Nibs’s mouth falls open, his eyes widening. “Moira, you can’t?—”
“Let her go.” Coy pushes Nibs’s knife hand down and away from Ari’s throat. “I’ll have a word with Tink when we get back.”
“Tinker Bell?” I spin on Coy. “She did this?”
“Has to be. She’s the only one with enough power to bind Ari’s will to keep her from giving us a name.”
“That no-good fairy.” What did I ever do to make her hate me so much? “And to think I always believed she was goodness and light and a friend to Wendy and the Lost Boys.”
“A friend to the Lost Boys, sure.” Nibs finally pushes Ari out of his grasp. “The Darlings, not so much, no.”
“Why?” I can only think of one reason, but that can’t be it. There’s no way a fairy could be?—
“Jealous.” Coy watches Ari as she hobbles away across the sand, her back bent, her head hanging low. “She’s always been possessive of Peter, but this behavior is far worse than ever before.”
“What?” I pull my collar and peer down my shirt to see if there’s a mark where her spell hit me. It’s clear, the skin unmarked. “She’s got no reason to be jealous. It’s not like she and Peter are together. Besides, I’m not here to get into a relationship with a perpetual boy who never wants to grow up. I can do that just fine on the mainland, thank you very much.”
Coy smirks. “The way you talk …”
“What about it?”
“Oi!” Slightly calls as he walks up, his gaze on the burlap sack in his hands. “I’ve got some good bits of cod and some mostly fresh filets of halibut. I snagged a loaf of bread from Polly, and it only has a little mold around the back. I got a sack of grain, though, so we can make our own. And the star of the show—” Slightly pulls a small bag from his pocket, then finally looks up at us. His face falls. “Wait. What’d I miss?”
“Nothing. What’s in the bag?” Coy asks.
He holds it up toward me, and that’s when I catch the scent on the air. I swallow a moan. “Coffee!” I grab at the bag, but Slightly holds it over his head so I can’t reach it. This is so not the time for a game of keep away. “I need it in my veins!”
He clucks his tongue. “Careful, Moira. I had to give up half my pirate gold for this, so we can’t waste any.”
“I’ll pay you back.” My mouth waters at the heavenly scent. “I promise. Just give it to me.”
“Peter will cover it.” Coy glances around. “Speaking of, let’s get back to the cave. The moon’s getting high. We don’t want to be caught out when it’s overhead.” He puts a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to stop trying to jump up for the bag. “You can have some when we get back, all right?”
I huff a little, but hedoeshave a point. The only hut with smoke coming from it is Carge’s, and I’m not interested in sharing his fire or my coffee. “Okay, I’m ready to go. Like, yesterday.”
“I got everything I need.” Slightly hefts a sack over his shoulder. “Let’s get to it.”
I take one last look around the tiny village, my eyes trying to pick out the shape of Ari amidst the gloom. I don’t see her, but I could swear I feel her eyes on me as we make our way back up the beach and into the forest, the darkness gathering around us as we trek back the way we came.
The eerie forest makes me think back to what Geo had said in the tree. “Do you know what the shadows are?” I ask.
Nibs stops short, and Tootles turns to look at me with wide eyes. “Shadows?”
“Yeah, Geo was asking Peter about them when he took me up into the Nevertree. He said they come out on a full moon.” I glance up, but the moon is shrouded in clouds again.
“Geo is full of shit even on his good days.” Coy gestures for us to keep walking.
I pick my way across a stream, then climb the bank on the other side. “He seemed scared, though. The others did too.”
“I don’t know anything about shadows, but?—”
“I think Peter’s shadow attacked me in my dorm room.” I pipe back up as the memory returns. “Like it was a real, living thing. Which is crazy. But so is all this.” I offer Coy my hand, and he takes it and heaves himself out of the stream bed.
“Peter’s shadow is different. It’s real,” Tootles says. “Like another Peter, but even sneakier, if you can imagine.”
“I can’t.”
“That’s not what Geo’s talking about. He thinks there’s something hunting Lost Boys on the full moon, and he’s right,” Coy says. “We stay inside when the full moon rises. The island is ruled by it, all manner of wild things crawling along the ground and flying through the air. It’s dangerous to be out. But there are plenty of Lost Boys who think they can survive it, who think they can slay the beasts that roam and roar. They always pay for it with their lives,” he finishes grimly.
