“If it gets me outside, it can fly. Don’t let it—” It slaps a hand over my mouth, the darkness pouring onto my tongue even though I cough and try to bite it.
Shiner tries to grip it, but her hands pass through. “Bunk!” she calls, her movements frenzied as she tries to free me. The shadow moves steadily, completely unbothered by Shiner, dragging me like a sack of potatoes.
Bunk stomps up, his eyes wide as he, too, tries to grab the shadow that has me in its grip. But he can’t fight it either.
I struggle, but I’m too weak to fight. I’m done. My heart beats a dirge, counting the moments until Peter takes me. I look at Shiner, and I want to tell her it’s okay. I want to tell her that this isn’t her fault. But I can’t. I can’t do anything except what I’ve always done—be Peter’s victim. The rage I feel is dampened by the grim realization that this is the end.
“Let her go!” Shiner won’t give up.
I try one more futile time to wriggle free. I get nowhere. It’s almost dragged me all the way out of the connecting building.
“Stop!” Bunk thunders and wraps his arms around me.
The shadow pulls, but Bunk is strong. He roots himself to the spot, digging in his heels and holding onto me, squeezing me with his meaty arms. The shadow pulls its hand from my mouth and wraps its other arm tightly around my throat.
“Yes!” Shiner yells and runs to my back. She wraps herself around me, somehow on top of the shadow. Or maybe through it. I don’t know, but I can feel the two of them holding me steady as the shadow crushes me tighter and tighter.
I can’t get a breath. Still, it keeps squeezing.
“Bunk! It’s hurting her.” Shiner’s voice is panicked.
My eyes feel like they’re bulging, and still I can’t get any air. The shadow constricts me more, squeezing my lungs flat and pressing my heart to my ribs.
“We have to let go.” Bunk lets up on his hold, and the shadow eases.
I suck in a tiny breath.
“We can’t let go. If we do, it’ll take her.” Shiner keeps her arms around me.
The shadow squeezes again.
“Let go, Shiner.” Bunk’s face is a mask of sorrow. “You have to let go. It would rather kill her than let us have her.”
I see spots, big black ones that skitter like spiders across my vision.
“I’m sorry.” Shiner’s voice breaks. “I’m so sorry, Moira.”
She backs away, and the shadow finally lets me breathe. I gulp in air and cough. The shadow pays me no mind, just drags me out into the moonlight.
I feel when I lift into the air, my feet dangling as the shadow flies upward. Shiner and Bunk disappear as the shadow carries me across the village, heading for the Nevertree.
The Lost Boys swarm below us, their yells of victory harsh in my ears. Peter has won. The Guardians are finished, and so am I.
ChapterSeven
The shadow stops so violently that I lose my breath. It turns midair and seems to be staring back through the trees.
“What? Your boss in trouble?” My voice is hoarse.
I try to kick at the shadow, but my foot meets only air.
When it drops suddenly, I scream. We hit the ground, and the shadow takes off, leaving me in a pile of leaf litter in the dark.
I struggle to my feet, dazed from the fall but no more hurt than I already was. The sounds of the battle are growing louder, and then I hear booms.
My senses sharpen, my adrenaline kicking back in and powering my limbs as I push through the undergrowth and rush toward the noise. Those booms—they have to be musket fire. It’s the only explanation. And the only people I’ve ever seen with guns around here? Pirates.
I shouldn’t want to see Hook, shouldn’t care if he’s all right, but my heart betrays me. It beats for him. Even though he’s a villain of the darkest design, cut from a cloth of midnight. He’s so much more than that, so much deeper than what others say—and even than whathesays. There is so much good in him. I’ve felt it. Seen it.
