I didn’t have much of a choice. That much was clear. It didn’t matter that I didn’t think I could actually accomplish what they wanted me to. It didn’t matter that I was positive I wasn’t the best option. Whether or not Robin wanted to admit it, Maryanne was prettier, more petite, and probably more alluring than I was. She probably couldn’t hold a bow for long, draw the taut string back, and fire at a target with the hopes of hitting it, but that could be taught. The grace and sensuality she possessed was something she was born with, something innate that I didn’t think someone like me could replicate.
“I don’t know,” I finally admitted.
“What are you talking about?” Robin asked. “Of course you’ll do it.”
I hadn’t even noticed he and Maryanne had approached the rest of the group. I almost wished they had stayed away, locked in their little bubble of intimacy.
“Why wouldn’t you do it?” he asked. I wished he wouldn’t push me. He always got agitated when he asked multiple questions in a row and it wasn’t as endearing as he thought it was. “You have the perfect opportunity to save Wonderland. I thought we talked about this. You can –”
“She isn’t responsible for Wonderland,” Alice said softly. “This has to be her choice or else the mission fails before it even begins.” She locked eyes with me. “Let’s grab a coffee.”
There was no room for argument in her tone. Even so, my eyes shifted to Robin, to those sharp, midnight-blues, and I wished I hadn’t. The way he looked at me, like I was his last hope, was something I didn’t want to see. My gut churned and my chest tightened, and I knew I would do whatever he asked if he just looked at me that way, making me completely pathetic, especially after witnessing his exchange with Maryanne.
He would never do something like that with me. Ever.
I nodded anyway. She wanted to get me a coffee, fine. I planned to return to my apartment anyway. I needed a shower, and I just wanted to be alone. I couldn’t be anywhere near Robin and Maryanne right now. I didn’t want to face the knowing stare Little John always shot me across the firepit because I was so easy to read. I didn’t want to hear the bickering between Alexander and Phillip, even though they amused me more than I expected them to.
I just wanted my own company. I needed the space to think.
“Great,” Alice said. “While I think you look like a badass with the bow and arrows, I doubt White Rabbit Cafe is going to approve.”
I cracked a smile, even though my heart wasn’t in it. I made my way over to the shed in order to put the bow and arrow away. By the time I finished and shut the shed door, Robin was encroaching my space. I almost jumped, not expecting him to be so close.
“Wendy,” he said. “You’ve got this. Right now, you’re the only opportunity we have to take Pan down. I know that’s something you want, and I’m here, we’re all here, to help you achieve that, okay? We’re in your corner, no matter what.”
I knew the words were supposed to be encouraging. I knew they were meant to show me that I wasn’t alone. Instead, they scraped against a chalkboard. He placated me with his low voice, like we shared a secret.
We didn’t. Not in the same way he shared one with Maryanne. And I knew it was petty of me to compare the two of us. Maryanne was kind to me; she was my friend. I had no issue with her other than the fact that I wasn’t her and I would never be her. But it still hackled my senses that he thought he could use my obvious crush as a weapon against me. He was in my space because he thought it would compel me to agree. And I hated that. I hated that I could be so damn obvious and so damn pathetic.
Even knowing all of that, I already knew my answer was going to be yes. Not because it was the right thing to do. Not because there was a chance I might be able to find out the truth of what happened with my brothers. But because Robin himself asked me to, and I wanted to please him. Maybe I couldn’t entice him with my looks, but I could do this. Maybe, just maybe, this could be enough for him to wake up and see me.
Robin stepped back to give me my space back but not before taking my hand in his and squeezing it. Rarely was he comfortable with physical affection, so I knew this was a big deal. I wished the two of us weren’t wearing gloves. I wished I could have felt his hand on mine just so I knew what it was like.
I made my way back over to Alice and the Imp. The Imp was smiling slickly; I didn’t like the arrogance that radiated from him. I wanted to ask Alice how she could deal with it. He must be good in bed, and it didn’t hurt that he was ridiculously good looking, but besides those things, was he truly an adequate partner? He might be against his Fae family in this, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have issues. How could she deal with them?
Alice gave me a small smile. I was a couple of years younger than she was, so I didn’t remember interacting with her much at school. Even so, I couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t prone to smiling much, then and now. The effort she was making for me was appreciated, and I found it within myself to give her one back. It was small, but it was genuine.
Without warning, Alice took my wrist, and the Imp grabbed her free arm. Suddenly, we popped out of the Blood Forest and wound up at the park nearby. The world spun underneath my feet, and I was forced to grab my knees and keel over a couple of times before I was comfortable enough to stand up straight.
“...not used to something like that,” Alice admonished the Imp. “You have to give her some kind of warning.”
“I’ve learned from experience that no one can prepare for that kind of travel and it’s best just to do it and deal with the consequences,” he returned.
“You’re exasperating.”
“You love it,” he teased. “You love me.”
I didn’t actually think Alice was going to respond, but I cleared my throat anyway because I didn’t want to deal with their uncomfortable yet fascinating banter. I didn’t expect it from either one of them, and the fact that it was happening told me this was probably an intimate moment between them that I wasn’t supposed to witness.
“I’m going to take her,” she said. “I’ll meet you back at home.”
“Darling, I’d rather prefer to go with you –”
“You know I can defend myself,” Alice said, shoving her hands in her worn leather jacket and shooting him a look.
“Of course, I know that,” the Imp said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be there in case…” He let his voice trail off.
“I don’t think Pan will hurt me,” she said.
His eyes widened. “Don’t be foolish. He’ll do whatever he can to retain the power he acquired. That he completely betrayed me in order to get it just adds to it. You think he won’t take you to get to me? Look at what he already did.”
“Think about what he could have done,” she said. “He could have killed you. He could have injured me badly. But he didn’t. I think…I think there’s something in him, Rumple. I don’t know.” She shook her head, looking away from him, back out towards the forest as though the setting sun against the trees had some kind of answer for her. “I don’t think he’s as wicked as everyone thinks he is.”
“You are a fool,” he said.
She scowled.
“Sorry, darling, it’s the truth.” He procured a cigarette from thin air and stuck it between his lips. She frowned and yanked it away from him before he could light it. “You know what Pan is capable of. He hates our parents, absolutely loathes them with every fiber of his being because of what they did to him, and yet, he’s playing puppy the second Mother tosses him a bone. I don’t buy it for one second. His hands have too much blood on them to ever be washed clean.”
“And what about yours?” Alice asked, shoving the cigarette into her pocket before poking his chest with her finger. “Wouldn’t you say your hands are just as red as his, if not more so, since you were favored?”
He paused, cocking his head to the side. “I don’t understand,” he finally said. “I thought we were on the same page about what must be done.”
“We are,” she said, though her voice took on a frustrated growl like she knew he was right and didn’t like it. “We are.”
“Then, why argue?”
“Because I think there’s more to this,” she admitted. “I think it would be easy to assume we go into this thinking we’re going to remove Pan as mayor. But then what? They’ll just replace him with someone else. You were the heir, Rumple, and look how quickly they replaced you.”
“They had to,” he reminded her. This time, when he magicked a cigarette, he lit it before she could grab it from him. “I made my choice, and they knew no matter what they could have done, I wasn’t going to change my mind.”
“You know,” I said. “We should probably head to the cafe before it closes…”
I let my voice trail off. They both stared at each other. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t even hear what I said. In fact, the intensity of the stare told me there was a good chance they were going to start making out, and that was the last thing I wanted right now, especially when thoughts of Robin were at the forefront of my mind.
“Have you discussed going after Hook?” Alice asked. “I know we’re supposed to get Rapunzel and everything, but we can’t unless we break him out of prison.”
Going after Hook? Tension filled my body like steel. I wanted nothing more than to demand an answer to that, to pepper them with as many questions as I could that formed a line in my head, but I bit my bottom lip. I hoped they would reveal more about their intention for Hook without me asking at all.
“Yes, well, my ickle brother has made that particularly more difficult simply because he knows where my head’s at,” the Imp said before taking a long drag of the cigarette.
“Are you sure it’s Pan?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I thought he’d want to find her too. Didn’t you say something about how close the three of you were? And after finding out about Sadie slash Mary Beth…” She let her voice trail off, her face going pale. “Look. We have to figure this out. I want to take her to get coffee. This is a lot, especially when she has no iron in the fire. She deserves to talk to someone about her concerns or her fears.”
“Wendy Darling does have an iron in the fire,” the Imp pointed out. The smoke followed the cigarette, hanging between long fingers. “Or have you forgotten the disappearance of her brothers? Why do you think Hook’s in prison?”
Alice turned to me like she had completely forgotten I was there in the first place. I had no idea why I was the one blushing in response to this; it wasn’t as though I had forgotten about her. Regardless, I found myself bouncing my gaze between the two. They couldn’t exactly be mad at the fact that I had listened to their conversation; it wasn’t like they told me not to or attempted to speak somewhere private.
“I don’t know much about it, other than the fact that it was multiple boys,” Alice murmured.
“The Lost Boys,” I said. I didn’t even know why. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk about John and Michael with anyone, especially strangers I wasn’t sure I completely trusted. Alice hadn’t given me a reason to have an opinion against her either way, but the Imp was still the Imp.
“I do vaguely recall my father coming home late for several months because of that,” Alice murmured. “I’m sorry.”
I never knew what to do when someone offered me condolences. The natural response was ‘it’s okay’ but I could never bring myself to say that because it wasn’t. It wasn’t okay that my brothers were gone. It wasn’t okay that I had no idea where they were. And it wasn’t okay that there was a chance I might never see them again.
“Look,” I said. “I already know what you’re going to do. You’re going to take me to the cafe and tell me how much you understand what I’m going through. You’re going to use Anna as an example.” Her eyes widened. “I was here when the truth came out. That was a pretty big deal. I know it gets overshadowed by the Fae takeover, but I’m telling you, I remember that. It was only a few months ago.” I shook my head. “Anyway, we both know I’m going to come out of this agreeing to the plan because we don’t have any other options. I get it even if I don’t like it. But.” I bit my bottom lip before releasing it, forcing myself to continue. “But I want something in return for taking this risk.”
“Intriguing.” The Imp flicked his cigarette, and it disappeared before it hit the ground. “You really want to make a deal with me? All right. What do you want then?”
I took a breath, forcing myself to meet his dark eyes. There were rumors that the Imp could see straight to your soul so he knew exactly what sort of deal he could make in order to get exactly what he wanted without having to give anything else up that he didn’t want to.
Fine.
Let him see.
I wanted him to know that I was serious.
“I want to know where my brothers are,” I said. “If you do release Hook, I want you to get him to tell you where my brothers are.”
“Darling,” the Imp said. “I can’t promise you that. Remember, we don’t know if Hook had anything to do with their disappearance in the first place.”