Neverland

Chapter Twelve

A huge metal ball whistles past me as Wendy and I fly back to the camp. I skid to a stop in the air, and watch the metal ball fall into the jungle. There is a huge explosion as a result.

"What was that?" I ask. The huge thing nearly killed me. I find the source of the metal. The Jolly Roger. Of course. It makes sense that Hook would try to kill me, but how would he know...

"They're called cannonballs," Wendy tells me, keeping her eye on the ship. Checkmate.

"You seem to know a lot about Hook, Wendy," I say. "And he seems to know a lot about me presently."

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean," I say. "Like how you're a spy for Hook." I knew everything was too easy. There were no obstacles to get to the parchment that explained everything. No wonder Hook wanted to trade the map for the girl, so he would have the key to Neverland's power, and have a spy tracking my every move. Clever, but not clever enough.

Snapping my fingers, a net wraps itself around Wendy. She screams as the confinement drops to the ground. I take hold on an invisible cord hoisting the net.

"Fine!" Wendy says. "I am a spy for Hook."

"So you see that I have reason to kill you," I say. Wendy begins to thrash in her cage.

"No, no," she pleads. "I can explain." Wendy vanishes and reappears next to me in the clouds.

"All right," I say. "I'll give you a one and only chance to plead yourself before me. Look out." We both dodge a cannonball that narrowly misses. Wendy takes a shaky breath. I think she wishes this were a dream, as I had been when I was taken here.

"A shadow came to my room," Wendy explains. "The room I shared with my brothers, John and Michael. It was a shadow with no one casting it. The shadow would do all sorts of things, like fly. And then Hook came. He said he needed a believer to take with him. I told him I didn't believe. He knew I was lying, took me, and promised that once I did what I was told to, he would take me back to London. The whole trip back to Neverland, I kept telling myself I didn't believe."

"Anything else?" I say. So Hook figured out how to separate his shadow from himself. That is deeply dark magic, something I have never tried.

"Yes," Wendy whispers. Her eyes are full of tears. "Now Hook is going to kill John and Michael, now that you know." Wendy can't be lying about that. I believe her. For now.

"A Lost Girl," I try. "You're a Lost Girl." Wendy gives me a watery smile.

"I knew that you couldn't be all evil," she says. I give her a glare of death.

"Say that one more time and I'll rip your heart out," I threaten. Wendy lifts up her hands in defense. Then she gives me a half smile and shoots down from the clouds. Girls are confusing.

I soar down with Wendy, angling her in the right direction. We fly slower than usual, with the occasional dodging a cannonball. The parchment is no longer in my hand. I pat my pouch frantically, but only the map is there. The scrap must've fallen as I ducked a cannonball. Hook will soon take it for his own. The stakes are now higher, and I have to know what's really going on with Neverland, and the white circle in Skull Rock.

If I go back to the beginning, when I lived in London, I never would've imagined this. Magic is not real. Except it is.

Now the hardest part will be keeping Hook off my trail. I fear it is too late.

"If you are so evil, why do you care about Neverland's safety so much?" Wendy asks me.

"I don't," I say. "But my life force as Peter Pan is tied to Neverland. If it dies, I die."

"Right," Wendy says. "How did you become leader of Neverland?"

"Long story short," I say. "Blood is on my hands." Wendy gulps and stops asking more personal questions.

"Once we find the pixie dust," Wendy says. "What do we do with it?"

"Well," I say. "We can't destroy it because that will destroy me and the island. We can't have any harm to come to it at all. It must be moved to a safe place."

"A safe place," Wendy says. "Where would this be?"

"Skull Rock," I say suddenly. I grip her arms. "Yes, Wendy. It all makes sense now!"

"What does?" she asks.

"A few weeks ago," I say. "I went to Skull Rock. It's a huge boulder sticking out of the water, and it's shaped like a skull... anyway, that's not the point. I was at Skull Rock, and there was a perfect white circle. Just sitting in the middle of everything. I didn't do it, and no one even knows about it... the island wants us to find the pixie dust!"

"Oh, so now the island can think for itself?" Wendy asks, unconvinced. I shrug.

"If magic is possible, why not?" I say. "To the camp!" Wendy follows my lead down to where the Lost Boys are. The fire is a bright white, reflecting my mood. Blue energy ripples through me. I think about reaching into the fire to see what happens, but I touch my white scar where the burn was. It has healed, but is now a white line stretching from the bottom of my right eye down through my cheek. My own painful reminder from Hook.

"Go on," Wendy says. "Just do your magic."

"Er, right," I say, embarrassed of having not thought of that in the first place. I set my hands above the flames and concentrate.