Peter Pan pulled a rapier from his belt, and held it in front of him. “Who dares challenge me?”
The pirates all immediately backed away from him. No one wanted a piece of Peter Pan. The remaining Lost Boys picked themselves up and ran into the jungle behind their leader, disappearing into the overgrowth.
The hero smiled triumphantly. “Cowards. If you won’t stand and fight, then run back to your ship and tell your Captain?—”
“And what,precisely,would you have them tell me?”
Sasha had seen plenty of depictions of Captain Hook over the years. Most of the time, he was shown as a cheesy, foppish, ridiculous character. Sometimes, they might play him as handsome or even misunderstood.
But never in her life had she ever read or seen a version of the man that seemed to make the air in the jungle gocold.
From first glance, it was obvious who he was. He had long, wavy black hair that was kept back in a red ribbon at the base of his neck. A black goatee and eyes like coals offset sharp features. He wore a long, crimson coat, detailed in black and silver with lace draping from the cuffs. Black leather pants were tucked into knee-high bootsthat were stitched in such a way that the tops folded down. There was even a large plume of a black feather that stuck out from the back of the tricorn hat he wore.
And there, for a right hand, was the famous crooked, sharpened piece of metal.
From that description alone, he might have been any normal Captain Hook. It was in the details that everything seemed to go wrong. The bottom of his coat was blackened with char and what she suspected was dried blood, turning it a strange kind of gradient from bottom to top. The lace was ripped and sepia-stained. The silver buttons on his coat were tarnished and chipped.
And the hook—the hook wasn’t a curved, smooth and shining thing. It wasn’t something that was polished and pampered and kept with a cork over the point in some lavish velvet box. No, it was a jagged, angry, wicked looking thing.
It was hammered flat and sharpened like a blade. Its steel was oiled to a dark color, rusted in some places and scratched to hell in others—this was a thing for killing, and it was usedoften.
It was just as fanciful as the hook it was based on, maybe, but it dreamt of very different things.
That’s what he was. If the versions of Captain Hook she had seen before in her life were the versions that lived in a dream, what she saw in front of her was thenightmare.
Hook walked past her without even looking at her, eyes locked on Peter Pan. “Shall we dispense with the pleasantries,old friend,and simply jump to the conclusion?”
Nervously, Peter took a step back—clearly afraid of Captain Hook in open combat. This wasn’t the cocky, laughing cartoon, always certain he’d get the one-up on his foe.
Hook leveled his rapier at Pan. “Stand and fight. Or, run. Like you always do.”
Peter flinched. “Because you don’t fightfair.”
Hook laughed, a sound that sent a shiver down her spine. “You accusemeof fighting with bad form? Pah! You merely wish tocomplain that I fight with this.” He lifted the hook. “Whose fault is it that I wield a blade with my off-hand these days, boy?”
Someone came crashing out of the overgrowth, looking like a baby deer who hadn’t figured out how to use their legs yet. She was wearing a blue cotton dress. Sasha knew her face on sight.
She’d have to. It was her own face too, after all.“Sid!”Her legs were moving before she realized she had even started running toward her sister.
“Sasha!” Sidney started running toward her in return.
Sasha almost collided with her in the middle of what had just been a bloodbath, ignoring the dead bodies and puddles of gore as she hugged her sister desperately.
Sidney was already weeping into her shoulder. “I’m so scared, I was so scared, I still am—I, oh god, Sash, this guy—your guy, we have to warn you—are you okay? Did he hurt you? What’shappening?”Sidney was babbling.
Not like Sasha could blame her. She felt exactly the same way. “I don’t know, I really don’t—” She clutched Sidney close, relief washing over her. Well, no. Relief was the wrong word. “I was really hoping none of this was real…”
Sidney sniffled and lifted her head, wiping her tears. “Ditto. Maybe it’s still drugs?”
“Maybe.” But she was very much starting to believe it wasn’t. “I?—”
“You’re bothruiningthe sceeeene.”Hook whined through a long sigh. But it wasn’t with the voice he’d been using before. That was with Vile’s voice.
Oh. Now she was starting to get it.
“Let us go!” Turning, she kept her body between the Captain Hook she surmised was actuallyVile, and her twin. “Why did you bring me here? Why did you dragherinto this now?”
“First of all, I have nothing to do with your sister being here.” Captain Hook rolled his eyes. His voice was still that of Vile’s, however. His whole demeanor changed. Like an actor playing a role, the posture of Hook became more relaxed. More debonair. More likeVileand less the pirate captain. Sasha saw one of his eyes glow an eerie shade of purple.
