by Anna Katmore
Angel agrees to that with a nod. For a while she’s silent but then says, “So, you finally got Peter to destroy the watch.”
“M-hm.”
Her gaze lifts to mine. “How did you do it?”
I sigh. Thinking back at the break in my brother’s and my relationship makes me hesitate with an answer. But there’s no sense in keeping the truth from her. Eventually, I tell her everything, starting with the night that Jack, Peter and I went to town to get the bathwater.
When Angel hears that I used a gun on Peter Pan the next day, her chin drops to her chest. “I wouldn’t have shot him,” I state with what I hope is the truth ringing in my voice. At least I’ve been trying to convince myself of that every day since. Last night, when I couldn’t bring myself to kill or even hurt Peter with my sword, no matter what shit he pulled off with Angel, I finally got the proof I needed to be sure.
After a long pause where Angel had enough time to contemplate, the hard lines of her face soften. I guess she believed me a lot faster than I could believe myself.
“After the spell was undone, did all people in Neverland age as fast as Peter? Because you and Jack and the rest of the crew obviously didn’t.”
“Nobody aged as fast as him. At least that’s what I observed.” I throw another stone with more force than necessary and it shoots far out before it dives into the waves. “There was a young woman in town. She was pregnant for so long.”
“Because that’s how she was when Peter decided to never grow up, right?”
“Exactly. There was never a change visible in her, all these years. But the few times I went to town lately, I noticed how her belly kept swelling. Unless I’m very much mistaken, she should have finally given birth to that child.”
“Well, that’s nice.” From the corner of my eye, I see how Angel looks hopefully at me. “So apart from Peter, Neverland is back to normal.”
“I started to shave again,” I answer. “I didn’t have to do that in over a hundred years. Things have changed, yes.”
With the backs of her fingers, she strokes over the stubble on my cheek and smirks. “I like it the way it is now. If Peter ever restarts the curse, make sure you're not shaven clean.”
I wrap one arm around her waist and pull her into me, chuckling. “God forbid that should happen again!” The moment I place a kiss on her forehead, cool sea water douses us. “What the hell—”
“Hi, Angel!” someone calls from the ocean.
Angel twists in my arm, her body tensing with excitement. “Melody?” She squirms out of my arms and hurries to the rocky edge of the low cliff we’re standing on.
“I thought I heard your voice,” the fish girl with amber hair says excitedly as the upper third of her body sticks out of the water and bobs gently on the waves. “When did you get back to Neverland? And how?”
“Jamie came to my home and”—she hesitates a heartbeat—“brought me here. I’ve only been back for a few hours.”
Yeah, I’m glad she didn’t use the word kidnap again. When the mermaid nods her head in a greeting in my direction, I lift my hand in a feeble response of my own and grin. Last time I saw her, I had her deliver a message to Peter for Angel and me.
“Wait here for a moment!” she then calls to Angel. “I’ve got something for you.” She dives into the blue sea, her fishtail coming up before she completely disappears underwater. Angel turns a puzzled face to me. I shrug. Heck, I have no idea what she’s up to. Melody doesn’t take long to reappear. And in her hand, she holds something black. Swimming close to the shore, she tosses the wet bundle up and I catch it for Angel.
I wring the water from the fabric and unfold it. The astonished look on Angels face is priceless. “That’s my sweater!” she cries out and swipes the thing from my hands. “Where did you get that from?”
“Found it underwater a while ago. I remembered you wearing something like that the first day we met, so I took it home with me.”
“And all this time, I was wondering why I never found it in the tree when my sisters claimed it got snagged in the branches.” Angel beams down at the mermaid. “Thank you!” The garment that resembles a pirate flag is wetting the front of her dress, but she hugs it to her chest anyway.
“You’re welcome.” Melody sends her a warm smile, then she looks over her shoulder as a pack of other fish girls shout her name and beckon her from a safe distance away. “Sorry, I have to go,” she says with a sheepish look. “It’s my father’s birthday. My sisters always get so pushy when I’m being late for something.”
“You go and have fun,” Angel tells her. “And thank you so much again for getting this back to me.”
The mermaid nods and, with a backward header into the ocean, swims away to her family.
I step up to Angel and enclose her in my arms, because I want to make use of the time we have to us. But we’re not alone for long. The distinct smell of blackberries and honey creeps up my nose. I know exactly when I smelled that last time. “Hello, pixie,” I say and turn around.
The little thing with a head full of golden locks and a dress made of ivy stands a little offside and nervously clasps her hands. Until she sees Angel stepping around from behind me. Her eyes light up and both girls squeal as they head toward each other, Angel shoving the wet sweater into my arms before she runs off. Tameeka pushes up to hover a couple of feet above the ground, so being able to fling her arms around Angel’s neck. They hug like old friends, though Angel takes every caution not to crush the pixie’s fluttering silhouette wings.
When they let go of each other after an endless time, I walk up to them and put one caring arm around Angel, hoping the gesture draws more trust from the tiny girl than offering a handshake would do. Though she doesn’t look intimidated by me, she prefers to talk to Angel only. “I didn’t know you were back with Captain Hook. But you look happy, so I guess nothing bad happened to you.”
“Bad? What do you mean?” Angel asks. I can feel the uneasy tension creeping over her body.
“Peter.” The pixie’s face turns red with childish anger. “I was afraid he did something to you. He was so furious the last time I saw him.”
“Well, he tried to warn me away from Jamie, but that was all. He didn’t hurt me or anything. I’m sure he would never do that.”
I’m not so sure about that myself, but it’s not the right time to interrupt the girls.
“No, you’re right. He likes you. He wouldn’t harm you. But he was talking about getting back at Hook for what he did to Peter.” Tami throws a dirty look my way. “He was in so much pain and, ever since, he aged so fast.”
Gritting my teeth, I’m the one choosing not to talk to her now.
“Even though he sent me away, I kept an eye on him and you Angel. But when both of you were gone after last night, I feared—”
“Wait,” Angel cuts her off with narrowed eyes. Absently, she takes my hand from her shoulders and slides her fingers through mine, squeezing anxiously. “He sent you away?”
“Yes. When he spoke about his plan to use you for revenge on Hook, the Lost Boys and I told him he was crazy and confused and that we wouldn’t help him with it. He was so angry, Angel. And blinded by it, too. I’m sure he felt like everyone betrayed him in the end.”
Breathing with a tight chest is an ugly feeling. The bad conscience taking over makes it hard for me to return Angel’s understanding squeeze. I ease the grip and her hand slips away from of mine.
“I saw the two of you heading out of your house last night,” the pixie continues, “but then only you returned. Since Hook already came to your world, the boys and I thought it was worth a try to talk to him again. I went looking for Peter, but I couldn’t find him in the house where he used to live now or anywhere else. And then you were gone too.”
I take a deep breath. “You couldn’t find him, because my men and I tied him up in a tree quite a bit away from Angel’s house.”
“You. Did. What?” both girls shout at me at the same time.
“What? I had to keep him out of the way or he would have ruined everything again. You heard the pixie,” I defend myself to Angel. “He wanted to use you for revenge.”
“Because he was hurt,” she counters with way too much affection than he deserves and places both her hands on my forearm. “Think of the shock he must have been in when he found himself grown up one morning. Together, we certainly can talk sense into him. We must go back and release him. Now!”
“No way! I only have magic stuff left for one last trip back to your world. I’m not wasting that on Peter Pan.” I pause and clench my teeth then mumble, “The ropes weren’t tied too tightly anyway. I’m sure the bastard could free himself by now. For all you know, he could already be back in Neverland.”
And that’s the exact reason why I want to take Angel to the fairies as soon as possible. His plan to steal my girl from me failed. Who can say with what he comes up next to get back at me. I need to talk to him alone and sort things out between us. But finding a way to keep Angel with me is of greater importance right now. I’m not giving her up. Not now. Or ever.
Angelina
JAMIE’S STUBBORNNESS SURPRISES me. I know he and Peter had issues in the past, but last time I saw them together in Neverland, they made a great team. What does it take to make them both see in the other again what they saw when they helped me go back to London?
As if he can read my thoughts, Jamie says, “It’s no use Angel. Too many things have happened since you were gone.”
“Fine. Be that way,” I mutter, but if he thinks for a moment I’ll give up trying, he’s in for a surprise. And then I see them. A set of blue eyes staring at us from behind a line of bushes. My heart starts pounding like elephant feet, because I surely know those eyes. I’ve seen them all morning when gazing at Jamie. Did I ever notice how much alike the brothers really look?
None of the others has noticed Peter watching us yet, but he certainly heard every word we spoke. So what if he’s here to put things right with everyone? He hurt Tami when he sent her away, and from all I know about the two of them, they were inseparable for so many years. He must miss her like she obviously misses him.
And Jamie? Now that I’m here, I just know that I can make the two of them talk things out. They don’t hate each other. They might think they do, but this feeling deep inside me tells me otherwise.
I almost blurt out Peter’s hiding and point a finger but, just in time, I hold back. He’s hurt and—by God, I know how stubborn he can be. It must run in their family.
When Tami takes over convincing Jamie that they must find Peter fast before anything bad happens, I seize the chance and grab my still wet sweater from Jamie. He throws me a questioning look, which I try to return with a reassuring one of my own. “I’m going to hang this over some twigs so it can dry in the sun.”
He strokes my cheek, certainly glad that I’m no longer angry with him, and lets me go.
Like I expected, Peter ducks the moment I walk over to the bushes, but he doesn’t fly away. Good, so he’s ready to talk. Busying myself with the sweater, I keep my chin low and whisper, “Peter, I know you’re here. Look, everyone is ready to t—”
I don’t get to finish, because Peter grips my wrist hard and pulls me into the bushes, one hand clapped over my mouth. The sweater drops to the ground. “I’m sorry, Angel, but you don’t leave me a choice,” he hisses in my ear, wraps his arm around me and shoots up into the sky.
We’ve zoomed up a couple hundred feet before Tami and Jamie even realize what happened. Both cry out our names, but I can’t see them below, because Peter is going way too fast. Everything is just one massive blur.
While Jamie’s voice fades, Tami’s follows us for a few seconds from an ever growing distance. She can fly but not nearly as fast as Peter. Soon we shake her off. The thought to fight Peter and wrestle myself free crossed my mind for a minute, but if he drops me from this height, there’s no chance I’ll survive, which renders me stiff in his arms. Only when he takes his hand off my mouth, I give an ear piercing shriek. “Jamie! Tami! Help me, I’m here!”
“You can stop that. They won’t hear you. No one will.” The ice in Peter’s voice scares me.
The way he holds me with my back against his chest, I can see the jungle racing by below. We pass the volcano to our right and fly farther east until we reach a formation of three mountains in a triangle. In one of them, right beneath the very peak, is a cave. Peter chooses to land there and sets me down.
I spin around and slap his face hard the moment he takes his arms away. At the smack, his head jerks to the side.
“Dammit, Peter! What do you think you’re doing?” Then I gasp with shock. At Mermaid Lagoon, I only saw his eyes when he hid in the bushes. Now that he’s standing in front of me, my lips start to tremble. Wrinkles are etched around his eyes and streaks of gray flash in his light brown hair. Peter has aged again. At least fifteen years from last time I saw him.
He clenches his teeth and gives me a mean scowl. “You better not do that again, or I’ll rethink my plan for you and shove you off that cliff right now.”
“What?” My voice cracks at the one word.
“You’re a bloody betrayer. You act like we’re friends.” He gives me a tight, hurt and sinister smile. “But look whose side you’re on again. You always end up with Hook.”
I take a step back as he spits the words at me. There’s so much hurt in his eyes that it squeezes my chest. But when he comes forward, forcing me to back farther off against the wall, and braces himself on his hands at the rock face at either side of my head, all I feel is fear.
The smell of his leather jacket creeps up my nose, as he glares down at me. “I thought you liked me, but all you ever did was destroy my life. Form the moment you fell to Neverland, everything changed. You changed it. He did it all because of you!”
“Peter, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this—”
“Shut up!” His yell echoes off the walls inside the cave and makes me cringe.
Suddenly his eyes glaze over. He strokes his fingers down my cheek and dips his forehead to mine. “Forgive me, Angel. I just—” Pushing himself away from the wall he paces to the middle of the ten by ten feet place that’s all gray rock. Clawed fingers shove through his hair. “It’s so hard to be inside this head. This is not my body. And not my mind!” He jerks around, glaring at me, broken and lost.
I’m still trying to catch my breath from the panic he unleashed in me. Pressing against the wall, I swallow hard. “Come back to Jamie and Tami with me. We can figure out how to help you.”
“No!” He rushes toward me once more. “Don’t you dare trick me again. I’m not going to see my brother.” He pauses then speaks through a sneer. “Not on his terms anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
His mad grin widens as he nods his head toward the back corner of the cave. A rope lies on the ground, together with a slingshot and a sword. Whatever he intends to do with that, it won’t be anything nice. My panic resurfaces. As we flew here, I saw the way leading down from the cave. It’s steep and certainly dangerous, but I could climb down there. Except, Peter would catch me a thousand times before I even made it ten steps.
Well aware of how my eyes wandered to the only way of escape, Peter grabs my arm and pulls me farther to the back. He’s too strong. All my screaming and fighting is in vain, when he ties the rope around my wrists.
“And now what?” I shout at him. “What’s your brilliant plan, Peter Pan? Are you going to keep me prisoner up here? Is that how you think you can take revenge on me?”
“Oh, not on you, dear Angel. I’ll take vengeance on my brother. You’ll only help me with that.” Pulling hard on the rope, he makes me follow him to the edge of the cave, then he flies out and loops it around a tree that grows sideways out of the mountain, next to the cave’s entrance. It takes him three seconds until he stands in front of me again. We stare at each other for the length of five breaths. My eyes certainly grow wi
der with horror at the way his grin spreads wider with madness. “Guess what,” he says.
The next instant, I’m ripped away from the ground, out of the cave and to the side. A terrified shriek escapes me as all goes so fast. Peter only had to pull on the end of the rope in his hands to catapult me out. The momentum keeps me swaying madly for a few seconds. Panic and the pain in my wrists bring tears to my eyes.
“Oh God! Peter! Please, pull me inside again. Please! You don’t have to do this!”
“Have, too.” He ties the rope around a protruding rock.
I’m hanging from a tree to the left of the cave, with a two-hundred-meter abyss beneath me. He left the rope long enough so I can’t reach the tree. Struggling is the worst I can do, so I keep as still as I can and fight to breathe again.
Inside the cave’s mouth, Peter sits down on the stone ground and pulls a small notebook and pen from the back pocket of his jeans. “Now, what to write to my dear brother?” Tapping the pen to his pursed lips, he finally lifts his gaze to mine.
There’s a sudden change in his look. His mouth parts slightly, his eyes widen with understanding and shock. Hope takes over me. Oh Lord, he’s going to free me, because he realized what a terrible thing he’s doing to me.
But a moment later he rubs his brow vigorously like a child that had to think too hard for too long. The muscles in his jaw tick as he clamps his teeth together. “It’s the only way,” he mumbles to himself.
Streams of tears forge down my cheeks. “Please, Peter. Release me.” I wrap my fingers around the rope above the tight knot and try to ease the hurting pull on my wrists. “I didn’t betray you. I am your friend.”
He stares at me and shakes his head. Then he lowers his gaze to the notebook placed on his thighs and starts to write. “If you want your girl alive, come and fight.” He cuts me a quick glance. “How’s that?”
