It feels different, though. Somehow, this voice feels warm. I can’t trust it, though. I can’t trust anything here. The one person I believed in is gone, and I don’t think I want to go on without him. I tried my best. I did everything I could to balance Neverland, to save it from itself.
“Be brave, my sweet child. Be brave.”
Why does it have to hurt so much? To hear her voice saying his words? I reach for the pearl in my pocket and squeeze it between my fingers.
“I’m not brave, Mom.”
“You are.”
I feel her palm on my cheek, and I open my eyes.
We float beneath the water in a golden orb, just like the one that surrounded Ari and me as I told my story.
“Is it really you?” I look up at her.
“It is.” She leans down and kisses my forehead. “The island pulled me from its memories. I think it felt a bit … guilty.”
“The island feels guilty?”
She nods, her wings flapping slowly behind her. “It’s a beating heart, one full of all the emotions we experience. Dreams are creatures of emotion, of imagination. Just like stories.” She glances at my chest. “You have to wake, Moira. You have to fight to the surface.”
“Peter’s up there.” I shiver.
“No, the current is carrying you from the cave.” She strokes my wet hair from my forehead. “I don’t have long. I wanted to say I’m sorry.” She takes my cold hand and grips it between her warm ones. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come back to you.”
“You did it to save me. You made a deal with the island to keep me safe. I understand.”
“I wanted so badly to be the mother you needed.”
“You were. Youare.”
Her eyes well with golden tears. “I love you, my sweet darling.” She looks up. “You’re almost free of the cave. I can’t stay. Take my love with you.” She kisses me again.
“I love you.”
She shimmers and fades, a golden tear dropping onto my hand before she’s completely gone.
The barrier around me disappears, and water surges in, surrounding me. The pain in my chest intensifies, and I kick toward the surface, though I’m not sure which way is up. I follow the bubbles, kicking and move my right arm to push through the water. It hurts too much to raise my left one, but I fight.
I’m brave.
I’m not going to give up. Not until my lungs burst and my heart stops. I will always fight. Maybe I’m just like my mother, after all.
When I breach the surface, I suck in a watery breath, then plunge beneath the waves again. With another hard kick, I surface and breathe again, my chest burning even more as I try to catch my breath. I can’t seem to get enough air.
“Moira, there you are!” The sound sends a tremor of panic through me.
Spinning in the water, I see Peter flying toward me, sinking lower over the surface of the sea as he opens his arms. His neck is still bleeding, but he doesn’t seem deterred.
“Get away from me!” I scream and try to swim away from him, but my left arm doesn’t work, and I’m flailing badly with my right.
“I’ll save you.” He’s close now, almost on me.
I spin again and find him only a few feet away, a grin on his face and his eyes burning into me as he reaches for me.
I scream and throw my right hand out to ward him off.
The water ahead of me bursts upward in a geyser, and a golden trident flies from it and hits Peter in the chest so hard it knocks him back several feet.
