Our people fight behind us, taking out any Lost who get close. Aniya is well protected in the center, Bear in charge of protecting her along with a group of others, but all our people seem to take it as their personal duty to protect the first child born in Neverland. I know Tiger constantly glances back to make sure she’s safe, to reassure herself that her child is unharmed and still carefully concealed. Aniya’s creatures stick with her, including the Lost who had come to her aid. No one has addressed what will happen to the creature, if he’ll follow Aniya through the portal, but I doubt anyone will tell the little girl he can’t go if she takes him.
We fight, massacring as many as possible, clearing the way to Wendy, but there’s so many Lost, we won’t be able to keep it up indefinitely. None of it matters if Wendy doesn’t get the door open.
I look toward the Sea Captain frantically knocking against the door, searching for a keyhole or a clue, anything. White leaps from the fray to join her, and together, they start working out a way to open it, but the door remains shut, and we must keep fighting.
The Crocodile roars as he faces off against a blood-covered Tiger Lily, and we all give them a wide berth. There’s no greater battle than that of siblings who feel betrayed.
And though we’re in the middle of a final battle, though the land beneath our feet quakes with death, though my heart ebbs in my chest and wanes with the crystal cave, I keep the happy thoughts close to the forefront of my mind and keep fighting.
I will save them. I will fight until I can no longer do so.
Even if it means I won’t escape this world.
ATLAS
I can feel Tink’s energy waning though she refuses to face it. I know she’ll keep fighting until she can no longer stand, and if that happens, I’ll be right beside her. I know she wants me to live above all, that she ordered White to make sure we all got back to our world, but I’m not leaving without my Pixie, no matter how honorable she’s trying to be.
The power I carry in my veins flares brightly with each swing of my axe, filling my body, until I feel like a war machine more than anything else. I keep cutting, taking out Lost after Lost, cutting a path to Wendy until we’re standing right before her, until we start to form a wall around her. The Crocodile and Tiger Lily fight off to the side, each drawing blood. March splits his time watching her back, making sure no Lost suddenly get the idea to attack, and checking to make sure Aniya is still tucked safely away from danger. I’ve never seen the Hare so attached to anything besides his own teacup, and yet here he is, fighting to save the woman he loves and her child. I glance over at Tink as she rips the head from the body of a Lost and realize we’ve all changed for the better while in Neverland.
But the Lost keep overwhelming us, fighting, taking down some of our people as we all struggle to fight. Flam is making progress, but he can’t shift without putting our own people in harm’s way in these tight quarters. We all have to stand close to the door for when Wendy gets it open, and that means the only clearing he can move in is filled to the brim. Still, in human shape, the Flamingo is a force to be reckoned with, especially with the Dodo Bird at his back, swinging her sword just as expertly. They make the perfect team, moving in harmony, just as Cheshire and Cal do.
Wendy is struggling with the door, banging her fist against the charred wood in frustration as White and Jupiter go through different options. White offers those he knows, while Jupiter offers things more scientific.
“Imagine opening the door, of unlocking it and pulling it wide,” White says, trying to force away the panic in his voice.
“I bloody am!” Wendy snarls, squeezing her eyes closed tightly and yanking on the door. It remains stubbornly shut. “It isn’t working!”
“Try some special words. Abracadabra or something,” Jupiter offers, and when Wendy raises her brow, she grimaces. “I don’t fucking know. It works in movies!”
Wendy looks at the door and hesitantly says, “abracadabra”. Nothing happens. “Abra-ca-fucking-dabra!” She yells and start stabbing the door with her dagger, but still nothing works.
Tink stumbles at my side, drawing my attention back to her. As suddenly as her claws sprang free, they disappear, and her eyes flash their normal pink color as she meets mine. “Neverland is dying,” she rasps, looking over at Wendy. “The heart is dying! Get that door open right now, Sea Captain!”
“I’m bloody trying!” Wendy shouts back, panic lacing her words.
The Crocodile laughs as he circles Tiger, both sporting blood from wounds the other inflicted. “You’re all going to die anyways,” he says, and though he chuckles with the words, his eyes are hard. “After everything, we’re all going to fucking die.”
For the first time, I notice none of the Lost are attacking Wendy, and I realize it’s because of the silent sentinels standing beside her, the two Lost I know used to be her little brothers. Neither of them moves to attack anyone, and neither do more than watch Wendy, making sure no one else attacks her. The Lost give them a wide berth, even though they should be trying to get to her. The Crocodile, it seems, has less control of the Lost than the two men do.
I’m sweeping my axe through a Lost trying to aim for Aniya’s protective ring, chopping his head from his shoulders, when I feel the mistake I’ve made. During my swing, I turned away from Tink and opened up my left side, just at the perfect time for a great horned Lost to swing a crude blade at me. While we’re sure I can’t die, I’m not certain I’m willing to test if I can survive a decapitation. I move to intercept but the moment I do, I realize I’m too slow for this beast that has to be stronger than the others. His horns are so big, I don’t know how he stands with the weight on his head, the elk-like protrusions massive.
I try to swing faster. Dammit, I try, but I know I’m too slow. My Berserker powers flare in my body but I’m still slower than this beast. I grit my teeth, preparing for the blow that’ll take me out of the fight for good and perhaps, forever if the magic doesn’t take hold.
I wait for the blow, and though it’s moving too fast to block, everything feels like it moves in slow motion. And then something surprising happens.
Eyes of brilliant pink meet mine as the blade comes down and I panic at the suddenness of it even as her wings flare wide. The metal makes contact with her back while she protects me from the blow. Flam rips the large Lost away but it’s too late. The sound it makes. . . Even with everything going on around us, even with the chaos of battle, I’ll never forget what it sounds like for a sword to slice through bone and wing, the sound feather-light prismatic wings make as they float to the ground, shorn from Tink’s body.
I catch her before she can fall, her weight so slight it barely feels like I hold anything at all, and though her pink eyes meet mine to calm me—as if I need calming after her wings were chopped off!—I can see the pain swirling in the depths. Her strength ebbs from her body and white-hot fury fills my veins.
Something inside me snaps, morphs, changes, a deafening snarl ripping from my throat at the sight of those beautiful wings bloody and on the ground. My skin glows with the force of it, and as I cradle Tink in my arms, I feel my bones begin to snap.
I turn to Cheshire, the cat suddenly beside me, his eyes wide as he stares at whatever’s happening to my body. I don’t ask. Gently, I place my pixie in his arms, careful not to jostle her body. She still grunts in pain, her blood dripping from the wounds on her back, but Cheshire doesn’t hesitate to hold her.
And then everything in me recognizes what’s happening.
With power filling my veins, and fury so thick it coats my tongue. . .
. . .I release the Berserker.
Chapter Thirty
Fire. Blazing fire covers my back as Atlas hands me to Cheshire and takes a step back. His skin is glowing, his hair floating around him in a wind of his own making, and symbols I have no name for flare both on his axe and pop up on his skin. Even with the pain wracking my body, I stare in surprise as Atlas transforms, as he seems to grow larg
er than life, heads taller than the tallest Lost Boy. His skin flares blue, the symbols growing brighter, but when his face elongates into wolf-like features but not quite, when his teeth sharpen and lengthen until they drip with his fury, my heart skips in my chest.
I’ve never seen the likes of Atlas before, but he’s beautiful. My God, he’s beautiful.
I reach out towards him with shaking fingers. “Berserker?” With voice barely a whisper, there’s no way he could have heard me, but eyes as black as night meet mine and I read the emotion there. Anger, so thick, I could cut it with a blade hangs in the air around him. But the other emotion? Love, I realize. There’s recognition in his eyes, but something else primal grabs hold, something he’s always carried in his veins without realizing it, and says words I don’t understand, words older than I am. They feel ancient and powerful, and though I don’t know them, they wash over me. Even as I bleed from wounds on my back, even as I try desperately not to look at my bloodied wings on the ground, I take a deep breath.
He turns with a roar of fury and begins to cut a path through the remaining Lost, far more effective than I ever was. The Lost fall like twigs, as if they’re no more of a nuisance than flies, falling beneath his claws suddenly longer than my forearm.
Cheshire stares at him with wide eyes and slowly, the others stop fighting. Atlas is far more effective than we can be. Hell, there’s not even a need for anyone else to fight. The Lost begin to run but the Berserker picks them off one by one, decimating their numbers.
“What in the actual fuck?” Cal whispers, staring at her brother. She’s slack jawed, her sword limp at her side. Though it drips blood from her kills, she doesn’t raise it again.
I push the pain aside long enough to stumble from Cheshire’s arms. I’m weak, the pain so great, I grit my teeth and still have to use his shoulder to keep myself up, but I’m a Daughter and I have to see this on my own feet.
I blink, and though it can only have been a few minutes, there’s no more Lost around us, only the one standing with Aniya and Wendy’s brothers. The Crocodile turns with a savage snarl but when he sees Atlas standing there, his torso bare and glowing with strange symbols, the armor he wore torn free with the sudden transformation, he pauses.
And then I see the land slowly disappearing in the distance, the edge dropping away into blackness, and with panic in my voice, I turn to Wendy.
“Wendy Darling,” I rasp. “We’re out of time.”
Atlas takes a step towards the Crocodile, the final target in the clearing. The Crocodile stares at Atlas the same as most of us are, keeping a wide berth from the creature that is thankfully on our side.
“This certainly wasn’t the plan,” Wolfbane murmurs, staring at Atlas in awe and fear.
“Wait!” Tiger says, holding up her hand towards Atlas and the Berserker freezes.
Black eyes trail over to me, latch on my weakened form as I cling onto Cheshire’s arm, and moves over on large, inverted legs to my side. With care for his claws, he wraps his arms around me gently, never once nicking my skin, and I smile up at him in gratitude. I don’t flinch away. It turns out, the Berserker and I aren’t much different after all.
“Aww, still care for me, sister?” the Croc says, his gaze on Tiger where she stands.
“I’ve always cared for you,” she admits. “Even when I mourned you, even when I realized what you’ve done, I still cared.”
His form shifts from Croc to human and for the first time, I realize Tiger never shifted, never met her brother head on in her Vesper form. I’ll ask her later why she’d done that, why she’d left herself at a disadvantage, but I realize the answer a moment later.
He may have been facing her as a monster, but Tiger chose to face him with her humanity, and it threw him off more than her other form would have. She sports less evidence of wounds than the Crocodile does.
“We’re all monsters in Neverland,” Wolfbane says once he changes. His eyes go to Atlas pointedly, and my Berserker growls under his breath. “Apparently, in Wonderland, too. Why not just finish this and be done with it?”
In the distance, the falling edge of blackness draws closer. We’re going to be in danger in less than fifteen minutes.
When the Croc glances at me clinging to Atlas’ side, I tilt my chin up. I’m weak, both from the loss and the heart dying. I don’t know how I’m still standing. Even with Atlas’ help, I’m still holding myself up. Perhaps, adrenaline and sheer force of will. I will see my people out before I go.
“We may all be monsters,” I rasp, meeting his gaze. “But it’s a matter of knowing when to be one, and when not to be.”
And then the earth beneath us rocks so hard, we’re all thrown off our feet. Seconds later, we’re running for the large door.
But it still stays stubbornly shut.
Wendy screams in frustration, and the next time her fist hits the scorched wood, she leaves behind a smear of blood, her hand starting to shred.
“Fuck,” Atlas growls and coming from his transformed throat, it’s more of a growl.
I can’t help but echo the sentiment.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Nothing’s working!” Wendy screams, yanking on the door in earnest. It remains steadfastly shut. “I can’t get it open!”
“We have to be missing something,” White growls, pressing a hand to his forehead. Even the calm White Rabbit is starting to panic. “You don’t feel anything?”
“Right now, I’m feeling pretty bloody panicked, Rabbit!”
I watch them go back and forth, watch as White starts listing things again.
“Magic?” Wendy focuses her magic on the door, water coming from the ground and splashing against the door. Because she’s so panicked, the power that’s saved for emergencies comes to the forefront easily. “Key?”
“I have no key!”
“Special words?”
“Abracadabra. Open sesame. Open! Please!” Wendy turns to White with wide eyes. “I don’t know any magic words. Nothing is ringing true in my mind.”
In the distance, the edge grows closer, the blackness moving towards us at a steady pace. Our people are trying not to panic, but I can see them start to hold each other, just in case it’s the last time. Tiger moves to take Aniya’s hand, holding the little girl close, ignoring the creatures that come with her. The Crocodile’s eyes follow Aniya, but he doesn’t make a move to attack. He stands off to the side, watching.
Atlas stands beside me, his Berserker form slowly ebbing away to leave his face again with the threat of the Lost gone. He helps hold me up, the wounds not healing as fast as normal with Neverland dying around us. I try not to look at him, because that’ll make this harder. Instead, my eyes find Cal’s, and I know she sees everything that’s in my eyes when she nods. If Wendy doesn’t get that door open, if we’re doomed to die here, I refuse to think of Atlas dying. We’ll make sure he gets through the door White opens.
Wendy screams in frustration, glancing over my shoulder to see the edge. “I am the key. I am the key. I am the key,” she whispers under her breath, as if that will help her know how to open the door.
My eyes catch on the small teardrop crystal hanging from the Crocodile’s headdress as he shifts into human form. Something tells me he does so to be more man than beast at the end, just in case, but for whatever reason, it makes something inside me realize—
“Your pain,” I rasp, drawing the Sea Captain’s attention. I can hardly stand on my own, and with the earth collapsing around us, it’s hard to stay on my feet. Only Atlas keeps me standing. We’re running out of time. “The crystals are the reason you’re the key. They’re born from your pain, Wendy. You need pain to open to door.”
Wendy spins, her eyes wide, ready to try something she hasn’t yet. “Someone, quick! Stab me!” Hook’s face is just twisting in denial when I shake my head.
“Not physical pain, Sea Captain. Emotional pain.”
Tiger frowns where she stands with Aniya. “Of course. The door i
sn’t meant to be used often. It requires sacrifice to open.”
Wendy stares at her with wide eyes, sensing the direction of the conversation.
“The door to Neverland was never meant to be opened,” Aniya says, drawing all eyes to her. She appears as if she’s twelve now, and I’m not sure if it’s her magic or the magic fluctuating so wildly in Neverland that causes it. Either way, her growth shows on her face the most. “In order to open it, it makes sense for you to sacrifice something that will stain your soul forever.”
Wendy stumbles back against the door with Aniya’s words, horror written across her face. “No,” she rasps.
“Then we all die.” Aniya kneels beside Tiger and picks up a small rodent creature running from the edge, holding it against her chest as gentle as she would a baby.
Wendy’s eyes search over the group, lingering on Hook, and I know what she’s thinking. It will stain her soul if she kills any of us, but it will stain it forever to sacrifice Hook. The pain of that thought nearly does me in, and I know the moment Wendy realizes it, too, because her face twists in agony.
Captain Hook isn’t a stupid man. He may be an infuriating pirate, but he isn’t stupid. A muscle ticks in his jaw. “What cruel twist of fate would it be to sacrifice me after we finally admitted to loving each other?” he rasps, his voice thick with emotion he doesn’t dare shed.
Wendy starts shaking her head. “No,” she growls. “No, absolutely not. I will not sacrifice any of you!”
“Wendy Bird,” Hook murmurs, stepping forward to stroke her cheek. “I’d rather it be me than us all. I’d rather it be me than you.”
“I refuse to accept it,” she snarls, growing more animalistic the more panicked she gets. “I won’t smear your blood on this door!”
Wicked as a Pixie (Daughters of Neverland Book 3) Page 19