AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Never set the utensil down slowly and finally looked up. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that bullshit? Every kid knows that story. Peter Pan, Neverland, Wendy Darling, and Captain Hook.” Anger laced with venom spilled from her lips as her voice ticked lower with each word. “Why not tell me your name is Kris Kringle or The Easter Bunny or fucking Thor?” Her gaze raked up and down my chest. “I think it’s because you’re an insecure asshole who likes to poke fun at people who don’t cower when you have a little tantrum.”
Speaking of tantrums…
She knew she wasn’t in her world anymore, she’d said as much, but she also didn’t believe in mine. At all, apparently.
I could have let her continue to eviscerate me with that double-edged tongue of hers while she burned herself out, but when the truth actually settled, I doubted she would feel good about her words.
No, what I needed to do was find a way to make her believe. “Can I show you something?”
She leaned back in her chair, kicking one of her booted feet up on the carved base of the table. I supposed that wasn’t a no, technically, so I stood and moved across the room to the curtains, pulling them back one by one until my quarters were awash in cool moonlight.
“Come here, please.” I motioned to the windows.
She stayed in her seat for several heart beats, but then it scraped back against the wooden floor and she stomped over to me. “What?”
I drew in a deep breath and tried to find the right words. “You accept that this isn’t your world, correct?”
She gave me a sharp nod.
“Which means you accept that other worlds or realms exist?”
“Obviously.” She ground the word out through clenched teeth.
“Then what is it about this place, about who I am, that would lead you to believe I’m being dishonest?”
“Because what you’re talking about is a made-up story. A hallucination told by a mad woman that was twisted into a fairy tale for entertainment. It’s pure fiction.”
And there we had it, the root of the problem.
“Who was the mad woman?” I thought I knew the answer, but a little confirmation might help her convince herself of the truth.
“Seriously?” She slanted her eyes toward me, then sighed as though she carried the weight of the universe on her shoulders. “She was my great-grandmother, the first Wendy Darling. According to the police reports, she and her brothers ran away from home, but only Wendy was ever found. She’d always insisted the boys were taken to a magical island in the middle of nowhere by a demon. In her version, she’d found a way to that island, tried and failed to save her brothers, then found her way back to London.
“No one believed her. And when she refused to tell the truth about what had really happened to her brothers, she was put in an asylum. Eventually, a writer got hold of her story and flipped it into the fairy tale everyone knows and loves.” Sarcasm dripped from the last few words.
“Is that why you hate your name, because of her?”
“It was more because of the story, originally. Then it became about the truth behind the tale, that it was based on the nightmares and delusions of a raving lunatic. Darling is synonymous with crazy in my world.”
I ran a hand over the back of my neck. Hearing what had happened to Wendy all those years earlier was almost tragic. Almost. “She was telling the truth, at least partly.”
Never turned abruptly and stalked back to the table. “And now I’m done playing.”
“Give me five minutes.” I didn’t know if that was enough time to explain what had really happened, or to convince her to believe it, but the woman couldn’t go on refusing to see what was right in front of her.
She didn’t answer right away, but when she sat down and picked up her fork, it felt like I’d won some small measure of trust.
“You have until there is no food left on my plate. After that, this conversation is over.”
I nodded once. “Agreed.” I didn’t give her time to interrupt me or to set any more restrictions. I tilted my head toward the windows, careful not to take my eyes off her. “That island is called Nusthena. Well, some people call it that. It has been known by several names through the span of time. It means, roughly,nowhere. The girl you speak of, your great-grandmum, did find her way to the island to try to save her brothers and she did fail.”
Never shook her head a little at that, but she didn’t interrupt. She also wasn’t shoveling food in her mouth to cut my time short, which I took as a glimmer of hope.
“Those were things she was telling the truth about, more or less.” I moved to the row of cabinets on the far wall and knelt to open one of the lower doors. The book I wanted was buried behind a wall of others.
Its worn leather cover was cold against my fingers as I headed back to the table and placed it next to Never’s plate. She eyed it suspiciously but didn’t reach for it.
I took my seat across from her again, leaning back. “I am Captain Atlas Hook, though the Hook moniker had become something of a cruel joke long before I met Wendy. You should know, no one who finds value in keeping their intestines on the inside of their body typically dares to use it. Now I go by Captain or, to my dearest friends, Atlas.”
