“To get a handle on her magic, I would guess, so she could get back to you for good. But that’s the last I ever heard of her.”
“She died here? On Neverland? That’s when she died on the mainland?” I gaze at the slope behind Hook, at the greenery in the forest beyond. Did she roam this same ground?
“Very well could have. Can’t say for certain.” He leans forward and presses a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, lass. I didn’t know how to. Or maybe I didn’t have the guts. Either way, I’m sorry.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard him utter those words to anyone.” Tiger Lily crosses her arms and looks up at me. “Well done.”
I wriggle in his grip. “Down, please.”
“No.”
“James.” I push against his chest. “Put me down.”
He lets out a long-suffering sigh and slowly lowers me to the sand, making sure I feel every hard inch of him on the way down.
I turn to Tiger Lily. “Are the Guardians going to be all right?”
“Of course. If the Lost Boys come back, we’ll be ready.” She takes my hands. “You have to make it to the Spinner. She’s the only one who can set you on the path to heal yourself and the island. I believe that now. But you need to leave now.” She glances at the forest. “Peter won’t let you go. He’ll do whatever it takes to stop you.”
“Unless he has a pirate ship, I don’t think he’s going to have a chance.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t underestimate him. He knows this island. If you’re on it or near it, he’ll find you.”
That sends a shudder through me.
“He’ll find the point of my sword while he’s at it,” Hook growls.
She squeezes my hands once more then lets go. “Go now. We’ll stay here until you’re well away.”
“Thank you.” I act before I think and wrap Tiger Lily in a tight hug. “For everything. Thank you so much.”
She returns my embrace. “All our hopes go with you, brave Moira.”
I remind myself that I won’t cry anymore as my eyes begin to water. “I won’t let you down.”
She lets me go, and Hook scoops me up and stomps out into the waves.
“You can’t say goodbye?” I gawk at him.
“They know we’re leaving. They can see my arse, can’t they?” He shrugs. “I’m not wasting another second on land. Not when I know I can protect you on the sea.” He turns his head away from me and lets out his piercing high-low whistle.
“I’m rowing as fast as I can,” Skylights yells over the waves. “Hold your rudder!”
When I turn around, I see two rowboats on the water. Skylights is in the one that’s flying toward us, his arms working the oars with speed and precision.
“He looks almost as good as me when I row.” Starkey shrugs. “Almost.”
The boat slows to a stop beside us, and Hook gingerly places me on the bench before climbing in beside me.
“Get a move on, Sky.” Hook turns to me and pulls me into his lap.
I should protest at him treating me like a doll, but I rather like it. It’s like I’ve been starved for him, for his touch. Which reminds me. “Where have you been?”
“Pardon, lass?”
“I was with Peter for I don’t know how long, and then with the Guardians. Where were you?” I even have enough strength to add some attitude to my question. Just being close to him is charging me up … with sass.
“Looking high and low for you, terrorizing the imps to get them to tell me the entrance to Peter’s cave, interrogating the Lost Boys we managed to capture, scouring the areas where we’ve seen Lost Boys hanging about—”
