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“I—I can explain,” he stammered.
“James?” Katherine sat up; her voice clouded with sleep as she tried to figure out what was happening.
“Nothing to worry about, love. Apparently, Pan never taught him any manners. Did he, Brix? He never told you not to put your hands on things that don’t belong to you? That’s precisely why you needed a mother.” I pulled a deep drag off the cigar, the cherry red ember flaring in the darkness.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You didn’t see a thing.”
“What’s the story here?” Smee’s deep voice cut in.
As much as I respected the man, I’d sworn to protect Katherine. That, mixed with my own jealous rage, had already decided the boy’s fate. The commotion had awakened the entire camp, and they gathered to watch the spectacle.
“Brix here wagered that I wasn’t a man of my word. What’s worse, he thought so low of me that he didn’t expect I would always be ready to protect what’s mine.”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I never touched her!”
“What do you think, Katherine?” I started as I stalked toward my prey. “Should I skin him alive or sacrifice him to the bone faerie? I’ll let you choose.”
“James, I don’t think this?—”
“Peter taught me to take what I wanted,” Brix interrupted. “No reason a girl like her should be stuck with an old man when she can have a Lost Boy like me.”
“So, you admit it, you’re still a Lost Boy? Because if you think Pan will ever take you back, you truly are lost.”
“He will take me back. Once a Lost Boy, always a Lost Boy,” he said pridefully before letting out a raucous crow.
I shook my head, a chuckle coming out of me at his naïvety. “Crow all you want. He won’t be coming for you.” Brix would always be an immature boy at heart. And that heart belonged to Pan. “You’re a sorry excuse for a man. Still pandering to a boy who would prefer you were dead. The only thing you’ve learned is to treat people as though they’re nothing more than toys to be played with. But you can give your apologies to the Divine when you meet them.”
“You’re no better! Even as a boy, Peter Pan is more of a man than you’ll ever be!” he seethed.
Something inside me snapped, and the young man before me transformed into Peter. A lifetime of tragic memories breached the floodgates of my mind, drowning me in their darkness. His auburn hair was a mess around his head, falling into mischievous umber eyes that taunted me. But it was his cocky smile that broke my fragile hold on reality. Before I could contemplate my actions, my dagger was in motion. I slit his throat in one swift flick of my wrist. A sneer pulled at my lips as his cocky smile fell away.
The hot splatter of blood across my face pulled me from my downward spiral. Brix slumped to his knees, a river of crimson ruining his shirt. His last gurgled breaths filled the silence of the forest.
My gaze instantly turned to Kat. Her eyes were wide, and the color had drained from her cheeks. I could just make out the tremble in her lip, the quiver betraying her struggle to maintain composure. Was I no better than Peter fucking Pan? Had I proven that to her at this very moment? She thought I was a monster. I could see that clearly. But I was only a monster of Pan’s making. And the only way to tame the beast within me was to kill its maker.
“Let me make myself very clear,” I started, breaking the hushed silence that settled over the group. I stooped low enough to clean my blade off on Brix’s sleeve, driving home the threat without a single word. “Peter Pan, and anyone who follows him, is as good as dead. I will cleanse the island of that infernal boy and wipe his memory from Neverland’s history.
If you want to join me, pledge fealty to me as your captain. I can offer you a home on my ship, the Jolly Roger. Ensuring your safety, security, and full bellies. I will give you the sense of family that Pan robbed from you. Not to mention the chance to get the vengeance you so justly deserve.”
The men shifted on their feet. Their eyes darted to one another and, ultimately, to Brix’s lifeless body before Jukes finally spoke up.
“Does that mean I get to kill Lost Boys, too?”
I nodded solemnly. The idea of killing young boys wasn’t something that sat well with me, but I wouldn’t let anything, or anyone, get in my way. And if the Lost Boys were a casualty of war, then so be it.
“I’m in,” Jukes said, clamping a hand over his heart.
“Me too!” Mullins chimed in.
“And me,” Cookson added.
“Smee?” I asked. The older man had kept silent, allowing the group to make their own decisions. I’d just slaughtered one of the boys he’d worked so hard to save. I couldn’t be sure I hadn’t ruined any chance of an alliance between us. “I can’t make any promises. But if you follow me, I will find you answers about your son.”
“Honored to be at your service, Captain.”
Between his obsession with Pan and the addition of four new crewmen, James had his hands full. I’d been given the menial task of keeping our caged pixie cared for. It was likely to keep me quiet on the subject. At least this way, I could ensure she would be treated with kindness and respect. I was still struggling with the idea of her being kept like a pet, but James insisted, and I didn’t want another reason to argue with him.
She was a pretty little thing. Pointed ears poked out from her dark brown hair. Chocolate-colored freckles dotted her olive-toned cheeks, drawing attention to the specks of brown in her hauntingly grey eyes. Her delicate wings reminded me of a dragonfly, translucent and glass-like, reflecting the most beautiful iridescent shades of peacock green and blue. She was magic incarnate. I could admire her for hours. But despite her luminescent appearance, she was shrouded in melancholy. She sat silently on the floor of her cage with her knees pulled to her chest.
