Neverland (13 page)

Finding Smee at the ship’s bow, I grab his arm and lead him away from Fin and Black Death Willie. By the old cannon in the middle of the ship, I stop and face him.

“You look a little windblown,” Smee mocks me. “Did you and the lass have a nice chat?”

I have no time for this shit. “We have to move her.”

Smee lifts both his brows.

“Out of my quarters,” I explain. “She’s a distraction I don’t care for.”

Smee barks a throaty laugh at the hint of panic in my voice. “But how will you listen in on her when she sleeps, if you aren’t next door?”

I already thought about that on the way out here. “We’ll have a man posted outside her cabin at all times.”

“And where do you want to put her?”

Good question. In fact, I haven’t thought that far. All the cabins on board are occupied. We’ll have to evict a member of the crew. “Someone has to leave the ship for a while. Who of the men have gone the longest without shore leave?”

Deliberating for a moment, Smee flashes a
you-won’t-like-this
grin. “Well…that would be me.”

Sending my best man away when I need him the most is not an option. He can leave when everything is sorted out—when I’m in possession of my treasure again, and when we’ve sent Angel safely home. Maybe. “Not happening, lad. You stay and help me through this.” I give him a warning glare so he knows I mean business. “What about B. B. Radley?”

“Barnacle Breath? He’s the only one who’s really doing some work on this ship. If you must dispose of any of the men, I’d say send Scowlin’ Scabb. He does nothing but drink up all the rum on board and nap in the bilge.”

I sweep the decks with a glance and find the bilge rat soon enough with a half-empty bottle of rum tucked under his arm. He’s sleeping away the day on the spare sail in a corner. I stroke the stubble on my chin. “You’re right. And since he hardly sleeps in his cabin, it probably doesn’t stink like the rest. I’ll break the news to him, you find fresh sheets on this godforsaken ship and have someone prepare Scabb’s quarters for a lady.”

“Aye.” Smee nods and in real pirate manner barks orders to the others. At least there’s still some normality on this ship.

It’s hard enough to wake the drunken pirate with burn marks disgracing most of the left side of his face and throat—something that happened before he was hired as a pirate on the Jolly Roger. Once I don’t have to grab his shoulders to support him anymore and he focuses on me instead of rolling his eyes from side to side, I tell him to take an extended vacation on land. The look on his face is hilarious. Like someone gave him a birthday present for the first time in his life. Not something that will ever happen, I believe. To anyone of the crew.

After that is settled and Scabb has taken off to the shore in the dinghy, I climb the steps to the bridge and watch Smee leading Angel across the main deck to her new quarters. I don’t know what the men did to convert a pirate’s hole into something that meets the tastes of a lass, but when she’s popping her head back out after a short inspection, there’s a smile pasted on her face.

Heck, did Smee put some fucking daisies in a pot? When he glances my way, I beckon him with a nod. He says something to Angel then heads over here. In the meantime, I get the maps from my study and spread them on a table close to the wheel.

“There’s nothing marked on any of these maps that looks halfway like another island,” I tell Smee. “Neverland seems to be the only one in these waters.”

“But we already knew that, didn’t we? I mean, since that thing with Peter Pan happened, no other ship has been seen, no land discovered. Why would that change now, only because another lost kid showed up?”

I lift my head to look at Smee, but I don’t really see him right now. In my mind, the image of Angel in my study comes up. “She’s not just another kid,” I murmur. “For one, she’s older than all the others who’ve ever come here. And two, she didn’t remain with Peter Pan.”

“So what?”

My eyes focus. “Everything is pointing to the fact that she has come here accidentally. So if that’s possible, it should also be possible to send her back.”

“James?”

I arch my brows, waiting.

“You care for the lass.”

“No, I don’t.” I’m a pirate. I can lie like that and no doom will come over my soul.

Smee purses his lips. He’s a pirate, too, and of course he knows when another is lying. I don’t give a damn, and obviously neither does he. “Fine. Then tell me why we’re more interested in finding
London
than finding the treasure?”

“Angel is stubborn. She won’t tell us shit, that much you must have realized. So instead of just waiting and praying that she’ll reveal something in her sleep, I’m going to bargain with her.”

“You think if you find the right way to take her home, she’ll tell you where the treasure is?”

“Aye. She doesn’t believe that I’ll help her
after
she tells me. This way I may convince her.”

He contemplates my plan. “Let’s say we really get away from Neverland. Do you think we can just return after we’ve dropped her off?”

I take a deep breath and try to look confident. “We’ll have to take that risk.”

Jack purses his lips. He doesn’t like my idea. There’s just one way to convince him. “Scared?” I ask and smirk. “What are you? A princess or a pirate?”

Rolling his eyes, he huffs and I know I just persuaded him. He braces himself on the table, so his face is in mine. “But if she
is
going to spill in her dreams—”

“—then we don’t have to worry about London anymore.” I grin. And so does Jack.

After Smee is gone, I study the maps for some time longer. There really is nothing on them. But what did the fairy want with a stellar card? It’s not like we have any chance to move out
there
.

Still, a look can’t hurt. The map is in my quarters. I turn around and, just as I want to head off toward the stairs, I nearly bounce into Angel.

“For hell’s sake, lass, can’t I take a single step on this ship today without finding you behind me?” I growl and back away.

Angel stays where she is. Her hands are clasped behind her back and she still wears a shadow of that smile I saw on her from a distance. She’s rocking on the balls of her feet like she did when she cornered Yarrin’ Brant Skyler this morning. I get a bad feeling.

“The bridge is the captain’s domain. What are you doing up here?” I ask.

“Umm…” She chews on her bottom lip. “I wanted to say thank you.”

That is a surprise indeed. “What for?”

“Well, for a bedroom with a functioning door for instance.” She pauses and the sunlight reflects in her brown eyes as they focus on mine. “And also for pulling me out of that trap last night.”

“You’re welcome.”
You’re welcome?
Son of a Biscuit Eater, what has become of me?

She cuts a look over my shoulder. “So you’re doing this because you’re sorry.” It’s not a question, it’s a calm statement.

“Partly,” I admit with reluctance.

“Partly…is…
good
.” It looks like she wants to smile, but it comes more out as a shy grimace. “What’s the other reason?”

Now is as good a time as any to discuss this with her, so I tilt my head and say, “A bargain.”

“With me?”

“Aye. You said you don’t trust me—which I understand. So I’m trying to give you a reason.” When Angel seems rooted to the spot and nothing comes out of her mouth, I walk toward her with slow steps, knowing what effect it’ll have on her. And I’m right. She’s backing off one step for each of mine. “I’ll take you home, and when we’re there, you tell me where my treasure is.”

We reach the top of the stairs and, holding on to the handrails on either side, Angel starts to descend them backward with me still following her, our gazes looked at all times.

“Deal?” I demand. She flashes a grin at me that reaches from one ear to the other. Seems like we have an agreement. I grip the handrails like she does. She takes one step down; I follow. “I want you to understand, however, that I will only let you get off this ship
after
you’ve told me.”

She nods. “Will you start the journey today?”

“No.”

Her abrupt stop on the stairs catches me unawares and I unintentionally slide my hands over hers on the rails. They are warm, but not as warm as mine. And they are fragile, just like the rest of her. She shakes a little when I wrap my fingers around hers and peel her hands off the rail. I don’t know why, but it makes me want to pull her to me. Instead I bring our hands together between us and make her retreat farther until we stand on deck. “We’re going to sail tomorrow at dawn.”

“At dawn…” Her face falls as she whispers the words.

I think I’ve lost her. Sure, she longs to go home, but she’s already been through so much. A few more hours shouldn’t defeat her like this. On a strange instinct, I cup her chin and lift it to find her gaze again. “Why is that too late for you?”

Angel hesitates a long moment. Too long. It’s obvious she’s trying to shut me out. That’s my fault and it should be okay. But it bothers me. A helluva lot. “Hmm?” I prompt her again.

“Because—” She sighs and steps away from me, pivoting to the horizon. “Because I might no longer know who I am tomorrow.”

She’s speaking of losing more of her memory.

I don’t know what it must feel like to forget basic facts of your life. But the look she gave me just before she turned away stabbed a part of me awake that most people probably call compassion. In pirate terms it’s also known as the one little space inside a man that’s responsible for the worst kind of trouble. If you don’t have it under control, it makes you weak. And I’m just about to give control of this part of me to a strange young woman. I must have taken one blow too many on my head last night.

“Smee!” I yell over my shoulder.

“Aye?”

“Have the crew pull the anchor. We’re setting sail.”

Angel spins around to me, steadying herself on the ship’s railing behind her with both hands. Her surge of surprise and excitement is almost tangible. “We’re going?”

With compressed lips I give a reluctant nod.

“I really misjudged you, Captain.” Her honest smile is thrilling. On the railing her hands tighten. I have a feeling it wouldn’t have taken much more for her to fling her arms happily around my neck. What did I do wrong that kept her from going through with it? “I can only hope you’re not fooling me again,” she adds in a calmer voice.

Like I’ve had the pleasure of finding out earlier this morning, her smile tends to infect me like the pox. This is a battle I won’t win; my lips curl up and I lift one hand. “We will take you home, Angel. I give you my word as a pirate.” With this I should be safe.

Her hands slip away from the railing. She takes a shy step forward. There, almost. I can already feel the warmth of her body. Her fingers come up. She’s going to touch me in a second, and it shocks me how much I anticipate it. But then she retreats without warning and asks in a softer tone, “Mind giving me your word as just
Jamie
?”

Savvy, this one. Although I feel my shoulders sinking because she widened the distance between us, I chuckle. Then I lift my hand again and promise, “You have my word as
just Jamie
.” Behind my back I cross the fingers of my other hand, just in case.

Chapter 9

THE SUN DIPS into the horizon. We’ve been sailing straight toward it for hours and hours. There’s still no land in sight. I didn’t move away from the railing for one minute. The bustling around me on deck has ceased. Several of the sailors have retreated to their quarters and some have gone under deck to end the day on rum. I’m almost alone out here. But not quite.

I feel his gaze on me. Although Hook didn’t speak to me after the Jolly Roger set sail for London, he was watching me most of the day. I think it was on his orders that the slim and tall Potato Ralph brought me a sandwich and an apple for dinner.

At the beginning of our journey, I nervously ran up and down the long side of the ship. I was sure, once we just set course to
try
, we would find London soon. Now, as the day grows dimmer and night creeps in, chasing away the warmth, I just sit on a pile of wooden boxes, hug my knees to my chest and stare into the distance.

I don’t want to give in to sleep. But I know in only a few hours I’ll be so tired my eyes will fall shut. And when that happens, more moments of my past will disappear. I miss Paulina’s loving embraces and the fairy bug’s magic wand in my face every other minute. I smile at the memory, because it’s the only thing I can do not to start crying.

Closing the world out for a second, I rest my cheek on my knees.
I will find home.
When I open my eyes again, I meet James Hook’s gaze from the sterncastle, where he stands behind the wheel. A long black cape is draped around his shoulders and he’s wearing a feathered hat
.
I think this one is new. It looks cleaner than the other.

He’s the only one out here with me. Is he scared I’ll take a mad jump into the sea to escape him? His features are soft in the fading light. No, that’s not the reason he stands up there. He watches over me…because he cares.

I think sometimes he doesn’t believe he can be more than just a pirate. The way saying a simple word like
sorry
troubled him this morning proves me right. There’s more beneath his ruthlessness. He tries to hide it. But sometimes it flashes through. And it shocks me as much as it seems to shock him. It makes him adorable, turning the cruel Captain Hook into
just Jamie
. I find I like Jamie. If that’s a smart thing to do remains to be seen.

I look away and place my chin on my knees. The night presses on my shoulders. There are a few stars in the sky now instead of the sun. One of them shines brighter than all the others. I close my eyes and make a wish upon it.

Slow footsteps draw my attention but I don’t look up. I already know who it is. The footsteps stop beside me. After a long moment I hear the rustle of fabric and something is being draped over my shoulders. It smells of tangerines. “Thank you,” I say in a low voice, knowing he just gave me his cape.