Hook and Ariel scamper around the ship behind me, shouting at each other, laughter in their voices. Years of being together has given them a grace, a synchronicity that I’ve never experienced. Even with my husband. We were never so close or in sync. We loved each other, but such is the relationship between Fae and human. He could never fully understand or know me. And I could never fully understand or know him or my children. There’s a side of them, the side with the ending, the side with mortality, I could never touch.
And that fact is what has haunted me even more than their deaths.
Once we’re well underway and the coast shrinks behind us to nothing, the sun lowering in the sky, staining the waves crimson and orange, Hatter emerges from below, joining me, his arms folded on the rail only a whisper between us.
I want to kiss him again, lose myself in him. But it isn’t fair to either of us. I don’t want anything other than fun and distraction and that’s not something I can have with Hatter. But he’s made me remember how much I miss being touched, kissed, loved. I haven’t had more than the occasional hug and even rarer kiss in fifty years.
Since him.
The silence stretches out between us, brittle with unspoken words. Silence used to be comfortable between us, but we haven’t returned to the ease we used to have together. I may not have had the beautiful choreography like Ariel and Hook with Fitz, but Hatter and I did. It’s part of what sent me running — the betrayal of finding something new, something stronger, with another man.
“Is Belle coming to meet us?” I ask.
He nods, gazing out at the rippling water. “Yes. She has the use of a helicopter, so she might beat us there.”
“Is she feeling better?”
“She claims she is. Jackie and Red are still with her, so they won’t let her exert herself too much.” The sunset flickers in his eyes.
“Hatter, look, we should talk—”
He interrupts me. “There’s no need, love.”
“But—”
He places his hand on my arm, squeezing gently. “Really, Bo. You’re still in love with Fitz and that’s okay. Don’t fear that I’ve spent the last half a century pining over you.”
I splutter. “I-I never thought that. I didn’t…”
He laughs. “Relax, pet. I’m not looking for anything from you other than friendship and if that means we make out every now and again, well, it’s something I’m willing to suffer through.”
I’m not as relieved as I thought I’d be. In fact, I’m a little offended. “Then why have you been so flirty and brought up the past so often?”
He laughs again, harder this time. But before he can respond, the ship shudders and my stomach is driven into the railing.
For They'd Left Their Tails Behind Them
I grab the railing to keep from being thrown overboard, peering into the surf to see what the hell we hit. It’s a bit warm for an iceberg. I can only see bubbling waves crashing against the bottom of the ship. I glance behind me, checking on the others. Hook bellows orders at Ariel and his crew while he wrestles with the ship’s wheel.
Ariel holds a spyglass to his eye, searching for the cause. He jerks it away from his face with a muffled curse. “Mermaids,” he yells.
My stomach sinks and my hands scramble for weapons to use against those horrid creatures. They may be all bright colors and magic in the storybooks, but they didn’t come to life that way. They’re beautiful, but deadly, teeth sharp as needles and long as knives, strong enough to hold a giant underwater without effort.
Strong enough to capsize the Jolly Roger.
And then rip us to shreds once we’re in the water.
I scramble away from the edge, trying to stay with Hatter and stay out of the way so Hook and Ariel and the rest of the crew can try and get us out of here.
“Do you think this is Pan, or merely our rotten luck?” Hatter asks.
I chamber a round in my gun and shove it back in my thigh holster. “I don’t know. He never worked with them before, but he’d probably think it was hilarious because of the story and the movie and everything.”
The ship shudders and Hatter holds me upright when I tip over. “Do you ever think it was a mistake not letting the public in on the truth of him?”
My hand fists in his jacket. “Maybe. I definitely thought so when that damn movie came out. And the dozens of retellings.”
The ship shudders again and we grab each other tighter, fighting to remain standing.
“I’m really not dressed for a dip in the ocean.”
His words surprises a laugh out of me, overriding my panic for the moment. “My dress will dry out pretty quickly, but I can’t say I’m in the mood for a swim either.”
“I have a bad feeling we will not have a choice.” His eyes rove up and down my body, a grin quirks his lips. “By the way, did I tell you how much I adore your dress? Where did you find such delightful whimsy?” He plucks at the skirt of my purple dress printed with black middle fingers.
He wants to talk about this now? “Amazon.”
“I wonder if I can find a jacket in the same pattern.” He purses his lips.
“We already match enough, so please don’t.” I scowl at his hair. When we get a moment to breathe, I’m going to tie him up and dye it something super ugly. Maybe moldy green.
The ship shudders yet again, and Hatter falls into my arms like one of those swooning women from a romance novel. I steady him, shaking my head.
Hook waves us over and we rush to his side where he fights against the wind and currents to keep the Roger steady. Ariel swings from the rigging, laughing and whooping like an utter psychopath. He should be able to use his powers to harness the wind and get us out of here.
Hook grins up at him, love and affectionate amusement shining on his face. They’re both idiots. Hatter swoons into my arms again, making me laugh and shove him away.
We’re all idiots. None of this is funny.
Hook yells at us. “You might want to put life jackets on. And have any blades ready. I’m not sure I can keep her steady. The island isn’t too far, I might be able to get us close.”
“What can we do to help?” I yell back at him.
“Stay out of the way.”
Fair enough.
I have a hard time keeping my feet under me as the ship pitches and jerks. The screech of the mermaids echoes all around, piercing my head like a dagger shoved through my ear.
My pulse skitters, wanting far, far away from the mermaids.
If I squint, I can see the island in the distance. We aren’t close enough. We’re never going to make it. Hatter’s hand finds my free one as I turn back to keep watch behind us.
And I don’t pull away.
I can’t.
I need the comfort, the connection. So I grip him back, and we become each other’s anchors in the storm. Ariel leans into Hook as he steers the ship to our only salvation, and Hook wraps one arm around Ariel, the same dwindling hope on their expressions as they seek comfort in each other’s touch just like Hatter and me.
Something we need as the heads of mermaids bob through the waves, rising as their hands claw at the side of the ship.
They’re coming for us.
It Happened One Day
Curses spew from our mouths as we clench weapons tighter, digging our heels into the wooden deck. We stand shoulder to shoulder in front of Hook and the wheel. Not that he has to actually touch the wheel to make the ship go where he wishes, but his power and his connection to the ship is stronger if he has the wheel. We can’t let them get to him, he’s got to get us to the island.
The mermaids slither over the rails, dropping to the floor and crawling towards us with their torsos bent abnormally, dragging their shimmering tails behind them. A few of them transform their tails into legs covered in metallic-looking scales, but most of them keep their forms. Goosebumps skitter across my skin.
I really hate mermaids.
Calm flows through me as I step forward
to engage, my body remembering how this is done, pushing all fear and worry from me as I attempt to slice myself up some mermaid sushi.
They whip at us with their tails, knocking us into each other. “We need to surround Hook,” Hatter yells.
I leap over a tail, but the end of it clips my hip, sending me tumbling to the floor. I roll to my feet, stabbing my sword behind me, the scream in response almost bursting my eardrums.
But they’re swarming us, still scaling the ship, up and over the rails. Why are so many of them together this way?
Ariel calls the wind, but it hurts our side more than the mermaids. Hook bellows at him to focus on using his winds to speed up the ship instead.
Our circle around Hook grows smaller and smaller as we slash and shoot and duck and punch. I lose sight of Hatter and Ariel in the crush of chaos. The ship makes terrifying noises as it limps along the sea. Not all of the mermaids are fighting us — some are damaging the Jolly Roger, ripping at Hook’s home with their claws and teeth, slamming the deck with their tails.
I kick at a mermaid who slices my leg with his claws, but he yanks me off-balance and I slam to the deck. Pain rattles my bones, stars appearing before my eyes. My sword clatters beside me, sliding away from the tossing of the ship. The mermaid crawls up my body, teeth bared. I yank my gun from the holster on my thigh and shoot him between the eyes. He flops onto me, his weight grinding me into the wooden floor beneath me, his pale blue blood soaking into my clothes. I shove at him, groaning at how heavy he is.
Suddenly, his body flies off me, Hatter’s grinning face looming above me. “Looked like you needed a hand, pet.”
A laugh startles out of me. “Yeah.” I reach up for the hand he holds out, but as soon as our fingers touch, he’s ripped away, a mermaid plucking him into her arms and tossing him away.
My mouth drops in horror as Hatter sails through the air, disappearing over the edge of the ship. I scream his name, scrambling to my feet, ripping off my leather jacket to free my wings.
No.
The wings slice through the back of my dress and I take to the air, diving over the side, searching for any sign of him.
Tears burn the back of my eyes, my throat, souring my lurching stomach, as my eyes rove over the scarlet and gold stained ripples. Please, please, please.
A flash of purple. Hands turn up nothing. Not even the glint of a mermaid tail.
I run my fingers through the surface of the water, praying Hatter will appear. Screams and violence echo across the water, but there’s no Hatter.
He’s gone.
As Bo Peep Did Stray
Rage and pain well within me as I soar up into the sky and dive back towards the ship, my finger squeezing the trigger over and over, aiming for mermaid heads, staying out of their grasping reach. I don’t care how dangerous it is to fire on the ship. I don’t care if I hit one of Hook’s crew.
I’m fueled by pure vengeance. And when I find Pan, he’ll get his own special taste.
My gun clicks empty. I curse and toss it into the ocean. The mermaids still swarm the crew, but I can’t tell if any are dead or not.
Other than Hatter.
Praying we haven’t lost anyone else, I land too hard, falling to my knees, ripping holes in my leggings and the skin of my legs. Clenching my teeth against the pain, I stumble to my feet, unable to focus enough to return my wings to tattoo form. I try to release my lion, but it refuses to answer my call. I’ve never used it in battle before, only releasing him for the company when I’m extra lonely.
The mermaids come for me, the desire for revenge making them ignore the rest of the crew, all their focus on me. I’ve got no weapons left, the gun in the ocean, my sword somewhere sliding around on the tossing deck, my lion refusing to answer my call.
And no Hatter at my side, slicing with his wit and his daggers.
I scream out my wrath and desperation and grief. My wilting wings snap back to attention and the lion roars from my arm in streaks of blues, greens, purples, blacks. I float above the deck, watching as the lion’s jaws tear into mermaid flesh. Hook, Ariel, and the rest of the crew attack their backs as the mermaids turn their focus on the threat of a lion they can’t hurt.
A feral grin spreads across my face as I watch my lion take them down. They deserve every bite and slash. They deserve worse.
Before I can fly to his aid or Hook can scramble around the wheel, a mermaid with long, flowing teal hair wraps her arms around Ariel and disappears over the rails. Hook screams, a sound I know will haunt me for the rest of my days. He races to the edge, abandoning the wheel, throwing a leg up. I fly to him before he can throw himself overboard, yanking him back.
With my attention divided, human shrieks join the mermaids. I dump Hook to the floor and spin back around. The lion is going after everyone without my direction. I strengthen my focus, turning the lion back to the mermaids.
With them realizing they can’t find something they can’t injure, they retreat, slithering back over the rails, leaving us on a limping Jolly Roger.
With Hook still crumpled at the edge, staring down into the ocean, in no shape to take charge, I do. I yell at the crew, sending them scurrying up masts and around the ship. “Look sharp. The island is close. Reload weapons in case those fish come back.”
I ignore the spear stuck in my heart and kneel in the mixture of red and blue blood soaking the wood beside Hook. “Come on, Captain. Your crew needs you.” The lion curls up against me, his weight reassuring even though it feels strange because he’s made of watercolor and streaks instead of flesh, bone, fur.
Hook raises ravaged and wet eyes. “He’s gone.”
I swallow the sobs stuck in my throat. “I know.”
His boatswain runs over to us. “We have a leak. Several actually. Bullet holes, it looks like.”
Hook doesn’t react, so I ask, “How bad?” I wince, guilt trying to swallow me whole.
“It can be fixed, but not quickly.”
My pulse stutters, adrenaline pouring back into my body as I scurry to my feet, sucking the lion back into my arm with barely a thought. “Can we reach the island?”
“I…I’m not sure.”
Into a Meadow Hard By
“Get a lifeboat ready and get Hook on it. He and I will head to the island, the rest of you follow as soon as you can. Even if that means abandoning the ship.” I swallow hard once the words are out of my mouth. It’ll kill Hook to lose ship and lover on the same day.
The boatswain nods and runs off to do what I ordered.
I’m able to get Hook to his feet and follow my directions like some sort of zombie toddler. There’s nothing I can do to help the crew get us there any faster, and we can’t take the chance of getting stranded when we’re so close. Below, I shove weapons and supplies and my phone into my bag, packing another bag for Hook. I race back up top, relieved to see the lifeboat prepared and Hook sitting docilely inside it. I toss the bags to the bottom and leap inside after them. A couple sailors lower us to the now black ocean, glittering with moon and starlight. I pray no mermaids still mill around waiting for us to sink. I pray the ship makes it to the island and that I’m not abandoning Hook’s crew to the same fate as Hatter and Ariel.
Once we’re in the water, I release the ropes and start the engine, glad Hook didn’t stock his ship with the old-fashioned lifeboats you have to row.
With the darkness so compete around us, even with the light from the moon, I steer towards the island from memory, uncertain if I’m actually seeing the outline of it, or if it’s merely wishful thinking.
The ocean wind slices through the thin material of my stained and ripped dress, and I mutter a curse. I forgot my jacket somewhere on the ship and my only change of clothes is another dress and pair of leggings. The shadowy outline grows, and I close my eyes for a moment in relief it wasn’t a mirage.
In minutes, the lifeboat pulls up onto the beach. I hurry to shut the engine off, not wanting to announce our presence here yet. Hook climbs
from the boat with robotic movements, leaving me to heave the bags over my back.
With one arm threaded through Hook’s and one hand on my new gun, I search for threats on this mist-shrouded island. Maybe I should have left Hook on the Jolly Roger while I take care of Pan myself. But I know once Hook comes back to himself, he’ll be furious if he doesn’t get a chance for revenge. I just have to hope he snaps out of it soon. And I hope Belle and reinforcements get here before Pan finds us.
We collapse on the edge of the forest, our legs still on the beach, the rest of us beneath the canopy of the palm trees. It’s beautiful here, like something from a fairy tale. The glow from the moon lights up the mist surrounding the island, making it look like stars are falling. The sort of place we’re supposed to be from. The kind of magic we’re supposed to have. No sign of the cold, metal, and plastic world we woke up to.
Pan better be here. I’m ready to end him. And I don’t care if he’s responsible for the mermaids or not, he will find his end on my blade.
I refuse to think about Hatter. I can’t afford to right now. I’ll mourn him later. Once I’ve avenged him, myself, Ariel, and everyone else Pan has terrorized over the years.
It’s one thing to not see him for fifty years and know he’s still out there. It’s quite another for him to be gone for a hundred years, and no longer watching out for me even while I resent it.
He can’t fade.
He can’t be dead.
Not now. Not after forcing his way back into my life. Into my heart.
Silent tears slide down Hook’s face, his eyes never leaving the ocean, like he’s waiting for Ariel to appear, like he’s waiting for a miracle. But there are no miracles in this world. They’re only in stories. I swallow hard. Pan has taken another lover from Hook. And it’s my fault. I never should have involved them. He had finally moved on, and was happy again. Now he has to start all over.
Black Sheep of Faery: Books 1-2 Page 6