Neverland (17 page)

“Very well, James Hook. I take you by your word.” Her eyes glimmer more blue than turquoise now as she takes his hand into hers once more. The soft smile that has been pasted on her lips since we got there disappears. She still looks friendly, but a lot more serious. “One can leave Neverland only in the same way they first arrived.”

I’m waiting for more.

There is nothing more.

I realize I’m screwed.

When Jamie pulls his hand away from the fairy, it has already started to turn blue from the cold. “Why didn’t you tell this to Jack when he came here yesterday?” he demands.

Someone giggles behind us and I jerk around in my chair. “You sent him with the wrong question,” another woman just as beautiful as Bre’Shun tells him. Her smooth silvery hair is as long as Bre’s and she twists one strand of it around her finger. This must be Remona. Her sleeveless silk dress clings to her like melting white chocolate.

“Of course.” Jamie sighs, sounding like he regrets a vast mistake. Then he rises from his chair and places his hand on my shoulder. “It’s time to go,” he whispers down to me.

I stand, but suddenly a crazy urge rides me. What if I drank a little more of the tea? Would more objects appear?

Bre’Shun walks around the table toward us, saying goodbye to Jamie. Only half listening to them, I catch her strange words. “You’re on the edge of your biggest adventure, James Hook. Don’t push it away.” I can’t make sense of it, and I’m more focused on the teacup anyway. Before I face the fairy, I quickly take another sip. A potted plant appears on a small round table next to the rocking chair.

This is amazing and it freaks me out. But I can’t resist. I take another draught. A window appears and the hall starts to shrink. Another sip, there’s a mantelpiece. Warm fire burns inside. I drink the rest of the tea. When I look up, three more windows have appeared, the room shrank to one third of the hall’s original size, the floor tiles are gone, replaced by a purple carpet, and for all I can tell, we didn’t sit by a glass table with high-back chairs, but on a low L-shaped couch with a wooden coffee table in front.

My mouth is hanging wide open. Bre’Shun steps up to me and takes both my hands into hers. “Welcome to my home, Angelina.” Her skin doesn’t feel as cold as before.

Gratefully, I squeeze her hands now and tell her thanks and goodbye. But when I turn away from her, I find Remona in my face. Her smile isn’t the warm and welcoming sort, but of absolute intrigue. She runs her fingers through my hair, feels the fabric of my dress and even bends low to examine my shoes.

“Incredible! A real visitor! I’ve never met an outsider before.” She pulls my shoelaces open and holds one end in her hand. “Look at those, Bre. What would I give for a glimpse into her world.”

I feel a little uncomfortable under her close inspection, also because Jamie’s warning still rings in my ears.

“Do you like it here in Neverland?” she asks me, rising.

“I—er…” I clasp my hands and bend down to tie the shoelace she left dangling then I straighten again. “It’s a really interesting island. But I’d rather go home.”

“I see, I see.” She flits around me and faces me once more with a broad grin. “Can I get you to bring me a pair of these next time you come?” She points at my shoes.

“Well, ye—”

“No!” Jamie shouts and squeezes himself between me and Remona. With his mouth lowered to my ear, he snarls, “Your word to a fairy is binding for life.” I only have to look into his eyes to read what he means. If I’d said yes, I would have had to come back and bring her shoes, no matter what.

“We have to go now,” he tells Remona over his shoulder and shoves me out the door.

“Wait! Let me open the garden gate for you,” her excited offer comes from behind. And in the next instant I feel like someone dragged my body through ice-cold water. I shudder. A cough like it’s my last breath escapes me. In front of us, Remona appears out of nothing and skips to the low gate. Or she might have appeared out of…me.

I clasp Jamie’s arm, my expression horrified. “Did she just walk through me?” I breathe.

He nods and grimaces. I can’t wait to get away from this place.

With his arm around my waist, Jamie leads me out of their neat garden and back the way we had come. After a few steps I stop and glance back. Bre’Shun is still standing in the doorway. Behind her, there’s a glass table with three high-back chairs and a chessboard floor.

“James,” she says on a soft drawl and smiles at him alone. “Your next question will be even bigger than this. When you come for the information, bring a rainbow. From Neverland’s middle.”

I feel how a surge of astonishment weakens Jamie’s hold of me. His eyes are wide and he slowly runs his tongue over his lips. For all of ten seconds he just stares at her. Finally he says, “Until we meet again, fairy.”

She nods and disappears into her house, closing the door.

James Hook

A FREAKING RAINBOW from the volcano? What could possibly become so important to me in the future that I must catch a rainbow for it? If it was any other person speaking to me, I’d answer with a smile and leave it at that. But this is Bre’Shun. The fairy. She’s always right about her forecasts. A shudder trails down my back.

“Let’s go,” I tell Angel and make her move through the thick forest. She follows without hesitation.

“Did you notice there was something wrong with the tea?” she whispers after a while even though we’re already half a mile away from the fairies’ house.

I answer in a normal voice, “Yeah. I thought I saw things appear after drinking it, but I wasn’t too sure it was the tea. One can never tell at their home.”

“Do you see them often?”

“The fairy sisters? I haven’t been there in years. There was no need to.”

Angel looks over her shoulder as if to make sure we’re finally far enough away to relax. Then she pulls me to a stop and faces me. There are wrinkles of confusion on her brow. “Okay, now explain.”

“Explain what?”

“What she meant with her cryptic answer. That I can only leave Neverland the way I arrived.”

“You said you came to the island through the sky.”

“I did. But you don’t have aircrafts as far as I can tell. How can I leave through the sky again?”

I wonder what an aircraft is. Maybe it’s one of those flying coaches she told me about last night. It certainly would be easier to get away with one of those than what lies ahead of Angel. I sigh. “Basically I think you have to learn to fly.”

“Me? Fly?” Her voice booms through the woods. “You might have missed it, but I don’t have freaking wings!”

“You don’t need wings to fly. What you need is a teacher.” I hate what I’m going to say next, but I don’t see any way around it. “You have to learn to fly like Peter Pan.”

All air whizzes out of her lungs and she goes pale. “I can’t do this. I don’t know how to. And even if there’s a way for Peter to show me—he’s mad at me. He
hates
me!”

Because Angel talks herself into a frenzy, I place my hands on her shoulders, trying to soothe her, but she doesn’t focus even when her eyes are locked with mine. “He would never agree, Jamie. But it doesn’t matter, because I can’t ask him. He lives in the jungle and there’s no way I’d ever go back in
there
!”

“Angel.
Angel!
” I brush her hair off her forehead and fight for her attention. “You don’t have to walk through the jungle again. I won’t let you. We will just have to wait until Peter comes to us. He knows where we are. He’ll find the ship easily.”

“Are you crazy? Why would he come to the ship? Even if he gets bored one day and decides to go for a fun battle with you, it could take weeks. Months…
Years!
”

“With any luck, he’ll show up in the next couple of days.”

That silences her and for once she’s focusing on me. “What in the world makes you think so?”

“I have a plan.” Not a very good one and chances are it totally backfires, but after I saw Angel crying this morning, I’m ready to try a
whole damn lot
to help her find home. And it’s the only chance I have to get to my treasure as well. “We’re going to leave a message for him.”

Skepticism mars her face. She takes a step away from me and folds her arms over her chest, pursing her lips. “Whatever telephone connection they use in the tree house, I’m sure they don’t have voice mail.”

She’s from a different world; I don’t have to make sense of everything she says.

“Peter is friends with the mermaids. If we can convince them to deliver our message next time they see him, we might get lucky.”

Angel deliberates over my plan, walking in small circles around me and rubbing her temples. “But what will you tell him? He won’t agree to help me.” Her eyes find mine. “You saw how he left me hanging in that deathly hole the other night. He doesn’t care what happens to me.”

I caress her heated cheek. “He left you hanging because he thought you’d betrayed him. Leave this to me.” If I can make him listen, he’ll understand. Hopefully…

I take Angel back to the Jolly Roger and have Smee set the sails. We’re heading north to Mermaid Lagoon. Angel is anxious all the time and grows quieter by the minute. Potato Ralph brings her meat and bread, but she doesn’t even glance at the food.

I didn’t talk to her about London all day. Now that I see her biting her nails and staring out at the sea, I wonder how much she still remembers. Which bit left her memory while she slept? I want to walk to her, take her in my arms and assure her that it’s going to be alright. That we’ll find a way to make her fly. But the truth is she’s right. Peter is a stubborn boy. If I want to sway him to help me, it will take more than a
pretty please
between brothers. The important question is how much am I willing to give to make Angel happy?

I also realize I haven’t kissed her all day. I miss that.

At twilight, I help her climb down to the dinghy and row us to the shore. We’re still more than a mile away from the lagoon, but chances are the mermaids will escape underwater if they see the Jolly Roger nearing. It’s best we walk the last bit.

In the chilly air, I remove my cape and wrap it around Angel’s shoulders, tying the strings at the collar. It’s going to be dark soon, and I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait for a mermaid to show up. Maybe a couple of minutes, but it could also be a few hours. I don’t want her to be cold while we’re out.

She lifts her gaze to mine and murmurs, “Thank you.”

Nodding, I take her hand and slide my fingers through hers. I’ve never walked like this with anybody. When I stroke her knuckles with my thumb, she squeezes my hand gently in return. It’s thrilling on a level beyond measure. Deeply connected, I shudder from the pleasure of it. There’s no way to deny it, I’m going to miss her when she’s gone. The realization comes with a twinge of pain.

“What’s up?” she demands as we near the rocky shore at Neverland’s north peak.

I don’t see where that question is coming from. “Hm?”

“You sighed. What’s troubling you?”

Heck, I sighed? Then it’s even worse than I thought. “Nothing is wrong,” I lie. “I’m just thinking about how to make this work. You better keep your fingers crossed that the mermaids don’t run when they see me.”

“Swim,” she corrects me and cuts me a mocking sideways glance.

“Smart mouth.”

Angel giggles. It’s a heartwarming sound. “What’s your biggest adventure?” she asks me moments later.

It seems I just can’t follow her mental leaps tonight. “What do you mean?”

“Bre’Shun said something weird to you earlier. Apart from all the other strange stuff she said, that is.”

We reach the land of dark rocks leading like a dock out into the sea. I take a wide step onto the first rock, then turn around and hold my hand out for Angel. When she stands safely in front of me again, she stares at my face and continues, “She told you that you were at the edge of your biggest adventure. What is it?”

I keep a tight grip on her hand and make her follow me over more slippery rocks, deciding not to answer. To speak about it would mean I actually believed in Bre’Shun’s assumption…which I don’t. She’s a fairy, but even they can be wrong sometimes.

Or so I pray.

A queasy feeling takes over my stomach. Their track record of being right is one-hundred percent. I’m doomed.

“You have to be careful with those gaps,” I mumble over my shoulder, taking care that I climb at a pace right for Angel’s shorter legs.

“Since you obviously aren’t going to answer my question, can I ask you something else?” her disappointed words drift to me.

“Maybe.”

“What is in that little chest with the treasure?”

This is a question I can answer without feeling sick. “A watch.”

“Seriously?” Angel pulls me to a stop, making me face her disbelieving eyes. “What’s so special about a watch that you carry the key to it around your neck all the time?”

Automatically, I reach to my collar and feel the key under my shirt, frowning at her. “How do you— Ah, Peter Pan.” The scamp certainly told her. I place my hands on her hips and lift her from her rock down to mine. She steadies herself with her hands on my shoulders. When she stands, she slides them down to my chest until she finds the key. I lay my hand over hers to keep it in place. “It’s the key to
tomorrow
.”

Her forehead creases at her thoughts. “Bre’Shun mentioned that, too. I don’t get it.”

Smoothing the deep V between her brows with my thumbs, I explain, “A long time ago, something terrible happened in Peter Pan’s life. It devastated him and he decided to never grow up.” I remember how I felt when the same terrible thing happened to me long before and how it tore a piece of my heart out. Sometimes I can’t even be mad at Peter for his actions. “With his furious decision he sort of hexed Neverland. And every hex needs to be tied to an object. Or so I’ve been told by the fairies anyway. It’s a symbol for the spell.”

Angel’s brown eyes grow bigger with understanding. “So for stopping time, the charm was tied to a watch.”