Shadow of the Hook

by Erik Schubach

  I nodded and found my girl nodding too. We had witnessed this first hand.

  Then Wendy realized what she was doing and shot Mandy an apologetic look as she finished the braid that made her look even younger and more adorable. My cute wolf just shrugged and prompted her to go on with her eyes.

  The captain smiled, kissed the top of my girl's head, and said in a faraway memory, “I figured everything the Pan had said so far was a lie... so I went in search of the Sea Hag. Besides the soldiers from Hangman's Island, who are the last of the original inhabitant's of Neverland, the Voodoo Queen is the only one not swayed by the Pan's domineering magics. If she could resist, then maybe she could tell me how so that I could save the Lost Boys from their fate of being used up and discarded.”

  She took off her hook, placing it in Mandywolf's lap, then rubbed her stump as she shared, her eyes focused somewhere beyond the room, “I guess the clean cut from Pan's blade had not cauterized the wound as well as I had imagined. Or maybe I passed out before my Make-Believe could take full hold because I passed out on the dark path from loss of blood. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in an old stone cottage.”

  Her next words were filled with irony. “The Sea Hag was sitting on the bed I was in, mopping sweat from my brow when I woke. And let me tell you, the Voodoo Queen... she's no Hag. She is possibly the most stunning woman I have ever laid eyes on, and she was smiling sweetly at me. Her stark white teeth a striking contrast to her ebony skin that glowed with healthy vibrancy.”

  She shrugged. “When she saw my eyes were open, her first words were almost melodic. “Ah there she is. Hello.”

  I laid on Mandy's leg and propped my head up on my arms to listen to what this Pirate Queen was telling us.

  “She nursed me back to health over the next few months, never asking any questions of me. I'm not sure I'd be able to answer anyway. And she taught me to read and write and the maths, I had some basic reading skills but not much before I had been whisked away to Neverland.”

  The woman shrugged and cocked her head to look down at Mandywolf who was listening in rapt fascination as her tail twitched and swished. “She had great power, you could feel it in the air around her, but oddly, she never used it around me. Where the Pan had taught me to fly and to fight, she taught me to learn and to appreciate the world around me.”

  A smile touched the pirate's lips. “She had me call her Masika. I didn't know why everyone in Neverland feared her. I know she has been here since the first people of Neverland came to be. But that doesn't mean much here. That could be anywhere from a week ago to thousands of years since time works differently in this realm.”

  Masika? Didn't that mean 'a girl born during the rain'? I had spent some time in Egypt when I was the Lady of Locksley.

  Wendy lifted Mandy, and I buzzed up above them as she sat her down where she had been sitting as she stood. “You two look famished, let me get you something.”

  She moved to some cupboards on one side of the cabin which was set up as a larder as she continued, “Then one day she sat me down and said, 'it is time, tell me your story, darling child.' and I told her all that had transpired since Peter Pan came into my life and turned it upside down. She just nodded as if she already knew but just needed confirmation.”

  Wendy brought some cured meats and cheeses over and what looked like sliced kiwi fruit on a tray. She prompted my mate, “Umm... do you drink? All I have is water, whisky, and ale.”

  My girl narrowed her eyes, he lower lip sticking out in a pout that made me grin as she growled out, “I'm thirty-two years old, and a special forces sergeant, not a child, thank you very much.”

  It was so very hard to remember her true age even when she wasn't a teeny tiny little girl. She had been bitten by one of the cursed when she was in her thirties and was locked in that form for eternity or until something does enough damage to her that she can't heal and she passes on to eternal rest in the golden fields of the Goddess.

  This made me narrow my eyes in thought. She should have been locked in her form by the curse of the Trickster, no magic could undo that curse, not even the power of Perchta herself. Yet the Lost Boys together were able to use this magic of imagination, creating what they called a Make-Believe to warp reality itself to what they could see in their mind's eye. They had changed her to this little girl form she is currently locked in. And I am... I looked at my tiny self. We needed to get to the Lost Boys, we couldn't be stuck like this forever. A chill ran down my spine.

  I found myself wondering if they could lift the curse completely from my Mandywolf.

  Wendy grimaced then offered an apologetic smile and came back over with a gourd and two carved wood cups and poured a strong smelling liquid into the cups. To my surprise, she also had a tiny thimble on the tray, and she poured a drop in for me.

  My smile was dampened, realizing she was used to serving a fairy. Her fairy... her lost love, Tinkerbell. My wings stopped buzzing as I gritted my teeth in determination. We would rescue her girl if it was the last thing we did.

  Mandy stopped in the act of stabbing some of the meat with a cute little pink throwing dagger she pulled from her rig when I asked the girls, “Shall we pray and give thanks?”

  Mandywolf gruffed out in exasperation as she crossed her arms. “Oh for fuck's sake.”

  Wendy had stopped with her cup halfway to her mouth. She looked embarrassed, and she sat the cup down and looked like she didn't know what to do with her hand as she said, “Oh... but of course.”

  I smiled, glad even with my new diminutive stature that I could teach basic manners to the women. Though my Mandy knows better. I lowered my head and watched as they did too before I closed my eyes and recited, “Thy bounty shared. Thy life and love thou hast breathed into the world that we may live, revered. We accept these gifts and are humbled as we bask in thy compassion.”

  I opened my eyes, and they were both peeking at me, taking my cue to raise their heads. The imposing woman who wore the Hook that had everyone in Neverland so intimidated, asked like an unsure young waif, “Are we supposed to say, amen?”

  Mandy said as she shook her head, stabbing some meat and devouring it like she hadn't eaten in a week, “She doesn't pray to any of the gods you might know. She prays to the nature goddess, Perchta. Who happens to live inside a friend of ours.”

  Wendy cocked her head and said in surprise, “Oh.”

  I don't know why everyone assumes people only pray to the Christian God. He is but the youngest of the new gods. Perchta was there long before many of the modern Gods who are worshiped by so many varied religions these days. I shared, “She is of the Spirit which nurtures us, she is of the nature we shall all return to, she who doth smite the wicked with her righteous fury. I am her instrument to enforce her will.”

  My girl chirped out cutely as she ate, “And Perchta is hot as hell. She's Rachel's mate.”

  I gave a reprimanding look, but It was true, the Goddess was a rare beauty.

  Wendy was smiling as she watched Amanda... umm, wolf down the food. “Who is Rachel?”

  As Mandy said, “My packmate,” I was saying, “Mandy's alpha.”

  My girl flicked a cube of cheese at me that was half the size of my head, and I ducked out of the way as she whined, “I'm not beta!”

  To anyone else, my headstrong mate would be an alpha, but in our pack, Mari the Red Hood, Daria, and Rachel were above her. She took that as a slight like it made her somehow less, but in truth it did not, as she was one of the most fearsome fighters possessing an iron will in our family of Avatars.

  We exchanged familiar cross looks before breaking into smiles. Then she attacked the food again. I landed on a slice of the kiwi and started nibbling on it, preferring fruits and vegetables to meats. This slice would feed me for days in my current form.

  Hook was just staring at my girl, who was decimating the food on the tray single-handedly. The pirate shook her head and said in a half amused, half sad tone, “I remember the stories, ab
out how much one of the cursed could eat. But I had never met one, my parents never brought me out of the walled city.”

  Mandy paused and looked up at her, head cocked. I could tell she was doing the same thing I was, and seeing this imposing pirate as the child we saw in the memory Hook had projected. Then I mourned for her innocence lost.

  Then we were snickering when Amanda shrugged a little shoulder then took a swig from the mug and started wheezing and coughing. She narrowed an eye at us and then said in a hoarse voice, “Smooth.” She grinned when we broke out in chuckles, then took a bigger swallow from the cup.

  The captain went back to the larder and returned with more offerings for my headstrong girl as she continued her interrupted tale. “Masika told me that the Pan needed to be stopped, that his actions, of harvesting the imaginations of those he brought to Neverland were a threat to many realms. He was using something that wasn't his, to travel through the Nothing. The ship of the protector of Neverland who had fallen when he was at his weakest after contending with a larger threat.”

  She regarded us as Mandy emptied a second cup of alcohol. “The Pan's influence does not work against the people who are native to this land, who populate Hangman's Island. But they fear him nonetheless as he has strength beyond measure and he seems to be immortal as even a shot through the heart with a musket ball does not stop him.”

  I nodded and shared, “He is demon. Only a catastrophic amount of damage, or a beheading can banish him back to his realm of hell. Demon blood and bone can outright kill him.”

  Mandy slurred out, “We can deal wish hish kind. Send hish ash packing.” Then she swayed and grinned at me. “It seems thish body takes less to get drunk.”

  I sighed and smiled at my tipsy girl. It usually took eight or nine drinks in rapid succession for her to get what she called a buzz, but it would last only a few minutes if she didn't keep drinking. So even though this was amusing to see... I shared with a concerned looking Wendy. “She'll sober up in a minute or two. Wolf metabolism.” I fluttered over and sat on her cup to stop her from drinking more.

  The woman looked at the two of us like she was trying to piece a puzzle together, then shrugged to herself and went on, “It seems that the Pan learned the secret of the Sea Devil, of what it can do. Navigating the Nothing without being consumed by it. Though the artifact of power that gave absolute control over it was lost to a watery grave with the prior captain when he sacrificed all to ensure Neverland would be protected in the future.”

  She started gnashing her teeth. “The Pan started sailing the Sea Devil into the Nothing, retrieving children from all the realms he visited, who could fall sway to his influence, and he brought them to Neverland, where he could feast off their imaginations. He called them the Lost Boys and had them believing that their parents had cast them out, not loving them, and he loved them and just wanted them to have fun and play games, creating Make-Believes.”

  Her good hand curled into a fist, and I could hear the sinews and tendons creaking at the ferocity of it. “He would use them up, draining them of imagination and most of their emotions... leaving them as grown-ups who were just shells of themselves, then he would cast them out, calling them pirates, then go out into the Nothing again to find replacements.”

  Wendy exhaled then looked at us. “That is why there are no women except a few native Neverlanders who come for work back in Pirate's Landing.” She waved absently toward the door.

  Back in? But we were in Pirate's Landing. I buzzed to the window when I noticed the ship was rocking. We were a couple miles offshore. We must have left port when we came into her cabin. How had we not noticed?

  I spun on her, and she held up a placating... hook. “It is just a precaution, the Sea Devil can't stay in one place too long, or the Magistrate or the Pan will try attacking. We aren't absconding with you. You are free to leave at any time, just fly away.”

  Mandywolf got up, staggered to the porthole, stood on her tiptoes and looked out as she smirked and pointed, “We're out in the shee. Been there, drown that.”

  Wendy looked at her with concern when she said that. I offered, “When we arrived here, we fell into the sea from a mile in the sky. My Mandywolf drowned a few times before the mermaids found her... but fear not, she got better.”

  The little Hello Kitty pirate stood tall and thumbed her chest in the most adorable manner and said with pride, “Wolf.”

  This no-nonsense pirate who loomed over us on the docks moved over and swept Amanda up in her arms to hug her as she smoothed down her hair. “Oh, you poor darling.”

  Mandy muffled, indignant voice, came from her restraint against the concerned woman's shoulder. “Not a little girl.”

  Wendy loosened her death hug as I buzzed over to sit on the woman's shoulder. She blushed and said, “Right. Sorry. It's just easy to forget. You really look so cute like that.”

  Mandy sighed and slumped and squeaked out, “It's ok, I understand. I can't believe it myself, and I'm the one inside here.” She already sounded sober again.

  Wendy's lip twitched then she asked, “Have you seen yourself yet?”

  Mandy stiffened and shook her head, looking down, at herself, still in the Pirate's arms. “Not so much.”

  Wendy set her on the cabin deck and led her by her little hand to a full-length mirror which was secured on the back of the cabin door. It was too cute a scene, looking like a mother leading her daughter. And from the patient look on Mandy's face as she allowed it, she didn't want to upset our host.

  Then when she released my girl's hand, Amanda froze when she looked up. For three long seconds, she didn't say anything. Then she growled out in what was supposed to be indignation but was just too cute to successfully convey it, “Oh for fuck's sake. How is anyone going to take me seriously looking like this?”

  Wendy covered her mouth to hide the smile we shared then moved over and grabbed the little hat and moved back to place it on my girl. Amanda looked from side to side in the mirror with the hat to get the full picture. And the new braid made her look even younger.

  She sighed heavily then in a blur, drew her weapons, made a show of twirling them, saying, “Bang bang,” and re-holstering them, then pulled and extended her batons in a snick in the same movement, then took a fighting stance.

  She groaned like the world was out to get her, “I look like a damn cartoon.”

  I said from my perch on Hook's shoulder, “I think you look adorable.”

  Wendy nodded. “Me too.” She held a finger close to me, and I gave it a high five. Then the woman froze, and a bottomless sorrow filled her eyes. I had a feeling that that was something she and Tinkerbell had done countless times, judging by how naturally she had done it.

  Mandy, for all her gruff bravado, was one of the most empathic people I knew. She read the situation and quietly stowed her batons and took Hook's hand again and pulled her to the couch and they sat again, and though I know she hated it, my Mandywolf sat on the pirate's lap again.

  We all sat in silence for a couple seconds, then the captain took a deep breath and continued, “The Pan had told me once that when he found himself in the mortal realm, the sheer waves of imagination were like a rush for him. And he found that the young girls there had more sustenance for him than he has ever felt. So when he... 'rescued' me, he intended on going back to get as many as he could to join the Lost Boys.”

  She gave us a fierce look as she played with the hem of Mandy's dress. “He spent years trying to find the mortal realm again, it seems the waterways are always shifting in the Nothing. But then I escaped with Tink's help. And he'll never get a chance to discover the mortal realm again because of what happened next.”

  She laid back in the couch and exhaled, I was a little surprised that Mandy just snuggled in like a girl hearing a fairytale before bedtime. I wondered how much influence the Lost Boy's Make-Believe had on her because some of the things she did reflected her apparent age like this.

  The Pirate looked to the ceilin
g, recalling what had transpired and said, “The mermaids, had claimed like everything lost to the sea... the artifact of power. They had gifted it to the Sea Hag for a future boon. She told me that whoever held the artifact, was the Sea Devil's master and could call it away from the Pan. And she showed me a hook...”

  She held up her hook. “And when she slid it onto my stump, I thought I might die when the fire of more power than I could imagine seared my soul. I don't know how long I had laid on the ground screaming in the Grotto before I came back to myself.”

  She gave us a predatory grin. “Masika told me to call the Sea Devil to me, I closed my eyes and tried, and I could feel her answer me. In an hour's time, she came gliding into the waters of the Grotto. I swear I could hear Pan screaming in outrage from there.”

  Then she spoke more quietly, “Now the Pan hunts me to get the ship back since he cannot harvest other realms for children with imagination to feed himself without it. And the Magistrate and his men want to possess the artifact of power, so they hunt me as well. They think that with it they can take on the Pan... they cannot for the same reason Pan's magics do not work on them. And the original captain of the Sea Devil was not of their realm.”

  With a shrug, her tone changed to a more conversational one. “So now I save the Lost Boys as he discards them when he has used them all up. I teach them to play and to laugh and to imagine again. This just adds to the artifact's power. And the Pan is almost out of Lost Boys now, their number is just a handful of their original. The island used to be covered in them.”

  She gave a fierce look to us as she said, not entirely convinced herself, “I think I have enough power to fight him now and to save my Tinkerbell and free the last of the Lost Boys.”

  Amanda offered without hesitation, “We'll fight at your side.”

  I nodded agreement.

  Wendy looked relieved and suddenly so very tired of the private war she has been waging for a century here. She nodded at us then said, “Its settled then. On the morrow, we shall sail to Masika to ask how to retake Neverland and rid it of the Pan demon.”