Chapter 15 #5
“Shiner’s right.” Tiger Lily settles back against the leather sofa, and Hook slings his arm behind me.
Hook begins, “Well, as I see it, Princess, we both have a problem. One that’s gotten so big we can’t ignore it any longer.
The island’s magic is being siphoned off by the parasite known as Peter Pan.
If we ever want to see the sun rise over Neverland again, we have to stop him.
If we work together, I don’t see why we couldn’t bring the fairies, mermaids, and more to our side.
But we need to be a solid front on this.
I’ve already spoken to Blackbeard and the other pirate captains, kings, and queens.
They fear the darkness spreading to all their territories—and they’re right to be afraid.
The sun no longer rises over Blackbeard’s Cay.
The blight on Neverland has to end, and I’m more than happy to be the one who strikes the killing blow.
” His plea ends on a dark note. It’s clear he means to end Peter by any means necessary.
I don’t know how I feel about that. He’s not a good person. There’s no way around that fact—not after what he did to me, and not after what he’s done to the Lost Boys. But does he deserve to die?
Tiger Lily folds her hands in her lap. “I understand your concerns. But you seem to have left out an important part of why the magic here is fading.” She gives him a pointed look.
“You are the one who set off the decline. If you recall, you came to me. You asked me for my blessing to enter the sacred cave beneath the NeverTree.”
Hook shifts, his arm draping across my shoulders.
“You heard my refusal, and then you began a fray that led to losses on both sides.”
“Aye.” He nods. “I remember just fine, Tiger Lily. I also remember soon after that you sneaking onto the Jolly Roger with a mind to slit my throat.”
“Because you still intended to violate the cave despite my decree,” she shoots back. “And then you left me on Marooner’s Rock for the mermaids to devour.” Her ire rises, coloring her throat and cheeks a deep pink. “Peter saved me from that fate.”
His grip on me tightens. “Back then, sure. That Peter probably did something cocky and foolhardy to save you from the death I designed. But this Peter?” He shakes his head. “He’s changed, Tiger Lily. You know that.”
“He’s become more like you—taking what he wants, refusing offers of friendship, ignoring the consequences of his own actions.” Her words have bite.
Shiner and I exchange a look, but she gives nothing away. She doesn’t have to. I know she’d defend Tiger Lily to her last breath.
“You blame him for the island’s darkness, but you are the one who set it in motion.
” She tangles her fingers together. “This began because you went into the cave and bargained with the soul of the island. Whatever it gave you created the imbalance. It was a festering wound until Peter committed the same sin. Now, it’s tearing Neverland apart.
Make no mistake, Captain, I blame both of you. ”
I look at Hook from the corner of my eye. His jaw is tight, his face a grim mask. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but it’s certainly not about reconciliation and finding common ground over a meal. Not anymore.
“I did what I did. I make no apologies for it.” He sounds every bit the fierce pirate of legend, violence dripping from his words.
“I will do whatever the island demands of me to repair the damage I’ve caused.
You know that. I’ve asked to return to the sacred cave, but you’ve refused your blessing again and again. I will not venture there without it.”
Tiger Lily pins him with an icy glare. “You won’t have it. Not after what you’ve done. I can’t trust you.”
They fall silent, each of them staring daggers at each other. We wait for a long while, the sounds of the violin and someone singing floating in from the back garden. The pirates and the Guardians out there are getting along far better than the ones in this room.
Finally, I clear my throat. “Let me just go over the minutes of the meeting to see if we can move forward, okay?” Shiner nods encouragingly, but Hook and Tiger Lily are still engaged in their standoff. “Hook did a bad thing by going to talk with the island about a request. Is that right?”
“Yes,” Tiger Lily says through tight lips.
“And that was the beginning of the end for the sunshine and maybe some other magical things?”
“Right,” Shiner agrees.
“But then Peter went and did the same bad thing—asking the island for something—and that threw it off even more. Which has now led to the island’s magic fading, missing Guardians and fairies, the creepy shadow children, and the forever night.”
“And the terror at the full moon,” Shiner adds. “It was dangerous before, but each full moon brings the whole island a little closer to …” She looks up, searching for a word.
“The island is going feral. Bit by bit. Soon, it won’t allow Lost Boys, fairies, or even Guardians to survive here.” Tiger Lily sighs.
“I believe your minutes are correct, lass.” Hook squeezes my shoulder, his hand warm against me. “But there are a few things I’d like to add. I think the shadows are entirely Peter’s doing.”
“How so?” Tiger Lily asks.
“It’s a theory, one I can’t prove. But ever since I visited the cave, Peter and the Lost Boys began to age far faster than any of the rest of us here. Tiger Lily, you look the same as the day of our first duel, the time when you tried to carve out my liver.”
Tiger Lily nods. “I would have done it, too, if it weren’t for Smee running through the forest and screaming so shrilly that I thought there might be a child in danger.”
I let out a small snort, then cover my nose with my hand. “Sorry,” I say. “I just kind of hate that guy.”
“Can’t stand him. He looks like he enjoys counting things and arranging them in neat little rows.” Shiner wrinkles her nose. “What sort of person enjoys that?”
Tiger Lily puts her hand on Shiner’s knee, and she falls silent. I suppose our misbehaving is at an end.
“The point is, Princess, Peter is the one who’s losing the magic far faster than anyone else.”
“Where are you going with this?” she asks.
“I think Peter has been doing something to the Lost Boys. Their numbers have dwindled to—”
“You kill every Lost Boy you find,” Tiger Lily interrupts. “You can’t seriously think I’ll blame Peter for that.”
“I don’t deny that. I set them free to go on to wherever they belong.”
Tiger Lily sighs. “If you’d just let them live, the conflict between Peter and—”
“I won’t.” His words are clipped.
“Why?” I blurt.
Hook turns to me so fast his neck cracks.
“Why won’t you just let them live?” I hate the prickle of tears behind my eyes when I see Coy’s face. Will I see it forever?
“Because they’re trapped here.” His voice softens, and he speaks only to me.
“When I was a child a long, long time ago—longer now than I can truly remember, I had a sister.” He pauses for a while, then continues.
“She was younger than me. A little blonde thing that followed me around our small house.” He smiles a little.
“She had a dolly she loved. She called it Frenchie, though I’ve no idea where she got that name.
I don’t recall what it looked like or even what happened to it, but I remember she loved it dearly.
One day, we went to the market with our mum.
My sister took Frenchie with her, dragged it all around the market while my mother sold her knitting and bought some food.
When we got home, Frenchie was gone. My sister cried herself to sleep that night, her heart breaking because her doll was gone.
I remember holding her. She was so wee in my arms, her tears consuming her.
” He looks down as if he can still see his sister.
“That morning, a man from the market came to the door and handed over the dolly. He said he’d found it in a rubbish bin at the back of his stall.
My sister was overjoyed, and I remember that day as one of the happiest of my childhood. ”
For some reason, I lean into him. I don’t know why. I don’t know what he’s going to say next, but I can sense something inside him that’s brittle and cracked, and with any force at all, it could break.
“The next week we were getting ready to go to market again on our usual day, but my sister wasn’t feeling well.
I stayed home with her while our mum went out.
She was tired, so tired. Not hopping around the house like usual.
Instead, she kept to her bed, her Frenchie always by her side.
By the time Mum came home, she was coughing, her face pale, her skin cold.
I held her again, kept her close to me as she began to burn with fever.
My mum left to get help, to try and find a doctor who’d work for very little.
I stayed with my sister. Held her as she burned and wept.
She held Frenchie in her pale hands, her fingers wrapped tightly around the harbinger of her end.
And when our mum finally came home, my sister was already gone.
I held her as she took her last breath.” His eyes are glossy, the memories old but the pain still fresh.
“The only comfort I ever had from losing her was the thought of her being in a better place. Somewhere with no hunger, no pain, no sickness. Somewhere our father could never find her and hurt her the way he used to. Somewhere she was free.” He turns back to Tiger Lily.
“So, yes, I will kill every Lost Boy I find. I will set them free to escape this endless night and into whatever heaven every innocent child deserves. Because make no mistake, that’s what they are.
Children who were led here by a pied piper who has no intention of ever setting them free. ”