Page 59 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
He looked at me, his hands balling and unballing, his skin unusually pale. “Go below deck. Hide. Don’t come out. When we are gone, take the book. Save Neverland—”
“What do you mean? I’m not leaving you—”
He gripped my arms, his forget-me-not eyes sparking with a manic light . “Wendy, damn it, go before it's too late!”
“I think it is too late,” a soft feminine voice said.
I turned and was surprised to see a woman in a flowing gown standing on the deck. Her dress fell to her ankles, but it hung loosely, billowing in the mist that seemed to pour out of her, from her fingertips, from her toes. She stared at us with eyes that glowed a bright, unnatural yellowish hue. Snow white hair curled around her beautiful yet deadly visage.
She smiled, showing off a row of sharp teeth. “Time has run out, James Hook. Again.”
He moved between me and the woman. “But you released me. Why now?”
“I chose to let you go before. And I have tried to restrain myself, but I cannot hold out any longer. The time has come.”
“James, who is she?” I demanded, my fingers twitched, and I watched the woman warily.
He never took his gaze from the figure. “This is the Crocodile.”
“What? No, she’s not.”
“She can take different forms, love.” He raised his chin and addressed the Crocodile. “You are not under Pan’s control.”
A spark came to her eyes. “Ah, you are right. I am not commanded by the One-Who-Controls’ power. We have existed together in Neverland on a delicate truce for many, many years. But over time, that relationship has become strained.”
I tried to process what I was learning. The Crocodile wasn’t only a crocodile but a creature of magic that may be the only one able to resist Peter’s mind control without the help of the stones. “You sent James the spellbook.”
The woman’s head tilted, and her eyes shuttered from the side, causing me to shiver. “You are clever. Yes, it was me. I hoped he might free Neverland from the One-Who-Controls. But alas, he has failed, and the One-Who-Controls insists I bring his head. I must collect.”
“If you aren’t under his power, why not refuse his demands?”
“The One-Who-Controls cannot control me, but can command everything else in this world. I’ve resisted for as long as possible, but they have been denying my attacks, denying my prey. I am slowly starving, wasting away. Hook is my property, and now that you are here to carry on his work, I can finally take what has long been mine.”
“The hell you will,” I said. “James, let’s go.”
He didn’t move. “I can’t. When she calls, I must go. I’m afraid I don’t have a choice in the matter. Even now, I cannot move or speak without her permission.”
The Crocodile woman’s grin turned cruel.
“I don’t understand.”
“When Pan threw my hand to the Crocodile, it was a deal that one day when my time came, she’d be able to claim me, and I’d be hers for eternity. To feast on or do… whatever she wishes.”
Hunger radiated in the other woman’s eyes. Again, she bared her sharp teeth. “Lifetimes of slow, unending pain.”
Fighting the nausea that gathered in my stomach, I drew my knives, then placed myself between James and the woman.
“I won’t let you take him,” I snarled. The mist swirled around me, whipping my skirts about my legs. I fought the cold. The temperature must have dropped at least twenty degrees.
The Crocodile waved a webbed hand. “You cannot stop me. He is my due.”
James moved, and my heart pounded. I couldn’t let this happen. I wouldn’t let this happen. Reaching out, I gripped his arm. “Stop.”
His eyes flickered with a resigned sorrow. “Sorry, love.”
He shrugged out of my grasp and continued for the Crocodile woman. He stopped before her and the Crocodile reached up, running her palms over his shoulders and across his chest.
I considered releasing the knife in my hand. The distance wasn’t far. I’d land my blade and follow it up with a swift blow to the—
