Pan's Revenge (30 page)

Bracing myself for an ice-cold shock, I walk
over to her and take her in my arms. “Thank you, fairy,” I whisper
in her ear.

She hugs me back but releases me before I
turn into an icicle like Peter had. “You’ve played well in this
game. Now go and enjoy the outcome.”

Lacing my fingers with Angel’s when she comes
over, I walk out through the gate in the small white picket fence,
following the others.

“James.”

At Bre’s gentle voice, I stop and turn around
once more. “Hm?”

“The ship needs a captain.”

We look at each other for a couple of
seconds, both sporting a smirk now, and I nod. Then we leave the
fairy forest—Angel and I for the last time.

With the jolly bunch of boys, the pixie and a
flying Peter Pan as company, the journey back to the ship, though
it takes hours, seems far too short for me. I finally learn all
their names and listen to their many stories. Neverland wouldn’t be
the same without any of them. Wondering if one of them thinks the
same about me, I only have to look at each of their faces when we
arrive at the Jolly Roger and it’s time to say goodbye. So many
hugs, so many wishes—heck yeah, I know they’ll be bored to death
without me.

Even the pixie flutters up a couple of feet
and throws her arms around my neck. “Thank you for saving my
Peter!”

Her
Peter? The sound of it makes
me laugh. I guess, now it’s Peter’s turn to be the big brother to
someone. Hopefully he does a better job than I did. When the little
thing releases me, I step up to him.

Saying goodbye to Peter is funny. We just
stand there and grin at each other. There’s really not much I can
say to the bloody scamp.

Peter shoves his hands into his pockets and
digs a hole into the dirt with his toe. “We did have some good
times, right?”

“We sure had.” I hold out my hand to him.
When he takes it, I pull him into me and hug him quickly. “Take
care, little brother.”

“You too. Neverland will suck without you,
you know.” He grimaces then smirks. “Guess I’ll have to put up with
your first mate instead now.”

Oh, Smee will love to hear that. Or maybe he
won’t. He doesn’t even know yet I’m leaving.

When Peter and I step apart, Angel comes to
say goodbye and holds onto Peter for the longest time. She has a
hard time to let him go. After some minutes, Peter wraps his arms
tighter around her and flies her up on deck of the Jolly Roger. Her
cheerful squeal echoes across the sea. I follow them over the
gangplank.

Jack Smee greets me with an arched eyebrow.
“What’s this all about?”

After a heavy sigh, I tell him, “In a minute,
Jack.”

Ignoring the crew’s curious stares for now, I
walk to Angel and put my arms around her, kissing her forehead,
then I lift my gaze to Peter, who still hovers above us and
grins.

“Until we meet again, Hook!” he shouts down
and laughs. Then he somersaults in the air and flies away to the
others.

Angel and I stand by the railing and gaze
after the merry group long after they’ve been out of sight.

“Cap’n?” Smee says next to me. Uncertainty
has crept in his voice.

Clearing my throat, I face him. There’s a lot
to explain.

WE REACH LONDON by night. Everything is dark
and quiet. Angel’s balcony door is still open and light burns in
her room. It looks exactly the way it had when she came out to me
after the ball.

“Do you think we came back at the same night
we left?” she asks me.

Tilting her chin up with my knuckle, I kiss
her on the lips. “I guess we’re going to find out.”

On the
journey from Neverland to London, I had enough time to fill Smee in
on everything that happened after I left the ship to save Angel. It
surprised me how little it surprised
him
that I was ready to settle
down in Angel’s world. The bilge rat even had the cheek to tell me
he saw it coming from the day that I started jumping off the ship’s
mast. Bloody bastard!

Well, I guess
it’s been a given all along.

After a final detour to the boot, where I
picked a last souvenir—a diamond the size of a pixie’s tear—I walk
out on deck and say goodbye to my crew. The pirates take off their
hats and press a fist to their hearts. They are good men. We’ve had
great times together. Hopefully, their new captain can handle them
as well as I did.

That reminds me… Walking up to Jack Smee, I
take off my hat with the big, black feather and put it on his
head.

“What the hell—” he growls, quirking his
brows in protest.

I shrug. “The Jolly Roger needs a captain.
Take care of her.”

His chest swelling with pride, Jack
straightens and grows a couple of inches. “Consider her in good
hands.” He grins and we embrace quickly, smacking each other on the
back for luck.

Angel must have said goodbye to everyone
while I was under deck, because she’s waiting by the railing where
the men fastened the rope on which we’re supposed to climb down
into her garden. With a diamond in my pocket and the hourglass in
my hand, I nod at them all then start sliding down the rope
first.

There’s still
the small heap of my treasure in the grass, and the coins clink
under my shoes when I jump down the last couple of meters. Moments
later, Angel follows me. It’s definitely something she hasn’t done
often. The way she clings to the rope for dear life makes me laugh.
Until she loses her grip halfway and falls, shrieking. Dropping the
hourglass, I catch her in my arms.

The air pushes out of Angel’s lungs, then she
smiles. “You look beautiful when you’re happy,” I tell her. That
gives her cheeks an adorable rosy flush.

Setting her to her feet, I’m just about to
kiss her when something black glides down from the sky, catching my
attention. It’s my hat that lands on the hive of gold.

“This ship will always have a captain!”
Jack’s voice drifts on the wind, followed by a hearty laugh.

Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I
envision for the last time how the crew draws anchor and sets sail
under my command. Being a pirate was all I’ve ever known. The
thought of fitting into a strange new world fills me with more
anxiety than I care to admit, but there’s also a swell of
anticipation taking over. I’ll be in this world with the girl I
love. Nothing can take that away from me.

With Angel’s hand in mine, I walk over to
pick up my hat, then I sit under a tree and pull her into my lap.
Her legs tucked under the fine blue dress she’s still wearing, she
nestles against my chest, shapes her soft palm to my cheek, and
mumbles, “I can’t believe we’re finally here.”

Yeah, tell me about it. I nuzzle the side of
her face and breathe a kiss to her brow. “Can I ask you something?”
I whisper.

“Anything.”

“What did you trade off to the fairy for
me?”

The way she stiffens and falls silent makes
my uneasiness grow. “Angel?” I prompt her.

She sucks in
a breath through her teeth, then exhales in a long blow. “When she
told me there was a price to pay, the first thing that came to my
mind was
the
firstborn
.”

“What?” The thought was so absurd it made me
laugh. We’ve been back together for only a few days, and this is
clearly far too early to think about having children. But even if
we do—one day—how could she trade off our baby?

“Calm down,” she tells me and strokes her
fingers along my arm. “Bre said someone has to take your place one
day. I’m sure she’s not stealing our child out of the cradle.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because she made me see images in my mind.
Pictures of a young woman. She will want to go to Neverland, Jamie.
And all it needs is my approval, you heard that.”

I hear Angel’s voice, but the meaning doesn’t
sink in because my mind got stuck on one word. Finding her eyes
with mine, I lick my bottom lip. A smile tugs on the corners of my
mouth.

“What?” she demands, a little nervous
now.

“We’ll have a girl.”

Angel takes a second to contemplate what I
said, then she starts smiling too. “I guess that’s right.”

I don’t know why this makes me so happy when
the thought of having a family never occurred to me before. Maybe
it’s the certainty that I’m going to be a much better father than
the one Peter and I had. At least I’ll work hard on it.

Angel snuggles up to me and rests her head
under my chin. After some time she heaves a sigh full of nostalgia.
“It’s really over, isn’t it? Our adventure in Neverland, I
mean.”

My glance sweeps over the treasure and lands
on the hourglass with the golden sand. It’s standing upside down.
When it slipped from my hand, time started running.

“
Or,” I
whisper back, “it’s the beginning of eighty fantastic
years.”

*

A twinkle of sunlight tickles my nose and I
blink my eyes open. Neither of us wanted to go inside last night,
so Angel and I just sat under that tree in her garden until we fell
asleep in each other’s arms. Not a bad place to spend the
night.

With my thumb
and forefinger, I rub my eyes then rake my hand through my hair.
The hat has fallen off my head while I slept and is resting on
Angel’s bent knees now. I watch her happy face for a moment, her
eyes still closed peacefully.

Last night we
made plans for our future together. Angel is set on telling her
family who I really am, even though I don’t think this is the best
idea she ever had. Considering the hard time I had
convincing
her
of me being real, what will her parents
say?

But it’s her world. She knows best. I’m just
happy to be here with her.

Sighing into her soft hair, I brush a few
stray wisps behind her ear. Angel stirs against me, but she doesn’t
wake yet. Even though my body is stiff from sitting against the
tree all night, I decide to give her a few more minutes.

From the direction of the house, the sound of
two excited voices drifts to us. Straining my neck, I try to catch
a glimpse over my shoulder, around the tree, but I have to wait
until they lope over and stop right in front of me. It’s two little
girls. They must be the notorious twins. When they find us sitting
in an embrace on the ground, one sucks in her breath and claps her
hands over her mouth. The other, wrapped in a purple dress, waves
her wand at my face and pulls her brows to a tiny V.

“Who. Are. You?” she exclaims.

Angel’s extra minutes are over. At the
shocked voice of the dwarf that I assume is called Brittney Renae,
she jerks awake and straightens in my lap. “Huh? What?”

“Angel! Why are you sleeping in the garden?”
the other half of the twin couple demands, then she snickers. “Is
this your boyfriend?”

“I—uh…” Angel rubs her eyes then her
temples.

Now I’m dying to hear her answer. Smirking, I
give her a sideways glance. “Tell your sister. Am I?”

She laughs and pokes me in the ribs. I guess
that’s a yes.

After shooting a volley of questions about
why there’s suddenly so much money in their garden and why Angel is
wearing this funny dress, which Brittney Renae actually loves but
Paulina not so much, the girls have to break for a breath and
that’s when I casually tell them, “Hi. I’m James Hook.”

The name immediately
rings a bell with them. Their eyes grow wide and their tiny mouths
hang open. “No way!” says Paulina and pulls on the two ponytails
that are framing her heart-shaped face. “You can’t be him. He’s
from a fairy tale.” She claims not to believe me, but mentioning my
name made both girls back away a tiny step. It’s hilarious.

“
Are you
sure?” I tease them and put my hat on, remembering perfectly well
what kind of reaction it provoked the first time from Angel. The
twins don’t disappoint. Full of wonder, they stare at
me.

Then suddenly the one Angel kept calling the
fairy bug in her stories runs at me and smacks me hard on the head
with her star-tipped wand. “Let go of our sister, you thief! You
will not take her away to your ship!”

Angel and I look at each other, then we both
burst out laughing at the same time. So the convincing-part is
done. Now it’s time to explain why I’m holding their sister in my
arms.

We have them sitting on the ground with us
and Angel starts her tale with the night she fell off the balcony.
The girls listen with awe-filled faces. There’s not one moment when
they doubt even a single word of what she tells them. And I enjoy
hearing it all again.

We made it almost to the end when a woman’s
gentle voice calls the three girls. Apparently, it’s breakfast time
in London. Angel smiles at me. “Are you ready to meet the rest of
my family?”

I’m a pirate. I haven’t been scared of many
things in my life. But when Angel rises to her feet and holds out
her hand to me, I hesitate.

“Come on, Jamie,” she says. “They will like
you.”

“You really think they will let me move in
with you once they know who I am?” Given that they’ll believe me as
easily as the twins, that is.

“Of course. They will understand how
important this is to me. And if not, well”—she bends down and picks
up a handful of coins—“take three of these and you can buy any
house in this street you like.”

The thought of having a house to my own where
I can take Angel to appeals to me far more than moving in with
strange people. Well, at least this way we have a backup plan. I
let her and the twins pull me to my feet. Brittney Renae skips
excitedly ahead, while Paulina slips her tiny hand into mine and
walks with me and Angel over to the big house at the other end of
the garden.