Queen of Nothing

Chapter 7

Talia's words didn't leave me for the all journey to Henry's hideout. We didn't have a lot of problem on the way, due to the Merry Men, but the end was a different story. We finally arrived in front of a little castle, hidden in the middle of the forest. All the lost boys are waiting for us outside the castle, armed as always, although I believe they have no Dreamshade here in the Enchanted Forest. But Henry and Chris are nowhere in sight, probably safe inside. And that's exactly the difficult part, going inside.

"What do we do now, Emily?"

"You go convince your father to let us go alone."

"Us?"

"Ben, Wyatt, Hunter, you and me. We're children, they won't hurt us, at least not too much, and the boys are lost boys, even if the other don't remember that."

"But why do we go alone?"

"Even if they don't remember me, they're still my brothers. We can't hurt them."

Talia nods and goes to see her father. Ben and Wyatt, who were spying on all the lost boys' positions in front of the castle, come to me, as Hunter was already beside me.

"I think I recognised every lost boy, they're all outside. Well, all but Chris and Henry."

"Then let's go."

"Wait! We haven't seen Cody nor Oliver."

That shouldn't surprise me. Chris knows they're my favourite lost boys. They're probably guarding Henry as I will never touch Oliver, even in a game, and I'm not sure I can beat Cody, as it's been a while since the last time I practiced.

"It means Chris is waiting for us. He already knows we're here."

"Does that mean we don't have a chance anymore?"

"Chris wants us to find Henry. We need to be careful."

Ben nods at me before Talia comes back.

"Come on guys, we need to go."

"Wait, your father trusts my plan?"

"I took some sleeping dust from him to pass through the lost boys without any difficulty."

"You did not answer my question."

Talia hesitates for a minute before smiling at me. Robin Hood didn't agree to let his daughter go, she probably didn't even tell him the plan. She must have taken the sleeping dust while he was busy discussing another plan with Regina and the Merry Men. Her father doesn't trust me at all, and he surely doesn't want his daughter to go with children in a castle full of enemy. But Talia needs adventure in her life and she wants to prove her father she's old enough to go on her own. That's the main reason we met in prison.

"We need to go now."

"Talia wait! We need a plan to go inside, we can't hurry."

"We have sleeping dust, we just need to throw it at them."

"And hope they all fall asleep? No, we can't, there are too many of them."

"So what do you propose?"

I have no plan, and I know it. So what can we do? Wyatt takes my wrist and pulls his hood over his head. I always knew Wyatt was a smart kid.

"We follow Wyatt's plan. I said only us could go because we were children, which means we don't need to fight. Ben, Hunter and Wyatt are lost boys they're not a threat. If we walk inside like this, the lost boys we'll think they captured me, which is exactly what Chris wants."