by Lynn Wahl
“Who are you?” Jake asked.
I peered around Jake’s legs and the comfort I’d felt at the man’s voice vanished. The man was around my father’s age, in his late thirties or so. His hair was long and greasy black, and his face scarred with knife cuts. His clothes, a rag tag assortment of stained leather and silk, looked like they’d been dragged through a slaughterhouse. And instead of a hand on his left arm, he had a hook.
He saw my scrutiny and frowned. “What is this? I requested only the boy, not some worthless female.”
Again the warmth in his voice nearly overwhelmed me. The difference between his voice and his looks made me sick.
Gregor cleared his throat. “She came out of her house while we were taking the boy. We had to bring her with, Captain.”
The Captain stared at me for a moment and then walked forward. Before I could stop him, he’d wrapped his fist in my hair, scattering the little diamond pins holding up the curls. He pulled me up off the floor to his face, close enough that I could smell his breath. The mixture of cigar smoke and swiss cheese made me gag.
He shook my head, pulling my hair. “What skills do you have, girl?”
I tried to shake my head, not sure what he was talking about, and he shook me again.
“Skills! What are you good at?”
Some weird, panicked part of me wanted to lie and yell ‘Algebra!’, but I bit it back, sure that this man wasn’t the type to get a joke. “Drawing,” I cried out, tears stinging my eyes from the pain in my scalp. It felt like he was tearing my hair out.
Jake stepped forward. “That’s right, sir. She’s the best artist I’ve ever met.” He looked scared, but he gave me what I guessed he thought was a reassuring smile before dropping his eyes back to the ground.
The Captain let my hair go, and I fell to the filthy floor with a thud. He stalked over to Jake and grabbed his shoulder.
“Is that so, boy? The best artist you’ve ever met? And how many artists have you met?”
Gregor and the other men sniggered, but the Captain didn’t look away from Jake. At the intense scrutiny, Jake’s ears turned red and he began to stutter, something I hadn’t heard him do since he was a little kid.
“I m-mean, I’ve n-n-never seen such r-r-ealistic drawings b-b-b-before. She makes s-s-s-s-stuff jump off the p-page.”
The Captain sneered down at Jake and then pushed him away. “T-t-t-thank you for you the explanation, young man. Very enlightening.” He motioned to the men. “I’ll take her, but I won’t pay extra.”
From his pocket, the Captain pulled out a small leather bag tied off with a piece of twine. He tossed it to Gregor.
“Your payment,” he said. “Make sure it gets to the Governor.”
Gregor nodded. I looked over at Jake. He stared back at me wide-eyed. How could the governor be involved with kidnapping?
With a rough shove, Gregor pushed me and Jake to the back of the room. A freestanding doorway waited in the gloom. The wood of the door and the door knob were plain, something you’d see in any condo, but it stood unsupported in the middle of the floor with no frame. The latch for the door extended out into nothing.
The Captain stepped forward and pushed the door open. “After you,” he said and gestured us through.
I hesitated, not caring that the door only opened up onto the rest of the building. I’d seen enough movies lately to know that magical worlds on the other side of doorways weren’t all fun and games. I’d almost rather stay here and take my chances with Gregor.
Jake had already gone through the door when I felt the cold hardness of a gun on the back of my head.
“It’s the doorway or a dark street somewhere, Princess. Your choice.” Gregor sounded eager, like he was just itching to pull the trigger.
I chose the doorway and fell into darkness.
Three: Paige
We came through the doorway into a dark, wet space filled with the sound of hissing steam and clanking metal. It was so hot I could actually feel the sweat beading on my skin. Before I could complain or gasp for air in the overheated space, the Captain grabbed us around the arms and pushed us towards a metal door off to the side of the room. We passed three soot-blackened men on the way, their eyes like white spotlights in their grimy faces. They were all working around the source of the heat, a vast metal drum with pipes poking out of it that dominated the floor.
Jake was looking around in shock. “It’s a steam engine,” he said. “The United States hasn’t used stuff like this since the 1930s. China’s still got some steam locomotives, but nothing like this.”
Despite the danger we were in and the weirdness of walking through an empty doorway into a boiler room, I rolled my eyes at Jake’s dorky enthusiasm and managed a weak smile. The Captain didn’t seem amused.
“Yes, boy. That’s why you’re here. I need electricity and computers. Technology. I’m tired of smelling like smoke all the damned time.”
I slowed at the Captain’s voice, distracted once more by the tone and music in the words. It was different here. The man’s voice was more soothing, more powerful. It made my skin prickle.
Jake shook his head, his face set in a disappointed frown. “But I can’t just make you electricity. There are machines and all sorts of stuff you need for that. I need parts for computers that have to be developed in sterile labs by trained technicians.”
The Captain stopped and turned Jake to face him. “You will help me with what I want. I will provide all of the materials, and if your world cannot give us what we need, you will find a way to overcome.”
I licked my lips and strained away from the man. There was definitely something in his voice, something evil and sinister. Jake looked like a zombie. His eyes were dilated and glassy and a small stream of spittle dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
Without pausing to think, I swung out my arm and hit the Captain across the shoulders. “Leave him alone! You hear me? You stop that—“
I didn’t get any farther. After the first blow, the Captain turned, and with a casual gesture, flung me across the room. I hit the metal door and slumped to the floor. The Captain came after me, Jake, still catatonic, following behind.
“I’ve had about enough of you, little girl. Your friend here may be of use. Your talents, however, are yet to be seen. You can draw you say?”
Ears ringing from the blow, I nodded. When the Captain shoved a burnt stick of wood into my hands and pointed at the floor, I stared at him in dumb shock. He expected me to draw him something now?
“Draw, or I’ll kill you,” he said. His voice had none of the musical lilt I’d heard when he was talking to Jake. Instead it was flat and hard and felt like knives against my ears.
I leaned forward and began to sketch the rough outline of a dog with floppy ears and sad brown eyes. It was a good drawing considering I was using a stick on a rusted metal floor, but the Captain smeared it with his foot.
“Draw something interesting. Something with teeth,” he said. He sounded bored.
I leaned over and sketched out a tiger, its stripes harsh black lines against the orange rust. When I moved to finish its eyes, my fingers began to tingle and I got a chill. I gasped, but at the Captain’s glare, went back to the picture. I drew in one eye and then the other, my whole body prickling with the pins and needles feeling, but when I finished the drawing, nothing happened.
The Captain shook his head and sighed. “The boy was right; you’re a very good artist. Unfortunately, I’m not interested in art.”
The Captain dragged Jake up to the door, opened it, and pushed him through. He gestured one of the dirt-covered men over and pointed at me.
“Lock her up. I’ll kill her later.” He left without looking at me again, Jake following like a beaten puppy.
The coal man, or whatever he was, gave me a sympathetic look and then dragged me up off the ground and marched me to the other side of the room. He opened a door and pointed up the staircase. I went where he told me, shocked at the Captain�
�s last words. I’d lost Jake, and now I was going to be killed. I didn’t even know where we were. I set my teeth and turned to my guard.
“Where are we?” I asked.
He looked surprised and then shrugged. “The island.”
“What island?” I asked.
The coal man smiled. “Well, it used to be called Neverland because of some bloke that wrote a book and all, but now we just call it the island. It doesn’t have a name.”
I blinked. “Like Peter Pan and Captain Hook and all that?”
The man flinched and looked over his shoulder. “Here on the Conqueror, we do not say that boy’s name, and it ain’t Peter anyhow. Don’t know where that silly chap got Peter from. And if the island ever once belonged to that flying devil, it belongs to the Captain now. You’ll see…if you live long enough.”
He opened a door along a hallway and pushed me through it without another word. I found myself in a small room without a window, with nothing to sit on but the floor. When the door closed, it was pitch black and cold. I beat at the door for awhile, but there was no handle to turn and it didn’t budge when I pushed on it.
When enough time had passed that it seemed alright to give up, I sat down on the floor and cried. I was on the island, and the Captain had my best friend. I was going to die without ever being in love or going on a real date. These thoughts made me cry harder, until I was hiccupping and gasping for air. I was so wrapped up in my tantrum that I didn’t hear the door open or realize someone had come in until the lights snapped on and a bright, cheerful voice spoke in my ear with a British accent.
“Well then, it can’t be all that bad, can it?” the voice asked.
I jerked away from the sound, smashing my head against the wall hard enough to make my ear swell up and go hot. A boy around the same age as me, sixteen or seventeen, crouched in front of me. His hair was tangled and wild, and his face was a little lopsided from a scar that split his eyebrow in half and traveled down to his chin. His eyes were a warm, golden brown, fringed with dark lashes.
“I’m William,” he said. “The Captain must have just brought you over; I checked this closet yesterday and it was empty. Good thing I came today, though, huh? You’d probably get pretty bored sitting here all night. What’s your name?”
“Um…Paige,” I said, trying to keep up with the stream of words, but when he pulled me through the door and then to a hatch across the hallway that opened onto empty air, I pulled back. The air outside smelled fresh and wet, like it was raining.
“You’re here to rescue me?” I asked.
He nodded and stuck his thumbs into his leather vest. “Of course I am. That’s what I do. The Captain brings people here and I rescue them.”
“That’s great,” I said. “The Captain took my best friend, Jake. He’s somewhere on the ship. We have to find him.”
William shook his head. “No. The Captain doesn’t know I can get in down here, and he forgets about his prisoners anyway. If he took your friend up top, then he’s a goner.”
“What? No! We have to find him.” When William began to drag me towards the hatch, I planted my heels on the rusted floor and leaned back. “I won’t leave until we find him.”
William let me go and his cheerful face wilted. “Well then, you just won’t leave. Your friend’s as good as dead. Tell me, did the Captain use the voice on him?”
I was about to ask what the voice was, but then I just nodded. That was as good of way as any of describing it. I waited for William to explain what it was.
“If the Captain used the voice on your friend, Jake was his name?” he asked.
I noted the past tense, but just nodded again.
“Well, if he used the voice on Jake, then your friend won’t even want to come with us if we try to rescue him. He’ll fight us the whole way and get us caught too. We’ll die.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” I said. I glared at William, daring him to argue, but he just shrugged.
“The Captain can persuade people to do things, even things they don’t want to do. Once he’s used the voice on them, they’ll do whatever he tells them to and want to do it. It’s his ability.”
I bit my lip at the news that my friend was now a brainwashed psycho, but quirked an eyebrow at the last sentence. “Ability?”
William smiled and pointed out the hatch. “Some people brought over from Earth develop a special ability once they get here. It has to do with the fairies and their magic. Eat enough of their dust or breathe it in, and you might develop one too. My ability is flying.”
I stared at him, my mouth hanging open. Fairies. Flying. Magic. I was in serious trouble.
He gave me a sly look then, and moved around to stand behind me. “So will you come with me or not? I could really use a new person in my army.”
Army? What was this kid smoking? I began to shake my head, determined not to abandon Jake, when William clamped a hand over my mouth and pushed me out of the hatch. We fell for a few feet and then jolted away from the ship. I closed my eyes, opened them, and realized we were flying over an ocean towards a hazy island shrouded with rain. It was either early morning or late evening and the air carried a wet, tropical scent. The Captain’s ship beneath us was massive. It looked like a US battleship on steroids. I tried to look for Jake among the bristling steel towers and guns, but we were going too fast.
William pointed with his free arm at the island. “That’s where we’re going. You’re doing great!” he yelled.
I threw up all over both of us.
Four: Paige
Covered in my own vomit, soaking wet, thirsty, tired, and sore, I sat in a circle of staring children and hoped, with all my might, that if I did have a special ability, it wouldn’t be flying. William hadn’t gotten angry with me for throwing up on him, but he did seem a little less cheerful when we landed in the middle of a jungle and he pointed me towards a group of trees laced with platforms and small woven grass huts. A stream circled around the clearing. Part of it looked like it’d been dug by hand.
The clearing where I sat was filled with children. One boy, who seemed to be having deep, soul-searching conversations with the monkey that rode on his shoulder had offered me a piece of flatbread with something green on it, and I had thrown up again at the sight of it. A girl who looked a few years older made a face, and then offered me a wooden cup filled with a bitter smelling liquid. She was dark-skinned with dreads and a petite face. Her eyes were an icy pale blue, a startling contrast against the warmth of her skin.
“It’s for the nausea,” she said. “I’m Jasmine. Nice dress.”
“I’m Paige,” I said. I sipped the lukewarm liquid and looked down at my prom dress. It was streaked with mud and vomit. The bottom was torn and dragging. I wished I could take it off and burn it.
When another boy walked up with flames dancing in his hair and on his fingertips, I set the cup down and buried my head in my arms. The island was overwhelming. Everywhere I looked there was something weird going on. I’d even spotted what I thought were fairies rustling through the underbrush.
I wished Jake were here to see it. He was so analytical and scientific I couldn’t even imagine his reaction to all this magic. But I’d left Jake behind with the Captain, and now he was gone forever. The thought hit me like a punch in the stomach, and I began to cry again.
The boy with fire in his hair sat down next to me and patted me on the shoulder. He was whip thin, but strong looking, with pale blonde hair and washed out brown eyes.
“I’m Pyro. So, you miss your family, huh?” he asked.
I flinched away from his touch. He’d burned a hole in my dress.
“No, I don’t miss my family, and my family probably doesn’t miss me either,” I snapped. My dad never got up to see me before I left for school, and he worked nights. He’d probably assume I was out with Jake all weekend and not even notice until the middle of the week that he hadn’t seen me in awhile.
The boy looked surprised a
nd then frowned. “Why you crying then?”
I stood and stomped a few feet away. “Because William refused to even try to rescue my best friend. And now Jake’s a zombie or something.”
Jasmine came and took the cup away from me. “The Captain captured me and my brother right after William brought us here. William rescued me, but the Captain had already used the voice on Sean. I haven’t seen him since.”
The fire boy nodded. “Yeah, I had a friend here that got caught by the Captain. Once the Captain uses his magic, you might as well be dead. It’s not William’s fault.”
I shook my head. “I don’t care whose fault it is. I’m going to rescue my friend.” I took a few steps into the jungle, turned around, and then took a few more steps in the opposite direction. Finally, I stopped, defeated, and slumped back to the ground.
“I should have just stayed in my room. Then I wouldn’t know about Jake being kidnapped by crazy fictional characters and feel bad or be covered in vomit.”
Pyro flicked his fingers out, playing with a dancing flame the size of a golf ball. “There’s no use feeling sorry for yourself,” he said.
I glared at him. “What would you know about it? You’re like what, sixteen?”
Pyro frowned and flicked the fire ball into a tree. “I’m seventy-five years old. What I told you is the truth. You can’t save your friend. If you try, you’ll be captured. The Captain will either kill you on sight, or he’ll use the voice on you. Either way you’ll be dead.”
I stared at him. Seventy-five? I knew the thing about never aging in Neverland, but this kid was old enough to be my grandfather. I looked down at the ground, imagining myself stuck at seventeen forever. It was a depressing thought.
“Cheer up,” Pyro said. “You can always ask William to take you back to Earth once the gates are opened.”
I perked up at that and then wilted. I couldn’t just leave Jake here on his own. Even if I couldn’t save him, no way was I going to go back to McDonald’s, caffeine, and graphic novels without him. Abandoning him to suffer would make me an even bigger loser than trying to rescue him and failing had. He’d stuck with me through my parent’s divorce and my craziness. I couldn’t just leave him.