Page 58 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
“Aye, sir, just came above for some fresh air—”
“I be telling you when ye can get fresh air. Now stop slacking at yer tasks or I’ll be havin’ you scrubbing the decks every day for a month.”
“Yes, sir,” I said again and scurried for the entrance that led into the dark hold. I was one step closer to my task. And James was on his own. My stomach twisted at the thought. If I were uncovered, Peter would most likely play along. But if he saw the opportunity to kill James…
The captain of the Jolly Roger had come this far. I would trust that he could handle himself. I held my breath against the unsettling smells in the hold. The walls of the boat creaked as the water lapped at its edges. I followed the directions James had given me to what should be the powder room.
I eased the door open and slipped in. Tightly closed barrels stacked on top of tightly closed barrels filled the space.
That was when I heard the shouting. James had revealed himself, as planned. I didn’t have long. I hurried over to a barrel and popped it open, grasping fistfuls of gunpowder and creating a trail to the door. Then I cleaned my hands off on my clothes.
Suddenly, James was there, his disguise gone, with a line of angry pirates right behind him.
“Hold!” James shouted. “Hold, I say! Or Wendy will send all of us to the depths of the sea with one spark!”
Reaching into my pocket, that was really James’s coat pocket, I pulled out the last thing we’d bought before leaving Neverland. I lit a match and held it up.
Everyone stilled
“Why should I care what you do to these men, Hook?” spoke the foremost pirate. It was the man with scraggly hair who had gotten after me, but his voice now contained a smooth texture to it. Peter had taken over. “You know they are not in control of their own faculties. It won’t matter to me if they die.”
“You will care if the book of Stardust is ruined, destroying all of Neverland.”
“The spellbook is on board the Jolly Roger?” Peter said through Scraggly Hair.
“That it is, Pan,” James growled. “So, if I were you, I’d listen to our request, and have every last man abandon this ship.”
“Why would I believe that you’d follow through with sinking your own ship?”
“Because we have nothing left to lose. You know what desperate men are capable of.”
The pirates lowered their weapons. Scraggly Hair sneered. “You win this round, Hook.” The pirate’s eyes met my gaze, and I saw the significance in them. Peter was backing off in the trust that I was bound to keep our bargain.
James turned to me. “Stay here until I give you the word that everyone is gone. Be on your guard.”
I extinguished the match and watched as they disappeared up onto the deck. It took a bit, and I heard his footsteps prowling through the ship as he searched for any signs of any stowaways.
Eventually he came back, his face relaxed. “We’re alone. Come. Help me lower the sail so we can put some distance between them and us.”
Chapter 22
Wendy
After sailing a ways, we dropped anchor when we were sure that no wayward pirate could overtake us. My disguise had worn off as well, revealing my true form. James turned to me, looking grim.
“Pan isn’t going to be happy about this,” he said.
The large sails billowed in the wind, and waves lapped at the sides of the ship. My stomach was twisting in knots. “We have time. Nobody can attack us out here. Even if Peter tried, we’d see him coming.” The clouds from earlier had burned away, leaving clear skies, and the sea stretched around us for miles.
He nodded. “Let’s retrieve the book.”
He stepped toward his cabin when he froze, his head jerking to the right. The breeze had died, and the water had settled into a glassy calm. I followed his gaze and sucked in a breath to see a gray mist billowing over the railing and pouring onto the deck. It crept around our ankles, swirling about us.
I stepped close to James. “What is it?”
“It's the ticking.” He stood rigid, his body hard, his breaths growing uneven. “The Crocodile.”
A chill ran down my spine. “We are on the boat. It can’t get you.”
