I woke up in my dorm room alone. It was sad. No one had cleaned the shattered glass of the vanity. I looked up at the time realizing I was running late. I quickly changed and ran out to the courtyard to find the others.
I barrelled into Kamal. "Whoa, sis, it's okay we weren't leaving without you."
"Not the point!" I yelled rushing past them towards the beach. "Harriet's going to kill me for being late!"
"Harriet's going to what!?" Léo asked chasing after me.
Kamal, Sara, and Quinn run after us ignoring the stares we were getting.
We arrived on the beach, and I smiled looking out to the horizon. "There she is!"
"It's been a day," Sara said laughing.
I shrugged squeezing Sara's arm. "I've missed Valkyrie."
Sara opened her mouth to say more, but Ani appeared between us. "Ready to board Valkyrie?"
Without waiting for an answer from us, Ani teleported us to the deck of Valkyrie.
"Dia!" CJ exclaimed jumping on me.
"Ow! Can't hold you!" I exclaimed shaking her off.
CJ laughed slipping off of me. I looked around at everyone. "It's nice to see everyone together."
"Not for much longer," Alex added.
"True," Sara mumbled.
"Look," Kamal said grabbing my attention. He was now holding a scepter, the Oracle, of course. "The barrier is falling apart on the Isle we'll need as many allies as we can get."
"Or we could ignore it," Uma mumbled coming from below the deck.
"Uma!" I ran up giving her hug.
"Hey Dia," she smiled returning the hug.
"Uma, you and I are both smart enough to know that's a bad idea," Kamal said.
"The barrier breaking down equals war, and war is devastating," Ming Yu added.
"Look, we may not like it, but we need to establish an alliance now." Harriet said, "Even with our enemies."
"I do warn you, my father loves his scare tactics," Lauren said stepping off the rail she had been leaning on. "But it's all just an act."
"Maddie and Jack may be insane but they're intelligent," Léo added. "They'll listen to reason."
"And Pan," Quinn mumbled. "Well, we just have to have the right leverage with Pan."
"And we will," I smirked glancing at Andre who nodded to me.
"If your shadow plan doesn't work, remind him that he only operates because I allow him to," Alex said.
"What?" Asked Sara.
"Alexois, God of the Lost," they bowed. "All lost things, lost people, lost souls, lost earrings, you get the idea. My job is to guide lost souls to my father. I believe you call them ghosts."
I smiled. "That's my all powerful best friend!"
"So, do we have a rendezvous?" Taylor asked.
"We have communication devices," Anwar said with a hint of hope in his voice.
"They're right we need a rendezvous point," Kamal mumbled digging through Ani's bag.
"How about my ship considering Neverland is the only place you don't have to magically travel to," Harriet snapped.
"I mean..." Gil mumbled.
"Found it!" Kamal exclaimed causing everyone to turn to him. He was holding a bundle of fabric.
I smiled. Of course! He threw it at me. "Careful! Kamal!"
"Um, what is that?" Gil asked.
I smirked. "Old family heirloom," I began unraveling it. Anwar smiled realizing what it was. "Any of you practice alchemy?"
Kamal laughed. I began unraveling the gold linens.
"The hand of Midas," Harry whispered stepping closer to it.
"No way!" Freddie exclaimed. "I thought this was a myth!"
"Andre, I believe our arranged payment was 15 Troy ounces?" I smirked and handed him the solid gold linen. "It might be more than the original price, but I figured you wouldn't mind."
"You guys still have that!?" Maise exclaimed.
"Have you really never wondered why Agrabah is so rich in comparison to the other kingdoms?" I asked.
"And technically," Kamal said. "It was in the Forty Thieves treasure room, not Agrabah's."
I nodded in agreement. "Our grandfather, Cassem, found it after a lifetime of searching. Dad thinks he gave it up, but he didn't. He left it for us."
"And if any of you tell Aladdin we have it, I won't hesitate to turn you to gold and sell you as a garden ornament." Kamal threatened.
I rolled my eyes wrapping the hand back up watching the linen turn to gold before my very eyes.
"We should all head out," Zhen Nan said looking at his watch. "Time works very differently in the places we will be."
We nodded in agreement splitting into groups.
That night we were all on the deck of Valkyrie talking.
"So weird things about yourself go," Taylor said taking a swig of the rum they held.
"Oh, I am winning this one," Quinn said smiling. "My hair glows when I sing. It heals people too. It's said my tears may be able to raise the recently dead."
Uma snorted. "That's all? I turn into a giant octopus when provoked in the water."
"Lame," Quinn exclaimed. "Where is the necromancy?"
"I've got the necromancy," Andre smirked.
Quinn rolled his eyes. "Maybe, but I don't have to make deals with demons to practice necromancy."
"Why are we talking about raising the dead?" I asked absentmindedly petting Vitani.
"As long as no one starts talking about necrophilia, we can talk about raising the dead all the time." CJ snapped.
"Oh my God, did my mom commit necrophilia? I mean my dad did die," Quinn put his hands to his temple thinking it over.
"I think as long as your dad wasn't dead when they actually fucked it doesn't count," Harry replied putting a hand on his shoulder.
"What did I just say?" CJ snapped.
"Cal, you're the one that brought it up." Harriet said laughing causing the rest of us to fall into laughter.
"Ugh," I stood up. "You guys ready to do this?"
They all nodded grimly.
"Now remember there is a possibility that I get transported to Neverland before you can finish the spell to bind the shadow," I said.
"Dia, I wish we didn't have to possibly sacrifice you to that demon," Harriet said.
"I'll be fine, sis," I smiled. "I'll keep him in the hurricane eye."
Harriet smiled. "It's not you I worry about."
"Please," I waved her off. "Peter won't know what hit him."
I looked up at the second star to the right. I had everyone take their place hidden ready to perform the spell.
"Hey, Peter, I've thought about it," I said sighing. "I want to come to Neverland. I need somewhere I belong. Please, take me away."
Within seconds, the moonlight disappeared from my face. I smirked nodding to Andre.
Shadow grabbed my arm and began to fly towards the star. Suddenly, the shadow was sucked back towards the ship, and I was free falling.
I braced for impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes to be greeted with the giant face of Uma. She was holding me in one of her tentacles.
"We did it," I breathed in disbelief as Uma placed me on the deck.
"Yeah! We did!" Quinn exclaimed.
"On to Neverland?" Harriet asked smirking.
Uma shrank and climbed on board. I took her hand squeezing it in thanks. I turned back to Harriet. "On to Neverland."
I stopped at the rabbit hole. "I don't know what I was expecting," Freddie said.
"It wasn't this," Léo added.
I looked down but couldn't see anything. "Ow!" I jumped back as a man climbed out.
"Who are you? What are you looking for?" He snapped climbing out and staring me down. He was dressed oddly. He had a top hat and a waistcoat. He held a pocket watch in his left hand.
"Wyles! Help me," a girl exclaimed struggling to come out of the rabbit hole.
Rolling his eyes, Wyles went to lift her up. She was dressed like him, that is to say just as oddly as he was.
"You must be Kamal," the girl exclaimed. "You're exactly as Maddie described."
"You know Maddie," Sara said.
"Mhhmm," she nodded. "I'm Maria, Maddie's childhood best friend." She curtsied.
"You are very late," Wyles sneered.
"Do you like riddles?" Maria asked ignoring Wyles. "I love them. Why is a ruler like a river?"
"Both are unrelenting," Ming Yu snickered.
"Oh! Possibly!" Maria skipped around the group.
"Tick tock. Tick tock. You should be gone according to the clock," Wyles mumbled gesturing to the rabbit hole.
"What could go wrong?" I said jumping in.
"Lots of things Kamal," Léo yelled after me.
"I didn't ask you, Miss Future Valedictorian!" I shouted back now falling towards Wonderland.
The six of us landed roughly in the middle of a village. "Sorry guys," I apologized.
"It's fine," Quilla said smiling at me.
Gil offered to help me up off the ground. I blushed taking his hand. He pulled me to him. We were nose to nose. I blushed again. I forgot how strong he was.
"So Lauren, where do we go from here?" Zhen Nan asked.
"This way," she mumbled pulling her hood further down to better hide her face.
"What should we watch out for?" Maise asked noticing Lauren's nervousness.
"My half-sister," she growled. "And villagers."
"Half-sister?" I asked.
"Yeah, she's a total priss," Lauren snapped.
We all shared a look.
"Come on," Lauren walked faster.
We rushed to catch up.
We came to a foreboding forest.
"We have to go through that?" I asked.
"Yep," Lauren said walking in.
"Wait, shouldn't we rethink this," I protested but she ignored me.
"Fine," I mumbled and followed her.
I flipped through the pages of my book looking for the correct spell.
"Evan, have you found the spell?" Ley snapped.
"I'm looking you idiot," I snapped at her.
"Maybe ask it," she snapped back.
I slammed the book shut. Placing my hand over the cover I thought of the spell I needed. The book flew open. I smirked. "Where's Ann? I found it."
"Ann!" Ley yelled.
"My dearest boy, though wouldst hate me in the morning," Ann mumbled to a man she had attached herself to.
"Ann!" I yelled. "It is not the time!"
"I just love to play with them," she smirked.
They gathered around my book reading the spell. "This will work perfectly." Ley said.
"It will do nicely," I smirked.
