Disclaimer: I do not own HnKnA, just Maddie, Penelope, Gabrielle, and Avery, and certain parts of the plot. :)
Maddie's POV
"Maddie! We're coming in!" exclaims a familiar voice. I don't try to bar the door as my three best friends come barging into my room. I smile in greeting, but soon return to my book. It's the Alice in the Country of Hearts manga. I've read the series about three times, but it's still really good. I'm such a sucker for love stories and the like. Avery jumps onto my bed while Gabrielle collapses onto my mini couch and Penelope sits on the nearby ottoman.
"Where you been? Don't tell me you've cooped yourself up here all day!" says Penelope as she pulls out her phone and starts texting.
"Yep. It's one of my lazy days." I reply.
Avery scoffs and shuts my book before I can protest. I gape at her. I didn't even mark my place!
"Well, we're going to change that! Come on, Bookworm. We're going for a walk." she grins.
I make a face. "Yeah, but you made me lose my place." I object, poking her hard in her side. She yelps at the Taze. "Now we're even."
Avery merely sticks out her tongue like a 5 year old.
"Well are we going or not? I'd like to get home before the end of the year." comments Gabrielle playfully.
"Yeah, okay. Hold on, I'm coming." I answer, jumping off of the bed and pulling on my tennis shoes.
3rd Person POV
Nightmare studied the four girls in the bedroom. They seemed like interesting enough foreigners. Like they'd put a twist in the game. One girl, a petite blonde, sat beside the small couch, grinning teasingly at her friends, cornflower-blue eyes twinkling in delight. The girl beside her had long curly dark auburn-brown hair, with gray eyes. She held a phone on which she texted, not unlike most teenagers from their world. The other two girls sat on the bed. The first, a fairly pretty brunette with not-quite-dark-blue eyes. She looked as if she was trying to convince the other to do something. The second girl's dark brown hair fell over her face as she became engrossed in the book she read. Large, thickly eye-lashed dark amber eyes traveled quickly over the text. She was interrupted as the first girl shut her book in front of her. The second girl gaped at her in surprise. It was a bit amusing, her expression.
The Incubus heard the clearing of a throat and turned around to find the very role-holders he'd been expecting: Peter, Ace, and the Bloody Twins. Nightmare had been worried about having Dee and Dum help retrieve the foreigners, but was eventually convinced. No one else would do it. Nightmare waved away the image of the girls and then greeted his guests.
"Who are the foreigners, then?" asked Peter, getting straight to the point and looking very uninterested.
He'd never seemed to have quite gotten over Alice. If only he knew what became of her, thought Nightmare. The girl had passed away some 150 years ago, though only a couple of years passed in the Country of Hearts.
"They are four 17 year old girls who go by the names of Avery Gilmore, Maddie Bryant, Penelope Archer, and Gabrielle Kingston. I trust you know the procedures on bringing an Outsider into the Country of Hearts?" said Nightmare. The four role-holders nodded in reply.
He pointed out which role-holder was to retrieve which of the friends and sent them quickly on their way. There was no time to lose. Everything had to be just right. This would be quite an entertaining game.
Maddie's POV
The crisp fall air gently brushes against my face. I've always loved autumn. Unfortunately, Penelope and Avery are interrupting my zoning-out.
"Hey Maddie. You're sprinting in the spring, right?" asked Penelope.
I nod in reply. "Of course!"
I try to go back to daydreaming, but my friends insist on dragging me into reality kicking and screaming.
"Hey, do you guys want to play around with the Frisbee?" asks Gabrielle, pulling a tie-dye disk out of a bag that I notice was slung over her shoulder.
"Sure." we all agree.
We spread out around in the grass, passing it between us. At times, we have to jump in order to catch it. Especially Avery's throws. Let's just say she doesn't have the best aim. At one point, Gabrielle throws it to me, and I miss the Frisbee as it flies into the trees behind me. Gabrielle sighs as she chases after it and disappears in the greenery. Avery collapses beneath a large oak and leans her head against the trunk.
She looks up at it, thinks for a moment, and then starts to climb.
"Avery, what are you doing?" I ask. I swear that girl is part monkey.
"What does it look like? I'm climbing a tree."
"Why? Gabrielle's coming right back. You'll just have to get back down."
She ignores me and continues to climb.
"Hey, guys?" asks Penelope, distracted. "Do you think we should look for her? I mean, it shouldn't be taking this long."
Avery jumps down from her spot in the tree and looks around the park, as if Gabrielle would just stroll by us.
"Yeah. Why don't you and I go look for her?" she asks Penelope. Then she turns to me. "You can stay here in case she comes back."
Penelope and I nod. They go into the trees, starting to call Gabrielle's name. Where is she? Seriously, how does it take this long to find a Frisbee? A Frisbee? I wait patiently for a while. That's when I decide to just go look for her on my own. I walk to the woods, opening my mouth to call Gabrielle's name, when suddenly the ground opens up in front of me. A gaping pit in the middle of the park. Well that's something you don't see everyday. I stand back, waiting to see if anything will come jumping out, like a monster of something. That'd be pretty cool, now that I think about it. Nothing happens. I walk a little closer to the hole and lean over a bit to try to see the bottom, if there is one. All I can see is blackness. Weird. Then I feel the forceful hands on my back and I tumble down into the pit.
I scream at the top of my lungs as I plummet down, farther and farther into the hole. "No! I'm too young to die!"
"You're not gonna die. What made you think that?" asks a voice, perfectly calm, despite the fact that we're falling at a crazy speed. I look up as best I can and see I'm being accompanied by a boy in a blue soldier outfit. He must be the one who pushed me in.
"Are you crazy? We're falling! I hate heights!" I yell back. There's a light coming up ahead. Funny, in most movies they're all like, "Stay away from the light!" and here we are going straight towards it.
"You're not going to die." chuckles the boy, his laughter ringing in my ears as the light swallows me whole.
Gabrielle's POV (earlier...)
I sigh as I run into the woods behind Maddie. Good job, Gabrielle. You threw it as far as you could and where does it get you? Running around in the woods chasing after a Frisbee. I get to a clearing and stop for a minute. Where could it have gone? So much for the bright ideas. Then I hear the rustling in the bushes. I look up to see a pretty cute, but crazily tall guy step out of the trees. With his bright red and black trench-coat-looking outfit, I'm surprised I didn't spot him from miles away.
"Excuse me." he says. "Would you happen to be Gabrielle Kingston?"
Uh, weird guy who knows my name, get away from me! "Um, yeah. Why?" I answer.
In response, I suddenly feel myself being lifted off the ground. "What the-" I exclaim as the guy throws me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I start to kick him, trying to get him to put me down. "What do you think you're doing?" I yell at him.
He frowns. "Please calm down, Gabrielle. I can't go as fast when you struggle and kick."
I groan. "That's kind of the point! I don't exactly enjoy being carried by some creepy stranger who knows my name!"
"Then I'm guessing you won't be enjoying this." comments the guy. I'm about to ask what the heck he's talking about, when he throws me. I expect to hit the ground, but realize I'm falling. I scream as I speed quickly down into the earth.
Penelope's POV
Oh. My. Gosh. What just happened? One minute I'm in the woods of the park, having split up from Avery to find Gabrielle, the next thing I know, this man with bunny ears is kidnapping me and taking me down a gigantic hole. Now I've landed here, trying to figure out where 'here' is. I see the bunny-man coming towards me.
"Penelope, are you okay?" he asks. "I forget how delicate Outsiders can be after falling through the portal."
"Excuse me?" I say, backing up as he comes closer. "What do you mean, 'Outsiders'? How can you kidnap a teenage girl, carry them down a hole leading to who-knows-where and expect them to be 'okay'?"
He reaches into his plaid jacket to reveal a glass bottle with a heart-shaped stopper. "You're in Wonderland. Your other questions will be answered soon enough." he replies, kneeling down and leaning close to me. "Do you like games, Penelope?" he murmurs before draining the vial of its contents and pressing his mouth against mine. I open my mouth in surprise, something I instantly regret doing. He's making me drink it, I realize! I try to shove him away, but it's no use. Only when there's nothing left, does he finally let me go. I turn to the side, trying to cough it up.
"What *cough* did you *cough cough* make me drink?" I say between gags and coughs.
"It's known as the Potion of Hearts. Once you drink it, you have to play the game. Oh, and I'm Peter White, by the way." he answers as he starts to turn away.
"Wait, what's the game?" I ask when I get it through my head that my attempts aren't working, but he doesn't reply and only walks away until he disappears completely, leaving me on my own. Okay, this is not cool. What did he say this place was? Wonderland? Like "Alice in Wonderland"? That's crazy, though. Everything's out of place. How is the white rabbit a guy with bunny ears who kidnaps people? I thought it was literally a rabbit. Shouldn't it be, though? Questions keep popping into my head. I try to stand on wobbly legs and notice I'm on the roof of a building. I should probably see if there's anyone around. There's a staircase leading down and so I follow them, hoping to find someone to bombard with questions. I'm already feeling sorry for them in advance. Poor random person who has the unfortunate luck of stumbling upon a kidnapped teenage girl who had her first kiss stolen by a wacky guy with bunny ears.