I honestly thought I'd be updating this sooner but y'all know how it is...
But GUYS I have read so many comments and messages asking if this was the last chapter and no it is not! We've still got 4 more chapters to go and even though I do take time between updates you will know when it's the end (plus I'll probably throw in an epilogue after that). So don't panic I'm won't be ending this book on a cliffhanger
I hope you're all well and staying safe <3
<<<Day 243>>>
"There is nothing to be done, she will not listen to a soul."
Hook sighed, running a weary and calloused hand over his beard as he shot a glance through the porthole at the ocean beyond. The waters were restless, and so was he. Lienna had been reporting the exact same excuse for the past five days.
"Then, try harder," the pirate rumbled, sullen impatience weighing on his words. His stare pierced through the mirror, right into the faerie standing on the other side of it. She did not appear impressed as she crossed her arms over her chest. Hook pursued with insistence, teeth clenched. "You must understand the urgency of the situation; the Blue Moon rises in less than a month. If we do not get your people's support in that time and launch the assault, the wards will be renewed and Neverland will be impenetrable for another year."
"We shall wait another year, then," Lienna answered curtly, filled with a stubbornness of her own.
Hook's nostrils flared. "You know very well why we must attack now."
His fey spy cocked her head slyly to the side, dark curls dancing with the movement as she asked, "Are the rumors really true, then? About the second in command's demise?" Hook nodded and the interest in her eyes sparked. "About your hand in it?" Again, a nod. Lienna raised an eyebrow. Dare he say, there was an inkling of admiration there? "Perhaps... as a token of gratitude for having slain the monster who took our beloved king from us, our queen may respond favorably to a few of your demands."
Bounding onto the opportunity, the captain clasped the mirror in his hand and brought it closer to his face. "When can I get a hearing with her?"
Lienna shook her head disapprovingly. "You humans are far too eager. As I have repeated multiple times, our queen remains bereaved and refuses to leave her chambers, much less speak to any of her advisors. Even I have not had more than mere glimpses of her in the past days." She regarded Hook, not unsympathetically. "I am sorry, but this is not a matter that you or I will be able to rush."
"But it needs to be now," Hook pressed. "The girl's death will have shaken them, and if our spies are to be trusted, their forces took a serious hit when she was taken down." He leaned forwards. "Pan has never been as vulnerable as this moment.
"You are not listening and I will not keep repeating myself," Lienna declared. Her silver wings fluttered in slight annoyance behind her. "If you refuse my offer to wait another year, the pirates will have to attack Neverland without our help."
The faerie made a move to sever the connection, yet Hook was desperate and cried out, "Wait! There must be-" He cut himself off, a ruckus sounding above his head, on the deck. He heard his men shouting; something was going on. "I need to go," he dismissed abruptly, standing up.
The mirror went blank a second later as Lienna took her leave, but Hook was already barreling out of his room and up the stairs, cutlass in hand. This better not be another fight. He knew he and his men had been cooped up far too long on the ship, yet it was no excuse for their poor behavior. Hook stormed through the last doors ready to break apart whatever brawl had broken out, yet arrived onto the deck only to stop dead in his tracks.
There, standing tall and proud at the bow of his ship and grinning as if all hell had broken loose, was Neverland's second in command. She had a single finger raised in the air as she sent the dozens of arrows fired at her back to their owners, each hovering mere inches away from their throats in a clear message; move and you die. Her ferocious gaze halted on Hook, a strange glimmer in them as they did.
"There you are!" Adelina exclaimed with malicious glee. She raised her hands into the air in a sign of truce and in doing so, allowed for the arrows to clatter to the ground. "I come in peace, so tell your men to stand down."
She was not the same girl he had seen a couple of days ago; it was startling. Whatever had happened to her since then had changed her- made her slightly unhinged. Hook took in her blood-crusted and tattered clothes, the bruises running along her skin, the slight limp as she walked, and speculated that she had survived far worse than the death he had sentenced her to.
The captain nodded to his men, signaling for them to lower their weapons. Despite the madness in her gaze, she did not seem to want to fight. Addressing her, he called out, "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Her maniacal grin widened as she sauntered towards him. The light hitch in the smoothness of her pace did nothing to diminish the fearsome aura she exuded. "Three times they tried, three times they failed," she crooned in a singsong voice.
Hook kept a firm grip on his weapon as she closed in on him. The feeling of being the unwitting prey stalked by its predator was unshakable. "Why are you here?"
The gaiety slipped off her face, replaced with cold, cruel determination. "I want Pan dead, same as you. I'm here to discuss an alliance."
Hook was unsure of how to respond. Was this a ploy? A trap devised by Pan? One look into her eyes told him enough about what she thought of the boy. Even so, could he consider himself sane of mind if he accepted her offer?
"We can discuss this later in my study," he decided. There were too many eyes and ears around them anyways. Throwing a glance at her disheveled and filthy countenance, he added, "Someone find her a room so that she may clean herself and change."
"I can show her to my room," a pirate jeered, his laugh echoed in his leering comrades.
The lost girl bristled, ready to spit out words sharp enough to cut through steel, yet Hook beat her to it. "No one is to touch her," he ordered firmly. "Now, get back to your posts!"
Disgruntled mutters met his command as the crowd of men disbanded.
"I'm perfectly capable of dealing with stupid men myself," the second in command told Hook sharply. The harsh glint in her eyes told him enough.
His expression was bleak, yet he smiled nonetheless. "I do not doubt it for an instant, yet I prefer using my own methods, as I fear allowing you to use yours would result in half of my crew being gutted."
The ghost of amusement flickered on her face. She appraised the man in front of her for the first time, not as an enemy or opponent she must rid herself of, but as an actual man, one who could turn out to be her greatest ally in her mission.
"Captain?"
Both turned to face a grim-faced older man; half of his teeth were missing and the other half were a disturbing shade of dark yellow. As unimpressed as Adelina was with him, he returned her disgusted look with one of his own.
"This is Roy, one of my most trusted men. He will be showing you to somewhere you can clean up," Hook said, clasping the man on the back.
"That's very kind of you," she replied politely.
"Clean yourself up and rest, we will talk once we've docked," Hook declared, leaving her in Roy's grubby, scabbed hands.
The man in question looked less than pleased with having been charged with babysitting the enemy's underling and did not bother to hide it. With a grunt, he jerked his head to the side in a motion to follow him. Adelina was led down the very same hallways she had attempted to flee from not many days ago. The carpet was the same, so were the same lanterns swinging in rhythm with the rocking of the ship. The scene was identical to the one she had failed to escape from, and she felt a claw close in over her heart.
No, this time, she had come willingly. She was not the same person, and she was not as defenseless as the last time. She would never again let herself be as weak as she had been then.
Their footsteps thudded dully down the corridor, muffled by the carpeting. Deeper, the man led her into the heart of the ship.
"You should leave the Abandoned Sea while you still can, girl." Roy was walking in front of her and all she could see was his back, but she could still imagine the expression of distaste on his face. "I don't know whether you truly have come here on your own, or if you remain under Pan's orders, but you should leave if you know what's good for you. You have no place in this war and you should not be interfering in things that are so much bigger than yourself."
Adelina suppressed a laugh, unsure whether it came out of pity or frustration. "Thank you for that unsolicited advice," she taunted, "but I'll be settling things with your captain directly - someone with enough importance to actually have a say in this matter - not his lapdog."
The glare he shot her as he opened a door for her was filthier than she was. She simply gave him a saccharine smile as she brushed past him into the room they had arranged for her. Clean clothes were draped over a chair and a wash basin stood in one corner.
Turning around, she made a little scatting motion with her hand. "You can go now," she dismissed him. "Shoo." She thought the pulsating vein on his forehead would burst with his contained anger.
"I won't let our captain make the mistake of allying with you," Roy threatened furiously one last time before slamming the door shut.
She could feel his thundering footsteps reverberating into the soles of her feet as he stalked away, fuming. Another hindrance, another thorn in her side she would have to deal with sooner or later. Adelina's fingers flexed at her hip, where Metentis usually rested. The weapon's absence left her feeling exceptionally bare.
Stripping out of her clothes - if one could even call them as such at that point - heightened her vulnerability, biting deep to her bones. Alone, exposed and without defense, in an unfamiliar room; the potential dangers pelted like daggers against her exposed skin. Locking the door did very little to set her mind at ease; she found herself freezing up and holding her breath at the barest suggestion of sound, her magic blazing right underneath her palms and ready to strike at a moment's notice.
In spite of her paranoia, no one came to bother her.
The basin's water was lukewarm at best. With the damp cloth to her skin, Adelina hesitated at the sight of her crusted blood. Even the faint smell of it brought back, flashing and screaming, excruciatingly fresh visions she wished she could banish from her mind. Her hands quivered around the rag as her senses narrowed, engulfing her in the memory.
The snarls of the wolves filled her ears, their wet, heavy breaths inches away from her skin... A single claw on her thigh, almost apologetic, almost sad... Pain flared in a jagged line along her leg. The lost girl fought for breath, even as she felt her throat fill with blood and she choked.
Blinking furiously, as if it could keep the tears and visions away, Adelina's nails raked across her skin as she scrubbed at the grime with vicious intent, focusing on the task before her, struggling to keep herself grounded in the present. Yet the ghosts still hovered around.
Her sight blurred, and she no longer saw her arm before her but a gleaming gray coat, shining silver under the moonlight. Distantly and yet so close it hurt, she heard herself screaming, felt it again as it chaffed her voice raw.
Faster, she scoured her skin, yet the blood refused to be washed away, refused to let her forget. She would never be able to wash away that night. Fingers trembling, she bit her bottom lip to keep the whimper from escaping her.
Another snarl, close enough that she felt its breath creep through her hair. Her vision tunneled.
She saw glimpses of the dark sky between the gaps of the canine bodies, saw it blur with her tears. Claws pinned her down, screams were dragged out of her as skin and muscle were torn. Adelina had trouble breathing. How could she, when her lungs were filled with her own blood? The fangs closed in around her throat, piercing the delicate flesh in attempt to silence her forever.
A sob escaped her lips as the cloth slipped from her trembling grasp. The floor was stained a muddied pink.
A spasm ran through Adelina's arm and another ghost awoke, ablaze. The sound of flesh tearing and ripping as sinew and bone snapped haunted the silence, echoing indefinitely in her mind. Trying to numb the pain, the girl clutched at her left bicep, feeling the jagged scar that ran around it.
It was a brand she would carry with her, always. A reminder of what she had endured, of what she had survived. Of who had inflicted this upon her. Her fingers curled inwards, digging into flesh.
Peter Pan would pay for what he had done to her.
An hour later, dusk shrouding the sky, Adelina now as clean as she would be getting with the meager supplies at hand, was staring out of the porthole watching Skull Rock come into view as a knock rapped at the door. The trembling in her fingers had only ceased a few minutes ago, and she feared it would start anew at her slightest distress.
She bunched her fists resolutely; she would not let her past interfere with her future.
The linen shirt she donned rustled as she moved to answer, chaffing against her still-tender skin. Roy's unpleasant face greeted her with another one of his disapproving scowls, his eyes scouring her up and down once, as if to find something to comment on. Yet he didn't say anything, only letting out a dissatisfied grunt before heading back down the hallway he had come from. Taking that as a sign to follow him, Adelina begun rehearsing what she would say to convince the captain of the sure advantages of an alliance with her.
The lively sounds of Skull Rock were the first to greet her as she stepped out onto the deck, the enormous rock shone brightly with torches and life, yet that was not where Roy was leading her. The last straggling pirates disembarking the ship all stopped and stared as she walked past them, yet none dared say anything before resuming their activities. Perhaps it was because of her glares, or perhaps it was due to Hook's orders. Probably both.
Roy halted before double doors, which Adelina guessed led to Hook's study. With one last glower thrown at her, as if daring her to be anything but on her very best behavior in the presence of his oh-so-beloved captain, the man pushed the wooden panels open. A rustle came from the dimness of the room as he eyes adjusted to it.
"Great, you've arrived," Hook greeted her as he stood up from his chair behind his imposing oak desk. He gestured at the plush seat across from him. "Please, take a seat." She did so, warily, noting that Roy had not left and was now closing the doors behind him. Adelina swallowed at the loud click that followed, praying that hadn't been the sound of a lock. "I hope you don't mind if my dear friend here sits in on this meeting," Hook added with an apologetic grin. "You understand surely, one can never be too careful."
As to emphasize his point, Roy leaned against the bookshelf right beside her, a hand on the pommel of his blade, itching for the faintest excuse to drive it through her.
Adelina mustered a withering smile. "Of course, but I assure you it won't be necessary."
Hook's head bobbed up and down at her words, pleased with the front of meaningless diplomacies. Leaning forwards on his desk and folding his hand over his hook, he started, "Let me first begin with apologizing for what transpired four days ago."
Hook waited for her reaction before plowing on, and it took her a few instants to gather her thoughts back to what he was referring to. "Right, the attempted murder."
Hook grimaced at her choice of words. "You must understand that I never wanted to harm you," Adelina snorted at that, "it was simply a series of unfortunate circumstances that led me to the actions I took. At the time, they were necessary; you were our enemy's greatest weapon. Surely, you will understand this and will not hold our past interaction against me."
Candles lit his study, the flickering lights casting entangling shadows through his beard onto his face. From this close, Adelina could see just how much older he was than the boys on Neverland, than the fake pretense of youth Pan clung to. Hook was sure to notice the age difference too; he was apprehending her with a mixture of wariness and uncertainty, the way an ambitious man would seize up a child ruler. Easy to manipulate, yet to be handled with care because of the sheer power they hold in their incompetent hands.
Let him believe her young and incompetent, impetuous and naïve.
Her gaze glinted with dangerous ice. She smiled. "Of course not."
Hook nodded again, relieved that they were at least pretending to be on civil terms. "Now that that is out of the way, I would like to ask you a couple of questions before deciding whether or not I will accept your offer."
Roy made a loud, unfavorable sniffing noise; Adelina could feel him simmering from where he stood a few feet away. She did not give him the satisfaction of sending a glare his way.
"To begin, I would like to understand your sudden change of allegiance."
Adelina ignored the slight burn in her throat and straightened her back, going straight to the point, "Pan tried to kill me. It's a pretty damn good reason for wanting to change sides."
Hook huffed out a dry laugh at her bluntness. "May I ask why? The last I'd heard, you two were getting... pretty close."
Heat flared on her cheeks at the implied meaning yet she brushed it off quickly; she was well past the need for privacy. Looking him dead in the eyes, she said, "He got scared of the prophecy the moment things were slipping out of his control, and decided that the best way of regaining control was offing me."
"How did you survive then?" he questioned on, leaning forwards on his elbows. "Pan doesn't usually make the mistake of letting his prey live once he's marked them for dead."
"Because he was too much of a coward to do the job himself." Warning flashed in her eyes. "And he underestimated me one last time."
"And he believes you dead?"
"Very much so."
Hook regarded her appraisingly, letting himself sink into the back of his chair. Detecting no falsehoods in neither her words nor her eyes, he pursued, "How do you intend on taking him down?"
Adelina had expected this question would come sooner or later, yet she had barely had any time to devise a plan. She would have to remain vague enough so as not to clue Hook in that she didn't have the faintest of ideas about what she was doing, but still remain concrete enough that he believed it to be possible.
The ex-lost girl jutted her chin out. Confidence made for half of any persuasion attempt. She reached into her pocket and slapped the object onto the desk. In the silence, Hook could only stare at the bracelet gleaming between them.
"This, but better," Adelina pitched. "One designed specifically for Pan."
Interest gleamed in the captain's eyes, yet she could tell that he wasn't convinced. "The faeries worked for centuries on that bracelet and even they didn't manage to create it powerful enough to make him mortal. What makes you believe you can?"
She cocked her head to the side. "I am the girl of the prophecy, am I not?"
"That doesn't answer my question."
She laughed lightly. "I wouldn't want to show all of my cards at once now, would I?" Adelina grinned in an apologizing manner, as he previously had. "You understand surely, one can never be too careful."
Roy hissed at her insolence. Hook grimaced as his own words were thrown back at him, yet did not push her further.
The tension in the room went taut as he asked, "Let's say you are able to triumph where everyone else has failed, then what?"
Adelina measured his tone. She knew Hook was assessing how much trouble she would cause him once Pan was gone. "I rule over Neverland, simple as that."
"Ah," he grinned sheepishly, as if the conflict of interest they'd stumbled upon was unforeseen, "but there's our problem, I would have wanted Neverland for myself."
"Neverland is not up for debate," she said, her tone leaving little room for argument. Roy shifted besides her, readying his weapon for any excuse to use it on her. "Alliances and agreements will be made, ones that I am sure can benefit both of our people. We can set up trade and bring prosperity to everyone in the Abandoned Sea, establish peace in this new era without Pan. But Neverland will be mine."
Hook's eyes were cold, calculative. "And what insurance do we have to be sure that you will stop your conquest after obtaining Neverland? How can we be sure that your hunger for power will be satiated and that you will not turn your sights onto the rest of us?"
"With Pan gone, what proof do you have that you will not be the power hungry one?"
Hook could not help but grin at the child's repartee; she was so callow and fierce, brazen with the brashness of youth, yet he knew better than to be fooled by the appearances she set up. He shrugged one shoulder. "I am a man of my word."
"Then, good faith it is," Adelina answered tersely. "I trust you and you trust me." Even as she said those words, she knew they were laughable.
Roy, apparently unable to contain himself any longer, burst out, "Captain, surely you can't be considering-"
Hook held up a hand, his gaze never leaving Adelina's face. "A deal in good faith it shall be. Allies in this war to take Pan down, and allies we shall remain into the new world we will create." He stood up, sticking his hand out across the desk. She stood up too. "Deal?"
Adelina grasped his hand firmly; victory was one step closer. Their stares met and held for a fraction of a second too long, and they both knew their mouths were as filthy as the other's with lies. Their alliance would only last as long as Pan was breathing.
"Deal," Adelina agreed.
Hook grinned wide. "Welcome to the other side."
As the last words spilled from his mouth, a burst of pain erupted in her palm, arcing up her arm like a bolt of lightning.
Finallyyyy this chapter is done, it's been sitting there half written in my drafts since Christmas
Anyways, we are now one chapter closer to the inevitable end, how are we all feeling about where this is going?
Vote and comment your thoughts?