Act 4:
At the Museum
Alice took another step down the street, letting out a long breath. Her shoes tapped on the concrete.
Here we go.
With the exception of the Survey Meeting, this was the first time she’d left Hatter territory. Supposedly Diamonds was more violent than the countries of Hearts and Clover; fortunately, she hadn’t run into any serious trouble. Yet.
She knew a graveyard and a museum lay in the territory of the Gravekeeper, but had no idea where to find Jericho himself. She flagged down two men walking nearby.
“Um, excuse me. I-I came to see the leader?”
She couldn’t decide whether to call him the Gravekeeper or the museum curator, so she stuck to vague language. One of the men seemed to understand her, though.
“Someone from outside the territory has come to see Jericho? That’s unusual.”
“I saw him headed toward the graveyard a little while ago,” the other man said. “So he’s probably still there. Just head straight down this road.”
The first man frowned. “But it’s probably not worth going,” he warned. “Jericho’s a busy man, y’know? Nobody ever really knows where he goes or when he leaves.”
“In the graveyard,” Alice repeated. “Okay. Thank you!”
She continued on with mixed feelings. For a moment she thought of waiting for him at the museum, but if he was that busy—and it made sense, if he had three huge responsibilities—they could easily miss each other.
As she headed down the street toward the graveyard, the Faceless around her thinned out. She saw several men who had stopped to have a chat a little farther down the road. Most of them wore suits, but one of them carried a shovel.
As Alice approached, the man with the shovel turned to her. He blinked.
“Oh! It’s you.”
Alice stopped. “Huh? Have we met before?”
She’d never been in this territory before; how could someone know her? Had he seen her during the Survey Meeting?
“I heard that, um, the Gravekeeper Jericho might be at the graveyard… Is he still there?”
The man stared at her in surprise. His stern face had opened in confusion.
“Huh?”
Alice didn’t know what the problem was. “Like I said—someone said he went this way, so I was wondering if Jericho was here. If he’s too busy, I can come back later.”
“Heh. Heh heh.”
“Ha ha ha!”
The group of men tried to suppress their chuckles and failed. When she just stared at them expectantly, they burst into raucous laughter.
The man with the shovel seemed the most amused. He held his stomach in a loud belly laugh.
“Ha ha ha ha! I’m impressed!” he boomed. “That’s the first time anyone’s said that to my face!”
“Boss,” one of the other men said, flicking an almost sympathetic look at Alice. “You shouldn’t say that to the poor girl!”
“You’re right. I can’t blame her when she isn’t used to it… Ha ha!”
Alice scowled, not sure if they were making fun of her. The man with the shovel eventually wiped his eyes and leaned closer to her, grinning.
“You really don’t recognize me?”
“Recognize you from… Huh?”
He closed his handsome face into a familiar, calm expression, and Alice suddenly noticed the scars. The scars that usually melted from people in Wonderland.
Alice gasped. “Wait… Are you Jericho?!”
He looked completely different. His suit and glasses were gone, replaced with rough outdoor clothes, heavy workman’s boots, and a pair of goggles hanging around his neck. She noticed a bird pin attached to his jacket…was that the same one he’d worn during the Survey Meeting?
Jericho stroked his jaw and flashed a wry smile.
“I’m sorry I laughed at you. But I expected you to recognize me from this close.”
“No, I should be the one to apologize! The atmosphere here is so different, I didn’t realize it was you…”
“No harm done. This is what the Gravekeeper wears when he does his job.”
Alice was embarrassed, but the man seemed completely at ease. Just as warm as when she’d first met him.
She smiled back, feeling reeled in. She slowly drew the ticket from her pocket.
“Thanks for the priority ticket. I was hoping you could show me the art museum.”
“Is that right? I’m sorry… After coming all the way to my territory, you’ve had to take the long way around.” Jericho shook his head; the men behind him started to speak.
“Don’t worry, Boss—we can handle things here. Take the young lady where she wants to go.”
“We can make the rounds ourselves. Besides, isn’t it on your schedule to return to the museum about now?”
To emphasize their arguments, they all gave him farewell waves. Jericho smiled weakly.
“Then I’ll leave it to you guys. Contact me if there are any problems.”
“Got it. Bye, Boss!”
Alice tried to say something, but the men quickly shuffled away. She looked up at Jericho.
“Are you sure about this? I only came here to thank you—I didn’t mean to interfere.”
“You heard them—it’s about time I returned to the museum, anyway.”
Alice admired his casual kindness. After so much time with the restless Diamonds Hatters, Jericho’s mature attitude was refreshing.
“Okay. Um, thanks.”
Jericho didn’t take her hand; he just walked a few steps in front of her, turned, and smiled.
“Let’s go.”