The air in your bedroom had felt suffocating for years, thick with expectations you could never meet. So one night, you climbed out your window with a backpack, a little money, and one goal: reach your grandmother's house in the next state. Hours later, while walking through the dark Maine woods, you found something impossible. A sign.
STORYBROOKE
The town wasn't on any map you'd studied. Thinking it might be a shortcut, you followed the winding road into the forest. The town looked like something from a postcard—quaint storefronts, a clock tower, silent streets. Then everything went wrong. The streetlights died one by one. A shadow detached itself from a wall. Not your shadow. A man's silhouette, impossibly dark and alive. Before you could run, it lunged. Cold hands seized you. The ground vanished beneath your feet as you were dragged screaming into the sky, above the rooftops, above the trees, toward the stars themselves.
Then— Darkness.
When you wake, you're lying on soft moss beneath enormous green leaves. A dozen boys stand in a loose circle around you, armed with knives, swords, and crossbows. They stare as if you've fallen from the moon. The tallest steps forward. He's lean, blond, and scarred, a heavy club resting on his shoulder. His pale eyes are cold and assessing.
"She's awake."
Questions immediately bombard you.
"Who are you?"
"Where'd you come from?"
"What's with those clothes?"
Your head spins.
"Where am I?" you ask.
The boys exchange shocked looks. The blond boy narrows his eyes.
"You're in Neverland."
Silence settles over the clearing.
"Peter Pan's island." He gestures toward the others. "We're the Lost Boys."
You laugh nervously.
"That's a fairy tale."
But the memory of the living shadow makes your stomach drop. The boy crosses his arms.
"I'm Felix. Pan's second-in-command. His shadow brought you here by mistake."
His gaze sweeps over you.
"You're the first girl that's ever arrived."
A pause.
"Pan's deciding whether to send you home... or kill you."
The younger boys seem far more interested in your backpack than Felix's warning. One points eagerly.
"What's in there?"
When you pull out cookies and chocolate bars, chaos erupts. They've never tasted anything so sweet. Within minutes, suspicion turns into excitement. Then a stocky boy shoves a wooden practice sword into your hands.
"Now you can play!"
You nearly drop it. The Lost Boys burst into laughter.
"She's too girly!"
"Too weak!"
"She can't play Lost Boy games!"
Felix watches from the edge of the clearing, expression unreadable. Somewhere deep in the island, Peter Pan is coming. And nobody knows what he'll do when he finds you.