Free Never, Never by Brianna Shrum Page B

the night.
    Neverland was frightening enough during the day. Who knew what emerged from its heart in the dark?
    No, he would stay with Pan and the Lost Boys, for, at the moment, he had no other choice. Though his heart denied it with every fiber of its being, his mind knew that home was no longer an option.
    And he didn’t cry. He didn’t fret. He lay there on the earth, realizing and accepting and hardening. That was the night that James Hook began to grow up.

PART TWO

S EVERAL Y EARS (I F Y OU C OULD C ALL T HEM Y EARS ) L ATER

SEVEN

    T HE WIND BIT INTO J AMES ’ S MUSCLES AS HE RAN , faster, faster, into the woods. He leapt the rapidly flowing river and crossed into Lost Boy territory, Indians hot on his heels. Despite the inherent danger in the situation, he was laughing. Loud, barrel laughs that reverberated off the trees. He could hear a war cry behind him and gave one of his own right back, stopping for an instant, only to be sure it was aimed in the Indians’ direction.
    â€œCome and get me, Chief! And give me my war!” he taunted, voice loud, confident, booming. Adrenaline coursed through him, fueling his powerful strides as he neared the Lost Boys’ current encampment. The closer he got, the more distant the war cries became, until he was fairly certain that no one was trailing him anymore. He gradually slowed his pace to an easy trot and stepped into the barren clearing where Peter and the boys were waiting.
    â€œWhy are you alone?” Peter barked. “Where are the Indians?”
    â€œBack across the river. They’re not stupid, Pan. They won’t fall for the same trick twice.”
    â€œOf course they won’t. If you were half as clever as me, you would have got them here easily.”
    James set his jaw and raised an eyebrow. “If only I were half so clever.”
    Peter threw down his weapon in frustration, and the otherwise bright weather punctuated his tantrum with a single clap of thunder. James jumped. Peter flicked his hand out, signaling for the rest of the boys to come out of hiding. There would be no ambush today, and certainly no war with the Indians. James didn’t mind. Peter, as always, minded terribly. It put him in a foul mood, which was not good for anyone in the vicinity. The boy stalked off, probably to cavort with the fairies. The fairies didn’t endlessly disappoint him, it seemed.
    â€œBibble,” James regarded, clapping the boy on the back as he passed. He noticed with a slight smile that he was significantly taller than Bibble now and looked a great deal older. How that had happened, he wasn’t entirely certain, but he was definitely now the older of the two. Where Bibble had grown maybe a month and a quarter-inch in the last several years, James had grown by nearly five inches and at least that many years. He was sleek and tan, muscular and powerful, and regarded himself to be rather handsome, something no one could say for Bibble—or Bobble either, but that was something of a given. The twins were still all knees and elbows and too-large ears and noses.
    James ran a hand through his black waves of hair, which reached nearly to his shoulders, and dunked his face into the water barrel nearest him, coming out and spraying the nearby area with water droplets. This elicited groans from all the boys nearby, but James just grinned. He walked through the camp and out of it, having nothing better to do with Peter gone. Several of the Lost Boys scampered up to him.
    â€œLagoon,” he said, thereby creating a line of followers. The lagoon was teeming with life that day, mermaids frolicking, rainbow-colored birds whistling as they darted around in the skies above the water. He noticed thegiant rock that jutted out of the middle of the lagoon, Marooner’s Rock, was empty. Likely because Peter wasn’t there to lounge around on it.
    The mermaids shot James frosty looks as he removed his shirt and dove headfirst into