They all sat in silence for several minutes, watching the dancing flames die in the cool night air.
“Tomorrow we will gather our best scouts and trackers,” said Tigerlilly’s father. “I will have them stake out Pan’s camp for a few days to make sure nothing has changed. Pan sometimes changes the sentry stations to confuse us.”
“Must we wait that long?” asked James. He was eager to put their plan in motion.
“It is best. If we come up against something unexpected, our mission might fail. We cannot allow that to happen,” said Tigerlilly.
“No, you’re right. We cannot afford to make a mistake,” James conceded.
“No, we can’t, and not simply for our own safety, but for Wendy’s as well,” said Tigerlilly. “We will use the next few days to prepare.”
James nodded. Tigerlilly’s mindset was like the warriors he had read about in countless books. As he watched her mull things over, he could not help but feel a sincere sense of respect and admiration for her. All of the women he had known in his life had been strong in their own way. Tigerlilly was no exception.
The following four days were the longest of James’s life. Not simply because he was eagerly awaiting the return of Tigerlilly’s scouts, but also because each day did seem to actually be longer. The sun rose and set, but the intervals between day and night seemed longer, and James found it difficult to keep track of time.
He kept himself busy by exploring Tigerlilly’s camp. He discovered that the settlement had a communal area where food and water were always available. There was a small stall where three older women mended clothing and wove blankets. Some of the younger boys chopped wood to keep the fires constantly fed. It was a simple way of life that James found a great deal of comfort in. Each face was smiling and welcoming, and people seemed to go out of their way to make him feel as if he belonged. They were like a family, and he felt instinctively protective of them.
The thought of seeing Wendy again filled his imaginings, and it was almost too much to bear. He thought about how he would seem to her. He was older now, and from what Michael had told him, Wendy would be unchanged. Neverland had worked its magic on her: she was still eighteen years old, and he was now twenty-eight. He was a man.
A sudden, terrifying thought occurred to him. He kicked himself for not realizing it before. It was possible that Wendy wouldn’t see him as that young man she had once loved so much. His heart sank into the pit of his stomach. He was changed, and perhaps it would be too much for her to accept. He pushed the thought from his mind. He thought about Wendy’s lovely face and the way her long hair fell down her back. Was she lost to him forever, regardless of the fact that she was within his reach? He wondered if she would look upon him with fear, or worse, disgust. James looked at his right arm.
Be realistic, James, he thought. Too much time has passed. Too many things have changed. He ran his hand through his beard. Do what you promised. Find Peter. Find Wendy. But don’t expect things to be as they were. Things can never be the same.
CHAPTER 18
THE CAMP ABOVE THE COVE
James awoke in the early morning hours. The sun had not yet risen, and the pain in his arm was stinging but bearable. Smee had been right when he told James that things tended to heal up quicker in this place. Four days had passed since Tigerlilly sent her scouts to locate Wendy.
He rolled out of bed and smoothed his hair, securing it at the back of his neck with a small circle of twine; now using a hook instead of his fingers, this was no small feat. He tucked his shirt into the waist of his trousers and pulled on his boots then stepped out of the tent and headed towards the front of the camp.
James saw a small gathering of about fifteen people, including O’Malley and Michael. Tigerlilly was speaking to them all as James approached.
“I was just on my way to wake you,” she said, glancing at James. “The scouts have returned. It’s best if we leave before the sun comes up.” She handed James a small satchel with a long leather strap affixed to the top. “A bit of food, water, and, well, I didn’t think you’d need a weapon, seeing as you have one on hand.”
She grinned, and James smiled. This was it. It was time to set out and rescue Wendy. He put the satchel over his head and left arm, allowing it to drape across his chest and rest on his left hip.
When everyone had gathered their supplies, the group crowded around Tigerlilly, who had opened the map and was holding it high for everyone to see.
“We will approach Pan’s camp from the north. The south end of his camp is right on the cliffs above Mermaid Cove. We will split into three groups. James, Michael, and O’Malley will come with me. Quip and Katnai will head up the other two groups. Michael will lead us into the camp and take us to where we believe Wendy is being held. We will have to take the sentry towers and wait for the change of guard to take place. Quip’s group will create a diversion, if we need it. Once the Lost Boys are distracted, we will take Wendy back to our camp using the Western route. Quip and Katnai will follow us with their men, and when we reach our camp, we will take up defensive positions. I am sure Pan will come looking for a fight, and we will be prepared to give it to him.”
James was in awe of Tigerlilly. Her eyes were steely, and her tone was direct and unwavering. When she spoke, the small gathering of people—some of them towering, bare-chested men—paid rapt attention. They took in her every sentence, digested it, and then became one with her ideas. The sense of solidarity was palpable; James felt it as strongly as anyone and was grateful. Tigerlilly seemed to sense what he was feeling.
“James, is there anything you’d like to add before we depart?”
He hesitated. Yes, there was something he wanted to say, but public speaking wasn’t his forte. The group turned towards him and watched as he took a moment to gather his thoughts.
“I want to say thank you,” he began. “Thank you for bringing me into your village and looking after me. Thank you for being so brave and so willing to try and help me. I don’t know if, after so many years, things can be put right, but I mean to try, and that you all would risk your lives to help me means more to me than I can ever truly express.”
Tigerlilly nodded in approval. A chorus of rumbling howls and cries went up into the early morning sky, and the group set off.
According to Tigerlilly’s map, a long trek through heavily wooded forest was in order before they would head east and then approach Peter’s camp from the north.
The trees were thick, and all manner of sounds and smells ambushed James’s senses. He trudged along behind O’Malley who, every once in a while, would let loose a slew of curse words as he tripped and stumbled along. They would have daylight on their side for the better part of the journey. Tigerlilly had planned it so that they would arrive under cover of darkness. She was a brilliant strategist, and James felt that putting his full trust in her was the best chance he had at getting Wendy back.
A thin layer of sweat blanketed his body, and he knew now why the men were mostly shirtless. It wasn’t because they wanted to assert their manly will over the group; it was because it was hot. Sweltering, to be precise. He opened the top buttons of his shirt, which offered only the slightest relief.
Suddenly James saw a flash of light on his right side. He turned to see it zip by and disappear into the woods. He sped up just a bit. Again he saw a flash, and this time the light was coming towards him in a zig-zag pattern. It stopped just in front of him. As his eyes adjusted to the blinding light, he saw the familiar face of the red-haired fairy.
“Hello again,” James whispered.
The fairy fluttered and winked her eye, smiling broadly. Her ethereal little light cast shadows on his shirt as she circled his head and landed on his right shoulder. James pushed onward, realizing that he had fallen to the rear of the group. As he took up his place behind O’Malley once more, one of the younger boys accompanying them walked next to James, matching his pace.
“I see you’ve made a friend,” he said.
“It seems I have,” said James.
“You know, fairies cannot be trusted.”
The fairy zipped up and swarmed the young boy, showering him with translucent dust. She appeared to be quite angry, but James heard only the faint tinkling of bells as she flew around in a tight circle.
Some of the other men in the group laughed when they saw the boy stumble back, swatting at the tiny figure. The fairy returned to her perch on James’s shoulder.
They walked through the day and into the night. After stopping for a brief rest, they continued on their trek. As the night sky began to give way to the dim light of morning, Tigerlilly held up her closed fist, which signaled to the rest of the group that they needed to stop.
“We are very close,” she whispered. The group closed in around her so that all could hear. “Pan will send three Lost Boys to relieve the watchers. He does this at dawn. They will make their rounds and then relieve the night watchers at their posts. Each lookout tree is marked at the base with an X. Once they have settled in, we will take the lookout posts and dig in until the night watchers return. We will have a full day to watch the camp.”
James, Michael, Tigerlilly, and O’Malley lay low in the brush while Quip and Katnai split the remainder of the group in half and quickly departed in two separate directions.
As James crouched in the damp grass, he felt the tenderness of his wrist beneath the metal guard that now sat permanently on it. The hook shined even in the darkness. Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched whistle. It was so high, he almost lost it in the whistling of the wind.
“They are approaching,” said Tigerlilly without turning her head. She pressed herself as low to the ground as she could manage, and the others followed suit. James felt the grass flatten beneath him; the wet, nutty smell of the earth filled his nose and mouth. They were silent, barely breathing, as footsteps approached and voices echoed in the darkness.
“I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. All of that crying and sobbing. She’s a terrible distraction, isn’t she?” said a young boy’s voice.
“She’s the worst!” said a deeper male voice. “Tink keeps her in line, for the most part. I don’t know how Pan can stand it.”
James stirred just slightly, and Tigerlilly looked down the length of her body at him. Their eyes met in the dark, and although no words were exchanged, the message was clear.
Say nothing. Be still. James obeyed.
The footsteps drew closer and then stopped.
Crack! Crack! Crack! The sound cut through the air like a scythe.
James heard a rustling from the tree just a short distance away from them. He craned his neck and peeked through the brush. He saw two boys standing at the bottom of a tree whose base was as wide as five men standing shoulder to shoulder. One of them was holding a large stick. James surmised that he had used it to hit the trunk of the tree, signaling for the boy at the top to make his way down. He watched as the boy descended through the branches and leaped lithely to the ground.
“You’re late.”
“We are not.”
“Yes you are! The sun is already coming up. You’re late, you idiot.”
“So?” said the younger boy.
“So?” repeated the retiring sentinel. “Why don’t we go ask Pan what he thinks, shall we? I’m sure he won’t be too pleased that we’re changing stations with this much light in the sky.”
The younger boy fell silent. Even at considerable distance, James could see that the boy seemed to be terrified that this other boy would tell Pan he had been late to his duty station.
“Hurry up and get up there!” barked the older boy.
The boy scurried up the tree and disappeared into the foliage. The other two boys turned and walked off. As soon as they were out of sight, Tigerlilly stood up, signaling for them to follow her. She put her fingers to her lips, and a high-pitched whistle echoed through the trees. The sound was carried off among the shadows that were growing long in the burgeoning light of day. Tigerlilly quickly approached the lookout post and ascended the perch. James heard a cry that sounded and died in almost the same second.
“It’s clear,” James heard her disembodied voice whisper from above. O’Malley ascended the trunk, and Michael followed. James approached the trunk and dug the tip of his newly-hooked arm into the bark. He leveraged himself up and found that he could climb quite easily. He quickly followed the others up the tree and into a small room at the top. James saw that Tigerlilly had subdued the boy, who now lay unconscious with his hands and feet bound in the corner of the room.
“We will wait here until dark. Quip and Katnai have taken their posts by now. Once darkness falls and we take care of the relief sentinels, we will make our entry into the camp.”
“You’re very good at this sort of thing aren’t you?” said James, who was very impressed.
Tigerlilly smiled. “I have to be good at this. My people’s safety depends on it.”
O’Malley was looking through a small viewing scope mounted on a tripod of tree branches. “They’ve done a lot of work on this place since the last time I saw it,” he said. He gestured for James to peer into the scope. “Have a look.”
James approached it and pressed his eye to the narrow end. Everything was quite blurry for a moment, but as his vision cleared, he saw that the word “camp” didn’t do justice to what Peter and his Lost Boys had created there.
Through the scope, James saw a tall wooden fence topped with sharpened sticks around an area with numerous trees that had tree houses on every available branch. There were tents and wooden tables, too. Everywhere James looked, he saw children. Dozens and dozens of children. None of them looked a day over fifteen years old, at the very most. Most of them were boys, although he thought some may be girls who had decided to wear their hair short and dress in boys’ clothing. He saw, at the top of the highest tree within the encampment, a particularly large dwelling that overlooked all of the goings on below. A muted light emanated from the open windows ,and there appeared to be someone inside.
“Pan is in there,” said Michael quietly. James looked over to see that Michael had been studying him intensely. “Wendy will probably be there, as well.”
Hearing her name caught James off guard. “He keeps her there?”
“She is always with him. He keeps her busy, cleaning and cooking, but in the late hours, he locks her up in that tower of his. If he is in there, she’ll be with him.”
James felt his skin prickle.
“It’s important that we have a plan and not allow ourselves to be distracted,” Tigerlilly interjected. “We all have our reasons for hating Pan, but we cannot be blinded by that. Pan has a troop of boys who guard his tree.”
“And that devil of a pixie,” huffed O’Malley.
Tigerlilly shot him a glance and then continued speaking. “Pan is exceptionally paranoid. From what we’ve learned, he may now know that James has left St. Catherine’s. He’s had eyes on you for a very long time, James.”
James was stunned. “How is that even possible?”
“Peter comes and goes as he pleases. Or sometimes he will have one of his boys do it for him. Our guess is that he has had eyes on you since he first came to Neverland.”
James was speechless. He ran his hand under his chin and felt that the stubble that usually coated his neck and face had become quite a bit longer in recent days. He looked down at his hand and hook.
“I’m older than everyone here. I’m not that boy I used to be. If Peter’s had his eye on me, then he should be dreading the day we meet again.”
O’Malley put his hand on James’s shoulder. “Let’s be clear, I’m older than you no matter what the mirror shows.” He winked playfully at James. “I lived a lifetime here before I went back, and I lived another lifetime there before I found my way here again. One thing I’ve learned is that there is a time and a place for revenge. Right now, we have to focus on saving that young lady.”
James knew he was right,
but it didn’t change the way he felt. “I don’t understand how Peter keeps these boys in line. Does no one feel the need to stand up to him?”
“He’s not the boy you remember,” said Tigerlilly.
“He’s done terrible things, James,” added Michael, hanging his head. “You wouldn’t believe it if you’d seen it with your own eyes, but I tell you the stories are true. The things they say he’s done, it’s all true.”
“I’ve seen some of the things he’s done.” James held up his hook, and although Pan hadn’t cut the limb from him himself, it was, without a doubt, his fault. James had witnessed Peter stab an officer and then take Wendy hostage. James was happy to have learned later on that the officer had lived, but Peter had been successful in his kidnapping of Wendy.
“What is it they say about him?” asked James. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to know the truth, but he felt the need to hear every gritty detail, and Michael seemed to need to talk about it.
Michael hesitated but only for a moment before he began. “When we first came here, it was just us. Me and Wendy and John. A few of the boys from St. Catherine’s were here, too. We started building this place. Then Peter would disappear and return with more boys. We didn’t know where he was going. We didn’t even know if we were safe here, so we worked to put up the walls. Wendy tried to reason with him, but it was like he was possessed. All he talked about was building an army, his army. There were maybe fifty of us the first time he… well…” Michael trailed off, cleared his throat, and continued. “Edward was a real swell kid. He showed up here with Peter after he’d gone off for five whole nights. He looked like he was maybe twelve, and he had a kid brother too. His name was Andrew. We all called him Andy. So, one day Edward said we should make a council so that Peter wouldn’t be making all of the decisions all of the time. Peter said, ‘That’s a very grown up thing to do.’ Everyone thought they agreed. So that night, Peter rang that big brass bell which meant we needed to come to the Pit for a meeting. When we showed up, he had Edward and Andy tied up. Edward was busted up real bad.
Six Points of Light:Hook's Origin Page 18
