Chapter 41
Tink
Tink screeched as the water raced to meet her.
Her wings flapped with all their might, struggling as she tumbled toward the sea. With one pained flutter after another, she leveled off just above the surface of the water.
A glance over her shoulder showed the towering Kraken behind her.
James was up there.
James had pushed her!
To save her, but still…
“Pixie!”
She whirled toward the voice.
The boys bobbed in their boat a few feet away. The biggest one reached for her, leaning out over the edge. Oh, revered elders, a boat. Safety.
She flew in their direction until her feet dipped to the sloshing sea, and they pulled her in with them.
She nearly sobbed in relief as her boots settled on the bottom.
Burning bits and cinders floated down from above, landing on the water then going out.
Tink sucked in one breath after another as the boys picked up the paddles and began to furiously row again.
The Jolly Roger was near. They’d see the signal and begin the attack. They had to get away from here.
Tink looked back over her shoulder. But how could she leave James?
A figure leaped onto the railing. Tink gasped at the familiar, slight form.
Lily took flight, soaring through the air directly toward them.
“Wait. It’s Tinker Bell!” called the boy who’d taken charge.
Wait, what? Her gaze darted around the boys. “I’m Tinker Bell.”
“Huh?”
Nessa’s flute. Before she could get to the bottom of it, Lily hovered just above their little dinghy.
“How dare you!” she screeched.
“Me? How dare you say such a thing after all you’ve done,” Tink shot back.
“It’s on fire!”
No shit. Tink’s lips thinned. It’d be splintered ruins soon, if her plan worked out. She glanced past Lily. James…
Lily barreled into her. Breath fled her lungs.
Her calves knocked into something hard. Outcries rose from the boys around them.
Then her feet slipped, and they went tumbling end over end.
Her wings cried out in pain. Lily screeched.
Tink’s hip crashed into the side of the boat, and they plunged into cold darkness.
Tink choked on seawater. Dark. Cold. Burning. Just like before.
This was it. The sea would get her after all.
The merfolk weren’t coming. Not this time. They’d left hours ago after pointing them to the Kraken.
She stilled, giving in to the embrace of death.
But as she did, James’s face flashed before her eyes. Her captain. Her love. He was fighting, struggling for vengeance for all of them. How could she quit now?
Tink clawed through the water, kicking her legs, wiggling her body. Her lungs screamed in pain, ready to burst.
The water parted. She gasped for air, choking on the water in her lungs. Small hands grabbed at her, trying to pull her from the water.
“Got her!”
“Pull!”
Salt and panic seared her eyes. She choked and gasped, desperate for life-giving air. Her wings pinched against the boat as the boys hauled her—none too gently—back in.
“Are you all right?”
“Miss pixie—”
The boys crowded around her. Tink hacked up seawater, wheezing for air.
“Row left!” the one in charge commanded.
Tink looked up through the wet hair sticking to her face. Lily was wrong. Tink wasn’t better at everything. Lily could swim—a skill she’d never learned.
Lily adjusted her form in the water and fluttered her wings until she began to rise. The boys jumped back as Tink sent her own into motion, flinging seawater all over the little dinghy.
“Go back, Lily!”
“Lily?” the boys echoed.
Water dripped from her cousin as she floated in the air above the churning sea. Her hands balled into fists. “Not yet!”
Tink pursed her lips. She couldn’t let Lily damage the little boat. The boys rowed furiously across the water, giving it their all. Peter, still unconscious, leaned against the side. If it sprang a leak—or worse, if Lily tipped it over—these boys could die. She couldn’t let that happen.
Tink stepped up to the edge of the boat and vaulted into the sky.
“Wait!” the boys screamed, but she ignored them.
Sorry, kids.
“You got what you wanted,” Tink yelled. “Leave us alone. Let us go!”
“No.” Lily pushed wet hair from her face. “I can’t let you get the scale. You can’t go home!”
The two pixies hovered a few feet apart in the dark night. Tink bared her teeth. It was too late for that anyway. “Why? Too worried people will learn the truth?”
Lily reared back.
She’d struck her target right on. “Using my name now too, huh?” The boys had given her away. “Too afraid to commit your crimes in your own name? Truth always outs in the end. They’ll know. They probably already know! I’m the good one after all, remember?”
Lily squealed with fury, just as Tink predicted, and hurtled toward her. At the last moment, Tink folded her wings and dropped, dodging her cousin’s bared claws. The other pixie hurtled into the water, unable to stop herself in time.
No sooner had she gone under than her blonde head emerged, coughing and scrambling to regain her senses. The sea wouldn’t keep her down, not long. Nearby, men ran across the deck of the Kraken. Her heart lurched as she caught sight of James, locked in combat with Blackbeard.
No.
Where was the Jolly Roger?
A high-pitched groan snagged her attention as Lily escaped the grasp of the sea and flew back into the air—straight for Tink.
“Lily, stop! Let’s talk about—”
A boom rang through the night. Something whistled through the air.
The cannonball clipped Lily’s wings before sailing past and crashing into the side of the Kraken. The pixie screeched in pain as she spiraled toward the sea.
“Lily!” Tink yelled and dove through the air toward her cousin, but stopped short just above the water. When Lily didn’t immediately re-emerge, her stomach dropped. Her skin tingled as bile rose in her throat.
Her cousin had done awful, terrible things, but part of her still remembered the young pixie she’d grown up with—her best friend, her favorite cousin. She filled almost all her memories. To lose her to something as horrid as the sea…
Lily’s head broke the surface. Tink’s heart leaped. A pale hand reached toward her. And then she was gone again, lost in the depths.
“Shit. Boys!” Tink screeched.
“Row, row, row!” the one in charge yelled. But they fought against the current in their little dinghy. They wouldn’t make it, not in time.
Tink swallowed. Now or never. Without a second thought, she dove toward the water.
Lily surfaced again, and this time, Tink was there to grab her. Her wings strained and screamed in pain as Tink tried to haul Lily back into the air. Her cousin was barely conscious, her eyes opening and closing as her head lolled to the side.
“Up! Don’t die here!”
The sea wouldn’t relinquish its hold. It was all she could do to keep Lily’s head above water.
Cannons boomed. One missed the Kraken and crashed into the sea nearby, sending a wave that tugged them down until Tink’s legs were caught in the deadly water.
“Boys!”
Close, so close, just another minute—
One boy jumped into the water and swam toward Lily. Together, they hauled her into the boat and laid her near Peter. She’d fallen completely unconscious. And her poor wings… The sight nearly had Tink spilling her stomach over the side. They’d heal, but it would take time.
“Take them and go.” Tink perched on the edge of the boat, giving her wings a brief rest. Everything ached, but she couldn’t stop. Not now. “Get out of here!”
“What about you?” the littlest asked.
She glanced back at the Kraken. “I have someone else to save. Now row! You have to get them to safety.” Tink pointed to Lily and Peter.
Before they could protest, Tink launched into the sky.