The Navigator

by Sky, Erin Michelle; Brown, Steven;

  endy finished pulling the trigger, but that single moment of hesitation was all it took. As fast as any everlost, Blackheart moved, and Wendy’s shot flew wide.

  It was a miracle she had managed to fire at all. The world seemed to slow around her. Everything was happening at half speed, and yet she still had no time to react to any of it—like in the kind of dream where you want so badly to run but your legs just won’t listen.

  She saw Mortimer dodge her bullet. Then she saw an arrow slice through his shirt. An arrow? That seemed strange, but then she remembered Vegard had a bow. Mortimer hissed, but the arrow continued on, its silver tip crashing into the pillar behind him. The projectile had only nicked his side.

  Ragged wings sprang from his back, and he soared into the air.

  Peter reached the statue, but it had already turned back to stone. The everlost hacked and slashed at it furiously with a sword in each hand, but the strikes were futile. It did not turn to flesh again.

  A dozen or so of Mortimer’s men rushed onto the sands from somewhere beneath them. Where had they even come from? Michael, Starkey, and Reginald ran in from the entry hall and fired at Mortimer’s crew, killing three of them immediately. Their bodies shimmered, broke into a million flying embers, and disappeared. Wendy’s mind tracked the numbers by habit. Three down. The odds were even now. The twins whooped and flew into the air, engaging two of Mortimer’s everlost in a sword fight even as Mortimer flew away.

  Blackheart was flying away.

  England. Neverland. The mission.

  Peter.

  Wendy blinked, and her body moved again.

  “Peter!” she shouted. “Mortimer’s getting away!”

  But she had called him by his given name.

  Peter tore himself away from the statue and looked toward Wendy, but Wendy was looking at Blackheart.

  And Blackheart was staring right back at her.

  He hadn’t recognized her at first. She had her hair pulled back behind her head, which was the same way most of Peter’s everlost wore it. And she was wearing a slightly oversized blue officer’s coat. To be sure, the British uniform had surprised him for a moment, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Peter and his everlost stole things from England all the time. It wouldn’t have been the first royal item to serve in Peter’s ridiculous games.

  So Mortimer had not seen Wendy Darling at all. He had only seen one of Peter’s foolish boys playing dress-up with a real man’s clothes.

  Until she had yelled his name.

  That had stopped him. All the everlost called him Blackheart now. He hadn’t even been sure they remembered the other name. But here it was, being yelled by—and then he realized that, too. Being yelled by a woman. In a voice, come to think of it, that seemed strangely familiar.

  So he looked again. Really looked.

  And then he saw her. Wendy Darling. Of all the people in the world, Wendy Darling was staring back at him across the sands of his underground temple … in his stronghold … in his Neverland. Wearing the coat of an officer in the Royal Navy.

  In the space of that single moment, Mortimer Black understood everything.

  “Kill her!” he screamed. “Kill the woman!”

  Blackheart’s men, below on the sands, turned to look up, following the line of their leader’s trembling hand, which pointed straight at Wendy. They spread their wings to leap toward her, and Peter Pan fell upon them in a fury.

  Two of them died before they could even blink, each skewered through the heart by one of his blades. Their bodies disappeared, and the rest of Blackheart’s men backed away, suddenly uncertain. Even the twins stopped fighting with the two everlost in the air, and they all stopped to watch what would happen.

  It did not seem like a game anymore.

  They all knew Peter. Even Blackheart’s crew had once been Peter’s men. They were deeply familiar with the exaggerated boasting and the wild stories. The Peter who rescued orphans and played catch with mermaids.

  But this Peter—the Peter whose face wore the anger of the gods—he was unknown to them, and they saw immediately the danger they were in.

  Two more flew away without a word.

  Of the three remaining on the sand, only one faced Peter directly. He let his hand fall timidly to his side, lowering his sword. “Peter?” he asked. His voice shook, and his eyes were wide with fear.

  Peter took a step toward him, and the everlost stumbled backward.

  “No, Peter.”

  But it was not the everlost who spoke. It was Wendy, calling him back to himself. Back to the Peter she knew and trusted.

  Calling him home.

  “It’s over now,” she told him gently.

  Peter blinked. “No one harms the Wendy,” he growled, but it was a warning, not a threat. “No one.”

  The other two remaining everlost glanced at each other, and then they all flew away—even the ones who had been fighting the twins—each heading in a different direction. As Wendy watched them go, she realized the upper tier of the arena’s seating was practically littered with the open mouths of various tunnels, all leading out of the arena in different directions.

  “What? No!” Wendy cried. “Blackheart! Which way did he take?”

  But no one had an answer. By this time, Michael and the rest had gathered around her, and Peter flew up to join them.

  “Blackheart? Was he here?” Peter asked.

  Vegard sighed and rolled his eyes. “Welcome back,” he muttered.

  “We have to find him!” Wendy looked from one tunnel to the next, but there was no hint as to where Blackheart had gone. “Charming?” she asked desperately.

  But the innisfay shook his head sadly.

  “Next time,” Michael told her. “Wherever he went, it won’t be long before he sends reinforcements. If we want to live to fight another day, we need to leave. Now.”

  Even as he said it, they could already hear pounding footsteps and the distant sounds of men shouting.

  Wendy uttered a strangled groan of frustration, but then she turned her attention to Tinker Bell.

  “You know this place better than anyone,” she said to the innisfay. “Is there a way to get out of here that will avoid Blackheart’s guards?”

  Tinker Bell didn’t think that was a very polite way to ask. Especially after she had done her part to get them all down here, only to see them botch the entire operation and let Blackheart get away. But then Peter looked at her in that special way he always did, like she was the most important person in the world, and Tinker Bell forgot all about Wendy Darling.

  “Please, Tinker Bell,” Peter said. “We need you.”

  With a blush and a grin, Tink darted toward one of the exits, above them and to the left, and everyone followed her, running as fast as they could (even Wendy) proving yet again that Tinker Bell was the most important one, after all.

  It didn’t seem possible, but Wendy was convinced that the route back up to the ramparts was even more roundabout than the trip down had been. It was also harder, since there were so many stairs—going both up and down this time, which Wendy secretly thought Tinker Bell might have been doing just to be the leader a little bit longer.

  The journey also felt more harrowing, since they were accosted by the distant, echoing shouts of Blackheart’s men at every turn. Mortimer’s men, Wendy corrected herself. She could still hardly believe it, but she didn’t have the energy to think about it. By the time they reached the ramparts, Wendy thought her heart might burst out of her chest.

  And then things got even worse.

  She was waving toward the fog, hoping the lookout could see them, when a shot went off somewhere behind her.

  “There they are!” It came from the battlements on the harbor side of the castle. The fleet wasn’t back yet, so at least the guards weren’t in full force. But already men were running in their direction. And firing.

  “That isn’t good,” Vegard commented.

  Michael and Reginald each aimed a pistol toward
the nearest of the guards, sending them diving for cover, but then a shot from the far battlements screamed past Wendy’s ear and slammed into the stone behind her.

  “Everyone down!” she ordered. They all ducked behind the retaining wall, Michael and Reginald already reloading their weapons.

  “We can’t stay here,” Michael commented. “Not that I intend to stand up any time soon.”

  Wendy did a quick head count. Peter, the twins, Slightly. That was four everlost. Vegard, Michael, Starkey, Reginald, and Wendy. Five humans. But Wendy didn’t count for what she had in mind.

  “Michael’s right. We can’t wait for the ship to get here,” she said. “Peter, take Vegard. Slightly, take Reginald. Twins, take Starkey and Michael. Fly them to the ship. That’s an order, do you understand?” She looked pointedly at Peter. “Promise me.”

  “Absolutely not,” Vegard protested.

  Peter narrowed his eyes and stared at her.

  “Promise me!” she insisted, staring right back.

  “Fine,” Peter finally said. “I promise.”

  A guard rounded the corner. Wendy raised her pistol and fired, forcing the guard back around the battlement. But he wouldn’t stay there for long.

  “I’m not leaving you,” Michael told her.

  “You won’t have to,” Wendy assured him, but she didn’t look at him when she said it. She couldn’t. She was afraid she’d lose her nerve. Another guard rounded the corner. And another. There was no time left.

  “Charming!” she shouted. “Let’s go!”

  She stood up and took off running along the rampart, drawing their fire.

  A bullet hit the battlement in front of her. And another just behind her.

  “Wendy!” Michael shouted. He tried to run after her, but one of the twins picked him up and lifted him off the ramparts, carrying him toward the ship that was just now emerging from the fog.

  “At least turn me around, you idiot,” she heard Vegard growl, and then an arrow flew past her, and another, providing cover fire.

  “Dust!” she yelled to Charming, but he already understood. He had been trying to shower her in innisfay dust ever since she had taken off running, but he couldn’t get the timing right. Either he shook too soon, so it dissipated by the time she got there, or too late, and she ran by underneath it. The light breeze off the water wasn’t making things any easier.

  “Over the wall!” she shouted, and she pointed dead ahead, where the end of the rampart was coming up fast. “I’ll jump into it!”

  Charming’s eyes widened but he darted ahead, diving over the edge until she couldn’t see him anymore.

  “Three!” she yelled. Ignoring the sounds of gunfire, she focused on the wall ahead, sprinting with all her might. “Two!” A bullet hit the corner of the battlement just by her side, sending chips of stone flying. “One! Now!”

  Wendy vaulted onto the retaining wall and leaped off, executing a perfect swan dive into the cloud of innisfay dust that waited for her a few feet below. She thought up, and she soared into the sky.

  In only moments she was out of range, but Wendy Darling wasn’t done yet. She might have lost Blackheart, but there was still something she could do to make a difference. And she wasn’t about to leave empty-handed.

  She looked around for Peter and found him flying backward, not far away, with Vegard perched on his shoulders. She caught up to them in no time.

  “Peter,” she said breathlessly, “there’s something we need to do. Can you take Vegard back to the ship and then follow me? I’ll get the others.”

  “Excellent!” Peter replied immediately, even though he had no idea what she had in mind.

  “Vegard, take the ship back to the valley. Keep her safe. We’ll meet you there.”

  “And where will you be going?” the Norseman asked. He tucked his bow behind his shoulder and crossed his arms over his chest, as though riding on the shoulders of a winged man was the most natural thing in the world.

  “Me?” Wendy grinned. “One does not keep one’s commission by standing around in a London office staring at maps on the wall.”

  “Wait. What?” Vegard asked, but Wendy had already flown away.

  endy and the others flew into the fog for cover and then circled wide over the ocean. She wanted to come at the stronghold from the east—or, at least, what felt like the east, since the sun was rising behind them over the water. In any event, she wanted the guards to have to shoot into the sun, to throw off their aim.

  Not that she wanted anyone to shoot at them.

  Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

  “This is a terrible idea,” Michael grumbled. One of the twins cradled him safely in his arms as he flew, which Michael did not seem to appreciate.

  “Don’t be such a mud lump,” Peter told him. “Stealing Blackheart’s ship? It’s a grand adventure! One of the greatest adventures ever! Besides,” he added, apparently as an afterthought, “some of the very best stories are born from the absolute worst ideas.”

  “You’re not making me feel better.”

  In point of fact, he wasn’t making Wendy feel better either. But Blackheart’s ship was sitting there in the harbor, as unguarded as it was ever likely to be, and the rest of the fleet was off chasing Hook and Tigerlilja. It was now or never. They had to at least try.

  “We don’t have much time,” Wendy told them. “We’ll fly low over the water, straight to the ship. Slightly and the twins will take care of the anchor. Michael, Reginald, and Starkey will provide cover fire as necessary. Charming and I will get the ship’s trinket, and then we fly away. Simple, but effective.” Hopefully, she thought, but she didn’t say that part out loud.

  “What about Blackheart’s everlost?” Michael pointed out. “They can fly, too, you know.”

  “Yes, I’m aware they can fly, Michael. That’s what the cover fire is for. I didn’t say it would be easy. But Blackheart has escaped, and he’ll be on high alert after this. He has eight ships, including the leviathan, which looks like it’s almost finished. As of this moment, we have three. The future of England is at stake, and we are severely outnumbered. I’d much prefer the odds to be seven ships to four. Which we can accomplish. Here. Today. But only if we hurry. The fleet could return at any moment, and then we’ll be out of time.”

  “What should I do?” Peter asked.

  “Sorry?”

  “You said what everyone else should do. What should I do?”

  Tinker Bell’s hair turned red, and she chimed into Peter’s ear.

  “That’s not true,” Peter told her. “The Wendy would never forget us. She’s saving the most important job for last.”

  It wasn’t that Wendy had forgotten him. Not exactly. He just seemed too unpredictable to depend on. She stared at him for a long moment, trying to decide what to say. He was as erratic as ever, if not more so. After what she had seen in Buri’s temple …

  Chaos.

  The word echoed in her mind. She shivered, remembering where she had heard it, but it still gave her an idea.

  “Your job is to distract the guards,” she told him. “Both of you. Cause them as much trouble as you can. But do not get shot. When you see us leaving, come aboard. That’s an order.”

  Peter grinned and did a backflip in midair. “Ha!” he crowed. “I’m excellent at causing trouble!”

  “You really are,” Slightly agreed.

  Wendy was already starting to regret her decision.

  As they flew toward the harbor, Wendy could see there were easily twice as many men on the ramparts as there had been before. They stood just a few feet apart, taking cover behind the battlements and aiming through the crenellations. They were still a good distance away when the first alarm cry sounded.

  “They’ve seen us,” Wendy shouted. “Remember, stay low over the water until the last possible moment. They can’t stare directly into the sun. Peter, try to keep them busy. But be careful!”

  She had no idea whether he heard the part about being ca
reful because he was already whooping at the top of his lungs and racing for the stronghold. Wendy’s heart fell into her stomach, but there was nothing she could do about it now. At least Tinker Bell was with him. The little innisfay seemed like a force to be reckoned with.

  When they reached the harbor, the guards began firing. Three shots. Four. And then they were behind the ship itself, where the hull could protect them.

  “Anyone hit?” Wendy looked worriedly from one man to another, each carried by an everlost, but they all shook their heads.

  “All right, this is it,” Wendy told them. “With any luck, I won’t be long. Take cover behind the masts. Return fire while they’re reloading. Make every bullet count.”

  “Aye, sir,” Starkey barked.

  “Ready?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Wendy took a deep breath and soared into the air.

  Everything seemed to happen at once. Bullets flew from the battlements. The everlost deposited their charges on deck and flew off to find the anchor. Michael, Starkey, and Reginald returned fire, forcing the guards to seek cover while they reloaded. Wendy searched the sky for Peter and soon found him. He was holding an unarmed guard upside down over the water by one ankle.

  “Don’t shoot at the Wendy,” Peter scolded him, and then let him go. Even as the man fell, Peter was already flying back toward the stronghold.

  A glint of sunlight on steel flashed between the crenellations.

  “Peter! Watch out!” Wendy shouted.

  A shot rang out, but Peter seemed unharmed. A tiny dragon zipped up over the battlements just where the man had fired. A hand reached up to grab her, but it closed on thin air.

  Wendy breathed a sigh of relief and turned her attention back to Blackheart’s ship. She wanted to reach the captain’s wheel, but there was nothing there to hide behind. She decided to settle for the closest mast instead.

  “Charming,” she asked, pressing her side tightly against the mast as another round of bullets rained down from the battlements, “can you bring me the ship’s trinket?”

  Charming zipped away, but he returned in mere moments, empty-handed and jingling in a highly agitated way.