Everland(78)

For an exhilarating moment, I feel weightless. A burst of lightning shines on the infrastructure of the building below us. Instead of the trail of gold I had expected to mark our hand-and footholds on the wall, only the brief flash of a balcony roof appears far below me. I have only a moment to realize that the impact is going to hurt when I hit the tiles with a heavy thud. Pain shoots from my wrist and into my shoulder as one of my hands grasps at the slick shingles. The apex of the roof grows farther away as I slide. Gravity hurtles me like an anchor toward the ground. My voice gives a squeal as my body slips from the edge, my hands clutching the rooftop ledge.

Bella slides down the roof above me.

“Help!” she cries.

I grab her wrist just as she slips past me, nearly plunging two stories toward the brick courtyard. She dangles, her small boots kicking beneath her.

My feet find something solid beneath me, a balcony railing. Grunting, I muster all my strength and hurl Bella up to the railing. Her petite hands clutch the wood, and she maneuvers a foot onto the ledge of the balcony, throwing herself onto the floor. I leap down and lie next to her, trying to quiet my heartbeat.

“Nice catch,” Bella says through quick breaths.

Shouts from above draw my attention to the top of the building. Soldiers peer down at us, pointing. One Marauder screams orders to the other soldiers, but they are drowned out by cracks of thunder.

Bolting up, I help Bella to her feet. “We’d better get going,” I say. I clutch the broken stone wall, preparing to climb down to the empty courtyard. Bella follows.

It takes what seems like several long minutes to get down to the bottom. When our feet are safely on the ground, Bella races toward me and wraps her arms around my waist. The sky opens up, rain washing away every trace of gold dust. “I thought you were really going to kill yourself,” Bella whispers.

Kneeling down, I lock eyes with her. “After all we’ve been through, do you really think I’d leave you alone with those pirates?”

Bella shakes her head, relief evident in her slight smile. She holds a fist up, and I bump it with my own. “Lost Girls stick together,” she says.

My breath hitches as she steps toward the courtyard. I don’t follow.

“What is it?” she asks, looking over her shoulder at me expectantly.

I bite the inside of my cheek, weighing my words. “Bella, the first chance you have, run to the Jolly Roger. Don’t stop. Don’t look back, not even for me.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not leaving you.”

I place my hands on her shoulders. “Promise me that if things get dicey, you’ll run. Find Pete and the other Lost Boys and leave Everland for good,” I say. “Promise me.”

She nods, though her face scrunches with worry.

“Now let’s find my mother.”

“What a touching moment,” Hook shouts, applauding from the archway leading to the front terrace. Guards patrol just beyond the opening. Soldiers burst through a set of double doors, pausing when they see the Captain. Hook strolls into the courtyard, followed by Mikey wriggling in a soldier’s hold.

“Mikey!” I yell. “Let him go, Hook!”

The Captain nudges my brother to the edge of a pit as another soldier serves Hook with a silver platter of raw meat. Hook pulls a hunk from the tray and throws it into the black chasm, coating his fingers in a dark red sheen. Reptilian hisses rise into the chilly night air, competing with the roll of thunder. Recognizing the crocodiles’ menacing call, terror courses through my veins. The savage animals snap violently, growling and thrashing. Gazing down at Mikey, Hook wipes a finger across his cheek, leaving a red streak on his tear-stained face.

“I intend to. But first, the negotiations,” he says.

“Negotiations?” I say. “There’s no need for negotiations. I know exactly what you want.” Placing my dagger against my palm, I cut a shallow groove into my hand. The blade bites into my skin, sending hot pain up my arm. Blood seeps from the cut and pools in my hand as I march toward Hook, holding my palm up to his face. “This is what you’re after. Take it!” I spit.

“No! Don’t do it!” Bella yells. I ignore her pleas.

“Gwen, no.” Mikey’s voice quivers as he watches me with wide eyes.

Scarlet streaks run down my arm and drip onto the wet brick. Hook stares at my palm, shakes his head, and throws the last of the raw remains into the pit. “I’m afraid that won’t be enough,” Hook says, confirming my suspicions. Of course he’d never let me go. My fate was written in the stars, the two I’d wished on: safety for my family, and for Pete and the Lost Boys. But not for me.

I drop my hand and feel the drip, drip, drip of blood from my fingertips like the ticking of a clock.

Hook wipes the blood from the raw meat off his hands. “Bring the other one,” he says.

A Marauder escorts a vociferously protesting Jack from the palace doors to the reptiles’ pit. Jack stumbles to the edge. He pulls his arms free from the soldier’s hold and glares at him with disdain. His goggles tumble from his head and into the hole. Regaining his balance, he casts his gaze down. At the bottom of the pit, the two large crocodiles snap their powerful jaws, hissing at each other as they fight over the leather-and-chrome goggles.

“Careful. You don’t want to get too close. Tick is all bark and Tock is all bite,” Hook says, rubbing a pink scar on his arm. As if recognizing its name, the larger of the crocodiles growls.