Hatter leaned forward like the prow¹ of a ship as they cut their way deeper into the past. His eagle eyes spotted² a flicker³ of movement ahead. 

"There they are! Hurry!" he cried. 

As the Chronosphere's golden light bobbed closer, they could see the royal sisters within its spinning rings. Mirana's face was pale and drawn⁴, and she eyed Iracebeth warily⁵. Ignoring her sister, Iracebeth had her eyes locked on the ocean. 

Then Iracebeth yanked on a lever and the Chronosphere dove toward a specific day in the past. She steered⁶ the Chronosphere through a chilly⁷ gray sky. The town of Witzend appeared below, windows glowing as people lit lanterns and fires indoors. 

The Chronosphere squeezed through an opening in Witzend Castle and rolled to a stop in an abandoned corridor. Iracebeth clutched her sister's arm, and she pulled her from the Chronosphere, which began to shrink into a tiny ball. 

"Where are we?" Mirana asked. 

"You know where we are," Iracebeth answered darkly. 

As Mirana looked around, she realized she did know: they were just outside their childhood bedroom. And she had a pretty good guess as to when they were. Her forehead creased⁸ and she hung back as Iracebeth cracked open the door. 

Queen Elsmere's voice rang out from the room. "Why are these crusts under your bed?" Mirana's shoulders stiffened¹⁰. 

"She put them there!" Iracebeth's young voice cried out. 

"Did you, Mirana?" Elsmere asked. 

In the hallway, the older Iracebeth rounded on her sister. "Did you, Mirana?" she whispered accusingly. 

From within the room, they could hear the younger Iracebeth becoming insistent¹¹. "You did! Tell her!" 

"Tell the truth, Mirana," Queen Elsmere commanded sternly. "Did you eat the tarts¹² and put the crusts there?" 

The sisters both tensed; they knew what came next. Iracebeth's face flushed with anger, and Mirana's eyes were full of regret. 

Bang! Alice, Hatter, and Time crashed into the corridor. 

"No," Mirana's younger self whispered. 

Gong! The clock tower in Witzend sang out, its toll¹³ carrying far through the wintry air. Scooping¹⁴ up the Chronosphere from the stone hallway, Alice hurried toward the queens, with Time and Hatter at her side. 

Years of betrayal, loneliness, and anger roared up in Iracebeth as she heard her sister deny the crime again, and she reached for the door, ready to fling it open. 

"Iracebeth, wait!" Mirana cried, grabbing her sister's arm. "I ... I lied." 

Iracebeth blinked, taken aback. 

"I ate the tarts," Mirana continued. "And I lied about it." Tears welled in her deep brown eyes. "If I had just told the truth, none of this would have ever happened. I'm so sorry." 

Alice and the others came to a halt a few feet away, caught up in the intensity¹⁵ of the moment. 

"Forgive me. Please. If you can," Mirana finished. 

Looking into Mirana's face, Iracebeth remembered when they used to be the best of friends. 

They would giggle¹⁶ together as they played hopscotch¹⁷. At the beach, they had made the most amazing pink sand castle together. It had four tall crooked¹⁸ towers circling the main one. Hand in hand, Mirana and Iracebeth had combed the beach to find the prettiest shells to decorate it. 

Sometimes at night, the girls had curled up together to read. Iracebeth had waited patiently for Mirana—the slower reader—to reach the end of the page before she turned to the next. Iracebeth's hair, always more stubborn than Mirana's, would fall into her eyes and Mirana would gently tuck it back behind her ears for her. 

Iracebeth felt a tear slide down her cheek at the memories. 

"That's all I ever wanted to hear. Really it was," she said, sniffing¹⁹. 

Overcome with emotion, Mirana and Iracebeth collapsed²⁰ into each other's arms. For the first time in many years, Iracebeth felt warm from the inside out. 

Creak. The bedroom door opened fully²¹. The younger Iracebeth ran out, and she crashed into Mirana's and Iracebeth's skirts and stumbled backward. 

"Oh, bother," Iracebeth the older said. 

The child version of her looked directly into her older self's oversized face. She paused in shock. Then she screamed and screamed until— 

Poof! 

Both Iracebeths froze, an orange-red powder crusting over their skin. 

"Iracebeth!" Mirana cried. 

Like a firework going off, rust⁹ exploded from the two Iracebeths, then crawled along the carpet and up Elsmere and the younger Mirana until they, too, were statues. 

But the rust didn't stop there. 

It kept spreading, corroding²² everything around them. 

"Oh, this can't be good," Hatter mumbled²³. 

"She has broken the past! We've got to get to the Grand Clock before it stops forever," Time cried. 

The Grand Clock was not faring well. Wilkins frowned as he and the Seconds pumped levers and greased cogs. 

"Come on, chaps! Keep it swinging," Wilkins called, his voice desperate. He looked around in dismay. 

Rust was spreading throughout the Grand Clock, making the gears grind slower and throwing off the delicate balance of the clockwork. 

Time was hunched²⁴ inside the Chronosphere, holding his side in pain as Alice and the rest of their group crowded in next to him. Shooting Time a worried look, Alice steered the Chronosphere out of Witzend Castle and up into the snowy sky. Below them, a circle of rust rippled²⁵ out from the castle, carpeting the streets, painting the buildings red, and halting people and animals mid-breath. 

Gon— 

The chime of the church's clock cut off abruptly²⁶ as rust covered the tower. 

Hatter's mouth tugged²⁷ down at the sight. 

"I still don't understand why we had to bring her with us," he muttered to Alice. He glanced at the rust-frozen figure stretched out on the bottom of the Chronosphere, taking up most of the floorspace. Mirana had tears running down her cheeks as she cradled Iracebeth's head in her lap. But Hatter couldn't summon much sympathy for the Red Queen. 

Alice patted his shoulder with her free hand. She knew how hard it could be to forgive. But she was discovering that everyone had a past. Nobody was all good or all bad. Iracebeth had had her share of pain; she just hadn't known how to handle it. 

The Chronosphere popped out into the flowing light above the Ocean of Time, and Alice spun²⁸ them toward the present. 

Yet a troubling new wave had formed in the ocean below them. Like a row of toy soldiers falling down, one after another, the days began to crackle, each one's moments infiltrated²⁹ by rust. 

"It's catching³⁰ up!" Hatter cried worriedly. 

They rocketed forward, flashing by familiar days. But the rust was right behind them, invading the scenes of their past. finally, they burst into the present above Iracebeth's castle. 

The Hightopps and Alice's friends stared up as the Chronosphere zoomed³¹ by. 

"That crazy boy might actually pull this off—" Zanik was saying when a wave of rust slammed into him, freezing him with his mouth open. 

The rust swept over the others, catching Bayard, McTwisp, Mallymkun, and Thackery. The Tweedles backed up as far as they could, huddling³² together, but the wave washed over them, as well. 

As Hatter saw his family and friends suspended mid-motion, their eyes wide with alarm, he winced³³. 

"Hurry, Alice, please," Hatter urged. 

Alice threw her weight against a lever, and the Chronosphere banged inside Iracebeth's castle. 

Behind them, the doors to the castle burst open, and a liquid wave of rust poured into the chamber³⁴. It splashed against the wall and split into two waves that bore down on the Chronosphere while Alice maneuvered³⁵ it up the root staircase. 

With a loud creak, a section of ceiling gave way and crashed into the space where the Chronosphere had just been. Time groaned³⁶ as he gazed through the new gap: the sky had turned a gritty red and brown as rust cascaded³⁷ down on the land. 

Doing her best to concentrate, Alice tugged on a lever, and the Chronosphere pivoted³⁸, spinning into a room off the stairwell. Ahead of them, Iracebeth's black grandfather clock loomed³⁹. 

Two waves of rust flooded into the room, racing⁴⁰ along the curved walls toward the clock. Eyeing the distance and the waves, Hatter didn't think they would make it. 

"Well, I've really enjoyed our time together, Alice," Hatter said. A wistful smile crossed his face. 

Alice ignored him. She, too, was making calculations. Without warning, she slammed on the brakes, sending the Chronosphere into a tight spin. 

As it whirled in place, the two waves crashed into each other in front of the clock. Then they both receded⁴¹ for a moment, the force of their impact reversing their directions. 

Seeing their chance, Alice threw off the brakes and thrust the Chronosphere forward, straight toward the clock. 

Boom! The clock exploded as the Chronosphere crashed through it and plummeted⁴² into the dark space beyond, rust pouring through the gap behind it. 

Alice spotted in the distance and coaxed⁴³ more speed from the Chronosphere. Almost there, she thought. She aimed for a stained glass window, and with a crash, bang, boom, the Chronosphere smashed through it and bounced along the floor of the Grand Clock's chamber. 

finally knocking into a pillar, the Chronosphere spun to a stop, spitting everyone out, as though it couldn't handle holding them any longer. Time went flying and Iracebeth's metal frame clanked against the floor. Alice staggered to her feet and snatched up the shrinking Chronosphere. With no time to waste, she raced along the floor toward the center of the Grand Clock, her friends just behind her. Close on their heels, waves of liquid rust crashed into the room from all sides, pouring toward the Grand Clock. 

Alice led the charge, with Time, Hatter, and Mirana running behind her, dodging⁴⁴ around unrecognizable stalagmites and lumps. With a grimace⁴⁵, Alice realized some of them were the struggling, rust-decayed forms of Seconds, Minutes, and Hours. Closer to the center, they passed by Wilkins, his body cemented to the ground with rust. 

"We did our best, sir," Wilkins said as Time drew near. 

Time saluted⁴⁶ him but kept running. Now waves of rust lapped at the group's feet. Mirana fell first; then Wilkins was washed over. Encircling Hatter's legs, the rust began to climb upward. 

"Alice," Hatter said, his voice carrying a mixture of sadness and hope. 

Alice wouldn't stop, couldn't stop. Everything depended on her. 

She hopped⁴⁷ through the Grand Clock, whose pieces were barely moving now. The gears were almost stationary⁴⁸ and the hammers creaked up and down at a snail's pace. 

A few steps behind her, Time cried out as the wave of rust caught up to him. He sank to his knees, then crumpled⁴⁹ under its weight. 

It was the end of Time. 

The hammer above Alice froze as the Grand Clock gave out. Stepping into the gap at the center of the clock, Alice felt something wrap around her ankles. The odd sensation moved up her legs, encasing her in a gritty metal powder. 

As her waist became constricted⁵⁰, she stretched up, focusing her eyes on the center of the clock. 

Rust raced up her outstretched arm. With one final push, her fingers slammed the Chronosphere into place, then froze a hairsbreadth away. 

Underland lay silent and motionless under a blanket of rust. 

Not a puff⁵¹ of breath or a beating heart could be heard. 

There could be no world without Time. 

 

疯帽子的身体像船头一样前倾着，此时他们正一头扎进更为久远的过去。他的目光如鹰一般锐利，发现前方有东西一闪而过。 

“他们在那儿！快！”他喊道。 

随着时空传送仪的金光快速靠近，他们已经可以看到旋转圆环内的皇室姐妹。莫安娜脸色苍白，面容憔悴，警惕地看着伊拉贝斯。而伊拉贝斯则不理会她妹妹的反应，紧盯着下面的时间之海。 

伊拉贝斯猛地一拉控制杆，时空传送仪瞄准过去的一天直坠而下。她驾驶着时空传送仪穿越灰冷的天际。奥特兰镇出现在了下方，人们点着灯笼，燃起火炉，窗内灯火通明。 

时空传送仪通过一个缺口挤进了奥特兰城堡，滚了几下停在了一段废弃的走廊上。伊拉贝斯抓着她妹妹的手臂，将她拽下时空传送仪。她们下来之后，传送仪就缩成了一个小球。 

“我们在哪儿？”莫安娜问道。 

“你知道我们在哪儿。”伊拉贝斯愠怒地答道。 

莫安娜环顾四周，发现自己确实知道：她们就在小时候的卧室外。而且她也正确地猜出她们回到了何时。她紧皱眉头，正在犹豫之间，伊拉贝斯已经猛地拉开了房门。 

埃尔斯米尔皇后的声音在房内响起：“你床下为什么会有饼皮儿？”莫安娜僵住了。 

“是她放在这儿的！”伊拉贝斯稚嫩的哭声响了起来。 

“是你吗，莫安娜？”埃尔斯米尔问道。 

走廊里，长大的伊拉贝斯突然对她妹妹不怀好气。“是你吗，莫安娜？”她低声责问。 

房间里，她们可以听到小伊拉贝斯愈发坚持：“就是你！告诉她呀！” 

“说实话，莫安娜。”埃尔斯米尔皇后严厉地命令道，“到底是不是你吃了馅饼还把饼皮儿丢在这里的？” 

姐妹俩都绷紧了神经，她们都知道接下来会发生什么。伊拉贝斯的脸由于愤怒涨得通红，而莫安娜的眼中充满了懊悔。 

砰！爱丽丝、疯帽子和“时间”撞进了走廊里。 

“不是我。”小莫安娜小声地说。 

咣！奥特兰的钟塔上响起了钟声，夹杂着寒冷的空气远远地传了过来。爱丽丝从石廊上一把捞起时空传送仪，迅速朝皇后们跑去，“时间”和疯帽子跟随在她的左右。 

当她再一次听到自己的妹妹否认了罪行，多年来的背叛、孤独和愤怒在伊拉贝斯心中翻腾，她冲向大门，准备将门推开。 

“伊拉贝斯，等等！”莫安娜喊道，她抓住姐姐的手臂，“我……我撒谎了。” 

伊拉贝斯眨了眨眼，惊讶不已。 

“我吃了馅饼。”莫安娜继续说，“然后撒了谎。”泪水从她深棕色的眼中涌出。“如果当时我说出了实情，这一切都不会发生。我真的很抱歉。” 

爱丽丝和其他人停在几英尺之外，正好赶上了这扣人心弦的一幕。 

“原谅我吧，求你了，如果可以的话。”莫安娜最后说。 

看着莫安娜的脸庞，伊拉贝斯回忆起过去的一些时光，曾几何时，她们还是最好的朋友。 

她们玩跳房子的时候会咯咯地笑作一团。在海滩上，她们一起搭建了最惊艳的粉沙城堡，四座高大弯曲的塔楼围在主堡的四周。莫安娜和伊拉贝斯手拉着手翻遍了海滩，寻找最美丽的贝壳来装饰城堡。 

有些晚上，女孩们会蜷在一起看书。伊拉贝斯会耐心地等着莫安娜——她看得慢——看完一页，然后再翻到下一页。伊拉贝斯的头发，总是比莫安娜的更难梳理，常常会遮住她的眼睛，莫安娜则会帮她轻轻地夹到耳朵后面。 

伊拉贝斯回想起这些，一滴泪水从脸颊滑过。 

“我想要听的就是这些。真的只是这些。”她抽泣着说。 

莫安娜和伊拉贝斯再也控制不住自己的情绪，倒在了彼此的怀抱里。这么多年来，伊拉贝斯第一次感觉从心底升起一股暖意。 

咯吱。卧室的门被完全打开，小伊拉贝斯跑了出来，她撞上了莫安娜和伊拉贝斯的裙摆，向后摔了一跤。 

“哦，对不起。”长大的伊拉贝斯说。 

年幼的她直勾勾地盯着成年的自己那张超大的脸。她惊得愣住了，然后她不停地尖叫，尖叫，直到—— 

噗！ 

两个伊拉贝斯都冻住了，橘红色的粉末在她们的皮肤上凝结。 

“伊拉贝斯！”莫安娜大喊。 

锈迹像炸开的烟花一般，在两个伊拉贝斯的身上蔓延，然后沿着地毯，爬上了埃尔斯米尔和小莫安娜，直到她们也都变成了雕像。 

不过锈迹并没有停在那里。 

它继续蔓延，腐蚀着周围的一切。 

“哦，这可不太妙。”疯帽子喃喃地说。 

“她打破了过去！我们得赶在大钟停止之前赶到那里。”“时间”喊道。 

大钟的情形并不乐观。威尔金斯皱起了眉头，他和秒针抽动着杠杆，润滑着齿轮。 

“加油，伙计们！让大钟保持摆动。”威尔金斯绝望地喊着，沮丧地朝四周看去。 

锈迹正在大钟上蔓延，齿轮间的摩擦变慢，发条间微妙的平衡也因此被打破了。 

“时间”此刻正蜷缩在时空传送仪里，因疼痛而抓住身体的一侧，爱丽丝和其他人挤在他身边。爱丽丝担忧地看了“时间”一眼，操控着时空传送仪离开了奥特兰城堡，向落雪的天空飞去。他们下方，铁锈呈环形从城堡向外蔓延，渐渐铺满了街道，将楼房染成了红色，定格了人和动物的呼吸。 

咣—— 

教堂的钟声突然中断了，因为钟塔也被锈迹覆盖。 

疯帽子看到这些惊得张大了嘴巴。 

“我还是不明白为什么我们要带上她。”他对着爱丽丝抱怨说。他扫了一眼横在传送仪底端那尊被铁锈冻结的人像，地板面积被她占去了大半。泪水顺着莫安娜的脸颊滚下来，她将伊拉贝斯的头抱在腿上。不过疯帽子对红皇后可提不起太多同情。 

爱丽丝用另一只空出的手拍了拍疯帽子的肩膀。她知道原谅有多难。但是她也发现，每个人都有自己的过去。没有哪个人是永远善良或是永远邪恶的。伊拉贝斯也经历过痛苦，她只是不知道怎样处理这样的情感。 

时空传送仪跃出了时间之海，进入了流光之域，爱丽丝调转方向朝现在驶去。 

然而，他们下方的海面上形成了一波令人不安的浪潮。那些日子就像一排玩具士兵，一个接一个倒下，然后开始出现裂纹，铁锈渗入了每一个瞬间。 

“它要赶上我们了！”疯帽子担心地喊道。 

他们极速前进，往日的时光如白驹过隙。但是铁锈也紧随其后，吞噬着他们的过去。最后，他们从空中闯进了伊拉贝斯现在的城堡。 

时空传送仪正极速前行，高帽子家族和爱丽丝的朋友们张大了双眼仰望着。 

“那个疯狂的男孩也许能搞得定——”桑尼克正说着，一波铁锈就撞上了他，他还张着嘴就被冻结了。 

铁锈很快朝其他人席卷而来，贝亚德、白兔子、睡鼠和三月兔都被一一定格。叮咚兄弟抱在一起，以最快的速度向后撤，但是很快也被铁锈波一扫而过。 

疯帽子看见自己的家人和朋友都被定住了，惊慌地睁大双眼，他的脸抽搐起来。 

“快点，爱丽丝，拜托了。”他催促道。 

爱丽丝奋力拉动控制杆，时空传送仪砰地撞进了伊拉贝斯的城堡。 

在他们身后，城堡的大门突然爆开了，一波铁锈涌进了寝殿。铁锈撞上了墙壁，然后分成了两股。当铁锈朝时空传送仪逼近时，爱丽丝操控着传送仪飞离了楼梯。 

咯吱一声巨响，天花板崩裂了，就在方才传送仪停着的地方化成了一堆碎片。“时间”叹了口气，他凝望着一个新出现的缺口：天空也变成了红棕色的铁砂，像瀑布一般向地面倾泻。 

爱丽丝集中全部精力，拉紧控制杆，传送仪旋转着离开了楼梯井，进入了一个房间。他们面前隐约出现了伊拉贝斯的黑色老爷钟。 

两波铁锈一起涌入了房间，沿着弯曲的墙壁竞相向着大钟前进。疯帽子目测着铁锈波和大钟的距离，觉得他们在劫难逃。 

“好吧，我真的很享受我们共同度过的时光，爱丽丝。”疯帽子说道。他的脸上露出不舍的微笑。 

爱丽丝顾不上理疯帽子。她也在计算着距离。她毫无预兆地猛踩刹车，让传送仪一个急转。 

当传送仪转到一旁时，两波铁锈在大钟前相互撞击，然后又都向后撤退片刻，冲击力让它们扭转了前进的方向。 

看到机会来了，爱丽丝松开刹车，将传送仪直接推进了大钟。 

砰！大钟被传送仪撞得爆裂开来，坠入了下方的黑暗，随后，铁锈也沿着缝隙涌了进去。 

爱丽丝看着远处“时间”的城堡，又加快了时空传送仪的速度。马上到了，她想着。她瞄准了一扇彩色玻璃窗，随着咔、砰、轰的声响，时空传送仪冲进了大钟房，在地板上颠簸着 前进。 

传送仪最后撞上了一根柱子，转着圈停了下来，把里面的人都甩了出去，好像传送仪一刻也载不动他们了。“时间”飞了出去，伊拉贝斯的金属外表咣的一声撞在地板上。爱丽丝摇晃着站起来，抓起已经缩小的时空传送仪。她一刻不停地沿着楼梯向大钟的中心跑去，其他的伙伴紧跟在她后面。铁锈波追着他们的脚步，从四面八方冲进房间，朝大钟涌来。 

爱丽丝带领众人狂奔，后面跟着“时间”、疯帽子和莫安娜，一路上避开那些无法辨认的石笋和泥块。爱丽丝辨认出其中有些是秒针、分针和时针在挣扎中被铁锈腐蚀的形态，皱起了眉头。他们继续向中心跑去，经过威尔金斯的身边，他的身体已经被铁锈固定在了地上。 

“我们已经尽力了，先生。”当“时间”走近时，威尔金斯 说道。 

“时间”向他致意了一下，不过仍然向前跑去。铁锈波拍打着他们的脚底。莫安娜第一个倒下了，接着威尔金斯被冲倒了。铁锈绕着疯帽子的腿，开始向上攀爬。 

“爱丽丝。”疯帽子说道，他的声音夹杂着悲伤和希望。 

爱丽丝不能停，不能停啊。这一切全都靠她了。 

她跳进了大钟，大钟的零件已经不怎么动了。齿轮近乎静止，锤头也以蜗牛的速度勉强上下摆动。 

就在她身后几步远，铁锈波赶上了“时间”，他大声呼喊着。他双膝下沉，然后，轰然倒下。 

“时间”走到了尽头。 

爱丽丝上方的锤头一冻结，大钟就停止了走动。爱丽丝踏进大钟中央的空隙，感到有东西缠上了她的脚踝。一种奇怪的感觉从腿上传来，她渐渐被裹上了一层金属粉末。 

她的腰被困住了，爱丽丝向上伸开双臂，眼睛盯着大钟的 中心。 

铁锈爬上了她向上伸展的手臂，她用手指最后一推，将时空传送仪推进其中，下一秒她就被完全冻结了。 

地下世界在铁锈的覆盖之下陷入了死寂。 

听不见一丝呼吸，也闻不见一声心跳。 

没有了“时间”，整个世界也不复存在。 

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