Unhooked(43)

Olivia doesn’t hesitate. Without any argument, she grabs at the orb hovering around her face, and in a flash of light she’s gone.

“Go, Gwendolyn.”

“But . . .”

There are three creatures and only one of him. The other boys disappeared long ago. It’s not that I really think there’s anything I can do to help him, but leaving him alone with those creatures seems wrong.

He tosses me a devastating smile, as though the Dark Ones aren’t pawing at the ground just feet away, as though their wings aren’t already beating in rage. “I can take care of myself, love. They can’t touch me as long as I have this,” he says, giving his dagger a wave.

“It’s just a knife,” I tell him. Certainly enough to slit the throat of a boy, but it’s barely big enough to prick the creature’s side.

“It’s iron, Gwendolyn. Even a scratch would be lethal to them. Go on. I’ll catch up after I’ve given you a head start.”

I look at the dagger he’s holding. It’s so small compared to the size of the Dark Ones, which tower over Pan. I can’t imagine it could do much to protect him from them.

“Go!” he roars, and this time the impatience in his voice makes me jump.

Without any more hesitation, I reach out and grab the orb flickering near my face. My fingers slide through its icy density, and the world flashes white.





The boy stood next to his brother and waited for their orders. Each of them hummed with a nervous anticipation as they waited, believing they were ready for what was to come. “Stay behind me,” his brother said. “You cover my back, and I’ll be at yours. . . .”





Chapter 20


I COME TO WITH THE sun beating down on my face and the rocky ground rippling beneath me. My head aches, and my vision is a little blurry, but I can make out Olivia a few feet away on the ground. Above us the gray mist swirls malevolently, like a storm is brewing within it.

No one else is around. None of the boys seem to have made it out of the fog. There’s no sign of the Captain or any of his crew, and there’s no sign of Pan.

I sit up, my head swirling with the dizziness of what just happened. The fairy lights are gone too. We’re alone at the end of the world, and this part of Neverland is barren all around us. My limbs feel shaky and unsure, but I crawl the few feet over to where Olivia is lying on the ground and gently try to wake her.

Olivia coughs and moans, and then with shaking arms, she pulls herself up and looks at me. “Gwen?” she says, her eyes unfocused but strikingly clear. They’ve lost the glassy quality that I fought all day yesterday.

“You remember me?” I pull myself up straighter and try to focus on her. The pink gown she’s wearing is torn and soiled. The left sleeve hangs loose, half ripped from her shoulder by someone or something.

“Of course.” But then she looks around, noticing her surroundings with a start. “What happened? Where are we?”

“The Captain tried to take you, and we found you in the fog. We’re somewhere called the End,” I tell her. “Pan’s still in there.”

“Pan?” she says uncertainly, her eyes narrowed. “What are you talking—”

Before she can finish her question, the mist swirls again as something dark shifts within its depths.

“Look out,” I say, reaching for Olivia to pull her back. But I stop—it isn’t a dark creature that’s emerging from the cloud. “He made it,” I whisper, relief catching in my chest at the sight of him.

As Pan steps out of the gray mist, his eyes are alight with triumph. There isn’t a scratch on him. He gives me a wry smile that has me smiling in return. But then his expression grows serious. “We should go. I don’t trust the Captain or the Dark Ones not to return.”

“But the boys,” I say, thinking of the one who was so scared, of the others, who marched into the cloud as though death were an impossibility.

“There’s nothing I can do for them now,” he says, and the blunt matter-of-fact tone of his declaration makes me take a step back from him. He’s not even going to try.

“But—”

“What’s important is that we get you both back to safety,” he interrupts, and though I want to argue, there’s something in his expression that warns me it would be a mistake. “We’re safe enough in the light of day, but we need to get back before nightfall,” he explains, eyeing the fog warily. “Unless, of course, you wish to meet more of the darkest Fey when they’re at their strongest?”

After he says that, the rest of my objections seem pointless.

By the time Pan pulls Olivia to her feet, her eyes are already starting to lose the clearness they had just moments before. He tucks her under his arm, and she moves closer, taking full advantage of the protection of his body as he offers me his other hand. His grip is sure as he pulls me effortlessly to my feet.

My head is still swirling, but I resist the urge to lean into him as Olivia’s doing. Too much has happened. I need space to figure out what I think of it all.

“I’m glad you made it out,” I tell him, a peace offering.

“I assured you I would. After all, I have this.” He pulls his dagger from its sheath and offers it to me. Reluctantly, I take it.