“Why? Am I sick?”
He glances away. “Your leg’s not bothering you?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He drops down a step. “Not sick in a smallpox sense, no.”
“More like a plague sense, then?”
One corner of his mouth twitches. “No.”
“Am I ‘fading’?”
“Who told you that?”
“Is that why you’ve been checking up on me so much? I know there’s something wrong, Skylights. You already told me as much the last time you looked in on me.” I sigh. “Besides, I’ve seen myself in the mirror, and it’s not a pretty sight.”
His demeanor switches back to his warm bedside manner. “You’re going to be all right, Moira. Pan took something from you. You’re not ill, but you aren’t healthy, either. It’s why the mermaid bite got so infected and took such a deep hold.”
My nose prickles as unbidden tears begin to fill my vision. “Can you fix it?”
His eyes soften even more. “No. I’m sorry. I can’t. But I think the captain believes there’s a way.”
“Nessie said there’s something at the Fairy Village—wherever that is—that can help me. Do you think so?”
“That’s what the captain believes, too. I’ve always put my faith in James, and I’m not going to change that now.” He slings his bag over his shoulder. “I know it’s important for you to learn howto defend yourself, but I do hope you’ll try to rest a bit more. It might help.”
“Mmhmm.” I don’t think so. “I’ll let you know if I start feeling gross, okay?”
“All right.” He jogs down the stairs, clearly happy to be away from my questions.
I hurry to my room and close the door. Safe.
Sally sits on my windowsill again.
“There you are!” I go to her. “I was worried after you and Tinker Bell took off. Are you okay?” I bend over and peer at her feathers. “You seem all right. Did you kick her ass?”
The gull laughs.
Cecco yelps below, and Bill smacks him on the back of the head. “Stay still, you big baby.”
“Go easy.” He leans forward, his elbows on his thighs. “I’m sensitive.”
I catch sight of Widow and Starkey sneaking into one of the cottages, and Cookson starts singing a bawdy tune about a prostitute with no teeth, if I’m hearing it right. Alf joins in with a harmony in a shockingly smooth singing voice. He should’ve majored in music while he was playing at being a college student.
Turning, I stride to my bathroom and strip off my shirt as I go. As soon as I loosen my belt, my oversized pants drop to the floor with a wet thud. Gross.
I flip on the tub water. The hot isn’t super hot, but it’s a lot better than taking a cold shower. I let the water run and again inspectmyself in the mirror. I’ve been avoiding this. It scares me, if I’m being honest.
I stare at the new wrinkles and the dark hollows along my cheeks. My tears try to return when I think about how Peter did this to me. I was so foolish to believe him, but what else was I going to do? I force the tears down and pour some of the bath salts Nessie gave me into the tub, which reminds me of the clothes she mentioned.
I go to the closet and gasp at the beautiful things she’s made. Two pairs of light linen pants with intricate embroidery in aqua and pink at the hems. A white shirt much like what the pirates wear, and a light green shirt with navy thread along the collar and at the cuffs. But by far the most beautiful piece is the dress. A deep blue, one that looks to be the exact same shade of Hook’s eyes, the dress has hand embroidered golden moons and flowers at the neckline.
“You’ve outdone yourself, Nessie.” I hold it up to me, careful not to let it touch my sweaty body, then spin around. It’s going to flow out perfectly, the skirt long but billowy and slitted on either side. “Wow.” I carefully hang it up again, then return to the bath.
When I slide into the warm water, I sigh. I’m tired. The kind of tired that I never felt until I came to Neverland, until Peter took something from me. Or maybe Nessie’s right and I just gave it away freely. But I refuse to blame myself. That’s what Peter would want me to do. The gaslighting asshole. Why did Wendy make him seem so wonderful when he’s really a lying, manipulative monster? He’s not the only monster, though. There’s Hook.
Hook, the man who admitted doing all manner of heinous things. Hell, he even said he’s the reason the island’s magic is dying, that it was his greed—as Peter said—that caused it.
