Chapter 29
F etch dove off my shoulder, zipping toward a copse of trees as I stepped on solid ground for the first time in days.
“You called this a town?” Moll asked, turning to Paddy with a raised brow.
And she did have a point. With a dozen or so makeshift huts—if you could even call them huts—the place looked more like somewhere you’d spend the night while hunting than somewhere people chose to live.
“Looks like no one’s ‘round right now,” Paddy answered, scratching at his nose. “You should see the place in the spring, though. Dozens of lads milling about.”
“There goes my bath,” Moll groaned.
Paddy gestured toward the ocean. “Water’s right there.”
“At least we’ll get a good night’s sleep,” I said, cutting in before Moll could snap back at him.
“About that…” Xander slowed his pace a bit. “Cap says we’re gonna head in tonight. Made good time here and don’t want to waste any daylight. We’ll sleep in The Fen.”
“Sounds good to me. Provided we stay in level one, me and the boys’ll find you a safe enough place to rest.” Paddy shielded his eyes from the sun as he turned to our left, staring off into the distance.
The Fen was something like a large island covered in swampland, though the O’Donnellys assured us that wasn’t quite accurate.
The massive canopy, formed by the tops of thousands of trees, seemed to jut out of the ocean itself, just barely visible through the blanket of red-tinged mist that clung to it.
I pressed a hint of magic into my eyes, jamming them shut at the almost blinding flash of red.
The entire place was oozing with magical energy, a nexus of power that put even Relyk to shame.
As terrifying as it was, there was a beauty to it, too. An untamed wildness that we were here to face, and hopefully conquer. How many had come here before us with similar goals?
How few left? One that we knew of—Garth.
Moll looked nervous about the prospect of sailing there at night, but it seemed to fade as Xander stepped in beside her, laying an arm over her shoulder.
“Back in my day, we didn’t need no fancy town to camp out in,” Garth said. “Just us and our ship. The way it should be.”
Hook glanced back, narrowing his eyes at the old man. “We’re leaving the ship here along with the vast majority of the crew.”
Garth sucked in a ragged breath before answering. “Where’s the sense in that?”
“We can’t go tromping through like an army, can we? A small group will attract less notice from the beasts in The Fen,” Hook said. “Plus, we’ll need people to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t try to follow us.”
The older man stomped up to the front of our pack at that, huffing with every step. “There ain’t a chance in hell that you’re leaving me behind, James,” he declared.
Hook ignored him, turning toward the rest of his crew as we reached the first of the huts.
“Alright, lads, time to get set up. You’ll have to move the boat somewhere safer once we set out, so make sure you bring out enough of the supplies to last a few days.
O’Donnellys, direct them to where we can set up, if you please.
Don’t want us stepping on any toes if more Seekers come to camp while we’re still in The Fen. ”
A cacophony of ayes and yes sirs followed, and the glorified campground began buzzing all around, leaving Hook, Xander, Garth, Moll, and I in a small pocket of inactivity.
“I’m comin’ with ya,” Garth said, glaring at Hook as he turned back toward us. “Ain’t nothin’ you can do about it.”
“I’ll have the lads tie you up and hold you down until I leave, if I have to,” Hook snapped. “It’s simply out of the question.”
Garth sucked in a few deep breaths, his face going from bright red to a less alarming hot pink. He shook his head in annoyance. “I’m an old man, and I ain’t gettin’ any younger. I need to do this. I can feel it in my bones.”
“Probably the arthritis,” Hook grunted.
Garth scowled, swiping both hands down the front of his face. His expression darkened, growing more somber, and he stared off toward the red mist in the distance. “When I tell you I’m not long for this world, I don’t just mean because I’m getting old, lad.”
I winced, a wave of self-consciousness washing over me, and I turned to walk away, with Moll and Xander stepping right behind me. Definitely not a conversation I should be hearing.
“I’m dying, James,” Garth continued, not bothering to wait for me to get out of earshot.
“Damn it,” Moll said, leaning closer to Xander as Hook and Garth’s voices grew too quiet to hear.
“So sad. He’s a good man,” I agreed. “Wonder if Hook’s gonna cave and let him come.”
“He will,” Xander answered, his tone firm with certainty.
“What makes you so sure?”
“In all my days, I’ve never seen him deny a man his dying wish. This feels much the same.”
I nodded, though I was far from convinced. James clearly cared about the old man, and taking him along would put him in serious danger. My fingers dug into my palm at the thought. Old or not, it was a selfish ask, given what it’d do to Hook if he died.
If he does come, I’m going to try my best to make sure he makes it out of there safe and sound, I promised myself.
The question was, why did I care so much about something that would hurt James?
Don’t get distracted with matters of the heart. Not now.
I glanced out at the red mist once again. Noru, the eighty-foot crocodile, was somewhere in there, along with countless other monstrous beasts. And I had a feeling it was going to take every bit of concentration I had to get us out.
“Have you noticed it yet?” Xander asked as he and Moll stepped up beside me.
“It’s such a ridiculous amount of magic,” I said, glancing over at them.
Moll’s face scrunched up into a squint, and she shook her head in annoyance a moment later.
“Not being able to see what you guys see is irritating, even if it is still an amazing sight. Do you think the energy is coming from the monsters?”
Xander shrugged. “Hard to say. But I wonder if it’s not the other way ‘round.”
“You think Noru may’ve just been a normal croc at some point?” I asked, the thought occurring to me for the first time.
“Or Noru’s ancestor,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll tell you this much, though; he wasn’t half that large when he took Hook’s hand.”
“How do we even fight against something like that?” Moll asked.
“ We? ” Xander asked, spinning toward her. “You know you’re staying behind with Garth, right?”
“Harm and I stick together,” she said, in a tone that made it clear that she was simply informing him.
“Not this time you aren’t. You’ll?—”
She whipped her hand up, flicking him in the dead center of his forehead. “I’d never forgive myself if something happened and I wasn’t there to help. I’m going.”
He stared back at her, dumbfounded, and I couldn’t help but feel the same way.
“How the hell did she actually manage to flick you?” I asked. “Aren’t you supposed to have crazy reflexes or something?”
“You’re not going to argue with her about this?” he demanded. “You have to know it’s ridiculous.”
“We already had it out over this.” I threw up my hands. “And it’s hard for me to argue when I know I’d do the same if I was in her shoes.”
A low fluttering sounded from just behind me, and Moll let out a yelp as Fetch touched down on my shoulder.
A wash of crimson settled over her face, and she turned back toward Xander. “Look, I may scare easy, but I won’t run. I have Harm’s incapacitator, and I’m pretty nifty with a slingshot, when push comes to shove.”
He scowled. “A lot of good a slingshot’s going to do against a crocodile the size of a warship.”
“And you, with your whip and those little coins are sooo much better?” She pushed away from him, then stomped off. “I’m coming. Don’t let me hear another word about it.”
“That means she likes you,” I said once she was out of earshot.
“Dang. How does she treat the guys she doesn’t like?”
I chuckled, “Give her some time. She understands, and I’m sure she appreciates your concern. But she hates feeling like she’s being underestimated. I’ve been guilty of it too. She’s a lot more capable than you think.”
“I’m sure she’s quite capable, but what lies ahead is going to take more than that. What we need is magic . And lots of it.”
“These won’t be the first monsters she’s fought.
” The image of her stabbing the reanimated Heinrich appeared in my mind.
“She may not have a Tideblessing, but make no mistake. Moll is magic. Just not the way we are. She’s unbreakable.
Unstoppable. She has been through so much to get to this point, and she’s overcome everything the world has thrown at her.
I’m not saying I agree with her decision, but I’ve doubted her before, and I won’t make the same mistake again. This is something she needs to do.”
Xander cursed softly, turning away from me. “I’ll see you in a few.”
“Didn’t catch anything, bud?” I asked, turning toward an irritated-looking Fetch.
Footsteps thumped from just behind me, and I had only spun halfway around by the time a pair of arms caught me around the shoulders.
“Thank you,” Moll whispered, barely audible over Fetch’s indignant squawking despite the fact that her face was pressed against my neck.
“You heard?”
Her forehead brushed against me as she nodded wordlessly, squeezing me even tighter. “Been waiting for you to realize,” she whispered, after a long moment.
I gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “Xander’s just trying to look out for you.”
She pulled back, sighing softly. “I know.”
I turned to see how the crew was doing with their unloading, only to see Trick-Eyed Tom striding up from behind us.
“We’re gettin’ ready to depart,” he called, waving us over. “Cap’s gonna say a few words to the boys.” He hobbled off without waiting for an answer, calling the same out to a group of men who were just stepping off of the ship.
Just a few minutes later, we were all gathered in front of the largest hut, with Hook standing at our group’s center.
“Alright, boys. Xander, Tom, and I’ll be gone for a few days, so Cooky’s in charge until we get back.
I don’t expect any problems as they don’t know our plans and they have some of their own, but I want constant lookouts checking both sea and sky for any sign of our enemies.
If a week passes and you’ve gotten no word from us, you sail off, no questions asked, you hear? ”
A collective grumble of disapproval rolled through the dozen or so members of the crew. “Ain’t no way we’re leavin’ you, Cap,” one called.
Hook scowled even more deeply than usual, then sighed.
“If I come back a week from now and you’re still here, I’ll have the lot of you strung up for insubordination.
” He went silent for a long moment, looking solemn.
“You know, sailing the sea with you all these years…there’s no ragtag bunch of smelly scallywags I’d rather have done it with. ”
“Why’re you sweet-talkin’ like this is the last time you’re gonna see us?” another voice called, the rest of the crew having gone completely silent.
Hook’s somber expression gave way to one of pure determination.
“We’ll see each other again, alright. I’ll kill this croc with my bare fucking hands if that’s what it takes.
And, once I do, you lot are going to get me to Neverland so I can do the same to those soulless flying fuckers who’ve wreaked havoc for so long. Who’s with me?”
“Huzzah!” the men shouted and cheered, thrusting their fists in the sky.
Captain James T. Hook tried to play the villain, but he wasn’t fooling the men who believed in him, or me. The man had the heart of a lion and the soul of a hero. The world needed him in it.
And once we got through this, I was going to find a way to make him see it...