A Tale That Could Not Be

Selvina’s heart stopped and she held her breath as Pan slowly walked down the red carpet toward the throne. He had a disturbing grin on his face and was looking straight ahead at the queen. He had not glanced at Selvina once. It was as if he didn’t see her though Selvina knew better. Even he had to show the queen some respect.

“Peety Weety!” the queen cried out with glee. “It is good to see you!”

Peter Pan bowed politely. “It is always a pleasure to see you too, great one. I have seen many ugly things in my travels but you remind me that there is at least one beautiful thing left in this world.”

Such a charmer, Selvina thought with disgust. Her heart was still racing but she had calmed slightly. Selvina was still deeply disturbed as to why he had not even looked in her direction. What was he up to? Surely he couldn’t be fooled by her new hair colour, could he?

“You are here for your reward, I hear?” the queen asked.

“Yes,” Pan replied with a nod of his orange head. “That is if my servants are serving you well, of course.”

“Indeed they are! The blonde one has given me much hair and that brunette is working the kitchens. She makes delicious stew and the best buns I’ve had in quite some time. She could smile a little more, though.”

“That pleases me greatly.”

Wendy was working the kitchens, Selvina noted. She was alive, though apparently unhappy. It wasn’t difficult to discover why but she hoped that she didn’t lose herself to depression. She needed her ready to escape once she found her.

“Now for your reward,” the queen said. “You wish to find those fairies, right?”

“I most certainly do.”

“The latest reports have them around the south-eastern section of the forest. More to the south, though. I wish you the best of luck in finding them. You are free to take as many as you like.”

“You are too kind. I thank you for this news, your highness.”

And then it happened.

Pan snapped his gaze directly at Selvina and grinned wider. He then pointed a finger at her and said, “You have an imposter, my queen.”

“What?” she exclaimed in shock. “Where?”

“Her!” Pan said, jabbing his finger in Selvina’s direction.

Selvina was petrified with ice-cold fear. She saw no way out of this predicament. The guards across the throne room, guarding the door, were watching the scene intently, their weapons held at the ready. She couldn’t run that way. The knave’s shadow loomed over her, blocking that path of escape. She looked up at the queen, whose entire body was shaking in anger.

“What does he mean by that, Samantha?”

Selvina decided then that if she went down she wouldn’t do so sitting in fear. She stood up and clenched her hands into fists. “The name is Selvina and I don’t know what he means by that. I come here to be your servant; that is all!”

“She is here for her friends,” Pan said with a chuckle. “The two girls I brought were her friends and now she thinks she can take them away from you.”

“Take them away from me?” asked the irate queen. “FROM ME?!”

“Pan is lying! I don’t know those two girls! I am here for you, queen of queens!”

“She is a trickster,” Pan said to the queen, his grin widening even more. “She cannot be trusted. That’s not even her real hair colour!”

“What do you mean by that?” the queen asked in confusion.

“Squeeze the hair and find out.”

The queen gestured to the knave and he went to action.

Selvina felt an iron grip clench her right shoulder and squeeze tightly. The pain intensified to unbearable levels and she found herself on her knees, wincing in agony. The knave’s other hand then roughly gripped her hair and pulled on it. Selvina, her eyes shut from all the pain, heard the queen gasp and heard a squishing sound as the red paint was squeezed out from her hair. When the knave let her go, only to shove her to the ground, she knew it was all over now. As much as she wanted to cower and cry, she held her tears back and started to rise.

The knave grabbed her shoulder and pushed Selvina back on her knees. “Down!” Selvina shrugged his hand away and stared at the surprised queen, awaiting her fate.

“Kill her now,” Pan whispered to her, giggling with glee. “She tricked you, great queen. She cannot be forgiven for that.”

The queen narrowed her eyes as her face reddened with anger. “OFF WITH HER HEAD!!” she boomed.

Peter Pan jumped for joy and Selvina failed to stop a tear from sliding down her cheek. The queen stood, walked up to Selvina, and jabbed her with the sceptre. “How dare you defy me! How dare you come here and pretend to want to know me and get close to me only to trick me! You are trying to overthrow me, I know it. You certainly didn’t come here for your friends and that’s for sure!” She grabbed a stand of Selvina’s hair and examined it closely. “It is fortunate that you have such wonderful hair. It will be a shame that I will have to kill you but I will at least get a few extra strands of gold from it all.”

“Your highness,” the knave started, “I despise being the bearer of bad news but the guillotine is currently under maintenance. It will be ready by the morning, however.”

“Blast!” the queen cried out, slamming her sceptre against her throne.

“Decapitate her with an axe or a sword,” Pan suggested. “I can do it right now!”

“No,” the queen said with a shake of her head. “It must be done by Cutter. It is tradition. Tomorrow morning is not so bad, I suppose. It allows me to gather the people and show them what it means to betray me. They constantly need to be reminded, after all.”

“A wise move, your highness,” uttered the knave.

Pan shrugged. “As long as she gets to die, I’ll be happy.” He shot Selvina a toothy grin and she looked away, failing to stop a second tear from escaping.

“Do you wish for her hair to be cut off now, queen of queens?” asked the knave.

“No, wait until morning, for everyone to see. It will be longer then, if only by a little, but every strand counts. For now, toss her back into her cell, where she can be reminded what happens to those that threaten me.” She grabbed Selvina’s chin and tilted it upwards, looking into her eyes. “Have you nothing to say?”

Selvina spit in her face.

“GET HER OUT OF HERE, NOW!” the queen screamed as she wiped the glob of saliva from between her eyes. “NOW! NOW! NOW!”

As meaningless as the spit had been, Selvina couldn’t help but smile. It had been a good shot.

Back in her cell, Selvina sat on her pile of hay and toyed with a strand of it, lost in thought. She had failed everyone. She thought she could have tricked the queen long enough to free Wendy and Goldilocks but instead she had gotten caught. Selvina would have hoped that Pan would have been long gone by now. His appearance had been completely unexpected and it had ruined everything. Perhaps finding help would have been the better decision. Knowing that Wendy and Goldilocks weren’t about to be beheaded any time soon would have given her the time she needed to come back with aid. Why hadn’t she simply thought of finding out their fate first instead of introducing herself to the queen? Why hadn’t she thought of Pan? Why had she tried to do everything herself?

Selvina, alone in her cell, wept. It didn’t matter now. There was no point in looking strong to anyone anymore. She was nothing but a failure. Wendy would work in the kitchens until she made a mistake and Goldilocks would remain a source of demented clothes fabric until she grew old and her hair turned white. Those were their lives now.

All because Selvina had to try and be the hero.

Her only consolation was that her death would be quick, which didn’t help stop the crying by any degree.

“Would you stop that?” asked a hoarse voice in the darkness.

The suddenness of sound made Selvina jump and cease her weeping immediately. “Hello?”

“Hello, weeping girl, but would you please stop your crying?” said the voice.

It belonged to a girl, a young woman perhaps, but it was hoarse and rough, as if it hadn’t been spoken in a long time. The woman coughed and Selvina heard the rattle and jingle of chains. She wiped the tears from her eyes and walked up to the cell door, peering across the hall into the cell on the other side. All she saw was a wall of black.

The dust! Selvina suddenly remembered. She pulled it out of its hiding spot and slowly loosened the drawstring. White light immediately burst forth and illuminated the dungeons, forcing Selvina to squint. She tightened the drawstring slightly and the light dimmed to a more comfortable level. When Selvina looked into the other cell she gasped in shock.

A young woman sat against the far wall, her head bowed low. Her thin body was chained by the wrists and ankles and the skin underneath the shackles was bloody and raw. She looked on the edge of being unhealthily skinny and just slight. On her head was short blonde hair and when she looked up, squinting from the dim light, Selvina saw orbs of pale blue.

Guessing who she was, Selvina said, “Are you, by any chance, Alice?”

The young woman narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “How do you know me, stranger?”

“I’m Selvina, and where I come from, which isn’t from this world, there is a story written about you and the Red Queen. Considering how much the queen despises you I made an assumption as to who you are.”

“Not from this world, eh? You’d have to be if you were stupid enough to cross the queen.”

Selvina frowned. “I was trying to help my friends.”

“So was I, Selvina. I didn’t want any part of the rebellion at first but I couldn’t just leave with my friends living in misery. Look where it landed me. I’m surprised you’re not chained too.”

Selvina gulped, the cold fingers of fear digging into her skin once again. “I’m going to be executed in the morning. I’m only here because the guillotine isn’t working or something.” Selvina, overcome by grief and hopelessness, slid down to her knees and sat on her heels. She leaned her head against one of the bars of the cell door and sniffed back more tears.

Alice cleared her throat. “There was a time when I’d have hoped for a quick death, Selvina. For some bloody reason I don’t quite know I continue to hold on to hope.”

“I wish I had hope…”

“That bag of yours, the one with the light, can’t help you?”

Selvina looked down at the leather pouch in her hand and sniffed more tears away. The fairies had told her not to use unless she absolutely had to. Now seemed as good a time as any, and yet… “I don’t know what it can do. Peter Pan is here and if he gets his hands on this pouch he’ll be unstoppable. If I used it here there’s a chance he’ll know about it and come looking.”

“There’s a chance he might not.”

“I can’t take any chances with him…”

“He’ll get his hands on it after you lose your head in the morning, Selvina. Either you use it now and maybe he’ll come running or you don’t use it and he gets it anyway.”

Alice made good points, Selvina had to admit. Yet if she used it now what would she do after that? She couldn’t fight her way out of the dungeons and she had yet to rescue Wendy and Goldilocks. On the other hand, it all depended what the fairy dust could do in the first place. Therein could lay the solution to her problems.

Glancing down the hall and seeing no one, Selvina opened the pouch wider, shutting her eyes completely from the blinding light. She dipped her fingers inside and suddenly paused, waiting for the White Rabbit to come running and shouting at her to stop. He never did, however, and Selvina took a deep breath before reaching deeper. Her fingers soon touched something that felt like cold, extremely fine sand. She grabbed just a pinch of it and then closed the pouch. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the tiny pinch of fairy dust between her two fingers was bright enough to light up the area.

“That stuff sure is intense,” Alice said as she watched.

“It’s fairy dust from the king and queen of the fairies,” Selvina told her. “It’s the strongest kind there is and I have no idea what it does.”

“Well, you’ll either die now or tomorrow. You might as well find out what it does.”

Selvina nodded and slowly lifted her hand over her head. She could feel her heart battering against her ribs like a jackhammer and the hand holding the dust began to tremble. She remembered the faces of everyone she had ever cared for. She remembered her mother with her kind words, her father with his unyielding support, her late brother and his bravery, and her best friend Gemma and her constant worry. She then remembered her more recent friends. There was Red with her flaming hair, Cindy and her fearlessness, Belle and her sweet smile, Hook with his aura of leadership, Sinbad with his loyalty and amazing skill, Bigbad and his companionship, and then Jack with that mop of hair and infuriatingly charming smirk. She then thought of Quasimodo and his heroism despite great adversity, Rapunzel with her budding courage, Snow White with her unbreakable soul, Wendy and her kindness, Goldilocks with her bluntness and even Thumbelina, Tinkerbelle, Cornelius, the King and Queen of the fairies, the Cheshire cat, the Hatter, the Hare, and especially the White Rabbit. Whatever happened now, she was grateful to have met every single one of them.

She looked at Alice, locked gazes, held her breath, and then opened her fingers.