Chapter 10 #2
If Peter had made it through the night alive, she was pretty sure he’d make it through “pretend surgery” with a “make-believe doctor.” And even if he didn’t, there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to help him.
So, she went to the little hut they made for her that was attached to the side of the tree off one of the main gangways, crawled inside on the pile of straw and tattered fabric they’d laid out for her, and shut the door.
And prayed that when she woke up, she’d be in a hotel room with one hell of a cocaine hangover.
But something told her she wouldn’t be that lucky.
This felt wrong.
But what was Sasha supposed to do?
She was following along behind Hook as they crept through the woods, approaching the “secret hideout” of the Lost Boys.
“How did you learn the location of the hideout?” She asked Hook quietly.
They were in full sneak mode. Well, as sneaky as a contingent of pirates could be, anyway.
Which was more than she’d expected, but less than she’d hoped.
“If you don’t mind my asking, and it won’t involve me getting shot,” she added quickly.
Hook smirked over his shoulder at her. “Tinker Bell.”
“Wh—” She sighed. “Right. The jealousy thing. You made a deal to spare Pan if you got rid of Wendy.”
“And I am nothing if not a man of my word.” He placed his palm to his chest. “And we’re skipping past the whole poison bit.” He turned his attention back to where he was going. “‘Clap your hands if you believe’ crock of shit. Cheap trick to get the audience on your side.”
She snickered quietly. “Now who’s jealous?”
“Ssh.” He ducked behind a tree. “We’re here.”
Convenient. Suspiciously convenient. She wasn’t sure if he could rearrange the topography of an island to avoid a conversation, but she wouldn’t be shocked.
She crouched beside him, looking at a huge tree with a rather odd looking section of wood that was very distinctly door-shaped plugging a section of it.
Like the freaking Keebler Elf tree door. It might as well have a sign on it that read Secret Hideout, No Pirates Allowed. “Seriously?” She arched an eyebrow. “They couldn’t do any better than that?”
“It’s a children’s story. Set your expectations accordingly.” Glancing at her briefly, he tapped a finger on the end of her nose. “And don’t call your sister stupid.”
“I—” She paused. If Sidney got here first, she supposed Sidney would have been the one to dream up the secret hideout. Her shoulders slumped. “I didn’t mean—”
“I won’t tell her.” He paused. “Immediately.”
She punched the back of his shoulder.
That got a quiet laugh out of him. “Now, now, violence solves nothing, my dear.” He gestured to the pirates to his right. “Remember, men, we capture them now. We can brutally murder them all later, once we lure Peter Pan to the ship.”
The pirates crept to the tree, surrounding the door, setting up a perimeter. When it was clearly safe, one of them whistled like a bird.
Hook stood, brushed himself, and strolled toward the door like a proper gentleman. She followed behind him for lack of knowing what better to do.
With the back of his hook, he knocked on the door quietly.
It creaked open, just a little. And out came a shimmering ball of light.
Tinker Bell.
A real life fairy. Sasha stared at the glowing thing in awe. She was beautiful, with short hair cropped to fall over one eye, and large gossamer wings that fluttered at a speed that made them almost impossible to see. She was naked.
Of course she was.
Sidney liked all types and was always the popular one of the two twins.
She’d been the source of a lot of gray hairs for her parents growing up.
Not because she ever dated in excess—it wasn’t like that.
In fact, their dad always commented that Sidney’s girlfriends made him “a lot less nervous” than her boyfriends, for obvious reasons.
But just by comparison alone, Sidney was the rambunctious one. Always out at parties with friends, coming home a little too late and smelling a little too much like weed.
Sasha had been the quiet one who was in her room reading or playing games, and preferred chatting with online friends—which meant she had a non-existent leash growing up. Something she never tested, which was what Sidney found the most infuriating.
It was the only real source of tension between them as high school kids. Sidney had always been jealous that Sasha had gotten to do whatever she wanted—but Sasha never wanted to do anything.
Where Sidney was always under a microscope because she wanted to do things.
It wasn’t fair, and so on.
But once they’d gone to separate colleges and gotten out of the house, Sidney proved to be more than capable of balancing her social checkbook, so to speak.
She had no issue having a flourishing social life and still coming out of it with a bachelors in marketing and an internship at a high-powered firm in L.A.
Sasha, meanwhile, had never come out of her shell. One masters in library sciences later, and…it was clear which one of them won the game.
“Of course, Lady Bell.” Hook’s voice was a sensual purr as he bowed low, his hand pressed to his chest. “I would never think of double-crossing you. I am a gentleman, after all. I am only thinking of the tragic mistreatment you have suffered at his hands, after he brought that Wendy here. How could he believe a radiant and rare creature such as yourself could be so easily replaced?”
He really could lay on the charm when he wanted.
And now she was the one feeling a little bit jealous.
Sasha. No. Bad. Don’t be stupid.
But she wasn’t the only one falling for it. Tinker Bell was blushing, her fingers over her lips as she bashfully smiled.
“We will take her away.”
“Wait—is—is Sidney—” She paused. “Is Wendy alive?”
Tinker Bell looked at her, clearly flabbergasted as to why “Mr. Smee” would care. She nodded.
Sasha felt a weight leave her shoulders.
Hook cleared his throat. “As I was saying. We will take Wendy away, and a few of the Lost Boys—just enough to make it not seem suspicious. And we will not harm a hair on Peter’s head.” Hook lifted his hand in the air beside him. “On my honor.”
Tinker Bell chewed her lip. The fairy nodded and flew inside. The door swung the rest of the way open. How the little fairy moved the door, Sasha had no clue. But whatever. Fairy. Evil electric WWI-era crocodile. Flying children. Details.
Just go with it.
Hook gestured for his men to go inside. The pirates, toothless grins and eager smiles etched on their wrinkled and sand-pocked faces, went inside to do the deed.
At least the kids wouldn’t be slaughtered.
Yet.
Hook walked over to one of the pirates left standing guard, holding a wood and glass lantern aloft to light their way. Taking the lantern, he opened the door and blew out the candle. “Mr. Smee, come here for a moment.”
“Oh, no.” But she did as she was told.
“Hold this.” He handed her the lantern, the door open and facing out.
It wasn’t exactly subtle where this was going to go. Nor did she really have an option. So she took it and held it like he had instructed her.
“Oh, Miss Bell, I have a question.” Hook smiled down at Sasha, a glint of purple appearing in one of his dark brown eyes. “Just a quick clarification on our deal, if you don’t mind.”
The fairy appeared in a shimmer, hovering in the air near Hook.
The pirate moved fast for someone his size and relatively older age, compared to the Lost Boys. Hook snatched the fairy out of the air, grabbing her in his fist, his expression turning from one that bordered on seductive to one of lofty disgust within a split second.
“Pathetic little thing. To think I would make deals with you? Peh! But your obsession with that fool served me just fine.” He threw the fairy into the lantern.
Tinker Bell hit the back wall of it hard, hitting the wax-covered bottom and covering her hands, legs, and her wings in the still-hot substance.
Hook latched the glass door shut. The holes for air were too small for Tinker Bell to escape.
“I will keep my word to you, though. I will spare his life. It is bad form to kill someone already injured. When he’s mended well enough to rescue Wendy and the others, you can tell him where they’ve gone.
” Hook tapped on the glass with the curl of his hook before taking the lantern and hanging it on a low stub of a branch on the tree.
Tinker Bell was pissed.
Sasha didn’t know exactly what she was saying, as she didn’t speak “sparkles,” but it wasn’t polite. She was from Boston—she got the vibe well enough.
“I’m sorry,” Sasha muttered to the fairy. “It’s nothing personal.”
“Speak for yourself. And don’t bother. She’ll cease to exist the moment we move on from here.
” Hook was already walking back toward the boats.
The pirates were now leading a procession line of kidnapped teenagers, all lashed with rope and gagged, some bleeding from where they’d clearly been punched into submission.
Sasha waited. Held her breath.
Sidney was one of the last to come out, dragged by two men on either side. She wasn’t tied up or gagged, and she was giving them the fight for their lives. “I’m gonna skin your balls and turn them into hacky sacks, you ugly pieces of shi—”
That was her sister, all right.
“Sid!”
Sidney gave up fighting the moment she saw Sasha. Instead, her sister’s eyes welled up with tears and her twin let out a heartbroken sob.
Putting on her best “pirate” voice, she looked at the two men hauling her. “I’ll take her from here, men. She’ll behave for me.”
“If’in you say so, Mr. Smee.” One of the men shrugged, and let Sidney go. Sidney ran over to Sasha, half throwing herself into her arms.
Sasha hugged her sister tight. “I’m so glad you’re okay, I was so worried. How’d you get away?”
“A bird’s nest. It makes no fucking sense.”
“I think that happened in the book.”
“It’s stupid.” Sidney sniffled.
“Mr. Smee. Come along.” Hook was losing his patience. And an impatient Hook meant dead people. And while he might not kill her, he wouldn’t have a problem killing Sidney.
Taking Sidney’s hand, she started off after the line of pirates and their captives. “Time to end this story and move onto the next one.”
“Good. This place sucks.” Sidney was in full-blown, four-alarm whine mode. Sasha couldn’t say she blamed her.
She also didn’t have the heart to tell her that whatever came next was probably going to be worse.
Way worse.
* Now, if only anyone would actually listen. -V