“Lock it, lass.” His voice vibrates through the wood.
I flip the lock and flip him off, even though he can’t see me.
He walks away with a chuckle, and then I hear his boots on the stairs.
That settles it. If he’s coming for me after the meeting, then I have to get the hell out of here before it’s over. I can’t risk falling into his hands again, not when I know he has zero qualms about killing.
I return to the window and peer out at the rowboat. Despite the acid churning in my stomach, I know it’s the only way off this cay that doesn’t end with me at Hook’s mercy. My decision is already made.
I go to my bed and start winding up the sheets to make a rope. I’m halfway done when yelling breaks out downstairs, and I’m lowering it out the window when a shot is fired, followed by a scream, a curse, and the sound of a bottle smashing.
Damn pirates.
ChapterSix
By the time I lower myself to the ground along the side of the house, my arms are shaking, and I’m drenched in sweat. I have to sit down and rest my head in my hands for a short while until the blood stops roaring in my ears.
All right, so I’m not 100 percent, but I have to keep going. If Blackbeard discovers I’ve escaped, there’s no telling what will happen to me. And Iknowwhat will happen if Hook finds me. That gets me up, my knees wobbling and my injury aching.
Sally flutters past and shoots through the trees to the pier beyond. She seems to know my intentions as she hunkers down on the pier as if to wait for me.
The pirates are still arguing inside, but I can only catch words here and there—many of them deeply profane. But there is a fair amount of “Peter” and a smattering of “boon.” I want to know what the hell that means, but I intend to ask Peter. And if he doesn’t give me a straight answer, I don’t know what I’ll do. He’s the touchstone I’ve been trying to hold onto ever since I got to Neverland, but if he’s as untrustworthy as everyone else on the island … Then maybe I’m well and truly lost.
“Don’t think like that,” I mutter to myself and lean against the house as I make my way through the sandy soil. Barefoot and still wearing a white nightgown, maybe I can pretend to be a ghost if someone spots me. That makes me smile. At least I can still amuse myself, right?
The house is a large, white-washed mansion with a wide porch. Noise and harsh laughter spill from the glassless windows, and the most sound seems to be concentrated toward the front of the house—the side that just happens to be facing the pier.
“Now friends—” A gruff, familiar voice booms over the noise. “And enemies—I’m looking at you, Calico Jack—”
The pirates laugh as Blackbeard continues, “I feel that we’re all in agreement as to what to do about this crisis. Neverland’s instability is spreading, and it’s only a matter of time before all our ports of call are under the same dark cloud. The sun never rises over this cay any longer, and now Atlantis and the Triangle are threatened. That’s why I’ve gathered the captains, the pirate kings and queens of the sea, here, and it’s worked. We have a plan. We have Peter’s boon—”
“I’d like to take a look at her, Blackbeard. Bring her out. I want her to dance for me,” a woman calls, and several of the other pirates yell their agreement.
“Ah, Captain Anne, I’m afraid the little thing has been bitten by a mermaid. Nasty wound.”
“Then bring her out so she can sit on my lap,” Captain Anne calls back. “I’d like to see just how much of a boon she really is; see howdeepthat good luck goes.” She laughs with lascivious mirth and is joined by plenty of voices.
I wrinkle my nose. Shouldn’t we women stick together?
“She’s not a toy for the likes of us, so you’d best shut your mouth if you want to keep all your teeth.” Hook’s voice cuts through all the others, and his reallydoesdrip venom.
“Hook doesn’t want to share his plaything?” Anne cajoles. “Doesn’t want to let me have a little taste?”
“One more word about her, Anne. One more fucking word.” I don’t know how death can become wrapped around a tone, like a suffocating black note played on a piano of bones, but that’s what Hook’s voice sounds like.
The pirates fall silent, and I can imagine all eyes are on Anne.
“Enough talk. More rum.” Blackbeard slices through the tension. “The agreement’s made, and Captain Hook sets sail tomorrow. Our work here is done. It’s time for the revel. It’s been too long,fartoo long since I’ve gotten shit-housed with all my closest friends and worst enemies—once again, looking at you, Jack. Now, who wants to tell of their latest victory? Anne, you start. I heard you sacked a galleon full of nuns. Is that true?”
The silence returns, heavier than before. I pause, straining to hear what happens next—will she taunt Hook or let it go?
After what seems like an unbearably long wait, Anne’s voice rings out. “Ah, I love that story. All true. I ran upon them off the coast of Isla de Puta, a whole—wait, what do you even call a bunch of nuns? Agaggleof them?”
“A spit roast for the likes of you,” one pirate yells, and they all fall out with laughter.
Cringe. I drop low onto my hands and knees and use some scratchy bushes as cover as I veer away from the house and try to find the quickest path to the tree line. I need cover, and the palm trees can hide me from the pirates who’ve started up a sea shanty about a drunken sailor.
When I’m crouched beside the last bush between me and the trees, I look out at the expanse of sand that I’ll have to cover. It’s wide. Too wide. The chances of someone spotting me are good, especially now that the moon is half full and almost overhead.
