Neverland (7 page)

“Anyway, when I landed here, I remembered everything of my former life, just some minor information seems to have gotten lost.”

Now he laughs. “Your name is minor information?”

“I…er...” I clasp my hands, then I decide to show him my wrist with the tattoo on it. “I think this is my name, though I have no idea how or when I got this tattoo, or if it’s real for that matter.”

“It’s not,” he states in a matter-of-fact tone, surprising me. How can he tell the difference from only one quick look at it? Because I’m stunned silent for a second he adds, “I know a little about tattoos myself. See—” He grabs my wrist and tilts it. His hand is surprisingly callused. “The surface glistens in the sun. No real tattoo does that. The ink should be
in
your skin, not on it. Somebody painted this on you.”

Painted it on me? Who would— A sudden smile slips to my face.
Paulina
. She loves these things and is just the girl to make me stick them on my arms. Maybe she did it last night and I just can’t remember? What had we been doing all evening anyway?

“Where have you gone?”

Startled out of my musing, I blink and focus on the guy’s curious blue eyes.

“It seemed like I’d lost you for a moment. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I was just trying to remember what really happened right before my accident. My memory feels awkwardly…
spongy
.”

Pursing his lips, he lets go of my wrist and clasps his hands behind his back again. “Rumor has it every now and then a stranger comes to Neverland. But they usually don’t remember where they come from. They just show up and stay forever.”

The corners of my mouth point down. “I’ve heard about that.”

“So you really
do
want to go back.”

He sounds like only now does he really believe my intention. If he didn’t before, why show me to a ship that’s sailing away from the island? And where is this ship anyway?

A sudden rush of panic swamps me and makes me freeze on the spot. He halts too, a puzzled expression creeping to his eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asks, seeming genuinely concerned.

“Do you know who owns this ship that you’re taking me to?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not this
Captain Hook’s
ship, is it?”

He pauses for a moment, studying me with his head tilted. A frown knits his brows together as he slowly asks, “Whoever is Captain Hook?”

Phew
, I’m safe. If it was Hook’s ship, this man would surely know. My shoulders and back relax and I continue walking with him. “I’ve never met him, but apparently, Hook is a pirate. He’s alleged to be the ugliest, meanest and scariest man in Neverland.”

“Oh my, if that’s the truth, I hope I never cross paths with him.”

I smile. “Me, too.”

“Well, you don’t have to be afraid. I know everyone on that ship. Trust me, you’ll be absolutely safe.”

I try to calm down and forget about Hook. He’s probably just a phantasm after all. I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter and his friends made him up just because they were bored or to scare people like me. Now I can actually laugh about Loney’s silly suggestion that I was hit by a cannonball when I fell out of the sky. Too funny.

Returning my attention to the man at my side, I ask, “What’s your name anyway?”

One corner of his mouth impishly tilts up. Probably because it took me so long to come up with this basic question. Only now I realize I was talking about myself all the time. He waits another second before he answers, “My name’s Jamie.”

I like how his half-smile grows into a full one. When he doesn’t pull this
sharp-eyes, I’m-upper-class
shit, he really is a handsome man. Hard to say how old he is, because the suntan he’s sporting makes him look mid-twenties at first sight, but when one looks a little closer, he still bears those boyish lines of someone much younger. Twenty-one or even twenty-two if you stretch it.

His smile eases and is replaced by a curious look. Realizing I stared at his face a fraction too long, I feel an embarrassing heat sneaking to my cheeks. He saves me from this awkward moment when he informs me, “We’re almost there,” and nods into the distance, where the tip of a mast swaying behind a low hill gives away the location of our destination.

Relief pushes through me. He wasn’t lying, there actually
is
a ship. But as we draw nearer, another worry swamps me. “Wait. I have no doubloons on me. Do you think they’ll let me on board?”

“I think they will. And if not, you still have a ruby the size of a marble in your pocket. If nothing else, that one should get you anywhere.” A hint of ravenousness flashes in his eyes, but it’s gone before I can be sure. I was probably mistaken. If he really wanted to steal the ruby from me, he had plenty of time on the way down here.

“Yeah, it should cover the cost of any voyage,” I agree. “Although I would hate to give it away. It was a gift from a friend.”

“A friend here in Neverland?”

“Yes. His name is Peter.”

Jamie suddenly struggles to keep his expression under control. Startled doesn’t even begin to describe how he looks. A muscle ticks in his jaw. “Peter…
Pan
?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

A sluggish smile creeps to his lips. “You could say we’re close like…
brothers
.”

“Without Peter I’d be mash in the jungle now,” I tell Jamie. “He was the one who saved me from the fall yesterday.”

“I’m not surprised. The lost ones usually find him first. There’s something about him that pulls you kids in.”

The fact he calls me a kid grates on my ego. Partly because of what I learned about Peter and the guys last night. Staying a child forever…
ick
. I’m almost eighteen, I run with the grown-ups now. Babysitting my little sisters every weekend should be proof enough. But I don’t let my anger show. Then I stop worrying about it altogether as we reach the top of the hill and I see it.

My ticket home!

My heart steps up a beat at the sight of the ship calmly bobbing on the waves close to the shore. It’s taller than I expected, made entirely of cappuccino-brown wood. Its beauty takes my breath away. I can just imagine how Christopher Columbus sailed around the world in a ship like this. Only one of three sails is hoisted—the middle one and obviously the biggest of them all. It’s plain white and bloats in the soft breeze.

The front and back part of the ship are higher than the middle, housing exclusive cabins from what I can see. There are small square windows built into them, and some even have drawn curtains. On top of the back quarters must be the bridge. The vacated wheel with the many handles catches my eye even from a hundred and fifty feet away.

A handful of people start bustling around as a guy with a spyglass next to the railing sees us and shouts an unintelligible warning to the others. Could be he told them to wait with the departure, because more passengers are coming on board.

Excited, I walk faster, my eyes almost popping out with wonder. Jamie, who matches my stride, chuckles next to me. When we reach the plateau closest to the ship, I hesitate and crane my neck to stare up, taking in all of it. He pokes me gently in the ribs with his elbow. “It’s a mighty fine ship, eh?”

“Stunning,” I breathe.

“Then what are you waiting for? Come on.” With one hand placed on my back, he leads me around to the long narrow gangplank and has me step on it first. Watching my feet, I warily make my way toward the main deck. The farther I walk, the more the wooden board wobbles under my weight. I can hear Jamie’s footsteps right behind me, which gives me a little comfort.

With a quick glance, I assure myself that we’re already closer to the ship than to land. But at the same time I catch a glimpse of a very dirty sailor on deck. He wears a torn shirt and a black bandana. A real saber is attached to his belt and a black patch covers his left eye. I stop dead.

Jamie bounces into my back at my sudden halt. His hands come to my waist and keep me steady. “What’s up?” he asks into my ear.

I turn my head just slightly, not letting the man out of my sight, and whisper, “Are you sure this is the ship you talked about?”

“Of course.”

“Did you see what they’re wearing? I think these men are pirates.”

“Don’t worry,” he replies with a chilled laugh. I
do
worry, though. Goosebumps rise on my skin. I want to get off this gangplank and back on land, but Jamie pushes me forward.

A few more steps and I stand on the wide deck, earning the greedy looks of more men dressed in shabby clothes. One of them flashes a gold-toothed smile at me.

“Jamie?” I croak, my knees turning to rubber. “I think we are on the wrong ship.”

“Relax,
Angel
.” He makes my name sound like a mocking endearment. The tip of his finger glides down the back of my neck in an uncomfortable caress. “We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, I spin around. Jamie pulls off his brocade coat with now obvious disgust for the cloak and tosses it over the railing. “Ah. Much better!” He flexes his shoulders and releases a deep sigh.

He’s only wearing a plain off-white linen shirt now with long sleeves and a laced collar. Jeez, how could I have missed before that this was totally out of character with the fine purple coat? “You—you’re one of them,” I hoarsely state the obvious. “You’re a pirate.”

Amusement glistens in his eyes. He gives me a taunting half-smile that freezes the breath in my lungs. “And the ugliest, meanest and scariest of them, too, I was told.”

The man with the gold tooth steps up to Jamie and hands him a wide black hat with a single black feather, then he cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, “Get up, ye mangy dogs! The cap’n is on deck!”

“Hook,” I breathe.

Jamie rakes a hand through his hair and puts the hat on his head, gazing at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. His smile turns into a dangerous promise. “Welcome aboard the Jolly Roger.”

Chapter 5

I TRY TO rush past him and get off the ship, but Hook captures me easily with one arm around my waist and pulls me back. I fall against his rock-hard chest, away from the gangplank that two of his men pull in.

“Put her out, Smee!” he shouts over my head to another young man dressed completely in black, who appears on the sterncastle. His ginger hair looks shaggy and he wears a red bandana around his neck. First, I think Hook is talking about me and wonder what he means. But moments later the pirate on the bridge yells orders to draw anchor and hoist sails. The ship starts to glide away from the shore.

I’m trapped on the Jolly Roger.

“Let go, you freaking bastard!” Thrashing about, I scream like a snake has wound around my waist instead of his arm. On second thought, Hook is just as bad as a snake.

His mocking laughter rumbles in my ear. “There, there. Who taught you such nasty words, little
Miss London
?”

My elbow connects with his diaphragm and smacks the damn grin right off his face. I’m free and stumble away. With one hand pressed to his chest, Hook bends forward and pushes out a cough. He clearly underestimated me. This is my only chance, but we’re already too far out, and several members of his smudgy crew are blocking my sight to the shore, backing him up. There’s no time to think. Frantically, I spin around, dash across the ship and climb onto the railing. Gathering all the power I have inside me, I leap out and plummet fifteen feet into the waves.

The cold water takes me under in a wild spin, determined to smash me against the belly of the ship. Seconds pass, I battle to gain back control of my limbs and orientation. With lungs compressed to the size of tennis balls, I push up from the watery depths and finally break through the surface, sputtering water from mouth and nose, and suck in a lifesaving breath.

“Look what we’ve got down there, Cap’n!” I hear Smee’s faint laughter from deck and turn to find most of the men standing behind the railing, gaping down at me with dirty grins. “A mermaid.”

The crowd parts and Hook steps through. Slowly, he braces his hands on the railing, leans forward and arches his brow. “Was that really necessary?”

Yeah, it would all be so easy for him if I just played the nice captive. But I don’t think so. To get back on land, I have to swim around the ship, so I start paddling and struggle through the water with arms weak from hunger.

“What now? Are you trying to swim away? Back to London?”

I don’t answer Hook’s amused shout but swim faster. The tied sleeves around my waist loosen and my sweater slips away. Hastily I reach underwater to grab it, but I can’t get a hold. If the situation wasn’t so dire, the fact the sea swallowed my
Pirates of the Caribbean
sweater would have made me laugh. I swim on.

“Come on, Angel. You’ll never make it. If we don’t catch you, the sharks will.”

Refusing to let his taunting words put me in a panic, I grit my teeth and ignore him.

“Aaaaangeeeel…!” He keeps pace with me, walking slowly along the railing and has fun at it, too. He sounds like he’s talking to an infant when he tells me, “We’re seventeen men and a ship against you. Why can’t you just be nice and surrender? Be my guest!”

Guest, hah!
He must be bonkers. But he soon seems to reach the limits of his patience and growls, “Smee! Fish her out!”

No matter how fast I pedal, I can’t escape the fishing net that’s being cast over me then. As they pull the strings of the net together, I’m tossed about and they haul me back on board like the catch of the day. My struggling is in vain. I land like a flopping catfish on deck.

Two men with their shoulder-length hair tied in a braid grab me by my arms and yank me to my feet. “What we do with her, Cap’n?” the one to my left asks Hook. He wears an earring the size of a bracelet and both his forearms display mermaid tattoos. With his wrinkled skin and the gray streaks in his black hair, he looks to be the oldest man on board, though I doubt he’s older than his early forties. He smells like rotten fish.

“Tie her to the mast, Fin.” Hook’s order is cold, emotionless. Arms folded over his chest, he waits until I stand pressed with my back against the tallest mast on the ship, my arms yanked to the back of the pole and tied with a rough rope chafing my skin. All the time, we never break eye contact. When the pirate called Fin is done and my hands are secured, Hook waves him away.