Escaping Neverland (13 page)

“William, wait. You can’t just take her. You’ll
need help.” Jasmine’s voice was shrill with panic.

After a second, I nodded. “She’s right. We need
more people.”

William pushed out his chest, face flushed with
anger. “I don’t need help to take the Captain. I almost had him.”

I licked my lips. “Um, William, actually, you
looked sort of like you were getting your butt kicked. You need their help. The
bigger kids at least.”

William glared at me, but I pointed at his arm.
“You agreed to help me.”

He huffed out a breath. “Fine,” he said. “We leave
in half an hour.”

The kids let out a cheer and began scrambling for
their weapons. When a kid, barely bigger than a toddler, ran by with a spear, I
walked over to Jasmine.

“Make the little ones stay here. They’re going to
get hurt.”

She shrugged. “We always get hurt when we fight
the Captain. Besides, they’re all older than you. Let it go.”

She left me standing there. Pyro nodded at me from
across the clearing, as if he knew what I’d asked, but was encouraging me to
let it go. With a deep sigh, I went and sat next to Stormy as the kids gathered
together in front of William. I wished I could take all these kids back to their
parents. But their parents were long gone and probably all of their remaining
family as well.

Mostly though, sitting there sweating in the heat
and slapping at mosquitoes, I wished I was home in my bedroom, ice cold air
from the air conditioner on my face, a cold glass of iced tea waiting on my
desk. I tried to think of what my father would be doing with me gone, but I
couldn’t really figure out how long I’d been missing. Had he gone to the
police? He probably just assumed I’d run off with Jake, and good riddance.

The thought made my head hurt. When Jake and I did
get back, I didn’t know what I was going to tell him. Hey Dad, I was kidnapped
by a fictional pirate and held hostage on an imaginary island. Yeah, that’d go
over well.

“This way!” William shouted.

I cursed and jumped up, hurrying after the group.
Maybe I’d just tell my dad a version of the truth and pin the whole thing on
Gregor. The idea of that man locked up forever gave me a little thrill, and I
smiled. Yes. That would definitely work.

The fae totally ignored me as we walked through the
jungle. I wished I’d had time to finish one of the steel horses, imagining how
much easier it would be to ride than walking through the thick undergrowth. The
only time the fae even acknowledged that I existed was when they spotted some
of the Captain’s men. I’d already used three of the seven EMPs I’d made.

I’d made fifty metal wolves, twenty spiders, and
four of the dragonfly spies. So far, one wolf was still on the Captain’s ship.
I’d knocked out three the first time and four the second. That left forty-two
wolves still out there and all of the spiders. I wondered where they were and
what the Captain was doing with them.

Around me, the fae suddenly dropped to the ground.
I followed, a bit slow. Nuada crawled his way back.

“They’ve got the clearing guarded,” he said. His
eyes were icy cold.

I nodded and pulled the big EMP out of my bag. I
crossed my fingers that it would work like I thought it would, and flipped the
button.

The sudden clanging of metal and startled cries
from the Captain’s men made me smile. The fae didn’t wait. They jumped up from
their spots and rushed forward. I was moving forward with them, caught up in
the moment, when gunfire erupted. I flinched and tried to fall back, but a fae
behind me pushed me forward.

I saw a group of the Captain’s men waiting in
front of the palace, guns leveled at the approaching fae. In front of my feet
the dirt puffed up and little bits of leaves went flying as bullets plowed into
the ground. The sound of rifles on full auto ripped through the clearing.
Around me, the fae collapsed, some of them screaming, some of them already
dead. I froze, then realized it made me a better target.

With my teeth bared, I charged forward, hands
raised. I was still holding the big EMP. While one of the Captain’s men was
distracted by a rushing fae, I bashed him over the head with the used device.
It shattered across the man’s face and he fell, screaming. The fae next to me
ran him through and continued on.

Finally, the clearing was quiet. I raised my head
and tried to stop my legs from shaking. My eyes scanned the clearing. All that
were left standing were the fae. Many of them had bullet wounds. They lay,
writhing on the ground as others dug out the bullets using wooden tools. More
fae suddenly spilled out of the trees, more than had been in Nuada’s group.

The yellow and black striped fae who’d come up to
Paige let out a joyful cry and raced across the clearing to hug a turquoise
skinned female. That must be his wife. I smiled. Paige would be happy.

I watched with wide eyes as more and more of the
fae emerged from the trees. More of them had escaped than I’d thought possible.
I saw the leader of the fae approach a group of younger females, and one of them
shook her head. They carried a pallet between them, a sheet draped over the
still form it carried.

His cry of pain silenced the rest of the group. As
one they turned to him and dropped to their knees. He stood there, head bowed
in grief, and then raised his head.

“Our Queen is dead!” he cried out. “She fought
bravely to protect her people. As her son, I claim the crown. Does anyone
believe I am not the rightful heir to the throne?”

No one said anything. After waiting a few seconds,
he nodded and hurried off towards the palace, the crowd of fae trailing behind.

I sat there, confused and unsure what to do.
Finally, I just dropped my head into my hands and waited to see what was going
to happen.

“You must be Paige’s friend, Jake.”

I looked up to see the turquoise skinned fae,
Cashraina. She gave me a sad little smile and held out her hand. “Come. You
must be hungry. Etain has told me how you helped them reach us and defeat the
Captain’s men. We all saw what you just did. We are grateful.”

I stood, not taking her hand, and followed her
into the palace. She ignored the hostile glares of some of the other fae and
took me to a small room towards the back. She disappeared and came back a few
moments later with a plate of bread and cheese.

I stared at the food in surprise. “How did you
manage to survive?” I asked.

She smile and sat, taking a piece of cheese. “We
have many skills,” she said. “Not even your metal creations are as fast as we
are, and they cannot climb trees.”

“I should have thought of that,” I said, without
thinking. I clapped my hand over my mouth.

She smiled. “We’re very glad that you did not.
Now. Etain has told me that Paige left to fetch William. He said she’s trying
to stop the Captain from bringing someone onto the island. Would you like to
join her?”

I shrugged, not really sure how to answer. I
didn’t want to see the Captain ever again, but I didn’t think I could stand
staying here. “Sure,” I said.

She nodded. “Good. Paige worked very hard to save
you. I’m sure you’ll be grateful to return the favor.”

I felt the flush on my cheeks and tried to push it
down, embarrassed at the reminder. In an attempt to cover up my embarrassment,
I cleared my throat. “Is it far?”

Cashraina shook her head. “No. Only about an
hour’s walk. Etain has asked Nua—the King’s—permission to take you there. The
gate only opens at sunset. You’ll have plenty of time to reach it.” 

I ate more of the food, trying to think what I
could do if we did manage to make it there. I didn’t have a gun, and I couldn’t
fight. I’d probably just get in the way. But Paige was going there. She must
have some sort of plan.

With that thought, I put the food aside and stood
up. The Captain’s men had guns. I’d get one of those. Then I’d spit in the
Captain’s face as I pulled the trigger.

As we walked, I told Pyro how Jake and I had
managed to escape from the Captain’s ship. At my explanation of how I’d freed
Jake from the Captain’s compulsion, Pyro stopped and called out to Jasmine. I
explained it again for her.

“Do you think it would work for anyone?” Jasmine
asked.

I nodded, thinking of the brother she’d mentioned.
“Probably,” I said.

Pyro flicked a flame between his fingers, his face
thoughtful. “We could save all of the kids on the ship. I’ll have to tell
William.”

I thought of my plan to stop the Governor on my
side of the gate and held back a wince. I didn’t think I was even going to be
here much longer, let alone long enough to save a whole bunch of kids locked up
on the Captain’s ship.

“How many kids are there on the ship? I only saw
one, Terence.” I didn’t think that Terence would have any siblings here in
William’s group, not if his skill was computer code. He’d have been brought in
recently, right after Jake.

Pyro reached out a hand, singing a leaf. “Hundreds,”
he said. “A lot of the kids William went to save were already under the
Captain’s spell.”

“Why doesn’t William just stop him at the gate?” I
asked.

Jasmine shrugged. “There’s no way to tell if the
Captain’s using the gate or not. We can’t wait in the jungle every night that
close to sunset. We tried, but the spiders kept grabbing kids. It’s safer just
to pull the forgotten ones off the ship, like William did with you.”

Pyro and Jasmine wandered back up to the front of
the group when I didn’t say anything, leaving me to walk with Stormy at the
back. A couple of the littler kids were walking next to her, stroking her legs
every few steps. When one of them looked up at her back with a clear look of
longing, I reached forward and plucked her off the ground, plopping her down on
Stormy’s back.

Her excited squeal had the whole group turning to
look. William frowned and put his finger over his lips.

The little girl shot him a wild grin, but clamped
her teeth shut. When another child reached up, I put him on Stormy’s back
behind her and continued on my way. I knew that she’d be well taken care of if
I left. That was something at least.

We came to the clearing around the gate well
before sunset and settled down to wait in the shadows. I watched in amazement as
the kids dropped down into the leaves and disappeared, their hand sewn clothing
blending in with the forest floor.

I tried to do the same, but it was kind of hard to
hide a huge gray horse in a jungle, so I settled for leaning back against her
bulk, trusting William to give the alarm if he spotted the Captain.

When a stick snapped in the woods off to our
right, I shot straight up, wishing I had some sort of weapon. My staff had been
left behind at the faes’ original camp and no one had offered me anything else.

William was suddenly in front of me, his sword
drawn, an eager smile on his face, but when Etain pushed through the leaves, he
let out a huff of annoyance and went back to his seat in a tree overlooking the
clearing.

When Jake followed Etain onto the trail, I smiled
and waved at him. “How’d you know where I was?” I asked.

Jake pointed at Etain. “He heard you talking to
Nuada and thought I’d like to help.”

I choked back the giggle at the less than
enthusiastic look on Jake’s face. When I looked at Etain, my face fell. “Was
Cashraina…alive?” I asked.

Jake nodded and handed me a rock with a piece of
cord strung through it. “She told me to give you this. She didn’t know if you
still had the first one and wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be afraid of the
spiders.”

I ran my thumb over the rock and then pulled the
first one she’d given me out. “Nope, still have it. You can keep this one.”

Jake took it. “What’s it do?”

“I’m not really sure, but it keeps the spiders
away.”

Jake put it on and shuddered. “You mean the real
spiders, not your pets.”

“Yep. My spiders are
much
nicer than the
wild ones.”

He rolled his eyes. “Could have fooled me.” He
locked his fist around the stone. “Thanks.”

I shrugged, and watched as Etain disappeared back
into the jungle.

“The fae aren’t staying?” I asked.

Jake shook his head. “No. Nuada’s leading them all
to some super secret place up in the mountains to rebuild. There are a lot more
of them left than I thought.”

“That’s great,” I said.

He nodded. “Yeah. It made me feel a little
better.”

Our conversation was interrupted by a low whistle
from up in the trees. I looked up at William to see him pointing off to the
opposite side.

“The Captain’s coming,” I said, pulling Jake down
beside Stormy.

“Um, Paige, what are you going to do?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, wondering the same thing
myself. “I just know that I had to be here. We’ve got to keep the Governor from
coming here and seeing this place. If he does, he’ll stop at nothing to help
the Captain with his plans. We can’t let that happen.”

Jake was quiet for a minute, staring at me so
intently that it made me uncomfortable. “Paige, what if we just run back
through the gate when it opens? We’d be back home again. Safe.”

I shook my head. “We won’t. Gregor knows who you
are. He’ll know that we know what’s going on here. We won’t be safe until this
ends.”

Jake paled. “You don’t know that.”

I shuddered, remembering Gregor’s icy blue eyes
boring into the back of my head along with the barrel of his gun. “I’m pretty sure
they’re not going to let us go running around talking to the police about what
they’re doing.”

“We could tell them that we won’t say anything,”
Jake said.

I turned on him so fast he almost fell over. “And
what, let all the fae here be killed? All the fairies? Lavender lost her entire
family to the Captain’s greed. You just want to go and let that keep
happening?”

Lavender darted out from my hair and waved her
fist in Jake’s face.

Jake shifted, looking embarrassed, then angry.
“Jeez, Paige. I’m seventeen. I like computers. I do good in school. What’d you
expect? I’m not some stupid superhero rushing in to the save the day. I’m not
even sure where you got it from.”

I poked him in the chest with my finger. “You are
too a superhero. Look what you can do here! We can help. I’m not going to just
give up, and neither are you. We’ll figure out something.”

“Will you two shut up? I can hear you all the way
over here,” Jasmine hissed from the front of the group.

One of the kids giggled and was quickly silenced
by another one in the group.

Jake put his hand on my arm. I looked down at the
gun he held. He pushed it into my hands and leaned forward to whisper in my
ear.

“I thought I’d be able to use it, after everything
he’s done to me, but I don’t think…I don’t think I can.”

I stared at the rough looking gun, feeling my
heart skipping in my chest. I didn’t think I could use it either. Before I
could answer, everyone got quiet as the Captain stepped into the clearing,
flanked by a set of metal wolves and four spiders.

I swallowed hard at the sight of him and turned to
pull some moss off the tree behind me. I handed two pieces to Jake and mimed
sticking them in my ears.

“Better than nothing,” I whispered.

He nodded, looking a little grossed out as he
pushed the moss into his ears.

I watched over Stormy’s back as the Captain
approached the gate with his men. In two quick steps, he was through, leaving
the metal creatures to guard the gate.

“Jake, do you have any more EMPs?” I mouthed.

He nodded, holding up four fingers.

I pointed at the wolves and spiders.

He pulled one of the devices out of his backpack
and flipped the switch. The wolves and spiders slumped to the ground, one of
them landing on its head. It looked sort of funny, but after seeing them move,
I didn’t laugh.

I turned to Stormy. “I need you to stay here. Stay
with the kids. Stay safe,” I said.

The horse looked at me with her dark eyes, and I
swear I could see understanding there. I patted her head. I turned to Lavender
who sat between the horse’s ears.

“I have to go,” I said. “I don’t know if I’ll be
back. I wanted to tell you that you fulfilled your promise to me back on the
ship, and that I am grateful for your help. You’ve been a good friend.”

Lavender stared at me, a single tear trickling down
her tiny face, and then with a sob, flung herself backwards off Stormy’s head
and disappeared into the trees.

“Alright, let’s go,” I said, swallowing my own
tears.

Jake looked at me in surprise but when I burst up
from my crouch and out into the clearing, he was right behind me.

William yelled at us to stop, but I kept going.
When he landed in front of us, I slid to a halt.

“William, move. We’ve got to get to him before he
brings the Governor back over here.”

When he didn’t move or say anything, I rushed
forward, hitting him in the shoulder. “Move!” I shouted. “You can take the
Captain when he comes back through the gate.”

He grabbed my shoulder as I rushed past, pulling
me into him. His voice and the words in my ear made me shiver.

He released me, nearly flinging me at the door. I
hit it with all my strength, thinking it would be latched or locked. It wasn’t.
I fell through into emptiness, legs sailing out from under me, and had a split
second to think how incredibly stupid my plan was before crashing down onto a
familiar, filthy floor. The cold bite of steel at the back of my neck made me
grimace.

The Captain’s silky voice crawled over my skin
like maggots. “Look what we have here. Just in time.”