“Woohoo! I knew it!” a shout punctured their cozy bubble.
James and Wendy broke their embrace and turned to face the approaching yawl.
Smee beamed from his spot at the front. Maaka and Kalaakaar couldn’t look their captain in the eye, but Wendy saw both smile when they thought no one was looking. Leaving the giant corpse behind (after rescuing the sword), the pair climbed into the yawl. The entire crew was there to greet and help pull them aboard. After some friendly razzing of the new couple, the men moved to return to their usual assignments.
James gave orders to sail closer to shore, then stop at first sight of land. “We don’t have a firm destination in mind, so we need to be ready for anything.”
Several of them saluted as they headed off to obey.
“We’re not going to Marfa?” Wendy prodded.
He set a hand at her elbow and began walking. “Those goods can wait; it's nothing perishable.” He ducked his head to enter the door that led to the brig, then turned back and snagged her hand. “They will understand the delay if we succeed in taking down Pan.”
Wendy squeezed his hand. “We’re going to rescue my brothers?”
“We’re going to rescue your brothers. It’s time.”
She huffed. “Sophus was right. That big-nosed weasel.”
His laughter bounced off the narrow hallway, filling the darkness with warmth. “Get cleaned up, then we’re having a planning meeting in my quarters.”
His kiss goodbye was short and sweet. Wendy opened the brig door, glad she hadn’t bothered to take the keys with her on their latest adventure. Her pockets would have made a donation to the sea. That thought reminded her that a good number of the crew had likely “donated” their smallest possessions to Disa’s stash. She halfheartedly checked around her cell, then decided to attend to her toilette first.
There wasn’t enough fresh water for cooking, drinking,andbathing, so Wendy had to settle for toweling off really well. She now realized just how kindly she’d been treated from the start. Changing into a green dress that she hoped was as flattering as it felt, Wendy took the time to arrange her hair with the bits and bobs James had purchased for her. The style was still wind-resistant but with extra sparkles.
Wendy left her cell still tired, still hungry, but feeling pretty. On deck, the two sheeries were being lauded as heroes by the available crew. Leq seemed to be zippin’ purely to show off. Disa flipped between his forms rapidly, then got the youngest boys to play a game with him. Leq demanded a part of the attention and joined his cohort in appearing and disappearing while Davi and the others guessed where the faeries would turn up next.
Smee approached and gestured with a head-tilt and a thumb motion. She followed him to the captain’s quarters. Many of the oldest crew members were already there. James rummaged around his desk as Smee placed his hand at Wendy’s back and directed her to a chair at the table. She settled into the middle seat he had indicated, and he took the chair to her left. Maaka and Mücahit had been chatting by the windows but wandered over to sit across from her and Smee.
The door opened, and Mirai trotted in. Gharza followed with a tray full of food. Wendy was ready to declare her undying love when he unloaded multiple dishes in front of her first. He set the same number at the spot to her right, then offered the remaining dishes to the rest of the table.
The cat, who looked more gray than orange today, hopped onto the chair at the head of the table. She peered down its length for a moment, then curled into a nap position. James left the mess of papers at his desk. He observed the feline occupying the head chair, then moved to sit beside Wendy with a slight smirk.
Gharza laid the empty tray by the door and sat across from his captain. The conversation remained light while everyone filled their bellies. The others finished their share in a timely fashion; Wendy kept working through all the dishes Gharza had allotted her, plus one or two he’d originally given James. As the cook collected the plates and bowls, she came to the realization that while her hunger had been satiated, her current fullness threatened to send her to Dreamland.
James stood to snag a large map from his desk. He laid it on the cleared surface of the table, and Wendy recognized Neverland. “Here’s what we know: Sophus tried to kill me on Pan’s orders. A mermaid passed him a message demanding his immediate return to the island.” He met the eyes of each person at the table. “Something must have happened.”
Kalaakaar rubbed the knuckles of one hand against the silver of his sideburns. “Sophus shared grand plans for capturing Pan. What do we think of those?”
“There was no ‘training accident,’ ” Mücahit rasped. He scowled. “Bet Pan is still running at near full power.”
“Wendy.” James turned to her, and she pinched her leg as a reminder to focus on his words and not his mouth. “Tell us what happened with Sadiq. Whose hand delivered the killing blow?”
She grimaced. “Peter tried to get Sadiq to do it, but in the end, Peter held the knife. And kicked him off the cliff,”she added.
“So we know his power boost isn’t as good as what he gets from a willing sacrifice.” Maaka nodded thoughtfully. “That’s helpful for us. Unless he got to someone else.”
Unwilling to dwell on the possibility that one or both of her brothers was gone, Wendy broke the dismal silence that followed. “What do we actually need to have happen, to capture Peter?”
James answered, “He needs to be encased or surrounded by iron to be transferred to the authorities.”
Wendy was nodding when Gharza added his two cents. “I know that imprisonment is the goal. So Pan can be held accountable for his actions”—he checked for affirmation around the table—“but are we all on board with the idea that he may need to die if we can’t stop him?”
Grim faces told her that everybody accepted that probability. They might not want it to come to that, but they were each willing to do what was necessary.
She brought up the next roadblock to her understanding of any plans they might have discussed in the past. “How can we get the authorities to believe us?”
James walked back to his desk.
