. : Laura of Neverland : .

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Laura spoke.

"See for once, I actually agree with someone from good," Hester replied, her hand flinging in Laura's direction, and her eyes flaring red.

Laura had met the coven of three witches around ten minutes ago and already found herself beginning to like them. Hester was the evident leader and reminded her a lot of Max, her second on Neverland. They had the same cynical thinking and fierce protection of those they deemed theirs. Anadil was slightly peculiar, with the three rats running around on her, and Dot seemed genuinely sweet.

Sophie was the only one that Laura couldn't trust. She seemed manipulative and using a love spell to help a prophecy was unheard of.

Agatha glanced at her, and Laura could see the mild worry in her roommate's eyes. "Are you sure it won't work?"

All eyes fell on Laura, and she smoothed a hand over her skirt-- a nervous habit she had developed in childhood from her father and had never been able to get rid of. "I have studied and used magic for a long time, and using spells to achieve things like true love not only doesn't work, but it can cause harm to the caster. If you want to fulfill the School Master's riddle, I would stick to trying to convince Tedros to fall in love with you naturally."

"But that would take ages!" Sophie exclaimed, crossing her arms over the frumpy black sack she was clothed in.

Laura tilted her head. "Not necessarily, my parents took a long time to fall in love, mostly because my dad was holding my mom captive for a while, but that's beside the point. There are loads of tales of love at first sight. Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, for example. You just have to convince him to fall in love with you."

Hester shook her head. "I don't think that will work well, not with the way the Prince of Havfrue is watching  like a hawk."

Laura glanced over her shoulder, where the princes were jousting each other. Despite his seeming focus on the game, Laura caught Sebastian's eyes narrowing on her a few times.

"I can handle him. It's me he hates, and trust me, it's mutual." Laura responded. "Sophie, you try to find a way to do it naturally, but I will check the good library and see if I can find anything."

Sophie's face was covered in a minx-like smirk, and Laura squirmed slightly, planting her hands in the cool grass to prevent her hands from spontaneously lighting on fire. It was rare she couldn't control her fire. She had only done so twice. The first time was when she was young and didn't understand her magic, and the second was when Lexus died.

Laura didn't like not being in control. It scraped at her nerves and pulled at her blood, threatening a riot every time she breathed; that's why she never let it out of her control. She was struggling now though. It had been a week since Elsie's death, and they were no closer to finding the next Water Sage.

Without the next Water Sage trained and able to handle their own, it left Laura's own magic quaking, due to lack of balance. There had gone from being an overwhelming amount of water magic to none. No sign of it anywhere.

Their time was running short, especially with the way the world seemed to be shifting out of balance. They had to find a way to find the Water Sage before something happened.

"Tell you what," Laura spoke. "You try to get Tedros to kiss you of his own free will, and Agatha and I will look through the good library for love spells."

"I'll write to my family members," Hester spoke. "Anything to get Sophie out of here."

~~~

Laura's mother had loved books for as long as Laura could remember, and Laura could remember sneaking into the library long after her bedtime to seek out her mother in hopes of a story. One of the few times when it was just her and her mother, alone with no one else watching. It had been a long time since she had felt that sense of peace.

She could sense her mother now in the good library, hiding around each corner, curled in a book, waiting for Laura to join her. She beckoned Laura, waiting for her to come to curl in her lap as she once had, to enjoy a story well into the night.

"Spells are over here," Agatha whispered. Her face was faint in the candlelight, only emphasizing the white shade of her skin.

Laura shook her head, shaking off the feeling. She hadn't seen her mother in decades and only knew she and her father were still alive due to outside news. There was no point wallowing in memories; she was never going to see them again.

Laura nodded, following Agatha down the long aisle of ornate and gilded books. Each one had a neat title written in pretty golden handwriting. Spells for Fairy Godmothers, The Princess's Guide to Fashion Magic, and Princely Magic stood together, only a tiny sampling of every book that lay on the shelf. 

"Maybe this would work?" Agatha held up a copy of a book on beauty.

Laura shook her head. "No, the last thing Sophie needs is a book on beauty. It will only inflate her ego more, besides, she's already got the perfect stature for a princess. The boys here are all stupid anyway. All they need is someone to sit next to them and smile while they are the heroes."

Agatha nodded quietly and shoved the book back on. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "I don't know what to do, I just want to go home."

It was so silent that Laura barely caught it, yet she felt her heart drop. Laura knew that loneliness and had spent years in that isolating loneliness. "I'm sorry I can't do anything more to help you."

Agatha nodded, her face kept to the tiled floor. "Is there anything we can do, that will make Tedros fall in love with Sophie if it means going home?"

Laura sighed. "Love spells won't work, any magic user would tell you that. It only makes the situation worse for the person attempting usage. It isn't safe and it never has been," Laura took a breath, pressing a hand into Agatha's shoulder. "But we will find a way, no matter what it takes."

Agatha glanced up at her. "You mean that?"

Laura smiled. "Of course."

And in that moment, Laura decided that getting Agatha home would become just as important as getting home to Neverland and keeping it safe.

~~~

A/N ~ Shorter chapter today friends, but I wanted to get something out with the movie having just been released! I need to know what everyone thought about it! For me personally, the set design and costumes were gorgeous, but there was a lot of change from the original story.

Until next time

~ Indigo