun-soo asked with a quivering voice.

"Hello, may I have a seat?" The passengers raised their head to stare at her and echoed her question with a uniform, monotonous voice. Upon hearing this, she felt a cold shot up to the nape of her neck. Yikes.

What are they? thought Eun-soo. Immediately, the words 'what are they' were played on their eye-screens. Eun-soo flushed scarlet. They're even telecasting her thoughts live in public. Better not to think anything for now.

"I've never been on a train ride before!" Tao was enthusiastic, but the passengers sounded like an emotionless mockery of him.

"There's a seat at the back!" exclaimed Xiumin. The passengers repeated his words, but once they set their eyes on him, they grew horribly frightened and hugged each other tightly. Their eyes flashed a white heart shape against a warning-sign red background.

"Whoa! Xiumin sure has scored a lot of fangirls here!" remarked Baekhyun with a chuckle. The passengers repeated his words, this time in a whisper, and let out an automated chuckle. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

They moved to the back and sat at the right side of the train.

"The air might be awkward, but we can still enjoy the scenery!" Baekhyun suggested. He was right, even the passengers said the same thing.

What's left to do? They gazed at the window.

Though it was early in the morning, the sky was as gloomy as it was at dawn. Wonderland was trapped in an eternal twilight, an eternal eclipse where there's no night and no day—without a sun or a moon. Not even a star. It was total blankness all over.

"What's that?" Tao pointed at a monument looming over the overgrown forest. It was a statue of a little girl around eight of age.

"That's the Memory of the Great Alice." Lay said. "The first person from Above who managed to set foot on Wonderland."

"So the second is—"

"The second was The Laterne Alice, White Rabbit's dear love interest." Lay cut Tao off. "Eun-soo is the third visitor from Above."

"How can you explain that?" Kris pointed at another monument: a lady crying over a headless dragon.

"That's the Jabberwock and... I don't know." Lay shrugged. "That lady was never mentioned in Wonderland."

"Her name is Heidrun. Haven't you heard the poem 'Jabberwocky' before?" Kris asked. "In the poem, it was said that the Jabberwock was slain after a gallant warrior beheaded him. He didn't kill the dragon. He just set a man free from a lifetime curse.

"The Jabberwock, now a weak man, wandered around without any direction or hope. That was, until he met a kind lady named Heidrun. She nursed him back to health and they both fell in love. She later bore a daughter named Maeva. Maeva grew up as a mother to a son. The son was named Kris."

"Mwo?" everyone in the train was choked in their response.

"That's why Suho called me Jabberwocky's heir." Kris leaned his head against his seat and beamed with dragony pride. "In fact, I am!"

"You gave that moniker to yourself!" Kai countered.

"No! I didn't!" Kris slammed his fist against the table.

The train ground to a halt. The inertia nearly caused the passengers to fly out from the train. They didn't, so they all sighed in relief. Something flew to Eun-soo's face. She pulled it away. It was a charred flyer.

JOIN THE SCIENCE STUDENTS' MARCH:

THE WHITE HEART REBELLION!

WE MOVE IN TRAINS.

WE SEEK MORE.

MORE.

"I guess, this is the place we're supposed to go." Xiumin said. He got off the train and beckoned for the others to follow him. The seven of them arrived at a train station connected to a white, spiral building where electric sparks were lighted and the walls were chipped, not so egg-shell white.

"Hello?" Kris knocked the sandy door. "Anybody here?"

"No room!" the building's owners cried in a perfect high note.

"Hello—"

"No room!"

"Hello—"

"No room! No room!" two men in lab-coats strode out of the door. One had a pair of wide, owl-like eyes with clear whites. Another had his eyes framed by long lashes on a perky face.

"There's plenty of room!" Eun-soo defended Kris.

After all, the building was so large!