Chapter 10 #2
“I’m glad I could clear this one up for you.”
He gives me a sheepish smile. “Thanks, Moira. You really helped me out. I hate when Peter gets mad.” He looks at his feet.
I’ve never seen Peter mad, at least not with me. “Does that happen a lot?”
“Everyone gets mad. Hey—” He looks around as if realizing something momentous. “I think Slightly and the boys left without us. We need to catch up.”
I finish my water. “Lead the way, Tootles. Let’s go to town.”
He shows me through the short hall and into a side tunnel I don’t recognize. We keep walking until the floor begins to angle up and we come to a worn wooden ladder.
“They can’t have much of a head start,” I tell Tootles as we climb up from yet another secret exit that I’ll never be able to find again.
“We’ll catch up to them.” He takes my elbow so I don’t trip over a large patch of faintly glowing mushrooms just ahead of me. “This way.”
We hike around a grove of trees, then past a mossy bank with an algae-covered pond where frogs bask in the moonlight. After a few minutes, we come to the giant smoking toadstool I’d seen the time I tried to escape.
“What’s that?” I point. “Why’s it smoking?”
“It’s the chimney,” he says matter-of-factly.
“What?”
“It’s the kitchen chimney. We had to hide where the smoke comes out so the pirates don’t find our cave.”
I look at the cartoonishly huge mushroom and then at Tootles, who’s earnestness somehow brings a giggle from me. I laugh, unable to hold it in.
He starts to laugh, too, an awkward ‘hehehe’ as he stares at me with obvious befuddlement.
“I’m sorry.” I hold my side and try to calm myself. “It’s just. I don’t know. I thought it was like a magical toadstool, you know? With the smoke and everything. And then when you said it’s a disguised chimney—but the disguise is … I mean, come on …”
He’s looking at me blankly. I need to cut my losses.
“Sorry, Tootles.” I squeeze his arm. “I’m just a little loopy this morning—or afternoon—or whatever time it is.”
“It’s okay.” He leans in conspiratorially. “I think it’s a dumb disguise for a chimney, too.”
I smile and take his proffered elbow, and we pick our way through the trees and past huge, fantastical flowers that close abruptly when we get close.
We cross a stream, then pass through a little meadow of tiny yellow flowers that smell like cinnamon with each step. A bird calls from a tree on our right.
Tootles stops. “Wait.”
I look around. “What?”
He puts his hands to his mouth and makes the same call as the bird.
Movement ahead catches my eye, and I grab Tootles and point.
“You were supposed to stay in the cave.” Coy steps out from behind one of the trees, amusement and irritation mixing in his tone.
“Peter told her we should come with you.” Tootles strides up to him.
“That so, Moira?” Coy asks, sarcasm dripping from his words.
“Does it matter? We’re out here now. You may as well let us go with you.”
Slightly and Nibs walk up behind Coy, both of them shaking their heads.
I kick my chin up. “Ugh, I’m coming with you. Get over it.”
“I don’t agree with this, Coy.” Nibs frowns. “Peter wouldn’t want her out of the cave.”
Tootles steps forward. “But Peter told her—”
Nibs puts up a hand, stopping Tootles in his tracks. “You’ve done enough, Tootles. Sit the rest of this one out.”
Even though I got Tootles into this mess, I don’t want him taking the blame. “It was my idea.”
“We’re aware,” Coy says dryly.
“In that case, glad we’re all agreed. I’m ready to go. Let’s fly.” I take his arm.
Slightly snorts a laugh.
“Oh, Moira, Moira, Moira.” Coy smirks and pats my hand. “We’ll be footing it to town. Tinker Bell isn’t exactly free with her fairy dust. Peter gets all he wants. The rest of us, not so much.”
“Oh, so it is the fairy dust that makes her fly. And you, too, I guess. I couldn’t remember that specific part of Wendy’s story.” I let go of his arm and try to swallow the foolishness I feel.
“Yeah. Peter keeps a stash on him. We tend to use ours up as soon as we get it, eh, Nibs?”
Nibs fixes his glasses on his nose and peers off through the forest. “Pretty much, yes. Also, I’d like to reiterate that I don’t agree with this plan.” He adjusts the bow he has slung across his back, the quiver full of feathered arrows.
“Reiterate?” Slightly shakes his head. “What are you on about, Nibs?”
“Peter isn’t going to appreciate us taking Moira with us.” Nibs raises his voice, and I could swear I almost see him as a pudgy, red-faced child. “She should stay in the cave.”
“No way.” I cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not going to sit around in the cave when there’s all of Neverland to explore. That’s bullshit, Nibs.”
Coy and Slightly snicker. Tootles, the sweetheart, just looks confused.
I mean every word. If I’m already this deep in the delusion, I want to see all of it I can.
But that thought also brings an echo of pain, a memory of how I lost my mom to a world she kept locked inside her head.
I have to remind myself this isn’t the same.
I won’t let it be. This is something I can come back from. I will come back from it.
Coy scans the trees. “Come on. Let’s get moving. Maybe we can have her back in the cave before Peter comes home. Then it’ll be all good.”
Slightly points to a tree with a rough mark cut into its bark. “That way. We should go before the forest decides to change the path on us.”
“Wait. That’s a thing?” I ask, unable to keep the incredulity from my tone.
Coy nods. “The island has a mind of its own. Okay, Slightly, you lead. Then Tootles. Nibs next. Then Moira. I’ll watch your back.” Coy positions himself behind me.
We start walking, a faint path in the undergrowth helping us navigate through the vines and bushes that dot the forest floor.
A thought strikes me as we climb a short rise. “So why does Tink have wings if she uses fairy dust to fly?”
Nibs stops so fast I bump into him. “What?”
“If Tinker Bell doesn’t need wings to fly, then why does she have wings? I don’t get it.”
“I’ve …” Nibs turns and looks at me, his eyes wide behind his glasses. “I’ve never thought about that before.”
“Why do you ask so many questions?” Coy’s breath tickles across my ear as he gives me a playful push. “Keep moving.”
The moon is thicker now but not quite a half circle.
It barely shines through the clouds that seem to lay on the island like gray blankets.
It feels colder without the twinkling stars overhead, but I think it’s just my imagination.
My semi-clean sweatshirt and jeans are warm enough.
Not to mention I’m eyeing the path as it meanders between trees and across creeks, giving me a clear view of all the exercise I’m about to get. Great.
“Wait.” Coy’s voice drops. “Everyone down.” His hand grips my shoulder, and he pulls me to the forest floor, all of us on our haunches.
I turn to look at him. “What?”
He puts his finger to his lips and whispers “Shhh.”
Slightly pulls a knife from his boot, and Nibs nocks an arrow.
The attack comes so fast I don’t even have time to scream.