Gharza rapped his knuckles on the table. “That might work for little faeries, I dunno, but Neverland is an island in the ocean. Couldn’t the kitsune just walk into the water?”
A disappointed rumble of assent rounded the room.
“You said iron hurts Peter,” Wendy said to James. “Would it affect his magic?”
Tam coughed. When every eye turned toward him, he bit his lip, then offered, “When he wanted me to jump off the cliff, I was wearing this.” He pulled a leather cord out from under hiscollar. The pendant appeared to be a palm-sized fishhook, worn smooth. Wendy wouldn’t want to tangle with the fishthatwas meant to catch. “I think it’s iron, maybe.”
Smee held out his hand, and Tam pulled the cord over his head and passed it over. As the old man examined the item, a smile grew on his weathered face. When he beamed toward the captain—and advertised his missing teeth—James grinned back. “I think we have our answer, men.”
A cheer rang around the table.
“Where did you get it?” Kalaakaar wanted to know. “Pan used to do iron checks when I was there.”
“It washed up on the beach one day.” Tam’s little chest was puffed.Being the hero of the moment amongst your idols must be pretty great, Wendy thought. “I just thought it looked neat,” the boy added with forgivably false humility.
James gently detached Wendy’s fingers from his hook to stand and walk to his desk. He returned with an inkwell, pen, and paper. “Everyone needs to keep iron on their person at all times.” He scribbled a note to that effect, then addressed Tam. “Was it under your shirt then?”
“Always.”
“It may require skin contact to be effective.” More words were added to the page.
James continued to take notes as the group worked through the “plan” Sophus had advocated and debated whether or not any part could be used to their advantage. The weight didn’tdissolve, but Wendy felt like she could breathe more easily as she observed the determination of these men who had everything to lose but refused to let a monster continue unchecked.
“I do think Sophus made a decent point about using this path,” Mücahit said, running his finger along a stretch that led from the beach to a clearing they were potentially basing their plan around.
Already shaking her head, Wendy disagreed with a negative hum. “My brothers and I helped the Lost Boys install anti-pirate traps there the week before I left.”
Looks of resigned disappointment met her apologetic expression.
“What kind of traps?” Gharza asked with the sort of hope that expects to be unfulfilled.
“The pointy-sticks-in-pits kind.”
He cringed. “Never mind.”
When Tam joined the crew, he had helped Kalaakaar update their map with the snares, nets, pits, and ambush sites that he knew about. Wendy shared her knowledge and their navigator artist added three more.
They examined the new map, which had more Peter-built dangers than safe spots.
“Someone’s becoming paranoid,” Gharza observed.
Mirai poked her head above the table and scanned the conspirators. Her gaze settled on Wendy. She then pulled herself onto the surface, stalked over to the woman, and nudged herway into Wendy’s lap. Nobody else paid much heed to the feline's actions, as they had moved on to discussing the tunnels that branched out from their secret cove. James moved away to find a sketch of the underground portions of Neverland they knew about.
Stroking the cat became therapeutic as Mirai added a rumbly purr to the warm weight that was compressing Wendy’s worries into a more manageable size. Soon, the calming presence and the lack of restful sleep from the night before created a powerful state of drowsiness. She had stopped listening and participating for some time before James noticed that her eyes were closed more often than they were open. He paused the discussion to lead her over to the couch. Gharza used that opportunity to snag Tam as kitchen help, and the two left to begin dinner preparations. Wendy fell asleep listening to the voices of men preparing for battle, with a blanket that smelled like the man who finally had the right to occupy her dreams and a cat curled against the small of her back.
Sometime later, she woke feeling refreshed and safe. She pulled up the blanket that had fallen off her shoulders but stayed mostly put, as Mirai had decided that a full-body bath needed to happenonWendy’s ankles. The look of feline fury directed at her when she tried to shift her legs convinced Wendy that she was comfortable in her current position.
Tam and Gharza had yet to return with dinner. She could just see James staring out the windows behind her with his hookpoked into the groove of the top sill. When the scarring on the couch’s backrest caught her eye, she scanned the closest wood furnishings and noticed several more places that bore evidence of his tendency to “rest” the point on edges and rims.Woodpecker, she thought fondly.
Mücahit and Kalaakaar were halfheartedly arguing about something on the map. Smee had his thumb along his jaw and his fingers across his mouth as he stared through the wall, deep in thought. Maaka gazed at the floorboards as he paced with his arms behind his back. Apparently, the most brilliant plan-to-end-all-plans hadn’t been determined yet.
She stretched out her arms, careful not to dislodge the meticulous cat. “I assume we’re bringing Peter to the authorities.” James adjusted his stance to face her. “How are you going to get him on the ship, and how will you keep him contained and powerless?”
“We’ve got iron chains, but we’re still working on the first part.” Mücahit tugged on his collar.
James covered the distance between the windows and the couch in two steps. “The cell next to yours is reinforced on all six sides with iron. That part isn’t a problem,” he assured her.
“Too bad you don’t have a trapdoor like Sophus did for his croc.” She sat up, then scratched Mirai’s head to appease the inconvenienced beast. “Ta-da! Instant brig access.”
