Escaping Neverland (7 page)

I paced back and forth in my workshop, a stick of
uneaten beef jerky in one hand. Every now and then, I darted a look at the
computer monitors lined up against the far wall. I wanted to see my creations
moving, sliding through the jungle, but I didn’t want to see them tearing into
the fae. I looked at my watch and then at the map of the island on the wall.

My creations could travel very quickly. Whatever
they couldn’t leap over they could rip through in seconds, but the men that
followed along could probably only manage two or three miles per hour through
the overgrown jungle. I had time for a quick peek before they reached the main
fae settlement.

Decided, I hurried over to the bank of computer
monitors and pulled up the data links for the wolves and spiders on the mission.
On the location map, I selected one of the wolves and activated the data stream
for the cameras mounted in its eyes.

I sat, unmoving, as the video began to play. The
cameras were better even than the best military optics back on Earth, and the
panning and focusing was seamless and crystal clear. As one of my creations
came into view, I sighed in contentment. Even with their massive size, the
wolves and spiders navigated the tangled undergrowth with liquid grace. Each
step was fluid and natural. When one leaped over a log, it landed with only a
slight thump—the motors in its joints catching and distributing the weight.

They were perfect. I watched until one of the
leaders of the group called a halt. I switched to the lead wolf’s camera and
zoomed in on the clearing. There in the center sat a rough wooden structure, so
much a part of the ground and surrounding trees it could barely be seen.

Two fae stood outside, oblivious to the silent
approach of the creatures. My heart beat a little harder, and suddenly, I
willed them to run—to run and hide and let the Captain have the island.

The two fae couldn’t hear my silent plea, but
stood, striped skin sparkling in the sun in complete ignorance of what was
about to happen.

Through the screen, I saw one of the men motion
the creatures forward. The view of the two fae suddenly got bigger and larger
as the lead wolf charged across the clearing in only a few leaps. It happened
so fast, I could only sit and stare as one of the fae went down under a flurry
of titanium and stainless steel claws.

The lead wolf’s camera caught one of the spiders
as it clamped its iron tipped fangs on the other fae’s torso. It was over in
seconds. The two faes’ bodies lay ripped on the ground, their skin bubbling
from the iron burns.

My scream echoed through the workroom,
reverberating off the metal. Before I could stop and think, my hands were on
the keyboard typing in the commands to manually override the creatures’ built
-in and voice activated commands. There was a lull in the action as all of the
creatures stopped, heads hanging in standby mode, but a loud beep on the
control panel sounded, and they leapt back into action.

I stared, dumbfounded, as the creatures burst
through the palace doors. Sickened, I turned away. Another computer monitor lit
up on the table in front of me and a boy’s face slid into view.

“Hello Jake.”

I jumped, eyes on the screen, but didn’t say
anything.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why your abort commands
failed.”

I nodded, choking back stomach bile.

“My name is Terence. We haven’t met.”

I shrugged, not caring who the boy was. I hadn’t
met anyone but the Captain and a few of his lead men since coming to the ship.
I knew there were other kids around with abilities, but I hadn’t seen them or
cared.

“What did you do?” I asked. My voice was little
more than a croak. Behind my eyes, the image of the two faes’ death played out
on a loop.

“As directed by the Captain, I made sure to check
your programming before sending the creatures out. And I must say, your ability
to manufacture such complicated systems is quite amazing. As soon as the
Captain saw what you were doing, he brought me in to double-check your work.”
Terence’s voice was calm and pleasant, as if he hadn’t just sentenced hundreds
of fae to their death.

“You’re a hacker,” I said. I should have guessed
the Captain wouldn’t leave the final control of the creatures in my hands. I
should have checked the system for tampering before sending them out.

Terence nodded. “Yes. My abilities don’t extend to
your level, but computer code I can handle just fine.”

I swallowed hard. “Will you tell him what I did?”
I didn’t have to say who I meant. Terence had the same glassy eyed look I’d
seen when I looked in the mirror. Terence would do what he was told.

The boy shrugged. “No harm was done. The mission
continues as planned. The Captain knew you’d chicken out. He planned for it. It
doesn’t matter if I tell him or not. Nighty-night, Jake.”

The screen switched off, leaving me alone in my
workroom. I stared at the floor for a few seconds, then stood and began the
final coding for the steel horses. At least these creatures could do little
more than trample everything in sight. There was nothing I could do, I told
myself over and over again.

Hating myself and my stupid fascination for my
metal creations, I wished I was back home again for the first time since
getting to the island. I didn’t even want to think about what Paige would say
about this whole thing. Things were starting to turn into something out of one
of our graphic novels. She’d always cast my metal monsters as the bad guys. Now
I knew why.

We camped for the night in a clearing a few miles
from the beach. Scouts posted on the perimeter of the camp would alert us if
any of the Captain’s men wandered the jungle. The fae had traveled until
sunset, and then, at some unspoken command, started to set up camp. Setting up
camp had included some sort of spell that kept the rain off, which almost made
me jump up and down in happiness. William’s group stayed off by itself,
separate from the fae. They were quiet as they ate the soup and bread and
cheese the fae had served up, and most went to sleep immediately.

I couldn’t imagine how the really little ones
managed. At seven years old I was playing video games and eating candy bars and
bags of chips, not tromping through a hellish jungle. I tried to remind myself
that most of them had been six for a really long time. Their bodies weren’t
very big, but all of them were much older than I was. I shuddered. The idea of
being trapped in a seven year old’s body with an adult mind sounded like a
nightmare.

I sat away from both groups, trusting in the stone
around my neck to keep the spiders away. The Pegasus lay next to me, legs and
wings neatly folded. One of William’s kids had snuck up to me during the march
and whispered the name they’d all agreed on. I’d nodded and went with it. Her
name was now Stormy, whether I liked it or not. She did look kind of stormy, so
it wasn’t
awful
.

With my previous thought in mind, I sat with my
sketch book, a bowl of soup cooling beside me. I began the preliminary
sketches, wishing I could just draw one thing and then write x100 next to it to
make more of them without having to draw them, but something told me it
wouldn’t work that way. I left the eyes blank. I didn’t need five pink and
black spiders skulking around camp scaring everyone half to death, even if I
did draw them while thinking with every ounce of will power I had that they
would only attack on command. Before I brought them to life, I’d try a much
smaller version of the spider to see if it worked. If it tried to attack me,
I’d just step on it.

When I was finished, I set the sketch book aside
and ate. I was just finishing up my bread and cheese sandwich and thanking God
that the fae had heard of cheese and had some, when Bumblebee walked up. I
handed Lavender the last piece of my food and smiled at the fae. He sat across
from me and with a few sticks from the woodpile, started a fire between us. The
fae had put some sort of spell up around the clearing to hide the light, and I
was grateful for it. The fire kept the mosquitoes away. And the jungle was just
creepy at night in the dark.

“Cashraina asked me to tell you William’s story
before we rescue your friend. Do you wish to hear it?” Bumblebee’s voice was
soft, much kinder than the other fae I’d encountered so far, with the exception
of Cashraina.

I nodded, but before he could begin, I shrugged, a
little sheepish. “Um…what’s your name? Because I think of you as Bumblebee and
it’s a little weird, because there’s this fictional character back in my world
from a movie, but it’s a yellow and black machine that’s also a car
sometimes…so it’s just weird.”

The fae blinked at me and then frowned. “You may
call me Etain.”

I nodded and pointed at myself. “Paige.”

Etain didn’t respond, but launched right into his
story. “William came to us with his brother many years ago, in the Year of the
Purple Moon.”

I was about to ask what the Year of the Purple
moon meant but Etain shot me a frustrated look, so I kept my mouth shut and
motioned for him to continue.

“William and his brother were the first humans to
come to the island. They were not like those children you see over there who
were brought over later by the Captain or by William himself. William and his
brother were brought here by the Queen.”

I shook my head. “Um…so the Queen kidnapped them?”

Etain narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “The
Queen rescued them. She would occasionally look through the waters at your
world and on one occasion, saw William and his brother. She saw them being
punished by their father and made to work in the fields. They were dirty and
underfed. The Queen, unable to have any other children beyond her first, as is
often the case with our people, decided to adopt them. She created the first of
the gates between this world and yours, stepped through, and brought William
and his brother back with her.”

I wanted to interrupt again but stayed quiet. It
sounded like William and his brother were just regular kids, not abused, maybe
just a little hungry. I wondered if the Queen thought of the boys’ parents and
how much it would hurt to lose their children.

“At first, William and his brother were very happy
here. They had the best of everything: clothes, food, toys, free rein of the
island. They were treated as royalty, the sons of the Queen. She loved them as
if they were her own. Then, seventy years later, the boys started to get
restless. They weren’t getting any older, you see, and began to be unhappy.
They had forgotten their previous life and the hardships that waited in the
human world and begged to return. The Queen, unable to deny them anything,
created another gate to send them back to your world. She sent them with as
many jewels as they could carry and spells of protection to keep them from
harm.”

I shook my head, thinking of what sort of chaos
two spoiled seven year olds with a seventy year old’s wisdom and pockets full
of cash could cause.

Etain nodded. “Yes. It did not end well. We didn’t
hear from the boys for another ten years. William came back through one of the
gates alone. He was quiet and sullen. He wouldn’t say what had happened to his
brother or why his brother hadn’t returned. William could not be happy with the
palace any longer and chose to go off into the jungle by himself. Another ten
years passed before we felt the gates being used again. But this time, it was
more than one person, and they were adults. When the gate was used again and
again and again, the Queen sent scouts to investigate. They came back with iron
wounds and died very quickly.”

I frowned. “You haven’t mentioned the name of
William’s brother, the one that didn’t come back.”

Etain frowned. “His name was James. Patience. When
the scouts died, the Queen sent for William. She asked him to fly over the
stranger’s encampment and report to her who and what they were. He did, and
when he returned, he had a wound on his face and was in a terrible temper. He
told us that his brother had returned, now a grown man. He had landed to talk
with him and they’d gotten in a fight. His brother had attacked him when
William had suggested he return to Earth with all the men he’d brought and all
the iron weapons and equipment.”

“William’s brother, James, is the Captain.” I sat
there, shocked, and darted a look over at William. I winced as I caught his
eye, realizing he’d been staring over at us for several minutes now. His face
was rigid with anger and pain.

“Yes. The boy we raised for seventy years betrayed
us for the wealth and power his ability gave him. As a boy he used his powers
with cruelty, forcing even the fae to follow his commands. We should have done
something about him sooner, but by time he returned, it was too late. Even
William cannot best him. The Captain is stronger and bigger. He can command
obedience with a simple word. If we do not stop him soon, there will be nothing
of the island left to save.”

“Okay, but what about the story on Earth about
this island and William?”

Etain shrugged. “One of the men that came over
with the Captain saw the island and left. He made up most of what he wrote.
About the only thing he got right was William’s ability to fly.”

Etain didn’t stick around to hear my reaction to
the story. He just got up and went back to the fire with the other fae. I shot
one last quick look over at William, but he’d stopped staring at me and was
sharpening his sword instead.

I felt sorry for him, sorry for the life he’d had
and the human life that had been taken from him. I sighed. It was easier when I
didn’t understand why William was such a jerk. Now when we went to rescue Jake,
I couldn’t sic a spider on William if he tried to kill Jake and just be done
with it. With a deep sigh, I sank down into the bedding the fae had given me
and tried to go to sleep. I’d have to worry about that tomorrow.