Page 51 of Lost Starlight
“Peter, this is not a joke,” Dominick said.
“I know, and I am not joking. I spent some time on his ship already, and they did not see me. I know I can get close enough to defeat that dreadful Hook. He is quite literally down one arm.”
“Let’s think this over–” Meria began.
“Yes, we should think about this,” Dominick agreed.
“We can, but he is on the other side of the island–and he just kidnapped more lost boys. He is working them hard–as far as I can tell. Five have already been killed,” I said.
“No!” Meria said with a gasp.
“We have to hurry before anyone else gets hurt,” I said.
“And who are these lost boys? More stolen children?” Gwen asked.
“They are better off than the children you were with. They seem well off here and have no desire to leave. I think after we save the pixies and have repaid my debt that I need to be clear that they are no longer allowed to steal human children,” I said.
“That is a good idea,” Meria added.
“Well, show me this Neverland camp. We can regroup there and make a plan,” Dominick said, motioning to the jungle.
“So good to see you again, brother,” Peter said, walking over to Dominick, but not before taking my hand in his and pulling me with him.
Peter does still like me.He had not left of his own volition; he was taken. My mother was wrong. Peter and I were good. I loved him, and he loved me.
We still had many things to do, but in that moment, a peacefulness nestled inside my chest, bringing me the peace I longed for as we wove our way to the camp of the lost boys, called Neverland.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Peter
Present Day
Iclasped Gwen’s hand in mine like she was my lifeline. She was. Gwen had continually been in my thoughts, and there she was. I deeply desired to kiss her, to hold her close, and to whisper into her ear how much I had missed her and worried over her, but the time to do that was not then.
Once we took leave of Pixie Isle, I would marry her as soon as possible.
But first, to get off the island meant hunting down Hook.
Back when Gwen had been stolen by the pixies, I had the thought come to me that, perhaps, she had been marriedoff by her family. William, and others, made that seem like a possibility. It had hurt me to think that my storyteller might not have told me about such a thing, but I knew her mother was awful. Something inside me, however, understood that it didn’t make sense; there was something else. I was right; she had been taken. But part of that fear still remained with me until I found her and saved her from the pixies.
“Peter? Are you alright?” Gwen asked as we made our way through the foliage.
“Yes, just lost in thought. You know, I did not do this on purpose, leave you, right?”
“I will be honest, I did worry. Mother said, perhaps, you did not care for me after all. She said there were rumors that you had left me.”
“Well, I guess it is understandable to have that fear, but I would never leave you. I am sorry. I hope I have made that fear sink to the fathoms of the sea?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile as I tangled my hand in her hair. My, it was so soft. I pulled my hand away and cleared my throat. We were still around people, and I knew how Gwen was. I did not want to shower her with too much affection and make her uncomfortable.
“I never told you, but when you were kidnapped by the pixies, I believed that you ran away–or that you were forced by your mother to marry someone else. Williamplanted that one in my head, so I just assumed my storyteller was yet another person set on leaving me.”
She clutched my arm in her free hand, pulling us closer together.
“Peter, I would never leave you.”
“I hoped, at least, to find answers about where you’d gone, and then I remembered what we had read about the pixies. As impossible as it seemed to me that they might have come for you, it somehow seemed possible, and I started to believe that the rumors about you marrying a wealthy lord far away were, perhaps, just that—rumors.”
