“Every time he does this, I think about how lucky you are,” Jupiter tells Doe, and Flam’s mate laughs.
“I think the same thing,” she murmurs.
Wendy’s eyes are round, Tiger’s too, while they watch Flam flex, standing in nothing but his leather pants. And then his form shifts, things beginning to pop in a similar fashion as when Tiger shifts, except he wears no headdress. His form shifts and expands, growing larger and larger until a great pink-feathered beast stands in the center of the Coven, our people staring around in shock. Beneath the feathers, glimpses of black scales appear, but those eyes, they’re the same as the man who once kneeled before a child.
“Wow,” I whisper, staring up at him while he gently noses Aniya, drawing a giggle from her. As we watch, he beings to play with her, twirling his long body in circles, making her laughter fill the area. Red tinges my vision but I don’t even care.
“I wish you’d look at me like that,” Atlas whispers in my ear, and I feel my cheeks get hot.
“I do,” I admit, glancing over at him. “I just do it when you aren’t looking.”
Atlas perks up, but I look away, not ready to dive so deeply into those feelings, terrified what it would mean, frightened of what would happen if the happy thoughts came from me rather than others.
“Don’t do that,” he chides, brushing his hand against mine gently. “You don’t have to shy away from it.”
So I look at him fully, to prove to myself I can, and I know it’s a mistake the moment I do. My heart throbs in my ribcage, frantically fighting against its confines, and the look in his eyes makes me melt.
Atlas’ lips tip up, and I forget about the giant beast dancing around behind us. I forget about everything except for the man in front of me, and the smile curling his lips. His hair hangs loosely around his face, highlighting his jawline more, and I can’t look away.
His eyes heat at the look in mine but he doesn’t move closer. Neither one of us speaks, but we don’t have to. It’s already hanging there in the air between us, destiny, fate. . .
. . .danger. . .
The rest of the world fades away and for a moment, I forget I’m a monster.
For a moment, I don’t care about anything except for the Berserker smiling at me.
Chapter Fourteen
Annoyance coats my tongue and grows stronger the longer I sit here. Since Flam and Doe arrived, the others have been focusing on catching them up to speed while also learning more about what’s happening in Wonderland. It wouldn’t be a problem if they’d been doing more than just sitting here. The longer we sit here, the more anxious I become, until the urge to check the heart makes me stand, until the urge to go after the Crocodile myself nearly cripples me. I’m tired of talking, of making plans and doing nothing. We need to act now.
I turn away from the group spitting words back and forth, prepared to go to the crystal cave, but fingers touching to my hip make me pause and turn. Atlas tilts his head, studying me, but he doesn’t speak right away even while the others do more than enough.
“What do you want, Berserker?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“You’re checking the heart a lot again.”
“What else am I supposed to do?” The words come out a growl and I can’t stop them. I’m restless, needing something to do, and my one job is being poorly executed. No matter what I do, the heart is dying, and I’m supposed to keep it alive, to protect it. “I offer nothing here that’s not already being discussed and if I don’t move, I’ll march right to the Dark Side and face off with the Crocodile myself.”
My words halt the conversation around the circle and too many eyes focus on me, but I stand my ground. I’m tired of sitting around discussing it. We know the door is on the Dark Side, but we don’t know anything else. Is it hidden? Is it standing tall? Is it concealed in a cave? We have no way to know any of that, and less so as we sit around the fire and talk about it. We’ve been doing that for over a month and still no plan has been agreed upon.
I’m starting to lose my mind.
“Have you tried getting closer to the Dark Side and seeing if you can sense the door?” Doe asks suddenly. “Maybe if you can skirt along the edge of the danger, perhaps you can sense the location better to give us a head start?”
“If the Crocodile senses we’re close, or what we’re doing, he’ll attack,” Wendy murmurs.
Hook runs a hand through his hair. “So we do so carefully. It’s an idea we should have already enacted. We know nothing more than there’s a door. You don’t even know what it feels like. We don’t even know if you can open it.”
“This Crocodile,” Flam murmurs, wrinkling his brow. “Is he a World Breaker?”
Everyone pauses, but it’s me who steps forward in confusion. “What’s a World Breaker?”
We all lean in. It’s not a term we’ve heard before, not in Neverland, and the others seem to have experience with their own demons.
“A World Breaker is someone born with the power to rip worlds apart in their veins. Usually, they can’t escape their fate, and everything pushes them towards the destruction of a world, no matter how much they may fight it. . .”
“. . .or what others do in an attempt to stop it,” White whispers. Jupiter threads her fingers with his.
“Alice was a World Breaker,” March adds. “She fell into Wonderland as a little girl and the prophesy was born. She was destined to break worlds, no matter which one she ended up in.”
Tiger stands. “Are you saying my brother could have always been destined to destroy Neverland?”
Flam nods. “If he’s a World Breaker, he would have never been able to deny the impulse.” He meets Tiger’s eyes. “If he’s a World Breaker, the only way to stop him is death. Remaining alive means he’ll eventually destroy a world.
“And if he’s not?”
“Then he’s just a misguided idiot waging war for his own personal gain. Dying isn’t a requirement to stop him if he’s not a World Breaker.”
“How can we tell?” I ask. “Is there something we can do to test whether he is or isn’t?”
Doe opens her mouth and closes it before glancing over at Flam. He grimaces. “I know how to tell the difference. I’ve met a few World Breakers besides Alice.” The others jerk their heads towards the Flamingo with those words. “But I have to get close enough to touch him. It’s a specific feeling, and I can’t focus in on it without touching.”
I meet Tiger’s eyes and see everything reflected in her mind. She doesn’t want the Crocodile to be a World Breaker, doesn’t want the choice taken away from her on whether her brother dies, but she understands what it’ll mean if he is one. His fate will be determined with a single touch.
“If we go to the edge of the Dark Side in an attempt to sense the door, he will come.” I realize suddenly Atlas’ hand still touches me, and his sister is watching the touch carefully, but I don’t shake him off. “It’ll most likely turn into a fight, and once he shows his face, you’ll have to get close enough to touch him. His army of Lost is great, however.”
“Like the Tweedles,” White tells Flam. “The Tweedles were Lost, apparently.”
Flam and Doe’s faces twist at the same time and I have to wonder just what exactly Tweedledee and Tweedledum got up to when they disappeared from our world. Every time they’re mentioned, the Wonderlandians cringe. I don’t blame them, but if they’re dead, I don’t understand why they still illicit such reactions, though the beetles that crawled along their skirts were certainly off-putting. I’m thankful none of the other Lost have such a penchant for the insects.
“Not all of us can go,” Wendy argues. “Someone has to stay behind and watch the Coven.”
Hook nods. “We can stay.”
“I can’t. Wolfbane will more likely show up if he thinks he can grab me. If I’m not there, he might let the Lost do his work for him.”
“Well, I’m not staying here while you go.”
The arguing begins again, and I sigh. Thin
gs were so much easier when there were only four opinions to take into account. Now, with so many people helping, it’s making decisions difficult.
“Enough,” I growl, silencing everyone. “We need to make plans. Not argue. The Cat and Cal can stay in the Coven and watch over it.” When Cheshire opens his mouth to hiss at me, I hold up my hand. “The Crocodile doesn’t care for your presence or absence, and though you’re both strong, neither of you will be necessary in the test. We need someone to protect the Coven and all the people in case he launches an attack.”
Cheshire’s mouth snaps closed, and he looks at Cal, who nods in answer. Her eyes roam to Atlas. “Are you staying?”
Atlas shakes his head, and for once, Cal doesn’t get angry. She nods, her eyes flicking between us and then away, trying to allow Atlas the freedom to choose his own fate. I can see the strain around her eyes with the action, and I appreciate that she’s even considering not raising a blade to me. She might even stand a chance with the sword she carries at her back, but it would be nice not to have to find out.
“Should we go at night?” Flam asks, and the four of us from Neverland talk at the same time.
“No!” The moment I hear so many voices, I back down, letting Wendy do the talking. She says things better anyways.
“The creatures get worse at night. The Lost and the Crocodile are in no way the most dangerous creatures that crawl through the forest. We have to go during the day.”
Flam looks up and frowns at the dark sky. “Is it daytime or nighttime right now?”
“Day,” Tiger answers. “Midday to be exact.”
When Flam doesn’t answer, March laughs. “It’s difficult to get used to the darkness, but it’s not so bad.”
“We should go now,” I murmur. “Search for the door and figure out the Crocodile’s fate.”
“I agree,” Atlas adds. “The faster, the better. The shaking is getting worse.”
As if his words call it forth, the ground rolls beneath our feet, gentle compared to other times, and when I press my hand to my chest, I’m relieved to feel the heart still steady. The shaking isn’t from its power. It’s from something else.
We break apart to make the arrangements, each of the Daughters going to their leaders and making sure they have everything they need to protect the Coven. Swift stands at the ready off to the side, and though he’s decided to stay in Neverland even if we manage to open the door, he hasn’t stopped his duties. He refused to. Wendy’s pirate stands further away, waiting for us to finish talking. I’m curious as to whether Swift has told him about staying yet. Chips hasn’t been in Neverland long. I know because even with the aging, he still appears a little younger than others.
“We’re going to try and find the door,” I tell Swift, dragging my eyes away from his lover. “The Cat and Calypso are going to be staying to help but I expect them to change their mind. In the end, I’m near certain it’ll be down to you, Bear, and Smee to protect the Coven.”
“We can handle it,” Swift nods, pushing his hair away from his face. I don’t miss how his eyes trail over to Chips on the edge, before flicking back to me.
“Has he decided?”
Swift sighs. “No. I don’t want him to stay with me. Deciding my own fate is one thing. Feeling as if I stole his choice is far different.”
“If he chooses to stay with you, that’s not your fault. We all hope to stand beside someone we care for at the end. You’re getting the chance to say goodbye. He deserves the option, too. Especially if you’re certain you don’t want to leave.”
“I’m certain.” Swift nods. “But he hasn’t lived as long as I have. I don’t want him to die, to choose me over living.”
I place my hand on his shoulder, sensing the need to head back to the others and prepare. “That isn’t your decision to make, my friend.”
Swift’s hand covers my own, and it nearly buckles my knees to see the emotion shining in his eyes. Swift has always been full of life, just like Tiger’s Bear and Wendy’s Smee, and I never realized just how much I considered him a friend until he claimed he’s ready to die. I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle walking away from him and the others who choose to stay. I don’t know how I can look into their eyes and doom them all as we escape.
“Go.” Swift smiles gently at me. “They’re all waiting for you.” He pauses. “May you wear the blood of your enemies.”
“And may they know the sounds of our victory,” I finish, smiling. It was a sentence we used to say long ago, before I was a Daughter, when Neverland was more about bloodshed than anything else. We haven’t said it in a long time, but it feels appropriate now, in this moment where the world is ending.
“You ready to go, Pixie?” Atlas asks as he steps close, his eyes studying the hand Swift has on my shoulder. There’s no jealousy there, only curiosity.
“Ready,” I murmur, stepping away from my general, nodding my head towards him. “Did your sister change her mind about staying in the Coven?”
Atlas’ lips kick up when I look at him. “How did you know?”
I shrug. “A hunch. I’ve already instructed Swift to take care of everything. They’re not as strong as us, but together, they can protect our people.”
Together, Atlas and I move towards the others. I watch, entranced, as the Wonderlandians don their armor and sharpen their weapons. Tiger, Wendy, and I don’t put any armor on. We don’t even grab extra weapons. We don’t need it.
Long ago, we realized we’re far better weapons than any blade.
Only Flame and Doe refuse armor and I know they think the same as we do, that their hands are better weapons, and they don’t need armor.
“Ready?” White asks, adjusting the green armor Jupiter wears. With nimble fingers, he helps her braid her curls to her skull, drawing it away from her face. It makes her look more the warrior than anything else, and even though she wears her signature bright smile, her power licks out to touch me. One day, I’d like to see what her power does.
“Ready,” everyone answers, and then as a small unit, we slip from the Coven and head to the Dark Side.
The silence is only broken up by Jupiter suddenly breathing loudly and saying, “I can show you the power of the Dark Side.” Cal and Atlas laugh but the rest of us stare at her in confusion. “Sorry,” she grins. “You can take the geek out of the comic cons, but you can’t take the geek out of the girl.”
My brows wrinkle. “What’s a comic con?”
White groans. “No, don’t ask her that.”
Jupiter turns toward me with a grin. “Well, I’m glad you asked. A comic con is. . .”
I regret my decision immediately, but I listen to her words as we climb through the trees, and I ask questions when possible between her words. But only because the way her face lights up as she talks about it rivals the stars in in Aniya’s eyes. Life, so full of life.
And I hope to keep them all alive.
But hope is just as dangerous as the happy thoughts.
We make it to the edges of the Dark Side without incident and it puts me more on edge than if we would have been attacked. The forest feels unusually quiet, and the more I think on it, the more I realize it’s been relatively quiet since Peter sacrificed himself. Sure, there’s still the odd sound of the birds and other animals that roam Neverland calling out, but the trees. . .
“Can you hear the trees still?” I whisper to Tiger, curious. If they sound quieter to me, I can’t imagine what they sound like for Tiger Lily. She’s the Speaker of the Land. It’s only fitting she fell in love with the Blood of it.
“I can.” She frowns. “But they’re quieter than normal, and have been fading since. . .” Her eyes widen. “You think it’s connected?”
Nodding, I glance around us to make sure there’s no Lost moving to surround us. “I believe there’s a connection.” I meet her eyes head on. “Fate has a hand in everything, no?”
Tiger curses under her breath and March turns his head towards her, his ears twitching
. “You should kiss me with that dirty mouth,” he purrs, and she fights hard to hold back her smile. It still curls the corner of her lips though.
“Now isn’t the time,” she chides, focusing forward. March leans over to her and whispers something in her ear I can’t hear, and her smile widens. “Hush, Hare.”
Flam and Doe hover in the middle of our group, watching the landscape before us carefully. “How long do you think it’ll take him to notice us?” Flam asks quietly.
“Oh, he already knows we’re here,” Wendy answers, tilting her head. “Let’s move to the right, walk the line, and see if I can sense anything.” She looks over at White. “Any idea what I’m searching for?”
The Rabbit shrugs. “My doors feel like a tugging sensation in the pit of my stomach. Yours could be different, but I’d assume you’ll feel drawn to it.”
“This feels a bit like looking for a drop in the ocean,” I mumble. Atlas moves closer to me, his shoulder brushing my own, a little close to my wings. “Careful, Berserker,” I chide. “It’s a crime of the Coven to touch wings without permission.”
He leans close, his voice low so no one else can hear. “How would you punish me, Pixie?” His fingers brush against the edge of my wing, daring me.
“I could chop off your hand,” I grunt, narrowing my eyes.
“But then what would I stroke you with?” My cheeks heat with his words and he grins in triumph.
“Will you two cut it out?” Hook grunts, turning to glare at us. “I can feel your sexual tension from here and it’s grating on my nerves.”
I hiss at the pirate, my claws lengthening. The pirate has no right to speak to me in such a way, but before I can swipe out at him, Atlas curls his fingers with my claws, and though they cut his hand a little, he doesn’t pull away. He doesn’t even grimace.
“I’ve literally watched you and Wendy eye-fuck each other, Hook. There’s really no need to talk as if you’re not the same.”
“Timing,” Hook grunts. “It’s the timing that’s important.
Wicked as a Pixie (Daughters of Neverland Book 3) Page 10