Somewhere In Neverland || FIRST DRAFT

[sneak peak for Land of Broken Dreams]

{hello everyone, enlisted below is a sneak peak of the first chapter of the second book in the Enchanted Trilogy. Just a quick warning, this is just the first draft, it could very well change from here on out, so here is the draft as of this day, I hope to see you all back, and able to join Riley, Peter, Grace and Jax on their journey throughout Wonderland}

A chorus of noise rang loudly throughout the throne room, ricocheting off of the white walls, the lost boys had gone into chaos, all trying to speak at once, and then yelling over one another to be heard by their queen and king. Riley felt the familiar pang of pain as tiny hammers repeatedly drove nails into her skull, painfully poking her brain every once in a while. On the way back home it had started as a dull ache between her eyes, but now it was a full blown headache, nausea and all. Riley wasn't exactly sure what had caused the headache, whether it was the ruckus of noise erupting from the lost boys, or wether it was the whole day in general. The shock of finding out that Peter was dead had been one dull ache, then finding out it was Hook who had killed him was another painful jab, then waking him up from the curse was another throb to her head, followed by Tinkerbell dying, then to finish it off, her of course murdering Hook. Riley rubbed her throbbing head, she still felt uneasy, despite him deserving his own death, she had still murdered someone. Riley had Hook's blood on her hands.

She pulled her hand away from her head, to see it covered in a scarlet liquid, her heart jumped in her chest, and her breath hitched in her throat. The room seemed to spin before her, or was that just the headache. Riley blinked, embracing the blankness that her eyelids offered her for a brief moment before opening her tired eyes again, there was no blood on her hands. Releasing the breath she had been holding for a fraction of a moment she looked away from her hand and over at Peter, who was watching her, his face a mask of concern it's just the headache Riley, somehow through the constant hammering of nails through her skull a single thought slipped through. How are we even fit to run this kingdom? Riley raked her eyes over the lost boys who were yelling over each other, and then met the confused eyes of Grace, leaning against a pillar in the back of room, arms folded in front of her, lips pressed into a fin line. Peter and I are just... her mind trailed off before she could even finish that thought.

Riley willed the strength into her body, allowing her to weakly stand up on slightly shaky legs and yell "Silence", a hush fell over the room as all of the lost boys fell quiet, all turning to look at her, even Peter was sitting up in his chair properly, all of the boys (and girls) were eagerly awaiting what Riley had to say. "I know we've all had a... rough day," Riley struggled to find the correct word to fit, but continued on anyway. "and we've lost a great friend" all of the lost boys bowed their heads, some even reaching their hands and placing them upon their hearts. "And we've lost a great enemy. But a new enemy has revealed herself, and what we've gathered so far is that she's the Queen of Hearts, and my limited knowledge won't help one bit, so I was hoping that Jax could help us figure out exactly what the Queen's motives are" all of the lost boys eyes found Jax, who awkwardly shuffled up to the pedestal where Riley was standing in front of her throne, and Peter was sitting in his. "The Queen, she may sound like a friendly person. But she isn't. The reason they call her the Queen of Heats is because she rips people's hearts right out of their chests," gasps were audible from the crowd, all eyes were glued onto Jax now.

"When we go to Wonderland, we'll need a plan, the Queen is completely mad. So she'll be completely unpredictable, meaning we'll have to be unpredictable as well" Jax was now pacing back and forth on the pedestal. "Our only advantage is having a plan, without one, we'll be as good as dead" Nolan looked up at Jax, his wide eyes curious "But what does she want?" he piped up, turning to look at him Jax stopped pacing, her boots had stopped the torturous rhythm that was making Riley's headache worse. "I wouldn't have the slightest idea. But the Queen is extremely jealous, so whatever she wants, she's most likely doing it out of jealousy. Questions continued to be thrown at Jax, her answering them in return, the hours flew by, and Peter could see that today's events had taken a toll on Riley, as she had continually massaged her temples, and at one stage she even looked like she was going to throw up, but now, as she lay her head against the arm of her throne, he knew it was time to call it quits. Peter stood up, looking out over his friends "Alright lost boys, how about we head off to bed now, and hopefully dream up some good plans, we'll meet after lunch and discuss some plans then?" Peter asked it like a question, but they all knew it was a command, most of the boys scurried off, except for Grace and Jax who lingered behind.