Wendy
Waking to an empty room and what I’d assumed to be a dead fairy on my chest certainly counted as one of my gloomier mornings, if it even was morning. After calming my erratic heart and allowing the last of my nightmares to abandon my racing thoughts, I took a closer look at Tink’s condition. I wasn’t at all used to the fairy lacking her glow, and her breathing had become so shallow it was nearly imperceptible. Her wings were frayed and shriveling, and her body limp and cold when I took it in my hands.
Tink was going to die. I’d known it since she’d given me the last of her dust, since she’d lost Peter and, seemingly, her will to live. Recalling what Peter had said all those weeks ago, returning to Neverland was her only hope, but even if I could get her there right this instant, I wasn’t certain it would be enough. Tink was so far gone, so battered and broken that there may well be nothing that could save her now.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.
After bundling her small body tightly against my chest, I dressed in the darkest clothing I could find. I wasn’t certain of the time but planned on keeping to the shadows regardless, and I needed to be inconspicuous. Well, as inconspicuous as someone with a huge fluffy dog could be, because I’d discovered Arktos under the bed, and knew better than to try and order him to stay behind.
It only took a few short minutes to gather my belongings. With a dagger in one hand and the satchel containing my music box in the other, I left the room Peter and I had shared for a final time, unwilling to spare it a final parting glance. If I did, I might break down, and that was the last thing any of us needed right now.
“Come,” I whispered to Arktos, but I needn’t have bothered. The dog was at my heels the moment I crossed the threshold, and though I didn’t have the slightest idea where I might be leading him, I was grateful I wasn’t alone.
The oddest thing about traversing the hall wasn’t that my leg didn’t hurt, but the lack of movement beneath me. I vaguely recalled Adais healing my break, as well as the ship being run aground rather than remaining anchored in the cove. Just how long did they plan on staying here? Then again, no one else had any reason to hurry, and there was reasonable justification for the opposite. The Jolly Serpent and its crew had been through much in the past few weeks, and had Peter and Tink been safe and whole, I would have been all too happy to join in their well-deserved rest before they began the long and complicated task of resupplying.
But Peter was as good as dead, Tink was set to follow, and no one gave a shit except for me, evidenced by the fact that the noise drifting from the crew’s quarters was a celebration. Smee and his band played a lively tune, a drunken chorus accompanied it, and it was likely to go on for days.
An overwhelming sense of grief and dread gnawed at my chest. I couldn’t stay here. I didn’t belong and never had. Hook and Scarlett and perhaps even Elvira would be upset, but they would find a way to go on just as they always had—without me. I didn’t yet know where I’d go, but anywhere was better than here, and the beach was as good a place as any to begin plotting my next move.
Other than a pair of tipsy cabin boys who didn’t bat an eye in our direction, Arktos and I didn’t meet an ounce of resistance until we crept onto the main deck, and even then our escape remained far simpler than it should have been. It was nighttime, and the darkness aided our efforts to remain unseen. I gripped my dagger tightly as I rounded each corner, on the lookout for Elvira in particular, but the most difficult task proved evading the trio of men keeping watch. I had to command Arktos to stay behind me and remain hyper aware of our surroundings, but other than a close call in which I almost knocked over an empty rum barrel, at last, we reached the rail.
I stole a glance over the side. It was about a ten-foot drop onto a soft bed of sand. Too high for me to risk jumping, especially so soon after breaking my leg, but Arktos had no other choice. “You first, boy.”
He cocked his head and whined softly but didn’t need telling twice. The briefest of hesitations, and then he leaped, rolling once before coming to a skidding halt. Not bad for a giant fluffy dog.
He waited while I maneuvered myself and the satchel over the side of the ship. After sheathing the dagger, I carefully shimmied myself and Tink down the ropes and onto the beach.
I exhaled deeply before whispering, “We made it,” both to Arktos and to Tink’s unconscious body, trying my hardest not to dwell on the fact that though the fairy was still breathing, she remained stiff and cold.
Or that Peter was dead.
Or that I’d failed both of them.
No. Shaking my head, I snatched my satchel from the sand and began marching up the shore, leaving The Jolly Serpent behind for what part of me hoped would be forever. Just three weeks ago I’d have given anything to have the ship back under my command, but now it was nothing more than a vessel containing memories I’d much rather forget.
I wanted to forget it all. Peter, Neverland, my father, and even my damned mother, though the fact that I’d brought my music box along suggested otherwise. Shut up. It means nothing, and you despise her as much as you do the rest. Gritting my teeth, I picked up my pace, my hurried stride now bordering on a run. I still had no idea where I was going, but literally anywhere was better than here.
Arktos trotted beside me, oblivious to my conflicting emotions. Every so often, he’d take a detour to sprint through the tide, and it helped to know that at least one of us was enjoying ourselves. It really was a beautiful night. A gentle breeze caressed my skin, the tide lapped rhythmically, and the briny scent was a comforting one. The moon glowed brightly, illuminating the beach and ocean alike, but upon remembering who conjured it, a stab of grief shattered my façade as Adais’s voice echoed in my memory.
“Peter Pan is lost. He’s as good as dead.”
I don’t remember whether I fell or collapsed intentionally, but somehow, I was on the ground on all fours. The dam holding back my carefully restrained emotions broke, releasing a flood of violent, ugly sobs, and I began hyperventilating as they poured from me in waves. I was barely aware of Arktos’s tongue lapping at my cheeks, barely aware of the rocks that had sliced open my knees, barely aware of anything other than my failure. It was as if I’d traded one family member for another. And the worst part?
I didn’t yet know if it was a fair one.
It was a long while before I caught my breath, but I eventually managed to pull myself into a sitting position. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I buried my face against them, silently willing the tears to cease falling, or at least for this to stop hurting so much.
It didn’t.
“Why do you cry, Wendy Maynard?”
My breath caught in my throat, and having sensed a presence standing over me a moment before he spoke, I didn’t dare glance up. Arktos snarled fiercely, but knowing our visitor wasn’t likely to leave even if I asked him to, I waved a hand to silence him. Clenching my palms into fists, I cleared my throat before responding. “Adais, our deepest apologies for disturbing you.”
“There was no disturbance, therefore no apology is necessary. Look upon me, child.”
I didn’t dare disobey. The corner of the Sea God’s mouth twitched as I scanned his hardened features—his beard, his loosely tied half-ponytail, his skin glowing faintly in the moonlight—but I didn’t linger on his face for long. Adais was dressed precisely the same way he had been for battle. Four loaded pistols adorned his front, a sword was sheathed at each hip, and in his right hand he clutched Heartpiercer. The sight of so many weapons unnerved me enough that I couldn’t keep my curiosity to myself. “Are you expecting another attack?”
“Always,” he said without hesitation. “Kaara never sleeps, so neither can I.”
I nodded toward the trident and smiled weakly. “Well, hopefully that helps.”
“It will, Wendy Maynard, more than you know.” Adais looked to Arktos, who whined and laid down. “Which is why I’d like you to answer my question, so I may know how to help you. It’s the least I can do after what you did for me.”
The better question would have been why wasn’t I crying, but I didn’t dare say that aloud. “We won a great victory yesterday,” I began cautiously, “but it wasn’t a victory for me. Not completely.”
Adais’s brow furrowed. “Are you referring to your friend, the Golden Child that Kaara mentioned? The one who remains trapped in the Sea of Eternal Woe?”
I nodded.
“Then you must also know there is nothing I can do for him. The Sea’s power extends to me as well, and no god will be able to rescue your friend from its clutches.”
“But Peter never stood a chance,” I blurted out. “Heartpiercer burned him any time he tried to touch it. Why?”
Adais frowned. “Of course it did. He is a Golden Child.”
“Other than the fact that his blood is gold, I don’t know what that means. He never told me.”
“Ah. That was either very smart or very foolish of him.” He paused, tightening his grip on the trident before continuing. “Golden Children are so named both for their blood and the fact that they rarely live to see adulthood, though not for the same reason Peter wishes to freeze his aging. It’s because while they are born mortal, Golden Children have the capacity to become gods should they fully mature into adults.”
I still wasn’t connecting the dots. “But why is it they so rarely live that long?”
“Because actual gods see them as competition and will do anything within our power to keep them from becoming one of us. But trust me, that power is severely limited, because we are unable to kill Golden Children by our own hand.”
My blood turned to ice at the realization. “Which was why Kaara baited him into entering the Sea. She knew he’d be trapped there.”
“It’s also why Heartpiercer rejected him. It doesn’t like competition.”
“Peter isn’t competition,” I snarled before I could stop myself. “He’s a human being.”
Adais shrugged. “For now.”
“And you still won’t help him? Not even to reward the fact that he aided us?”
“Even if I wanted to—and I don’t—as I already told you, Wendy, I can’t. I cannot pluck him from the Sea and onto your doorstep any more than Kaara can, so my suggestion would be to grieve and move on.”
Of course he couldn’t do anything meaningful. Peter was gone forever. Dead. Tears blurred my vision, and it was a fight to keep them from spilling down my cheeks. Afraid my voice might crack if I spoke, I didn’t for a long while, and Adais had to pose his question a second time.
“Is there anything else I may do for you? Think long and hard. Believe it or not, there are few instances in which my power is limited, and I am more than happy to utilize it for the one who returned my trident to me.”
I idly thought about asking him how and why I could communicate with certain creatures, but just when I opened my mouth to do just that, Tink stirred against my chest for the first time since leaving the ship. I touched my fingers to where she rested, working hard to untangle my cluttered thoughts. “This fairy is dying. Can you heal her?”
“Show her to me.”
I removed Tink from her wrappings and held her out for Adais to see. He knelt in the surf to examine her, his dark eyes darting back and forth as he drank in her decrepit appearance. It was a while before he spoke, and when he did, his tone was curt and detached.
“She is bonded to the Golden Child.”
“Yes.” My voice trembled, and I was crying again. “Is there no way to save her?”
“Her life force is equally tethered to both Neverland and that boy. Without at least one of them, and soon, you will lose her in a matter of days. Perhaps hours, by the looks of her.”
And if Adais couldn’t save Peter, that meant… “She must return to Neverland, then?”
“At once.”
A chill that had nothing to do with the night air crept up my spine. Neverland. The forest I’d fought so hard to escape, the place where I’d died. For all I knew, those blackened trees were still crawling with Nightstalkers, the beasts who whispered in my mind, who had haunted my nightmares for weeks on end, who had chosen me for their own nefarious purposes. And they were far from the only monsters I’d be likely to face, because sirens, mermaids, nerisas, fairies, and gods knew what else were likely to still call Neverland home. But if I wanted Tink to live, returning there was our only chance.
The only way forward was to go back.
“All right.” I forced the words before I could change my mind, working to tuck Tink back into her wrappings before placing a hand on Arktos’s back. “Take us there. All three of us.”
Adais raised an eyebrow. “You’re certain?”
I wasn’t, but affirmed it anyway. “Yes.”
The Sea God rose to his full height. The water surrounding his feet began to ripple and swell, and when he spoke again, his already low-pitched voice was so much deeper that it had the hairs at the back of my neck standing on end. “A wave will wash over your heads, and when it recedes, you will be standing upon Neverland’s shores.”
My heart began beating out of my chest. This was my final chance to turn back. I could still stop this to be with my mother and father, our family whole and reunited at last. I could turn my back on the sea and its magic, never speak of the gods again, forget Neverland, forget Peter, and live my life for me and only me.
But there would be no wiping Tink’s blood from my hands, no absolving myself of the role I’d played in Peter’s death, as unintentional as it was. I’d carry the guilt and shame with me forever unless I did everything within my power to make it right… or died trying.
Shoving my thoughts aside, I nodded. “We’re ready,” I said, and at his silent command, the tide began to recede. The god took a few steps back as the waters swelled behind him, gathering into a mini tsunami.
His lips twisted into a grin. “Now would be the time to hold your breath.”
I gripped a handful of Arktos’s scruff, trying not to quiver as I whispered, “Stay close to me, boy.”
What happened in the next few seconds was a blur. With a twitch of Adais’s fingers, the wave came crashing down. I kept my eyes open until the moment of impact, bracing myself to be swept off my feet, and that’s when I saw her. Blonde hair flashed in my peripheral vision, a familiar grip ensnared my wrist, and before I could shake her off, the tsunami swallowed the four of us whole.