Chapter 80
Chapter Eighty
ALICE
"She's real." I don't know why I know that, but I do. I feel it so deep inside me that if anyone were to prove it wasn't true, I'd still call them a liar. "Sophia?" Her name escapes my lips in a breathless whisper, as if speaking it too loudly might shatter the reality around us.
She isn't looking at us, isn't accusing us like the others.
She isn't hurling accusations designed solely to break our minds.
She's on her knees in the centre of the room, wrists bound by chains that rattle as she strains against them.
I push at the door, but it doesn't budge.
The handle doesn't even wriggle beneath my desperate grip.
It's locked. Of course it's locked. Why would it be anything else?
Hook steps up. "Let me," and I press against the glass panel beside the door and knock. "Sophia?"
Her red hair hangs in tangled snarls, the intricate braids unravelled. Dirt streaks her face, her once-vibrant clothes now dull and tattered, as if the very life has been drained from the fabric. "What happened to you?"
Hook takes a step back, then raises his foot.
"Hook..." I start, but he's already in motion and his foot slams into the panel of the door.
It does nothing but make it rattle. "That's not going to—" I start, but he's already kicking again, and this time, the door flies open with a splintering crack that echoes through the chamber.
I don't hesitate. I rush to Sophia's side, dropping to my knees before her.
"Sophia," I breathe, reaching for her hands.
Her eyes are open but unseeing, like clouded mirrors reflecting nothing.
I wave my hands before her face, grab her bound wrists.
Heart-shaped keyholes mock us from the chains, their intricate patterns seeming to shift in the dim light.
Hook is at the wall where the locks are attached by large bent pins.
He rattles at them, trying to reach, but they're high and we have nothing to climb on.
"Mama, I'm sorry," Sophia says. Tears streak down her cheeks, leaving clean trails through the grime.
"I didn't mean to. I..." She nods, her bottom lip trembling.
Her face crumples at whatever she's reliving.
"She's dreaming," Hook says, and I know. She's doing exactly what we did, stuck in moments of our lives--the worst moments. Sophia cries out, a sound of pure anguish that tears at my heart like broken glass.
"Get her out of these," I plead, not to Hook, but to myself, to anyone, as my fingers try to pry at the cuffs around her slim wrists.
Hook takes her hands, pushes her sleeves up so he can see. "We need a key." He pulls at the chains just to be sure, but they're locked down tight and will be made of the best metals. I know this. Hook knows this too.
"Hold her hands still." Maybe I can undo them myself.
It's worth a shot. I place my hands at hers, giving room for Hook to hold her still so I can focus.
I visualise my magic going in and turning the catches inside to free her.
I imagine the clasps coming undone and the metal binds clanging to the floor.
I imagine it all, in so many ways that my mind reels.
I let out a breath. "It's no use. I can't get them undone. "
He grabs her chin and tilts her head so we can see those swirling lilac eyes of hers.
"It's not you. The chains will be magic-bound.
" He leans back on his haunches, and his mind is working, thinking.
Sophia cries out in front of us again and I hold her hand tight, hoping that somehow, she knows someone is here with her.
Someone has her, whatever it is she's living through.
"What if you tried the ones in the wall? They're not linked to her. Perhaps those aren't the same and you can get them undone."
Maybe. "Will you hold her?"
He takes her hand in place of mine. I don't want to leave her.
His fingers brush mine as he does and at first, I think it's Hook's hand that grabs my wrist, but it's Sophia.
She looks right at me, those eyes of hers focusing for just a second.
"You have to help me," she pleads, her grip so tight that her nails threaten to break my skin. "You have to go to him and..."
"Sophia--"
She blinks.
"She's fighting it," Hook says.
"The Queen found out." She shakes her head, a violent, jerking motion. For a second, her gaze unfocuses, lost in whatever terrible vision haunts her. "No, no... I can't..."
I cup her face in my hands, my own eyes stinging with unshed tears. "Sophia, it's Alice. Look at me."
Her eyes meet mine, glassy and haunted like shattered stained glass. "I can't hold on," she whispers. "It's too strong."
"It isn't real," I tell her fiercely, pouring every ounce of conviction into my words. "None of it is real."
"She has him," Sophia chokes out. "She found out, and she took him."
"Who? Who does she have?" Hook asks.
Sophia shakes her head again, eyes squeezing shut as if she can block out the images by sheer force of will.
"No. Not real." She opens her eyes, fixing me with a stare that seems to pierce my very soul, those swirling purple depths pulling me in.
"Thorn. The Queen has Thorn. He helped you, and now she has him. "
"Where does she have him?" Hook drops beside me, his shoulder pressing against mine as he leans in. "The Queen?"
Those swirling purple eyes fix on him, but I feel her trembling beneath my hands.
"Your amulet is in the throne room. You have to get it.
She has it. It's... too much power. Too.
.." She shakes her head, pushes up on her knees until her face hovers inches from mine, her breath warm against my cheek.
"You know where it is. Get it. Save him. Save... Wonderland."
Her face contorts, twisting with urgency and fear. "You have to get to the throne. You have to sit on it. She hides it. She stole it."
She turns to Hook, desperate now, her words tumbling out. "She has to take the throne. The wrong magic steals from this world. Takes it. You have to get her there. You have to make her see. The right Queen has the amulet. Then we'll all be free."
"Riddles?"
"No." Hook's hand closes around my arm, his grip firm but gentle as he pulls me up. "The truth."