Escaping Neverland

by Lynn Wahl

  “Careful,” I said.

  “Yeah well, there isn’t exactly a ‘sit here’ sign back—” he was interrupted by a yell from down the deck.

  I looked. The two men we’d seen earlier were racing towards us, guns drawn and pointed in our direction.

  “Hold on!” I shouted. I leaned forward, urging Stormy into the air. Lavender darted off towards the men, her tiny fists raised. I didn’t know what she expected to do against two fully grown men, but she’d be pretty hard to hit with a bullet, so I let her go.

  Behind me, Jake lurched forward, hitting my shoulder blade with his forehead hard enough that I twisted to make sure he hadn’t knocked himself out. Stormy’s wings churned the air around us, whipping our hair into a frenzy, but when I looked down, I realized we were already pretty far up.

  The men below were busy swatting at their heads. Apparently, Lavender was the perfect distraction. I wonder if she’d count this as saving my life. The thought made me kind of sad. The little fairie always managed to cheer me up.

  Once we were away from the ship, Stormy slowed, dipping down closer to the water. My stomach chose that moment to remind me I didn’t like flying. I fought against it, eyes set forward, straining for shore.

  It came up so fast, I cried out, throwing my arms up in front of my face, but Stormy stopped well back from the trees. This was a different place than the first camp. I didn’t see the villagers or any people about, so I guessed the fae had moved to wait for me and William in a different place. If the fae and William were still even here, I thought to myself with a bitter laugh.

  Lavender came swooping down out of the dark, landing with a gentle thump on my shoulder. She pointed into the darkness. I guessed someone had stayed.

  With a reassuring smile at Jake, I slid down from Stormy and pointed into the trees. “The fae should be waiting there,” I said.

  He was staring at Lavender. He looked down at his finger and then back at the fairy.

  “What?” I asked.

  “That’s the one that bit me when I was trying to figure out how to use them—“

  Lavender’s shrill little snarl stopped him from finishing his sentence.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, well, what’d you expect? She’s a fighter. So are the fae waiting for us.”

  He didn’t look very happy about that. I didn’t blame him. Even though I knew it wasn’t really his fault so many fae had died, it was his inventions that had made it possible. I hoped the fae would understand.

  When we walked back into the camp, Nuada stood in surprise, his eyes going from me to Jake.

  “You escaped,” he said.

  I nodded. “I was injured; the Captain left without ordering me to do anything. It was luck more than anything else.”

  Nuada tilted his head to the side, eyes landing on Jake. “So this is him,” he said. “The creator of the metal monsters.”

  I darted a look at Jake and laid a hand on his arm. “Easy,” I said. “They’re kind of rude sometimes. It’s just how they are.”

  If Nuada heard me, he didn’t say anything. He was staring at Jake, his eyes distant as if he were looking at something the rest of us couldn’t see.

  “The spell is gone. You’ve removed the Captain’s compulsion,” he said.

  Jake unaware of the spell, stepped forward, surprising me. “I’m sorry for what happened,” he said. He didn’t try to explain that the Captain had made him do what he’d done.

  I didn’t think it would matter anyway, not with most of Nuada’s family dead. The thought stopped me in my tracks. At my small whimper, Jake turned, confused, and I closed my eyes.

  “Nuada, have you heard from the Queen?” I asked.

  He looked at me and must have seen something in my face, because he leapt forward and grabbed my arms.

  “Tell me,” he said. “

  I shook my head, trying to back away, but Stormy stood behind me, and his grip was like iron. “Prince Nuada, I don’t—“I licked my lips, trying to figure out how to say it, how to soften the news.

  Etain stepped forward out of the darkness. “Healer. Tell us.”

  I opened my mouth, but it was Jake that spoke, stepping in front of me and pushing Nuada away.

  “The Captain ordered an attack on the palace. Many were killed. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t.”

  The fae all around us let out a cry of despair. In the silence that fell over the tiny clearing, the sound of Nuada’s sword clearing its scabbard rang like a bell. Jake swallowed hard and went stiff as the tip of the blade appeared at his collarbone.

  “The Queen?” Nuada asked.

  Jake went to shake his head, and then must have thought better of it. “She was the Captain’s main target. She didn’t make it.”

  The sword pushed forward, nicking Jake’s collarbone. “Why shouldn’t I kill you right now?” Nuada asked. His voice resonated with pain.

  I could see the other fae stepping forward, swords drawn. “Wait,” I said. “Jake and I can help. You’ll need both of us to stop the Captain. Without us, you won’t stand a chance.”

  The sword at Jake’s throat was suddenly at mine. “It was you and this boy that brought this trouble on us. How can we trust you?”

  I waited for the fear to come, the terror at having a sword at my throat, but my cheek was throbbing in time with my heart and an answering ache was forming in my head. I was sick of being threatened.

  “You don’t know, but it’s either that or die. Sorry. That’s just the way it is.”

  Nuada looked a little confused, but then his gaze cleared. The sword dropped. “Very well. We will trust you. For now.”

  He stormed off in a flurry of activity, motioning for his warriors to pack up the supplies. Before I could slump to the ground, I saw Etain moving towards me. When he stepped forward, I shook my head, guessing what he wanted to know.

  “I don’t know if she’s okay. I’m sorry.”

  Without a word, he turned and walked away.

  “Who’s that?” Jake asked.

  I turned to Stormy, burying my face in her mane. “That was Etain. His wife, or whatever she is, was at the palace. She was nice to me.”

  Jake didn’t say anything. I darted a glance at him, not sure what I’d find. He looked sad, as sad as I’ve ever seen him.

  “If I could take it all back, I would. If I could go back and tell myself not to win that competition, not to get all those awards, I would. The Captain would never have heard of me and I wouldn’t have created all those things.”

  “How were you supposed to know?” I asked. “The Captain would have just found someone else.”

  “Yeah, but then it wouldn’t have been me and we wouldn’t even know about this.”

  I didn’t know how to answer that, so I didn’t even try. Instead, I went off to see if any of the fae had seen William. He’d been badly wounded when he’d fled the Captain and I didn’t know if he’d managed to escape or not.

  Twenty-Three: Paige

  The fae hadn’t seen William, but the kids had all journeyed back to their camp when William hadn’t returned the next day, figuring that if anything had gone wrong, William would just go back there. The camp was pretty close to the fae palace, and I wondered if the kids had managed to go undetected with all the activity in the jungle.

  The trip back towards the palace was absolutely silent. I’d thought the trip to the beach was quiet, but the fae moved now with no noise at all. Three scouts fanned out in front of the main group, watching for the Captain’s men. We managed to edge by two patrols without being seen, but just as the sky was beginning to lighten, there was an ugly clank of metal and a cut off scream from up ahead.

  The fae around me froze, and then scattered, leaving Jake and me standing on the path with Stormy behind us. We didn’t even have weapons. An arm closed around my middle and I was yanked upward into the tree at my back. I bit back a scream when I saw the black and yellow striped arm. Next to me, Nuada gripped a struggling Jake.

 
“Jake, chill,” I said, worried that Nuada would drop him.

  Below us, Stormy had already disappeared, hopefully in the right direction.

  “Boy. What are the weaknesses of your creations? Where do we strike them to shut them down?” Nuada was holding Jake by his shirt, leaving Jake’s feet dangling in the air

  Jake shook his head. “There’s nothing,” he said. “I designed them to be invincible.”

  Nuada loosened his grip. “Then you’re worthless to us,” he said.

  “Wait! Jake, there must be something you can do, something you can build to kill them or shut them down.”

  With his feet still dangling, Jake nodded. “Yeah, sure. An EMP would work.”

  “Can you build it from the invisibility devices?” I asked.

  He looked doubtful and then nodded. “I think so, but it won’t be very big.”

  Nuada, looking back and forth between us, must have realized that we’d come up with some sort of plan, because he pulled Jake up onto the branch he was sitting on. As soon as his feet were safe on the tree, Jake began fumbling around in the backpack the fae had given him to carry the devices.

  His fingers flew through the electronics, eyes squinted almost closed. When a spark jumped out of the box and snapped his fingers, he didn’t even flinch. What felt like ages later, but was really only a few minutes, he held up a box with a bunch of wires jutting out and looping back in.

  “This should knock out any electronics up to about twenty feet.”

  I swallowed hard. Twenty feet wasn’t very far away. I hoped it worked. “It’ll have to be you or me that sets it off,” I said. “The fae are deathly allergic to iron. Even a scratch can kill them.”

  Jake looked a little frightened and then nodded. He began climbing down from the tree before I could argue with him about who should go.

  The Captain’s men and three iron wolves stepped into view right as Jake made it down the tree. Their eyes widened when they saw him.

  “Boy! How’d you get out here?” the man on the right asked.

  The one in the middle stepped forward, hand resting on one of the creature’s head. “He’s here with the fae. He’s escaped. We’ll be rewarded if we return him to the Captain.”

  I stayed hidden in the tree, not wanting one of the iron creatures chasing me through the jungle. I didn’t know if Terence had shut off just the wolf in Jake’s workroom or if he’d cancelled the order for all of them.

  I could see Jake’s legs trembling where he stood against the tree, holding his ground as the men advanced. When they were only fifteen feet away, he pressed a button on the device. For a second, nothing happened. The men and creatures still came forward. Then, without warning, the three wolves slumped to the ground, their legs crashing together as they went limp.

  The men stumbled in surprise. The fae, taking advantage of the confusion, melted out of the trees. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see it. I only opened them when Etain started to climb down out of the tree.

  He helped me down and they all gathered together to keep going. One of the scouts was dead, too late for me to help. When Nuada pointed ahead, I grabbed Etain’s arm.

  “Wait. We need more of the things Jake used to stop the creatures. We need some time to make them.”

  Etain looked like he was going to argue, but then nodded and went to Nuada. After a brief argument, the fae settled down onto their bedrolls and began passing around food.

  Jake was already cannibalizing the wolves, pulling wires and electronics out of the creatures’ skulls and chests. When he had a huge pile of parts in front of him, he began putting it all together. A few hours later, he had a pile of the EMPs next to him and one bigger one off to the side.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  He looked at it and gave me a grin. “That one should be big enough to knock out any electronics for a five mile radius. I wanted to build one big enough for the whole island, but I don’t have enough power here. If I could somehow tap into the power station, I could—“

  “No!” I said. “You can’t use the power station. No more fairies can die. “

  Jake looked like he was going to argue and then lowered his head. “If we can’t get home, maybe the fae would help me build a hydroelectric plant on one of their waterfalls.”

  I didn’t really see how the fae were going to stop him if there were so few of them left, but I nodded in agreement. “Yeah. That would be better.”

  The idea of a power plant reminded me of what I’d overheard from the men on the ship. I found Nuada near the front of the group of fae.

  “Nuada, I don’t know if you can help or not, but I overheard one of the Captain’s plans. If we can stop him, it may help save the island.”

  He glared at me through narrowed eyes. “My mother is dead. There’s nothing left to save. I am King of enemy soil.”

  I twitched, surprised, and then wanted to hit myself for being so slow. “Oh, right. So you’re king now.”

  Nuada didn’t look impressed with my sudden realization. “We cannot fight back against the Captain’s creatures. I cannot help you.”

  I shook my head. “But Jake can shut them down.”

  Nuada shook his head. “I will not trust my people’s lives to that boy’s technology. There are so few of us left as it is.” His face shut down, lips compressed in a thin line.

  I wasn’t going to get anything else out of him, so I went to sit beside Jake. Stormy had wandered back out of the jungle while he was working and lay off to the side, her head down. Lavender was asleep between her ears.

  “Jake. I need to go find out if William is okay. He can help me stop the Captain from bringing the Governor over. He knows where all the gates are.”

  Jake jerked as if I’d pinched him. “What, you’re just going to leave me here with them? I’ll come too.”

  “No. You need to go with the fae and keep the creatures away. They can’t fight against iron, and they’ll never forgive you if you abandon them now.”

  Jake snorted. “They wouldn’t care if I dropped dead right now. I think they’d be glad.”

  I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but I knew he wasn’t far off. “Please stay,” I said. “William’s camp isn’t far from the palace. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Fine. Do whatever you want,” he said. “You always do anyway.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but saw that he had a small smile playing on his lips. I punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Jerk,” I said, but I was smiling too.

  “Be careful, Paige,” he said. “This isn’t really our fight.”

  I nudged Stormy to wake her up. While I waited for her to stand, I turned back to Jake. “Whose fight is it then? William’s? He’s been fighting the Captain for years now. The fae can’t fight him at all.”

  Jake shrugged. “I don’t know whose it is, but it’s not ours.”

  I didn’t agree with him, but couldn’t see a way to convince him he was wrong. Using a fallen log, I pulled myself up onto Stormy’s back. Lavender settled in under my hair on my shoulder, chirping out a question.

  “We’re going to find William,” I said. “I need his help.”

  She looked a little confused that I’d be seeking out William for help, but as Stormy surged off the ground into the sky, she flew forward to perch between the horse’s ears. Every now and then she reached out and tweaked an ear, steering the horse in the right direction.

  I hadn’t planned that far ahead about where to go, and was once again grateful for the little fairy’s help. We flew for about half an hour, and I got my first look at how big the island really was. I couldn’t tell how many miles it was across, but I could barely see the other side and we were almost level with the beach on the side closest to the Captain’s ship. Waterfalls dotted the island here and there, rainbows floating in the mist. The ocean was a clear turquoise that sparkled in the sun. It was truly beautiful. It helped me forget how my stomach rolled around.

  When Stormy began to weave her way
closer to the jungle, searching for a clear spot to land, I tightened my hold, hoping we weren’t going to crash down through the trees. Below me, I heard a child cry out and I looked down. William’s band of kids suddenly appeared in the tiny clearing beneath the trees.

  Stormy tossed her head, neighing in alarm as her feet swept over their heads and she stumbled to a stop at the edge of the small clearing, neck wrenched to the side to avoid running into the trees. I slid down off her back, looking for Lavender, and spotted her over by Jasmine’s hut. I took a deep breath and headed in that direction, hoping I wouldn’t see William’s dead body laying there in her hammock. She was their healer.

  What I did see was almost worse. William sat in the hammock, one hand clutching the stump of his other arm. I’d known the wound was bad, but I didn’t know it was so bad he’d lose the arm. I felt guilty all over again for crying out and distracting him.

  “William,” I said. “I’m glad to see you’re alive.”

  For the second time that day, I felt the tip of a sword on my neck. “Glad? William told us how you distracted him. We had to cut off his arm. Because of you!”

  I turned to face Jasmine, more than a little tired of the other girl’s jealous protectiveness of William. Ignoring the sword at my throat, I reached around and pulled my sketchpad out of my backpack .

  “Would you like me to draw it back for you?” I asked.

  William looked at me for the first time. His face was pale and drawn, eyes pinched in pain. His eyes lightened a little when he saw the sketchpad.

  “I’ll do it, if you promise to help me. I need to stop the Captain from bringing someone over, and I need you to show me where the gates are.”

  Jasmine shoved the sword against my throat. I felt the blood trickle down, pooling in the hollow of my throat. “You will fix him without any promises. It’s your fault he’s like this,” she said.

  I stepped back away from the sword. “You can’t make me help him. He knew what could happen fighting the Captain. I may have distracted him for a brief second, but I wasn’t the one that caused this fight. I’m trying to stop it, and William can help me.”