Hooked

Chapter Thirty Five

... Madeline ...

The look on Rebecca's face was priceless.

"Where did you happen to find that?" She crossed her arms and gestured to the lamp in my hands.

"Alad-" I reminded myself that she didn't know who that was. "Erm... a friend gave it to me."

"Well that's a hell of a friend you've got. Have you opened it yet?"

"No. Not yet. I've tried a few things, but they didn't work, and I'm sure that my friend had tried many things as well."

I could tell that she really wanted a wish by the way she spoke, and the way that she couldn't keep her eyes from flickering to the lamp every time I spoke.

... Rebecca ...

I needed a wish from Madeline.

I know I've done some terrible things to her... I looked at her ankle, twisted to the side by my wolf.

I needed to get on her good side if I even had a chance of getting the wish that I needed.

"...I'm sorry," I said quietly.

"...About my ankle? I mean, you gave me a pretty good explanation earlier why you broke it. I would rather have a broken ankle than be killed any day." She winced, being reminded of the pain in her foot.

"I'm not just sorry for that."

She looked down. She was upset. She knew what I meant.

"I'm sorry for sending your friend from the castle, Lillian... to her death. I didn't realize that they would kill her. I... I don't know... They promised me freedom if I turned in any rebels. I chose myself over you two. I'm really sorry."

She was silent for a moment. I followed her gaze as she looked down at the lamp, then back up to me. "They killed Lillian, Rebecca. They would've killed me as well if Hook hadn't rescued me..."

"Hook?" I smirked.

She turned pink, "Yes... he brought me here."

"...Brought you here?"

She nodded, "To Neverland."

I blinked a couple times. "I'm not sure what you mean..."

"I'm erm.... from a whole other world. From London. England."

"Okay, well it still doesn't make any sense to me..."

"How I got here doesn't make much sense to me, either," she gave a wavering smile.

"...Why did you go with Hook?"

She scowled, and said, "I didn't want to go with him. I resisted, but I suppose I could've called the guards or something. I'm not quite sure why I didn't run away while I had the chance... I guess I was just afraid of what he would do if I didn't go with him."

"Oh... What's your world like?" I said, curious.

"My world..." her eyes lowered and she gave a sad smile. "It's a place where time does pass, and we live alongside it. It adds a type of order to our chaos. Sometimes it seems like it passes by quickly, while in other moments it's painstakingly slow... when in reality it's still the very same as it was before and always will be. When you're away from it for so long, you realize that time's quite the funny thing. You can easily take it for granted, and it can run out on you when you least expect it... My world is actually quite different from yours. There's no such thing as magic, for instance..."

My eyes grew. A world without magic? I couldn't imagine it. "That sounds downright awful," I said.

She scowled, "No. It's the exact opposite of awful. I think there's no such thing as magic in my world because it doesn't need it. Just the fact that it is - that it exists... That's magical. We don't need potions or spells... It has magic all on its own."

"It still sounds terrible to me."

"Maybe that's only because you haven't experienced it."

"I don't know..." My eyes brightened, and I challenged her, "What about living forever? Wouldn't you rather live young for as long as possible than die of old age?"

"Actually, no. I don't think I would want to live forever."

I gaped at her, "You've gone insane... Give me one good reason why you wouldn't want to live forever."

"If you live forever, then it's like you're trapped. You're basically just floating through your life. For example... Let's say you complete one of your goals, then what would you do? On towards another goal? And after that? What happens when you run out of things to do? It's just not... exciting. In my world you have a limited time to get your goals done. And if you love someone that lives for a limited time... would you still want to live forever? Would you still choose Neverland over England?" Her facial expression changed from simple questioning to realization. "Let's say that someone from Neverland loved someone from England... Then what?"

"Easy. The one from England could just come to Neverland and they can live" I changed my voice to a dull, bored, flat tone and waved my finger in the air as I said, "happily ever after."

"But what if the one from England doesn't want to leave her home- her family- behind?"

I gave a knowing smile, "I know what this is about."

She gave me an innocent look, like she didn't know what I was saying.

"You have a crush on the infamous Hook," I smirked knowingly.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, although her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. "I don't know what you mean."

"I think you know pretty well what I mean."

She looked down, clearly troubled by the possibility of never seeing Hook again. No idea why. He was the worst thing that happened to Neverland. My mind was chanting, 'Take Hook to England,' but I knew that wouldn't do any good for Madeline at the moment.

...

OH MY GOODNESS. It has been such a terribly long time since I've updated for you guys! I'm sorry it's so short. I just couldn't figure out what to do next with the story (ugh writer's block will be the death of me...), and I felt like you guys needed something so that you all know I am, in fact, still on Wattpad.

Again, I'm sorry for such the long wait for such a short chapter.

I will definitely try to update as soon as I can! (Next chapter there will be some more Hook, promise.) Love you all!

~ StarrySkies7