Page 70 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
“You aren’t listening. Oh, what am I thinking? You never understand a thing I say.”
Her gaze shifted, and I realized the truth. Tinker Bell would never let me leave with my brothers. I dove to the side as an arrow shot past me, breaking against the stonewall of the cave. The book fell from my grasp as I drew a second dagger and turned to face off against Tiger Lily.
“Stop.” A voice caused me to freeze.
Peter stood in front of Tiger Lily, his arms out, eyes narrowed on Tinker Bell. Wariness stole over me.
This was not the moment for the inevitable uncertainty that Peter Pan brought to any situation.
For the first time, Tinker Bell appeared caught off guard. “What are you doing here?”
He looked his fairy up and down like he’d never seen her before. “Why are you big, Tink? Is everything that Wendy said true? Do you hold all of Neverland in your power? Do you control them only for my amusement?”
Tink let out a light laugh. “Peter, what a silly thing to say. This.” She motioned to me and my brothers. “This is a game. It always is. And we have almost won.”
“Have we? Or is it you who has almost won? You’ve never taken over me or the Lost Boys. But then that was the point, wasn’t it? This was designed for us, to keep you alive, to keep all the fairies alive.”
“She needed you to be innocent,” I added. If Tink had taken over Peter or the Lost Boys’ minds, the dream of the boyish utopia would have been broken and their wonder destroyed. She had to ensure their continued belief in the game.
Peter’s fists clenched at his sides.
His eyes never strayed from Tink. “And why them?” He pointed to my brothers. “They had left. They didn’t want to be here, and yet you’ve done everything you can to keep them from Wendy. All you needed to do was give them to her, and she would have gladly offered you whatever you wanted.”
“Peter—”
“No more lies, Tink.” Peter’s voice was steel. “Or I swear, I will leave Neverland and never return.”
Tinker Bell took a beseeching step in his direction. “You don’t understand. Before we brought John and Michael here, we werelimping along. A fairy bond is limited, and we can unite only one fairy to one boy. That was all. My magic only held so many fairy-Lost Boy bonds at a time, but when these boys came,”—she motioned toward my brothers—”it was like my power had enhanced. Their wonder, their belief, powered me and Neverland a thousand times over. Suddenly, we weren’t limited. We could save hundreds, even thousands, of fairies.”
“But what is so special about them?”
She waved a hand, uncaring. “What does that matter?”
But I knew. At least I had a guess. If James was right and I was a descendant of Stardust, that meant my brothers were also descendants of one of the original fairies that founded Neverland.
“But you didn’t want me because I was too old, too assertive, losing the wonder of youth,” I said.
“You were the one who convinced them to leave Neverland in the first place,” Tink spat at me. She faced Peter. “We must keep them here. We must continue everything as it was. If not, hundreds, thousands, of fairies will die.”
“And yet you hold hundreds of creatures hostage in abject slavery,” I accused.
“Yes. I understand,” Peter said, picking up the spellbook off the cave floor. “You are right, Tink. Tell me what to do.”
“Bring me the book.”
Peter nodded.
“No, Peter. You’re really going to help her after so many lies?” I lifted my knife. “Iwon’t let you.”
Tink’s eyes glowed a dangerous deep emerald. “You will allow him to bring me the book or—”
“Or what?” I snarled. “You will hurt my brothers? Come now, Tink, we all know you won’t do that.”
Shouts from outside the cave caused my mouth to go dry.
A cruel smile curled Tinker Bell’s lips, her eyes returning to their normal hue. “You are right, Wendy. I won’t hurt your brothers, but I have no qualms over hurtinghim.”
Several pirates walked into the cave holding a struggling James Hook between them.
