One such man blinked water out of his eyes as he surfaced close to Hook's ship. The Captain was no longer in sight, and most of the crew were below deck or moving far too quickly to be targeted in his current position. But there was one, a young bearded man, who was leaning over the railing, shouting.
Shouting at someone to leave. To take her sisters and go.
He was concerned for those swimming demons? Those things that had already taken the lives of at least a dozen of his friends? Baring his teeth in a snarl, the man aimed the crossbow attached to his wrist and let a bolt fly, smiling in satisfaction as it drove into the man's chest.
The pleased smirk was still on his face when hands clasped his head and twisted viciously, snapping his neck.
She almost descended with him, was thinking of using the sharp rocks below to dismember his body as he surely deserved, but then Smee fell into the water.
Diving, she came up beneath him, her arms going underneath his and her hands linking on his chest. The fingertips of her right hand brushed against the embedded arrow, and she winced as she brought him to the surface and made for shore.
A deafening whistle had her looking toward the trees, where she could see shapes moving. The woman they'd nearly drowned once was there, soaking wet, being led away by the Queen's soldiers.
"Thought I . . . told you . . . to get out of here," he gasped, as she dragged him up onto the mud.
"Shhh," she muttered, glancing back at the Lagoon. One of her sisters rose from the water with another globe of fire, but this time she had to swim to the entrance of the Lagoon to reach her target. The Queen's ships were retreating.
They wouldn't have encountered any problems from them, her sisters had said, had they simply bothered to ask permission to enter. She was glad they hadn't asked. It would have been quite difficult to try and fend them all off herself.
Not that all of their efforts had done much good. Not against an ambush like that.
The fire was growing closer to where they lay, with half of her tail and his feet still in the water. Dragging herself further up the shore, she pulled Smee after her, watching as the flames touched the earth.
Footsteps made her tense, though she didn't turn. She simply plunged her hand into the fire, reaching below it to the water she'd been born in, manipulating it and encasing the flame.
Then she turned, facing the soldier who'd started to venture closer. He regarded her for a few seconds, and then slowly backed away, rejoining the rest of the retreating attackers. With a sigh, she dropped the fireball back into the water, cradling her injured hand briefly before she used a nearby tree root to pull herself up closer to him.
A loud splash nearby, followed by a pained, terrified scream, had her smiling. She knew that splash, the tone of that scream. "The Grinning One hunts," she said.
"Wonderful. So long as he . . . doesn't head for easier prey."
"We are isolated here," she said, and though she meant the words as a reassurance, they were also a threat. She was half a creature of the air, half a creature of water. She needed both to survive for very long. Until the fire the Queen's soldiers had conjured died down . . . "We will be fine," she told him, as she silently wondered which of them would lose their life first.
***
“Cap'n?”
“Hellfire,” Hook whispered, as he looked to the sound of the voice and saw Smee. He lay in the mud, blood soaking through his shirt, Purple-Tail curled up beside him. She looked almost as bad as he did.
Hook rushed over to them, crouching down. However skilled the White Rabbit had become with healing during his years in Faerietale, one look at Smee told him it wouldn't be enough. “We'll get that taken care of right quick,” he said.
Smee didn't seem to hear the words. His arm tightened slightly around the mermaid. “Her . . . Captain, get her in the water.”
He looked around for the closest point that the fire wasn't still burning; it was about twenty feet away. Purple-Tail still hadn't opened her eyes.
Though she was unconscious, out of her element and weakened, his body still tensed as he leaned down to pick her up. She was heavier than she looked, much of the weight concentrated where the woman ended and the tail began.
Adjusting his hold on her, he carefully walked through the mud-slick reeds. Despite the wretchedness of the day, a part of him couldn't help but marvel that after years and years of taking pains to avoid even brushing a fingertip against the Lagoon waters, he was carrying a mermaid.
When he was seven steps away from the water, she opened her eyes. Dark and glittering, the confusion and pain in them quickly shifting to anger, and though she was far from her best condition he still felt a burst of strength coil up in her body. Strength that spoke of monsoons and lightning and windstorms and all the power of Faerietale itself.
And he was holding her.
“Smee,” he whispered. “Kindly tell your lady that I mean her no harm. Not so certain she'd listen to me right now.”
Indeed, she made a sound low in her throat that sounded far too much like a growl for his liking, and he half-expected her to open her mouth and reveal fangs.
“It's all right!” Smee said, the words interrupted by a deep cough.
Her expression changed instantly, and she twisted in his arms to look back at his first mate, nearly causing him to drop her.
“He'll be fine,” Hook told her. “I'll see to it.” Somehow. “Come on, then. He told me to get you back to the Lagoon.”
She let him take the final seven steps without disemboweling him, and then she rolled out of his arms and into the water, swimming in restless circles, her eyes on Smee.
Hook walked back over to him, taking his hand.
“Wendy?” Smee croaked.
“The Queen has her.”
Smee closed his eyes, giving his appearance a far more final look than Hook cared to see. “Well?” Hook asked, his throat tight. “What's your rescue plan?”
“Whaa?” he murmured.
“I said, what's your rescue plan? You think I'm over here 'cause I like looking at that ugly mug of yours? Come on. Time for a strategy.”
Smee smiled. “Had some good times, haven't we?”
“Start talking like that and I'll give you a good cuff on the head, wounded man or no.”
Still smiling, he gave his hand a squeeze. Hook squeezed back, watching the shallow rise and fall of his friend's chest, praying that it would continue.
***
Alice loved to watch her train.
She wasn't sure where the Seven had gotten that sword, but it fit in Snow White's hand perfectly, glinting silver against the darkness of the forest, as quick and shining as its owner.
As long as she didn't think of what she was training for, she was content to just rest in the shade and watch her.
And then the Prince made that impossible with a single sentence. “We've found Scheherazade's Door! It's no wonder Wendy couldn't find it; it's at the bottom of the Lagoon!”
He shouted it to them from the edge of the small clearing and then disappeared back into the trees, running for the main camp, unaware of the fear that flooded into her.
Snow's face lit up, and then she looked back to her, expression sobering. "I'd like you to stay here with the Seven.”
"No."
"Alice, please."
She got to her feet, abruptly furious that Snow would even ask. Maybe she wasn't fantastic with a sword, but she'd gotten pretty good at throwing knives. She could be useful. And even if she wasn't good with weapons, the thought of staying here-- "What makes you think this forest is safe? And do you really believe the Seven will stay behind? You haven't noticed Suffo sharpening his knives?"
Snow pinched the bridge of her nose. "I just want to know that you're all right."
"Well, what a coincidence."
Neither of them said anything for a long moment, just stood across the small clearing facing each other like two rivals about to duel. Then Snow put her sword into her sca
bbard, keeping her eyes on the ground as she spoke. "Your world is so much kinder."
"...what?"
"The White Rabbit told us so many stories. About daring knights and clever princesses and true love. And always, good won. People with these . . . these amazing shining ideals saw them through. One story I'll always remember is of a man who was so out of it on some days that he actually thought a windmill was a monster and tried to fight it. But even he still knew what was good and true, and he fought for it."
"He died for it," Alice said softly. "Did the White Rabbit tell you that part?"
"Yes. But it wasn't the point of that story, or any of your stories. You even alter the truth in your tales so that Sleeping Beauty marries a Prince and Peter Pan is a sweet, good-natured boy and everyone knows their true love the moment they see them and . . . and always, 'happily ever after'. I want you to have the right kind of ending and I don't know if it's possible here, it certainly won't happen if you put yourself in the middle of a--"
"You don't get it, do you?" Alice snapped, stalking closer. "There is no happily ever after for me without you! So if that means we go to war then fine, I'll fight and if it means we hide out here until everybody else gets done killing each other then I'll find the deepest cave and we'll hide," she said, forcing her voice out past the tears that threatened to close up her throat. "But I am with you."
"Okay," Snow White said, putting her arms around her. "You're right. I'm sorry."
Alice closed her eyes and rested against her, and for a moment thought about saying 'tell anyone I cried and I'll kick your ass, sword or no sword' but instead different words altogether came out, words to begin a story she'd sworn she would never tell. "You want to know what I think of prettied-up fairy tales? Once upon a time," she said, almost choking on the words, "there lived a beautiful Queen who hadn't yet found her King. Thought she had once, but instead he just left her with a baby Princess and an old sword. After a while she started trying to find another King, but never had much luck. They're rare these days. Then one day, Queen Penelope brought a man home, certain that he would be her King. But he turned out to be a wicked sorcerer, interested in the little Princess, not her."
"Alice. . ."
She ignored the attempted interruption, just barreled on, unable to stop now. "And when the Queen found out, she told him to leave her palace and never come back. But he did. He broke in, because no fairy tale seems to have good locks. Did you notice that? Brick houses too strong to be blown down, towers so tall you have to climb someone's hair, but no plain old-fashioned locks. And the Princess got down her dad's old sword and killed the sorcerer, but it was too late. The Queen was dead. No King for her, not even staying around to watch her kid grow up. Not much of a happy ending, is it? So don't-- don't tell me that my world's kinder, all right? Just don't."
Snow White murmured wordlessly and pulled her closer, and Alice finally leaned against her, crying.
"It's okay," Snow said. "It'll be all right."
"You don't know--"
"Shhh. Yes, I do. I can't change the past but at least we're together now. It'll be okay. You'll see. Just trust me."
Chapter Fifteen
Once Upon a Time...
". . . and so that was how the little Prince grew up. He wasn't what he'd expected to be, but he was exactly what he was meant to be." The White Rabbit closed the book and smiled at the two Royal children. As was routine for them, Snow was staring up at him, eyes bright as she took in every word of the story. The Prince was busy scribbling in a coloring book.
Sensing his eyes on him, the Prince quickly looked up. "Hm? Oh! Great story."
"It was!" Snow White said, and if she was aware that her brother had just been covering for his inattention, she kindly chose not to mention it. She bounded to her feet. "I cannot wait to grow up! I will be an amazing Queen."
"Mandatory ice cream for dinner every night?" the Prince asked, giving her a quick grin.
"Of course!"
"And I'm sure all your subjects will love you," the White Rabbit said, putting the storybook back on the shelf.
"Oh, no they won't."
Surprised by the answer, he turned back to her. "Whyever not?"
"Well, the Queen and my brother and I can hardly agree on what type of flatbread is the best. That's only the three of us, and flatbread is not nearly so complicated as a person. So I don't think it would be possible, with so many people in the Villages, for everyone to feel the same way."
"A wise answer," he said, giving her a bow. She giggled. "You'll be a fine Queen indeed. As fine as your mother."
"Oh, I hope so!" She turned to her brother. "What will you be when you grow up?"
He thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Here. I'll be here."
"As will I," the White Rabbit said. "But right now, I must go attend to my studies."
"Can't you read us another story first?" Snow pleaded.
"That's the fifth time I've been taken in by that," he said, ruffling her hair. "Tomorrow."
"Then I will come and see what you're studying!"
"Really?" he asked, beaming. "Yes, that would be splendid! I so rarely get company in my office. Would you care to come along as well, my Prince?"
He nodded, picking up his coloring book and crayons and scurrying after the White Rabbit and his sister.
***
"Where does it go?" Snow asked, staring in amazement at the Door. It was circular in shape, and rainbow colors swirled around in it like someone was stirring them from the other side. She'd never seen a Door before, and from what she remembered learning they were usually invisible to all but the most trained sorcerers.
"I don't know yet," he said. "Just yesterday I figured out the enchantment for opening it, for making it visible. I would have gone in right then but I was so dreadfully tired I thought I might just fall asleep before I could explore anything."
"I want to go see!" the Princess exclaimed.
"I knew you were an adventurer at heart," he said. "Here, let me fetch a sheet and tie it 'round your waist."
"Why? I can't get lost, not with something that bright marking my way back."
"Well, suppose it opens over a steep drop? Wouldn't want you to fall. Besides, this way if there's any trouble I can pull you back without a hitch."
A few moments later he knotted the sheet securely around her waist and walked with her to the Door. The Prince followed after, his eyes wide. "It's okay," Snow White said, patting his hand. "I get to go see someplace new!"
She practically leaped through the Door. As more and more of the sheet slowly unwound, a knock sounded at the office door.
"Be a good boy and answer that, would you?" the White Rabbit asked. "I wouldn't feel right about letting go of this rope."
The small boy hurried forward and opened the door, smiling up at the Queen. "Hello!"
"Hello," she said. Then she took in the scene before her. "Please tell me my daughter is in the library, or in the gardens."
"No, not at all," the White Rabbit said cheerfully. "I found a Door last night and your brave little one was the first to volunteer! She was just talking earlier about what a fine Queen she'll make one day and I have to agree; she--"
"So you are carrying out an experiment," the Queen said, stepping forward. "Using my child."
Finally realizing the tone of her voice, the White Rabbit swallowed hard. "I was merely--"
Snow White jumped back through the Door, grinning widely. "You must see in there! Everything is so extraordinarily beautiful and--" She took a step back, for an instant looking as though she might dive back through the Door. "Hello, my Queen."
"Hello," the Queen murmured, not taking her gaze off the White Rabbit. "Children. Go play in the gardens."
"But I--"
"Now."
They left, Snow White with her arms crossed and a fierce pout on her face and the Prince hanging on to a corner of his sister's shirt, glancing back at the two adults worriedly.
"My
Queen," the White Rabbit began. "I do apologize. I never--"
"What if there had been no air? Or if the air had been toxic? Or if there had been beasts lurking on the other side? No sheet would have protected her from that."
He hung his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't think. I thought that I had but obviously it didn't work. I am trying, I--"
She rested a hand on his shoulder. "I know. What ails you is not your fault. The fault was mine in believing you had enough control of it to be trusted. I think that you might better serve me in some other quarter of Faerietale. For the children's safety," she added quietly, when he seemed about to protest.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
“What do we do?” Alice hissed. “We can't just let them take her!”
Snow grabbed her hand, holding it tight. She spoke softly, barely above a whisper, her gaze focused on the Queen's Guards as they dragged Wendy back toward the palace. “That's exactly what we're going to do.”
“But--”
“We have to. We're greatly outnumbered. Once we reach Scheherazade we'll go to the palace and--”
“And how are we going to get to her without Wendy? She's the only one who can see the Door!”
Snow swallowed hard. “Not . . . not necessarily.”
“I really don't like that tone.”
“Wendy said the potion that gave her that ability was one given to Peter Pan by the Fae. We'll simply go to the Faery Queen and ask for the same thing.”
“And have someone risk losing their memories? Or worse? Who's going to volunteer to take that?” Seeing the stubborn jut of her chin, Alice shook her head. “Ohh no. No. That is not gonna happen. Come on; we can catch up to those Guards--”
“Wendy survived!” Snow White snapped. “And she was originally a mortal. Someone born in this realm would survive it as well. And if memories disappear, then . . . then they can be remade. Regained, in time. In the worst case, one of us would drink the potion and-- and be lost. If we pursue those Guards right now, we'll lose so many more.” Alice stared at her for a long moment, and then moved into her arms. Snow White smiled, gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. “You just really want to hit someone, don't you?”
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