The Knave of Hearts

One day during the investigation of one his biggest cases Ravenswood Cadavre stumbled across something that would change his life forever. He was sitting there at his computer desk, scarfing down a filled bear-claw donut and going through his notes to make more notes. Hopefully more sensible ones as he was way over his head on this case, a sixty one year old man just up and disappeared out his basement while cataloging items he had purchased in an auction. The man's wife said he carried a big cedar chest to the basement which has no windows and only the one door and he never reappeared. When she went to look for him she found all the items lying on his workbench but he was nowhere to be found.

He sighed it was hard to concentrate on his job when his mind was filled with thoughts of his fiance Melody. They had a big row the night before and she was now ignoring his calls and texts. In her defense she has every right to be mad at him, he broke a promise and acted like an idiot. He spent the evening in a dimly lit tavern last night, drowning his sorrows after an altercation with his father, the two never did see eye to eye and the old man was coming down hard wanting Ravenswood to give up being a PI to join him as a lawyer.

He was pretty disgusted with himself for seeking solace in a bottle, it had been months since he fell off the wagon. He felt sure that setting up his office over a coffee shop would remove the temptation of the neon lights and shots of whiskey. He glanced at his phone again hoping Melody had responded to one of his dozen texts but he had no new messages. He said some pretty nasty things to her the night before, things that he couldn't unspeak or erase from her mind. If he ever cracked this case he'd send her flowers, hell he'd send her dozens of roses. He wished his mother was still around, she'd give him advice on his Melody problem he was sure. Mom passed a few years ago and he still felt the void, his father was a constant thorn in his side but his mother was his anchor. He glanced down at his desk at the work strewn over it and the clutter that fell to the floor and knew he needed to get his mind off his melancholy and get back to the case as it wouldn't solve itself.

Ravenswood picked up the stack of photo's he took of the items from the cedar chest and the basement, deciding on yet another glance. He was halfway through the pile when something caught his eye. The picture he took of the old fashioned hand mirror without a handle seemed to host a reflection. The mirror was truly unique, it looked and felt to be real Silver with gold inlaid swirls, rubies in the corners accentuated the mirror. He switched to his laptop where he stored the camera files and quickly opened the picture and zoomed in. There was a ghostly reflection in the mirror that was a strong resemblance to the missing man, the outlandish outfit the reflection wore was the only difference in their appearances. Unsure what this meant exactly Ravenswood knew he had to get another look at this mirror, this was the only lead he had in this case and he desperately needed the money as he was already a week late on rent at his apartment and rent for his office was due in a week. His picked up his cell phone and called the missing man's wife, she answered on the second ring.

"Mrs. Wooddell?" Ravenswood inquired
"Yes"
"This is Ravenswood Cadavre, you hired me to investigate the disappearance of your husband?"
"I remember."
"Would it be possible for me to come by now and take another look at the basement ma'am?" He didn't want her to think he had any leads but still needed to get in there to see.
"I'm just about to run to the grocery store but I can wait for you to get here."
"Excellent, thank you. I will be right over."
"Ok bye"

Ravenswood grabbed the picture of the mirror and his digital camera, shoving the rest of his bear-claw in his mouth he picked up his phone, snagged his keys and headed out the door. Swearing he ran back in to grab his leather jacket and packs of smokes, he grabbed a can of coke to wash the stickiness off his teeth and bounded down the steps two at a time. Jumping in his rusty old Buick he had to turn the key three times before she turned over. He lit a Camel cigarette and headed down to the Wooddell Estate. Pulling up to the front of the manor house he didn't worry about where he parked his car as this was a governors driveway, as he raised his hand to knock on the door Mrs. Wooddell opened it and stepped out.

"The house is unlocked Mr. Cadavre, I'm going to the grocery if you leave before I return lock up will you?" Mrs. Wooddell said pushing her schoolmarm glasses back up her nose.
"Yes ma'am I will do that."
"See that you do young man, I don't want no vandals in my house." She said with a huff as she walked to a latter model Cadillac.

Ravenswood entered the house and headed straight to the basement. Still sitting on the workbench was the mirror. He picked it up and looked it over carefully but saw no ghostly reflection but his own. With a sigh he sat down on the stool and ran his hand through his brownish black hair. He pulled the picture out of his jacket pocket to reassure himself that there was indeed a reflection in the glass and sure enough it was there. He tossed the picture onto the workbench and put his head in his hands.

"What am I going to do?" He groaned.

The lights flickered then went off, blackness engulfed him as he fumbled in his pocket for a lighter. Not finding one, he patted down his jacket pockets when he noticed a glow coming from the workbench. It was coming from under the picture, he lifted it and the mirror was abuzz with movement, like a movie screen. He saw tall bushes and hedges expertly cut and cared for, they were all a bright vivid color of green. Small vibrant colored winged insects fluttered past and he swore one of them had almost human features.

He picked up the mirror to get a closer look and forgot his leg was weaved around one of the leg posts and he pitched forward dropping the mirror on the ground, he swore and tried to stop his decent but only managed to spiral headfirst. He braced himself for the impact of pain from his head hitting the mirror glass and instead was assaulted with the sensation of falling and then feeling the burn of tiny paper cuts along his arms and face before hitting the ground with such force to expel the air from his lungs.

He hears footsteps, many of them and finally manages to breathe air in. He sits up a little painfully and glances around to realize he must be in the middle of someone's garden but how did he get there he wondered? His arms and hands were peppered with scratches and he assumed his face was as well for it stung like the devil. A man dressed in a red body suit with a giant nine of hearts card attached to his chest and back poked him with a stick.

"Hey" Ravenswood says.
"Who are you?" The man dressed as a card demanded.
"Ravenswood"
"What are you doing here?" The Nine of Hearts demands.
"I'm not sure, I'm not even sure where here is." Ravenswood confesses.
"The Queen's Maze, you sir are trespassing on Royal Lands!" Nine of Hearts says with a sneer, delivering his words with implied meaning.
"What Queen?"
"Are you quite mad? The QUEEN!"
"What Queen? The England Queen? And just who are you?" Ravenswood threw back at him, a little exasperated.
"I am the Nine of Hearts." The Nine of Hearts said with a nod.
"Ok Nine, I'll play along. What is the punishment for trespassing on the Queen's land?" Ravenswood asked.
"Beheading."
"WHAT?" Ravenswood's eyes bulged and he gasped.
"It's the Queen's favorite form of punishment." Nine shrugged.
"For the last time Nine, what Queen?" Ravenswood all but yelled.
"The Queen of Hearts." Nine said rolling his eyes. The Queen of Hearts Ravenswood thought in his mind where had he heard that before. Oh yeah he thought Alice in Wonderland stories.  
"Right, so you're telling me I somehow landed in Wonderland and now am in danger of loosing my head?"
"That is correct Sir."

Ravenswood shakes his head sure he couldn't be hearing him right, there was no way anything he said was true. Then he snorted of course it isn't true, the man is obviously loose a few screws if he's dressed as a card. Maybe he ended up in some cosplay or a fairytale festival, that has to be it. Before he could come up with any other logical explanations an entourage of similarly dressed men marched into the garden area, followed by a woman dressed all in red carrying a large staff of some sort. The woman was quite fetching, blond hair piled up high on her head with a delicate silver-gold Tiara perched just above her forehead. Tiny spun gold locks in wavy twists caressed the sides of her face, she had full red lips and was eying him as a specimen at a zoo.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Woman in red addressed nine.
"A trespasser Your Majesty." Nine stuttered. Ravenswood rolled his eyes, Nine was a good actor but he had things to do like find out how in the hell he got here, find a way back to his office and find the old man in this case and pay his rent.

"It's been fun but I really have to jet, you guys are great and bravo for staying in character. Nine, I'd skip the red tights next time buddy, not flattering." Ravenswood announced and proceeded to walk past the woman in red.

"STOP" The woman in red commanded. Ravenswood turned back to look at her.
"You dare to trespass on my lands and expect to get away with it?"
"Look lady, I have things to do..."Ravenswood started to say but cut off as every card dressed man let out a loud gasp of horror.  "What?" He asked them.
"I am the Queen of Hearts and I will be shown respect. You may address me as Queen or Your Majesty but never as Lady" The Queen informed him haughtily.
"I'm not a part of your little fairytale festival or Cosplay or whatever the hell you guys are playing at here! I'm in the middle of an investigation." Ravenswood told her getting madder by the second.
"An investigation? This is an investigation and the outcome is your life." The Queen exclaimed.
"You people are idiots, grown men and women dressed up as characters from a children book, you are hindering my investigation and frankly ticking me off." He exploded.
"Idiot am I?" The Queen said softly and walked over to stand right in front of Ravenswood. She opened her hand and blew some red powder into Ravenswood face, he coughed as his face was shrouded in a fine red mist and glared at her.
"What is your name?" The Queen asked him.
"Ravenswood."
"Not anymore, you're the Knave of Hearts. Say it." The Queen demanded.
"I'm the Knave of Hearts." Ravenswood repeated.
"Good and who I am?" She asked him.
"The Red Queen, the Queen of Hearts." He replied.
"What is your duty?" The Queen inquired.
"To serve you, your majesty."

"Welcome to Wonderland Knave of Hearts."