Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
ALICE
The maze sprawls out before us, thorny hedges towering above, twisting in every direction, stretching into oblivion. It’s dark and oppressive, like the place is holding its breath, just waiting for us to mess up.
“Of course, it’s a maze,” I mutter. Why would anything in Wonderland be straightforward? This place wasn't nearly as horrific when I was a kid.
I throw a look at Hook, who, as usual, looks infuriatingly unfazed. He just stands there, arms crossed, waiting, like this is all just a stroll through the park. Typical. “Well, go on, lead the way, Captain Marvellous,” I say, gesturing ahead.
He arches a brow. “Captain Marvellous?” His lips curl into a slow grin. “You know, I rather like that.”
“It wasn’t meant as a compliment,” I snap back, but he’s clearly too entertained to care.
“Compliment or not, I’ll take it.” He tilts his head towards the maze entrance, thorny and narrow. “Aren't you leading this one? After all, you’re the ‘Wonderland expert.’”
I glance up at the towering walls, fingers brushing along the twisted branches.
“This isn’t the Wonderland I remember.” Everything feels…
wrong. The entrance pulses with a kind of life, the thorns seem sharper, more malicious.
Something tells me once we step inside, it won’t let us out so easily.
But it’s either face this or go back to the forest—and I’m not eager for a second round with those spiders.
I step forward, and Hook follows, close enough that his presence feels like a shadow over my shoulder. For once, he’s silent. We twist and turn through the maze—left, right, left again. The air grows thick, heavy, the dark hedges closing in as though they’re waiting to strike.
“So,” I say, glancing back at him. Maybe we can actually have a conversation. I start with something of interest to him. “The Queen stole…”
“Neverland’s amulet,” he finishes, his voice taut.
“And that’s what gives Neverland its magic? I thought the place just ran on pixie dust. At least, that’s what the stories say.”
His expression twists into something like a grimace. “It does. The amulet’s filled with it.”
I frown. “So… why not just make another one?”
He stops dead, looking at me as if I’ve grown another head. “Brilliant idea. I’ll just pop back to Neverland, tell everyone all we need to do is whip up another one.” He feigns turning back, a mocking expression plastered on his face.
I halt, hands on my hips, glaring right back. “You know, a simple ‘it doesn’t work that way’ would’ve sufficed. Is sarcasm your default setting, or are you always this… cranky?”
“Cranky?” His brows shoot up. “I’m not cranky.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
We move on, taking another left, then another.
I stop in my tracks, groaning as the path cuts off.
“Dead end.” Frustrated, I back up, colliding squarely with Hook.
His arms instinctively come around me to keep us both steady, and for a moment, we’re too close—close enough that I can feel his breath on my cheek, the roughness of his grip as he holds me.
“Do try watching where you’re going, love,” he murmurs, voice low and too damn smug.
“Then stop hovering,” I bite out, pushing myself out of his hold, feeling my cheeks heat. But his smirk says it all. He’s enjoying every second of this. If there’s one thing Hook knows how to do well, it’s get under my skin.
Hook smirks, unbothered as always, his eyes full of that irritating confidence that’s practically taunting me at this point.
“Princess, I—”
Without thinking, I slap my hand over his mouth.
“Don’t even say it.” His mouth is warm and firm under my palm, and there’s something about the feel of his skin against mine that sends a strange shiver through me.
I pull my hand back, and it takes everything I’ve got to ignore the way my heart’s doing a ridiculous tap dance in my chest. I take a breath to steady myself.
“Alice,” I say, firmly. “Just call me Alice.”
For a split second, his gaze holds mine, piercing, as if he’s looking right into me, past every wall I’ve ever put up. It’s unnerving, and not helping my racing pulse one bit. His lips twitch slightly, and I can see he’s about to ruin the moment.
“Alice,” he repeats, then adds with that infuriating smirk, “Princess Alice.”
I groan in annoyance. “Why are you like this?” I shake my head, moving away before he can come up with another witty retort.
We keep moving through the maze, turning and turning, only to hit dead end after dead end. Finally, he lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Would you like me to take over?”
I throw my arms out, gesturing to the endless maze around us. “Be my guest if you think you know the way,” I say.
He shoots me a self-assured grin and strides off with infuriating confidence, shrugging slightly as if this is all just some fun game.
I follow, and for a while, it feels like we’re making progress as we take turn after turn down long, twisting paths.
But instead of leading us anywhere useful, we end up right back in another dead end.
“Brilliant,” I mutter after what feels like an eternity. “Maybe you’ve got us even more lost?”
“Or maybe you got us so lost in the first place, and I’m the one trying to get us un-lost. Ever think of that?”
“No, because I’m not a condescending pig.”
“Oh, Princess,” he sighs, lifting his shoulders in a mock-pleased shrug. “So much affection today. Whatever did I do to deserve it?”
I bite my lip, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a reaction, but he just laughs, striding off ahead like he owns the place.
We wander on, the maze stretching out endlessly, mocking us at every turn.
It feels like hours, with every corner looking the same, the walls towering above and closing in.
It’s exhausting, and I’m beginning to feel like this maze is laughing at us.
Finally, I stop, leaning against one of the thorny walls, my patience wearing dangerously thin. Out of sheer desperation, I glance down at my watch. The step counter reads over twenty thousand steps.
“Wow,” I mutter to myself.
Hook smirks as he looks over my shoulder at the maze that has, by some magical trickery, wound us into circles for hours.
He seems irritatingly amused by my frustration, like this is all some grand joke.
I lift my wrist, staring at the watch face.
“Twenty-two thousand, seventy-three steps,” I mutter.
“What?” His eyes flicker with a trace of interest as he steps closer, gripping my wrist to pull the watch to where he can see it. “You Hollowlands actually count how many steps you take? Why? Is there a medal at the end of the day?”
I open my mouth to explain, but any answer I come up with will only feed his sarcasm. “It’s just a thing.”
“Oh, just a thing,” he mocks, voice laced with patronising amusement. “How precious.”
I snatch my arm back. “Shut up.”
“‘Shut up,’” he repeats in a high-pitched, grating mimic of my voice.
“You’re so childish.”
“‘Oh, you’re so childish,’” he mocks again, hands on his hips.
I stare him down, hands on my hips, as the urge to strangle him grows stronger. “Really? We’re doing this?”
“‘Really, we’re doing this?’” He mimics again.
Letting out a deep, irritated sigh, I drop to the ground and lean back against the thorny hedge.
“I need a rest,” I say, my voice laced with exasperation.
“I’m tired, I’m thirsty, and this is getting us nowhere, and you're driving me nuts.” Why, of all the people I had to be stuck with, did I get you?
Hook sighs, then reaches into his jacket, producing a flask. He extends it towards me. “Here. Water.”
I stare at it, wary.
“It’s just water,” he says with a dramatic eye roll, unscrewing the cap and taking a swig himself before handing it back to me. “Don’t be stubborn.”
“Me, stubborn?” I snatch the flask, shooting him a hard look. “Have you looked in a mirror lately?”
He places a hand under his chin, giving me an exaggerated, self-satisfied smile. “Every day, darling, and it’s a wonderful sight to behold.”
“Oh, for the love of God…” I mutter, bringing the flask to my nose to sniff it suspiciously before taking a sip. The water is shockingly cold, refreshing in a way that almost makes the headache from dealing with him ease for a moment.
But before I get more than two gulps, he yanks it back, raising an eyebrow at me. “No need to drink it all, Princess. I know you’re used to being pampered, but—”
“Will ... you ... stop ... calling ... me ‘Princess’?”
He smirks. “Whatever you say, Princess.”
I glare at him, my patience stretched thin. “You are, without a doubt, the most annoying person I have ever met in the entire history of my life.”
He bows, sweeping his hand out in a mock display. “Thank you, my lady.”
I'm going to kill him.
I sink back against the hedge, savouring the brief relief as the ache in my legs eases. Hook, meanwhile, can’t seem to sit still for even a second. He paces, restless, glancing down each twisting path as if the maze might somehow give up its secrets just because he’s in a hurry.
“Are you really going to just sit here?” he finally says, turning to me.
“I just need a break. Not everyone operates on full-throttle all the time. What’s your problem with sitting still?”
He lets out an exaggerated huff and starts fidgeting, brushing at his coat, tugging at his sleeves. “I just want to get the amulet and leave. Get back to Neverland and save the world.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Save yourself, you mean.” His expression hardens. I gesture for him to sit. “We can rest a bit; the maze isn’t going anywhere.”
“For how long?” he asks, already agitated.
I shrug. “I don’t know. You can go if you want. If you think you know the way out, then by all means—don’t let me stop you.”
For a moment, he hesitates, his hand flying to his hair, brushing it back in that way he does when something’s genuinely bothering him.
It’s a tell, and for someone who wears his ego like armour, it’s surprisingly human.
But instead of answering, he just nods sharply, throws me one last look, and strides off, his boots crunching along the path.
I watch him disappear around a bend, swallowed up by the dark, twisting hedges.
The silence that follows is almost suspiciously thick, as if the maze itself is waiting for something.
But Wonderland isn’t known for staying silent long; sooner or later, it’ll make its next move. I close my eyes, listening, waiting.
Nothing. Not a single sound, not even the wind.
Thirty minutes pass, and I glance at my watch, frowning.
Surely, he wouldn’t actually leave, would he?
A twist of something uncomfortable wriggles in my stomach.
Hook was irritating, rude, an absolute thorn in my side—but actually leaving? Really? I didn’t think he would.
“Men,” I mutter, hugging my knees. Chris used to play this game too—disappearing whenever I pointed out his nonsense, waiting for me to “calm down.” It was infuriating.
He’d always say he was leaving, but he never did.
He’d storm out, let me stew in silence, then come back like nothing happened. But Hook…
“Fine,” I say out loud, voice firm, though there’s no one here to hear me.
“Fine, fine, fine. I don’t need him. I don’t need anyone.
” I lean back, trying to ignore the strange hollow feeling his absence leaves behind.
But I don’t need him. I battled Wonderland last time without him. This time will be no different. Only…
I sit up, narrowing my eyes at a dark shape moving toward me in the distance, growing larger and more hurried by the second. “What in the heck is…?”
“Alice.” Hook’s voice cuts through the silence, loud, urgent. He’s running, his eyes wild, hair slightly dishevelled, and it’s enough to send a surge of unease straight through me.
“Alice, get up,” he shouts, panic edging his voice. “Run, now.”
I stumble to my feet, heart hammering as his urgency sinks in, but before I can ask what’s coming, he grabs my hand, pulling me into a sprint as shadows twist and curl down the path, swallowing everything in their path.
“Keep moving,” he says, his voice sharp, his grip firm as he pulls me along.
"What the hell is that?"