“In Wendy’s story, she said Peter cut off your—” I scream loud and long as my leg seems to catch fire and burn down to the bone.
“Sky, go easy!” Hook barks as his grip on me tightens.
I try to thrash, to kick, but I’m locked down and awash in pain. “Stop, please!”
“Almost got it.”
I scream again, unable to stop myself as Hook looms over me, his grip keeping me still as Skylights tortures me. “Please.” I sob. “Please don’t.”
“Done!” Skylights yells, and the raging inferno lessens, but it still burns, flames licking up my leg.
Hook pulls me to him, wrapping me in his arms and holding me tightly against his chest as I go limp. “Give her that pill! Now!”
A shadow moves behind my pirate—my Hook—and then he’s pressing a pill between my lips and plying me with water.
I cough and spit, but Hook grabs the pill again and forces it into my mouth.
His rough hand comes down on my lips, and he uses his other to rub my throat until I’m forced to swallow. “That’s it, lass. Let it settle in your gut.”
“It hurts.” I loathe the weakness in my voice, the pain that seems to grow bigger, jaws open wide and ready to consume every last bit of me.
“Shh, lass.” Hook captures me in his arms again and lays me down, then drags his thumbs across my cheeks. “No more tears. The medicine will work fast on an empty stomach.”
I rest my head in the crook of his neck, inhaling his sea and pine scent and letting delirium take me. What would Peter say if he saw me now? In the embrace of a pirate captain while his crew of monsters answer to my beck and call. He’d hate me. But not as much asIhate me.
He and Skylights are speaking, but I can’t make out any words. It’s like the TV is on in the background, the low hum of a sitcom, or perhaps some British show from PBS. Something about a modern major general and pirates and men wearing eyeliner who seduce every damsel they meet. I laugh. It doesn’t hurt to laugh. Not right now. My mother would laugh, too, sometimes. She’d come out of her daydream with a giggle, not a scream. I’m trapped with her now. Both of us staring at a wall and seeing nothing.Nothing.
“Nothing.” I try to explain it to Hook, to the man with the beautiful blue eyes and the heart of a murderer. “Nothing,” I whisper.
He strokes my hair, his gaze never leaving mine. Like he’s invested. Like he actually cares if I live or die. Delirious, indeed.
When I close my eyes, I see Coy. The look on his face. The surprise in his eyes, the confusion, the fear. He wasafraid. I watched him die and did nothing.Nothing.
I’m the monster who’s come to the island to feast on its heart. It’s not Hook. It’s me. I’m the rot. I’m the one soaked in Coy’s blood, his life draining away and leaching into my skin.
“I’m sorry.” I reach for him, for Coy who falls toward me, hand outstretched. “I’m so sorry. Forgive me. Please forgive me. Please, please, Coy. I’m sorry.”
But he never does. Because he’s dead on the ground, and I’m in the arms of his killer.
Chapter
Five
“—no saving her, James. She’s too far gone.” A gruff voice, one I don’t recognize, pulls me from the darkness.
Where the hell am I? I can’t get my bearings. I was just on the Jolly Roger, wasn’t I? But I don’t think I’m there anymore. Maybe I’ve been rescued.
“Peter!” I call for him, but he doesn’t answer. “Peter where are you? Help me!”
“Don’t summon that cunt.” The gruff voice rumbles nearby. “Lord knows we have enough trouble as it is.”
“Huran, you’d better save her, or I’ll hang you from my goddamn mainsail.” Hook is right beside me, his demeanor tinged with murder.
“Don’t you threaten him. I’m warning you, James. This’ll turn ugly fast.” The gruff voice is somehow even angrier. “He’s doing all he can.”
“He needs to do more, a whole fucking lot more.”
Tension snaps in the air, and I could swear I hear a sword being drawn, scraping along the edge of its scabbard. But then again, I’ve always had a vivid imagination. I’d laugh at the insanity of all this if I weren’t burning in fiery agony. Nope, I haven’t been rescued. Just delivered to some other version of hell by way of Neverland.
