Free Neverland by Anna Katmore

head.
    “Where. Is. My treasure, Angel?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I shout, just short of a new panic. Peter Pan trusted me when he showed me the cave. I can’t betray him. Not even after he abandoned me last night. “Peter gave this to me yesterday. We sat on a hill, watched the freaking rainbow volcano, and he pulled the ruby from his shirt pocket. There sure weren’t heaps and heaps of gold hidden in there !”
    He frowns, as if deliberating whether I was actually telling the truth. Spewing out a curse, he finally leaves me alone and walks to Smee who, until now, watched us silently from the railing. “What do you think, Jack? Is she lying?” Hook asks him in a lowered voice.
    “I don’t know.” Smee casts a brief glance my way and scratches his left brow that’s parted by an old, whitening scar. I can’t stop wondering how many battles he’s already fought in the body of a twenty-year-old over the years. “A reckless jump off a ship?” he continues. “She seems like a tough one. Mighty fine blow she aimed at you before. I wouldn’t put it past her to lie to save the brats.”
    “What do you suggest? Torture?”
    I suck in a sharp breath at the thought of being hurt by these men, but both ignore me. Jack Smee raises an eyebrow at his captain. “She’s a kid, that one.”
    Grimacing, Hook rubs his lower chest. “According to the blow that so obviously impressed you, she’s not.”
    “Still. She’s a girl .”
    His lips pursed, Hook gives me a thoughtful look. “She’s of no use to us, if she doesn’t reveal where the treasure is.” With resoluteness in his move, he turns back to Smee. “May as well let her walk the plank.”
    “What?” We’ve sailed away from the island at a good speed for the past half hour. There’s nothing but water around us. “I don’t even know where the island is! You can’t expect me to swim back to the shore!”
    Hook closes his eyes for a second longer and the corner of his mouth twitches up in a peculiar way. “Oh, I don’t.” He draws nearer, the heels of his boots clacking eerily on the wooden deck. “We let you get off here and the sharks will do the rest.”
    Over his shoulder, I catch a glimpse of multiple dark triangular fins cutting through the water. They hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. We must be out really far. I start to tremble. Is this the right time to tell him I do know where Pan’s treasure is? Peter would hate me, and I mean really hate me, not just be miffed because I’m not aiming to stay in Neverland. And once I tell Hook, what guarantee is there he doesn’t push me off the plank anyway? Once he has the treasure, I’m definitely of no use to him.
    Freaking hell, what am I supposed to do?
    Jack Smee loosens the rope around my wrists and pushes me a few steps away from the mast, then he ties my hands in the small of my back once more. As he leads me through the two rows of men, the crew cheers in anticipation of me being a shark meal.
    Three men set up a board on the railing that leads out into the sea. Smee pulls me to a stop right in front of it and turns me to face Hook who’s standing with his hands clasped at his back and flashes a delighted grin.
    “Any last words?” he asks me.
    “Go to hell, you freaking…filthy…godforsaken…”
    With a single step, he closes the distance between us. Our noses almost touch as he dips his head and brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Darling, the word you’re looking for is pirate.” And there it is again, the dangerous gleam in his eyes. Ruthlessly, he grabs my upper arm and pushes me onto the plank.
    One of the men fetches a broom and pokes me forward with it until I stand on the very edge. My knees wobble, my heart races like a machine gun. Only a few hours ago, I considered finding Melody and making her drown me in the sea to wake up. Now, with the sharks only a few meters beneath me, this plan doesn’t seem so brilliant after all. But in