Flying

Chapter 7: Attached

My head is killing me. It feels like a sledgehammer is slamming into my temples. There is a sour taste in my mouth, and I swallow several times to clear it away. I crack my eyes open and blink several times in the harsh sunlight. The brightness doesn't help the aching in my head. But at least, I'm still alive, and all my limbs still seem to be intact. Things could be much worse, and with my luck lately, they will be. Glancing around, I take in my surroundings. A tall tree with outspread branches is above me, dropping copper colored leaves into a clear pool nearby. Slowly, I sit up and stretch my stiff muscles.

"Mirror Glade," I whisper.

The freshwater pool is just off the ocean shoreline. I shake out my wet hair and struggle up to my feet.

"So that's what this place is called."

Whirling around, I see James Hook standing behind me. He is missing his pretentious scarlet coat and white shirt. His feet are bare, and his black trousers are rolled up to his knees. Drops of water trickle off his muscular chest. Unlike Peter, Hook's skin is a dark olive, bronzed by long exposure to the sun. I would never have guessed the two were brothers. The corners of Hook's mouth curve upward in an amused smile.

"Like what you are looking at, lovey?"

Slowly, I scan him up and down with cold eyes. Flicker says my icy gaze has more power than my magic ever will. Turning away, I look back at Mirror Glade as if bored with the pirate.

"Not much. I've seen better."

"Surprised to see me?" Hook smirks at me.

"You could say that," I reply stiffly. "I fully expected to wake up dead because of you, pirate."

"Is that possible? To wake up dead?"

"I don't know." I place my hands on my hips. "Why don't you try it and see?"

"You want a celebration that you're still alive?" Hook grins. "Maybe flowers and cake?"

"I'd settle for you leaving," I retort.

"You could at least say thanks, lovey."

"For what?" I scoff.

"I saved your life."

"Somehow, I doubt that, pirate," I say caustically.

"You know you can stop calling me pirate. I have a name."

"I know. James Hook," I answer, rolling my eyes.

"Don't be so formal. Call me Captain Hook."

"Tell me, Hook," I emphasize his name, "how did you supposedly save my life?"

Sitting down next to the tree, Hook looks up at me and pats the ground next to him. I raise an eyebrow at him, and he shrugs.

"Fine, lovey. Have it your way. You were unconscious in the ocean after that idiotic attempt to escape. I swam down, cut the ropes from you, and dragged you to the surface. I'll be honest. I still had doubts as to my abilities to take both of our weight despite my prodigious strength." Hook shakes back his thick hair. "Then, these women with fish tails came out of nowhere and picked both of us up. They swam us to the shoreline and pointed for me to take you in this direction. I dropped you under this tree, and you woke up for a second, coughed up a lot of water, and then were so rude to fall back asleep without so much as saying a word."

"So actually the mermaids saved me." I know he's hoping I get distracted by his perfectly chiseled abdomen, but I keep my eyes carefully trained on his face.

"Oh, that's what those lovely creatures are called." Hook shrugs his shirt on without bothering to button it up. "Well, I guess you could say it was a joint effort."