He glances at Tiger Lily. “I suppose you may as well hear it all now.”
“Finally,” she says tartly.
“I went to the heart of the island. In the cave beneath the tree, I heard the island speak to me. It offered me a wish.”
One of the Guardians behind us hisses.
Hook continues, unperturbed. “I took it.” His gaze softens as he meets my eyes again. Sure-footed as a goat, he carries me down a rocky hill toward the beach below. “When Wendy came to the island, she worked some sort of curse on me. On everyone here, really. She made me realize there could bemore. More than a life of murder and thievery—” He grins. “Though those are still plenty appealing.”
I smack his shoulder.
“Wendy was like the first drink of alcohol for a young lad. The first taste of something forbidden. She made me want something I’d never even considered.” He jumps down another bit of the incline. “She made me want love. Connection. Someone to share my cabin with.”
“You wanted Wendy?” I ask.
“That mealy-mouthed goodie two-shoes?” His lip curls in disgust. “I wanted her to walk my plank and be gone.”
“Jeez. That’s my great-great-great-grandmother you’re insulting!” There might be one more or one less ‘great’ in there, but I can’t remember.
“My father was a piss-poor excuse for a man. There, feel better?” He reaches the sand, his steps growing smoother. “She made me want the other half of my soul. I didn’t even realize it was missing, but like I said, she cursed me. That’s what drove me to the heart of the island. It’s what led me to you.”
“And you’re saying that was a curse?” I scoff.
“Of sorts, yes. Just think, lass. I was Captain James Hook, feared by all, even by Blackbeard. I maimed half of Atlantis and had an astronomical bounty on my head in the Triangle. I had it all.” He gives me a rueful smile. “Until Wendy made me realize Ididn’thave it all. And I wouldn’t have it all until I had you, lass.”
I’m so close to melting, but I can’t. Not until he tells me the truth. “I have to know if you hurt her.” My voice is barely a whisper, like a faint harmony with the waves of the sea.
He nods. “I know, lass. That’s the part I’ve been dreading, been trying to figure out. Once the island granted my request, it told me your name. Needless to say, I went running back to my ship and set sail to find the woman who would make me whole. I found you.” He shakes his head. “You were six. Playing in your pool with your mother and a little yipping dog running around and trying to jump in with you.”
“Nana.” God, it’s been a long time since I’ve thought about her. She died when I was still little.
“I’d come to claim you. But you were yet a wee lass. So, I left you alone. Only visiting and checking in on you from afar. Eventually, I tasked one of my men with looking out for you.”
I arch a brow. “Yeah, I know. Not cool.”
“Shortly after that, I met your mother.”
A knot forms in my throat. “How?”
“She came to me. We were sailing around the Neverstorm, and she dropped right onto the deck, her clothes and hair soaking wet. She strode right up to me, put her finger in my face, and asked me what my intentions were with you.” He smiles a little as if it’s a fond memory.
“She was here?” I’m so damn tired of crying, but I can’t stop. Not when I imagine my mother in Neverland. “My mom was here?”
“Off and on for years.” He nods. “Not just here, though, she traveled all the worlds. I even heard tell of her swimming to the darkest depths and meeting the old god who lives at the bottom of the sea. She had a magic of her own, one borne from Neverland. A particular sort of fairy folk, she was. No control over when she appeared, mind you. She complained mightily about it. In between all that, I asked her about you. She told me all sorts of things, and most of all, she told me how much she loved you.”
A sob catches in my throat.
He reaches up and wipes my tears away. “She told me you would hum to yourself while doing homework, you loved every cat you ever met—even the one that left this scar—” He lifts my hand and shows me the little check-marked scar on my wrist, then kisses it. “You had the messiest room she’d ever seen, but you always knew exactly where everything was. You had dozens of notebooks, all of them filled with stories. She would often say you had more stories than time to tell them.”
It’s all true. She told him about me. Sherememberedme. I can’t talk. No words form as I try to process what he’s saying. My mother traveled? That’s where she was when she left? And she told him she loved me?
“She didn’t even have to say she loved you, lass. She threatened to cut off my bollocks if I ever hurt you.” He laughs. “She was nothing like Wendy, thank the saints.”
“You didn’t make her leave me.” I cry and bury my face in the crook of his neck. “Y-you didn’t make her leave. Peter lied.”
“Shh now, lass.” He rubs my back and rocks me to the rhythm of the waves. “I don’t think she had any say in how her magic worked. It was a wild thing, one that swept her away. What part I may have played in it, I can’t say. Ididask her about you. In fact, there were a few times I’d chase down rumors of her and try to catch her just to find out more. But she was wily, a fae through and through. I just missed her off the coast of El Dorado the last time I’d gotten wind of her. Word was that she was traveling to Neverland to look for the Spinner again. She’d tried several times already but never found her.”
“Why?”
