Everland (31 page)

The ballroom door slams shut like the lid of a coffin as I leave behind the noise of protests.

P
ain shoots through my cramped and bloodied fingers as I grasp the ledge of the palace. My feet slip. A scream threatens to escape, but I grit my teeth as I dangle precariously from the wall. Two tiny hands wrap around my wrists. I turn my gaze toward Bella and blink away the light sprinkles of rain.

“Come on, Gwen,” Bella grunts. “Get your feet underneath you.”

The sky lights up in a brilliant white flash.

“Right there,” Bella says, pointing to the wall. “Put your foot on that stone.”

A pile of Bella’s gold dust sparkles on a small crevice. I swing my leg, wedging the lip of my boot into the crack, and stand wobbling before catching my balance.

“There you go. You have it. Now pull yourself up,” Bella whispers.

I prop my elbows on the ledge and heave myself onto the roof. Tired and breathing heavily, I roll over onto my back and stare at the sky, willing my heart rate to slow. Clouds and smoke span the night, except for one small break barely large enough to reveal two twinkling stars. The irony strikes me, and I decide there is only one thing to do. I wish on the dual stars: one wish for the safety of my family and the other for Pete and the Lost Boys.

“You did it, Gwen,” Bella says in whispered enthusiasm. She helps me up; the glow of the rooftop gas lanterns cast dancing shadows on her face. “You really did it.”

“I did, didn’t I?” I say, still relishing the moment.

Bella nods, her expression bright with excitement. “Just like a true Lost Girl.” She reaches in her pocket and holds her hand out to me. “Take this. You earned it, and you’re probably going to need it.”

Bella pours glittery powder into my open palm. Carefully, I put the dust in my pocket.

“Thanks, Bella.”

A crack of thunder slices the air now. When the next flash lights her expression, it changes from excitement to horror. I turn to see what she is staring at.

The door opens. Smeeth and two soldiers step onto the roof. I push Bella behind me and pull out my dagger.

“Well, well, look what we’ve got here,” Smeeth says, his night-vision goggles pulled onto his face. “If it isn’t Miss Bella and the Professor’s daughter, I presume.”

I take Bella by the hand and spin around to run the other direction when another door opens behind us with two more soldiers.

“Don’t be frightened,” Smeeth says. “We want to have a little chat with you, that’s all. No need to run out on us.”

“You know I could jump off this building and be gone before you made it halfway here,” Bella says with defiance.

Smeeth nods and laughs. “That is true, Miss Bella. But it isn’t you we want.” Smeeth clasps his hands behind his back. “I’m here for Miss Darling.”

I take a step back, protecting Bella with my body. “What do you want, Smeeth?” I ask.

Smeeth turns his face to the sky. “In this bloody weather, a spot of tea would be nice, but alas we will not be attending any parties. It’s more of a family get-together. However, don’t feel left out, Miss Bella; I’m sure the Captain will find a suitable use for you.”

“Run, Bella,” I whisper.

Without hesitation, Bella sprints to the ledge. She opens her arms as if they were wings, ready to dive into the nearby tree. She is stopped by two soldiers climbing over the edge of the building. Bella shrinks back with a look of dread as one soldier towers over her. She hurries toward me and wraps her arms around my waist.

“Gold dust,” the soldier mumbles, walking toward us with purposeful steps. He rubs his fingers and thumbs together as glittering specks fall to the ground. “Brilliant, really. Had no trouble climbing the wall with the trail you left behind.” The soldier crouches and peers at Bella. “Once the Captain is done with you, you’ll be showing us where the gold is, little girl. Ain’t that right?”

Bella looks at me with a glassy stare.

“You want gold?” I ask, feeling adrenaline course through me. I give Bella a sideways glance and wink. “You can have it.” I reach in my pocket and throw the dust into the soldier’s face. Bella follows suit, sending her powder into the direction of the other Marauder. They paw at their goggles, attempting to wipe away the dust.

“Brats!” one of the soldiers screams, and stumbles to the ground.

I kick the soldier’s shin with the toe of my boot and grab Bella’s hand. We start for one of the doors when two more soldiers burst through it, blocking our escape.

Smeeth’s dazed expression quickly turns to anger. He pulls his gun from its holster and aims it at Bella and me. “You cheeky scamps! I’ve had just about enough of your nonsense.”

As Smeeth trains his weapon on us, the soldiers move past him, closing in on Bella and me. Bella grabs her slingshot from her belt and turns her back to mine, fending off the advancing men behind me. I hold my dagger, ready for Smeeth and his guards. The Marauders hesitate.

“Ladies, it doesn’t have to be this difficult,” Smeeth says, still directing his revolver at us.

I search for an escape, but we are surrounded, with nowhere to go except over the eastern wall and into the quad. A wave of nausea rolls over me. I breathe, smelling the scent of ash and smoke.

“This is ridiculous,” one of the soldiers says. He snatches Bella and pulls her into him, clutching her arms as she struggles against his hold.

Smeeth steps toward me. His copper gun reflects a flash of lightning as he points the weapon at me.

I seize my second dagger, aiming one at Smeeth’s head, the other at his heart.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Smeeth says, his stare stone cold.

Gripping my daggers tighter, I feel my blood pulse against the hilts. One flick of my wrist, that’s all it would take to plunge the sharp blade in between his eyes, but my stomach churns at the thought. My attention darts from his forehead to his finger wrapped around the revolver trigger.

“You won’t hurt me,” I say, aiming my dagger at him. “Hook needs me.”

Smeeth scowls and steps forward.

“You take one more step and I’ll pin your skull to the wall,” I say, hoping the slight tremor in my hand doesn’t betray me.

Smile lines grow in the corners of Smeeth’s mouth. “Now, now. Let’s be reasonable. We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.” He pulls the hammer back on his gun and aims it at Bella.

“Drop your weapon,” I say, my clenched jaw aching. The hilts of my daggers slip in my sweaty palms, but I keep my aim steady.

Smeeth chuckles, an amused expression on his face. He wipes a mocking tear from his eye. “Or what? Even if you manage to strike me down with your knives, the bullet is always faster than the sword.” He places his gun on Bella’s temple.

Bella purses her lips and stares at me with ferocity. Although she has put on a brave face, she shudders, and I’m not sure if it’s from fear or rage.

“Don’t worry about me,” she says, gritting her teeth with every word. She nods toward the balcony. “The Lost Boys need you. Your family needs you. Just go!”

“I’m not leaving without you, Bella.” I flip one dagger in my hand, its tip aimed at my neck. “Let Bella go, or I’ll slit my own throat.”

Bella struggles in the soldier’s grasp. “Gwen, no!”

Smeeth falters, and the barrel of his gun slips.

Smiling slyly, I squeeze the dagger’s hilt. “Ah! Just what I thought. What would your precious Captain do if I died within meters of you? Shoot you? Feed you to his precious crocodiles? Now, put your weapon down.”

Smeeth’s brows knit together and he drops his revolver, sending it clattering to the floor.

“That’s a good boy,” I say in a mocking tone. “Let. Bella. Go!”

The Marauder doesn’t budge.

I sigh. “Fine. Have it your way,” I say, pulling the knife closer in to my throat. Its razor-sharp point bites into my skin. Warm liquid drips down my neck and seeps into the collar of my shirt.

“All right!” Smeeth shouts, holding a hand out.

With the blade stinging my neck, I wait for him to release Bella. My grip slips, but I clench my fist tighter on the dagger’s hilt.

Pulling his goggles off, the anxiety on Smeeth’s face washes away as his chuckle crescendos into roaring laughter. “Take Bella to the Captain,” he shouts.

The Marauder pulls Bella toward the door. She struggles against his grip as a string of profanity spills from her lips.

“No! I said to let her go!” I shout, but I’m too late. Smeeth rushes me. Distracted, I lose my grip on one of the daggers, and it clatters at my feet. Smeeth lunges for me, pinning me against a wall. He grunts as he struggles to wrest the other knife from my hand, crushing my fingers and sending shooting pain up my arm.

Lightning explodes in the sky, blinding me. Beyond the spots in my vision, Smeeth leans his face close to mine, glowing with triumph. He pants, his breath brushing my face, smelling as foul as a cesspool.

“I’ve been stuck in this rotten city for a year. I am not about to let a little girl snatch away my ticket out of Everland just because she musters a moment of martyrdom.”

“And I’m not about to let a traitorous Englishman have the cure!”

I shove him from me. Smeeth hardly budges but stumbles back just enough for me to wrench my hand holding the knife free from him. He lunges for me again, trying to grab the knife back, but he falls against me. The dagger plunges into his belly. Pain erupts in his dark eyes when the knife buries itself in his stomach. Sticky blood seeps onto my shirt as he collapses into my arms. Horror-stricken, my pulse runs hot beneath my skin.

Smeeth’s eyes glaze over, and he crashes to his knees. He shrieks in agony as he wrenches out the weapon protruding from his stomach before dropping it.

My breaths come quick and gasping. It was an accident, wasn’t it? He charged me, didn’t he? Or was it the other way around?

Smeeth groans once more, his breath heaving before he becomes still. Panicked, I search for Bella. She wrestles with her captor, landing a knee in the soldier’s groin. He crumbles to the floor. Bella launches violent kicks into her captor’s gut as he lies moaning.

I snatch up the dagger I had dropped earlier and dash toward Bella. “Get ready to jump,” I shout in Bella’s ear, jabbing my blade toward an advancing soldier.

Her body stiffens. “It must be at least a three-story drop; there’s no way we’ll make it.”

Shoving back the mounting anxiety, I glance at the ledge and take a step toward it. “We can do it,” I say over the roar of thunder.

Bella shakes her head, her wet fringe sticking to her face. “No, Gwen, it’s too high.”

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a handful of glittering gold powder. “All we need is a little bit of pixie dust,” I say. I feel a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. The fear in Bella’s face washes away and she takes my hand. We sprint toward the east wall as two Marauders struggle to their feet. A meter before the ledge, I throw a handful of dust into the air, step off the building, and we fly.

For an exhilarating moment, I feel weightless. A burst of lightning shines on the infrastructure of the building below us. Instead of the trail of gold I had expected to mark our hand- and footholds on the wall, only the brief flash of a balcony roof appears far below me. I have only a moment to realize that the impact is going to hurt when I hit the tiles with a heavy thud. Pain shoots from my wrist and into my shoulder as one of my hands grasps at the slick shingles. The apex of the roof grows farther away as I slide. Gravity hurtles me like an anchor toward the ground. My voice gives a squeal as my body slips from the edge, my hands clutching the rooftop ledge.

Bella slides down the roof above me.

“Help!” she cries.

I grab her wrist just as she slips past me, nearly plunging two stories toward the brick courtyard. She dangles, her small boots kicking beneath her.

My feet find something solid beneath me, a balcony railing. Grunting, I muster all my strength and hurl Bella up to the railing. Her petite hands clutch the wood, and she maneuvers a foot onto the ledge of the balcony, throwing herself onto the floor. I leap down and lie next to her, trying to quiet my heartbeat.

“Nice catch,” Bella says through quick breaths.

Shouts from above draw my attention to the top of the building. Soldiers peer down at us, pointing. One Marauder screams orders to the other soldiers, but they are drowned out by cracks of thunder.

Bolting up, I help Bella to her feet. “We’d better get going,” I say. I clutch the broken stone wall, preparing to climb down to the empty courtyard. Bella follows.

It takes what seems like several long minutes to get down to the bottom. When our feet are safely on the ground, Bella races toward me and wraps her arms around my waist. The sky opens up, rain washing away every trace of gold dust. “I thought you were really going to kill yourself,” Bella whispers.

Kneeling down, I lock eyes with her. “After all we’ve been through, do you really think I’d leave you alone with those pirates?”

Bella shakes her head, relief evident in her slight smile. She holds a fist up, and I bump it with my own. “Lost Girls stick together,” she says.

My breath hitches as she steps toward the courtyard. I don’t follow.