Hook & Jill (The Hook & Jill Saga) (37 page)

“I don’t like your ending.”

“You may not like it, Pan, but you hunted me and you chose me. I’m your storyteller. Now I have the end of
your
tale all ready to tell. Come down and hear it.”

Peter shook his head, his tousled hair shining. He tucked his dagger in his belt and posed, hands on hips. “You can’t make me!”

Jill’s half-smile graced her lips. “All right. I’ll tell you
my
story again, while I… wait for you.” She began to pace the deck, watching him, keeping her scarlet secret in her fist. Without losing sight of the boy, Hook set his boot on the fallen rapier and shoved so that it scuttled toward Tom, who snatched it up. Allowing Jill Red-Hand room to work, the captain and his men backed away to stand sentinel at the rail. Jewel sped to the shelter of the mizzenmast yardarm and perched, alert. She attended Jill’s words, wondering how that smile had come to match her master’s, and hoping to discover at last why he strove to win this lady.

“You remember. The story of Red-Handed Jill. I’m known for my prowess in swordplay, and I’m a crack shot. The first time I fired my pistol, I shot the eye of a parrot at fifty paces. And that’s how I brought the crocodile down.”

Peter glanced at her gun and his face darkened. Jewel eyed the weapon, too, and nodded to herself, remembering the parrot feathers in the Twins’ hands that day. But surely the master had men enough to fight alongside him?

Jill strolled to the mast. “It’s the croc’s blood that stains this deck. The Pirate King and I killed that beast, the one that stalked us both. But it’s the blood of the beast that stalked
me
, mixed with my own, that stains my hand.” She bent to gather up the leather coils she dropped during the duel. Drawn into the tale in spite of himself, Peter hovered, rapt. As Jill had anticipated, he was playing his part in the story.

“I cut myself a lion’s tail for a belt. My shipmates tell me I’m beautiful, too.” Peter beamed. Jill dropped the loops of leather to slap and snake along the boards as she shook out her lash.

Jewel studied Jill’s face. The girl
had
grown up to be pretty.

“And I’ve taken to carrying a whip. I use it to bring down anyone who tries to tame me.” She flared the whip to one side and snapped it in the air, locking Peter in her deep blue gaze as it played. Jill was pleased; supreme in his self-confidence, Peter hadn’t stirred. His strength was his weakness, and she used it against him.

“And now I’ve gotten out to sea and joined up with pirates. Of course, as I’m a lady, I had to prove my valor first.” Hook smiled complacently. The crewmen passed looks to one another, chuckling, and Jewel observed them. They seemed in accord with their master’s opinion of the lady. Laughing at Jill’s last words, Tom Tootles remembered the first time he’d heard this story, and he winked at Nibs with an understanding he now owned completely.

Jill’s lips curved as she coiled the whip again. Still concealing her crimson stain, she slid her hand down the long leather grip. The sunlight on her necklace needled Peter’s eyes. “The Pirate King doesn’t even try to tame me. We’re about to sail together and have lots of experiences— what you call adventures.” Jill sauntered to the rail. “And the Pirate King…”

He surrounded her whip hand with his own. His eyes took hold of her, and his silky voice completed her sentence, speaking low, to Jill, “Has fallen in love with her, and made her his Queen.”

Peter grimaced, but Jewel popped upright. She blinked. Now she knew! Jill had lost the train of the story for a moment, enchanted by the magic of her lover’s words, but now she had recovered and stood unashamed as her fingers caressed his cheek, lingering on his beard. Jewel caught the luminance in the man’s eyes. Like the full moon behind stained glass. Like her own wings! The master wanted Jill to light him up, to touch him, the way he touched Jewel! He wanted the woman for reasons very different from Peter’s.

The Pirate Queen roused herself to conclude her tale. “The Pirate King has taken me to Paradise…” And they kissed, just like the end of all great stories. Jewel’s happy sigh tinkled. Jealousy banished!

The kiss was a bit much for Peter, but Jill knew her audience and pulled away on cue. She resumed her pacing and cracked the whip again. Undaunted, Peter cocked his head. She judged the distance.

“There’s only one place for a wonderful boy like you in my story now, Pan. At the happy ending,” her smile enticed him just a little lower, “of my lash.” She hurled it out, snared his ankle in its grasp and with a sharp tug, reeled him down to the deck. Peter flung out his arms and landed with a thud.

“The end.”

Raucous laughter broke from the pirates. Shaking his foot, Peter tried to free his ankle from the coil, shouting over the sailors’ hilarity. “I like the story of Wendy better!” He sat bending over his foot as he worked it loose, then scrambled to stand, ignoring the sting of the swelling welt.

“Yes!” Jill gathered her whip again while she stared at him, speaking more quickly. “The one where Wendy grows up, falls in love and sees the world, independent and free.”

Peter scowled. “That was never real!”

“Not until now. But I’ll finish your story first. This is how it will be—”

“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t like your stories today!”

“But everything is just that to you, isn’t it? Only a story. And it’s about you.”

Peter brightened. “Then give me the whip and let’s go! We can hang it over the mantel. I’ll set you free from Hook, no matter what story you had to tell him. I’ll let you fly again and you can be my Wendy and tell me tales about us.” When the fairy jangled at him from her perch on the yardarm, he tossed his golden head. “And Tinker Bell.”

“I can’t live in childhood with you any longer. And I’ve learned I don’t want to be entirely free, after all.” Jill tucked the whip handle in her sash. She held her wrists out, together, her hands in fists and palms down. “But as you see, I’m not bound by ropes, as you first believed. I am bound by affection.” She turned her fists up. Then, watching his handsome face change, she opened her hands. The scarlet coloring assaulted Peter’s eyes. He jerked away, flinching.

She lowered her arms. “Hook told you the truth, Pan. I have chosen to sail. I have chosen him.”

Hook stepped to her side, his head at an arrogant angle. He didn’t take his eyes off Peter. “Jill. Time to get under way.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Peter’s eyes thinned to slits. His hand slipped to his dagger. Hook tensed and held his weapons ready. Peter shot him a guarded glance. “You’re not thinking clearly, Wendy. Hook’s done something to you. You’re not yourself.” Sensing danger, Jewel slid down from the mast to drift closer.

“Yes. I’m not your Wendy any more, if I ever was. I’ve grown up.” She held up her hand, splaying her crimson fingers. “I’m Jill.” Peter turned his head away.

Jewel watched her boy suspiciously and glided nearer, so close now that her light reflected in the blade at Peter’s belt.

“What’s wrong, Pan? You didn’t want me to keep secrets from you.” Jill gestured toward the top of the mast. “Even our standard proclaims it. And I have far less blood on my hands than you have on yours.”

“Pirate blood. What’s that matter?” The pirates grew restless, agitating their weapons with sinister jingles. Jewel stared intently at her master.

“And the blood of the boys who broke your impossible law!”

“Better to die nobly than live like a pirate, with no rules!”

Jill lifted her jaw. “I think for myself, now, to decide what is right and what’s wrong. And so do our boys. We can be proud of them.” She held out her hand to him. “We still have much in common. Let us part today, as friends.”

“No. I’ll go. When I’ve cut this hand, too!” Peter’s knife flared from his belt to swipe at Jill’s red hand. But the fairy knew Peter. She, too, had been thinking for herself, deciding what to do when he acted. Her larger wingspan aided her purpose. Jewel shot through the air to throw her body between Jill and the blade. Her aura pulsed with her heart as she clutched the steel and clung there, causing Peter to halt in mid-swing. Jewel held fast, saving Jill for her master, saving Peter for herself.

Hook lashed out with his claw, snagging Peter’s hair as the boy ducked sideways. Snatching her hand back, Jill stepped away unscathed and loosed her whip again. Peter tried to shake the fairy off the dagger. She tightened her grip; her wings drooped. Two drops of blood smeared the edge of the blade. It was Jewel whose hands were cut.

The captain strode forward, hooking Peter by the back of the belt. He dragged Peter toward him. Driving the point of his rapier into the deck, he set it to stand at attention, within easy reach. Then he seized the boy’s hair at the base of the skull, persuading a stretch of neck to lay itself bare. Hook pulled him against his chest, and his claw circled around to threaten that tender throat. Peter Pan was now exactly where the pirate had always wanted him. With a grim smile, Hook hissed in his enemy’s ear, “Lower the knife.”

But Peter didn’t lower it. He stared at it, his eyes filling with panic. Jewel was weakening. Her head lolled to one side, and she was slipping down the bright metal toward his fist. Jill cried out, “Jewel! She’s fainting— catch her!” But Peter’s left hand was trying to free his hair from Hook’s grasp. Seeing Jewel’s condition, Hook relented and let go. Deftly, he captured Peter’s wrist instead, and twisted the boy’s arm behind his back.

And then Peter did lower the knife, and his expression blackened as he looked at Jill. “‘Jewel?’” He could almost read the truth in her eyes. He threw a glance at Nibs to confirm it. A vial full of golden dust shone in the young man’s hand. It was glowing like a feeble fire in the wind, flickering. Dying.

Peter clenched his teeth, and his breath came in bursts. He looked down at his weapon. Jewel’s light was flickering out, too. Peter snapped the dagger forward, flinging the fairy off the blade. “Traitor!”

Unconscious now, she was helpless. Jill’s whip thumped on the planks as she dropped it to catch the limp little body. Peter stabbed his knife backward over his shoulder, raking the air at random, reaching for the flesh of his foe. “You’ve stolen her, you pirate!” he hollered. Hook snarled, yanking his own head and shoulders back.

But amid shouts from the other sailors, Nibs and Tom closed ranks. Tom grabbed Peter’s wrist.

Hook’s warning came sharp, “Be careful. The blade is poisoned. Remove it.”

“Oh!” Jill gasped. She stared at the fairy in her hands. Tom pried the dagger from Peter’s grip and flung it overboard. It revolved, flashing, and Jill sighed in relief as it disappeared over the railing, like a silver seabird diving after prey.

Peter squirmed, trying to slither out of the pirate’s grasp. “What have you done to my fairy, Hook?”

“What have you done to
my
fairy, Pan? Mr. Nibs, open the vial. Quickly.” Nibs drew off the stopper and looked expectantly at Hook. So did they all, and the ship’s company fell silent.

“Blow on it, gently. Don’t move a grain!”

Anxiously, Nibs held the rim to his lips and blew. The dust was dull now, the lower half of the bottle colored gray. A few of the particles stirred.

Hook tightened his grip on Peter. The boy struggled in his hold, shouting, “She’d be all right if she’d been loyal to me!”

Tom glared. “Like the crocodile?”

Hook ignored them. “Softly! Breathe on it!”

Concentrating, Nibs tried again, more gently. Jill covered the failing fairy with her other hand. The little limbs were growing colder. “Jewel, come back to us.”

Every eye on the ship fastened on Nibs. He found it difficult to control his breathing. Jill felt the wings stiffening. Tearing her gaze from Nibs, she looked up at Hook. His face was marked with concern as he oversaw Nibs’ efforts. He turned to his servant, commanding her.

“Jewel! Wake now!” At the same moment, the powder in the vial began to brighten. Jill felt the fairy wings soften. Soon they wavered between her palms.

“Stroke her wings. She must feel your touch.”

Jill lifted a finger to brush the faded pinions. Little by little, they were illuminated. Working together then, joining in a sense of wonder, Jill and Nibs performed magic. Jewel’s wings responded one finger width at a time, assuming their former hue. Jill smiled as the fairy stirred, and Jewel smiled weakly to herself. Her wings trembled. She flexed her shoulders, sighing with a grace note. Her back arched, and she breathed deeply, luxuriating with her eyes half open. After a moment, Jewel blinked. Sitting up in Jill’s red palm, she looked about her. She gazed quizzically at the lady pirate, searched for her master, then gripped Jill’s thumb to stand.

Peter grinned. “Tink! You’re back! Come on, I’ll take you away from him.”

But Jewel paid him no heed. With an air of delicacy, she clung to Jill’s thumb; the tiny wounds on her hands pricked. And when she pushed off to fly, she left another dot of red on Jill’s hand, and a gift.

A gift of golden dust.

Jill beheld it. She clamped her fingers together and hugged her hand to her breast. She raised her gaze to her Pirate King, and then she laughed. The heaviness slid away. She felt airy again. Light as a cloud! Hook caught her expression and inclined his head.

Jewel hovered in front of Jill and nodded to her. Spreading her wings, she rang out her joy, then flew to Nibs’ shoulder. Nibs shoved the stopper in the vial and grinned at the fairy, laughing as her wingtips grazed his cheek. “Welcome back, Jewel!”

“Well done. Now, Pan. What shall we do with you?” Hook’s claw threatened once more, poised at Peter’s throat. “A taste of your own medicine, perhaps? I have a dose right here on my hook, as it happens.” The pirates chuckled, but the beaten boy, although mute, persevered in his defiant scowl. The fairy maintained a haughty silence.

Jill could barely keep her feet on the deck. “Captain. Whether or not he will admit it, Pan now knows he has lost everyone. He is completely alone. Do you have everything you want, Sir, so you can live happily ever after?” She wanted to fly!

“Have you, Madam?”

The smile came, unbidden. “I believe I do!” Then, Red-Handed Jill, the Pirate Queen, brought her thoughts down to earth to fix a bitter gaze on Peter. Sobering, she moved toward him with menace in her eye. Her gaze was drawn to the brilliance of Hook’s sword hilt where the sun struck it, and then she turned again to Peter. Reaching out, she fanned her fingers, wrapping them around the grip of the weapon.