Journey to Neverland (Haunting Fairytales Series Book 2)

by Becca Alexandra

  He nodded, and she pecked him on the cheek. He headed back to the pool dreamily and dove in to tell the others the plan. Snow smirked at the mermaid and walked up the steps, back to Peter.

  ALMOST KISSED

  Croon glanced over at Gallisa and smiled. She grinned and turned back to her puzzle. Rapunzel sat cross-legged in front of the fireplace and read one of Tide’s books.

  Tide walked through the door holding a stack of books. Although he was muscular, he was small and slim. He was shorter than the rest of the Lost Boys at around five-foot-five. Still, he had the most beautiful blue eyes that any of them had ever seen, and he was far more clever than he’d let on. He pulled open the door with his foot and threw the books down so they landed on the grass below.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Rapunzel gasped.

  Tide sighed. ‘Getting rid of them. Peter doesn’t want me reading.’

  ‘Screw him!’ Gallisa said, putting her hands on her hips. She stood up and walked over to the door. ‘Go and get them, bring them back up, and hide them if you have to! He does not get to dictate who does what.’

  Tide pressed his lips together. ‘He kinda does, though. This is his Neverland. I want-’ He stopped himself.

  Gallisa raised an eyebrow. ‘Want to what?’

  ‘Leave,’ he admitted for the first time since living in Neverland.

  Gallisa nodded. ‘Of course, you do! Look, we’re planning something.’

  Croon jumped off the sofa. ‘You are?’

  Gallisa smirked. ‘We’re going to get everyone out of here. I’ve made a deal with the Evil Queen. I may not trust her, but I know that she wants to bring down Neverland for her own again, and she’s powerful enough to do it.’

  ‘We should do it!’ Croon barked. ‘I’ve had enough of Peter.’

  Gallisa smiled. ‘I’m going to give them the keys they need right now!’

  ***

  Bell and James trod through the swamp and marshes until they were back in the safety of the forest. ‘Why was there a giant?’ James asked.

  Bell shrugged. ‘Peter has all sorts of surprises on this island.’

  James ground his teeth. ‘Surprises that killed my mum!’

  ‘I know,’ Bell whispered. She sat on a rock and drank some water from a leaf. ‘I’m sorry.’

  James kneeled in front of her and pushed her chin up with his finger. He gazed into her green eyes. ‘Stop apologising. It’s not your fault. You’ve been pushed around by Peter for too long, made to feel like everything is your fault.’

  She leant forward, looking back into his warm, protective gaze. Her lips were inches away from his. She traced her gaze over each dimple; her breath was sweet on his as she went in for a kiss. Their lips touched briefly before he pulled away. ‘Sorry,’ he breathed. ‘I’m in love with Snow.’

  Bell pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. ‘I misread the signals. Sorry.’

  ‘No, you didn’t,’ he admitted. ‘I made Snow a promise. I told her I loved her, and I don’t just throw those three words around like nothing.’

  ‘You’re a good guy!’ Bell said and stood up. ‘Let’s forget it.’

  James half-smiled, edging on a laugh. ‘I may love Snow, but I wouldn’t forget our moments either, Bell. You’re lovely; you’ll make some guy really happy.’

  Bell rolled her eyes. ‘I’m always the girl who will make some guy happy, just never the guy I want. Girls like Snow always get what they want.’

  ‘No,’ James said. ‘If you knew Snow at all, you’d know that’s not true.’

  ‘She’s lucky,’ Bell said. ‘She is the lucky one to have someone like you, yet she is happy to ditch you and go with Peter. Enchantment or not, she must have wanted him. I don’t even think she’s enchanted, just sometimes entranced.’

  ‘Come on,’ James said and walked on, not wanting to hear any more.

  ‘Why?’ Bell asked, walking after him. ‘Because you don’t want anything to make Snow look bad? You are going to end up losing everything because of her. I don’t want to stay around to see that. She’s going to bring everyone to their knees. I’ve never seen Peter like the way he is with Snow. He wasn’t even like that with Wendy! She is going to destroy everything, and you’re going to end up at the sharp end of the sword.’

  James huffed. ‘I’m willing to take the risk.’

  ***

  Snow began to fall in Neverland. It was only brief, but Peter saw it as the ending it could be. ‘It’s chilly,’ Peter admitted.

  Snow tilted her head. ‘It is. Are you pleased? I managed to get them onto our side.’

  He shrugged. ‘I guess,’ he said, looking at the tree house. ‘They all think that I don’t know what they’re doing.’

  ‘What are they doing?’ Snow asked.

  Peter sighed. ‘Trying to bring me down.’

  Snow’s eyes widened. ‘And you’re letting them? Are you crazy?’

  ‘A little,’ he admitted and grinned. ‘The best people are.’

  Snow’s hands tightened to fists. ‘We need to stop them!’

  ‘No!’ he shouted. ‘You have been here for a few weeks! You have no idea what you’re dealing with, okay! Leave it alone; it’s for me to sort out. My Neverland, my problems.’

  Snow smirked. ‘For now.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Until they bring it down,’ Snow said quickly.

  He watched through the branches at Tide and Rapunzel picking up books and taking them back into the tree house. Gallisa waved to them and headed down the beach. ‘It won’t get to that.’

  ***

  Gallisa walked onto the sandy beach and stared out at the glorious ship. She pulled one of the canoes from the beach into the water and paddled out to the ship. Hook looked down at her, adjusted his red pirate hat so it sat straight on top of his brown, untamed hair, and looked down at Gallisa with cold eyes. ‘Did you get what we asked for?’ he shouted down to the canoe. Gallisa held up a golden key that hung from a piece of string. ‘Crew,’ he shouted to the other pirates. ‘Bring her up!’

  A pirate with an eyepatch on and black teeth helped Gallisa up the rope ladder.

  Lori walked over from behind hook and extended a gloved hand. Gallisa went to shake and Lori laughed. ‘I mean hand me the key.’

  ‘Sure,’ Gallisa said and handed her the key.

  Lori clasped it and smiled. ‘Perfect. Now, let’s go and get Wendy!’

  They all paddled to shore and jumped out. Lori groaned about the bottom of her velvet purple dress getting wet, but Hook laughed. In fact, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. ‘You look lovely. Stop moaning,’ Hook said.

  Lori grinned. ‘Thank you.’

  The time they had spent together on the ship had been quite lovely. They played cards, talked about their dark pasts, and shared intimate secrets. All the while Stilt had sat and rolled his eyes so much that he gave himself a headache.

  Stilt marched ahead, and they all entered the forest. ‘Gallisa,’ Stilt said. ‘Can you please find Peter and distract him. We don’t need him following us.’

  Gallisa nodded. ‘I’ve done a lot of distracting recently.’ She groaned but walked off in the direction of the treehouse nonetheless.

  Daisy flew down from a branch and landed on Lori’s shoulder. ‘Keep heading west,’ she said.

  Lori turned to Hook, Stilt, and Peg, one of Hook’s crew who had come along to help them take Wendy. ‘We need to go west,’ she said and pointed at the fairy on her shoulder. They all nodded.

  Hook looked around confused. ‘The forest is colder than it ever has been. The leaves are dying too. Things are changing.’

  Lori smirked. ‘Looks like Snow has fallen.’

  Stilt raised an eyebrow. ‘No, it hasn’t.’

  Lori sighed exasperatedly. ‘I meant metaphorically. You know, Snow White.’

  ‘Oh,’ he said and bit his cheek. He hated being wrong, especially when it was to Lori. ‘We need to get a move on if we have any chance of making it there
before dark,’ Stilt said and huffed.

  ‘Why are you so huffy?’ Lori asked. ‘You’re getting your wife and daughter back. You should be bloody happy!’

  ‘Yeah.’ He sighed. ‘It’s the only thing that has made these weeks being locked up with you bearable.’

  Lori poked his side. ‘Oh come on, you don’t hate me that much.’

  He laughed. ‘Oh Lori, I really, really do.’

  ‘Enough,’ Hook barked. ‘Can we go just one day without you both bickering!’

  They both fell silent. Daisy continued to sit on Lori’s shoulder, giving them directions to Wendy’s prison.

  Darkness fell as they all huffed their way to the cages. Stilt finished the last of his whiskey and looked down at the flask in disappointment. He turned and saw the rusty bars and breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thank God we’re here.’ He looked at the young woman who was sat talking to Red in the cage. She only looked around eighteen, had dark circles under her eyes, and was thinner than even he was.

  She turned and looked at the three. ‘Redell,’ she whispered to the wolf in Red. ‘When they take me, which they will, I’ll play ignorant and quickly grab the key and throw it to you.’

  Redell nodded. ‘I’ll find you.’

  Lori approached Wendy first. ‘Well, you’re not as pretty as I thought you’d be.’

  Wendy scowled at her. ‘You’re not in a position to judge anyone’s looks, love.’

  Lori raised her eyebrows. ‘I have no idea what he sees in you.’

  ‘Who?’ Wendy asked, playing dumb.

  ‘Erghh.’ Lori groaned. ‘She’s slow too. Stilt’—she turned to him—‘open the cage, and me, Peg, and Hook will tie her up.’

  Stilt shoved the gold key into the lock. The enchantment fell from the bars, and Wendy was dragged out. She quickly grabbed the key from the lock. They tried to grab it from her, but she quickly threw it outside Redell’s bars. Just before Hook could grab it, Redell snatched it from between the bars.

  Hook growled. ‘We can’t get in without that key!’

  ‘Who cares?’ Lori shrugged as she pulled the cloth around Wendy’s mouth. ‘Let her go free. We have things to do. Let’s go.’

  Hook finished tying together Wendy’s hands and pulled her along with rope. Wendy, although tied up, felt happy as she walked again in the open air. Daisy landed on her shoulder and sung her quiet songs as they walked to keep her spirits up.

  They stopped in a clearing and drank some water. Lori conjured up some wine and drank it. Daisy flew off and came back with a leaf filled with water. She pushed down Wendy’s cloth enough to put the water into her mouth. Lori saw this and batted Daisy away.

  Wendy tried to smile under the cloth at Daisy.

  Lori eventually dozed off against Hook’s arm. He smiled and looked down at her. For the first time, he felt warm inside, and he was sure that Lori felt the same way.

  Night fell quickly, coating them all in darkness. Hook was the only one still awake. He held onto the rope holding Wendy, looking out into the leafy, impenetrable blackness, and heard a loud howl.

  ‘That girl in the cage,’ Hook said to Wendy. ‘She looked a bit like a wolf—the eyes, teeth, claws.’ He shook Lori awake. ‘That girl who Wendy threw the key to is coming for us. I knew she looked wolf-like. We need to go.’

  Lori shook Peg and Stilt awake. ‘We need to go. We’re in danger.’

  They pulled Wendy as they all ran through the forest. Stilt kept falling into stumps and trees as he stumbled along behind them, drunk.

  They finally fell onto the beach. The sun began to rise, leaving everything in reddish hue.

  When they made it onto the ship, Hook got the crew ready to sail for Pirate’s Cove.

  Lori removed the cloth from Wendy’s mouth. ‘Why are you doing this?’ Wendy asked, struggling to free herself from the rope wrapped tightly around her legs and wrists.

  Hook laughed. ‘Oh, come on, doll, we all know you’re not that dim. Your fairy friend told you we’d be rescuing you.’

  ‘Yes, it turns out you lured the Pied Piper with your own melody,’ Stilt said.

  Lori rolled her eyes. ‘Nice metaphor.’

  Stilt shrugged. ‘I try.’

  Wendy struggled more. ‘It will not work! You shouldn’t have gone to see him.’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘If anyone finds out that the piper was behind this, that he still holds love for me, they will kill him. He will kill him.’

  Lori smiled. ‘Peter won’t get anywhere near him.’

  Hook jumped in. ‘We will kill him if he tries.’

  Wendy laughed this time. They all fell silent. ‘And how’s that worked out for you so far, Hook?’ She quickly turned furious. ‘How did it work out for me? For the piper? For any of you? Don’t you get it?’ she asked. ‘He is more powerful than anyone or anything in all of the lands in all of the worlds! You cannot stop him. Also, Daisy told me that he has a new companion. The sword capturer. The enchantress. Peter has made a very powerful accomplice. They are bound together always, so to kill Peter, we must also kill her. Do you really think her friends will let any of you kill Snow?’

  Lori shrugged. ‘I’ll kill her. I’ve been trying to for a long time. It will be my pleasure. As for her friends, do you think they’d care after they find out what she has become? What evil pumps through her veins? They will eventually want her dead as much or even more than I do.’

  Stilt stepped forward, swaying from side to side with the waves. ‘What’s the plan then? Peter will come for us should we deliver Wendy to the piper. If he kills them, we have no way of unlocking the power of the fountain. No way of escape.’

  Wendy looked up at Stilt. Stilt noticed that her eyes were just as blue and just as glassy as his late wife’s, just less insane.

  Wendy looked at Hook. The man she had once feared and felt nothing but pity for. The whole time he had hunted her and Peter, he was just trying to get away from Peter, to save everyone from his devilish ways. ‘I think that you should be the one to kill Bell. After everything she did to you. We need her gone! She is just as evil as he is and twice as obsessive.’

  The ship moved smoothly along the waves as they headed for the next island. Neverland, which was made up of three islands, all had different levels of magic. Peter had domain over all of them, but one island scared him. It took even his power when he stepped on its soil. That was why Hook and his men went there to collect more food and water before going back to their ship, which also had power to keep Peter away.

  ‘Wendy, come with me. We can have a chat in the captain’s cabin,’ Lori said, untying Wendy.

  They walked into the red, gold, and brown decorated cabin. A smoky, musky scent hung in the air. Wendy sat on the futon.

  Lori smiled. ‘Tell me how you came here, Wendy.’

  Wendy nodded. ‘When I first came here, I was so excited,’ she told Lori. ‘I grew up in London.’

  Lori sat down on the cushioned red futon. ‘London?’

  Wendy nodded. ‘It’s a totally different world. There’s no magic that I know of there. The truth is I was unhappy. I think he could sense that. That’s why he chose me.’

  Hook walked over to join them. ‘Having a girly chat, are ya?’

  Lori scowled. ‘It’s not like that. Wendy was telling me about how she came here. It’s information that could be helpful in bring him down.’

  Hook laughed insincerely. ‘We already know how to bring him down!’

  ‘Give us a minute,’ Lori asked, pointing at the cabin door. Hook turned and stomped away. Lori turned back to Wendy. ‘As you were saying.’

  ‘Right,’ Wendy breathed. ‘It was a long time ago now. I don’t know how long specifically. The years sort of blend together, but it feels like forever.’

  Lori nodded sympathetically. ‘I’ve been here for a few weeks, yet it feels longer.’

  ‘It doesn’t when you’re with Peter,’ Wendy added. ‘He has a way to make time feel like it isn’t passing at all. Everything
is so wondrous.’

  Lori stood up and walked over to the bar. Her floorboards creaked under her black heels. She poured herself and Wendy a glass of wine. Wendy took it and sniffed the red liquid. ‘I’ve never drank alcohol.’

  Lori smirked. ‘You’re missing out!’

  Wendy placed the glass on the short wooden table next to her and placed her hands back in her lap. ‘I was being forced into a marriage with a wealthy lord. Everyone wanted me to act a certain way. My sister, Alice, managed to run away just before she was to be married off.’ Wendy sighed and looked down. ‘She was lucky. She’s out trying to change the world. She wrote me letters from so many different countries. She was always a dreamer, my sister. Or as Mother used to say, she spent so much time away with the fairies that she forgot reality. My parents think she’s crazy. Anyway, she left, which left me alone.’

  Lori sat back down after finishing her wine. ‘Then he came for you?’

  ‘I was alone,’ Wendy cried. ‘I knew nothing. I used to sit by my window reading Alice’s letters and wishing I could have that life. I often contemplated running away. I used to dream of places and things much bigger and more magic than any of us could believe. I did, though. I believed in other worlds.’ Tears fell down her cheeks. She wiped them away and sniffed. ‘It was late, around midnight. The chimes from the clock sung in the background. My window was open. I saw a shadow in the moonlight across the road. I was three stories up, so you can imagine my shock when a boy then landed on windowsill. I fell backward, knocked over the chair, and sent the cat running out of the room.’ Wendy smiled fondly. ‘I miss my cat.’

  Lori rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, lovely. Now, what did he say? How did he get you to Neverland?’

  Wendy looked at Lori darkly. ‘He told me his name was Peter. He said that he understood how it felt to feel alone. He said he lived in a magical world where he takes the lonely souls of the worlds and gives them a home. Honestly, it sounded like death. Taking your soul to a new world where you’re never alone? Sounds like heaven, right?’