Wendy wiped at her cheeks, embarrassed at her outburst, confused at the sudden wave of emotions, "What...what happened?"
John sheathed his sword and sighed, "Mermaids are empaths. They are too cold-blooded to feel any genuine or pure emotions, so they feed off the feelings of others. Especially those who are deeply sad, angry, or...in love."
"Oh...I'm sorry if I did anything that would hinder our search."
"No, you didn't. I'm surprised she told us anything at all. But the mermaids hate Hook more than they like to lie and toy with humans."
Wendy drew one more shuddering breath then clenched her jaw against any more tears, "So, this Hook person has Tigerlily?"
John nodded grimly, "Which can only mean one thing."
Wendy frowned, "And what's that?"
The Lost Boys all glanced at one another and then down at their feet. All except John who stared intensely at her.
Wendy disliked the look and squirmed under it. "What? what does it mean?"
"It means that Hook knows about you. It's a trap."
"Knows about me? What do I have to do with all of this?" Again, the boys looked uncomfortable. None of them would meet her eyes, not even John. "John...if I did something wrong, please tell me."
John shook his head and gripped her shoulder, "No, it was nothing you did. Don't think that. It...It's Petyr's fault," He held up a hand to cut her off, "No, I can't say any more than that. Petyr is going to have to get over himself and deal with his issues for once."
Wendy bit her lip, but nodded, "Okay, well we know it's a trap. So what do we do now?"
"We will move on Skull Rock, you will stay behind." John looked down at her pointedly.
"What! No, I can help. I can!"
"I don't have time to argue Wendy, if anything happened to you Petyr would kill me."
Wendy didn't believe that Petyr cared that much, she was merely a burden. But she could begin to see the frantic look in John's eyes. Time was running out and she was using up priceless minutes.
Wendy swallowed her pride and sighed, "Fine, I will go as far as you think is safe."
The grateful look made her feel even worse for what she was about to do.
"Okay, let's move." John hurried their small band out of the cove and towards the ocean.
Only a brisk jog away a hidden beach revealed two rickety rowboats that the group tumbled into and began rowing swiftly. The sun was beginning to set, the bright orb appearing to slip beneath the waves.
They stayed in sight of the shore, rowing west until they came around the cliffs and Wendy saw exactly where they were heading.
Skull Rock.
Aptly named since it was shaped exactly like a misshapen skull. She could tell it was a large cave that rose out of the small island it perched upon.
"This is good boys, now throw out the camouflage. Wendy, get down."
"Camo..." but before she could finish, the lost boys had pulled what seemed to be a large patched sail and began unrolling it. They spread it out over themselves, which meant they had to row hunched over as it draped over the edges and dipped into the water. One boy at the front peaked out of a small mesh-covered hole and whispered directions to the others.
They made it to the back of the island without raising any type of alarm and they anchored the boats to the shore.
Wendy poked her head out of the cloth and looked over at the other boat, only to be amazed at how seamlessly it blended into the surroundings. It was practically invisible.
"Wendy, stay here, under the sail, don't move or make a sound. If you hear any sort of commotion or people coming towards you, unhook the boat and push off. You will float right back to Neverland shores."
"But...I can't leave you here with only one boat."
"You can and you will, we'll be fine." He winked at her, "Trust me." Then he and the lost boys disappeared into the rocks.
Wendy sat in the silence, with only the sound of the boats scraping against the rocks for as long as she could bear before she threw the sail aside and clambered out, following the path she thought they had taken.
The rocks were slippery with water and seaweed, so she took her time picking her way over them. As she came up over a small rise she saw a slit-like entrance into the back of the skull. It was narrow and dark, but she didn't hesitate to enter. Fortunately, the narrow entrance opened up into a wider corridor with rough steps hewn into the rock face. She climbed until she saw hazy light. Moving a little slower and as quietly as she could she reached the seemingly secret entrance to the inside of the skull. She was not sure how out in the open she would be once she entered the skull, so she decided to crawl to the opening on her hands and knees. The rocks scraped her hands and knees, but she bit her lip against the pain. Then she stopped short, voices bounced off the walls of the cavern and she tried to slow the beat of her heart to hear them. There was some laughter and then an angrier sounding voice yelling in a language she didn't understand. Wendy inched her way cautiously, slowly until she could see out of the small slit.
She realized that she was closer to the ceiling than the ground and could see the figures below quite clearly. The mouth of the skull opened up to the ocean and sucked in great mouthfuls that battered the back of the cave. But there was plenty of rock to stand on so that the figures below were only a bit damp from the spray. There were three large men dressed in a strange assemblage of garments with cruel weapons hanging from their belts. "Pirates" Wendy whispered to herself.
Then there was one figure, Wendy could not see their face, who was standing closest to the edge and that is when Wendy saw a young woman –bound tightly– and sitting on a rock in the midst of the water that was beginning to creep up over her lap. That must be Tigerlily, Wendy thought, confused then horrified.
The tide was coming in. They were going to drown her.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
