She nodded. ‘I am so sorry.’
He placed his hand on hers and smiled. ‘It’s okay, sweet Gallisa.’
‘Can I try something?’ she asked, edging closer to him.
He opened his mouth but didn’t speak. She pressed her lips against his. He kissed her back just for a second then broke away. ‘Sorry,’ he breathed. ‘It felt wrong. Nothing against you, you’re great, but I think I may care for another more than I thought.’
‘Snow,’ Gallisa said sadly.
Peter nodded slowly. ‘It does seem that way.’ He left the room, smiled at Rapunzel, and climbed down the ladder.
Rapunzel raised her eyebrows as Gallisa walked back into the living room. ‘What happened?’
Gallisa grinned. ‘I kissed him.’
‘Well?’
Gallisa dangled a key from her hand. ‘He didn’t notice me take it.’
Rapunzel bit her lip. ‘What if he thinks you’re together now? You could have trapped yourself.’
Gallisa shook her head. ‘Just as I suspected, I think he has fallen in love. I never thought he was capable of it, but he stopped kissing me and said he cared for another.’
Rapunzel smirked. ‘Oh, dear.’
‘Guess we have leverage. It looks like he has fallen for Snow.’
***
Peter walked through the clearing and down the path, through the trees, and then out to another clearing. Croon was tied to a tree as Snow whipped him. ‘Enough,’ Peter said. ‘He’s been punished enough. Have you whipped him enough?’
‘Hundreds of times,’ Snow said and smirked. Croon hung forward, the rope was the only thing holding him up. His face had drained of its colour and tears patterned his cheeks. His beautiful hat and nice suit were in tatters.
Peter cut the rope, and Croon fell to the floor. ‘Bring him back to the tree house. Give him some water first and something to eat.’
Snow nodded. Peter took her hand and looked into her eyes. ‘I need to talk to you later.’
Snow looked puzzled. Peter was trembling a little; she could feel it on her hand. ‘Sure. Is everything okay?’
‘It’s perfect,’ he replied and walked off.
Snow helped Croon to his feet. They waited until Peter left, and Croon brushed himself down. ‘He fell for it! But that one whip hurt.’
‘Had to make it look realistic,’ Snow replied. ‘Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone, though.’
Croon smiled. ‘Of course, I won’t. I’m surprised you disobeyed him for me.’
Snow smiled back warmly. ‘I feel like you’re the only friend I have on this island who I can trust at the moment. You have been nothing but understanding and accommodating to me.’
He picked up his ripped hat and sighed. ‘I can always make more.’
‘Not yet,’ she warned. ‘Next time, he may not send me to punish you. Wait until I am in charge. It won’t take long. I’m going to change Neverland and Peter,’ she promised.
GIANT
James cut through the crocodile’s skin with ease. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he killed them one by one. Bell watched on with awe. He raised his hand and summoned a rope, using his powers. Bell laughed as he grabbed the rope. He looked at her and smirked. She stepped back. ‘I’m not swinging over the swamp.’
He wrapped his arm around her waist and swung them both to the middle of the swamp. He summoned another rope onto a branch above and jumped to that one. Bell squealed as they flew through the air. ‘I could have flown, you know.’ Bell laughed as they landed on the rocks near the gate.
‘That,’ he said, ‘would have been far less fun.’
She giggled. ‘It was fun, wasn’t it?’
‘Let’s find my mum,’ he said darkly, ‘and get my friends back.’
Hundreds of glittering fireflies appeared through the surrounding trees. They flickered around them, lighting up the dark swamp that no longer seemed scary. Bell walked behind James. The water splashed as James jumped in. The water reached to his waist and Bell’s chest. They both waded over to the rusty, gigantic gate. James pushed at it, but it didn’t budge. ‘Use your powers,’ Bell urged. ‘Saying that, why didn’t you use them back with the crocodiles?’
‘I can’t hurt anyone or anything with my powers,’ he admitted. ‘But I can summon things to help me, such as to move the thick mud underneath away from the gates.’
He pushed the mud down, but the gate ran much further into the mud than he had anticipated. The mud shifted, and the water rose. They held onto the gate as the ground disappeared beneath them. Finally, the gate slid open just enough for them to swim through. They swam through the murky waters until they reached a mound of rocks. James lifted Bell onto them first then pulled himself up.
Belle screamed again. The inside of the cave was enormous, big enough to house several giants, and it went on for around a mile. The cave had a reddish hue to it, making the blood-stained rocks and rattling bones hanging from the ceiling look even more terrifying. Bell and James plugged their noses as whiffs of rotting flesh floated around the dank room. A horrendous roar shook everything. James and Bell knelt down and held onto the rock until the roaring stopped. The water rippled, and the cages that hung from the ceiling, housing the skeletons, rattled.
Bell and James proceeded with caution. ‘Bell,’ James whispered. ‘There aren’t any giants on this island, are there?’
‘I don’t know,’ she whispered back. ‘Peter never really let me explore any of the wastelands.’
James pressed his lips together. ‘I wonder why.’
They walked on the uneven rocky ground, which was unusually sticky. James slipped up in some strange liquid, and Bell quickly helped him to his feet. They both looked at the clear stretchy, bubbly liquid, and Bell gagged. ‘Is that saliva?’
James nodded. ‘Whatever that came out from must have a bloody big mouth.’
Bell followed James toward the sound of loud rattling breaths and chains dragging. They walked over some more uneven rocks, which had streams of water running around them. Like rock pools at the beach, except the water was tinted red.
They reached a room. Chained to the far wall was Belle. Next to her were piles of bones. Across from her sat a throne made from what looked like human bones and a table made from gold. On the throne sat a giant who was eating eyeballs on sticks as a snack. After he finished the tray, he burped, which made the whole room shake.
‘Please,’ Belle begged. ‘Let me go. I’ll do anything.’
The giant grunted and slammed his fist onto the table. ‘Why does my food keep talking? I am almost ready for supper. Shut up!’
The giant stood up and walked over to a bubbling pot, which sat on top of a roaring fire. He panted like a pig as he grabbed a live bird from a cage. It squawked and fluttered its wings as it tried to get away. He laughed throatily as he threw it in the pot and watched it squirm as it slowly burned.
The giant picked up a large tub of oil, pouring it into the pot. His skin moved in ripples as he walked around and sweat oozed from his skin. He picked up a rat and threw into the pot. Drool dripped from his mouth, creating a pool of saliva on his grimy, green top.
‘Now for the main course,’ he growled, looking over at Belle who screamed. The stench of his sweat made James and Bell want to throw up. They watched as he quickly put the rat and bird onto a tray and into a huge black coal oven. He ripped the chains from the wall and Belle fell to the floor. She tried to run, but he grabbed her with one quick scoop.
James grabbed his sword and ran over to the giant. Bell turned into an orb and flew after him. The giant didn’t hear James over his own stomach growling, and James stabbed the sword into the giant’s foot.
‘What the?’ the giant boomed, looking down. ‘Two for dinner. It’s my lucky day.’
Bell flew over to his eye and jabbed a spear into the pupil. The giant screamed and dropped Belle to the ground. Her head bled into the cracks of the stone floor. The giant swiped at Bell, who was flying ar
ound his head, jabbing things into this eyes. Blood dripped from his eyes and onto his cheeks.
James used his powers to make a large rock fall from the ceiling. It landed on the giant’s head. ‘Stop,’ the giant boomed, but James made another rock fall.
The giant fell to the ground with a massive thud. James fell over, his sword slid away from him. Belle’s body rolled into a slight ditch. James pulled himself along the floor, grabbed his sword, and jumped up. He ran over to the giant and pushed the sword into the giant’s neck, including the hilt, and then with mighty force, he pulled it along the length of his throat.
Blood squirted from his neck, soaking James. Bell was splashed with blood and dropped to the ground where she turned back into human form.
A huge splash sounded from outside the cave. James ran to his mother’s side, but the blood carried everything away like a river. He tried to wake Belle, but she didn’t move. Bell waded her way through the blood and stopped by James. She placed her hand on Belle’s wrist. ‘I can barely feel her pulse.’
James cried heartily into his mother’s dress. He squeezed her hand and didn’t move. Everything in the cave shook. The force from the giant falling had made everything crumble slowly. Rocks fell from the ceiling. Bell grabbed James’s hand and tried to pull him away. ‘No,’ he shouted, holding his mother. ‘Mum, please wake up. I can’t do this without your help.’
Belle’s breaths were in ragged, shallow gasps. Lines from laughter etched her face. He waited for her to open her mouth, to say something, but the ghosts of her words were nothing but painful memories as James, over the banging and crashing, heard her fragile heart thump its final beat.
Belle’s glassy eyes were now permanently fixed onto the falling ceiling above. A rock fell onto Belle’s lifeless body, snapping her ribs like twigs. Black blood shot out of her mouth. Her eyes went bloodshot, and then the veins burst.
James vomited next to her. Bell pulled him away. ‘You don’t want to see that,’ Bell said, tearfully. James walked backwards, watching the blood spool from his mother, joining the giant’s blood. Water rushed through the cave, and Bell and James made it out of the exit in time. Bell pulled James onto a slight hill next to the swamp and looked out at the collapsing cave. James wept silently as she watched the river drag the cave into its murky depths, taking his mother with it. Bell lowered her head and whispered a fairy’s prayer.
MERPEOPLE
Snow followed Peter down to the beach after pretending to fix Croon up. Peter stopped by the sea and took Snow’s hand. ‘I swear you are my most favourite person,’ he said with what seemed to be the utmost sincerity.
Snow’s eyes flamed green. ‘But you don’t love me?’
He kept his smile, but something faltered in his expression. ‘What does it matter? Respect and admiration mean so much more than love. I will protect you, and I care for you. I don’t know what love feels like, but—’
Snow grinned showing off her pearly white teeth. ‘I want nothing more than this,’ she said, pointing her finger into his chest, ‘forever.’
His cheeks flamed red. A trick of the light perhaps? she wondered.
‘I will always want you, forever,’ he replied.
Snow pulled out her sword, which shone brighter than it ever had. ‘It wants you. It calls for me to strike it into your heart.’ She slid the tip of the sword across his chest, cutting a slit on his top. ‘The whispering grows louder each day that I allow you to breathe.’
Red flashed across his gaze. ‘You don’t want to do that, though, do you?’ Peter laughed maniacally, as he took the tip of the sword and pointed it at his heart. ‘Please, end your torment. That’s if you want a tedious life with tedious stories.’ He smiled evilly, and Snow smiled back.
‘What makes you think I cannot have an amazing story without you?’ she asked, arching an eyebrow.
‘Because, sweet Snow’—he pushed the sword to the ground—‘you have crossed to the side of insanity, power, and lust. You will never feel fulfilled again if you left this place. If you were without me. Remember, some happily ever afters aren’t as predictable as others are.’
Snow picked up her sword and looked at the horizon. The pirate’s ship gleamed against the sparkling clouds and red sky. ‘Who do we trap first?’
Peter laughed. ‘Is it not obvious?’ Snow shook her head, and Peter pointed at Snow’s chest. ‘The hearts desires are how we lure, how we trap. Who on this island has the most sadness, the most guilt?’
‘Belle?’ Snow asked, entrapped in another of Peter’s games.
Peter shook his head. ‘Belle certainly has a broken heart, but her guilt is coated with acceptance. No, she may be one of the hardest. I must find her first if Bell and James cannot.’
‘Oh,’ Snow said and thought about each of her friends. ‘Well, I know Rapunzel is angry for being locked up for all those years. But she is kind and happy. It won’t be her.’
‘Now, you’re thinking like a queen. Who should we trap, Snow?’
Snow sat on the hot sand and drew patterns in it with her sword. ‘Must it be James?’
Peter nodded. ‘Why, do you still care for him?’
She shook her head. ‘I care only for you.’
‘I believe you.’ He laughed boyishly. ‘James’ heart is broken by you. His one true love, who is no longer his true anything. The guilt for his grandfather, for you also consumes him. He will be the easiest. Then Red. Oh, Red does have a colourful past. She’s locked away, but I will set her free as soon as I can get rid of that pesky wolf.’
‘James is powerful,’ Snow admitted.
Peter lifted his hand, gesturing for Snow to look out over Neverland. He grew closer to her until his nose was almost touching hers. Then through her a grin, he said, ‘He is not powerful here!’ He sat down cross-legged on the sand. ‘However, it could be a challenge. I could really use the merpeople on my side for this.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘I thought they were?’
He shook his head. ‘Not the ones down in the grey pool.’
‘I could talk to them, if you want? I would be careful, and I can lure things, remember?’
He smiled. ‘Thank you.’
***
Snow walked down to the grey pool and walked down the steep steps. She stopped by the pool’s edge and ran her hand across the luscious warm water of the large, deep pool. The pool lapped around the entrances of three enormous caves. Around the rest of the pool was a wall, circling its way to the spiralled rickety steps that Snow had climbed down. Exotic flowers, ivy, and moss covered the grey wall. The small pebbly bay where Snow stood was her only safety from the mermaid pool.
As the daylight dimmed and the night began to tick by, Snow didn’t take her eyes off the calm water one time. Thoughts of her life in Neverland swam around her mind, the memories of her life before coming to Neverland were blurring more and more with each day. A salty tear ran down her cheek. Sniffing, she wiped it away and kept her thoughts on the task ahead.
Peter needed them on his side, but that would be a difficult task.
He had banished them to this pool when he first created Neverland. They refused to leave the enormous fountain, which was their home, so he had to keep them in Neverland.
A splash broke the silence; it had come from the inside the far left cave. Snow looked out into the penetrable darkness, locking her eyes on the jagged entrance to the cave. Unlike the other pools, this one was well hidden and for good reason.
The merpeople looked out from their hiding place. Their golf ball-sized black eyes locked on the lone woman who dared to venture to their pool.
Behind their pink, stretched lips were layers upon layers of razor sharp teeth. Their skin was a shimmering grey. They swam out into the pool. Their powerful gold scaly tails splashed behind them, creating ripples in the water that reached to where Snow was sat.
She jumped backward as one swam up to her. She stayed with her back against the wall, looking at the creature with wild green hai
r, a flattened nose, and long talons. Its eyes were as black as the night.
Behind this creature, a more human-like mermaid swam over. Her eyes were as golden as her tail was; her button nose suited her small oval-shaped face. Her luscious red lips hid her razor-sharp teeth well. The female spoke first. ‘What are you doing here?’
Snow edged her way over to the steps. ‘I think I have made a mistake.’
The merman laughed, holding his spear above the water while his silvery tail beat the water. ‘Maybe, maybe not,’ it hissed.
‘P-Peter asked me to c-come here,’ Snow stuttered.
The mermaid spat onto the pebbles where he rested his arms. ‘That boy is not welcome here!’
Snow looked down at his ugly face and furrowed her brows. ‘But this is his home.’
The merman raised his spear, launching at Snow, who narrowly dodged it. The mermaid managed to calm him down, but he still bore his teeth. ‘Leave, now!’ he ordered Snow.
She shook her head. ‘Please, you must hear me out. Despite the grievances you have with him, you do not have any with me. I come to you simply with an offer of a deal.’
The mermaid pushed back her green hair and locked her gaze onto Snow’s. ‘The answer will be no, I’m afraid. I see, however, that Peter had cursed you.’
Snow raised her eyebrows. ‘What? No, he has not! He gave me a gift.’
‘A curse,’ the merman said. ‘You’re like his little puppet. I will not have any dealings with you.’
She scowled at the merman, allowing her eyes to flame green. ‘Please listen to me.’ He slowly nodded and pulled himself out of the water. The mermaid next to him tried to drag him back into the water, but he batted her away. He dragged himself along the pebbles until he was face to face with Snow who was kneeling down. ‘You’re going to help me,’ she lulled. He nodded and smiled. ‘Now,’ she said. ‘Who is your leader?’
‘I am,’ he replied.
‘Good.’ She grinned. ‘You’re going to fight alongside Peter and myself when the time calls, and you’re going to make sure your, um’—she looked over at the mermaid who was watching her, eagle-eyed—‘family and friends help us too.’
Journey to Neverland (Haunting Fairytales Series Book 2) Page 12
