Heartless

Cath commits to her role as Queen at the masquerade. She begins by stuffing her rosebud-embroidered handkerchief into the White Rabbit’s mouth when he tries to announce her with her parents and suggests that a separate announcement for her entrance is more appropriate as the future Queen of Hearts. Peter confronts Cath, demanding to know what became of the Vorpal Sword. He threatens Cath vaguely, suggesting that she will regret her actions. Cath is confused, but she is rescued by a mysterious stranger with a voice she recognizes.

The stranger is Jest, disguised. The two talk, and Cath decides to marry the King so that Jest can use her heart to save Chess. Cath accepts the King’s public proposal, feeling completely disoriented and not at all like herself, but then Jest reappears, and in front of everyone he tells Cath that he knows a better way to fix everything. Jest and Cath can be together, and Cath can still have her bakery, and Jest can still save Chess, but Cath will have to give up her comfortable life in Hearts. Cath readily accepts.

Jest explains the plan: the rule of promotion. If a pawn crosses the chessboard, all the way to the other side, it can become a queen; therefore, if Cath can cross Chess, she will become a queen without having to marry the King. Cath agrees, despite the risks, and Jest takes her back to Hatta’s to prepare for the journey. They are stopped by Cheshire in the forest; something has happened, involving Peter Peter, the Jabberwock, and Mary Ann. Cath, impatient and preoccupied, dismisses Cheshire before he can explain further. At the hat shop, Hatta agrees to help Jest and Cath get to Chess; however, he warns Jest that the Sisters may be more dangerous than Jest supposes.

Cath, Jest, Raven, and Hatta journey to the treacle well, where Hatta asks the Sisters to open the Looking Glass maze for them. They are all identical to one another, appearing as very young children with white hair and an unnerving knowledge in their eyes. The Sisters comply, in exchange for a tail feather from Raven and the bells from Jest’s hat; there is nothing they want yet from Cath. From Hatta, however, they ask for five minutes of his time; he complies by winding his pocket watch forward five minutes. The Sisters remark that Hatta doesn’t have much time left and ask how long he intends to run from Time. A door appears in a hedge beside the well, and the Sisters prompt the group to enter; there, they will all “greet their fate” (368).

Through the door is a forest clearing exactly like the one the group just left, where the Three Sisters wait, each one now wearing an animal mask—one an Owl, one a Raccoon, and one a Fox. The group learns that taking Hatta’s “time” means that they must listen to the prophesizing of the Three Sisters. The Sisters have plastered drawings on a stone wall, disturbing images for the four to behold. One depicts Cath as the Queen of Hearts, another Jest beheaded by a cloaked figure with a curved axe—resembling the one Cath saw before she fainted in Chapter 6—and another Hatta gone mad. “Murderer. Martyr. Monarch. Mad,” the Sisters chant (375). The Sisters call their drawings fate, which cannot be avoided; however, they also say that their drawings are but one truth of many. They advise the group not to go through any doors. The Sisters leave the group with one final gift: They recite a rhyme about Peter Peter that references a wife Peter couldn’t keep, a pet he couldn’t feed, and a maid whose fate they couldn’t tell. Although Jest and Hatta don’t grasp the significance of it, Cath is deeply disturbed. As they exit the glen, the Sisters address Cath as “Your Majesty.”

Jest, Cath, Raven, and Hatta enter the Looking Glass maze. Finally, after walking all night, they reach a clearing with a well, and Hatta pronounces it “the beginning of the maze” (383). Cath, aghast, questions him, but Hatta reassures her that he has not led them astray. As Cath approaches the well, she realizes that it’s actually a set of spiral stairs leading deep into the earth.

At the bottom of the stairs lies the Crossroads with its long hallway of doors. It’s a riddle to see if Cath is “worthy”; since they can’t pass through any doors, Cath must figure out another way to Chess. Jest reminds Cath that the way to Chess is through a looking glass, prompting Cath to realize that they must enter through a mirror. Cath finds a shrinking potion on a small table next to a handheld mirror, and she realizes they must shrink themselves first and then pass through the small mirror. Suddenly, Cath hears a familiar scream coming from a door resembling a wrought-iron gate. Through the bars, Cath sees Peter’s pumpkin patch and Mary Ann imprisoned in one of his giant pumpkins. Peter sits nearby, sharpening some kind of tool. Hatta reminds Cath that she cannot enter or the Sisters’ prophecy—murderer, martyr, monarch, mad—will come true. Cath can’t abandon Mary Ann; she persuades the others to remain in the safety of the Crossroads, and Cath alone passes through the gate to Peter’s pumpkin patch.

Cath rushes to Mary Ann’s side and learns from her that Lady Peter is the Jabberwock. Peter has been keeping her hidden all this time, hoping to find a cure for her. Mary Ann realized this at the theater when she witnessed Lady Peter entering the powder room, looking ill, and the Jabberwock emerging immediately after. Cath remembers what Peter said at the ball so long ago—that his wife’s illness was due to eating a bad pumpkin. Cath realizes that it must have been Peter’s pumpkins that caused the Mock Turtle’s transformation at the festival; Lady Peter, who had recently won a pumpkin eating contest, must have suffered the same consequence. Mary Ann came to Peter’s patch hoping to find evidence of his deception, but he caught her and now intends to feed her to the Jabberwock. Cath searches for a way to free Mary Ann, but Peter finds Cath first and attacks her, wielding an axe.

Cath tries to reason with Peter. She begs him to let her and Mary Ann go, but Peter refuses to listen to her, certain she’s there to hurt his wife. Determined to protect Lady Peter, Peter demands Cath give him the Vorpal Sword. Jest comes to Cath’s rescue, accompanied by a cloaked figure with a curved axe—the same figure from the Sisters’ drawings. Jest reveals that this is Raven’s human form; Raven was previously the White Queen’s executioner. Cath, fearing Raven’s resemblance to the Sisters’ drawings, sends Raven to rescue Mary Ann, keeping him away from Jest. Hatta joins the fight when Jest calls for his aid. Peter reacts with rancor at the sight of Hatta, and Cath learns the truth: It was Hatta who placed the seeds in Peter’s pumpkin patch, even after Peter refused to buy them. Peter blames Hatta for his wife’s condition and implies that Hatta knew the effects of the seeds, because they were brought to Hearts from Chess, but planted them anyway. Despite this, Cath reflects that Peter was still the one who decided to keep Lady Peter’s condition a secret and allow her to eat others while he searched for an impossible cure. Lady Peter in Jabberwock form descends on the group; Cath, who no longer considers Lady Peter human, retrieves the Vorpal Sword from Jest’s hat and decapitates the Jabberwock. Peter is devastated and decapitates Jest as revenge before fleeing the scene. Cath, inconsolable, wants Peter’s head in retribution.