Alice sleepily allowed her eyes to flutter open as she felt a strange warmth tingle down her arms and legs. She felt stiff, and strange. How long had she been asleep? A day? A year? An eternity?

"Where are we?" she asked the stretching bundle of fur rubbing against her leg. Her cat, Julius, yawned widely. She looked around her, and saw that the walls of the small chamber were mirrored.

She lazily ran a hand through her long, silver curls. Her black eyes stared from her white skin, complimenting her lovely dress in shades of grey. She was tall and thin with a childlike face. She was fourteen, but one never really changed in Cartoonland. She was still the young girl that she had been when she had discovered the dreamlike realm at the age of four.

Suddenly, she jumped as a high-pitched voice sounded from a strange box in the corner of the room. "Right now, Alice, you're in a cryogenic chamber, underneath a thing called 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' but I suppose you don't really know what that is…"

"Cryogenic? Who… who are you? What are you talking about?"

"Alice… you left Cartoonland long before I was born, and I do not know you well. There isn't much I'm allowed to tell you, but I'm going to help you on your way."

"Before you were born? You must be very young, then! I'm only fourteen, you know. And you still haven't answered my question!"

"You've been asleep for a very long time, Alice."

"Really?"

"My name is Minerva. Many years ago, the Creator, who you probably know of as Walt, predicted that someday, Cartoonland would be in serious danger. Only a human from the real world would be able to save us all from certain doom. At that point, you had been the only human who had been able to cross the barrier between your world and ours. He couldn't take any chances… It was the only way to save Cartoonland. Years after you left Cartoonland, he called you here. You were frozen, for until we needed you. And we need you."

"Wait…" Alice thought for a moment. "I remember Mr. Disney bringing me down here… he said there was something important he wanted to tell me about. But where is he?"

"The Creator is dead, Alice. He's been dead for many years."

"Many years? But that's impossible! I saw him not too long ago!"

"He died in 1966, Alice."

"1966? Minerva, listen, I don't know who you are, but this isn't funny! It's 1933, and you know it!"

"It's 2008, Alice. You've been asleep for seventy-five years."