“Knowing your worry can’t help doesn’t turn it off,” he empathized. They stood in silence for a few minutes. “I will do everything in my power to bring them home safely,” James vowed.
“I know.”
*****
Farrah sent theJolly Rogeroff the next morning with plenty of bread and fresh water, a round of hugs, and mercilessly stated advice not to “screw things up.” They traveled along the coast, keeping a sharp eye out for theDrunken Kraken. Wendy doubted she could pick out Sophus’ ship from any others of that size, but she recognized Buala that first afternoon. When she asked, Kalaakaar divulged that Farrah’s place wasn’t far north of the port because she valued her privacy but required regular customers.
Collectively, they had agreed that the best way to lure Peter Pan onto theJolly Rogerinvolved letting him “discover” their secret harbor. Throughout the subsequent planning, one particular trepidation lingered. If they failed, they had burned their only secret. During the first evening’s planning meeting, Wendywanted to know why the mermaids didn’t report the hidden harbor to Peter.
“Probably because Cap’n James befriended a siren and suggested she live there. Sirens are highly territorial,” Gharza informed her.
“The way you say that makes me think ‘siren’ and ‘mermaid’ are not two names for the same faery.”
“Correct,” James took over. “Both get rather offended when you use them interchangeably.”
“Can we ask the siren to leave for a little bit?” Wendy thought aloud. “Then the mermaids could alert Peter.”
James clunked his hook on the edge of the table and shook his head. “The mermaids won’t investigate the former home of a siren until they are positive she’s been gone or dead for a long time.”
“We could take a different route through the rocks,” Kalaakaar volunteered. “Our normal path avoids the mermaids, but we don’t have to take it.”
“Good point,” James agreed. He gestured to the map. “Where were you thinking?”
After some discussion, a path was decided. Their new route moved the ship in a way that could be interpreted as exploratory. It would be best if Peter thought they were scouting the area for the first time.
Which brought up another question. “How is Peter not aware of the cave? Or is he?” Wendy pressed.
Everyone looked around the table, hoping someone else had an answer.
Finally, Raghu said, “Maybe it has something to do with the stream that waterfalls to the side of it.”
“I didn’t see a waterfall,” she objected.
“Weren’t you hiding?” Maaka interpreted Smee’s hand motions.
She dipped her head for a second. “Oh, yeah. But why would that stop him from exploring?”
“If we’re right about the iron in the groundwater, and since we already know he avoids water that didn’t fall from the sky,” Raghu led, “there could be enough iron in the stream to make him uncomfortable.”
“We stayed away from that part of the island when I was a Lost Boy,” Kalaakaar mentioned. “Peter blamed venomous snakes.”
“I heard that, too,” Mücahit added.
A few others said the same. It was concluded that they couldn’t pin down why the boy-faced fiend didn’t visit that spot, but there was nothing to be gained from second-guessing that part of the plan at this point in the proceedings.
Then their talks switched to rehashing what they already thought would work. Wendy’s sheeries would be sent in to tell Iniq, Shaye, and Horas that “Wenny” had returned with Captain Hook. If all went according to plan, Disa would “accidentally” share that information in front of Peter. If Peterwasn’t readily available, they would repeat the conversation to John and Michael. The crew believed that his growing paranoia would mean he kept the Lost Boys close.
They planned to spring their trap in the waters right outside the secret cave. There were too many manmade modifications that might alert Peter otherwise. Some of the men were set to take the yawl into the cavern, hopefully as Peter watched, in order to show him that the ship was mostly unattended and therefore a safe place to engage Hook in battle. That part got trickier. No one was sure why Peter had suddenly decided to remove Hook from the picture. Would he jump at the chance to finish the job himself? Or would he send in others? Was Sophus still on the island? Wendy sincerely hoped not, as their plan starting falling apart if theDrunken Krakenwas in anchor.
Keeping the Lost Boys out of it was also complicated. On the one hand, they couldn’t fly and were very unlikely to launch themselves from the cliff to land on the ship. On the other, Peter might not act if he couldn’t use them as a human shield. The boys might also use their slingshots and arrows to attack theJolly Roger’s crew. Tam volunteered to show himself to the Lost Boys and hopefully shake their core belief about Peter. Wendy didn’t want Tam to put himself in that kind of danger but had to agree he had the most potential to succeed with the boys. All of the others, including Phillip, had been Lost Boys far too long ago for the current batch to recognize them.
Wendy left that meeting feeling a bizarre mixture of hope, confusion, worry, and anger. Peter Pan had a lot to answer for.
Days Two and Three passed without much to distinguish them from any other day at sea. Day Four should have seen them within sight of Neverland by noon, but the prevailing winds turned against them and it took the whole day instead. At long last, they reached the anchor point they planned to launch from the next day.
Most of the crew stood on the deck and looked into the dark night toward Neverland. Clouds blotted the stars and moon, but there was nothing to see anyway. Nerves and determination took turns being the dominant emotion. This was evident in the way the men laughed excessively at stupid jokes, then patted each other on the back with assurances that tomorrow would be a day to remember.
Mirai emerged from some dark corner of the ship and leapt to the barrel by Wendy. Her patchy colored coat looked more orange in the light of the lantern on the hook.
