Page 55 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would any of these places carry the first cut lock of a newborn baby?”
He lifted his elbow. “Take my arm, love. It is a bit crowded today.” I did, looping my forearm through his, and he pulled me along through the gaggle of people. “To answer your question, the first cut lock of a babe contains a very potent kind of magic. It is innocent, pure, untarnished.” He frowned a little. I wondered if he was thinking about the babe that he had abandoned.
“The Dagger of Forgotten Souls never indicated that these booths ever had magic.”
“Ah, but you cannot release the magic from certain ingredients until after they are mixed, or an enchantment is applied. Only then is the power set free. Here we are.”
He stepped up to a booth that advertised “Lovely Locks.”
James leaned in to speak with the ancient man who stood behind an assortment of human and animal hair contained in a large glass case. The wrinkly man flashed a smile, revealing several gaps among rotting teeth.
James reached into his coat that I wore and pulled out a gem, slipping it into his trouser pocket.
While James haggled with the man, I saw the young woman I had tried to help the last time that I was there. She still held her raggedy shawl around her shoulders, shivering, gaunt, close to death. I reached into the pocket of James’s large overcoat and traced my finger over the final gem. Throwing one last glance at James, I headed over to the woman.
“Do you have any matches?” I asked.
“Matches, miss?”
“Yes. I need matches.”
“I don’t usually sell those, miss, but…” She placed a hand into her pocket and lifted out a half-used match set. “This is all I have.”
“That will do perfectly.” I held out the small emerald.
The woman’s eyes grew round. “Oh, no miss, I could never…”
“I insist.” I pushed the emerald at her. The woman gripped the matches, her fingers poking through her hole-riddled gloves. Then she swiftly snatched the emerald up and shoved the matches at me.
“I and my children thank you kindly, miss,” the woman whispered.
I nodded in response and headed over to where James held two tiny locks in his palm.
He frowned at the hair. “This won’t get us far. One transformation each. We better make the most of it.”
Reaching down, he moved to place them into the pocket of the coat I wore, and froze. “I seem to be missing a gem, lass.”
“Yes,” I said. “There was a woman over there, struggling to get by, and I thought she could use it, so I exchanged a gem for some matches,and I—”
He spun me toward him and kissed me. I rose on my toes, kissing him in return, the warmth of his lips melting everything surrounding us into a blur of nothing.
He drew back, and I stared into his forget-me-not eyes, my heart burning.
A sadness mixed with the desire in his gaze. “I believe it is time, Wendy Darling. Shall we go to Neverland and save it from the despot that is Pan?”
My stomach lurched. When I got to Neverland and I had the book and Dagger of Forgotten Souls in my possession, I’d have to abandon James. Abandon everything that was developing between us. But I nodded. “Let us fly.”
He led me to the alleyway, into an alcove that was out of sight from everyone else. “We go straight up. It's overcast so it won’t be far till we reach cover. Do you have a happy thought?”
I shut my eyes and pushed my guilty thoughts away, focusing on how it felt to have James’s lips on mine. “I have one.”
“Is it me?”
My eyes shot open, and I looked at him in shock. “I—um, of course not.”
That dashing grin spread across his face, and he threw back his head and laughed. He rose into the air, holding out his hand.
I took it and rose with him. My other hand closed around the silver stone at my neck, grateful that it shielded me from Pan’s power. That James had willingly shared that protection with me. We flew upwards, passing the clouds, leaving it all behind, letting the daylight fade as we became veiled in stars and silver.
