Page 29 of A Descent Into Darkness

“I have spent years here in this realm, looking for a way back. Peter exiled me from my only home with nothing but a festering wound and the clothes on my back. A young man with no knowledge of how this realm works. Left to die on the street like a filthy rat. I will get my revenge on him or die trying.”

“And you want me to go back with you?”

“Yes. I want us to be free to love each other. It’s time, Katherine. I can not continue to watch as Teach defiles you and uses you for his own personal gain. Together, we can defeat Pan and rule all of Neverland. We will slow the hands of time and live beyond our years in paradise. No Teach, no Pan.”

“And how are we supposed to get back to your Neverland? You just said you couldn’t find more faerie dust.”

A sinister smile spread across my face. I didn’t need to answer the question.

“The ruby.” She nodded quickly, putting the pieces together. “You want the ruby for yourself.”

“That ruby is our redemption. We must find a way to steal it from Teach and use it to make our way across the veil, back to Neverland. We just need to figure out exactly how it works.”

“In the Otherworld, when I connected with Manann, I saw things. I think the ruby is intuitive. I’m sure once I get my hands on the real thing, it will unveil itself and its abilities.”

“So, does that mean… are you going back with me?”

She smiled and nodded yes. I swear in that moment I felt my heart skip a beat. All my years searching and living under Teaches thumb were about to pay off. I could finally see a way back to Neverland, and Katherine would be at my side. I reached across the desk, pulling her face towards mine, andsealed her words with a kiss. “I love you,” I whispered softly against her lips.

“I love you too. But, James, if we are going to do this, we’re going to need a solid plan. Teach won’t give up the ruby. He has been searching for it for years. Don’t forget that he views it as his own salvation.” Katherine’s words pulled me back from my thoughts. She was right. Teach would kill anyone who stood between him and the ruby.

“It won’t be easy, but nothing worth having ever is.”

“There is one fatal flaw in Teach’s plans.” Katherine smirked. “Something I’ve kept hidden from him.”

“A fatal flaw?” I questioned, stroking my beard. “I like the sound of that.”

“Guarding the island, lurking beneath the depths, is a massive tentacled monster unlike anything I have ever seen.”

“A kraken?” I had only heard of sightings in the cold waters off the coast of Norway. But what better way to guard a magical relic than an unexpected sea monster? If she had indeed seen a kraken, we were in for one hell of a battle. Few men lived to tell the tale, even fewer came back whole.

“I don’t know what it’s called, but it looks like a giant squid. It will be theQueen Ann’sdemise.”

“That’s definitely a kraken. Willwesurvive this attack?” I asked, hoping she had seen the outcome.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I have seen things that haven’t yet come to pass. The future is fluid. Nothing is set in stone. It will be a bloodbath. The likes of which we have never seen.”

“Then I can assume there is a chance. Knowing an attack is coming gives us the upper hand. We will be ready and waiting. That will be our opportunity to break free from Teach. He’ll be distracted with keeping theQueen Annabove water. We’ll jump ship and make our way to the island, snatch up the ruby before Teach can even get his grubby hands on it.”

“What if we fail?”

“Then we shall perish and spend eternity together in the afterlife. At least we can say we tried.”

“Here’s to breaking free of Teach’s rule.” She raised her glass in a toast. “To eternal love.”

“To us!” I took a celebratory swig of rum and stood up, pulling Kat into an embrace. For once, the future had me in its favor, and I was excited to see what it would bring. I lifted Kat’s chin and kissed her gently. A promise of things to come. “The future is ours, my love.”

“James,” she spoke softly. “Were there others? I mean, boys like yourself, in Neverland?”

“There were others, but I was the first. He called us his ‘Lost Boys’.”

Katherine’s eyes lit up recognizing the term. “Once a lost boy, always a lost boy,” she whispered the words as more puzzle pieces fell into place.

I paused, remembering my small family. “I don’t know what became of them. They too, would have someday grown up.” We were innocent children lured into a fairytale. Wewere happy for a time. Until the inevitable happened. “I imagine he did the same to them.”

“Then we go for usandthem. Together we will stop Pan.”

I didn’t think I could be more in love with Katherine Hawkins, but with those five words I fell even harder.

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