“Thanks, Cookson.” I smile at him and stow the sandwich in the pack I have slung over my shoulder.
“You’ve got the salve I gave you just in case?” Skylights strides up beside Cookson.
“I have it. And the bandages.Andthe stuff that fizzes when you put it on a cut. You packed your whole infirmary into this little bag.”
“Better safe than sorry.” He gives me a nod.
“Here.” Shiner hands me her water skin. “Mine’s better than yours.”
She may be rude, but she’s also right. I trade her my canteen and loop the leather from her skin onto the belt at my side.
Cecco walks up, though he moves gingerly, bandages draped across his back. “Take this coin.” He hands me a doubloon. “Never know when you’ll have to buy your way out of trouble.” He winks.
“If you keep giving her things, she’ll be too weighed down to get very far.” Smee appears, his face pale and drawn.
“Didn’t think I’d see you.” I look up at him.
“I’m still keeping watch for him.” His voice falls. “I always will.” He glances at the cave. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” I adjust the pack on my shoulder, centering it between my wings.
He gives me a stern nod. “Get it done. We’ll be anchored here until you return.”
He seems so sad, so defeated. I mourn for Hook in my heart, but he does too.
In what must be a fit of insanity, I walk to him and wrap my arms around him.
He freezes, seemingly stunned, then awkwardly pats me on the back. “It’s all right.”
I pull away, my cheeks heating. “I made it weird, didn’t I?”
He smirks, the old sass surfacing. “That’s all you’ve ever done.”
“You’re welcome.” I smirk right back at him.
I don’t want this to be my swan song, but it certainly feels like it. Even with the gifts and the well wishes, I suspect a lot of the crew doesn’t believe I’ll be coming out of the cave alive. I don’t blame them. Neverland has been nothing but danger and death since I got here. Why would it change now?
Reaching into my pocket, I grip the pearl. It’s quickly become my talisman, and I’ve touched it probably a hundred times since Ari gave it to me. It’s like a tiny piece of him, and I carry it with me.
“Here.” Bill hands me a torch from the fire. “Should last you a good while, and you’ve got flint if it goes out.”
“I’m all set. Thanks for everything.” There’s nothing else to be said. I have to go, and they have to stay—but that knowledge doesn’t make it any easier. I take a deep breath and turn to the cave, the crystal ground rising in steps toward it.
I take them slowly, the yawning mouth of the cave devouring the light thrown from my torch. Even so, I keep going, picking my way across the ground until the crystal finally coalesces into a relatively even surface. By the time I turn to look behind me, all I see is darkness. It’s the same ahead.
Once more, I touch the pearl, then head off into the island’s maw. The crystal walls echo my steps, and the ceiling seems to grow lower as I move farther inside.
I don’t know where I’m going. This is the one place that Hook didn’t have mapped out. So, I just keep walking, one foot after the other as the stone floor begins to slope downwards. I lift the torch to see if there are any offshoots, but there’s nothing except crystal, opaque and smooth.
Hook came this way. So did Peter. Were they scared as they walked along the path? Or were they so eager to make their wishes that they didn’t care what danger might lay ahead? I think I know the answer to that. Both men crave danger, and it seems they always have.
The air seems to warm little by little as I travel deeper into the heart of the island. There is no light down here, so I’m grateful for the torch as I pass through caverns lined with stalactites and one particularly narrow ledge with a yawning chasm on one side.
I’m careful, travelling slowly and keeping an eye out for any other creatures or tunnels. Hours pass, and sweat tickles down the center of my back as the air warms even more.
A low hiss begins to sound in my ears, and I wonder if I’m imagining it to displace the eerie stillness of the cave.
I keep going and find that it’s real, the sound of water. It grows, becoming louder the deeper I venture.
