by R. L. Weeks
‘Not until you’re you again. I know you still love me,’ he said.
Peter looked at him and laughed. ‘She loves me.’
Without warning James pushed himself into the blade. ‘I guess we will find out,’ he spluttered. Peter watched on, laughing. Snow’s eyes flamed green as she caught James’s gaze. He knelt to the floor, evaporating into a gold mist. The mist circled its way into the mahogany box which grew bigger with each new soul.
As the last of James’s existence flew into the box a piece of Snow died. Slowly, snowdrops fell, hitting each leaf, each branch, and each grain of sand until Neverland was captured in a snow-filled wonderland.
Peter’s eyes widened. Snow looked up at the rock where he sat. Red flashed across her gaze. He opened his mouth to say something, but her tear filled eyes told him to run.
Peter jumped off of the rock and ran into the forest, pushing his way through the foliage. His breaths quickened as he headed to the dead part of the forest. Snow followed behind, the box tucked under one arm, and the sword in the other. Still, with the weight, she ran faster than she ever had. Adrenaline pumped through her veins.
Each memory of her and James flashed in front of her like old polaroid’s. His voice filled her mind, and the strong feelings from when they had met, pushed her to run faster.
Peter stopped in between two trees and turned around. It was pointless running from her, she’d catch up to him sooner or later.
She halted a couple of metres in front of him, raising her sword upward. ‘You know,’ she smiled thinly, ‘that you gave up the one thing that was protecting your power.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t regret it.’
She laughed mirthlessly. ‘You should.’ She pulled out the box and showed it to him. ‘This is an eternal prison filled with suffering and prison.’
He eyed the box and smiled. ‘Do what you must. The one lesson you taught me is that a life without love is no life at all.’
The sword glowed a bright blue, just as it had when she was near Jackie. ‘The sword wants you. You must be one the worlds evils.’
He laughed mirthlessly. ‘Oh, silly Snow. It was glowing when you were on the beach, alone. It’s glowing because it wants you. Evil is made, you’re living proof of that.’
She looked at her reflection in the sword and her expression faltered. She was looking more and more like Lori each day. Peter saw this and walked over to her, lowering the sword. ‘You’re not bad Snow. You just lost yourself a little. It’s my fault really. You don’t need to do this.’
Snow looked at him with teary eyes. ‘I have too. If I don’t-’ Her voice broke.
Peter closed his eyes. ‘If you don’t, then you just pushed someone you love into an eternity of pain.’ He lowered his head. ‘Do you love me?’
She stayed still as the tears ran down her cheeks. She just about managed a nod. He touched her hand briefly and pushed himself onto the sword. ‘Then I cannot watch as you live a life of pain and suffering. Thank you, for helping me find myself.’
Peter disappeared into a green mist and swirled into the box, leaving Snow standing alone in the cold, snow covered forest.
***
Snow made her way to Pirate’s Cove, taking Croon, Tide, and an enchanted Bell and Rapunzel with her. Snow was losing her mind. She laughed for no reason as they journeyed across the ocean. They reached the Island and Snow nodded to the merpeople who had clearly done their job and got rid of that pesky crew.
They finally found Lori, Stilt, and Hook. Lori laughed sardonically. ‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Now what do we have her?’ Lori circled Snow. ‘It looks like Snow’s come for her revenge.’
Snow pointed her sword at Lori. ‘Scared?’
Lori shook her head. ‘Hardly,’ she tilted her head and looked over at Hook. ‘It turned out that I found out what love is. I finally got my happy ending. If you wish to kill me, I’d rather you do it now. I’d much rather die a happy woman than an unhappy Queen.’
‘No,’ Snow screamed. ‘You must fight me! You cannot turn good now. Not after everything I have sacrificed.’ Snow’s words were drying out, and her hands were trembling.
Hook edged his way to Lori and stood next to her. ‘If you try to kill her, you’ll have to go through me. I do not know you, but I can tell you from experience. Snow, if you do this, if you remove everything you care about, if you carry out your revenge fantasies, you will end up with an emptiness that no-’
‘Enough talking,’ Snow shouted.
Lori raised her eyebrows. ‘What about James and Peter? Do you think they’d want you to kill anyone? They love you. That much is obvious.’
Snow gulped. ‘They can’t think anything anymore.’
Lori gasped and shook her head slowly. ‘You didn’t.’
Snow nodded and gritted her teeth. ‘You have no idea what I’m capable of.’
‘Wouldn’t want too,’ Lori admitted. ‘Even I wouldn’t kill someone I love. That’s just a whole new level of evil.’
‘You’re lying,’ Snow screamed. ‘You would kill someone you love. You did. You killed Edward!’
‘He hurt me,’ Lori said. ‘I’ll be straight with you. I’ve regretted it ever since.’
Snow shook her head vigorously. ‘No. Watching you, I learnt that love holds one back from power,’ she cried.
‘I think,’ Lori said, stepping forward. ‘That you have just made the worst mistake of your life. I feel sor-’
Snow pushed her sword forward. ‘You do not pity me. The Evil Queen does not pity me!’ Snow’s eyes flamed red. Anger took over her being. Her hair turned a deep shade of Red, as did her dress. ‘Off with your head!’
Lori pulled out a fragment of mirror from her pocket. ‘Fine. But you will never escape this winter wonderland.’ The mirror grew until it was the size of Snow. ‘The only way in is through here, and the only way out is to leave through this mirror,’ she paused for effect. ‘With your true love!’
Snow swung her sword through the air and Lori turned into black mist. Hook lunged at Snow but she clicked her fingers, taking Lori’s, Peter’s, James’s, and Jackie’s power from the box. She turned him into rabbit. ‘You’re going to guard this retched mirror. Anyone comes in, you tell me immediately. If you don’t,’ Snow tapped the box. ‘I’ll never let her out.’
She then turned to Stilt. ‘You,’ she laughed. ‘You’re a pain too. You’re going to help him guard the mirror,’ she said, turning him into a caterpillar.
She looked at the Mirror and tried to smash it, but nothing so much as even dented it. ‘Croon, Tide, Rapunzel, we need to find everyone left in Neverland.’
Croon looked around. ‘Doesn’t look much like Neverland anymore,’ he said as everything turned into the oddest colours. Some of the leaves turned purple and orange and the toadstools grew to four times their size. ‘It’s a wonderland.’
‘Wonderland it is,’ Snow said with ferocious eyes. ‘And I am its Queen of Hearts!’
Leaving London
London 1957
Alice looked out at the red skyline. Tears ran down her cheeks as she realised that this would be the last time she looked out of her window. She heard Wendy crying in the next room. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. She stood up and looked at her extraordinarily ordinary room. Her chest of draws stood bare in the corner of the room. Next to it was an oak wardrobe. She looked down at her bed, which was underneath the window. She had complained until her parents agreed to put it there. That way she could see the moon, the clouds, and the sparks from the fireflies in the distance as she fell into her dreams. The walls were painted a pale pink. She would have preferred pale blue, but Mother had informed her that blue was for boys and she should not have it as her favourite colour.
She walked over to the creaky door and pushed down the handle with a shaky hand. She crossed the hall and pushed open Wendy’s door. Wendy looked up with a face that almost mirrored Alice’s. Heart shaped, petite, and perfectly symmetrical with thin lips and glass
y blue eyes. ‘I thought you had left already.’
Alice swallowed, trying to move the lump in her throat, but it didn’t work. She sat on the silk sheets and placed her hand on Wendy’s. ‘I would never leave without saying goodbye.’
Wendy sat up straight and looked at Alice with wide-eyes. ‘I know we argue, but I-’
‘I know,’ Alice sniffed. ‘I love you too. Even if you are a pain in the arse!’ She giggled.
Wendy half-smiled and looked at the open door. ‘Mother’s upset.’
‘She always is about something,’ Alice said, tight-lipped. ‘It’s not my fault if they won’t accept me for me.’ Wendy nodded in acknowledgment. Alice adjusted her cardigan. ‘I’ll come back for you one day.’
Wendy snorted. ‘You’ll forget all about me when you’re off seeing the world.’
Alice shook her head. ‘Never.’ Alice grabbed a steel hairbrush from the dresser and brushed through Wendy’s knotted hair. It was the same shade of ash blonde like hers, but Wendy’s was shorter. Shoulder-length, whereas Alice’s reached down her back, not that it mattered as she always wore it in a ponytail with a blue ribbon anyway. ‘Mother will have a heart-attack if she sees your hair all knotted like this. Are you ready for the party tomorrow?’
She saw a glimmer of excitement in Wendy’s eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. ‘It won’t be the same without you,’ Wendy admitted. ‘Mother will be trying to set me up with Hugo.’
Alice smirked. ‘Eww, not Hugo!’
Wendy scrunched her nose. ‘I don’t want to marry yet. I want to do what you do.’
‘Two years,’ Alice promised. ‘Once you’re nineteen I will come for you and we can travel together. Mother and Father can’t stop you then.’
Wendy nodded slowly and bit her lip. ‘I hope you find what you’re looking for. I’ll miss you.’
‘Miss you too,’ Alice said and turned. Tears crept out, but Alice didn’t let Wendy see. She had spent years holding back tears to be the strong one. Wendy was naïve, young, and easily hurt. Her mother and Father were nothing but horrible to Wendy. When Grandmother died, Alice had to be the strong one. Wendy got told off if she showed any feelings at all.
Alice stepped down the stairs for the last time and glanced to the left. Her mother watched with hawk eyes as Alice opened the front door. Alice turned and pressed her lips together. ‘Goodbye.’ Her Mother and Father turned away and Alice left. As she walked out the door with her bag and coat, she felt all the pressure fall off her shoulders. No forced marriages, and no talk of having children. However, sadness fell over her as she looked up at Wendy’s window. All that pressure would now fall to Wendy.
Alice had contemplated staying, but only for her sister. But, she knew if she didn’t leave now, she never would.
‘Goodbye London,’ Alice whispered as a black car stopped in front of her, waiting to take her away from all this.
Through the Enchanted Mirror
Snow’s gaze covered the room. No one could even scratch their nose in Wonderland without Snow knowing. Her flaming red hair matched everything else in Wonderland. As Snow grew more and more confused, hurt, and evil with time, so did Neverland. The only safe place in Neverland was the White Queen’s palace, but Snow’s merpeople, vicious and strong, swam freely in the vast ocean. Anyone who dared to cross the waters would usually get dragged into the depths and end up as nothing more than a distant memory in the warped world they lived in.
Those who stepped through the enchanted mirror quickly regretted it.
Alice stood at the other end, looking at her dreamy expression. How long had she dreamed of venturing there? To find her sister, Wendy.
She knew it was the right one. How long had she spent searching the world for clues about the Neverland her sister had written to her about before leaving? Reading Fairytales to find out anything she could? On the mirror were hundreds of small butterflies. The exact one that she had given to Wendy on a necklace. She looked down at her own frosted rose necklace that Wendy had sent her and smiled sadly.
As she stepped through the full-length mirror, she found herself transported into a paradise. Snow covered each leaf, each branch, each shimmering toadstool. Alice breathed in the crisp air and walked across the meadow, the grass crunching beneath her black strappy shoes.
Next to her, something rustled in the bushes. She grew more and more curious as she approached the frost bitten bush. She pulled the leaves and a large rabbit hopped out. ‘Thank you, young one.’
Alice stepped backward and tripped on a branch. The rabbit, which wore a purple waistcoat, checked his pocket watch. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.
‘A-Alice. You can talk?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘Yes, yes. Now, we really must be going.’
She jumped to her feet. ‘Where are we going?’
‘To see the Red Queen,’ he admitted. ‘She really is quite wonderful. I’m sure she’ll make you feel right at home,’ he lied.
She arched an eyebrow and knelt down to his level. ‘I don’t think so, Rabbit. I am here to find my sister. She was lost in Neverland. Is this Neverland?’
He looked at his pocket watch. ‘No, Neverland turned into Wonderland. We really should get going.’
‘No,’ Alice said. ‘I’m here to find my sister, not see the Red Queen, who by the way in every fairytale book is evil!’
The rabbit hopped away, aggravated. Alice wondered down the path until she reached the start of the forest. Peering through the trees, she saw cages hanging from the branches. Inside the cages were hundreds of little fairies. Some of them had died from starvation and their skeletons hung out the sides as tiny reminders of the truth about Wonderland.
A strange looking caterpillar, which was a dark purple, was sat on top of a stump, shadowed by the trees. He was at least seven times as large as normal caterpillar, and what was stranger was how he was smoking a pipe. Rings of smoke came out of its mouth and disappeared. Alice walked over to him. Her thin dolly shoes were squelching from the mud. She ran her hand through her dirty blonde hair and pushed it back over her shoulders. ‘You there,’ she said. The caterpillar looked over and smirked. Her voice was the poshest one he had ever heard.
‘Yes?’ he asked, seeming bored.
‘I am looking for my sister,’ she said, putting her hands on her hips. ‘Where is Wendy?’
The caterpillar grinned and tilted his head, looking at the mirror behind the forest. ‘Managed to find our little prison then, Alice?’
She stepped backward. ‘How do you know my name?’
He puffed out a smoke ring and laughed. ‘Because you’re the one who’s going to save us. Lori cast a spell on that mirror so you could find us after she was told that you’re the only one who knew about Neverland who wasn’t in our world.’
Alice pouted. ‘You must have been mistaken for another Alice.’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe.’
‘Where is Wendy?’ she asked, fiddling with the white frosted charm on her necklace.
‘Who?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘My sister Wendy. She came to Neverland. She told me in a letter. I promised myself I would find her after I managed to find out about the place. Fairytale books can be quite informative,’ Alice explained.
‘Oh, yes. I agree. Now, ah yes, I remember Wendy,’ he said.
She stepped forward and smiled. ‘Yes?’
‘She’s gone,’ he said, frowning again.
‘Gone? Where?’ Alice asked.
He laughed and laughed until he coughed on the smoke. ‘She was with the Piper, but the Piper is now gone. She’s not coming back!’
‘So she left Neverland?’ she asked.
‘No,’ he said. ‘She is underneath it.’
‘What do you mean?’ she looked down at the dirt. Her stomach twisted into a knot. ‘Buried underneath it?’
He nodded. She fell to her knees and tears spilled onto her pale blue dress. After a while, she stood up and wiped her tears. ‘Well,
I guess there’s no reason for me to stay then.’
She walked out of the forest and over to the mirror. She walked into it and fell backward. ‘What the?’ she tried to push her hand through it, but nothing happened. She looked back at the Caterpillar, who was laughing from within the trees. She stormed over to him. ‘Why can’t I leave?’
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘If it was that easy, don’t you think that we all would have left?’
She turned and saw the rabbit in the waist coat hop over to her. ‘I’m afraid, that once you’re here, there’s no way out. Alice, welcome to Wonderland.’
To my readers
If you would like to read about Peter’s and the Piper’s extraordinary childhoods and how Neverland came to be, I will be writing a free short story for a release in December!
I will be giving away 50 free copies, first come first serve.
If you would like a free copy and to learn more about them, please email me at [email protected] with the subject line Peter and Piper; the truth story, and in the email just put the email you want it to go to and your name.
Secondly, I am also giving two lucky winners in February a chance to win a $100 gift card for the release of volume three and a signed paperback. If you are interested, the details will be in my newsletter on the lead up to the release.
http://eepurl.com/bCUCcz
Thank you!
Want to learn more about Red’s childhood? Below is her story from Once Upon a Cursed Time by R. l. Weeks.
R. l. Week’s has another story, Ugly Scars in Once Upon a Cursed Time too, get it here:
hyperurl.co/e1e7jq
HOODED RED
Sanity is, insanity does, forever is long enough,
Lurking in the woods is a creature so tough
He is not bad; he is not good.
He is trapped in a world which the only thing that matters
