Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sidney was flying!
All right. This whole “being sucked into a terrifying fictional world for an unwilling competition to the death against her sister” wasn’t a good thing.
But being able to fly was a serious upside.
Peter Pan was holding her hand as they soared above Neverland. The wind took her joyful laughter as she spread her arms wide and embraced the moment for everything it was.
It was a moment that people could only ever dream of. And here she was, getting a chance to do it for real. She was flying! And Peter was beaming in pride as he dove low, barely avoiding touching the treetops as he took her on a veritable tour of the tropical paradise that was Neverland.
It was beautiful. There were waterfalls, coves, plants, and trees covered in fruit the likes of which she’d never seen.
She could see birds flying in flocks with tails that stretched out behind them in every color of the rainbow.
Peter took them up to fly alongside them—they were some species of parrot that Sidney knew wasn’t real.
But here, it didn’t matter. The birds cawed and chirped, greeting Peter as if he were just a fellow bird and part of their family.
She wondered if the smile would ever leave her face.
They seemed surreal from far away, and now that she was closer to them, she could see why—their feathers actually glinted in the sun like jewels.
When the birds took a left turn into the trees, Peter took them up higher, over a ridge in the hillside and a crest. One thing Sidney hadn’t expected was how exhausting flying was. She was out of breath like she was running a marathon. Wild. He made it look so easy.
“We’re almost there,” he called back to her. He had to shout over the wind. She hoped he was right, as she was really starting to feel the exertion. And she worked on her cardio at the gym.
When he finally brought her down into a round cove that was surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides, she breathed a sigh of relief.
He settled her down on a ledge by the side overlooking the cove from high above.
She sat down with a rush of an exhale, glad to have her feet on solid ground and get a chance to catch her breath.
It was then that she heard the singing. Peering over the edge, her smile came back immediately. Mermaids! There they were down below in the cove, about half a dozen of them, stretched out on rocks, brushing their hair and singing a lazy tune in unison.
Sidney couldn’t believe her eyes. They were beautiful.
They were like koi fish. One woman had hair that was yellow, red, and white, in stripes and spots, and a tail that was colored to match.
Another woman was entirely shades of blue and black, including her skin and eyes, with a tail that was frilled like lace.
Yellow and gold, orange and red, they were all breathtaking.
And, unlike the illustrations and the movies, not a single one had a stitch of clothing or anything to hide their upper bodies. Not like she gave a damn. She was really enjoying the view, to be honest.
The circular cove had an outcropping of rocks in the center and a shallow shore around the edge that dropped off quickly into the darkness.
It was low tide. She could tell by the dampness of the water high on the rocks and how high the seaweed grew on their surfaces. It looked like when the water came in, all of the places where the mermaids were sunning themselves would be well underwater.
There was only one way in that she could see, which was an archway in the cliffside on the beach that likely was the first thing to get cut off when the tide came in.
Without a boat moored on the other side at low tied, or without being able to swim in and out like a mermaid—there didn’t seem to be any other way in or out. Well, without flying. That option was obvious.
Sidney couldn’t help but stare at the mermaids. They were fascinating. Beautiful. Each one seemed unique in their markings.
“Do you want to meet them?” Peter grinned.
“Of course!” She laughed.
Even if Sidney knew they were going to probably be absolutely terrible bitches. If she recalled correctly, everything remotely female in Peter Pan had the hots for the male lead—Tinker Bell, Wendy, the mermaids, and Tiger Lily—and all got jealous and fought over him.
It’d been a long time since she’d read the book or seen any of the movies, but she also vaguely recalled Tinker Bell trying to poison Wendy over it? Was she going to have to watch out for the flying pain in the ass?
Honestly, the whole thing was kind of gross, if you asked her. Having all the women in the story fighting over a guy? Bleh. Like, he was cute and all, but she had more self-respect than that.
Nah. She’d pass.
Maybe that’s original enough for them. Highly doubt it, but it’d be worth a shot.
Besides. Mermaids.
Peter took her hand and jumped from the rock ledge with her. He whistled, catching the attention of the mermaids as he did. “Hello, ladies!”
The mermaids all greeted him in unison, waving at him.
“Peter!”
“Hello, Peter!”
“Ooh, what have you brought us today, Peter?” One of the mermaids laughed, looking at “Wendy” with a mix of curiosity and barely disguised disgust. “Why is it in a nightgown?”
Peter set her down none-too-gently on a rock right on the waterline next to the mermaid who was looking at her with her nose scrunched up. She was all shades of orange and red and white.
Sidney laughed. “It wasn’t my idea, trust me, gorgeous.”
The mermaid blinked, then smiled. “You think I’m gorgeous?”
“Of course, I do.” She sat down on the edge of the rock. Taking off her shoes, she put them on a dry spot before pulling off her stockings and folding them up and placing them alongside. “No wonder they tell stories about how you all lure sailors to their deaths.”
“It really isn’t that hard, you know.” One of the mermaids dove into the water from nearby, popping up closer to her, her white hair pooling in the water around her.
Peter, suddenly not the center of attention, frowned. “I was going to tell you a story from one of my adventures. I—” He broke off suddenly. “Wendy! What’re you doing?”
What she was doing, in fact, was taking off the nightgown.
“I don’t want to go back soaking wet, now do I?” Sidney pulled off the gown over her head. “And besides, Tinker Bell flits around butt-ass naked. And these fine ladies have their tits hanging out. You don’t seem to have a problem with that, now do you?”
“But that’s—” Peter was now standing with his back to them. “That’s entirely different!”
“Why?” Sidney laughed as she jumped into the water with the mermaids, finding a rock to sit on up to her neck. The water was warm and perfect, and she hadn’t been to a Caribbean beach in ages. “Boobs are boobs, buddy-boy.”
“And he never seems interested in them, anyway,” a voice next to her complained quietly.
One of the mermaids swam close to her, sliding up against her on the rock, the press of scales against her thigh feeling far less strange than she thought it would.
It was the one that was all midnight blacks and starry-sky navy blues.
She felt the mermaid’s hand slide over her stomach, gliding upwards, tentatively exploring, giving her every opportunity to slap it away.
She was very much not going to slap it away.
The mermaid tilted her head closer to Sidney’s, her dark eyes lidded and curious.
Sidney zeroed the distance between them, capturing the mermaid’s lips with her own, kissing her. She tasted like salt water. Fresh and crisp.
Yeah. There were definite upsides to this fictional world she’d been sucked into. And she’d just discovered another one of them.
Fingers under her chin pulled her away from the kiss. The first mermaid let out a whine of disappointment as Sidney followed the prompt, only to find herself being kissed by a second mermaid who seemed eager to discover what she was missing.
Hands were roaming her body. Squeezing. Kneading. Grasping her breasts and teasing her already hard nipples. Sidney moaned against the lips that were pressed against hers.
“Wendy!”
Peter’s jealous whining was the last thing she wanted to hear. She wrapped her arms around one of the mermaids, embracing her.
Stupid move.
She’d heard the legends.
She knew the myths.
Hands grasped her ankles and yanked her beneath the water. Immediately, she scrambled, desperately trying to break free. But they were mermaids. It was like trying to fight a shark or a dolphin in their natural habitat. She was a human. She had no business being underwater.
And there were six of them and one of her.
A second later and her back was pressed to the sandy bottom and she was staring up at the reflection of sunlight against the surface, high above. Two mermaids held her down, keeping her thrashing form pinned as the others descended.
Holding her breath as best she could, she kicked and fought as violently as she could. But her lungs were already burning. She had been making out when she’d been yanked under. It wasn’t like she had a chance to take a deep breath.
One of the mermaids was laughing at her. See? Her words carried underwater effortlessly. It’s so easy to lure sailors under. All it takes is a kiss. She leaned in and kissed Sidney again, slowly—sensually, like an embrace of love.
Give in, let it happen, the other one cooed. You’ll be like us. We’ll make you a mermaid like us. That’s what happens to the women we take. You won’t die, you’ll grow a tail. Won’t that be glorious?
She’d be a mermaid if she just let the water in. It’d be so easy to just…let herself drown…wouldn’t it?
The burning hurt so much.
They were probably lying.
They were definitely lying.
But the burning hurt.
None of this was real.
But the pain…very much was.
There was a splash. Something dark was overhead.
The world began to grow dark.
The burning hurt too much.
She let the water in.
Sasha jerked into consciousness. “Fuck—”