The Ever After Girls

Chapter Six

 Normally, the absence of Alice in the morning hours didn't raise any concerns--they usually chalked it up to a night spent at the bar. She always came stumbling back before noon, nursing a headache, her breath stale with the kiss of liquor.

Except that morning wasn't normal. Firstly, Robin Hood's claims still clung to the air. Despite dismissing his preposterous story of villains banding together to steal shoes and weapons, part of Ella had taken the warning to heart. Shadows morphed into bloodthirsty wolves and opened doors shrieked like a pirate's cackle and butter knives gleamed with the cunningness of Robin's smirk.

The presence of the other girls didn't help. Red rifled around in the bakery, leaving puffs of flour and splatters of dough in her wake. She shuffled around in a daze, only half-focused on her baking. Though they hadn't talked since their argument the day before, Ella couldn't sum the trance up to lingering bitterness. Red was plagued with a strange opposite of anger--a spring in her steps, a soft smile on her lips, a dusting of color across her cheeks. If anything, the unexplained fit only stoked Ella's unease.

Nearby, Wendy paced across the bakery tile. The dark bags under her eyes stood stark against her pale skin--obviously, the girl hadn't slept much after their meeting with Robin Hood. Her fingers clenched a golden-gilded pocketwatch into her palm; her thumb rubbed absent-minded circles across the watch's face as she tracked back and forth.

Propping her elbows on the dining table, Ella rubbed her temples. "Wendy, I know it's a little odd she's not back yet, but I'm sure there's nothing to be concerned about--"

Wendy froze. Her fingers curled tighter around the pocketwatch gripped visely in her fist. "Nothing to be concerned about? It's two o'clock! She wasn't here last night, and she hasn't returned today! What part of this shouldn't make me concerned--the fact that our alcoholic friend is nowhere to be found, or that there's a maniacal pirate prowling the same streets Alice could be on right now?"

Ella sighed. "She can take care of herself. I'm sure she'll back be any moment--"

"I've already tried calling her seventeen times. Seventeen. She always has her phone with her, and she always picks up--even if she's drunk."

"Maybe she just lost it--"

"I'm not losing another person to Hook!" Wendy screamed, her voice ringing across the bakery. Ella went rigid, breath snagged on her own words. Even Red startled from her daze to gaze wide-eyed at the Neverland girl.

With a shaking breath, Wendy lowered her voice. "I'm going to search for her. You guys don't have to help."

"Of course we don't," said Red. She dusted off her hoodie and leapt over the countertop to stand at Wendy's side. "We'll start at her usual place. Sound good?"

Wendy's gaze ping-ponged between her two friends, as though trying to gauge whether they were serious or not. Ella flashed her a reassuring smile and stood from her table, already grabbing for her leather jacket.

Even with her back turned to the girls, still Ella felt the warmth of Wendy's grin beam through the room. "Sounds good."

"Off to our favorite Nottingham bar, then," said Ella, and followed a warrior and an accused murderer out of the bakery to find a delusional drunk.

***

They took the shuttle from Wilmore to Nottingham. After an hour of rocking and gagging against the swaying motion, Ella and the others stumbled from its doors and out into the fresh Nottingham air, following the salty scent of the sea.