Everland (33 page)

“Or there’s always plan B,” says a familiar voice. I look toward the courtyard entrance. Pete stands beneath the limestone archway. My pulse quickens. What’s he doing here? He folds his arms across his bare chest. Under the light of the gas lamps, the inked cogs and gears glisten, and my heart swells with hope.

“Pete!” Bella says, bolting from her seated position toward the leader of the Lost Boys.

Doc also appears, a smirk spread wide across his face.

“Another Lost Boy, I presume?” Hook asks, his brows knit together so tightly they converge into one dark line. He releases my wrist and stands. “How did you get in here?”

“I’d like to say your men put up a good fight,” Pete says, striding in with a smirk, “but I’d be lying. Turns out they get awfully squirrelly when you tamper with their masks.” Pete holds up a Marauder’s mask before he throws it at Hook’s feet.

Hook reaches down and lifts the mask. “Impossible!” he says with a puzzled stare.

An explosion erupts from the royal gardens beyond the palace walls. The ground shakes, sending a few lanterns falling from the building, spilling gas on their descent and smashing onto the stone. Flames lick the night sky.

“Oh, our engineer, Cogs, wanted me to remind you that you ought not to leave volatile materials around for children to play with. They could start a fire or even blow up a few zeppelins,” Pete says smugly.

Hook’s dark eyes reflect flames as he watches the yellow and orange blaze dance above the limestone walls. He clenches a fist and nods to the building. “Go look into it.”

“Aye, Captain,” a soldier says, running past Pete toward the front of the palace.

“As for you two, I don’t recall inviting you to this party,” Hook growls.

Pete takes a few determined steps toward the leader of the Marauders. “What do you mean, Hook? You’ve been chasing me for months. All this time I’ve evaded you, and now I’m practically within reach and suddenly you don’t want me. I’m hurt,” Pete says with a mocking pout.

“I don’t
need
you,” Hook says, retrieving his revolver from its holster.

Pete ignores the weapon aimed at him. “Nice brand there, Jack,” Pete says, folding his arms. “The only thing that’s missing is the word
traitor
across your forehead.”

Hook throws his head back and laughs. “Ah, yes. I forgot that you didn’t know that my prodigal stepbrother has returned. Once a Marauder, always a Marauder.”

Pete snatches his dagger and charges Jack, knocking him to the ground. He holds the blade to Jack’s throat.

“It’s not what you think,” Jack says tersely. “I swear!”

His blade pricks Jack’s neck, releasing a bead of blood. “It ripped me into a thousand shreds to leave you behind. You betrayed us! How could you?”

“No, I told him we’d give him Gwen,” Jack grunts. “He promised he wouldn’t hurt the Lost Kids. Gwen was all he wanted.”

“She’s more of a Lost Kid than you are,” Pete growls through clenched teeth. He digs the knife slightly deeper. Blood leaks down Jack’s neck.

“Pete, stop it!” I shout.

“I thought I was doing the right thing by giving up Gwen. He promised he’d take her and leave Everland. I knew you’d all be mad at me, but I did what I thought was right for the Lost Boys. I didn’t think I could show my face again, so … so I pledged my allegiance to Hook.”

“An honorable Lost Boy wouldn’t have given up his clan, but even if he had, he’d have rather died than pledge his allegiance to a pirate,” Pete snaps.

With Doc’s help, I yank Pete off Jack just as he lifts his dagger, ready to drive it into Jack’s chest.

“Let him go,” Doc says with disgust. “He’s not worth it.”

Pete stands and spits on Jack’s face.

“When I get my hands on you, you’re going to wish you were dead,” Pete growls.

Hook chuckles. “Good form, Lost Boy. Taking vengeance on my double-crossing brother. You’d make an excellent Marauder. It’s a shame I have to kill you.” He aims his gun back at the boys and nods to a soldier. “Take them out to the garden and put them out of their misery. Then feed them to the crocs.”

As the soldiers advance on the boys, Doc pulls a syringe from his back pocket. “If you kill us, you’ll never have this.” Hook stares at the vial in Doc’s hand. Its iridescent tint glitters in the light. “It’s the cure, Hook. This vial is all you will need to reproduce the antidote. You don’t need Gwen or the Professor, but you do need this.”

Hook scowls. “The cure hasn’t been developed yet. I’d know if it had.”

Doc hands the vial to Pete, who grips each end of it, poised to snap it in two.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Pete shrugs. “But this is the only vial. Are you sure you want to risk finding out?”

Hesitating, Hook stares at the glass container. “What’s your proof?”

Pete nods to Bella. “Show him.”

Bella rips off her gloves. Her tiny fingers reveal the pink tint of new skin where her open sores once were. A hush falls as we stare, astonished at her nearly perfect hands. “Less than an hour ago I was dying. My fingers hurt so bad I thought they were going to fall off. Pete gave me that antidote and now look!” She wiggles her fingers.

“But … how?” my mother says. “Even when we developed the antidote years ago, it never had the ability to heal that quickly. Some trials took years to show improvement.”

“Two things,” Doc says, with raised brows. “Stem cells and lizards.”

My mother stares at Doc, bewildered.

Doc grins. “I’ve always been interested in the study of stem cells, mainly in the area of epimorphic regeneration.”

“What is that?” Mikey asks.

“Good question, Lost Boy. You know how lizards can lose a tail and grow it back?” Doc asks.

Mikey nods.

“Same thing. If lizards can regenerate their tails, why can’t people regrow body parts? In Bella’s case, I created a solution combining Bella’s cells with the protein that allows lizards to regrow their tails. Antibodies from the Lost Boys in the mixture helped Bella maintain her health, but did not cure the virus. It was too virulent. Something about Gwen’s antibodies not only appears to heal, but is reacting to the original solution to accelerate the healing process.”

Hook grabs Bella’s hand and examines her pale pink fingers. He whips his head toward my mother. “Is what he says possible? Could this be done?”

My mother shrugs. “I suppose, but stem cell study is not my area of expertise. And even though my partners and I came up with an antidote, it took us years to develop. It was never as effective as that,” she says, pointing to Bella’s hands.

Hook’s eyes dart toward the glass vial. Pete grins, still gripping either end of the container. “You ready to cut a deal, Hook?” Pete says with a victorious smile.

Hook doesn’t respond.

“I developed what’s curing Bella,” Doc says, pointing at the vial. “I’m the only one who knows what is in it. You could take Gwen and the Professor, but the Professor does not know what I mixed in with Gwen’s antibodies. It will take her months, maybe years, to discover the solution.”

“What do you propose?” Hook growls.

Stepping in front of Hook, blocking his view of the Lost Boys, Bella, and my family, I take in a breath. “Let everyone go. In exchange, you can have the cure,” I say.

“The cure will do me no good without someone to help reproduce it,” he says.

“I’ll go with you to develop it,” Doc says, stepping next to me.

“What?” I say, my heart skipping a beat. “You can’t mean that.”

Doc smiles weakly and winks at Bella. “I’d do just about anything for a Lost Girl.”

Pete joins us and laces his fingers through mine. “We all would.”

“But you never said that your plan would include giving Doc up to Hook,” I say, shaking my head.

“And you never said that your plan would include giving
yourself
up,” Pete says. He stares at me with intense eyes. He says nothing, but his steadfast and determined expression speaks a thousand words. He knew I’d sacrifice myself to save my mother.

“Have you lost your marbles, Doc?” Jack says.

Pete shoots Jack a dirty look. “Interesting choice of words coming from the Lost Boy turned Marauder.”

Jack scowls.

“So what do you say, Hook?” Pete asks. “Do we have ourselves a deal?”

Hook rubs his chin in contemplation. He holds a palm out. “Deal. Give me the vial.”

“Let them go first,” Pete says, gesturing toward my mother, Bella, Joanna, and Mikey.

Hook turns his gun on me, pulling back the hammer. I gasp, my breath catching. “Fine, but the Immune stays.”

“You won’t shoot her,” Pete says with a wide smile. “And even if you did, I’d crush this vial so fast you wouldn’t have a chance to retrieve it. Then you’d have nothing.”

“Valid point, boy,” Hook says, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me into him, the barrel digging into my temple. “However, even you said we needed just a small sample of the Immune’s blood. I shoot her, take a sample, and Doc still comes with me. Meanwhile, your girlfriend lies dying on the cold, wet bricks.”

“Pete!” I say, writhing in the crook of Hook’s arm.

Pete’s gaze hardens as he takes slow, steady steps toward me. No, this isn’t right. Pete would never allow Doc to join Hook. In fact, Pete would never let Hook have the cure. Curious, I glance at Pete. He winks. As fast as his wink, his expression returns to that of reluctance, defeat. He’s up to something. He has to be.

“Give me the vial. He can’t hurt you anymore. You can leave. The Lost Kids, my family, Bella … you’ll all be safe,” I say, blinking the rain from my eyes and meeting his. “Please, Pete. Let’s just get out of here.”

The stubborn resistance I have come to appreciate and admire in him slips. He nods with reluctance and hands me the vial of iridescent, milky liquid. Carefully, I close my fingers over the tube. Doc gives me a weak grin. A strange expression crosses Pete’s face. He nods to Doc, and I get the impression that gesture is more than what it appears.

Doc starts walking toward Hook when Pete grabs him by the arm.

“Wait,” Pete says abruptly, his hand gripping Doc’s wrist. “It’s been a great adventure. Thanks for everything …”

A crease forms between Doc’s brows and he drops his gaze to the ground. “It’s the least I could do. I know it doesn’t absolve me from what happened with Gabrielle, but at least … well, maybe it …”

Pete pulls Doc into a hug. “All is forgiven,” Pete says. Their exchange lasts just a moment too long. That’s when I notice the glint of a dagger tucked at the small of Pete’s back. Pete steps back, his hand still gripping Doc’s. His eyes bore into Doc’s.

My heart skips several beats. Hook barely acknowledges the exchange as his gun’s aim stays fixed on me. I struggle to think of an alternative plan. Stomp on the vial myself? Make a deal with Hook? Run? None of the options seems viable.

“Let my family go,” I say, holding the glass container up and drawing Hook’s attention away from Pete and Doc.

Hook’s eyes tear from the Lost Boys to me. From the corner of my eye, I see Pete quickly slipping the knife into Doc’s hand. Hook nods toward the two soldiers accompanying my mother. “Escort them from the palace.” The soldiers salute and turn toward my mother.

“No!” my mother screams, wriggling in the soldiers’ grasp. “No, I won’t leave her.”

Mikey wails as Joanna helps him to his feet. She gives me a worried glance, but I nod to her, encouraging her to continue. She and Mikey follow behind the soldier dragging my mother away. Another soldier escorts Bella out of the courtyard. Her voice fades in a trail of profanities.

Hook erupts in manic laughter. “And what about you, stepbrother? Would you like to join the women and children?”

Jack aims his sword at Hook. “I might be a pitiful pirate and an inadequate Lost Boy, but I think I’ll stay around just to make sure everyone keeps their end of the bargain.”

Hook rolls his unpatched eye. “Good form, Jack. That’s exactly what I’d expect from
you
.” He sneers on the last word.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jack asks.

“My mother was right about you. You’ve always been about what you think is right for everyone else, what you think is fair, and never about what is right for
us
, for our family,” Hook says. “You’re a disgrace to the family name.”

Jack’s shoulders stiffen. “And you think only about yourself.”

“‘The fairest,’ my mother mocked. ‘A weak leader, bending to the needs of others,’ she said of you,” Hook says. “She never loved you.”

“I never wanted to be a leader,” Jack replies. “I just wanted my father’s legacy, his compassion for his people, to live on long after his death. He was a kind and fair king. And as far as her loving me, at least I had a parent. A father who loved me. You know what your mother did? Think about it. Do you really think she didn’t know what she was targeting? She sent her son to destroy the only weapons lab that contained the virus. She knew it was there. And guess who she sent to make sure it was a done deal? You, stepbrother. She sent you knowing that once you bombed it, you and the rest of the Marauders would die like everyone else.”

Hook releases me as he spins and charges his brother, his boots smacking the wet brick. He slaps Jack’s face, but Jack hardly flinches. “Lies!” Hook screams.

“You think?” Jack says, unmoved. “She gave you the targets. She chose you and her best fleet of zeppelins to make sure it happened.”

Hook stops a few steps away, fury forming deep lines in his face. Turning toward the stormy night sky, he screams. Breathing heavily, he gathers himself together. “Well, life isn’t fair, is it? Your father died a tragic death, and I was the scorn of my mother’s eye,” he yells, pointing the barrel of his gun at his patched eye.

“Your mother killed my father,” Jack says, advancing on him. “She poisoned him for betraying her. For providing England with
her
weapon.”

Hook aims his gun at Jack, but his brother is unshaken by the weapon aimed at his heart. He advances toward Hook. “The Horologia virus; how do you think England got it? Who do you think sent it to them?” Jack says, still moving forward with Hook’s gun pressed firmly against his waistcoat. Rain-soaked hair hangs heavy in Jack’s face, shielding his eyes as he shouts. “My father sent it to England, warning them of your mother’s intentions, and he died for it!”