Love in Neverland: Book 2 in The Neverland Trilogy

by Heather C. Myers

  And now…

  Magda could not say what she was feeling now. It was confusing and contradictory and she could not put a name on it. All she knew was that she did not like that Nick loved Remy. In fact, she hated it. But that was not something she wanted to think on. At all.

  Before she could ponder this further, a ship in the distance caught her eye. She furrowed her brow and grabbed her spy glass in order to get a better look. It was too small to be a man-of-war but much bigger than the sailboat she and Nick were on. The sails were white, and she was certain the ship was fast as it was small.

  She did not recognize it. Perhaps Nick might.

  "Captain!"

  The problem with being on a sailboat after a kiss was there was absolutely no privacy whatsoever. She could pretend to be interested in the ocean water or the horizon for as long as she needed to, but deep down, she was avoiding him and she was positive he was avoiding her.

  When it was over, they had sprung apart for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one being they could not believe they had kissed. To be honest, Magda could not remember who kissed who first. It was all a blur to her, which was disappointing unto itself. It was her first official kiss and she couldn't remember the big important details. But she remembered little things Nick probably did not even notice, such as the feel of his rough hand on her soft skin, like the way his tongue tasted in her mouth, like the way she could feel her heart vibrate throughout her body completely to the point where she knew he could hear it. Like the fact that she was still shaking afterward.

  Neither of them had spoken to each other, and Magda was certain a couple of hours had passed, at least. He had gone to one side of the boat, she had gone to the other, and they both stood there in silence. She had been contemplating everything. He… Well, she did not know what he was doing. She just knew that a bad feeling had made a home of itself in the pit of her stomach, and all she wanted to do was crawl into her cot on the Jolly Roger where she had a room all to herself and hide for the next few days.

  Hide? a voice said with disgust. You are better than that. What happened, happened. Now, you must face it. There is a ship coming. Deal with it, and with the kiss.

  Magda’s lips set in a firm line and she turned to Nick, who either had not heard her or completely ignored her. His hands were on his hips, his back still to her so she could not read his face. It bothered Magda, the way he was handling what had happened, but she had not handled it any better, either.

  They needed to get past this if they wanted to remain friends.

  Yes, friends.

  Nick said nothing. Instead, he raised his eyebrows. It was his way of asking what happened, why she decided to disturb his solitude. She rolled her eyes at his behavior and clenched her teeth together so hard she thought her head might explode from the pressure.

  "Why are you behaving this way?" she suddenly burst out with, throwing her arms out to emphasize her point. She wanted to stop the words from spilling out of her mouth but she could not put a cork in it. She spilled out freely, like wine in a drunk's mouth. Normally, she kept quiet, internalized her frustrations so they would not affect her relationship to whomever it was that was upsetting her. The last time she had confronted someone with her emotions was her mother when she had been given to James so long ago. "Why are you suddenly so quiet? It was just a kiss, all right? It was a kiss, and nothing more. That should not affect how you treat me!"

  "How could it not affect how I treat you?" Nick asked, and she could see his own temper spark.

  "A kiss is more to me than just a kiss. It's something I don't take for granted."

  "Oh, please," Magda said, scoffing. "I know you visit whores at every port."

  "Yes, but I do not kiss them," he said with such force Magda took a step back. She blinked, not expecting that response whatsoever. "A kiss means more to me than a fuck, Magda. To me, it's much more intimate. I'm much more vulnerable. I only kiss those who are special to me."

  Magda wanted to retaliate. It almost sounded as though he was insinuating she wasn't special to him. Her heart constricted at the thought, but something stopped her from acting out. The fact of the matter was, there was a good chance she was not special to him. He was in love with Remy, not her, even if she felt different about him. This was why people complained of love and heartbreak because it was the worst feeling Magda had ever experienced before. Unrequited love. She wondered if it would hurt worse if they were romantically involved only for her to lose him. Perhaps the thought was not one she even wanted to contemplate.

  Magda looked back at Nick, watched his hair blow in the breeze. The overcast sky caused shadows to fall across his face, and he looked more mature than he truly was. A real man and not a boy. Her heart broke just looking at him and knowing he would never be hers. Not now, not ever. Not when his heart belonged to another.

  She was about to apologize, about to tell him she should not have kissed him without thinking about the consequences or how he might feel regarding the kiss. She had been selfish - although she did not regret it, it was not worth hurting him and possibly damaging the friendship that had formed between the two of them.

  Before she could, however, Nick stopped her. "What?" he asked her. His eyes had their shields up, his tone was cold as the bottom of the ocean. He was distancing himself from her again, and there was nothing she could do to change it. "You called for me. What is it that you need?"

  Magda knew she could not speak any more on the kiss. It was a dropped subject, cast aside until he deemed it worthy to speak on. Which, judging by his reaction to the whole thing, would not be anytime soon. Instead, she looked to the ground, shook her head to herself, before pointing out to the horizon where the ship was much easier to see.

  "A ship, captain," she said, turning her eyes back to Nick. She watched as he squinted in the distance.

  "It looks like it's heading straight for us," Nick commented, and he tilted his head to the side to get a better look.

  "It is," Magda agreed. She crossed her arms over her chest, relieved to be talking to him the same way she used to, before feelings got involved. "What should we do?"

  Nick glanced at her before looking back at the ship. "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "Do we run?" Magda asked.

  Nick shook his head. "Nicholas Grey does not run," he said. "Even if he is on a sailboat."

  --

  The Punisher was a strong ship with a black Jolly Roger that had a white skull over red wings. Canons were already at the ready as it pulled portside up to Nick's sailboat. It had three white sails that helped it catch the wind and glide across the water at a fast speed. It was not necessarily intimidating. In fact, the ship looked new, recently-built, which did not have the same feel as ships that have been used for a while, like Nick's own ship, the Black Star. Magda wondered idly for a moment if Nick named it himself or if he inherited the ship the way he inherited the position of transporter. Maybe he was able to take his ship from earth down here so he did not need to adapt to a new one.

  There were only a handful of men that Magda could see, but that did not mean there weren't more hiding out belowdeck. They were all young - some even boys - but they were well-armed and prepared to fight. They wore all black with red trim. Everything was in place: their tunics were tucked in, their pants were pressed, their boots were polished. There was not a speck of dirt on their person, either. What really grabbed Magdalena's attention was the fact that their hair was combed precisely to the left. It did not matter the coarseness, the length, or the color of the hair: the style was the same. These were men Magda had never seen before. That, and she did not recognize the uniform. The mystery of it all left her unsettled, but she stood her ground and refused to cower behind Nick.

  One man stepped out of the ranks. He had dark skin and darker eyes, with curly black hair slicked to the side. He, too, wore the uniform, but there was a weapon slung across his chest the other men did not have. It looked like a bow, with a pouch of arrows sadd
led to his left shoulder. Magda did not believe he was the captain – if he was, there was no need for him to wear the same uniform his men were in – but he ranked higher than the men.

  “Nicholas Grey,” he said in a Spanish accent. “So good to finally meet you. I was not expecting to find you in this. What happened to your Black Star?” He raised a brow.

  “That is none of your business,” Nick said, and all boyish charm had vanished.

  He looked ready for a fight, with his fingers curled into fists, his body angled and his right foot positioned in front of his left. It almost looked as though he was ready to throw a punch, and Magda hoped he would not. They needed to keep their wits about them, and fighting was not doing so. They were already outnumbered, and besides the cutlass that hung from her hip, Magda had no other weapons on her person. She was not prepared for a fight in the slightest.

  “Ah, but it is,” the man said, with an amused twinkle in his dark eyes. “You see, you’re worth quite a lot, if you did not know. And it would behoove my financial accounts should I decide to cash in on you.” His smirk only deepened when he caught sight of Magda. His eyes studied her thoroughly though he did not seem lecherous by it. “You must be Magdalena.”

  Magda clenched her jaw, preventing her from saying anything at all. The best course of action for her would be to keep her mouth shut and her ears open.

  The man’s grin deepened. “You will be worth just as much as Nicholas Grey, I’m sure,” he said, “when I ransom you back to Hook. You are his right hand, after all, since he lost his left.” He and his men laughed at his joke. “Come, come.” He waved them over with his hand. “The captain wants all guests taken to the brig. I’ll even let you share a cell as long as you don’t run or try to put up a fight. It’s hell cleaning these uniforms. What say you?”

  Magda wanted to tell him to jump off his ship. She wanted to jump across the small distance between the two boats and stab him straight through his gut, steal his ship, and sail to wherever Nick wanted to sail. Instead, she cast her eyes at Nick, waiting for his direction.

  Nick did not seem to notice Magda’s glance, but his jaw popped as he deliberated their options. Finally, he nodded his head.

  “We’ll go peacefully,” he said in a strained voice.

  “Beautiful,” the man said, his smile widening. “It turned out to be a beautiful day!”

  Chapter 21

  “Captain!”

  Charles Frenzy had long, dark red hair twisted and braided down his back. He had narrowed blue eyes and a short, blunt nose. He was short but compact. He only came to James’s shoulders, but he was one of James’s most fierce warriors. He usually kept to himself, listening rather than speaking. In that respect, he reminded James of Magdalena. Getting that girl to talk was like pulling teeth. When he did speak, it was always with purpose.

  The urgency in Frenzy’s tone caused James’s eyes to snap to his shipmate, his long fingers gripping the rungs of the wheel a tad tighter. Before he could stop himself, before even Frenzy could tell him what caused such an outcry, he looked to Remy’s door. He put her in Magdalena’s room on purpose. It would give her a sense of privacy, he hoped it would give her a sense of comfort seeing as how a woman had stayed in this room before her, and he could keep an eye on her also. He could see the doorway clearly from the helm of the ship, seeing if anyone went in or out, if she went in or out. Nothing looked out of place.

  When he looked back at Frenzy, he lifted one eyebrow as a way of question.

  “Sails ahead.” Frenzy stopped, turning his attention back to the horizon as if he could see what he had seen in his position on the mask as lookout. He squinted his eyes though he had a spyglass hanging from his waist. “Don’t recognize ‘em.”

  “How far away?” James asked.

  “Half a day, maybe,” he said.

  James nodded once. “Prepare the guns just in case, but keep going about our business,” he instructed. “It could be a merchant ship.”

  Frenzy nodded. “Aye aye,” he said, before disappearing to his station.

  James looked out at the horizon, trying to see what Charles had. He had never admitted this out loud, but his eyes were not what they had once been. It was why he trusted Charles so much as lookout; the man could see clear as day, quite a distance in front of him. James, on the other hand, could see the horizon, though it was not as sharp as it had been when he was alive. Hell, he had better vision when he had first gotten his position of ruler over The Other World.

  The blessings of getting older, a voice mused to himself, and he could not help but shake his head and tilt his lips up in a smirk.

  If Charles said there was a ship, James believed him – even if he could not see it. He was not sure who would be sailing here; after the attack on The Neverland, he decided to head toward a tiny isle adjacent to The Paradise’s entrance. It had a low population but had the most beautiful sunsets in The Neverland and water so clear one could see the bottom. It truly was a paradise, the perfect place to forget about their troubles. At least temporarily. He could regroup, sketch out an action plan, and start accumulating the necessary souls he would need to usurp The Magistrate.

  James had already started accumulating more souls than necessary. He started taking some that did not belong to him and house them on luxurious mountain tops in The Other World so they would not question their current whereabouts. He knew Nick noticed the slight decline in souls at their arrival at The Alley. He also knew Nick was attempting to investigate it without raising concerns because ultimately, the souls were his responsibility and should he fail to do his job and transport them all, he would face the consequences, not James. However, James's also knew that should Nick learn of what James's was doing, Nick had the authority to arrest him and demand a trial to have him removed as ruler if The Other World. James did not think they would kill him for his crimes, but he was certain he would not transition to The Paradise nor would he be allowed to rest in The Other World. If anything, he would be a vagabond in The Neverland, sailing from place to place, without a true home.

  He sent Magdalena over to Nick to find out what, if anything, Nick knew of James's plan. He had not told her his true intentions because he did not want her to know them. Magdalena had a set of values she held tightly to, even before he had acquired her through a trade with her mother. The next time he saw her, he knew she would tell him everything she could about Nick, his crew, and his role as a ferryman and James would not have to ask specific questions and reveal his true nature. He knew Magda would not approve, even if she did not care for Nick one way or the other. To steal souls was akin to stealing life and disrupting the natural order of things. It was the one thing Magda knew she could not control and, therefore, did not attempt to do so. She did not believe she had that right.

  James, on the other hand, knew better and disagreed. If anyone could control the souls, it should be him. He knew the ins and outs of The Neverland, he knew how to punish different crimes in order to get redemption for victims and sinners. He knew what worked and what did not. He knew how to lead and he knew how to create a law the souls of The Neverland could unite under, where everyone knew what it was and no questioned it. Where punishment was clear and followed exactly. Where criminals would face consequences and those that abided the law would be rewarded and protected. The only thing he did not know was whether he could be both a Magistrate and a realm ruler simultaneously. But if anyone could do it, it would be him.

  That was why he wanted Remy. He needed more souls at the same time. He needed to collect his army - but to fight for him. Rather, he needed the support, so when it was time, he would have it, and overthrowing The Magistrate would be easier than expected. Remy was the key to everything.

  And he had practically ruined it all when he kissed her.

  He had not meant to, of course. It was just something that had happened. She was frustrating by taking the life she had for granted. Because of her beating heart, she attracted souls with ease. Without
even trying. The fact that she did not know just how valuable that made her infuriated him. Perhaps it was partly Nick's fault; his influence was strong and he hoped Magdalena would get away from it unscathed. However, his current focus was Remy and Remy alone. The fact that she wanted to defend herself to fight in battles was ridiculous. Not because she could not do it, but because she should not do it. Not when so much was at stake. Not when her life was as valuable as it was.

  The problem with girls like Remy was they grew up with the privilege to do whatever they wished whenever they wished it. Should they wish to buy a dress, should they wish to take up sailing, should they wish to take a stroll, they could do what they pleased and they did not have to explain themselves. No one said no. They were spoiled children who ran around believing they deserved what they had and more. James had seen plenty of those types of people - because it was not just the girls - and he wanted nothing more than to rip that fantasy away from them and force them into a life of work. It was the worst type of punishment.

  But Remy was different. She was spoiled but not snotty, entitled but sweet. He wanted her to experience the reality of life that most people found themselves in but he wanted to be nice about it. And James was never one to go out of his way to be nice.