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“And what in the gods’ names do you plan to do with that?” His eyes narrow into slits.
“Come find out.” I shove the tablet at him, sending the glass cups and whiskey bottle to the ground. They shatter and shards fly out across the stones. The table meets his middle and he doubles over. I barely take a step before he’s upright again, lifting his hand, and lightning crackles in the air. Static bolts surround his fingertips, forming a whip that lashes out towards me. I don’t have time to move before it wraps around my neck and the smell of burnt flesh fills my nose.
My teeth mash together, grinding the enamel to try to ward off the pain that sears through me. But it’s not me I’m worried about. Scarlet shares the bond now, and she’ll feel every ounce of the pain I do. My breaths are shallow as I fight for air, desperate to get anything in my lungs, but his grip is too tight.
With a flick of his wrist, I’m yanked toward him so hard I lose my footing. His power releases me as my hands connect with the ground, and glass shoots through my palms. Wincing, I bite my lips together, smothering the cry that threatens to claw its way out of my throat.
I get one foot on the ground before his boot lands on my side, knocking the air from my lungs. My throat spasms, the pressure building in my face as I fight to breathe, swallowing down the bile that comes up.
“You thought you could kill me with a piece of wood. It’s demeaning,” he seethes, stepping closer.
“I don’t care how I kill you, as long as you rot.” Clawing my hands into the ground, I try to force my legs beneath me, but he kicks again and this time the force is so strong it knocks me onto my back. Glass digs in and I can feel the blood dripping down my flesh.
“You just don’t know when to quit.” He stands next to me, looking down like I’m the most pathetic man he’s ever seen. I can’t move as I catch my breath. I’m still recovering from drowning and being stabbed through by poisonous coral. At this rate, it makes me wish I could bum Lorian’s lives.
His lightning coils around my body again, digging deep. It burns through my clothes and scorches across my skin. My muscles strain, tightening to the point that I can feel the threads within them snap as a guttural scream rips through the back of my throat. Currents slip over my body in waves, but I grip the stack and push it into the cord of power he has wrapped around me, smelling the burnt cedar as it plumes into the air. Smoke coils up, dark and suffocating, as the wooden chair leg catches fire. My uncle lets up, eyeing me like he’s unsure of what I plan to do. He watches me turn over, staring up at him from my hands and knees, careful to keep the wooden piece from touching the ground.
“Tell me, do you think your witches prefer to float or burn?”
His brow furrows and I shove the burning tip of the wooden chair leg into the ground. The moonstones won’t burn, but the pyrite between them will as long as there’s something to ignite it. Now that I’ve bought enough time for the whiskey to sink deep enough, it ignites the pyrite.
I lurch to my feet, rushing forward, and slam into my uncle. I take him through a shadow with me, popping up closer to the tree line as flames explode through the tent, lighting up the boats on the shore and the witches huddled around them. They scream and run as flames lick across their skin, burning to the bone. Pebbles fly, raining down onto the shore, catching new places on fire. Every part of the coast bathed in white stones ignites, creating a ring of flames around Neverland.
My mother taught me that. It was supposed to be how we warned my father that something happened. I’ve only ever had to do it once, but she made sure I knew how. The fool’s gold beneath the moonstone ledge runs deep and it’ll burn for hours but never spread onto the island. According to her, the flames are bright enough to be seen from the Luminaries or any place between there and Solaria.
The last time it burned was the day my mother died. How fitting that it ignites again on the day my uncle does, seeing as he’s the reason I had to go through losing her. It’d been my uncle’s idea to take my memories and lock them away, but since I jumped off the ship, they’ve come back piece by piece--the good, the bad, and the worst of them being the day this fucking ring burned.
I cried as I lit those stones. My bloody hands trembled as I held my little sister. I mourned while trying to figure out how to care for an infant by myself until my father could come for us, and it took days. I had to bury our mother myself and it was all because of him, because he wanted to go see the nymphs. My uncle let me wander off because he wanted to talk to them instead of watching the boy in his charge. He’s the reason they had to open Pan’s vault. My uncle chose to love my mother, and it took her from me and Smee.
My fist collides with his face and I see red. The world disappears around me as I punch him, over and over, until blood coats my fingers and I have no idea if it’s his or mine. It takes everything I have no to end him here and now, but I don’t know where Smee is, and I can’t leave her behind.
“Where is she?” I shout the words in his face, yanking my uncle up by his shirt as I straddle his torso. His eyes flutter and blood spews from his nose and mouth. His eyes are bloodshot and riddled with ruptured vessels.
“Which one?” He grins at me, flashing bloody teeth.
“Where is my sister? You better use your fucking words before I start breaking bones one by one. Where is Smee?”
“She’s in the vault. You have until the moons come out to come get her, or she’s dead.” He coughs up blood and his face warps before my eyes, changing between a witch and my uncle in flickers of a second. He possessed her and glamoured her face... The magic is dying along with the witch. But if my uncle isn’t here, then—Boom.
My heart stops beating in my chest as I look over my shoulder to find my ship burning. The ship I just sent Zephyr and Scarlet to.
“No.” I breathe. No, no, no. The witch is dead when I turn back to her and push up to my feet. I bury my hands in my hair, turning to watch the ship fall apart. “No!”
The flames lick the sky, painting it orange and red as the last remains of hope smolder away into nothingness. Smoke billows out from its shattered hull and the screams of those onboard are loud enough to reach my ears. One in particular that’s distinctly feminine.
Dropping to my knees, my body goes weak. My heart feels like it’s been ripped from my chest, a jagged, empty pain. My hands curl into fists, and my nails dig into my palms until they bleed.
I did this... I should’ve eaten the leaves while I had the chance. Now, not only have I lost Scarlet, but I might lose them both. The compass to find the vault was on that ship. And if Smee is there, I’ll never get to her in time without knowing where I’m going.
41
Hook
JustasIstartto stand up, to figure out what to do in order to save Smee, something massive darkens the sky. Groans of wood split the air and when I look up, I find the bottom of a ship floating above me, swooping in low and fast.
What the hell...The thought dies in my head as I spot the black sails and the skull and crossbones.The Jolly Roger.
They’re alive.
