“Stop this.” She glared up at Hook. “Let him go. Stop this. Please.”
“Get used to this, dear. It’s nothing compared to what’s waiting for you.” He settled his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Believe it or not, I’m doing this to be kind to you.”
That earned him a laugh. “Fuck you.”
“I said ‘or not.’” He sighed. “Would you prefer I dropped you into a war between men and orcs with no guide, no warning, no explanation of how any of this worked?” He gestured with his hook to the scene in front of them. “No breaking character? Let you watch the slaughter of entire villages as we setourarmies forth through the countryside? You’re new to this game of villainy. I am not. I’m trying to ease you into this. I am trying my best to be mindful of your emotions.”
She stared at the young boy as one of the pirates walked onto the plank behind him. He had nowhere to go. Nowhere to escape to. If Peter Pan didn’t save him now, there was no chance of survival.
The pirate drew his sword from his belt.
Peter Pan would save him.
Peter Panhadto save him.
That was how these stories worked.
Wasn’t it?
The pirate slashed at the boy with his sword, forcing him to either be sliced open, or jump backward and off the plank into the water.
The boy tried to split the difference and lean backwards instead. He slipped. Wailing in fear, he hung there for a split second?—
And then fell.
Sasha ran forward to the railing, leaning over, her heart in her throat. She prayed to see no break in the water—expected to see Peter sailing up into the sky, having caught the boy.
For a moment, that reality played itself out in her mind.
But the sight that greeted her over the railing was anything but a last minute rescue.
Pirates cheered and shouted.
The surface of the ocean was a spray of foam and crimson and the flash of crocodile tail and teeth.
Vhmmmmmm—SNAP!
She knew the boy hadn’t been dead when he’d felt the crocodile teeth bite into him. Not like the mermaid. Not this time.
No.
No, she couldn’t do this. She just couldn’t.
Turning from the railing she took a few staggering, broken steps away from the scene and laced her fingers into her hair.
Hook came up beside her, placing his hand on her back. “Breathe.”
Panic quickly overwhelmed her.
They aren’t real. They aren’t real. Just characters in a book. Just NPCs in a video game. You kill them all the time, don’t you?She was shaking.
Was she going to pass out? Holy shit, she might actually pass out.
The world was doing that…fuzzy tunnel vision thing.
Her hands and feet were starting to tingle.
The sound of shouting children and laughing pirates, the splashing of people being thrown to crocodiles all sounded far away. It was easy to ignore it, to pretend it was just a movie or a summer game being played a mile away through a field.
