Page 15 of Tick Tock, Darling

Darius reached for it and I grabbed his wrist. “Don’t touch it. You’ll burn yourself.”

Alice held an empty box. “Put it in here. This will keep us from being burned or us absorbing the magic.”

Darius frowned. “Absorb?”

“I researched the shard,” Alice said. “If you touch it, some of the magic slips into your system. It makes you powerful, but at a cost.”

I thought of Tinker Bell, her eyes, the burn on her hand. “What cost?”

“If she doesn’t release it…”

That always meant something bad. Always. “What do you mean release?”

“Her body will slowly burn from the inside out. A white aura will illuminate around her, burning brighter and brighter until she’s consumed.”

Fuck. She was going to turn into a human candle.

“How long does this take?”

“It’s Christmas, Hook. Christmas Eve is when the Christmas Star burns the brightest.”

Not what I wanted to hear. “How does she get rid of the Star’s magic?”

“By doing something good. Can’t be used for anything bad.”

Stopping Pan. Keeping him in the Elder Dimension. “Would sealing the portal work?”

She frowned. “Possibly. But I’m not sure that’s enough.”

Not enough? What would big enough be?

A Christmas miracle. Like saving my sister. Maybe the Star's magic could destroy the thing inside her.

I didn't think that was possible. God, I hoped I was wrong.

Chapter Six

Tinker Bell

Pan yanked me down the pebbled path. I wanted to scream and there was nobody in this forest to hear it.

Keir and Brynn were on this side somewhere. Brynn had wanted to spend Christmas with her brothers at the castle, and I’d told her to go, and I had no idea where that castle was. Might as well have been the moon.

But it was somewhere. That was more than I’d had a minute ago.

I started counting. Steps down the path, turns, the way the ground rose. Everything I could hold onto. If this binding ever slipped for ten seconds I wasn’t going to waste them wondering which direction I’d come from.

I stumbled. “Why are we walking? Does Wendy not have any more of that flying dust?”

He pulled me next to his chest. “She’s got plenty of it, but I wanted to keep a low profile.”

“Why?”

He grinned. “You ask too many questions, Tink.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“He could call you Bitch.” Wendy smiled. “Would you like that better?”