I do. I do with all my damn heart. But I can’t. “You know I can’t.”
“Of course you can. Hook wished for love. Peter wished for power. You can wish for Hook.” She grins. “You’re all chasing your tails, aren’t you? Hook, Peter, Moira. Moira, Peter, Hook. Pook, Meter, Hoira. Heter, Poira, Mook,” she singsongs.
I’m beginning to suspect the island isn’t all there.
“I’m all here.” She pats her bark stomach. “Don’t worry.”
“Stop reading my thoughts.” I pocket the pearl.
“Why?”
“Just tell me how I can stop the island from tearing itself apart.”
“You have to kill Peter, of course.” She blinks, her golden eyes narrowing. “He took my bargain and lost his soul. Hook took my bargain and gained his soul.” She winks. “I’m rather clever, aren’t I?”
I’d say sadistic more than clever.
She frowns as I think it. “But Peter took our bargain too far. He cheated. Stealing souls. At least Hook only took what was given to him.”
“You mean his true love?”
“Yes. You.”
“Back up.” I hold up a hand. “I thought I wasPeter’sboon.”
“You are.”
“But you just said I was Hook’s boon.”
“You are.”
She smirks. “I told you I was clever.”
“How is that clever? That’s insane. You put the two of them on course to crash into each other and wreck everything around them when they did it. And you putmein the middle of it all. Why?”
“To bring the line of ancient Spinners back home. It worked perfectly.” She waves her arm branches at me. “Here you are. Both Hook and Peter will do whatever it takes to keep you alive and here in Neverland. I never should’ve allowed Wendy to leave in the first place, but I fixed that mistake with nothing more than two wishes.” She smiles, then taps her chin. “Though I must say I didn’t foresee all the other trouble—with the sun, and Peter, and the shadows, and all that. But I’m certain once you kill Peter, the scales will balance again.”
“You’re ‘certain’? You don’t sound ‘certain’. You sound like the man behind the curtain pretending to be the Wizard!”
“I’m the magic of dreams, Moira. I’m just as trustworthy and forthright as they are.”
So, she’s neither. I learned long ago to never trust anyone in Neverland, but I didn’t realize that also applied to the island itself.
“Okay, let’s forget all that and focus on the problem. Can you turn Peter back into the little boy who wasn’t a homicidal maniac?”
“No.” She shakes her head, another leaf falling to the pool. “That time has passed. He’s gone too far, taken too many souls. He’s grown stronger with each one he’s stolen. He has to die, to leave this island and these waters forever. It’s the only way the ones he’s taken can be free.”
“Kill me?” Peter’s voice wraps around the cavern and warps as it echoes back and forth. “Is that really your plan, Moira?”
The tree melts away into a golden haze that disappears as Peter flies over the pool, headed right for me.
“You can’t be here.” I draw my sword.
“Don’t be silly, Moira. Neverland is my home. I can go wherever I like.” He eases to the crystal ground in front of me, planting his feet where the tree was standing only moments ago. His face is lined now, older than he was when I first met him on campus. Grays dominate his hair, his lips no longer as full, though his eyes are just as bright as they ever were. He looks at my sword. “Really?”
“You killed Tootles. You killed?—”
“Geo, Nibs, Foy, Carstark, Lincey, Puck …” He lists names one after the other, so many names that he has to stop and takea breath, but then he keeps going. When he’s done, he smiles down at me. “Yes. I drained them all, but that’s only because I couldn’t findyou.” He steps toward me. “But here you are. Come back to the cave with me where it’s safe.”
