Shadow of the Hook

by Erik Schubach

  Nah, that's just silly.

  I squished my lips to one side as Mia floated up to me and made a silly face, crossing her eyes then offering a well thought out response, “But the adventure...”

  Oh. Yes, the adventure. If we could trick the Hook, making her think we were talking with her, we could find and rescue the Wendy. Pan would be pleased!

  I nodded at her. “You're so smart. Ok, let's...”

  That's when the fraidy cat Lost Boys decided to fly back to us, surrounding us and pleading, “Don't go onto the Sea Devil, the Hook will kill you!”

  I said as we hesitated, “Did you know the Hook was a woman?”

  Timmy laughed at me like I was being silly. “Hook is the king of the pirates.”

  I was confused. “Have you ever seen him? You ran when he arrived just now.”

  Nate whispered, “We saw him a long time ago... the yearsy years. But the Pan has forbidden us to confront the Hook after we lost Tink and the Wendy.”

  Mia huffed and said, “But you were going with us to fight the Hook and find the Wendy.”

  Stevie zipped up to us. “It was a game. We thought you were playing, nobody goes up against the Hook. We thought we would taunt him with you and run away. It was just a Make-Believe.”

  I shook my head and squeaked out to the boys, “This was to be a grand adventure. Mia and I are going to talk with the Hook, and when her guard is down, we're going to rescue the Wendy. Then the Pan will reward us and not you if you run.”

  They all shook their heads. “Come on, let's play, this isn't a fun game anymore.”

  Mia growled at them, sounding like a grumpy Conrad. I mean squirrel. What's a Conrad? Why had I thought that?

  She said, “You run away, scaredy cats! My Bella and I are going to face the Hook.”

  The boys bristled, but then just watched us as we floated forward toward the ship. Then with sad faces, they all turned and flew back toward home, leaving us to face the Pirate Queen alone. Timmy hovered for a few lingering seconds, then whispered, “I'm sorry, the Pan says we can't fight the Hook.” then he was gone.

  That's ok when I was with my Miawolf, we could do anything. We drew our weapons and gave the pirates on the ship the stink eye. They seemed amused with us and parted to leave a clear way to the captain's cabin. Then we flew forward, onto the Sea Devil.

  Chapter 5

  The Hook

  As soon as we drifted over the railing of the impressive ship, the fog lifted from our minds and Amanda went off like an explosion. “Fuck! I'm going to kill that son of a bitch! He did it again! Oh my god, I have a tail?”

  I was busy screaming, again realizing I was six inches tall and had wings. How did I know how to use them? At that thought I was screaming again as I fell to the deck of the ship, my wings fluttering and spasming as I tried to figure out how to control them. First one flapped, flopping me over onto my face, then the other, making me spin on my belly.

  “Robyn!” A cute voice blurted in concern, and then I was being lifted what felt like fifty feet into the air by large, pudgy hands, that seemed both as strong as iron and gentle as the kiss of a sunbeam on your skin.

  I was lifted level with my Mandywolf's beautiful brown eyes. I said in what sounded like a pout, “I can't figure out how these wings work.” I buzzed them absently and froze realizing I had just instinctively done that, maybe that was the trick, not thinking about it and just doing it, like walking?

  “I'm so tiny. I think the Lost Boys did this to us with their imaginations.” I winced at my tone, it sounded like whining, I did not whine. “I... I think imagination in Neverland is like magic.”

  She growled a little too cutely and snapped out, “Well just point me in the right direction to kick someone's ass.”

  I smirked and said, “Such language, young lady.”

  Her growl started subsonically. I asked as I shrugged, sitting there on her hand, “Too soon?”

  At that, her growl changed to chuffing then a laugh. “We need to find those kids and make them change us back to normal. But... that Peter Pan guy, he was controlling our minds and memories somehow. I really thought I was this Mia girl.”

  Then she asked as she indicated the pink pirate coat, “And what am I wearing? It looks like Hello Kitty threw up on me!”

  I tittered. “That's what I thought too.” Then I paused and looked down at my skirt and armor constructed of leaves and felt so tiny and exposed. “I didn't fare much better. The world is so huge around me.”

  I stopped and squinted an eye at her, she looked almost... amused? “What?” I snapped.

  “Nothing, you just look so sexy and cute that small.”

  I growled at my Mandywolf, and then we both froze at someone clearing their throat.

  We looked over, just now realizing we were in the middle of a ship full of pirates, and this Captain Hook was peering out her cabin door in our direction, looking at us expectantly. “I see the Pan's influence is gone. Now, would you care to join me? It appears there is a great deal we need to discuss. And I have a lot of questions.”

  We exchanged looks, then in silent agreement, Amanda placed me on her shoulder, pulled out her weapons again and backed slowly toward Hook. The wings on my back twitching, almost throwing me off her shoulder and I grabbed onto the rim of her silly pirate hat to stabilize myself as she turned slowly, aiming her weapons at first one pirate then the next as we moved through them.

  The men were chuckling, seeming amused at what they must have seen as a little girl playing at pirate, with a fairy on her shoulder. She growled under her breath, “This is probably some sort of trap.”

  I nodded and grabbed her ear and whispered, “Maybe. But we need information... we need to know how to get back to normal. This is so strange.” My wings buzzed to punctuate my point. It seemed that when I wasn't thinking of them, I had some sort of instinctive control over the gossamer appendages on my back.

  I added, “And I need some clothes... I'm wearing leaves.”

  She snorted and huffed under her breath. “At least you aren't wearing this ridiculous outfit...” Then she hesitated and looked down at herself then turned her huge head toward me. “If I didn't know better...”

  I found the view from so far above the deck to be fascinating as I blushed. I may or may not have influenced whatever magic the Pan was using when he instructed us to imagine up some clothing for my girl. I may have been thinking about that Hello Kitty that Rapunzel liked almost as much as that silly game of Platypus Battles she plays on her cell phone.

  I furrowed my brow, then looked behind us at Mandy's cute little tail twitching in annoyance behind us. The Pan wasn't anywhere near us when that thing grew, the Lost Boys had been playing with us.

  As I had already starting to believe, the magic affecting us wasn't part of Pan's control over us when he spoke. Just what was he?

  I glanced toward the sky, to where the Lost Boys flew off and wondered if it was this Make Believe... that was the true power. Imagination was somehow twisting the fabric of reality here.

  I closed my eyes to test this as we approached the now closed cabin door. I imagined with all my creativity that I could use the wings on my back, that were randomly fluttering and twitching. I had to picture myself understanding and flying.

  I could feel it when it happened. Understanding filled me. It was so simple. I just shook my head, knowing now that flying was as easy as walking and I had been quite silly not being able to control my wings earlier. I buzzed up into the air to cover our backs.

  Ok... so if I could do that... I closed my eyes and concentrated, using every iota of my imagination to try to make myself big again. I pictured it clearly, me being taller than my Mandywolf, these Goddess be damned wings gone.

  My head started aching, and I felt something wet on my upper lip. I gasped and opened my eyes as I wiped my face with the back of my hand. I looked at the blood smeared on my hand and realized that trying to do something as monumental as physically changing myself
to such a drastic degree was beyond my capability.

  I remembered two of the Lost Boys working together to give my girl that adorable little tail. Was that what we needed to do? Get the Lost Boys to work together to undo what had befallen us?

  There would be time enough to ponder that. First, we needed to address the current task at hand. Confronting this Hook about Wendy. We needed to get the girl to safety. Was there such thing here in Neverland? What with the Pan being able to impose his will on anyone with just a suggestion, and this Hook terrorizing everyone else?

  Wait... there had been those men in uniform who had engaged Hook in battle on the horizon. We could turn the girl over to the authorities. Surely they could protect her. Mandy arrived at the cabin door, her back to it as she kept shifting her guns toward anyone who moved.

  I buzzed up to the door, the latch was as big as I was so I knocked. It was a pitiful little tap, and I had struck it quite firmly. By the mother of us all, I really needed to get back to normal, this was so... embarrassing.

  From inside, Hook called out, “No need to knock, you've been invited.”

  I hovered over the latch and tried landing on it, stomping down, but it just rattled. Mandy was growling to me. “Any time, Robbie.”

  I squeaked out in what sounded more like a pout to my chagrin as I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped my foot in annoyance on the latch, “I... can't open it.”

  She glanced back over her shoulder and then I saw her try to suppress her grin when she saw me there. “Right. Sorry.”

  I buzzed up when she reached back and opened the door.

  We swung around as we entered, my girl kicking the door behind us shut as we raised our weapons to Captain Hook. My tiny bow feeling comfortable in my hands. The door shook in its frame at the force of its closing.

  Hook was at a table on a wooden chair she was leaned back in as it balanced on two legs, her own legs crossed lazily, boots resting on the table. A tankard of what smelled like ale in her one hand as she took a deep swallow. She didn't look intimidated, as if our weapons were of no consequence to her. And from the power I could feel radiating off of her hook, I believed it.

  She cocked an eyebrow as she looked at the door behind us then to Amanda, her eyes filled with sad understanding and... compassion? “You're of the cursed? You're extremely strong for a little girl to be wolf. It is sad when someone so young is locked in time by the contagion.”

  Mandy thrust her guns forward menacingly, I could see by the angles that one was aimed at Hook's left pupil, the other at her heart. “I'm not a little girl!”

  May the Goddess forgive me, but it was adorable. Then my eyes widened a little. “Wait. You know of the lycan curse? And earlier you said we were from home. Are you from the mortal realm like us?”

  This seemed to surprise her, as she took her feet off the table and sat up in the chair. “Us? I had been speaking to your companion here when I said that. You mean you're not a Neverland fairy?”

  I shook my head, and she looked shocked and almost appalled as she whispered, “What did the Pan do to you?”

  Then she said offhandedly, “You won't need those. I am not the enemy here.”

  She reached for her belt and Mandy, and I thrust our weapons her way again. She smirked and then with two fingers, pulled the single shot flintlock pistol from her belt and placed it on the table, next to a wicked looking, well-used cutlass.

  She looked up toward the ceiling, trying to remember something. “How did it go in that old movie my mother liked? It would have been way before your time. Let's parlay. You are safe here under the pirate's code.”

  My Mandywolf, hesitated, her aim dropping a bit as she squinted at the pirate and she said almost carefully, “Isn't the code more like guidelines instead of rules?”

  Hook smiled and rolled a hand graciously then tipped her hat to us, “Welcome to the Black Pearl, Miss Turner.”

  Mandy chuffed and holstered one of her guns in a graceful motion without looking, keeping the other one out but against her with her other hand lazily resting on it.

  I moaned and rolled my eyes, my Mandywolf had insisted I watch that silly movie, even though I told her that real pirates were nothing like what they portrayed.

  The captain was still smiling as she said while I looked between them and lowered my bow. “I'm surprised you knew the reference, that movie has to be what, over a century old by now?”

  Mandy looked confused with her cute little face scrunching up as I landed on her shoulder to hold her hair for stability. “It's old, but nowhere near that old. Maybe a decade at the most.”

  It was the captain's turn to furrow her brow in confusion. Then she seemed to shake it off and said, “I didn't catch your names earlier. You know who I am so you have me at a disadvantage. Please have a seat, we have much to discuss.”

  My girl sat on the opposite side of the table, her gun still held loosely in her hand. I said, “I'm Robyn of Locksley, and this is my mate, Amanda.”

  Hook made a sour face. “Mate? She's a child.”

  Mandy growled and smashed a fist onto the table, the heavy oak planks splintered a little under the blow as she spat out, “I'm not a child! That... that Pan guy, whatever he is. He did this to me! Made me a little kid. He stinks of demon.”

  Demon? That was that smell I had caught just before my mind fogged over under his control. I squeaked out as I squinted an eye, “To be fair, I think it was the Lost Boys who did this to us. It seems imagination is a powerful magic here. They thought we were Wendy and Tinkerbell, remember?”

  Hook looked almost ready to jump out of her chair, and Amanda's aim snapped back to her as the captain blurted out, “What do you know of my Tinkerbell?”

  Mandy's upper lip twitched up into a snarl as she shared our original mission, “We came after you to rescue Wendy and get vengeance on you for killing Tinkerbell.”

  The woman looked stunned for a moment, then the shocked expression turned to mirth as a little chuckle escaped her controlled facade, then she tilted her head back and laughed heartily. She found kidnap and murder funny? She gasped out, trying to get herself back under control, “Rescue... Wendy? I killed Tink?” She tittered a little more then wiped the tears from her cheeks as she smiled at us.

  I asked patiently through gritted teeth, “You find this funny?”

  She shook her head. “Funny? No. Hysterical? Yes. So this is what the Pan is telling the Lost Boys is it? I wondered all these years why they haven't sought me out. He's told them not to, hasn't he? Forbade it?”

  Mandy and I looked at each other, not understanding what this woman was talking about.

  The Hook chuckled one last time and then said in a tone that was filled with haunted memory, “I'm Wendy, and that bastard captured my love. He took Tink away in a glass jar, and there was nothing I could do about it. I've been gathering power here on the Sea Devil for years, stoking the imaginations of my crew so that I could face him again and rescue the woman I love.”

  The world fell out from under me. The Hook... queen of the pirates was Wendy? The girl the Pan had said was kidnapped? And Pan had Tinkerbell? By all that was sacred in Perchta's garden, of course, the demon would have lied to the Lost Boys and us.

  Mandy asked as she set her gun on the table, “Wait, you're Wendy? God, could this get any more fucked up than it already is?”

  She took off her cute pink pirate's hat and set it on the table too and ran her little hands through her hair in frustration. It was so odd seeing a little girl with my Mandywolf's mannerisms. Then she grumbled, “We need to kick this guy's fucking ass and get him to change us back and release Tinkerbell if she's still alive. Then I want to figure out how to get back home. This is frustrating me to hell.”

  I was watching the Hook, as she looked to be trying to restrain herself, as one eye started twitching from the effort, then her chest shook once, then the damn broke, and she started laughing. Tears rolling down her cheeks again.

  We both looked at he
r like she had lost it. She held a hand up toward us, trying to catch her breath. “Sorry.” She panted. “I know it's cruel and you're not really what you seem, but seeing a cute little girl with a tail cursing like a sailor? It's too adorable.”

  Mandy growled and slammed her fists into the table, splintering and snapping a plank this time. Then she pouted cutely. “I'm not a little girl!”

  Ok, my soul might be condemned to burn for all eternity because of it, but I first smiled, then chuckled, and broke out into laughter, causing the Hook to as well. Mandy pouted twice as fiercely before she smiled a little, then she broke and laughed at her predicament too.

  We must have needed it after the last twenty-four hours we have had. It was such a cathartic release. Then we regained a modicum of control as our laughter stopped. We all exchanged looks, and nothing seemed that funny anymore.

  I buzzed to land on the handle of the cutlass and looked between the two women and then Wendy offered, “I suppose an explanation is in order here.”

  We nodded at her, and she sighed, twisting her hook and then pulling it off, setting it on the table between us. It hummed, a pinging tone of magic as she looked at the stump where her hand once had been.

  She flicked a finger at the hook, the impact of her nail on steel made it sing like a bell, the note hanging in the air like it was pulled forth from a tuning fork as the world changed around us. We seemed to be back in the mortal world. I recognized Seattle. As people bustled around us and through us as if we weren't there. I could see the cabin around us, in a ghostly afterimage and understood the magic was some sort of projection as Hook stood up and walked over to a little girl who was holding her mother's hand as they looked through a store window at one of those moving picture televisions.

  Mandy stood, and we moved over to join the pirate as she crouched and looked at the little girl in wonder. She didn't seem to be any older than Mandy's current apparent age. I could see the resemblance between the little girl and Hook.