by Anna Katmore
“Stop it!” I shout, reaching out for Bre’Shun, but Remona nudges my hand away with her horn. “She’s freezing him,” I argue with the insane horse. “He’ll die.”
“Peter Pan will die, if we do nothing to stop the ageing process,” Bre answers to me in her ever gentle voice, her gaze still focused on Peter. His skin glazes over like Bre’Shun’s did earlier when I grabbed her so harshly. He turns hard and stiff, his eyes freezing over, the lids at half-mast.
As the girls start crying, I feel like my throat tightens too. No matter how hard I swallow, the lump in there won’t go away. “And now what?” I croak. “Let him vegetate as a giant icicle?” How is this any better than letting him die?
“Not forever, James Hook. Only until you make a decision.”
“What?” What can I do? Finding Angel’s eyes across my brother’s cold body, I feel how my bones start to tremble. Which kind of decision could I make that would save Peter?
Certainly reading my mind again or maybe just the obvious question on my face, Bre tells me, “The decision of how much your brother really means to you.”
I turn my head and silently scrutinize the fairy. Peter means a lot to me. More than I had ever thought was possible. He’s a part of Neverland. A part of my family…
“If you want to save your brother, things have to go back to how they were,” Bre explains. “He must, once again, become the boy who wouldn’t grow. And time will stand still again.”
“I’m fine with that,” I tell her through a clenched jaw.
She lifts her brows. “The gates to the other world will close.”
“I understand.”
“And Angel can’t stay in Neverland.”
No!
I squeeze my eyes shut. This is the only thing I can’t agree to. I can’t lose Angel again. She’s my everything. I need her with me.
“Jamie, he’s your brother,” Angel whispers and gently takes my hand in hers. I wonder how much of my thoughts she can read.
Sliding my fingers through hers, I shake my head.
“Please, James, don’t let Peter die,” Skippy mumbles and all the other Lost Boys lift their pleading gazes to me. The one looking like she’s aching for Peter the most is the little pixie. The hope she puts in me constricts my chest.
With a feeling of having rocks tied to my limbs, I rise from the ground and pull Angel into my arms. I hug her so hard that I might crack her rib. She pillows her cheek against my chest and wraps her arms around me with the same force. This is the place I want to stay for the rest of my life.
But I don’t want my brother to die, and it means I have to let go of Angel. From what I could read in Bre’s eyes, this time there won’t be a way to see her ever again. It’s like the fairies played a cruel joke on me. Tease me with the biggest adventure, as Bre put it once, and then rip it from my arms with one snap of her fingers.
But Neverland wouldn’t be the same without Peter Pan.
I have to choose. My brother. Or my love.
“You love your brother,” Angel whispers in my ear as she slides her arms around my neck and stands on her tiptoes. “The same way as I love my sisters. There really isn’t a choice. Saving Peter is the only thing that counts.”
I bury my face in her hair for a long moment and savor every second of the time I have to hold her. Her beautiful scent will be etched to my memory forever as will be the feeling of embracing her like this.
I know Angel is crying, her tears dampen the side of my face. For once, I’m glad I’m not looking at her. Or I wouldn’t be able to hold it together.
Clearing my throat, I lift my gaze to the fairy and quietly ask her, “What does it take?”
Bre’Shun gets to her feet, smoothing her long dress. “Someone has to take his years.”
“I will,” Toby blurts out the first, followed by Skippy’s, “Me, too.”
Each of the Lost Boys enthusiastically offer to take a share of Peter’s years, so they will all be—what, twenty-five in the end? Also the pixie volunteers. But Bre’Shun shakes her head, her gaze filled with compassion.
“No. There’s only one who can do it,” she says.
Me.
Her eyes find mine. With a nod, I agree.
“Peter gained eighty years, James Hook. Are you willing to take them all to save your brother?”
Angel stiffens in my arms and everyone on the ground sucks in an appalled gasp.
Sink me, eighty years.
I’m nineteen. This would be my immediate death. But, remembering all the things I did to Peter—when he was a child and later, after I made him break the spell—I know I deserve it. And living in Neverland without ever being able to see Angel again is not an option for me anyway.
With my hand in Angel’s hair, I cuddle her to my chest. She shouldn’t have to see the ache for her in my face when I tell the fairy with a determined edge to my voice, “All right. I’ll do it.”
Angel’s chest vibrates against mine. “No,” she whispers.
I caress her hair and rest my cheek on the top of her head. The decision has been made. She was right, there really was no choice from the beginning.
Taking her face in my hands, I tilt her head up and kiss her on the lips. They tremble and are wet from her tears, but she never tasted this real to me before. I know I could have said many things then, like I love you, or You’ll always be in my heart. But what I really tell her is, “It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Angelina McFarland.”
Angel says nothing. She only lets me kiss her again. One last time to remember.
Eventually, my hands drop from her face. I stroke my palm down the side of her arm and slide my fingers through hers. Taking a deep breath, then I face the fairy. “Bring it on.”
Bre gazes at us for a long moment. Something isn’t right. I can feel it. But she, like Angel, remains silent. In the end, she kneels down beside Peter and beckons Remona with a wave of her hand. The other she extends to me. Taking it, I let her pull me down opposite her.
“Place your hand over Peter’s heart,” she tells me and guides my hand there. He’s ice-cold. A shudder zooms through me. “Only the touch of a unicorn’s horn can perform magic like this.”
Now, aren’t we lucky we have one at hand? An ironic chuckle dies in my throat.
“Peter will wake up when the transfer has finished.” Bre turns to look me straight in the eyes. “You don’t have much time then. If you want to say goodbye to him, do it fast.”
I nod.
Remona lowers her head, her long, silky-white mane falling forward. Angel squeezes my other hand. I close my eyes.
“Wait!”
Startled by Angel’s shout I jerk around.
“Don’t do it. I have an idea.”
Whatever does she mean? My brows furrowing to a line, I look from Bre to her and back. The fairy’s focus is still on Peter’s face, but a smirk sneaks to her mouth that makes me wonder if she’s been waiting for this. If she’s actually pleased.
The tip of Remona’s horn hovers above my hand on Peter’s heart. She doesn’t move. Her dark eyes glimmer, and I can see all the Lost Boys’ anxious faces reflected in them as they are gathered around their friend.
“Tell me about your idea, Angelina,” Bre’Shun says, slowly tilting her head.
“I—I was thinking, maybe you could contain the years for Jamie somewhere. Give him one at a time. So he will age like it’s meant to be.”
She’s trying to save me. I love this girl with all my heart. But she doesn’t make it any easier for me. Living in Neverland, away from her, is not what I want. “That would be eighty years without you, Angel.” My voice grows hoarse. “I can’t bear that.”
“And he cannot grow older while the rest of Neverland stands still,” Bre explains with a smile. She seems too happy about how this conversation is going. What the hell—
“Then let him come with me,” Angel argues.
“With you?” I blurt out.
“Yes, Jamie.” On her knees
, she scoots closer to me, her face glowing with new hope. “Come with me. To my world. We would have eighty years together.”
The boys break out in excited mumbling. The pixie flutters her wings behind her back. I don’t even know if that is possible, but growing older with Angel…by the rainbows of Neverland, this sounds wonderful. “Is that—I mean can I—”
Now Bre’s smirk expands to the happiest smile I’ve seen on her since the day we first met in this forest. “Oh yes, James Hook. You can.” Then she turns to Angel and her smile fades to a warm expression. “But as always, there is a price to pay. If a resident of Neverland leaves, someone else has to take his place.”
Who?
The two of them lock their gazes for an infinite moment, obviously communicating on their own way. Everyone holds their breath. Tami places a small hand on Angel’s shoulder, biting her bottom lip. A bad feeling rises in my gut. The fairies’ bargains are never easy to fulfill. I tighten my hold around Angel’s hand and want to tell her to back out but, by the time I open my mouth, it’s already too late.
“I agree,” Angel says.
The calm determination in her voice shocks me. Bre’Shun nods. What in the world did they agree on? A cold shiver rakes down my back.
Gracefully, the fairy rises to her feet and holds out a hand to Angel. “No one is ever forced to stay in Neverland. But when the time comes, you have to give your approval.”
Angel smiles as she pushes to her feet, but it looks forced. “I understand.”
“No!” I shout at her. “You know how tricky these bargains are. Don’t do it. Not for me.”
“It’s okay, Jamie. Come with me and stay in my world.” She caresses my cheek, and her smile takes on genuine warmth. “It will be all right, I know it will.”
For some reason I can’t explain, I feel it too at this moment. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking or it’s the fairies granting me glimpses of my future, I guess I’ll never know. But what I see is a warm house with Angel in the kitchen, me standing behind her, holding her with all the love I feel for her now. Laughter of children drifts from the garden. It’s a place where I long to be.
“So be it,” Bre says in a low voice. She tells the others to stay with Peter while she asks me to follow her to the back of the house. I don’t like leaving my brother or Angel, but there seems to be some fairy magic to perform so I can go with the girl I love.
Bre and I walk through her amazing vegetable garden that is in full bloom. As we pass the small square bed with the label carrots of horror and stroll farther to the back, I finally realize where we’re headed. “The tree of wishes?”
She gives me a sideways glance, the corners of her mouth curving up. But when we reach the spot where this young tree should be that I helped water not so long ago, there now stands a giant apple tree with lush green leaves and juicy fruits, casting a shadow over half the place. My breath catches in my throat. “Blow me down, what did you do to that tree?”
“Not me, James Hook. You.”
I lift one eyebrow. “How? Because I spat into your soup back then?” When I think back to that strange morning in the fairy’s garden, another realization suddenly sinks in. “You planned this. All of it.”
“Of course, I did.”
“But why?”
With a sigh, Bre reaches up and plucks a shiny red apple. “Because you and Angel needed a happy ending.”
“So you saw this coming?”
“Oh yes, I have.” She rubs the fruit on the skirt of her dress then holds it out to me. “The only thing I don’t get is why you’d grow apples on your personal tree of wishes. Would you care to explain that to me?”
“Why, don’t they grow on everyone’s tree?” I take the fruit from her and scrutinize it, not sure what to do with it.
“No. They usually carry nuts or, in some rare cases, cherries.” Her forehead creases. “You’re the first to ever have an apple tree.”
A smile stretches my lips, because I think I know why apples. A pleasant memory of how I first met Angel comes up.
“Ah,” the fairy drawls knowingly.
It really creeps me out every time she reads my mind. But since I obviously answered her question, it’s only fair that she answers one of mine now. I lean on the tree and cross my arms over my chest, one of my feet resting against the trunk. “After the curse was broken, why did Peter age so much faster than everyone else?”
Bre smirks. “Spells are a tricky thing. I told you, you had to make him break the spell.”
“And so I did.”
“But you forced him. Peter Pan himself never wanted to grow up again.”
“I had no choice. He would have never agreed.”
“I know.”
I don’t understand the fairy’s logic in this, or her amusement. “And yet you made me do it to get my own wishes fulfilled. You knew what would happen then. You knew all of it. Why did you let me destroy my brother’s life?”
“My dear boy.” Bre sighs and caresses my cheek with her cold hand. “You and Peter are both the children of Neverland. We love you. And you both deserve your happy endings. Peter already found his. He decided to stay a boy forever, and he was happy with it. You, on the other hand, needed your adventure.”
There’s only one real adventure in this world. Love. It’s finding the one person who makes you want to be better than you are. The words ring with a fairy-light laugh in my mind.
“To give you both what you want, Remona and I had to create something a long time ago. Something that would move you in the right direction.”
They created something? It can only be one thing. “A spell bound to a watch,” I mumble, lifting my gaze from the ground to her face. “Peter never needed to destroy the watch to grow older, did he? He made the decision to stay a child, he can simply make a decision again.”
“You’re a smart young man, James Hook.”
“You could have told me that before, you know.”
“Yes,” is all she says. And I realize if she had told me, nothing would have worked out for the ending we’re all facing. Peter will be the boy who wouldn’t grow up again. He will be happy with his friends and the pixie. And I will have Angel. That’s all I want.
Adapting her expression to my sanguine one, Bre gently places her hands on my forearms. “Now, if you don’t mind, Captain, take a bite of the apple but let me word your wish for you. We don’t want anything bad to happen because of the wrong phrasing.”
With a shake of my head, I agree and lift the apple to my lips. Keeping my gaze locked with hers, I take a cautious bite. An exotic, sweet-sour taste explodes in my mouth. I chew and swallow then take another bite. It’s better than anything I ever ate.
All the time, Bre’Shun mumbles something unintelligible, spreading her hands slightly and lowering to her knees. When there’s nothing left of the apple, she looks up at me and says, “Would you mind digging up this spot? There’s something in the ground you’ll need.”
Digging? “With my hands?”
“You can take the spade.”
“What sp—”
Cutting me off, Bre nods toward my feet. I look down and sure enough there’s a small shovel leaning against the tree. It definitely wasn’t there when we came here, but there’s no need to start questioning the fairy. I just pick it up and start to dig a hole in the dirt. On the third delve of the spade, I hit something hard.
“Careful,” she tells me. “You don’t want to break this.”
Using my hands instead of the shovel, I clear the rest of the dirt away and expose an ivory hourglass with golden sand inside that bears a striking similarity to pixie dust.
“Remona will put Peter’s years into this. Once the sand starts running, nothing can stop it. Wait to turn it until you’re in your new world.”
Grateful for everything, I nod and lean in to kiss the fairy on her ice-cold cheek. She chuckles as we both rise from the ground. “Now come. Let’s finish this story.”
Walking around the
house to the front with her, I rub the back of my neck. “How will Angel and I get to London?”
“With your ship, of course. I believe you still have rainbow powder left for one more journey?” The indication in her voice is unmistakable. She and her sister knew I’d be stealing Angel to Neverland before all the dust was used up. Maybe that’s what Remona meant in the first place that day inside their house, when she told me to just be myself. It makes me laugh now. I’m a pirate after all.
As soon as we reach the front garden again, Angel jumps to her feet and flings her arms around me. “Is it done? You didn’t change your mind, did you?”
If I had backed out of the deal, Angel’s hopeful face would have broken my heart. “We’re almost there,” I tell her, smiling, and place a chaste kiss on her lips. Then I lift the hourglass to her eyes. “Remona only has to bottle my years.”
“Remona?” Angel glances round the place until the unicorn lifts its head and whinnys joyfully. Realization dawns in Angel’s eyes. “Is she—”
I nod and pull her along with me to bring the hourglass in position over Peter’s heart like Bre did with my hand before. The Lost Boys move aside to let the unicorn through. With a simple touch of the horn, the hourglass begins to glow. And the ice melts out of Peter’s body.
Everyone gapes, their mouths dropped open, as Peter’s aging process rewinds. The white is fading out of his thick brown hair, the bushy eyebrows thin back to tilted lines. All the wrinkles disappear from his face. He even shrinks the few inches he had on me these past few weeks.
When all the clothes hang sloppily on him and his skin is smooth like the surface of a pearl again, he slowly opens his eyes. The collective exhale of relieved sighs makes me realize even I was holding my breath. I laugh. I’m the first to grab my brother and crush him to my chest in a hug that has been overdue for a long time.
“Hey, wait! What—”
I don’t give him a chance for questions, because I’m clearly cutting the airflow off from his lungs. “Oh, you little bastard! You scared me witless!” Ruffling his hair, I squeeze him even harder. “Never do that again, do you hear me!”
