His brow furrowed¹ in concern, Zanik peered up at his son. This was by far the scariest thing he had ever done. Stalling, he ran his hands along the blue paper airplane once more. His son had constructed it out of the blue paper hat, and it seemed sturdy enough—for a paper airplane. 

Uneasy, Zanik stepped into the center of the airplane, testing its balance. Hatter cheerfully picked up the airplane, causing his father to topple over within it, and carried it to the window. 

Hatter pulled his arm back and then launched the paper airplane through the grated window before his father could protest. 

"Aaaahhhhhhh!" Zanik screamed as the airplane zoomed² through the air. 

Only, now that he was flying, it wasn't quite as scary anymore. Zanik shifted in his seat, redirecting the plane. It whirled in a loop, tipping Zanik upside down for a moment. 

Zanik screamed once more, this time in excitement. 

The plane coasted down and landed in a patch of grass. Zanik stood up and stepped out lightly, patting the blue paper affectionately, his mouth stretched in a grin. 

Suddenly, a white beast loomed³ above him.Zanik gulped⁴, then straightened and addressed the animal his son had assured him was on their side. "Good day to you," he said. "My name is Zanik Hightopp. I wondered if you might give me a hand releasing my family from their prison. It is rather an urgent matter." 

The Bandersnatch nodded. Relieved, Zanik scrambled⁵ up the beast's nose and hauled himself up onto his massive head. He settled right behind an ear, grabbing on to tufts of fur. 

With a ferocious⁶ growl⁷, the Bandersnatch reared up and turned toward the castle. As Zanik held on tight, the beast galloped⁸ into it and past all the grasping vines to the topmost tower. 

Once they heard the Bandersnatch thumping⁹ up the stairs, Alice and Hatter rushed to the door. In one move, the Bandersnatch yanked it away. He panted proudly as Alice rubbed his cheek and Hatter lifted Zanik off his back, then set him down next to the other Hightopps. 

"Now to grow you back," Hatter said. He spotted¹⁰ the dome-covered plate on the table and removed the cover to reveal the Upelkuchen cake. "Aha." 

In next to no time, the Hightopps were back to their regular heights, laughing and hugging one another. 

Hatter set his shoulders as his father approached him. 

"I see you haven't changed a bit," Zanik said, glancing at Hatter's zany attire¹¹. 

"Nope." Hatter smiled, a nervous but determined¹² gleam in his eye. 

Zanik studied his son. "Good," he finally said. 

Tears stinging his eyes, Hatter reached forward to hug his father. Just then, a shudder¹³ ran through the room, and Hatter's arms moved as though they were immersed in water. Alice spun—or she tried to. She, too, felt her body slow down as though it were trapped in honey. 

Hatter's arms finally closed around his father with a thud as time returned to its regular speed. Confused, Hatter and Zanik stepped back and looked around. 

"What the dickens was that?" Zanik asked. 

Patches of rust¹⁴ had sprouted¹⁵ along cracks in the walls and floor. Alice touched one of the spots, her finger coming away covered in metallic¹⁶ red dust. It was rust. What if the Grand Clock was affected¹⁷, too? Perhaps without the Chronosphere, it was losing power .... All signs seemed to point to the possibility that Time was grinding to a halt. 

"Time! He's slowing down!" Alice exclaimed. "He's going to stop! I saw it. It's why he wanted the Chronosphere." 

"Hang on," Hatter said. "If Time ends, we all end. He told me so himself." 

Guilt¹⁸ swamped Alice. Hatter set his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to meet his eyes. Alice felt his confidence in her filling her with strength. 

"We've got to stop the big head!" Hatter said fiercely. 

"And get back the Chronosphere," Alice added. 

After surveying the discarded pieces of Time's vehicle lying on the floor, Alice turned to Hatter's family. "Hightopps!" she called. "Gather the pieces of his time machine. We may have need of it yet." 

 

桑尼克担忧得眉头紧锁，他抬头望着自己的儿子。这是至今为止自己做过的最恐怖的事情。他犹豫着，手再一次抚摸着蓝色纸飞机。他的儿子已经将那顶蓝纸帽子改成了这架纸飞机，而且看起来还挺坚固的——作为一架纸飞机而言。 

桑尼克不安地踏进飞机中，测试着它的平衡性。疯帽子高兴地捡起飞机——他的父亲在里面一下子就跌翻了——然后带着飞机来到窗前。 

疯帽子手臂向后一扬，在他父亲反抗之前用力将纸飞机扔出了栅栏窗外。 

“啊啊啊啊啊！”飞机急速上升，桑尼克尖叫起来。 

不过，当他飞起来之后，就觉得没那么恐怖了。桑尼克在座位上调整了一下姿势，又重新调整着飞行的航向。飞机卷入了一个空气漩涡，这下桑尼克整个人都颠倒过来了。 

桑尼克再一次尖叫了起来，不过这次是因为兴奋。 

飞机最后降落在一片草坪上。桑尼克站起身，小心地从飞机里走出来，深情地轻拍着蓝色的纸飞机，咧开嘴笑了。 

突然，一只白色的怪兽赫然出现在他上方。桑尼克倒吸一口冷气，但接着他直起身子，因为儿子保证过这只怪兽是站在他们这边的。于是他对着怪兽说：“你好啊，我叫桑尼克·高帽子。你能不能帮我一个忙，将我的家人从监牢里救出来。这事儿真的是十万火急。” 

大毛兽点了点头。桑尼克松了口气，爬上怪兽的鼻子，又爬上他硕大的头，坐在他一只耳朵后面，再抓住一小撮毛。 

大毛兽发出一声骇人的咆哮，猛地跳起来朝城堡奔去。他带着紧抓着自己的桑尼克冲进了城堡，穿过缠绕的藤蔓，来到了最高的一座塔前。 

爱丽丝和疯帽子听见大毛兽咚咚上楼的脚步声后冲到门口。一掌下去，大毛兽就把门扯了下来。他骄傲地喘着气，爱丽丝摸了摸他的脸颊。疯帽子从大毛兽的背上举起桑尼克，将他和高帽子家族的其他人放在一起。 

“现在要让你长回正常大小。”疯帽子说。他看到桌上有个盖着圆顶餐盘盖的盘子，掀开盖子后，里面是一块神奇蛋糕。“啊哈！” 

不一会儿，高帽子家族全都恢复到了正常大小，大家开心地彼此拥抱着。 

疯帽子看见父亲朝他走来，站直了身体。 

“我看你没什么变化。”桑尼克看着疯帽子滑稽的衣服说道。 

“是没有。”疯帽子笑了，眼神中透出一丝紧张，却依然 坚定。 

桑尼克打量着自己的儿子。“好。”他最后说道。 

泪水刺痛了疯帽子的双眼，他上前去拥抱他的父亲。就在这时，一波震动从房中穿过，疯帽子的手臂上下起伏着，好像被浸在水里一样。爱丽丝转过身——或者她正试着转身。她也感觉到自己身体的动作慢了下来，好像陷进了蜂蜜里。 

当时间又恢复到正常速度时，疯帽子的双臂终于啪的一下抱住了父亲。接着，疯帽子和桑尼克困惑地后退几步，环顾着房间。 

“刚才那到底是什么？”桑尼克问道。 

锈迹沿着墙壁和地板上的裂缝迅速蔓延。爱丽丝摸了摸其中一处锈迹，她的手指立刻沾上了一层红色的金属粉末。这是铁锈。如果大钟也受影响了，那可怎么办？也许如果没有时空传送仪，大钟也就失效了……所有的迹象似乎都表明，很可能“时间”就要被迫停止了。 

“是‘时间’，他正在变慢！”爱丽丝惊讶地喊道，“他就要停止了！我之前见过。这就是他需要时空传送仪的原因。” 

“等等。”疯帽子说，“如果‘时间’终结了，那我们也就跟着完了。他是这样告诉我的。” 

爱丽丝被内疚淹没了。疯帽子把手搭在爱丽丝的肩上，让她看着自己的眼睛。爱丽丝从中看到了他对自己的信心，于是又充满了力量。 

“我们得去阻止那个大脑袋！”疯帽子恶狠狠地说。 

“还要拿回时空传送仪。”爱丽丝补充道。 

爱丽丝研究了一下地板上那堆“时间”丢弃的机器碎片，然后转向疯帽子的家人，大声说：“高帽子家族！集齐时光机的碎片，我们以后可能还用得着。” 

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