Page 4 of Devour the Dark

“I’ll go.”

They both turn to look at me.

“You will?” Wendy asks.

I don’t like volunteering. I learned a long time ago not to bend myself to others’ will.

But truth be told, I would like to see Peter Pan for myself.

My first job after escaping Winterland was on Darkland in the Dark Archives. I spent months working between all seven branches, cataloging books so old, they creaked when you opened them. My favorite subject, beyond languages, is mythology because in the Isles, there is almost always truth to them.

The chimera. The basilisk. Seven different types of fae. The banshee and the siren. The shapeshifter and the kraken.

While working in Archive Six, I’m almost positive my superior officer was a shapeshifter. Sometimes, when he came within the bloom of a fire within the hearth, his face would ripple, almost like a mirage. Fire and shapeshifters do not mix.

I always wondered if he was on the run and had taken on a new identity. Darkland has plenty of unsavory people, plenty of bad men and women a person might need to hide from.

But I digress.

Throughout all seven archives, none of the scholars, none of the experts, seemed to have an answer as to what Peter Pan is.

Some said he was an abomination.

Some said he was a dark spirit that burbled up from the Neverland lagoon.

Some said he was an abandoned child turned wild by the Neverland forest.

Any scholar or researcher knows that witnessing something with your own eyes will always supersede reading about it.

I slide my blade into the sheath at my hip. “We can’t keep losing crew members to the Crocodile’s appetite. Someone needs to go. I’ll go. Give me directions to the treehouse.” I down thelast swill of my brandy. It’s late in the day now, nearing dusk, the sunlight edged in pink.

“It could be dangerous,” Wendy starts.

“She’s in more danger if she doesn’t go,” Hook counters.

Wendy scowls at him.

I’m not entirely sure how their relationship might have transformed in the last few days we’ve been at sea, but I think the state of the Crocodile has them both on edge.

The Crocodile is another of those myths that I’m still a bit vague on.

In the Dark Archives, his name is cited seven hundred thirty-four times but only by ‘Crocodile.’ His birth name seems to have been expunged from the records, either by him or someone else.

The facts I know about him are:

1. He is old—older than I am—but there is no consensus on how old. He is older than Hook and Wendy but not as old as Peter Pan.

2. The Crocodile is a member of The Bone Society, one of the Isle’s secret societies. The Bone Society is credited with inventing time as we know it.

3. The roster of the Bone Society is secret, though I suspect the list is short. Because members are some kind of unknown creature that needs blood to stave off transforming and devouring everything in their wake. But there is no scientific name for their kind, which leads me to believe their origins are either hidden for a reason, or they aren’t from this realm.

4. The Crocodile is Vane’s older brother. Vane is a Lost Boy, Peter Pan’s most trusted friend. The Crocodile and Vane come from a well-known, wealthy family of Darkland. The Maddred family. They are often cited together as the Madd brothers. Their father was Duke of Maddred for a time, with Roc expected to inherit the title. Until their father tried to overthrow the monarchy, and their family was stripped of all their possessionsand titles. Afterward, Vane and the Crocodile worked their way up through the ranks of the darker side of Darkland known as the Umbrage.

5. The Crocodile and Vane ruled the Umbrage for over a decade.

6. There is no mention of their mother anywhere. She, too, has been expunged from the archives.

After the Umbrage, their story gets messy and a bit murky.

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