Falling
Amanda — POV
I had no idea how long the fall lasted. Seconds? Hours? Long enough that the roaring wind became the only thing I could cling to—ripping at my hair and clothes like claws tearing through a carcass. I still couldn’t reach my belly. Couldn’t feel my child. My lungs burned from that lilac powder, every breath sharp as glass. My eyes stung. My ears rang.
And then, as suddenly as the fall began, it ended.
I hit something soft—but not comfortably soft. Not feathers or pillows. It felt… slick. Silky. Like the underside of a lizard. A shiver ran up my spine.
It was dark. Completely dark. My body ached, but at least sensation tingled back into my legs and arms. As soon as I could move my hand, it shot to my stomach. My baby. I needed a hospital—now.
A distant blue glow broke the darkness. It pulsed, slow and steady. A heartbeat. Mine? No… too big. Too cold.
The freezing air bit at my skin. Panic pooled like ice water in my chest.
Should I call out? Should I move? Was this real? Was I dead? Every question whirled through my mind like a blender set to high.
Then something breathed.
Not human. Too deep. Too resonant. And it came from the direction of the pulsing light.
“H–hello?” My voice cracked. No echo. Wherever I was, it wasn’t a cave. It felt like… nothingness.
A shadow emerged from the dark.
It’s just your imagination, Amanda.
I tried to steady my breathing, but fear pounded in my chest like a giant meat tenderizer. I tried to crawl back, but my body refused to respond. The silhouette grew clearer, and the blood in my veins turned to ice.
Tall. Broad shoulders. Walking on two legs.
“Who are you?” I called. Nothing.
“I—I have 911 on the line! They’re coming!” I yelled, trying to sound confident.
The figure laughed.
A deep, rumbling sound that made my skin crawl and the ground tremble—if there even was ground under me.
“No one is coming to save you, Amanda.”
His voice cut through the air like glass.
“You are in Wonderland now, except—” He stepped into the faint glow, and the first thing I saw were his eyes. Gold. Glowing. Inhuman.
His hand reached toward me—a shadow heavier than darkness itself. I clutched my belly, trying to shield my child.
“Humans rarely enter our world,” he said.
A memory fluttered at the edge of my mind—some old local myth my mother used to scare me into brushing my teeth. Something about a cursed forest. A beast prince.
“I’m dying, aren’t I?” I whispered. “This is… the neurons firing before death.”
He scoffed. “You are not dead. But you are very, very broken.”
His hand hovered over my stomach.
My baby fluttered beneath his touch.
Tears stung my already burning eyes. “Please… help me. My baby—”
“You were guided here by the lilac powder. A path you will insist you never chose.” He smiled coldly. “But now that you are here, you belong to me. And so does your child.”
“No!” I screamed.
He smirked, savoring the fear carved across my face.
“Your destiny was spiraling long before you crossed into my realm,” he said—each word slicing through memories I didn’t want to remember. Derek. Last Christmas. Every mistake I’d ever made.
I swallowed hard and glared up at him. His shadow spread behind him—wings. Massive. Dark.
A demon. A nightmare.
“What do you want from me?” I forced out.
“It is not what I want,” he said, lowering his face until those golden eyes nearly swallowed me whole. His hand hovered just above my cheek, never touching. “But what destiny demands of the child you carry.”
Warmth pulsed through my belly. Too warm. Wrong.
The world around us began to tear open—light splitting the darkness, trees bursting into existence, roots twisting and weaving like the universe was being stitched together in front of me. The pulsing in my stomach grew heavier. Harder.
Pain ripped through me.
He watched me writhe, unblinking.
“I am the Prince of this world,” he said. “And you belong to me now.”
Terror. Sheer, absolute terror—something even someone as selfish and vain as me had never felt before.
“What does that mean for my child?” I gasped, teeth clenched.
His golden eyes gleamed.
“Your child belongs to both worlds now.”
