“Seriously?”
Picking at a splinter of wood on the railing of the dinghy, he flicked it into the water. “The only reason I expect my brother and I are acquainted at all is due to our relationship, as one literally cannot exist without the other. Though that is just a theory. I have no idea. It’s not like we were given a set of rules when we suddenly discovered we were aware of ourselves.”
That made sense, she guessed. What an odd existence he lived. No wonder he was a bit of a psychopath—he was literallyallthe psychopaths rolled into one, and he didn’t exactly have a normal way of expressing himself.
When they approached the shore, one of the two pirates who had been rowing jumped into the water to pull it onto the sand. Far be it from Captain Hook to get his boots more wet than he needed to.
“What’s our goal here, uh, Captain?” Sasha cringed. God, she sounded so stupid.
“Kill Peter Pan. Kidnap Wendy and bring her back to the ship as a prize for the crew.” Studying the point of his hook for a moment, he grinned. “And if she resists? Gut her like a fish.”
Sasha’s stomach twisted into a knot. Especially at the way the two other pirates chuckled and glanced at each other. She grabbed Hook’s elbow and pulled him back toward her. “That’s my sister?—”
His hand snapped around her throat faster than she could blink.“That—”Hook snarled down at her, his left eye suddenly swirling in blackness that was as deep as the void and a glowing magenta-purple. “Isourenemy. We are working together against them, or have you forgotten so soon? Do you want to die?”
“N—no.”
“Then she must.”
“You’re talking about raping or murdering my goddamn twin.” She glared up at him. “I’m not going to just stand by and let you do that to her.”
“Oh, my dear, it wasn’t going to ever be rape.” He chuckled as if she were a toddler who misunderstood how the light in the fridge worked. “It was always going to just be murder, weren’t you listening?”
“Kill me instead.”
With a grunt, he let her go and began walking again. There was an arch in the rocks up ahead that seemed to lead to a cove. “Great. I got the suicidal depressive one.Again.”
“I’m not—” She had to jog to catch up with him. Stupid tall-ass villain with his long-ass legs. “I’m not suicidal or—it’s not important. I don’t trust what you’ll do to her, and I just need to buy time to figure out a way out of this stupid game of yours.”
“Mmhm. You’re doing wonderfully so far.”
“We just started!” Now she wanted to steal his pistol and shoot him. Maybe that’s what she’d do if she had to. Just pop a cap in his ass. Wait.
Were these guns rifled? Or would the musket ball just shoot off in a random direction and take out someone else?
Working as a librarian meant you collected a lot of really random pieces of information in your head. The only time she ever really liked to go out with friends was on trivia nights. Namely, because everybody wanted her on their team. Unless it was pop culture or sports—then they had to ask somebody else.
Hook ducked close to the edge of the archway and peeked around the corner. He froze for a moment, before pressing his back flat to the wall and stifling a laugh.
Sasha frowned at him. “What?” she whispered.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” he whispered back, still clearly fighting laughter. “I think he set a new record.”
Furrowing her brow, she leaned around the edge of the archway. Her eyes went wide at what she saw. There, on the center rock, was her sister Sidney.
She was entirely naked. Her hair was wet.
And she was kissing Peter Pan.
A moment after her initial shock wore off though, it hit her. Something was wrong.
Peter broke away.
Sidney turned on her side, coughed, and retched up water.
“She almostdrowned—”Without thinking, she ran into the cove. “Sid!”
Peter looked up, startled. “Pirates!” He drew his sword and pointed it at her. “Prepare to die, Mr. Smee!”
Sasha froze mid-step. “Fuck.”
Hook stood beside her. “Yes, you’re doing justwonderfully.”
* If that is a fourth wall, does that make this a fifth? Or does that remain a third, and this is a fourth? Hmm… -V
