Blood made no attempt to move, inciting louder cries from the crowds around them. Alice could feel the tension rising, all part of a good show… Unless he wasn’t planning to break it.
Argh!
Blood leveled those blue-green eyes on her.
“Everyone’s waiting for the results, Alice. And now, so am I.” He opened a palm toward her. “Give me your hand.”
Her anxiety and frustration exploding in her gut, Alice slapped her hand into his. “D-don’t blame me if I screw this up!” she blurted. “What forces do you even have left?”
She knew there were a total of five possible powers, and they’d already used one in each of the other meetings. Once a force had been used, it couldn’t be used again. Blood wanted her to choose a card without being able to see what was in the hand.
Blood hummed. “You want to know what’s left? I’d rather hear what you think is left, but then you might panic, hm?”
“Don’t you dare!”
Blood ignored her glare and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I’ve used natural resources and technology, not necessarily in that order.”
Alice licked her dry lips. “Okay. So I should choose from one of the others?”
That meant population, economics, and military were left. She wished she could give it more thought, but there was no time…and she knew nothing of those forces in Hatter territory, let alone within the other territories. She couldn’t compare things she didn’t understand.
She paused. “Do…do you want me to put out a winning card?” she whispered. “Or would you rather I put out something weaker?”
He shrugged. “Pick whatever you want. If you want to win, use a strong card. If you want to hide our strengths, then choose a weak one.”
“Then…you’re really leaving it up to me?” She was starting to feel stupid for taking the choice so seriously. Her shoulders drooped.
“I told you, Alice—this is just entertainment. What’s the harm in trusting your last hand to blind luck?” His eyes glittered. “And I know you’re a lucky girl.”
“Just…promise me you won’t blame me for what happens. I mean it!”
Blood was putting the entire outcome, whether they won or lost, completely in her control. And when she thought of it that way, her mind opened up.
Population, economics, military strength. Alice recalled as much of the Hatter Mansion as she could. The other leaders had made their choices; her eyes fell on the sand flowing into the glass receptacles.
Make a choice.
“Um…population,” she murmured at last.
“All right.” Blood tugged her hand to the control stand, then let it go. “Go for it.”
Alice slowly lowered her hand onto the control stand. Blood placed his gloved hand over hers.
“Remember,” he whispered. “Keep your hand on the panel and just think of your chosen force. Then the stand will transmit it and the sand will react.”
“Okay…”
“Just concentrate, Alice. I’ll control the sand.”
She curled her fingers on the stand and thought of the people of Hatter territory.
She remembered the weary citizens, worn down with constant battles. But she knew that wasn’t the ultimate fate for that territory. She knew how strong the Hatters would become.
“Huh?”
Alice opened her eyes in surprise, then squinted as a light on the stand brightened. Blood pushed up closer behind her, his fingers closing over hers.
“Just stay like that, Alice. You’ve made the connection.”
She glanced up quickly at his smile, something welling up inside her. She nodded and closed her eyes again, her mind returning to their population.
“The sand has finally started to pour!” the announcer cried from elsewhere. “The climax of the Survey Meeting!”
Alice heard cheers, laughs, chaos swelling around her. But she tuned it all out…
And thought of all those people under Blood.
“Diamond Castle won the first meeting!” the announcer declared, his voice leaking into Alice’s ears. “And the Gravekeeper’s territory came out on top in the second! Which territory will take the laurels in the final round?!”
Alice anxiously gritted her teeth. Just thinking that Hatter Mansion might go through all three meetings without taking first position filled her chest with complicated emotions.
She finally opened her eyes. All four glass chambers were filled with sand, although the Hatter level was low and the other three seemed about even. She saw a slow overhead trickle in varying strengths across them.
“Is…the sand still flowing?” she breathed.
“Yes. In all four.”
Blood said he can control the sand. She saw the incoming streams increase, then decrease, riling up the audience. The leaders were trying to make it fun. Alice remembered what Blood had said about the Survey Meeting as entertainment.
The green sand for the Station finally stopped. The receptacle was almost full, but so were the others. And the other three streams kept going.
Nightmare cried out in frustration. “No!” he wailed.
He’d had the most land area right from the start, but he couldn’t stop the other territories from adding to their totals. And now he was out.
The Castle and the Gravekeeper’s territory had slowed their streams…but then, suddenly, Hatter Mansion’s sand burst into a heavier flow. The crowd roared.
“What’s this?!” the announcer cried. “Look at Hatter Mansion!”
Alice watched, her heart in her throat, as their receptacle rapidly filled with blue sand until it was even with the other two leaders. Then it surpassed them, reaching the top of the glass chamber. Then it kept going.
Cracks raced along the glass as the blue sand filled the chamber to bursting. Alice recoiled in alarm.
“Huh?!”
With a loud, explosive CRACK, the front face of the vessel broke open, sending a spray of blue to fan across the air. Sand spilled out into the arena, causing the announcer to leap out of the way in surprise.
“What?!” he blurted. “It’s…gone into overflow! What does this mean? The Hatter’s sand broke through the measurement chamber!” He blinked. “Oh—and the Castle and Gravekeeper’s flows have both stopped!”
A hush fell over the crowd, followed by a ripple of uncomfortable murmuring. Men started to gather around the announcer.
“How could the receptacle break?”
“Has that ever happened at a Survey Meeting before?”
“I bet on the Mad Hatter! What happens to my bet now…?”
The impromptu committee around the announcer didn’t last long. After a minute of discussion, the announcer nodded his head and turned back to the crowd.
“We’ve made a decision!” He threw his head back and bellowed, “The winner of the third Survey Meeting is definitely Hatter Mansion!”
The crowd went wild. Alice heard cheers and whistles mixed with booming complaints; the roar engulfed the entire Coliseum as she stared, amazed, at the broken glass receptacle. She slowly slid her hand off the control panel. “Your population force…was that huge?” she asked Blood in a daze.
It was so much more than the other territories. And why had the sand kept going, even when the structure couldn’t handle it? Why didn’t the stream just stop when the receptacle was full?
A disgusted grunt cut off her thoughts. She turned to the next group over and into the cold stare of the Black Rabbit.
“They cheated,” Sidney said thinly from behind his queen. “I wish I could prove it.”
And it wasn’t just him. Nightmare hunched his shoulders; Gray and Boris stared. Jericho watched Blood from the Gravekeeper section, Julius sighing behind him.
The young version of Ace, still sitting, just kicked his dangling legs. He tilted his head at Julius.
“Julius?” he asked. “Is this, y’know…that?”
“The rules don’t cover it,” Julius answered evenly. “I don’t approve, but I can’t say it’s illegal, either.”
“Seems kinda unfair.”
“……”
Alice figured they were blaming her, but why? At a loss, Alice looked up at Blood…but he was just watching the other territories from over the top of her head, a wicked smile on his lips.
The announcer stepped up again. “And that ends our final Survey Meeting! Will you help us close the events, Your Majesty?”
The Queen of Diamonds pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes slightly in dissatisfaction.
“The Mad Hatter is a tricky man. He didn’t dirty his own hands, but the act was dirty.” Crysta sighed, as if exasperated but not angry, and stood from her chair. She arranged her long skirts before turning to the stage.
“Rules are rules,” she announced, “and they indicate that this Survey Meeting is over. However, we’ll see to it that the same thing doesn’t happen again. Right, Sidney?”
Sidney nodded, his voice ice. “As Her Majesty says.”
A shiver ran down Alice’s spine. Blood shrugged at the queen, and she proceeded to ignore him.
At the queen’s command, the Coliseum began to calm down. The last of the blue sand trickled quietly through broken glass.