Veiled in Stars and Silver: A Peter Pan Fairy Tale Romance

Chapter 16

We stood in the plush bedroom, the vanity chair toppled from our hasty movements. The blade”s sharp point slipped a little closer towards Ivy”s chest. I was losing the battle against her determined momentum.

Tears of terror coursed down the other woman”s cheeks.

I slammed the heel of my palm into her nose. It cracked. Blood gushed over Ivy”s face, and she stood there, stunned.

I tore the knife out of her grip.

“That”s nod enough,” she said, as she scanned the room with wet eyes. She lunged for the vanity. Her hand closed around the hatpin. I wrestled it from her grasp and gripped Ivy about the waist, thrusting her face-first onto the bed.

“I”m going to knock you out,” I said.

“It won”t work. He can control us even when we are unconscious.”

Damn it. How did Peter get so much power? I twisted Ivy”s arm behind her until it dislocated. Ivy screamed. Then I twisted the other arm till it dislocated, eliciting another scream from my friend. My heart pounded in my ears. I felt terrible. Still, I didn”t let Ivy go. How far would she go? Would she bash her head against the vanity? Or cast herself out a window?

A door slammed, and my heart leaped into my throat. Had Pan taken over the whole place? Was I fighting a losing battle?

“Wendy? It”s time to go!”

Relief flooded through me. Hook. Thank God.

“Wendy?”

“In here!” I called, holding Ivy”s trembling form under me.

The entrance burst open. “Wendy, looks like the honeymoon is over...” His voice trailed off as he took in me and Ivy on the bed. “Then again, maybe it”s barely getting started?”

“Pan wants her to kill herself. Grab one of those boas in the corner and help me tie her up.”

“We must hurry.” But he did as I said, grabbing the boa and rushing over to us. He helped me bind Ivy to the bedpost.

“This is something I”ve always wanted to try. Though admittedly in more...intimate circumstances.” He gave me a suggestive glance.

I let out a soft growl. Now wasn”t the time to discuss Hook”s sexual fantasies. Even though it left me wondering if I was the one he pictured when he said it.

“Thank you,” Ivy murmured, her eyes drifting closed, on the verge of passing out.

Hook took in Ivy”s ragged and bloodied state with wide eyes. “Hell, Wendy. Couldn”t you have been a tad gentler?”

“If I had, she”d be dead.” I stowed the last knife. “Let”s go.”

We moved out into the main foyer. Madame Pearl”s ladies came toward us, some carrying fire pokers, and every one had a frightening blank expression on their face.

Hook stayed close to me, his hand on the pommel of his saber. “Stay back.”

But the women kept pressing ahead, surrounding us.

Hook swept me into his arms with a grunt. “Hold onto me, we”re going up.”

“Up?”

He shoved his nose into my hair and breathed deep. I gasped as he lifted into the air. We rose over the second-story balcony, and he watched me with amusement, no doubt reveling in my surprise.

“I may have also gotten some fairy dust from my anonymous benefactor,” he said.

He set me on my feet, and we rushed to his room. Hook threw open the door and hurried to the window, unlatching it.

I came up behind him, knives clutched in my fists. “Did you smell me to get your happy thought?”

He shoved the window open before turning to face me. “Well, the perfume you are wearing does elicit many pleasant memories.”

“You”re a barbarian.”

Hook raked his hand through his hair, a roguish smile lighting his lips. “Do you have a happy thought, love?”

He motioned for me to go first. I pictured going home with my brothers and living a life with them. Hook”s stormy gaze also popped into my head. I didn”t have time to analyze that. I stepped out and floated up into the air.

The overcast sky cast a gray pall over everything. The clouds loomed overhead, ready to pour out its deluge. Did Peter even control the weather? Hook came after me. Madame Pearl”s was on the edge of Swindler”s Cove, and behind the large home spanned the jungles of Neverland. I breathed a sigh of relief. We could disappear into the trees and hide.

The sky grew ever darker. A flash of lightning illuminated my surroundings, thunder ringing like cannons, jarring me to the bone.

Four boys dropped from the clouds, a fishing net spread between them. I spun as they wrapped it around Hook and yanked him, helpless, toward Madame Pearl”s, where three pirates waited on the wooden porch with weapons drawn to receive him.

“No! Release him!” I cried, drawing my knives and made to fly after them. How did I attack children? Whether they were under Pan”s spell or simply under his leadership, I couldn”t do it. Hook somehow rose to his feet, sword drawn, striking out against the pirates. The Lost Boys abandoned the engagement, fading off into the wilds of Neverland.

“Wendy.” A singsong voice drifted up to me.

I looked toward the trees. Peter floated there, right before the darkness of the jungle enveloped him, highlighted by Tink”s glow as she hovered close by. The wind whipped his boyish hair, and his leaf-sewn leathers melded in with the foliage at his back.

My grip tightened on my knives. “Let Hook go.”

Pan drifted closer. He glanced unconcernedly down to where Hook fought for his life. “His crew isn”t very happy with him at the moment. What about you? Have you become a pirate?”

I gazed at Hook, then turned pleading eyes on Peter. “Stop talking in these childish terms. You need to stop this.”

“I can”t let you destroy everything we”ve built here. If you want your brothers alive, you will bring me the Dagger of Forgotten Souls and the spellbook of Stardust. Do we have a deal?”

“Peter, please. This isn”t the you I remember. The one who gave me the kiss.”

Peter cocked his head as if considering my words. His green eyes stood out in the grayness that surrounded him. “And you are not the Wendy I remember. What will it be?”

I wanted to scream at him. Deny him what he desired. I wanted Neverland to be free.

But I”d fought for my brothers, waited all these years, preparing to rescue them. They were my family. They were everything. “I”ll give you what you want.”

Peter lit up, his grin growing. He swished his sword through the air before sheathing it and shooting me a smile. “This will be a fun new game. I”ve always wanted to be a villain. Bring me the dagger and book in two days” time by sundown at Marooners” Rock. Don”t bring Hook.” He turned and soared off into the night. The thunder clapped, and a deluge of rain struck me, soaking me through in seconds.

I whirled and descended toward Hook. I landed on the slick porch that wrapped around Madame Pearl”s home. A dark figure crouched over a man that lay prone on the deck. Nausea gathered in my stomach. I drew my knife and rushed forward, ready to bury it in Hook”s killer. But as I neared, I ground to a halt.

Hook wasn”t the one lying dead on the polished wood. The red cap and face—that blank face I was so used to seeing with a cheerful smile. Smee. And the figure over him was kneeling next to him, holding his hand. Hook. Two other forms lay along the deck, unmoving. My foot slipped, and I stepped back, blanching. Blood covered the wooden porch.

Hook”s head was bowed, his shoulders hunched. Water trailed down from his dark hair over his face in an unending stream, granting the tears that wouldn”t come. I”d never seen him like this. Worn. Beaten. Defeated.

A song drifted from his lips into the air.

“Avast belay, yo ho, heave to,

A-pirating we go,

And if we”re parted by a shot,

We”re sure to meet below.”

He glanced up at me, and I sucked in a breath. His eyes were a dark gray, almost fully black.

“This is why I was chosen,” he said, his voice hollow. “Because I”d let anyone die, sacrifice anything, to end this. No matter the cost.”

A crash and shouting brought me around. They were coming through the house. I rushed to the door that led out onto the porch and grasped the net off the ground, looping it through the latch. Pulling it over to the railing, I tied it tight. The wooden door lurched and I fell against the rail, gripping it. That wouldn”t hold them long.

I raced back to Hook. “I think it”s time we leave Neverland behind and get the dagger.”

He blinked at me. “But your brothers—”

“I see now that getting the dagger and ending this is the only way to save my brothers.” I jerked on his arm, trying to get him to his feet. He rose slowly. Gritting my teeth, I pushed my guilt aside over my deal with Pan and imagined seeing John and Michael again. I rose into the air a little, grounded by Hook, who watched me with empty eyes. “We don”t have a lot of time—”

“You go. Leave me,” he said.

“What? No, you”re coming with me.”

The pounding on the door ceased.

“Listen.” His voice dropped low. “The spellbook is hidden on the Jolly Roger, in a watertight compartment inside my closet. The key is in a loose plank under my bed.”

“Hook, don”t do this.”

“Wendy.” He looked at me and I saw a chasm as empty as the depths of the sea. “I don”t have any happy thoughts.”

The windows in the surrounding rooms shattered, glass skittering across the rain and blood-soaked wood. Fear crawled up my throat. Hands and arms shot through the space. Shit. There were a lot of them, and trained or not, under Pan”s power, they”d keep coming until they overwhelmed me and Hook. I needed to get him in the air.

The wind howled, and I dropped onto the porch, a raging desperation in my chest. I grasped his overcoat and jerked him close. “Then let me give you one.” Rising onto my toes, I pressed my lips to his.

He froze, but then Hook”s fingers dug into my hair, pressing our mouths harder together as his hook arm came around my waist. His lips moved over mine with an experience that made me want to forget about our impending death.

I pulled back. My freezing hands clung to the stark fabric of his drenched overcoat. “I can”t do this without you. Now, fly with me, you shameless libertine.”

A spark ignited in his eyes, and he kissed me again. We lifted, the air gathering under our feet. Water streamed over us, but all I cared about was Hook”s mouth on mine. When we parted, I glanced below, relief flooding through me at the site of Madame Pearl”s women and pirates far beneath us, out of reach.

I eased out of Hook”s grasp and took his cold, wet hand in mine. “Come, James Hook. Come away with me to my home.” And together we flew off into the stars.