The Seeker's Return, page 18
The gagging noises made my gut wrench, like listening to nails on a chalkboard.
The Red Queen reached for him, tried to touch him.
I didn’t even know what for. To beg? To show vulnerability?
Until she touched him and it sent him flying back, caused him to scream. His body hit the bookshelf, a loud crack of his skull hitting the metal.
“Rumple!” I almost ran to him, but the Red Queen stopped me. Even though she was still gasping for breath, trying to get a hold of herself, she was somehow able to stop me in my tracks.
Magic ran across my ankles, gluing me down like I wasn’t a person at all, but some sort of piece in a diorama.
I didn’t understand how she had this power.
This wasn’t ShadowMagic. ShadowMagic was the most potent, the most lethal.
Yeah, but if you combine everyone else’s magic into one? That’s clearly just as powerful.
“Don’t...don’t worry about him,” the Red Queen said. “Once I take your magic, I’ll kill him quickly. He’s always been a pain in my side. It’ll be good to finally be rid of him.”
And then, a loud scream filled the room, causing the walls, the floors, everything to vibrate with unparalleled anger.
24
I didn’t realize I was the one screaming until my voice echoed off the living room walls and found its way back to me. I unleashed my magic, unleashed every little part of me that I had, that I could give, and it shot out at the Red Queen and strangled her. However, she managed to release a bolt of her own magic. It was different than before, something that would hurt. I didn’t have any time to get out of the way. I was too focused on her, on the damage my magic did. It caught her by surprise and shattered her. I didn’t know if I killed her. I didn’t care. I would do it again. And again. And I would smile.
She collapsed, not any sort of threat, and it was like I could move again, like I was a still in a movie scene, holding myself until finally being given permission to move.
And then, her magic caught my eye again.
It was too late for me.
Until I was thrown out of the way. I handed hard on my side. Only then was I able to see who had thrown me out of the way.
Brown hair. Blue eyes.
Jack.
Jack was on his back, face ashen, mouth dropped into a silent scream.
I ran to him.
I dropped to my knees and placed my hands on him. I could...I could heal him. I could.
“A-Aly,” he managed to get out.
Tears filled my eyes and I didn’t even care. I didn’t care if I was crying, who saw me crying. I didn’t care as they tracked down my face like streams slicing across the snow. I didn’t care about any of it.
I just needed Jack to be okay.
Please be okay.
I didn’t forgive him. He took Anna from me. And maybe he was justified doing it. Maybe he wasn’t. But he was still my friend, still my only friend before all this, before he took Anna from me.
“Aly,” he said again. “You have to...stop. You have...to stop.”
I shook my head. I thought I was whining. There was a weird sound filling the silent room and I was pretty sure it was me. But I didn’t care.
Nothing mattered.
“I’m trying,” I told him. Snot slid from my nose and curved down my lips. I didn’t even wipe it away, afraid if I lifted my hands, Jack wouldn’t get the magic he needed from me to heal, to be better. “I’m trying to heal you. I’m trying, please, Jack, I’m trying.”
Jack slowly closed his eyes and coughed. His face was void of all wrinkles, smooth and soft. When he looked at me again, his lips were curving up into a small smile, and somehow, that was worse than anything else.
“Stop,” he whispered.
He reached up and cupped my cheek in his rough palm, and I knew how much that took from him because of the furrow in his brow, the strain in his jaw. But he didn’t drop his hand. He held my cheek, and I leaned into him. Maybe touching me would help. Maybe my magic would fix him this way because it didn’t seem to be working the other way. The way it did with Rumple.
But nothing came out.
Even the tiny blue lights that I did manage to draw out couldn’t seem to latch onto Jack.
“No,” I said. “Please. Please.”
Tears tracked down my face freely.
“You have to...you have to stop,” he said. He coughed once and little flecks of blood flew past his lips and hit my jacket, my shirt. “You’re going to...to need...all the magic...you can get.”
“I’m not going to let you die,” I got out. I glanced over my shoulder at Rumple. “Rumple, please, do something. He’s...he’s…” I couldn’t even say the word. I couldn’t get it out. Because saying that word was akin to admitting defeat and I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.
I couldn’t lose Jack.
His black eyes were filled with a sympathy I had never seen in them before. His face was stony, lips curved not into a frown but something that revealed he had already accepted the situation and he needed me to do the same.
“No,” I told him. My voice shook with the word and I looked back at Jack. “No, you can’t…” I sniffed.
I sucked in a deep breath and I tried again.
The magic wouldn’t come.
“Fuck,” I managed to say, flaring my nostrils and sniffing again.
“Aly, it’s okay,” he said. “This...this is how I wanted to go. Protecting you.” He coughed again. He didn’t have long. The magic she hit him with, the magic I should have been hit with, festered. “Always you, Aly. It’s always...it’s always been you. I need you...to understand that. Everything...everything I did, I did for you.”
I didn’t know why he needed to tell me that. I shook my head. “No,” I said. Like a prayer, a spell, some sort of enchantment that would do exactly what I bid it to do.
“I love you, Aly,” he said. “I...I always have. That hasn’t changed. Not since...not since I first saw you all those years ago.”
I looked at Peter, demanding some sort of explanation. It was obvious Jack was getting weaker, that simply talking was too much for him. He didn’t have much time left. I had to do something. Fast.
“Peter,” I said. “Please. I’ll-I’ll make a deal with you.”
“Alice.” Rumple stepped forward, as though to warn me about even saying such things.
Peter shook his head once. “And I refuse to make it,” he said. “Alice, I met Jack when he was young, still in grade school. He detested his father as much as Tom Charming. I took him under my wing. I taught him things. He took his magic from MaryBeth, and once we trained in it, I told him to protect you. He always knew who you were, you know. He always cared about you. When I tell you he loves you, I’m not lying - even if I could.”
“Did he know…?” I tried to get the words out.
Peter waited patiently.
“Did he know MaryBeth got her magic from Rapunzel?” I asked.
Jack groaned.
Peter nodded once. “He didn’t care,” he said. “Not if it meant protecting you. It was a necessary means to an end, especially after the ordeal with Tom Charming. He worked diligently to control it and never used it unless he had to, which was why he couldn’t actually find Chessy.”
“Was that even real?” I asked.
“In part,” Peter said, cocking his head to the side. “Chessy is always around, you see, always watching you. And Jack wanted an excuse to be around you too, to protect you. It’s why MaryBeth called your father and reported him missing at the station. If Paul was involved, they could watch him too. An excuse to be involved in your life, no matter how indirectly.”
“I don’t want him to die,” I managed to get out, my voice strained, caught in my throat like a piece of food set out to strangle me.
“Everything dies,” Peter said. “We turn to dust and return to this earth, our true home. And then, we live again in some way. The cycle of life is its own magic and it’s something we’re all part of. We should not fear it.”
I started sobbing at his words. I hated that he was right.
I had no idea what I was doing, no idea what was going to happen, but I wanted him to know that I loved him too, that he was my only friend and I would never forget him or the memories we had, with Anna, without her. I didn’t care if it was real because it was real to me. He was part of my family, this makeshift family I created in order to survive being weak and powerless and human in Wonderland. And that would stay with me for the rest of my life. That wouldn’t go away just because Jack was gone.
God, he couldn’t be gone.
He was such a pivotal part of my life...even if he hadn’t been around since Anna’s death.
I couldn’t put all of that into words. They wouldn’t come out. But I hoped he could read my face. I hoped he understood.
“I shouldn’t…” He coughed again. More specks of blood, shiny, red words splattered onto a piece of crumpled paper. “I shouldn’t have left you...after Anna. I should have...I should have been there...for you. I’m so sorry...Aly, I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. He didn’t have to apologize.
This time, I did touch him. I cupped his cheek in my palm and he immediately leaned into it, breaking my heart even more.
“Please don’t,” I said. Begging him. “Please don’t go.”
“I’m just...I’m just sorry about Rap-Rapunzel,” he said. “I shouldn’t have…I’m sorry.” He was interrupted by a coughing fit and I squeezed my eyes.
The tears didn’t want to fall. They didn’t want anything to do with this. But they were forced out, tight and slow, tracking a trail down my cheeks.
“I love you, okay?” Jack said. His voice sounded stronger. My heart leapt with hope. If his voice was stronger, maybe he’d be okay. “I love...I love you.”
And then, he slumped back, and everything about him dropped.
The life had literally vanished from him.
My mouth dropped open. This couldn’t be real. This had to be a movie or some book I was in the middle of. Jack couldn’t be gone.
I shook Jack, dropping my hand from his awkwardly-angled face to clutch his shirt. His head moved back and forth with each thrust. There was no response, not even an acknowledgement that this was some sort of twisted joke.
“Alice,” Rumple said, and I never thought I would hate his voice, never thought I would hate how he spoke to me. But I did. I hated that he was already to resign himself to believing that Jack was truly gone.
I whirled around to Peter. “There has to be a way to bring him back,” I said, demanding answers to a question I hadn’t actually asked. “There has to be.”
“Alice,” he said softly. His eyes were filled with sympathy, making them more grass green than I had ever seen them.
I hated them in that moment.
I dropped Jack carefully, guiding his body back on the floor.
“No,” I said. I slowly picked myself up. “No.”
But the truth stared at me in the face. I couldn’t deny it. Jack was gone and there was no bringing him back.
“This isn’t right,” I said. “I…”
Without warning, two coiling tendrils of magic wrapped around my ankles, knocking me down so my back hit the floor. My head cracked and I saw stars. I barely noticed as I was yanked forward, towards the Red Queen.
Magic flew overhead like shooting stars, but I barely registered it. I was sure both Peter and Rumple were trying to fight for me, but it was like I was on the outside looking in and I didn’t even feel anything. I knew I loved Rumple. But losing Jack was gut-wrenching. I couldn’t breathe, never expected that there would be a time when Jack wasn’t here even if he wasn’t directly in my life with me.
“Your sentimental emotions leave you vulnerable, daughter,” my mother said, towering over me. “You don’t deserve the magic coursing through you.”
Another bolt of light. It penetrated whatever shield the Red Queen crafted around herself, but not enough to strike her. She reached forward and I knew she was going to try and rip my magic from me for a third time.
I considered letting her.
What good was my magic if I couldn’t protect those I cared about?
Jack made his choices. That doesn’t concern you.
“But he made them from me,” I whispered to myself, staring up at the ceiling.
And that’s not your fault. You don’t want this. You don’t want any of it. But if you lay down and take it, Jack’s death, everything he did for you - whether it’s right or wrong - will be in vain. Do something.
As much as I didn’t want to, I knew the voice was right. I was nearly at her, her magic singing into my skin. I curled my magic in two balls, swirling and building in the palms of my hands. I wouldn’t release yet.
Not yet.
And then, she had me in front of her, on my back, next to the demolished coffee table, and I knew now was the time. I lifted my hands and shot my magic out. At the same time, a whoosh of green and gold flickered overhead. This magic didn’t belong to me, but it hit her hard. She was sucked inside of it and it buried her within its grasp. I had no idea if my magic was absorbed or not, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the Red Queen was incapacitated.
I wanted to look for the person responsible, to see who would save me. I thought it was Rumple, but the magic was different. Peter, maybe. He was the Mad Mage after all, and I had no idea what to expect from him.
But I didn’t want to leave myself vulnerable for the Red Queen. I had distracted myself before, and she had no problem taking full advantage of that.
After a moment, the magic dropped.
I screamed.
Because the Red Queen was no more.
Her body, her face, everything was burned to a black crisp. The white pantsuit was nothing more than ash.
And footsteps caught my attention, slowly drawing near.
Through the smoke, Pan emerged, dressed in a black suit with an emerald green shirt.
I wanted to weep with relief.
“Pan,” I managed to say, pulling myself up. “You came.”
Pan didn’t stop walking. He crossed the room to where Rumple was and knelt down.
“We need to leave,” Peter said, trying to grab my hand.
“What?” I asked. “No. I’m not leaving.”
“You’re going to get hurt, Alice,” he said. “The Imp’s brother is much more volatile than the Imp ever was -”
“I’m not leaving!” I exclaimed.
Peter looked like he wanted to argue. Instead, he loosed a breath and shook his head, scurrying out of the room.
I picked myself up and made my way over to the brothers.
“Pan, I can’t thank you -”
I cut myself off. Because Pan had his hand on Rumple and he was stealing his brother’s magic.
“What are you...what are you doing?” I asked. I tried to call my magic to me, tried to bring it towards me, but I couldn’t do it.
I used everything I had. I needed to replenish.
“I’m taking my brother’s magic,” he said. “What does it look like?”
I lunged for him. Using his free hand, Pan managed to freeze me in my place. “I would suggest you leave, mortal,” he said. “Run away with your father.”
“I haven’t left yet.” Without warning, Peter released his magic, sending Pan back until he hit the wall. It cracked behind him and he slumped to the ground. Suddenly, I could move again.
I rushed over to Rumple. “I-I’m all right,” he assured me, but his voice was more shaken than I had ever heard it before.
“Alice, you need to leave,” Peter repeated. “Take her and go.”
Her?
I realized he wasn’t talking to me, but to Rumple.
Rumple nodded once. Before I could do anything, Rumple wrapped me up in his arms and we disappeared.
25
We reappeared in my bedroom, in the one I had at Peter’s place. I was more unsteady on my feet than I liked to admit, but Rumple’s grip on my waist kept me from stumbling.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would Pan -“
“He wants Wonderland.” I had never heard Rumple speak that way before, dark and threatening, his words coated with quiet rage. “He saw an opportunity and he took it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he told my parents when I took you to the Fae realm. He set things in motion so he could take over this place.” He spat on my floor. “Pathetic.”
“He tried to take your magic,” I pointed out.
“And he shall pay for the effort.”
“What do we do?” I asked, trying to understand where we went from here.
I was a soldier coming back from battle. I glanced around the room. It should have been familiar, but it felt different, like moving out and coming back to my childhood bedroom twenty years later. I recognized the walls, the pattern on the bedspread, but this didn’t feel like home the way it once had.
“We can’t do anything,” Rumple said. “Not yet.”
“But -“
Rumple’s fingers reached for my chin, tilting my head up so I was forced to look him in the eye. “My brother has been planning this for a long time,” he told me. “I’m certain of it. We can’t go rushing in, trying to find revenge without planning for it. I’m certain an opportunity will present itself, and we’ll take advantage of it.” He paused, brushing hair behind my ear. “Just not now.”
I nodded once, trying to do it in a way where I didn’t pull away from him.
“We aren’t safe here,” he said. “I know my brother. He’ll come for you to get to me. And it will work.”
My heart thudded against my chest. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I stayed quiet.
“We’ll sleep and leave early in the morning,” he continued, pacing the length of the room.
“You don’t think he’ll come for us?” I asked. I wasn’t going to ask a stupid question about Pan even knowing where we were. I was sure he could guess.
“He will, but it won’t be now,” he replied. “I doubt Peter has the ability to kill Pan, but he’ll stop him for a time.”
