by Anna Katmore
“Peter…Pan.”
“From Neverland?” Her tone is flat, like she’s mocking me.
I straighten and lock gazes with her. “Yes. James found a way to make me age.”
“James…as in Captain Hook?”
I nod.
“And he did something that made you look like twenty instead of just fifteen?”
“Yes.” Finally, we get there. A surge of relieve swaps through me and I smile.
A moment later, Angel starts to shake with laughter, shocking the hell out of me. “Oh, now I get it! It’s a joke! You’ve been to that one fancy dress party my dad threw for my thirteenth birthday, right? Are our fathers business partners?”
“My father is dead.”
Immediately, she stops laughing, her expression turning grave and her cheeks glowing pink. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Why did she say that? James certainly told her all about the tragedy of our past. Unless…she doesn’t remember. An odd thought comes to my mind. When Angel came to Neverland, she started to forget things about her home, about London. What if she forgot Neverland after she returned to her world?
On the other hand, she and her sisters knew my name, and they know about Hook, too. What by the rainbows of Neverland is going on here?
I need time to think this through. Abruptly rising to my feet, I obviously startle her, but I can’t worry about that now. “I have to go,” I tell her curtly and spin on my heel to walk away. Only when I look over my shoulder and find that Angel and everyone else is safely out of sight, I fly up and back to her house.
I’m stunned out of my mind when I discover the pixie sitting on the chimney, her arms folded and legs crossed.
“Tami! How did you get here?” I hiss.
“I followed you when you left the tree house. But I can’t walk in the street like you.” She beats her wings a few times to demonstrate what exactly kept her to stay hidden. “I don’t think that there are many pixies in this world.”
I agree with her on that. “But why did you follow me?”
“I was worried about you, Peter. And obviously with good reason! What exactly are you doing here?”
Oh man, I hate it when Tami acts like a grown up. It so doesn’t fit her appearance of an eight-year-old girl.
“I’m here to take revenge,” I tell her in a voice gone frosty. “My plan was to kidnap Angel back to Neverland and blackmail Hook. But something came up which I didn’t consider, and it might present a whole new option for revenge.”
“What is it?”
“Angel doesn’t remember Neverland. At least that’s what I believe after talking to her today, even though she said some queer things about a book with me and Hook in it. I’ll try to figure it all out later, when she’s back and I can slip into her room again at night.”
“Again?” Tami’s pointy ears wiggle with surprise. “Does this mean you’ve sneaked into her room before?”
“Yes. Last night when she slept.” Heck, why do I feel the need to justify myself to a pixie? “Go home, Tameeka. And don’t tell the Lost Boys where I am. I’ll talk to them tomorrow, when I came up with the perfect strategy to get back at Hook using Angel.”
Tami gets to her feet on the chimney, locking gazes with me as we stand nose to nose and smacking me on the chest wither tiny fist. “Shame on you, Peter Pan! Angel is a nice girl. I liked her when she came to Neverland. And so did you and all the Lost Boys. How dare you drag her into your plans of vengeance?”
“She told Hook about the treasure. Is that reason enough for you?”
“No!” She leans back and crosses her arms over her chest once again. “You know what I think about the treasure. Let things rest…at least for a while.” Then her face turns thoughtful. Not a good sign. I wish I could clap my hands over my ears before she speaks on, but that would only end in me getting pinched on the nose by her.
“Have you ever thought of offering Hook to show him the way here in exchange for the treasure? He’s still trying to find Angel, isn’t he? It probably won’t work until he learns to fly, but you could help him there.”
“Shut up, Tami!”
The pixie gasps.
“Look at what the bloody codfish did to me!” I lift my arms to get her attention back to the horrible aged body I’m stuck in now. “And you want me to be nice to him? No way. If you’re not on my side in this, you better leave me alone. I don’t need you to spoil this for me.” I stomp my foot on the roof and pout. Hell yeah, I haven’t felt myself like this since I woke up from my crazy long sleep.
Tami’s chest expands with a hurt intake of air. “You send me away?” Her angry face starts to glow red like a strawberry. “You—you ugly old man!” Beating her wings faster than a butterfly, she takes off to the sky and disappears in the beams of the sun.
I want to call after her, make her wait. But it’s not a good idea to shout up here, when people might hear me. Also, if the pixie wants to be stubborn, fine with me. I don’t need her, goddammit. And neither do any of the Lost Boys. I can do this on my own.
Hunched against the chimney, I wait until Angel and her sisters return from the park. It’s a lot louder inside the house after they’re back. As soon as dark falls and the streets are empty of those funny coaches and people walking, I take a flight around the neighborhood to stretch my spine and get some blood back into my limbs. On my return, all windows of the house are dark and no sound is to be heard inside. Angel closed her balcony door tonight but she’d left the window open. Lucky me.
Hovering a few inches above the floor prevents my feet from making any sound which might wake her. Up on the roof, I had a lot of time to think about her story of this book about Neverland. It’s the one thing I’m after right now. There’s nothing on her desk, and the chest of drawers only holds framed photos and some boring books without pictures.
Sneaking over to her bed, I’m once again tempted to touch Angel’s soft face while she sleeps. This unfamiliar longing starts to get on my nerves. I want to shake it off, but it stays, so I decide to ignore it and tear my gaze away from her. With quite some surprise, I catch a glimpse of a book on her nightstand then. There’s a smiling boy portrayed on the front cover, his eyes big and ears pointed like those of a pixie. He’s flying with a bunch of kids following him. At the bottom of the cover stand two words.
Peter Pan.
A sneer creeps to my face as I lift the book and skim through the pages. Many pictures of pirates, a girl in a blue dress, mermaids, and even Tami is in there. Amazing! I slide the book under my jacket and fly out through the window again. Back on top of the roof, I settle down and start to read.
It’s a story about Peter Pan visiting a girl named Wendy. Funny thing, she lives in London. He takes her and her brothers to Neverland for a big adventure. They meet the Lost Boys—man, they do look a lot like the guys in my tree—Tinker Bell, who seems to be a replica of Tami, but with a jealous nature that is totally unlike the pixie I know, and of course, Hook. He’s a hilarious character. Totally describes my brother, minus the hook on his hand.
In the middle of the book, I happen across a name I haven’t heard in a very long time. Tootles. In this story, he’s one of the Lost Boys and marbles seem to play a special role for him.
I remember how I saved a boy called Tootles from Hook’s plank once. He never became one of us though. Actually, I thought he headed off to the port to live there. Now I’m forced to rethink that easy assumption. After everything that happened lately, here and in Neverland, is it really farfetched to assume Tootles could have returned to his real world? Maybe he was the one writing this story? But why in the world would he invent lies about me and this Wendy girl?
I scratch my head. Things turn weirder by the minute. Snapping the book closed, I put it aside and study the stars. Angel knows about Neverland, but she doesn’t remember that she’s been there. She knows who Peter Pan is, but she doesn’t know who I am. For all it’s worth, she might not remember that not so long ago, she fe
ll in love with Hook.
Oh, the possibilities that come with that!
If only I can convince Angel that we’ve met before. That—a nasty shudder surges through my body—she was in love with me and not with Hook. It would kill him. And the pain would be worse than a sword through his chest. My mouth curves up and I snicker.
Hook will never find the way to London. Even if he does, it’ll be too late. By that time, I’ll have planted the idea of him being the ruthless pirate from this very book in Angel’s mind. Everything will be perfect.
I fly back into Angel’s room and return the book to its former place. Then I think about what I could take with me to tease Hook when I see him next time. Maybe a piece of her clothes to prove I really found her? No…I have a better idea. A lock of her hair.
Cautiously rummaging through the drawers at her desk, one by one, in search for scissors to cut a strand from Angel while she sleeps, my hand touches something that makes me stiffen.
A gem in the shape of a heart.
Chapter 5
“PULL IT IN!” Smee shouts to the crew, but I already know the net will be empty. Trying to catch a rainbow with a fishnet when it lands on the ocean’s surface was a waste of time. Just like running after them to capture one with a bucket or a gunnysack which was our brilliant plan last night.
The men haul the net on board, just to prove my hypothesis. There’s nothing in there. Not even the ropes bear a single stain of rainbow colors. “Dammit!” It’s incredibly frustrating to know what could help me get to Angel and just not being able to collect it. I rake a restless hand through my hair.
“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.
Peter Pan
FEW CANDLES ARE burning when I arrive at the tree house and glide down the hollow trunk. It’s so silent, I assume everyone 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?”
