Forever Neverland(55)

But Michael was a strange little boy. And he had good hearing.

“No it isn’t.”

John turned to face his little brother. “What do you mean it isn’t? She escaped, didn’t she? And now Hook’s off on a mad rampage to kill both her and Peter in one fell swoop!”

At that, Billy Jukes, who was rowing the boat behind them, threw back his head and roared laughter into the angry sky.

Both brothers turned in their seats to look at the one-eyed pirate, Michael’s gaze narrowing angrily, John’s face blanching even more pale than it had already been.

“It isn’t her fault,” Michael insisted, then, turning back to face John once more. “Well, actually,” he seemed to reconsider, “this storm might be her fault. . . . I don’t really know –”

“What?” John cried, his expression bewildered. “What in the world are you talking about? How can she possibly be responsible for the bloody storm? It’s the one stupid thing she’s not responsible for!”

“All right you two, quit yer belly-aching back there!” Arnold the Black shot them a warning glance over his shoulder and the handsome Cecco looked up from where he sat at the prow of the small ship. He allowed a small smile to curve his lips and his eyes glittered darkly in the stormy light.

John swallowed hard. “We’re gonna die,” he whispered.

“No we’re not,” Michael whispered back, leaning in slightly so that his brother could hear him over the gaining roar of the wind. Both boys were drenched now, as were the other pirates. The wind carried the water from the sea as readily as it did the rain, and salt stung the boys’ eyes. The pirates, however, seemed to be used to it and kept their attention trained on the task at hand. Namely, rowing several small boats out to Skull Rock, where, apparently, Peter Pan and Wendy had run off together.

“You’re insane, Michael, you know that?” John said.

“Hook doesn’t want us dead! He’s gonna use us to get to Wendy. Think about it! That’s why he doesn’t want us falling overboard and drowning!”

“I said cut it, you two!” Arnold roared at them.

Jukes gave John a kick in the back to drive the point home and John lurched forward with the impact. Slowly, he straightened, his gaze shooting daggers at Michael. “Right,” he hissed lowly. “They don’t want us dead.”



Chapter Nineteen

Wendy turned her back on Peter and hugged herself tight. She needed to not see him for a few moments. Just a few precious seconds. Long enough to get her temper back under control and figure out what to do next.

Her brothers were still back on that ship and the storm was getting worse. She’d left them to an evil fate, whether the pirates killed them or not.

And it was Peter’s fault.

She gritted her teeth as Peter tried to grab her upper arm and turn her back around to face him. She yanked out of his grip. “Don’t touch me!” She didn’t want his touch. She didn’t want him near her right now.

It wasn’t just his recent act of defiance that was burning her blood to boiling. It was more than that. More than the fact that he’d brought her to Neverland in the first place. More than the fact that he’d filled her head with magic and then abandoned her for five years to parents and teachers and doctors who didn’t believe her. It was more than the strange, surreal nightmare that he’d once more kidnapped her and made things positively worse for them all.

It was that Wendy knew something about him now that she had never known before – and never would have imagined. Something awful.

“I know what you did to him,” she told him then, her back still to him, her voice miraculously carrying across the space between them due to a lull in the thunder and a brief drop in the wind.

Peter was quiet behind her. She wondered what he must be thinking, what must have been going through his mind and flashing in his weird, unfamiliar eyes.

Finally, he asked, “What are you talking about?” His tone was confused, and more than a touch accusatory.

Now she did turn to face him, and the lightning flashed as she screamed, “You cut off his hand because of his last name, Peter!” In a sudden surge of very real fury, she lunged forward and shoved him hard in the chest. Peter was knocked off balance and only caught himself from falling off of the precipice over the water because of the copious amounts of pixie dust he’d absorbed earlier that day.

“How could you be so heartless? How could you?”

Peter steadied himself on the rock and then glared at Wendy. She glared back.

“I assume you’re talking about Hook,” he spat.