Alice drew a card, and roots sprouted from it, slithering towards Gilles; however, a door suddenly appeared in front of her. The roots entered the door, and from behind, they actually bound the feet of their own owner. Alice turned around and saw that the door in front of her led to the door behind her.
An upside-down head appeared from in front of Alice's face, "You have to try better than that!" Startled, she reflexively jumped backwards—unaware that beneath her lay an open door.
Alice screamed and plunged in—the air was so cold it nearly froze her solid on the spot. "Antarctica?!" she shrieked as she saw the sea and floating chunks of ice.
Before the door closed, she immediately pulled a card from each hand—a rope emerged from the cards and tied the frame at both sides—then she soared upwards through the door and returned to London.
Alice planted her feet firmly on the ground before sighing with relief; she'd been in a right panic before that, "Oh? Are you a spider woman?" Gilles teased with a grin on his face.
"I have no idea what you mean!" Just as Alice shouted, she felt as though she'd stepped on thin air—she looked down and saw that there was already a door causing her to plummet, which made it all the more infuriating that the door led to the one above it.
This left Alice trapped in a never-ending freefall, just as Gilles laughed incessantly. "You really should see the look on your face!" He landed on the ground, still pointing at Alice.
Alice had never been humiliated quite like this in her entire life; anger began to consume her, and, having lost her mind a little, she started hatching mad schemes in her head to give Gilles a taste of his own medicine.
Before Alice had a chance to do anything, her wrist was touched and she was pulled through another door—Alice turned around, already panicking because she thought it was Gilles, but it turned out to be Holmes coming to her rescue.
They went through a door and when they blinked—they saw a long, large corridor. Instantly Alice struck the door with a stone hand that came out of her card—instantly she made a fairly deep hole in the floor with that stone hand, instantly the two of them went into that hole and covered themselves with the same wood from her card.
"Your cards can produce any material you see—?" Before Holmes could finish his sentence, Alice had covered his mouth and signalled for him to be quiet.
Alice merely nodded at Holmes's question, "Where is Red when she's needed…" she whispered, barely audibly, straining to hear Gilles's footsteps.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed above them, "Have you seen them?" The voice belonged to Gilles, asking someone. "No? Where have they gone... I swear they went through the door and should be here."
"Let's split up and not worry about the two prisoners—they can't get in because the door's made of solid iron and can only be opened with my key," after which the sound of footsteps was heard before fading away slowly.
But there were only the footsteps of a single pair, whilst the person Gilles had been talking to didn't sound as though they were walking away—which meant they were still above Alice and Holmes.
They huddled close, and Alice's hand stopped Holmes's face from touching hers just as the sound of small footsteps was heard, gradually fading away; after that, Alice breathed a sigh of relief.
Alice played her card again, and this time she summoned a hand made of roots to break through a wooden plank—which was enough to get them out of the hole.
Alice emerged first, followed by Holmes; once they were both out, Alice turned and replaced the missing plank with a new one. "May I ask you something?" Holmes couldn't contain his curiosity.
But Alice could already guess what he wanted to ask. "Yes, I can indeed produce gems or other precious materials such as gold and diamonds—but Mother forbids me from doing so because that would be an abuse of Everafter and make me just like Gilles." Holmes fell silent, as the question had been answered.
"And if I were caught doing it, I'd be punished by Mother."
"You can't see Red for a year?"
"No! And why does it have to do with her?!"
After that, they flew around the mansion to avoid making the sound of footsteps, and this was the detective Holmes's own idea; it was also quicker this way because they could manoeuvre—and to be honest, I was very jealous that I couldn't do it.
Whilst they were flying, Holmes suddenly stopped in front of a door. Alice, realising no one was following them, was startled and turned to see the detective standing tall, staring at the door. Alice flew closer and asked, "What's the matter? Do you like the design of the door—?" Before she could finish her sentence, a foul stench filled her nostrils.
"What on heaven's name is that smell! Disgusting—eww," she pinched her nose and looked at Holmes, who was glancing in her direction, "What? You're asking me to open this room?! No way! I won't do it!"
"Even if there's a chance Red and Mr. Loxley are inside?" Holmes's question annoyed Alice because she couldn't deny it.
"Ugh, fine—but if they really are in there, tell them to come out because I'm not going in," Alice produced her card and, from it, conjured up an iron lock pick, handing it to Holmes, who immediately set about trying to pick the lock.
CLICK
It didn't take Holmes long to break it open; with all his might he pushed the huge, towering door—what lay behind it startled Holmes, even though he'd already suspected as much. "You really ought not to go in, nor see it, Alice," he said.
"I thought so! But why?"
"This room… is full of the bodies of the women he's kidnapped. I recognise some of the faces from the missing persons posters." Hearing this explanation, Alice was shocked and she knew for certain that if she looked inside, she'd be sick.