A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)

Chapter 7.10 - Jake

Jake's mind was... blank. Blurred shadows instead of clear images because fear blurred them like a clumsy hand blurs an artist's work.

Where had he last seen Luke?

The fairy dust carried them gently in the cradle between clouds and the rushing sea. The newcomers kept close to the other lost ones, better able to judge when one might be flying too low or too high. Both could have their pitfalls by now: Too low, and you might come within reach of giant mouths peppered with razor-sharp teeth or the raking claws of aquatic creatures too eager to pull a man into an underwater embrace that lasted for all eternity. If you flew too high, you might find yourself in the hunting grounds of the Neverbirds, who might also attack the Lost, whom they would otherwise rather... well... more neutrally inclined. If you could call it that, the Lost didn't feather their nests for no reason, often slipping the big, bony beasts some of their precious supplies as food as a bribe.

Luke had looked nervous; he remembered that too. She had revolved a little, sinking now and then, and then Slightly had pulled her back on course a little higher by the collar of her jacket or by her back, chuckling. Before they came within sight of the Cove, they had finally landed on the hill to the south beyond the bend in Cannibal Cove. On the cliffs to the south, where the sheer cliffs gave way to razor-sharp teeth in the foaming sea, lay the rotting remains of sunken ships. Spooky skeletons, covered in seaweed and barnacles, lolled lightly among the sharp rocks like a graveyard, eerie to the sound of gnarled groans. Between the tribal area and the mound where individual pirates were sometimes positioned as scouts, they had touched down almost silently.

With an edgy look, they watched Nibs and Slightly disappear into the thicket.... and finally crept towards the three figures sitting there on some rocks and letting their eyes wander. Staring at the same image for many hours, seeing nothing more than the sky and rolling waves or the wind brushing the treetops with its fingers, the long vigil eventually made people careless. Especially at such a late hour, when pirates were long since in their bunks, rocking by the sea, while the lost still danced around their fires, not following the course of day or night. Luke had gripped his hand nervously when the two shadows reached the pirates... and blades flashed in the moon's glow, its silver light illuminating the scene.

In the night, the blood seemed almost black, only a slight glimmer allowing a second of red flickering before the ragged pirates slumped to the ground. None had managed to utter so much as a scream before the blades opened their throats, and the life withdrew from their eyes. Agitated under his heart's drumming, they had scaled the spot. In the motherly embrace of the land mass on either side, the white beach of the Cove lolling in the moonlight.

An intoxicatingly beautiful sight, like so much of Neverland. Kissed by the moonlight, the sand looked almost silver, as if someone had plucked down the dust of the stars and scattered it there. But the distant, tiny huts where silhouettes moved attracted his gaze much faster than the landscape. Between the fireplaces and the tents, barracks, and small footbridges leading into the water, Hook's rats of the Neverseas were cavorting.

Tense and full of adventure's joyful excitement, they had crept along the coastline. Past the pirates' traps, to the pirate camp where swaying pirates sat by the fire, pouring rum on their thirst.

They had crept down to the beach together. A not inconsiderable distance, the closer they came to the last trees, the quieter they had all become. They had huddled together behind the last thicket and protected the dense greenery that hugged the beach and acted like a wall that kept the white bone sand and the pirates' gaze from penetrating the living, throbbing green that rose to the sky in the form of the mighty mountain range. The chosen few had sprinkled a little more of the shiny fairy dust over their heads, which had once been their greatest advantage, but since they grew up, it no longer had as long an effect as it used to.