Tiger Lily cuts him a glare, then returns her gaze to me. “You’re going to rest here. We’ll try to get word to Hook so—”
“No.” I bite the word off and spit it out.
“No?” Tiger Lily seems taken aback. “Why not?”
“I can’t trust him.”
For some reason, she smiles. In it, I see a more youthful version of her, one that must’ve existed when Wendy came to Neverland. It fades a little as she wipes my forehead again. “You don’t have to trust him, Moira, but you do need his ship. It’s the only way you’re going to get to the Fairy Village alive. The Silver Mountains are too treacherous, even for our strongest warriors.”
“Like I said, she’ll never make it.” Wraith comes into the light.
Cobweb steps beside him and rests her palm on his arm, a warning look in her eyes.
“I’ll get there.” I stare up at him. “Even if I have to crawl. I’ll get there. I’ll get strong. And then I’ll make Peter pay for everything he’s done.”
“Shh.” Tiger Lily wrings out the washcloth. “Rest now. We’ll make plans later.”
“He’ll come for me.” I fold my bandaged hands beneath my cheek. “Peter won’t stop searching, and he’ll find me. What will you do?”
Tiger Lily’s face turns back into that beautiful, yet grim, visage I’m used to. “We’ll deal with him. The Guardians will always defend themselves. And we’ll also defend the island.”
“He’ll bring all the Lost Boys he has left.” I sigh. “He won’t stop until you’re all dead.”
“He can try,” Bunk grunts.
“He knows what will happen if he spills blood in our village.” Tiger Lily gestures for Cobweb to hand her a cup from the little table on the floor beside my cot. “We’ve fought him before.”
“Not like this.” I groan as she helps me lift my head and brings the cup to my parched lips.
She only lets me have a few swallows before pulling it away. “That’s enough. Go slow.”
I keep my gaze on her, on the mystery she represents. She defends the island, hears it speak to her, but she still doesn’t know what part I’m meant to play. Why won’t the island tell her? Why won’t it say decisively “Moira’s a threat” or “Moira’s a keeper”?
“Tinker Bell said the island told her not to kill me. Has the island told you the same?”
Tiger Lily’s dark eyebrows go up, and she motions for everyone else to leave us. They do, melting into the shadows and out of the room.
“You saw Tinker Bell?”
“She helped me escape. Peter had me trapped in the cave again. Drugged. Some potion of hers that he was giving me. She tricked him—gave me a watered-down dose—so I could escape, and then she helped me climb out.”
She sits back on her heels, her brow furrowed. “I suppose that’s how we found this in your pocket.” She pulls the small vial of fairy dust from a satchel at her waist.
“Yes. She gave it to me and told me to fly away back to the mainland and never return.”
Tiger Lily puts the vial on the small table. “But you didn’t. Why?”
“Peter.”
“Peter?” She shakes her head. “How so?”
“He killed Tootles. Right in front of me.” I can see him as if I’m still in that cage in the cave. “Geo—killed him too.” He drained so many Lost Boys, trapping them here forever. They’ll never get to see their loved ones again in whatever sort of life comes next—if there is one. I don’t know, but I know whatever it is, it’s better than being a ghoul child with fire red eyes that rises each full moon. “He’s hurt me so badly, tricked me in ways that stole parts of my soul. I’m tainted by him. I … I killed Slightly.” My body shakes violently as I confess, but the shudders settle, and I continue. “So I could escape. Slightly—he’d never hurt anyone.” I let the dissonance in that statement sink in. “Except he did, didn’t he? He hurtme.” I push my bandaged knuckles into my eyes and rub. “Because Peter made him do it. The Lost Boys have no choice. They’re forced to do horrible things by Peter. Peter is the reason for all of it, even though I don’t know why. I don’t know what he wants. I wish I did.”
Tiger Lily’s eyes widen when I use the dreaded word.
“But it doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t care what he wished for. I don’t care what his reasons are. All I know is that I want him dead.” I pull the blanket up to my chin. “I want him to die for everything he’s taken from me and so many others.” My words are so vicious, so unnatural coming from my own lips. But what’s worse is that I find I mean every single one of them. I want to avenge Coy, Tootles, Slightly—all of them. All the lives Peter has taken. A memory cuts through my train of thought. “He killed fairies. Did you know that? Tinker Bell told me he made her hunt down her own kind. Then he forced her to watch as he drained them.”
Tiger Lily’s face goes pale in the firelight.
