“We have to find him, please!” I scream, tears burning in my eyes and mixing with the rain on my face.
“Moira, we can’t go back.” Widow spins me around and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Hook navigated us through the storm and made it seem easy. It’s anything but. Only a skilled captain can make it through there alive. If we go back in, we all die.”
“But we can’t just leave him.” My voice cracks on a sob.
“We have to.” She pulls me in tight, her arms wrapping around me. “We have to go on.”
“He could be alive.” I cry and hold onto Widow. “He could be all right.”
She just holds me as I stare at the vicious water just beyond the rear of the ship, rain pelting the surface as lightning strikes in a curtain, as if daring us to pass through it.
“He’s strong.” My knees turn to jelly, and I sink down.
Widow follows, her arms still around me.
“He’s brave.” I stare at the water and will him to appear. He has to be there, maybe just beyond the edge of the calm water. “He’s so brave. He can make it.”
Widow shushes me, and I lay my head on her shoulder, my eyes still on the roiling ocean.
I don’t know how long we sail for after that. Even as the stormy water recedes and the moon glows serenely on the glassy ocean,I look for him. For his strong arms bending the water to his will as he swims toward me. I refuse to believe he’s … An image of Anne’s knife in his back flashes through my head.
“No.” I clench my eyes shut. “No. He’s okay.” He’s survived worse. The scars on his body are a testament to that fact. And I wouldknow. I would know if he were gone. I’d feel it. Wouldn’t I? Or is there someone else out there feeling his loss but not knowing how or why? His true love, mourning a man she’s never met.
“Moira.” Widow strokes my hair. “We have to go ashore.”
“What?” I look up and see a rowboat already on the beach.
“We have to go. The Crystal Caves are just ahead. Through them you can get to the heart of the island.”
My gaze travels up, and I see huge crystalline structures, like uncut diamonds all stacked in rows, rising into the night sky. The very top ones are so high they’re shrouded in misty clouds.
“What about Hook? We should wait for him.” I wipe my face, my hand coming away wet. “We can’t?—”
“I’ll stay here.” Smee’s voice sounds a million miles away. “I’ll wait for him.”
How can I leave the ship when this is where he’ll be headed? I can’t.
“Moira.” Widow pulls away and forces me to look her in the eye. “You have to get up.”
“I don’t think I can.” I shake my head.
“You must. For the island. For all of us. Youmustbe brave.”
They’rehiswords. He told me to be brave once. But I’ve never been like him, not stalwart and strong. I’m just me.
“Moira!” Widow shakes me. “You have to remember why he brought you here. Do you think he’d want you to sit here and fall apart when you could finally set Neverland right again?”
I blink, her words sinking in slowly.
“He brought you to the heart of the island. This is where you’re meant to be. You have to finish what you started. That’s what he would want.”
She’s right. I know she’s right. But that doesn’t do anything to plug the gaping hole in my heart where Hook used to live. He should be here.
“How did she get out?” I ask. “Anne.”
“She worried one of the bolts out of the floor and used it to pick the lock.” Her gaze drops for a moment. “She cut Alf Mason from ear to ear when he stumbled on her making her escape.”
More blood on my hands. I prevented Hook from killing Anne. I’m the reason she was able to escape. “Corey. He lived in the dorm room next to mine. He was there to protect me. Hook sent him.” I feel dazed, unsure of everything around me. “He’s dead?”
