Furthermore(38)

It took Alice several tries to get her eyes to focus. She blinked and blinked until the multiple halos disappeared and she could finally be certain of what she was looking at.

There was a single white door planted upright into the ground. In the center of it was a very large doorbell. Above the doorbell were hammered gold letters that read





PRESS HERE FOR ADVENTURE


Alice looked to Oliver for reassurance, and he nodded. Carefully, very carefully, Alice reached one finger forward and pressed the button. It beeped softly, like it might’ve been sleeping.

A moment later the door disappeared, instantly replaced by a person and a desk, one behind the other.

The person was wearing several shirts in varying shades of piglet pink and Alice couldn’t tell if the person was in fact a person (or perhaps a thing) but she didn’t have time to deliberate before it spoke.

“Name?” said all the pink. (It turned out that it was indeed a person, the kind who wore a powder-blue top hat.)

Alice startled and hurried forward. She noticed a nameplate on the desk that read





TED ADVENTURE


BORDER CONTROL


VILLAGE OF SLUMBER


“Name?” Ted demanded again.

“Alice Alexis Queensmeadow,” said Alice quickly. She tried to smile.

“Business?”

“Business?” Alice repeated nervously. She glanced at Oliver. “I, um, I’m here to look for my f—”

“Fruit tree,” Oliver finished for her, jumping forward and flashing a smile at Ted. “She lost her fruit tree in the town of Slender and she’s desperate to get it back. Raised it from a seedling, you know.”

Ted blinked at Oliver several times, wordlessly shuffling paperwork around. “Seedling,” he finally mumbled. “Yes, of course, I’ve got that here.”

“I’m sure you’ll find all her documents are in order,” Oliver added with another smile.

Ted nodded again, his head heavy with Oliver’s persuasion.

“So if you would be so kind as to issue her the proper ruler and fill it with—oh, I’d say six months’ worth of time—we’ll be on our way.” Oliver slid his own ruler across the desk. “I’ll take a refill on mine, too, thank you. Same as last time will be just fine.”

“Same as last time,” said Ted. “Mmm-hmm.”

Ted got to work, quickly stamping papers and rifling through desk drawers, and Alice was—for the very first time—amazed by Oliver’s ability. She thought she knew what he was capable of, but she’d never really seen him in action. Not like this. This was truly extraordinary, she thought. And while a part of her felt guilty for tricking her way through Furthermore, another part of her realized that that was just the way things were. It was, as Oliver had said, a land of tricks and puzzles, and Alice and Oliver had to play along if they were ever going to make it through.

“Your ruler,” Ted said suddenly.

Alice felt a flutter in her stomach as she stepped forward. The ruler Ted pushed across his desk was different from Oliver’s; hers was a bleached wood, a bit shorter (but sturdier), and looked as though it’d been salvaged from a garbage bin. It was riddled with nicks and scratches—clearly used to death—but Alice didn’t mind. Her ruler felt worn and well loved and easy to hold. It was solid. Heavy. Full of time. She flipped it over to find a brief inscription carved into the wood.

ALICE ALEXIS QUEENSMEADOW

SNAP IN THREE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

“In case of emergency?” she said, looking up at Ted. “What does that mean?”

Ted stared.

“Excuse me,” she tried again. “What does—”

“Your time is up when the wood loses its weight,” Ted said, not appearing to have heard her. “So be sure to get back here before then.”

“Alright,” said Alice. “But what happens if I don’t get back here before then?”

Ted blinked. “You’ll be arrested for stealing.”

“What?” Alice gasped.

Ted blinked again. “I will now ask you a series of routine questions.”

“But—” Alice swallowed hard. “Okay.”

“Are you a visitor traveling with a disability or a medical condition?” Ted was reading from a sheaf of paper, at which he now squinted. He shifted closer to his desk lamp.

“I-I don’t—”

“Are you traveling with any special items?” Ted asked. He was making small notes on the page as she answered.

“No,” Alice said. “I mean I don’t think—”

“Are you a visitor aged seventy-five or older?”

At this, Alice frowned. “Obviously not. I’ve only just turned twelve.”

Ted pushed a button on his desk and a shock of confetti exploded over his head and onto the brim of his top hat. (Alice now understood why he wore it.) “Congratulations,” he said. “Are you traveling with any food or gifts?” At this, Ted looked her square in the eye, and Alice could see a flicker of his stubborn mind breaking free of Oliver’s hold.

“N-no,” she said, shooting a worried glance at Oliver. “No food or gifts.”

Oliver squeezed her hand, and a moment later, Ted’s eyes had glazed over again. He asked her no more questions.