Escaping Neverland (10 page)

“Do you know what your creations are doing? Do you
know how many fairies you’ve killed just to get them to move? It’s disgusting.”
I was yelling now, my face and ears hot with anger.

When his face went pale, I felt a moment of
regret, but pushed on. “What’s happened to you? You’re a monster.”

Jake licked his lips, still pale, and then his
face shut down. “Whatever,” he said. He rushed over to one of his tables and
pushed a button on a small metal creature. It whirred to life, hovering in
front of his face.

“Go find the Captain,” he said, his voice hard and
cold. “Tell him I’ve captured the girl that came here with me.”

The creature was gone before I could stop it,
before I could even move off the floor in my astonishment. “Why did you do
that?” I asked. He’d just betrayed me. My best friend, the whole reason I was
here in the first place, and he’d just handed me over to the Captain like I was
a stranger.

Jake shrugged. “I was doing fine here before you
came along. I don’t need or want your help. I was ordered to capture you, so
that’s what I did.”

I shook my head. “You were ordered to make your
creations capture me, not capture me yourself.”

He shrugged again. “Same difference. Isn’t that
what you just said? I’m a monster, remember? You shouldn’t be so surprised.”

“Jake,” I whispered. “Don’t do this. I’m here to
help you. We can figure something out.” But the spell was becoming more
insistent now, pounding in my temples. I had to do something before I was
unable to.

He didn’t answer, his hands deep inside the metal
horse. I looked at my spiders, unsure what to do. The sound of footsteps out in
the hallway suddenly clanged through the room. In a panic, I lurched to my
feet, cringing behind the spiders.

“Attack whoever comes through the door,” I said.

The spiders scurried forward, front legs hovering
in readiness. I grabbed a big metal wrench off the table next to me, darting a
quick look at the wolf to see what it was going to do.

It just sat there, so I turned my eyes back to the
door. Jake may have given up, but I refused to go down without a fight.

When a familiar, grungy face rounded the door
frame, the spiders lurched forward. William barely avoided getting bitten by
hopping into the air to hover above the floor.

“No,” I cried. “Don’t hurt him!”

The spiders immediately backed up, legs lowered
back to the floor. William glared at me and I shrugged.

“I thought you were the Captain. Jake sent
something to get him. Where in the hell were you?”

William shrugged. “I saw the Captain. I went to
fight him.” He frowned and looked at Jake. “So this is him?” William didn’t
sound very impressed.

Jake put his hands on his hips. “Who in the hell
is this?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s William, Jake. The
Captain’s brother.”

Jake looked fascinated for a moment, and then
shrugged and went back to his horse. “The Captain will be happy I’ve caught you
both,” he muttered.

I wanted to walk over and shove him into his
stupid metal horse. Instead, I looked at William. “He doesn’t really want to
leave,” I explained.

William rolled his eyes. “I told you he wouldn’t.”

Embarrassed, I shook my head. “No, um…he really
doesn’t want to leave. He likes it here.” I knew I’d made a mistake when
William’s eyes darkened. Before I could stop him, he’d hopped up over the horse
and pushed Jake to the floor.

“So you like killing innocent little fairies, huh?
You like killing people? You’re pathetic!”  William yelled.

“Stop!” I said. “He’s just confused. We need to
leave now.”

William looked at me. “He’s not worth saving.”

The spell pulsed, as if in agreement with
William’s words, but I shook my head. “I don’t believe that. This isn’t who he
is.”

Jake just laid there on the floor, not moving. His
eyes were closed, as if he didn’t care what happened. The metal wolf still sat
and stared at me, not registering William’s presence at all.

“So you still want to save him? Even though he’s being
a—“

“Yes,” I said, interrupting William. “He’s my best
friend. Nothing’s going to change that.” Not even the spell that was gnawing
away at my insides.

William looked at me like I was crazy and then
without warning, lunged over to Jake and threw him over his shoulder in a
fireman’s carry. Jake cried out, kicked his feet, and went right over William’s
back. I winced. It looked like he landed on his head.

I glared at William. “You did that on purpose,” I
said and hurried over to Jake. The wolf creaked as its head followed my
progress.

“Jake, are you alright?” I asked.

He pushed my hands away. “Don’t touch me.” He
stood again up. “I’m not leaving. I already told you. So why don’t you just
leave me alone and get out of here? Go hang out with all your fairy friends.”

I tried to keep my anger down, tried to understand
that Jake was probably under a lot of pressure, but it didn’t work. At all.
“You’re being a jerk,” I said.

“Yeah? Well, I’m not making you stay here and put
up with it, am I? I told you to leave.” His voice rose on the last sentence
until he was yelling in my face.

Disgusted, I wiped the spit off my cheek. “Fine.
You don’t want to come on your own? I’m okay with that too.”

I turned to one of the spiders. “Bite him in the
chest.”

The spider was across the room and leaping onto
Jake before I could even react or feel sorry for what I’d done. Jake screamed
and fell to the floor.

I leaned over Jake, feeling a little guilty that I
hadn’t warned him. His eyes were watering, but he glared at me through the
tears.

“I hate you,” he slurred. The venom was already
working, each beat of his heart pushing the venom farther and farther into his
body.

I patted his hand, knowing he couldn’t feel it.
“Yeah, well, I kind of hate you right now too. We’ll deal with it later.”

I turned back to William and then cursed. The wolf
still sat staring at me. I’d completely forgotten about it. Even if William
could take Jake out of here, the wolf wasn’t going to let me go.

“What?” William asked.

I pointed at the wolf. “It’s been ordered to hold
me here until the Captain comes.”

He looked at it, and I could see from his eyes
that he didn’t have any ideas.

“I’ve already disabled its programming.”

The voice made me jump. I hadn’t even seen the
small boy from a few doors down come in the room, but he stood there against
the wall right inside the door.

“Terence, right?” I asked.

The boy nodded. He looked pitiful with his dirty,
messed up hair and bruise. I wanted to give him a giant hug.

“Please take me with you,” he said.

I glanced at William and he frowned. “I can’t
carry that many.”

I licked my lips. “Fine. I’ll take him with me.
Stormy can carry two.” I pointed at Jake. ““Grab him and let’s go.”

William gave his trademark little shrug and slung
Jake back up over his shoulder.

“Don’t drop Jake again,” I warned.

William just shrugged and turned to leave. He ran
straight into the Captain. He let out a strangled cry, dropping Jake to the
floor with a muffled thud and flew backwards across the room, hand darting to his
belt.

Even as the Captain began to speak, William shoved
something in his ears and then lunged at the Captain with a guttural cry of
rage, pushing him back through the door. Terence was gone, disappeared in the
confusion back to his room probably.

The Captain let out a bray of laughter and from
out in the hallway I heard the clash of steel on steel. I looked around for my
spiders, but realized they’d already gone after the two men the Captain had
brought with him. One of the spiders slumped in a jumble of torn limbs and
blood on the floor near the door right by one of the men who lay limp and
still. The other spider was limping around with only six legs.

“Stop,” I said, motioning the other spider away. I
didn’t want my creations dying to protect me.

The man the Captain brought with him gave me a
grin and sliced down through the back of the unmoving spider. I looked at the
remains of my creation and back at the sailor, or whatever he was. Without
thinking, I grabbed the first tool I could find off the nearest table and
launched myself at him.

He must have been as surprised as I was at my
attack, because I clocked him right in the head with a wrench and he went down
like a falling tree.

I turned to Jake, trying to figure out how I could
pick him up. Finally, I settled for dragging him away. He was heavy, and I was
tired from all the walking we’d done through the jungle to get to the beach,
but I was almost to the stairway that led to the open deck when I had to stop.

William and the Captain were still going at it.
William had a bleeding cut on his face, and the Captain was favoring his left
arm. A steady trickle of blood flowed from both of them, spattering the floor.
It made me sick to my stomach. When they’d moved far enough away, I pulled Jake
to the stairway door and then paused. I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate me just
pushing him down the stairs. Realizing I couldn’t do it by myself, I called out
to William.

“William, I need your help. Please!”

William shot a look my way, and I realized too
late how stupid I was for distracting him. He took a hit to his sword arm right
above the elbow. The blade dropped from his limp hand and he stumbled
backwards. With one final, unreadable look at me, he turned and flew off down
the corridor.

For a moment, I thought the Captain would follow
him, but instead he turned and looked at me.

“Looks like William’s performed one of his best
tricks. He’s disappeared, and left you here all by your lonesome.”

I lifted my chin, not giving him the satisfaction
of cowering. “Yeah, well. At least he gives being a decent person a shot once
in awhile. That’s more than I can say for you.”

If my slur had any effect, the Captain didn’t show
it. “Well, my girl. Nice to have you aboard. Why don’t we put Jake back in his
workshop, and you and I can have a little chat.”

I looked down at Jake and up at the Captain. If I
was captured, I couldn’t save him. If I was free, I could try again. Trying not
to show what I was thinking, I swung the door open and began clattering down
the stairs.

The Captain’s voice came from the top of the
stairwell, echoing through the enclosed space.

“Stop.”

The word speared itself right into my brain, and
it was like all of my muscles tried to obey the command all at once. I saw the
stairs rushing up at my face and had a brief moment to think of how much it was
going to hurt, and then . . . nothing.

I woke up in a small room with no windows. The
smell of the bed I was lying on made me gag, and someone shoved a bucket under
my face. My head spun as I threw up everything in my stomach, and I let out a
groan.

“I told you you just should have left.”

I raised my eyes to meet Jake’s and then looked
away. I didn’t want to hear it. No way was I going to sit here and listen to
the guy that used to be my friend tell me how wrong I was for trying to come
save him.

“You could at least pretend to be grateful,” I
said.

Jake laughed. “Yeah. I’m real grateful. You come
in with your jerk of a friend, sic a spider on me, destroy my workroom, and
then get yourself captured on top of it. Yeah. Grateful.”

The only thing that kept me from taking a swing at
him was how dizzy I was. I’d probably miss and fall off the bed. Which on
second thought, didn’t sound so bad. Whoever had been sleeping on this thing
seriously needed to learn better hygiene.

I pulled my scattered thoughts back to the
conversation. “Yeah, well at least I’ve been trying to make things better since
I got here. All you’ve done is make things worse.”

Jake clenched his teeth. “I had no choice.”

“You didn’t have to send that dragon thingy to get
the Captain. That was all you. It’s your fault I’m captured.”

Jake looked guilty at that, and then shrugged.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like the fae are going to last much longer anyway. You’ll
be safer on this side of the fight from now on.”

I paled, thinking of Etain and Cashraina. I
thought of Lavender. “What do you mean?”

Jake’s eyes shifted away. “I thought you knew. I
thought that’s why you’d come. To kill me.”

I gritted my teeth. “Jake. What are you talking about?”
I didn’t want to tell him about the spell. I couldn’t do anything about the
spell right now, so I didn’t really think it would make anything better to
mention it.

He stayed quiet for a moment and then buried his
face in his hands. “I tried to stop it, I did. It was so awful. But the Captain
knew I would, so he had Terence override my abort commands. I couldn’t stop
it.”

Feeling a huge pit of icy cold opening in my
stomach, I put my hand out to Jake’s shoulder. I didn’t try anything more,
knowing he didn’t really like to be touched.

“Whatever happened, I know it wasn’t your fault.
But you need to tell me what you’re talking about.”

Jake’s face when he looked up was streaked, the
tears cutting tracks down his oil-smudged face. “The Captain attacked the fae
with my creations. Paige, they’re dead. They’re all dead.”

I reeled back, too shocked to pay attention to the
hurt on Jake’s face, and huddled back against the wall. They couldn’t all be
dead. Nuada and Etain had come with us to the edge of the beach. They were
still alive. Lavender was waiting for me back with the others. But Cashraina,
the Queen?

“Jake, is the Queen dead?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. She was the Captain’s main
target. She was one of the first to die.”

I sat stunned. I closed my eyes. “Surely some of
them managed to escape.” I couldn’t even think of all the fae I’d seen lying in
that beautiful palace all ripped apart.

“Some of them managed to slip off into the woods,
but most of the Captain’s men are out hunting them now. My creations are able
to move through the jungle a lot faster than they are. The fae have nowhere to
hide. That was part of the plan.”

I let out a shaky breath. “Jake, we have to stop
him. We can’t let him do this.”

“Can’t let me do what?”

I jumped, looking up to face the Captain. Beyond
rational thought, I jumped to my feet, using Jake to steady myself when the
room began to spin.

“You’re a monster!” I shouted at the Captain.
“You’re the worst, evilest person I’ve ever met.” I was spitting the words out
and didn’t back down when the Captain strode into the room.

He grabbed my throat and with a casual gesture,
ground his thumb into my cheekbone. The bones cracked and popped under the
pressure, and the pain that exploded there made me faint and nauseous. That
must have been where my face struck the steps. I gagged from the pain and the
Captain pushed me onto the bed.

“Do you think I care what you think, you pathetic
little girl? I’ve worked decades for this, and now my final goal is within my
grasp. The fae had to go. They’re gone. It’s simple. Now. Come with me. I need
you to draw something for me.”

The order struck my brain like the whip of a lash.
I was up and moving before I could think to stop myself. Jake caught me as I
stumbled forward, almost doing another face plant.

“Don’t antagonize him,” he whispered. “You can’t
fight back. Don’t even try.”

I glared at Jake through eyes gone blurry with
pain. “You stopped fighting. How’s that working out for you?” I slurred. Man,
I’d really done a number on myself if I couldn’t see or talk straight
. I
must look like hell
, I thought to myself.

We followed the Captain through the hallway to a
room one door down from Jake’s. Inside, it was set up with paper, pencils, and
markers. My sketchbook sat on one of the tables, all the pages with drawings on
them torn out and lying nearby.

The Captain sat on a stool across from the table
and motioned me to the sketchpad.

“The fae said you managed to heal two of them. Now
you will heal me.” He held up his hook and with a quick motion, unfastened the
buckles and let it fall to the table. The stump left behind was ragged and
thick with scar tissue.

I swallowed back my disgust and managed to pick up
a pencil. I could barely see straight. I pointed at his other hand.

“I need to see your other hand,” I said.

The Captain smiled and rested it on the table.
With the most precise strokes I could manage, I began to draw him sitting
there, two healthy hands resting on the table in front of him. I started to
finish the eyes when the tingling began, I nearly fell off my stool at the wave
of exhaustion that swept through my battered body. I pushed against the feeling
and felt a sharp bolt of pain in my head. I sagged against the table, only
Jake’s hand on my back keeping me on the stool.

“Finish the drawing or I’ll kill you,” the Captain
said.

I pulled my eyes to his face. He was deadly
serious. I returned to the drawing, adding in a few lines around the eyes and
felt the tingling return. With a groan of pain, I pushed on the feeling as hard
as I could. My vision went red and then black at the edges. As I slid towards
the table, I caught a glimpse of two hands on the table in front of me and the
Captain’s smiling face.

Good. He wouldn’t kill me. And then I was out
again.