For Nevermore Season 1

She’d felt weird the few times she’d gone horse riding, wondering if horses really wanted to be ridden. She was almost certain that a centaur was even less inclined to have people ride him.
    “No, stay put. I’m gonna take you somewhere safe,” the centaur said, turning to face her.
    “Do you know Dante?” Noella asked.
    The centaur’s eyes widened. “You know Dante?”
    “I came here looking for him.”
    “What are you?” he asked.
    “What do you mean, what am I? I’m human.”
    “Yeah, me too,” the centaur laughed.
    “What do you mean?” Noella asked.
    The centaur stared, realization coloring his dark eyes. “You really don’t know, do you?”
    “Know what?” Noella said.
    “Nothing.” The centaur shook his head. “It’s not my place to tell you.”
    “All I know is that I somehow came here, and that I need to find Dante. Can you take me to him?”
    “Yes,” the centaur said as he started to walk. “Might I ask your name?”
    “Noella,” she said. “Noella Snow. And yours?”
    “You can call me Finn,” he said. “Just Finn.”
    “Nice to meet you, Just Finn,” she said smiling. She wasn’t sure if he got the joke or not as he was turned away from her and looking ahead. “And thank you for saving me back there.”
    “We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said.
    Noella laughed.
    “What’s so funny?” Finn asked.
    “Nothing,” Noella said, the expression obviously lost on her new friend, Finn.

    **

    They arrived at a large wooden gate with a watchtower on either side of the entrance. A tall brick wall stretched as far as she could see in either direction from the gate. Two guards in red iron helmets were stationed, one in each of the towers. The guard on their left looked down, “Finn?”
    “Yes, I need a woman’s hooded robe, please. Right away.”
    “Yes, Sergeant,” the guard said, and retreated for a few minutes. He returned and threw a dark, thick red robe down to Finn, who then handed it to Noella.
    “Put this on over your clothes, and pull the hood down. I don’t want anyone to notice you, okay?”
    “Okay,” Noella said, doing as instructed.
    Once she had the robe on, the guard pulled a lever, setting chains and gears into motion, which retracted the large doors, which opened to an entire village that seemed to have sprung to life from the storybooks of her childhood.
    Ancient looking wooden and stone shops lined either side of a stone walkway which split into several paths, each leading deeper into the village. They took the main path past smiling faces and happy children as hundreds of people, all dressed like refugees from a Renaissance Fair, milled about, going through the motions of their everyday lives.
    “What is this place?” Noella whispered as Finn walked through the main gate.
    “This is King’s Point,” Finn said.
    Noella shuddered.
    King’s Point like the psychiatric hospital?
    Oh my God, I’ve gone and created an entire world in my head, and now I can’t wake up.
    “Keep your head down, please, I want to get where we’re going as quickly as we can, and with as few people as possible seeing you.” Finn went from walk to trot as he picked up his pace and sped through the town.
    From the corner of her eyes, Noella saw the weirdest thing she’d ever seen. At least it would have been the weirdest if she weren’t rising on the back of a centaur after having escaped an attacking zeppelin.
    A blue man in white robes stood with two children in front of a crowd of two dozen people. The blue man pointed at the children who started floating in the air while balancing glowing orbs on the tops of their heads. The crowd applauded, though it seemed like the polite applause from people who’d seen the feat many times.
    As they continued down the path, Noella saw an ancient woman in a long black dress tending a small farm. She looked up and waved at Finn and then turned around, parting the back of her hair, revealing a second face which smiled at them.
    “Hello, Finn!” the woman’s rear face said.
    “Good day, Esther,” Finn said, not stopping to talk.
    Oh my God.
    Finn walked over a wooden bridge which crossed over a small river that ran through the village. On the river bank, Noella spotted a large gray beast which looked like a cross between a hippo and an elephant, stepping into the river.
    This can’t be real. Oh my God, I have lost it completely. I’m probably in the deepest recesses of the looney bin right now. And if I’m