Pan's Revenge (10 page)

“Keep your head on, Cap’n,” Jack placates me
as he winds up the net with Walefluke Walter. “It was only our
second attempt. We’ll think of something new before the next
volcano eruption.”

Which will be in twenty-four hours from
now…minus fifteen minutes.

Grunting, I
leave the men to finish the work on the fishnet and return to my
quarters. The candle on the table flickers calmly. About to blow it
out and go to bed, the sound of an exaggerated sigh drifts to me.
Who would be so stupid as to enter without permission? I tolerate
very few breaks of the rules on board the Jolly Roger. Intruding in
my study is none of them.

Grabbing the candle, I cross my room to my
study with the broken door, but only after a few steps I stop dead
and pull the gun from my belt. I point it straight at Peter Pan’s
heart. “How did you get in here?”

“Easy. You guys were all busy with chasing a
rainbow.” Hands laced behind his head, he sneers at me from my
chair, his feet stacked on the wide desk. “Any luck with that?”

Gun still aimed at him, I step forward and
put the candle down. Warily, Peter straightens in the chair, but
his sneer remains.

“Not yet,” I snap coldly. “But we’re getting
closer. We might be lucky tomorrow night. You, on the other hand,
seem to have run out of luck. Say goodbye, Peter Pan.”

He chuckles. “You’re going to shoot me?”

I have every intention of doing so, simply
for threatening the girl I love.

“But then you’ll never hear what Angel
said.”

This however
makes my finger freeze on the trigger. What Angel
said
? Does
this mean he found her? He
talked
to her? My heart beats
faster. Even though I’m scared to hear he might have done any harm
to Angel, I must know what happened. The past couple of days I
started to doubt there really is a chance to reach this town called
London. Now, hope returns.

“
Ah, did I
capture your interest,
Captain
?” Peter drawls in a snide
tone.

I lower the pistol. An annoying shakiness
creeps into my voice. “How is she?”

“Oh, she’s doing really well.” Rising from my
chair, he turns and steps to the window, clasping his hands behind
his back, then he casts a glance at me over his shoulder. “Today, I
met them, Angel and her sisters. Lovely little girls,” he adds with
an exaggeratedly wide grin. “Guess what they were playing?”

No idea. I keep staring at him.

“They played Peter Pan and Captain Hook.
Isn’t it funny?”

I’m not so sure about that. Regarding his
cynical look, it’s probably not.

“Only, in their version, I’m the lovable boy
and you’re actually the bad guy.” He moves his gaze back to the
window. “Ruthless. Ugly as hell. Stinking like a codfish, you
know.”

I can hear the sneer in his voice. “Why would
Angel tell them such lies?” I counter.

“
Memory.”
Peter shrugs and pivots to me. “You know what a strange thing that
is. One day you have it, the other day…it’s just gone. Seems like
your
Miss London
doesn’t remember ever being to Neverland. But
people do know of us there.”

Severe confusion knits my brows to a frown.
“What—”

“
Yeah, yeah.
I know, it’s odd.” He lifts his hands to cut me off. “I’m still
trying to figure that one out myself. But obviously someone visited
Neverland before Angel. And with
visited
I mean he left again.
Wrote a funny book about us afterward—even though I don’t
understand why he’s telling those terrible lies about me and some
weird Wendy girl.” Peter shakes his head. “He calls himself Walt
Disney or something.”

“So you’re trying to tell me that Angel knows
about us from a book, but she doesn’t remember how she stayed here
with us for almost a week?”

“You got that right, Cap’n.” He nods and
waves a cynical finger at me. “And wanna know what’s the best part
of it all?”

I don’t, but that won’t stop him from telling
me anyway.

“
Now I can
tell Angel a…let’s say”—he grimaces, as though searching for the
right word—“
edited
version of her vacation with us. I’ll tell her
that you tried to kill her and I saved her life. You know how it’s
with girls, right?” The sucker winks at me. “I’ll be her hero
then.”

Tampering with her memory? Peter would jam a
fatal wedge between Angel and me. What’s the use in trying to get
to her, when she’ll fear and hate me in the end? If it all was true
anyway… “How do I know that you really were there? You could be
making this up just to get back at me.”

He chuckles
again. Damn, I’m tempted to shoot him just to stop that sound. “I
knew you would be saying that,” he answers. “It’s why I brought you
a little something.” His expression turns bitter, his eyes never
leaving mine as he reaches into the pocket of his strange
new jacket. My mouth dries out.

Slowly, Peter pulls his hand out and lifts
it. A pendant drops a few inches. It’s attached to a silver chain
looped around his middle finger. I suck in a sharp breath as I
recognize the ruby heart. “Where did you get this from?”

“
I found it
in her room.” His face lights up with new rogue. “Oh, did I forget
to tell you that I actually sneaked into her room last night? She
does look like an
angel
when she sleeps. So many things that one could
do to her then—”

Enough!
I dash forward and knock
Peter backward over the desk, wrapping my hands around his throat
as we land on the floor. Knees bent, he kicks me hard in the guts,
tossing me across the room. He’s back at his feet before me, and
out of the study too. I follow him, but with his irritating ability
to fly, he’s always one step ahead.

Standing on the very top of the main mast, he
wiggles his fingers. “Good bye, Captain. I have to return to London
and bring this little treasure back to my new friend!” His snide
laugh drifts down to me before he zigzags away through the starry
sky.

And here I thought I’d been the cruel
brother.

Adjusting my collar, I walk back into my
cabin. Time is pressing on me. Each day I have to stay here while
Peter is up to mischief in London, I might lose Angel a little
more.

I flop on my stomach onto the bed, feet
dangling over the edge, and bury my face in the crook of my elbow.
Tonight feels like the end of doomsday. Rainbows are shooting out
of the middle of the island everyday at midnight and I have no idea
where to start to catch one. My long lost treasure is back on the
Jolly Roger, but it won’t help me to buy a ride out of Neverland,
whereas the sucker, Peter Pan, has a natural talent for flying and
can see the girl I love whenever he wants. He’s probably
brainwashing her by the minute.

All he wants is vengeance. And I, of all
people, can understand why. I didn’t want him to grow up so fast…I
really didn’t. It all should have gone down a different path. What
went wrong? Bre’Shun said he had to destroy the watch. I made him.
Everything should be different now. Peter should age slowly like
any other person. And I should be the one meeting Angel again.

Tilting my head, I gaze out through the
window, counting the stars surrounding the moon. They sparkle like
Angel’s eyes when she laughed. A sigh escapes me. The last time I
heard that sound, she lay in my arms, right in this bed. The memory
of it warms my heart…only to leave it cold and empty a moment
later.

Reaching for my pillow, I pull it to my side,
wrap an arm around it and close my eyes. Moments later, sleep pulls
me under and I return to Mermaid Lagoon, where not too long ago I
sat through a chilly night with the loveliest girl in my arms.

FEW CANDLES
ARE burning when I arrive at the tree house and glide down the
hollow trunk. It’s so silent, I assume every
one is asleep, but the Lost Boys’ booths are empty, the
beds still made. Stan is sitting alone on a stool down by the
wooden table.

I land in front of him. “Where is
everybody?”

Chin resting in his hands, he looks up.
“Gone.”

“Why?”

“You really have to ask that, Peter?”

Walking slowly around the table, I study him
sideways. “Tami came back?” It wasn’t really a question. I take an
apple out of the larder and rub it against the sleeve of my
jacket.

“
Yes, she
did.
And I can’t believe what she told
us.” His voice grows louder, angrier with each word. “Peter, we all
understand how hard a shock this—this
growing up thing
was for you. But
dragging Angel into your plans of revenge is just
wrong
.
She’s a nice girl. You liked her.
We all
liked her.”

My fingers fist around the apple, my nails
piercing the peel. “She told Hook the location of the treasure! Was
that actually nice of her?”

“You can’t know if she did.” Stan rises from
his seat. It seems to take an endless time. Then he scowls at me
with fox eyes. “Tami and the boys left. They want nothing to do
with you until you get back to your senses.”

I lower my gaze to the fruit in my hand, but
hunger has taken a leave. “And you?” I ask in a low voice.

“I told them I wouldn’t leave you without
trying to change your mind. You’re my friend, Peter. Let’s put our
heads together and find a different way to steal the treasure
back.”

“
You don’t
understand. This isn’t a game anymore!” I grit my teeth. “Hook
forced this doom on me. He has to pay for it. And I’ll get him
where it hurts. Angel is his weakness. His
only
weak spot. I’ll destroy
him, not matter what it takes.”

Stan gazes at
me for an extended moment. Eventually, he sighs. “Then you’ll have
to do it alone.” Grabbing his bear vest from the hook on the wall,
he pushes his arms through then walks to the secret tunnel that
leads outside. Before he ducks inside, he looks back at me. “Take
care, Peter Pan.”

My lips stay sealed.

Traitors! All of them!
So many
years we’ve been family. I thought I could count on them. But at
the first sign of trouble, they leave me like rats leave a sinking
ship. To hell with them all!

I toss the apple against the wall, where it
burst in a juicy mash, then I grab my dagger from the table, and
zoom out of the tree. My way leads me East and up with one
destination in my mind. London. Since my friends all took leave of
me, there’s no reason to stay in Neverland any longer.

Angel is
still asleep when I get back to her room. Seeing her lying
peacefully in her bed brings an unexpected calmness over me. She
rolled close to the wall. The empty spot beside her temps me to sit
down and just look at her. But that’s not a good idea. Instead, I
return the ruby heart to the drawer and sneak back out through the
window.

It’s windy on the roof. Perched against the
chimney, I pull my legs to my chest and wrap my arms around them.
Resting my forehead on my knees, I close my eyes. Not the most
comfortable of positions for falling asleep, but it’ll do until the
morning.

Or…maybe not. My butt starts to hurt on the
hard clapboards after a while, and a tremendous iron bird flies
over the place every once in a while, high up in the sky. The noise
raps me out of my nap each time.

Tired and annoyed, I fly from the roof and
glide in a slow circle over the neighborhood. Two gardens down,
there’s a huge house with boards nailed over some of the windows on
the second floor. Maybe it’s vacated. Sinking, I inspect the
perimeter. Everything seems old. The swing in the garden is rusty
and squeaks when I push it. There are holes in the floor of the
porch, and cobwebs decorate the corners of the windows. A grin
stretches my lips. I might just have found a new home.

Ripping away the boards from one of the
windows, I break the glass with my elbow and slip inside. The house
is empty and dark, but the former owners left some furniture
behind. Not many pieces, just a couple of shelves and an empty
wardrobe in the great room downstairs. A dusty wing chair stands in
front of an open fireplace. It’s the perfect bed for the night. I
curl up in it and drift off to a dreamless sleep.

*

Something tickles me in my face. I squint and
rub my nose. The tickling continues until I sneeze and open my
eyes. Dust mites dance in the slim jets of light shooting through
the gaps in the boards that cover the windows. With a good stretch,
I get up and walk to the backdoor. It’s locked. Two hard kicks
against the doorknob crack it open. Daylight blinds me. Boy, it
must already be afternoon.

Standing on
the porch, I enjoy the view of the wild garden and wonder what it
would be like to live here. The house is vacated. No one would
bother if I moved in for a little while. On another inspection
through the inside, it turns out that all the faucets function.
Even though it says
hot
on one side and
cold
on the other, there’s only
ice-cold water, but that’s fine with me.

I wash my face and drink from my cupped hands
until there’s a gurgling sound in my stomach when I walk. Then it’s
time to get some work done on my new home.

Outside, I start to tear the brittle boards
from the windows, one by one, break them over my knee and toss them
aside.

“Hi there!”

At the sound of Angel’s shy call behind me, a
smile curves my lips before I turn around. She’s standing on the
sidewalk near the fence, wearing a short plaid skirt and a dark
blue pullover. The collar and hem of a white blouse flash from
beneath. She brushes her hair behind her ear, then her hand finds
back to the strap of the bag she’s wearing over her shoulders.