I didn’t like this. And I was going to fix it if I could just get my aching muscles to cooperate.
We trekked through the woods for a long time, longer than I’d expected. If my body hurt before, it was on fire now. Every step sent a sharp pain up my legs, and every breath in my lungs scratched like sandpaper. But I didn’t say anything, not one complaint. And worse, Zane was silent the entire time, only holding branches out of my path so I could get through.
When we broke through some foliage and out onto a large rock that forked off the mountain, he finally spoke lowly. “We’re here.”
Below was the Nevercamp and the ocean, beneath another cliff. I took a few steps back and stumbled into Zane’s chest, trying to catch my breath. Memories of my dream flashed over my eyes, and I rubbed them to try and push away the visions. No more cliffs.
“Everything all right?” he questioned, a large hand placed on my lower back to keep me steady. When I looked up, I was surprised to see his mood sadder than before. What was going on?
“I-I’m fine.” I stepped away, the spot where his hand had been burning like a furnace. Crossing my arms over my chest, I gazed out into the land below, safely away from the edge of the rock and most definitely not anywhere close to a wiry, dead tree.
Zane only nodded slowly and stepped in line with where I stood. Having changed from his training clothes as well, his leather jacket seemed dull from the lack of lighting here. The sun had dipped behind the rock formation behind us, casting a strange shadow. Forest surrounded us on three sides, buffering our skin from the harsh wind that whipped around up this high.
Frightfully satisfying in my eyes.
“It’s nice up here,” I commented, trying to break the awkward silence looming between us.
Zane nodded slowly, eyes never leaving the horizon. “I guess so.”
Anger suddenly flashed up in me, surprising me, but I didn’t stop it. Why was he acting like this? He’d asked me to come with him. Not the other way around. Yet here he was, acting like I was the biggest burden in the world.
I’d felt like that one too many times to sit here and just endure it again.
“So are we just going to stand here or what? Why’d you even bring me here?” I sounded accusing, turning to face him.
He didn’t move to look at me, though, just stared straight ahead, a permanent frown on his features. “Have you ever heard the story of the Goose Girl?”
“Zane, don’t start this up again.” I breathed deep, trying to keep my temper at bay despite the gnawing in my gut to explode.
“She had a nice life, betrothed to a prince. When she went on a journey to see him and be wed, her maid turned on her and insisted they switch outfits so she could deceive the king when they arrived.”
“Why are you telling me this? I don’t want to hear another pointless fairy tale.”
He ignored me, gazing out toward the sea. “So when they got there, the princess was sent to look after the geese while her maid became an imposter in the castle. But no one knew she wasn’t the princess, of course.”
It was like he couldn’t even hear me.
I grabbed his shoulders and tried to get him to look at me, pulling forward so he’d stop speaking. “Please, for once, could you just talk to me?” I growled up at him, angry tears threatening to spill over. Something was wrong; I could sense it. I shook him harder. “Like a regular human being, Zane. Just talk to me.”
I didn’t know what I’d done, but he snapped out of it.
“I can’t talk to you!” he screamed into my face, and I jerked back, startled by his sudden severity.
“Why not?” I challenged with my own shout, eyes filled with tears. This was my fault, though I didn’t know how. Had I screwed everything up like usual? Had he finally seen just how terrible of a person I was? “You ramble all the time! Just talk, dang it. Try to shut up about the depth of the world for five seconds.” I trembled as I glared up at him. “And talk to me.”
His face was beet red and the vein in his neck bulged as he bellowed at me, “I don’t want to feel something, Lacey. I don’t want to feel anything!”
Stepping away from me, he clenched his fists and filled his chest with an angry breath. “If I think about reality too much, I feel things. Things like guilt. Especially over you.” He motioned to me, then ran his hands through his hair.
My heart hammered faster and faster every second.
“Why would you feel guilty over me? We already figured things out this morning.”
Zane was visibly shaken, eyes watering as he closed them and dropped his head. “Because I turned one of the most interesting girls I’ve ever met over to the darkness.” His brown eyes jumped up to meet mine, full of sorrow. “Because I betrayed you.”
It wasn’t until it was too late to run that I actually processed what he’d just said.
And then everything turned to chaos.
Hands reached out from the shadows, grabbing hold of me so I was dragged back into their bodies. I shrieked, struggling against them in surprised panic and trying to kick my way free.
When I wrenched my head up to look for Zane, he was standing, defeated, beside a daunting figure that, with his good hand, dripped a handful of gold coins into Zane’s open palm. He frowned. “But this isn’t all you promised me. Y-you said she wouldn’t get hurt.”
Ignoring him, Hook moved his fingers up like they were wings, fluttering to the spot in front of me as one of his pirates yanked a musty-smelling piece of cloth between my teeth, tying it behind my head, to stifle my screams. Desperately, I squirmed and fought, but there were too many of them.
The smile Hook gave me was hideously gleeful. “Ah, these girls. They’re always a sucker for the handsome boys.” He turned to Zane with a smirk. “And apparently, the boys are just as foolish.”
I was filled with sudden rage, not only for the beast of my nightmares, but also for the nightmare of a guy I’d thought I trusted. Stupid, idiotic. I should’ve known. I should’ve guessed. But how could I? He’d completely blindsided me with his clever words and ridiculous hope stories.
Zane jerked forward as they began to drag me into the forest, tugging the captain back by his shirtsleeve. He looked pale, desperate eyes jumping back and forth between Hook and me. He gritted his teeth. “We had a deal.”
Four of Hook’s men snagged Zane away from their leader, and he fought them skillfully for a few minutes. A few punches were thrown, a couple kicks to the gut, but then they overpowered him. He was forced to his knees, only to be pummeled straight in the nose and shoved to the ground on his back.
The captain bent down to sneer at the traitor. “You should know better than to make deals with a snake, my boy. I’ve long since lost the patience for good form. I need that locket just as much as you need your treasure, so our deal is done.” He spat on Zane’s face then, saliva mixing with the blood dripping from his nose and down his swollen lips. Hook left him to his men, who shoved Zane’s face back into the dirt, though he struggled.
I worked my tongue to move the gag out of the way, screaming out a string of curses that only came out as mumblings. Noticing this, Hook smiled, his hook held high in the air like a detestable excuse for a fist pump. He stepped toward me, the claw striking out to rip my necklace free, slicing my neck briefly in the process. With his good hand, he raised my locket into the air, and his men all cheered like wolves.
The last thing I saw before a putrid-smelling rag was placed over my nose and mouth was a sorry-looking Zane and the rotten smile of Captain James Hook, my only weapon now in his hands.
Swaying twenty feet above a man-eating fish for a good hour could really make a girl think. Think about how she was going to rip off a certain Zane Thomas’s stupid ringed fingers one by one—when she got out of here, that was.
Betrayed wasn’t really a great way to describe how I was feeling at the moment. I mean, I felt that way, too, of course. But mostly, I just felt pissed.
For so long, he’d led me to
believe I’d been the one doing wrong—never quite saying it to my face, but just one “oh, not again with you” glance at a time. Like I was a child. If anyone was acting like a big baby here, it was him. An underage, cocky drunk had turned me and my mother’s magical necklace over to the enemy for a few measly coins. And don’t even get me started on the “one of the most interesting girls I’ve ever met” part. What a poser.
When Hook finally arrived, stepping over the damp gray rocks of the lagoon in his dingy red outfit and shredded captain’s hat, he was almost surprised I wasn’t a heap of crying mess.
“Ah, Miss Rose.” Hook’s purr echoed around the cavern. “Welcome to Harpy Lagoon!”
As if on cue, the creatures swimming hungrily below me shrieked and splashed as their spindly tails flicked through the dark waters. I tried to take a deep breath and keep my fear at bay. These weren’t just mermaids; they were Lacey-eating, frightening mermaid cousins.
“I’m pleased you so willingly…” He hiked up with a gentleman’s cane onto a taller rock than the rest of his grubby crew. His untidy mustache hairs curled in a smile. “Chose to hang out with us.”
I remained silent, shakily holding on to the flimsy fisherman’s net I was already tangled in as the crew relished in their captain’s joking. The cold wafting off the sea from inside the lagoon’s cave was causing me to shiver. Or was it because of the cold shoulder I was giving Zane? The world may never know.
“Now, I would’ve already disposed of you if I didn’t need you for information on a very pressing matter.” He rubbed his gloved hands together and motioned toward one of his men. “Bring out the boy.”
There were sounds of struggling as two large pirates brought a fighting Zane out from the rocks and into my sight. My jaw clenched at the display of dark-crimson liquid covering his right under his nose and trailing down his face. He winced in pain when they threw him down, hands tied in front of his stomach, near Hook’s feet.
“Lacey,” he sputtered, blood in his mouth as he tried to push himself up to look at me. “I-I’m so sorr—”
He didn’t get the chance to finish before Hook’s boot came down on his back and roughly forced him onto his stomach again.
“Save the apologizes. You did your job. Now, Miss Rose…” Hook turned to me with a grin. “I’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Then why don’t you take me down from here and ask me yourself? Or are you too coward to face ‘just a girl?’” I barked out, fingers gripping the ropes so tightly they burned.
Hook’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Oh, you’d like to go down?” He snapped toward one of his men in charge of the rope holding me up.
With a shriek and stomach full of butterflies, my net sharply dropped toward the water. At the last minute, he jerked the net up, and I barely missed the clawed hand of a harpy ready to gnaw at my flesh, the net now swaying in dizzying circles. I held on tighter, my heart and stomach both in my throat, though I tried to swallow it down.
Too wrapped up in my predicament, I hadn’t seen Zane pop up and try to smack Hook’s cane away from him, only to be clouted in the face with it, where fresh blood was drawn from his cheek. He was now on the ground with a growl of pain and trying to draw my attention.
“Lace, you have to understand. H-he tricked me!” His deep, miserable voice echoed around the cavern.
I looked away, my anger replaced more by annoyed pity now. Zane hadn’t thought, for one second, that the most malicious man we were up against would hurt me—after all he’d tried to do on the Jolly Roger before? Whatever reward he’d been aching for had taken control of his better judgment, and now he’d have to live with the consequences.
Because I didn’t know if I could forgive him after this. In fact, I wanted nothing to do with him.
“Oh, shut up,” Hook growled and kicked toward Zane’s head. Luckily, he had enough strength still to dodge it, but not before Hook caught him in the ribcage with the toe of his same boot. Doubling in on himself, he groaned as the captain’s eyes lit up furiously. “You’re almost as annoying as her.”
With my teeth gritted tightly, I called out, “This is between me and you, Hook, not him.”
The captain glared my way. “Right,” he said, but he still sent another thrust of his shoe into Zane’s body. “Now, let’s get down to this business.”
“I won’t say a word that’s helpful to you.” I lifted my chin, hoping maybe I sounded braver that I actually felt.
The glare Hook shot me was deathly. “Tell me where Peter’s secret hideout is located and just what exact power your contraption of a necklace possesses, and I won’t feed you to my lovely harpies below. Who, by the way, are sincerely famished.”
Confused, I didn’t answer him right away. How did he not know where the Nevertree was? He was the evil villain of the whole island—or so I’d assumed. He’d scoured this place in its entirety to go after Pan. How hadn’t he seen it by now?
But I wasn’t going to voice any of this. “Uh, no thank you.”
An ungentlemanly roar left his mouth. “Tell me!”
I jerked back in surprise, causing the net to swing a little lower. Sickeningly, I felt the sole of my boot scraped with a webbed, scaly hand as a harpy jumped out of the water. I yelped, trying to get away but having no means to do so. Then another tried to grab ahold of the netting keeping me suspended.
When I didn’t respond, too caught up in the ravenous, seriously messed-up synchronized swimming happening below me, the pirate in charge of my rope brought out his sword all too quickly. And then I was free-falling into the deadly waters below.
The cold, salty water hit me so abruptly that all breath was knocked from my lungs. I saw a few stars, the world a swirling mass of flailing limbs and dark bubbles, hauntingly familiar. Then before I could even register that I’d just been dropped into the water, the attacks started.
Sharp teeth bit into my leg, and I cried out, filling my mouth with water, causing me to choke. With my other foot, I kicked away the predators, and they thankfully unlatched from my leg. But my lungs weren’t getting any air, and the heavy ropes around me were being pulled tighter and tighter as the harpies realized what they could do.
Drown me.
Panic flushed through me like an erupting volcano, spreading out into my limbs as I struggled and kicked and fought. But the net was being dragged down farther, and the darkness was swallowing me. Not only was I going to die without figuring out how to wake up Peter, but I was also going to die because Zane had chosen something that was more important than my well-being.
Just like everyone else in my life, it seemed.
The world around me was going spotty now, my ears popping as I continued to struggle. But my muscles weren’t listening to my brain, and gravity was having its way with me.
Before the sea completely consumed me, I only heard the sound of water bubbling and the garbled shrieks of the harpies.
Inhaling when your lungs are full of water isn’t the best option, but the minute I woke, I did just that, choking as a result. The cold ground wasn’t helping my aching, frozen body feel any better as I heaved up water, lying on my side, and tried to get in a good, deep breath.
I could’ve easily guessed it was Zane rubbing my back, trying to coax the water out of me, so when I was able to breathe on my own finally, I shoved his touch away shakily, closing my eyes and trying to calm myself.
I’d almost died.
Again.
Zane stayed away when I pushed him back, dripping wet. From the looks of the situation, he’d cut his bonds and rescued me. But not until after we’d both been either bitten or clawed by Hook’s fiendish friends. I winced at the oozing teeth marks on my calf.
Speaking of the devil himself, he was nearby, glaring at us as he stepped forward. His boot kicked mine as I lay helplessly trying to suck in breath, a beached fish.
Hook clicked his tongue. “Should’ve stuck to the black market tramps, boy. She’s pretty…” He thought for the wo
rd. “Useless.”
Gasping in more air, both trembling palms pressed into the dark rock beneath me, I looked over at Zane. He was bleeding and wet, like me, but he looked like a completely different person. Someone I didn’t think I’d even be able to begin to know anything about now. He’d ruined everything. I hated him.
“Take them both back to the ship. We leave tomorrow for the hideout,” Hook instructed gruffly, and his men obliged. They stepped over to both Zane and me, Zane being the only one to struggle, and heaved us to our feet to walk. When pressure was put on my injured leg, I cried out, the pain so bad it blurred my vision momentarily.
Hook examined us as I now limped away, the grasp of the pirates heavy on my aching shoulders. “We’re taking them as a trade,” he added before the goon holding me shoved my head down to look away and keep moving.
With a panting glare, I snarled over to Zane, “Who are you?” before another dirty strip of cloth was used to gag me and no more conversation was permitted.
After a boat ride past the harpies, which were a lot friendlier once the pirates threw in a mystery meal I couldn’t distinguish, we were rowed toward the Jolly Roger and into the setting sunlight. Hook’s men let go of my hands when I promised I wouldn’t struggle, bending down to check out my wound. It was bleeding, but not as bad as it had been. I cringed when I touched the sensitive skin around it, still unable to speak but wishing I could cry. This was terrible.
I just wanted to go home.
The pirates moved me up the side of the ship first, then Zane. They threw him to the side separate from me and then put me in a barred cell I’d never before seen down in the brig. New upgrades, maybe. But whatever the case, I was thankful for the steel bars keeping Zane and me apart.
I turned from him, shivering and cold and never wanting anything to do with him ever again. This was entirely his fault.
I didn’t think anyone would be saving me. Only about eight hours had gone by, and I was completely miserable. Zane visited me that night after the crew went to sleep, when they wouldn’t hear us talking. But it wasn’t like I’d ever give us the chance to get caught; I’d been silent since Harpy Lagoon.
Mere Phantasy Page 29
