Fierce as a Tiger Lily (Daughters of Neverland Book 2)

by Kendra Moreno

  “I can’t.” The first tear falls from my lashes, angry tears. I’m angry at Neverland, at destiny, at Wolfbane for setting this all into motion. I’m so angry, and though I don’t know what Peter intends to do, I know he doesn’t plan on surviving it.

  Even though I’m using all my strength to hold onto him, even though I know I’m strong, Peter has always been stronger. Slowly, deliberately, he untangles his fingers from mine and wrenches away. His eyes meet someone’s over my shoulders—March, I assume—and strong arms come around me, holding me. Others join in, until I’m being held in the arms of March, Wendy, Hook, and Tink, until they’re both supporting me and keeping me from following after Peter.

  “Don’t you dare!” I scream, struggling in the hold, reaching for Peter, always reaching. “Peter, stop!”

  “I’m made from the same power as Neverland,” he murmurs, moving closer to the heart. Atlas, Cal, and Cheshire are straining under the effort now, trying to hold the heart steady as long as possible. “I can give my power to give you more time.” He meets my eyes. “Lily, I will give you more time.”

  “Please,” I rasp, tears falling from my eyes. “Please, don’t.” I know it’s the first time any of the others have seen my cry, but once they start flowing, I can’t stop. I’m reaching for Peter, begging him not to go, asking him to choose me. For once, I just want him to choose me.

  Cheshire and Cal make room for Peter. I know they don’t understand what’s happening, I know they’re focused only on keeping the heart steady, but it still feels a bit like a betrayal. Peter doesn’t touch the heart, not yet. Instead, he stands there to the side, his eyes focused on me, as if etching my image into his memory.

  “I know I’m already lost,” he whispers. “I’ve always been lost. I’ve always known that, at some point, Neverland would swallow me whole.” And then Peter Pan does something I never expected him to. He cries, two tears trailing down his cheeks. They crystalize immediately, and I hear Wendy gasp, but I can’t focus on it for long, not as Peter speaks. “I love you, Lily. I’m sorry I could never be the person you deserved.”

  “Don’t,” I cry. “Please, Peter, don’t. I love you.” Others are crying, but I don’t know who. I don’t care to know who else is moved by our exchange. I struggle harder against those holding me, but though I’m strong, I’m not stronger than Two Daughters, a Leader, and a March Hare.

  Peter reaches out a hand towards the heart, but he hesitates. “Tell Aniya. . .” He pauses. “Tell her the magic in her veins will move worlds one day.” He takes a deep breath and another tear falls. “I’ll see you on the other side of the stars, Lily.”

  I start to scream then, hot, angry tears trailing down my cheeks, as I fight to grab him, but as always, Peter never takes my hand. I watch in agony as he places his hand against the large crystal heart and inhales at the power that fills him. The others step back as the crystal flares brightly, power zapping from its center, painful streaks that Atlas cringes at, but I’m only focused on the sight of Peter.

  His eyes never leave mine as I cry and scream, as I fight to get to him, as I tear at the hands holding me steady. Even as the light grows too bright to see him and I’m forced to close my eyes, I know he never looks away from me.

  “Peter! Please, Peter!”

  I love you, Lily. . .

  When the light fades, when we can open our eyes again, the heart glows as it should, but where Peter stood is empty. He’s gone; there’s nothing left, as if he never existed at all. The arms around me relax, all but one releasing me, and I collapse, uncaring of who sees me so vulnerable.

  March holds me as I shatter to pieces, as I realize the monumental event that we just witnessed.

  Peter Pan sacrificed himself so that we stand a chance of saving Neverland, so we have a chance to live. He gave himself for us all. And now he’s gone, forever taken by the land that made us.

  Though March is here to hold me, though he holds my heart in his hand, it still hurts so badly, I can’t breathe with the agony of it.

  “I’ve got you,” March murmurs. “I’ve got you, Pretty Lily.”

  But the tears don’t stop for a long time. I sit there, in the arms of the March Hare, both in love and broken beyond pieces, somehow still alive. I’m closed in by the others as they help hold me together, as they fill my cracks with something that can hold me together for now. But it’s not until a little girl breaks through and holds me tight that I’m able to take a true breath.

  “It’s okay, Makua,” she whispers, hugging me tight, melding me back together, filling my cracks with gold. “He’s only gone to join the stars.”

  Carl chirps his agreement, and somehow, it helps.

  Somehow, I’m able to breathe.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Eventually, after everything in the cave calms and stabilizes, and I feel like I can stand again, March helps me up and we slowly make our way from the cave. No one wants to speak about it, to ask when Peter and I had become a thing. No one wants to ask if Aniya is really a baby born between me and Peter Pan, but I can tell it’s on the tip of their tongues, ready to ask when the time isn’t so dire. I don’t know when I’ll be able to speak about it, if I’ll ever be able to talk about it. There’s too much there, too much swirling inside me, and I don’t know how to begin discussing it.

  March holds my hand on one side, while Aniya holds the other, both offering their strength in different ways. Only because of them am I able to tilt my chin up as we walk from the cave, leaving the heart in its steady state. Though my face is splotchy and tear-stained, no one’s eyes linger on me. Only Bear understands what must have happened when his eyes trace over our group, realizing exactly who’s missing and why I look so shaken, but the others wisely look away. To see a Daughter cry, it’s unheard of, but I can’t bring myself to care right now.

  There’s a circle in the Coven, the Pirates, pixies and Fae, and Tribe all blocking in two creatures with their weapons. The Lost stand at the entrance, alone, their hands folded across their fronts demurely, waiting for us. They seem unconcerned with the sheer number of weapons pointed at them. They only wait quietly, turning in our direction when we step forward.

  I recognize them immediately, but Cheshire doesn’t, because he’s not a Neverland creature. He hisses, fur morphing along his body to reveal the animal beneath his skin, as he prepares to spring towards the two creatures with massive horns, the threats he sees.

  “Wait,” Wendy says, holding up her hand, and Cheshire looks at her in confusion with brilliant blue feline eyes. “They’re here to talk to me,” she offers as reason and Cheshire backs down, though the confusion is still there.

  “Is that. . .” March’s voice trails off before he can ask the question, but I nod anyways. I know what he was going to ask.

  “They’re Wendy’s brothers.”

  March frowns, sympathy written across his face for the Sea Captain, and I can’t blame him. Wendy Darling’s story is one of the sadder stories of Neverland, though, I suppose we all have some sadness in our lives. They just haven’t all been revealed as much as Wendy’s has. And now mine, I suppose. I have a sad story now, too.

  I keep Aniya close in case she decides to run up to the Lost on a whim. Her creatures come from around us, landing on her shoulder again now that she’s no longer in the cave. Only Carl, the dangerous Neverland bird, had went inside with her.

  “Why are you here?” Wendy asks the two, her chin tilting up when she takes a step forward, always strong in the face of pain. Hook stays right behind her, prepared to jump in if the Lost suddenly try to grab Wendy and make a run for it. Wendy can take care of herself usually, but these Lost, she won’t raise her weapons towards, not if she doesn’t have to.

  “We have a final message from the Crocodile,” the bigger one says. I know his name is John from the stories but the younger one, even though he’s grown and Lost, I recognize him from Skull Rock.

  Michael tilts his head, his horns angling to the side. �
��An ultimatum, really.”

  “Join us, and your friends will be spared,” John finishes.

  They talk between them, as if they’re following one thought process, and perhaps, they are. The bond of siblings is as magical as it can be frustrating.

  Wendy sighs and glances behind her. I know she’s considering a way to use the bargain in our favor. She’d never consider leaving us all behind, not unless she thought the risk was worth it to find a way for everyone to escape together. “You mean strand them all to die in Neverland while we leave it?”

  “He won’t kill them.”

  “What happens after that is none of his concern.”

  “Come, sister,” Michael says, holding out a hand tipped with claws. “Join us.”

  Wendy’s hands clench at her sides and I can tell she’s frantically trying to figure out a plan. I know the moment she decides we haven’t come to that point yet, that we still have other options. We know where the door is now. And we’ve steadied the heart. We can still save Neverland without finding the door. That’s still a possibility.

  I love you, Lily.

  I shake the words from my head. I can’t drop into the darkness right now. My people need me. Wendy and Tink need me.

  “You’re not my brothers anymore,” Wendy murmurs, but I know she doesn’t quite believe it.

  The Lost move unnaturally, their heads tilting, eyes the same color as Wendy’s taking her in. They completely ignore the rest of us, as if we’re not here. “This will be your last chance, Wendy. We don’t want you to die,” one admits.

  “So, you won’t. But we can no longer promise the others won’t.”

  “Not if you don’t accept his offer.”

  Wendy takes another step forward and Hook’s face twists with worry. He’s not worried Wendy will take the offer, though. He’s worried for her mentality, her ability to place herself in harm’s way and risk being hurt. Because as monstrous as her brothers are now, she still sees Michael and John. She still sees the little boys she brought to Neverland in an attempt to save them.

  “Was it you?” she asks, and her brothers stare at her, barely blinking. “Inside Skull Rock. Was it you?”

  I tilt my head. I know those of us who have seen Michael in the cave wonder the same thing and we all listen intently. For a moment, I think they won’t answer, won’t admit one way or the other, but then the younger one speaks, Michael.

  “There’s no understanding Neverland, sister. Haven’t you learned that?”

  I can hear Wendy’s breaths grow erratic at the admission that isn’t an admission at all. The Lost turn and make their way towards the entrance, content to disappear in the trees. I’m not surprised the Lost don’t seem as Lost as we always assumed, and after learning what I had at Skull Rock, I wonder at the magic in the Darling siblings’ veins.

  “Wait,” Wendy calls, and Michael turns to look over his shoulder, his great antelope horns curling above his head. They reflect what little light there is, almost shining with it. “Why follow him? Why do this?”

  John turns, too, his ram horns glinting the same as Michael’s, but he doesn’t speak. He lets Michael answer.

  The smile that pulls across Wendy’s little brother’s face is tragic, far sadder than anything I’ve ever seen on a Lost. They’ve always been so savage, almost too wild to do more than react in anger, so to see such expression on Michael’s face, it makes my chest ache for the child he once was. I can only image what Wendy is feeling, but I understand. I, too, lost a brother who didn’t truly die.

  “We are nothing but beasts, Wendy,” Michael whispers, the admission floating on the air as they turn and disappear through the entrance and the trees, leaving everyone behind to stare after them.

  The tension in Wendy’s shoulders vanishes before Hook circles her waist and holds on, letting her use his strength, because as much as the pirate can be an asshole, he still loves Wendy with his whole heart. I glance sideways at March, and realize we share something similar. Somehow, we’ve been lucky enough for love to appear in the midst of madness and chaos.

  You have two soulmates. . .

  “What did that mean?” White asks, his sword slung over his shoulder. It drips blood so I know he took a few of the Lost in the attack down. The Wonderlanders are just as vicious in battle as those of us in Neverland. “That they’re beasts?”

  I take a deep breath when Wendy turns to look at me. “Aniya isn’t the only one who can speak to beasts. I told you that before. The other one who could was. . .is Wolfbane.”

  “And now with the power of Neverland in his body, he can control the Lost,” she rasps.

  I nod and look toward our people as they take stock of who was lost in the attack and who was injured. We got lucky. There doesn’t seem to be such a large loss of life like I expected, but there’s plenty of Lost bodies scattered through the camp. The sight saddens me. The Lost were once only children looking for an escape, and instead of finding it, Neverland gave them a worse life than they’d been trying to escape. Sometimes, the adventure isn’t a good one. Sometimes, there is no escape. All that matters is how you handle that.

  Wendy and Tink move over toward me and take my hands when Aniya moves over to Bear and whispers something up to him, perhaps about what happened in the cave. March steps away to give us a moment, the three Daughters hurting together. Tink and Wendy don’t say anything, but they lead me away from the rest, away from the discussions and planning and tasks.

  “We have so much to do,” I murmur, looking behind me at the others as they start to help set the Coven to rights.

  “And we’ll get to it,” Wendy answers. “But for now, let’s sit for a while with each other. It’s been a long time since we were able to be at peace.”

  When Tink takes us into her green room, the flowers and pots overflowing with life, she lets me kneel in the middle of it all. Wendy and Tink join me, keeping our hands linked, and we take long moments to just exist.

  In the end, tears run down our faces, Wendy’s crystallizing and adding shine to the living room, but we’re at peace, at least for the moment. No one will see our faces. No one will know the pain we share between us as we mourn for so much. We mourn for Wendy’s brothers, for their youth that was taken from them, their humanity. We mourn for Tink’s brush with death, for our world’s brush with death, and the heart that has just enough time to allow us to figure everything out.

  We mourn for the loss of Peter Pan, for the boy who thought himself such a monster, he could never see the light.

  The cracks in my soul glow with the love flowing into them, the bond I have with Tink and Wendy sinking into my skin, and I breathe just a little easier.

  I’ll see you on the other side of the stars. . .

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  CLARA BEE

  I stare at the stampede of wildebeests currently rampaging through Wonderland from atop the Hatter’s house. Normally, I’d not try to balance on the rooftop, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The wildebeests should have been worrisome. A stampede of creatures running through Wonderland? That’s cause for alarm, and it would be, if these were anything but ordinary wildebeests. There’s no magic to them, and the poor things are so confused over the dangerous world they’d somehow tumbled into, they can’t help but run.

  “I don’t understand,” I murmur to Hatter. Everywhere we look, there are creatures in Wonderland who don’t belong. Our first thought had been to check if White’s doors were somehow propped open, but they are locked as tight as ever, and without White here, we can’t check any further if things are normal.

  Hatter stands beside me, his eyes narrowed on the group of creatures before he looks to the skies. In the distance, it almost looks like there’s a dragon flying around. Wonderland doesn’t have dragons; we have Jabberwockies, but we shouldn’t have any at the moment. We’d know if it was Flam flying around. A pink-feathered dragon-like creature is hard to miss.

  “I’ve never seen anything like t
his,” Hatter admits. “Not once. And I slipped into the Hereafter to ask the old Queen, too. Nothing. No one has ever heard of people and creatures from other worlds just ending up in Wonderland randomly, without reason.”

  “We need to find where they’re coming from and close it.” Though something in my chest aches for the creatures I know once inhabited my world, if more than just animals start tumbling in, we’ll have a very big problem. Wonderland can’t hold the sheer amount of people that would suddenly come in to study it if they knew of the worlds right under their noses.

  “Perhaps, we should send a message to the others. White might know how to handle it and they’ve been gone a long time.” Hatter removes his top hat and runs a hand through his hair. We’re both stressed with everything happening. After the teacup spider incident, we’ve dealt with other inanimate objects coming to life, strange creatures swarming the house, even stranger sounds echoing through the land at night, and now this stampede. If things keep going as they are, we might be run ragged.

  “I hope nothing bad has happened.” I can’t bear the thought of something happening to the others, but surely they’d send a letter if they were in trouble. We’d know if they were in trouble, I think. The bond between Jupiter, Cal, and I is strong. The bond between the Sons is even stronger. If one dies, we will feel it. “You’re right, though. We should send a letter.” I pull out a paper and pen from seemingly thin air and pass it to the Hatter.

  “Did you have that the whole time?” he asks, his brows furrowing even as he takes the paper.

  I grin. “Yes, of course. I’m magic, after all.”

  He snorts. “You had it in your pocket the entire time, didn’t you?”

  “I might or might not have known we’d have need to send a letter. It’s still magic,” I argue.