Disney + Vane before Neverland

Substack is telling me it’s been nearly a month since I last posted?!

At the risk of sounding old… where has the year gone? 🤓

We took a semi-unplanned trip to Florida this month to visit family and if you’re taking me to Florida, you’re taking me to a park. We hit Disney World this time around and while I was prepared for it to be hot as hell, I was not prepared for it to be hot as hell 😂 Let’s just say I will not be doing parks in the summer ever again if I can help it.

All that said, we had a ton of fun. For the first half of our trip, we kayaked through the mangroves and spent lazy evenings on the beach. At Disney, we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and waking up to giraffes right outside our sliding door was a delight.

Unfortunately (and not surprisingly) we came home sick. I’m feeling better. Husband is feeling better! Daughter escaped this round (which honestly she was owed — she came home with pneumonia last time we went to Florida).

Now that we’re back and settling in, I’ve started working on Dark & Darker Still again.

It’s kinda breaking my brain, thinking about Roc and Vane before Peter Pan, before Winnie and Neverland. Back when they were far more arrogant, a little less traumatized, and a tad more vicious.

I know Vane comes across like an asshole in the beginning of Vicious Lost Boys, but that is Vane as the measured asshole. In Dark & Darker Still, I want to warn you that this is Vane at his worst. Vane as the imperious asshole. Sure, he’d endured losing his family home and his titles, his elite access. But he still had power, he still felt invincible. He hadn’t truly felt the loss of something he couldn’t ever get back.

And beyond Vane… Alice. I thought I knew Alice. And then I started writing Alice.

Surprise, you foolish writer! You know nothing!

I’m still not convinced Alice has let me in. I’m not even sure Vane has let me in yet.

Anyway…I’m sharing a sneak peek of Dark & Darker Still with y’all today. It’ll go up on a separate post so it’s easier to find and I can share it readily in the future. 🖤