Page 20 of Freeing Hook

The pattern Tink is making ahead of me is a bit circuitous. She wants me as disoriented as possible by the time we reach wherever we’re going. That way, if I get away, I won’t be able to find my way back.

But I’ve been marking every curve and turn, keeping careful location of where the moonlight in the canopy is coming from. As it is, we’re on the east side of the island.

Eventually, Tink leads me to a cliffside I’ve never seen. As I peek through the dense brush, I notice the opening of a cave. It looks about ready to swallow me whole, and I steel myself.

I’m doing this for Wendy. I will find out what happened to my sister.

Something rustles from behind.

I spin around, only to find Tink has circumvented me. Silently. She’s staring at me with hungry blue eyes, her face consumed by craving. The faerie flashes me a sharp grin, then nods her head, gesturing toward the cave, now behind me.

Though I recognize that she’s herding me into her dwelling, into a place that will be easy to contain me, I step backward in the direction she indicated.

I can’t tell how much of my compliance is part of my plan, or how much is due to mywantingto do as she says.

Even as she corrals me toward death, I can’t help but notice her beauty. There’s something ethereal that shines past the grime on her skin, the burlap sack covering her. Her smile is cruel, but I can’t help but want to keep her smiling at me forever. Can’t help but wonder how her lips would feel against mine…

No. No. I’m here for Wendy. And this is fae glamour, preying on my humanity and influencing my thoughts. Knowing that’s all it is helps. It doesn’t stop her beauty from rapping on my mind, but it does assist me in tuning it out.

It feels like I’ve only taken a few steps before my spine scrapes against the cliffside wall. My pulse is accelerating much too quickly, my mind not accounting for time and space.

Feeling is what gets you killed.

I try to turn it off, the sharp allure, the tether tying me to the idea of pleasing this faerie, but I’m not used to having to combat these emotions.

I fear I might walk over barbs if she asks me to.

Tink is close now, and she extends a long fingernail, scraping it down my cheek. Forceful enough to sting, to break the outmost layer of skin, but not hard enough to draw blood. My limbs are paralyzed. Ironic.

But then the casual cruelty on Tink’s face warps into something else. Confusion flashes across her delicate features, then something more poignant. Fear. Anger. She goes through an array of them before she slumps to the ground before me.

When she does, her satchel spills open, littering the ground with a half-eaten meal.

There’s no onion among the mix.

CHAPTER 8

WENDY

I’m not sure what hurts worse—knowing deep down that my brothers will be happier without me in the world, or knowing that this last time I fall, Peter’s arms won’t be waiting to catch me.

My stomach drops as I plummet, the dark waves lashing underneath me, suddenly no longer as peaceful as they appeared just a moment ago. I realize too late that what I mistook for invitation was actually just hunger.

I’m about to loose a scream when warm arms envelop me. The scent of amber and pine strikes me just as the waves splash against my bare feet. Before I can think of what to do, my body reacts, curling into the firm and familiar chest.

“This game isn’t nearly as fun to play by oneself, Wendy Darling,” says a voice so familiar it makes me ache.

“Peter.” I shut my eyes against his chest, memorizing the feel of him against my clutching hands, the press of his weight against my palms. Steady pulses of air bat at my cheeks, his wings maintaining our position close to the waves, below the view of the deck.

Tears pour from my cheeks and into his shirt, and I have to swallow the sobs lest we be overheard by the crew on deck.

“Did you miss me, then?” he asks, so playfully I get the urge to slap him. Or maybe that’s just from how quickly I become irritated now that I don’t have the faerie dust to calm me. When I peer up at him, I expect to see his beautiful blue eyes, but of course, that’s foolishness. The Sister forces him to morph into his shadow form when he visits anywhere other than Neverland, and though he can take a solid form by touching me, it takes time for him to regain complete control over his shadow self.

What I get aren’t the cool but kind blue eyes that I’m hoping for, but cruelly amused black pits, looking to devour me.

My heart hammers, my panic dissipating and giving way to the betrayal that’s been tearing me apart the past few days. “You gave me away.”

I mean it as an accusation, but it comes out more pitiful than that.

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