Chapter 27
James knelt with arms bound on the floor of the cave, the pirates training their guns on him. Paralyzing fear issued through me. This was wrong. This was all wrong.
He gave a small shrug, his smile turning gentle. “Don’t worry about me, lass. Let’s finish what we came to do.”
But it wasn’t that easy. I couldn’t let Tink take James’s life any more than I could allow her to take John or Michael’s. It was the real reason why I’d had to leave him behind.
Because losing him would shatter me like glass.
“Gag him,” Tinker Bell ordered.
One pirate ripped a section from his shirt and tied it against James’s mouth.
The fairy woman turned to the forever boy of Neverland. “My book.”
Peter edged around me and handed Stardust’s spellbook over to Tinker Bell. “It’s time I accepted the truth.” His eyes met mine briefly and flicked away.
I blinked as I recalled our conversation from earlier. Was Peter on my side? But then why had he given the spellbook to Tinker Bell?
“I want Hook,” Peter growled. “If he is to die, I want it to be me. A last adventure with my one true rival.”
Tinker Bell flipped open the book, making sure it was truly the tome she wanted before closing it. “Not now, my boy—”
“That is my condition if you want me to stay in Neverland and help with the fairies. You”re not going to let someone else do him in. Not after all this time. This has always been my game.”
Her mouth twisted into a frown, but she nodded. “As you wish.”
Peter turned away from Tink and had the nerve to smile. “Don’t move, Wendy. After everything, you had to realize things would end this way.” He winked at me.
Shit. What did that mean? Perhaps he was toying with me, rubbing it in. Or was he signaling me to do… something?
He flew around me and stopped in front of James.
“Leave us. Wait at the cave’s entrance,” Tink commanded the pirates on guard. They turned without a backward glance and left the cave.
A cautiousness filled me as Peter gripped James by the hair, laying his sword at his throat.
My heart pounded in my ears, my mouth had gone dry.
Part of a game? Or reality?
Truth or false?
“If you want a chance for him to live,” Tinker Bell said, “give me the dagger.”
I rested my palm on the dagger’s fine hilt, drawing it from the case, weighing it in my hands, feeling the loss of the missing finger. At least the Crocodile had left my dominant hand intact.
My uncertainty pressed on me. Childhood or growth?
Was Peter even capable of growing?
“How do I know you won’t kill both of us once you have it?” I asked.
Tinker Bell’s lip lifted into a sneer. “I’ve had enough of this. Peter, end him.”
“No! Here! Here it is!” I held the dagger out with shaking fingers.
Tink gave a satisfied smirk. “Tiger Lily, bring it to me.”
As soon as I heard Tiger Lily moving toward me, I hauled back on the knife and threw it.
It lodged in Tinker Bell’s right shoulder.
“Now!” I shouted, hoping I’d read the signs correctly.
Tink let out a cry of rage and reached for the dagger, but I flew toward the fairy woman, knocking her off her feet and shoving the blade deeper into her body.
I risked a glance back and saw Peter grappling with Tiger Lily. James’s gag was no longer in place, and his chanting filled the air with magic.
Because even if I hadn’t been able to memorize the spell that would steal Tink’s power, James Hook knew it by heart.
Tinker Bell snarled and reached forward with clawed nails, ready to attack. My training kicked in. I grabbed the woman’s arm and twisted, hearing it snap. Tink’s scream filled the cave. A sharp pain struck me as the nails of Tink’s other hand scraped across my skin. My face burned and blood coursed over my cheek. I swore and bit the fairy woman’s hand, my teeth sinking into flesh as I drove the dagger even deeper into my foe.
“Kill them all!” Tinker Bell shrieked, her voice echoing off the walls of the cave, as she struggled under my weight. The leafy folds of her dress ripped and tore.
Sounds of revolvers firing shook my whole body, my ears ringing harshly. A bullet speared past me and my heart leapt in my throat as I thought of my brothers, of James. But I didn’t let go, and James”s incantation didn’t stop, and Tinker Bell’s glow dimmed. Similar to the last light of evening winking out, her eyes glazed, the fight leaving her as her arms fell away and a stark grayness covered her features. Her form shriveled. Fissures opened in her skin as it cracked and dried like autumn leaves withering into insignificance.
The cave had gone silent except for James’s chants as the dagger ingested the final remains of Tinker Bell’s magic.
I yanked the weapon from the hollowed out husk that was once Tinker Bell. A power pulsed through the metal, the gems in the skull hilt glowing eerily and the blade shining despite the green blood that dripped from its tip.
I raced over to my brothers. Feeling them for any sign that a stray bullet had pierced them. But they were still lying there, unharmed. Their eyes fluttered open.
“Who are you?” John asked. He straightened his awry spectacles to peer at me.
“I know who this is. It is an angel,” Michael said in his innocent way.
Tears filled and spilled down my cheeks. My brothers had forgotten about me. “I am your sister. It”s me, Wendy.”
“Sister?” John looked perplexed.
Michael’s face scrunched up. “We don’t have a sister, do we, John?”
“I don’t know, Michael.”
Despite the ache caused by their lack of memory, I wanted to pull them into my arms and never let them go. I wiped at the tears on my cheeks. “Stay right here. There is so much I want to tell you.”
Standing, I spun to survey the scene behind me. Figures blocked the mouth of the cave, but they merely stood around, barely moving. I looked to James, who knelt next to a figure lying prone on the cave’s floor.
My stomach clenched. “Peter?”
I rushed to James’s side. An immense hole blooming with crimson bubbled out of the boy”s chest.
“Is he?”
“He’s alive,” James whispered. “For now.” An odd expression crossed his face. “He disarmed Tiger Lily and then jumped in front of the bullets.” He gave me an uncomprehending look. “He saved me.”
For some reason, seeing Peter lay there with the bullet wound, I thought of Uncle Reuben. Uncle would have let Peter die. Uncle was ruthless, guarded, and unchanging. He’d raised me to believe I was like him, but I wasn’t. People were never what they seemed at first glance, and even when they were, they were capable of changing, growing. If they chose to. I had grown—learned to love the man I had hated. James had changed—refused to be the man that had failed those he’d once loved.
And Peter had risked his life for his eternal nemesis.
“Can you heal him?” I asked James, recalling the spell he’d used to heal my hand.
But he shook his head. “I’m afraid this wound is too severe for that spell.”
Determination filled me. “Well, maybe there is another way we can save him.” I wiped the bloody dagger clean on my pants.
James’s eyes grew round. “Are you sure that is a good decision?”
“He’s innocent. He’s as innocent as you or any of them.”
“It”s just… If you transfer the magic in the dagger to him, you will give him the power everyone thought he had all along. And who knows how he will use it?”
“We can’t let the boy who was noble enough to fight off Tinker Bell and risk his life to save his arch enemy die.”
“You’re not only gambling with his life, you’re gambling with all of ours.” Tiger Lily stepped up. She had a bruise on her left cheekbone from Peter’s attack.
“James and I will keep the book and dagger with us. We can always stop him if it doesn’t work out, but I believe he deserves a chance. What do you think?” I stared up at Tiger Lily’s uncertainty.
James’s expression hardened with determination. “Do it.”
Tiger Lily watched him, a thousand emotions passing across her face. She finally nodded. “If James agrees, then I agree.” She turned to those at the entrance of the cave. “What say you?”
Silence, then a pirate stepped forward, taking off his hat. “I don’t know if Peter will be any better than Tinker Bell, but I trust my captain.” He turned to me and his head dipped in respect. “And those he chose to help him.”
The rest of the pirates took off their hats in response, signaling their support. A woman from Tiger Lily’s people approached. “We’ll follow the choice of our princess.”
I turned. “Peter, can you hear me? We are going to save you, but you have to promise me. Promise to use this power to grow and not stay the same. You must think of others. You must free the inhabitants of Neverland.”
His pale hand gripped my wrist. “I promise.”
I pressed the knife into Peter’s shoulder and met James’s gaze.
And he began to chant.