21 – A Very Bad Plan

Peter paced around the main room of the hide-out. He blamed himself and now had no idea how to get her back. He had tried to follow after them but four of Hook's men had held him up. By the time he got free of them Hook, Clef, and the rest of the crew had taken Mira and disappeared.

"I'm the one he wants!" Peter yelled at his opponents as they brandished their swords and advanced towards him. He ducked under the swipe of a sword. "Have Hook take me and let Mira go."

"Hook wants a trade. For something YOU stole." The pirate answered.

Peter picked up a chair and threw it across the room in frustration. The chair hit a wall and broke into pieces sending legs and splinters in every direction. One of the legs projected and hit the sword that he had taken the night they had rescued Tinkerbell. The sword fell to the ground with a crash, causing Peter to spin around.

"Of course!" Peter yelled to himself. He raced over, picked up the sword and ran for the exit. Maybe they still had no idea about who he was and if he gave the sword back they will hand over Mira. It was a pretty extravagant plot on the pirates' part, but a trade made sense.

Peter arrived at the ship but was surprised to find no one was there. He stormed below deck and found Morgan on his own.

"Where are they?" Peter bellowed from halfway across the room. "Where did they take her?"

"I-I don't know." Morgan stuttered.

"That's not good enough. Where are they?" Peter howled, his desperate voice breaking mid-sentence.

"W-well there's this place. Like an old castle on one of the outer islands."

Peter nodded and rushed up the stairs. As the evening sunset flowed through one of the windows, the light reflected off the sword and into Morgan's eyes. He gasped and called after Peter. "Peter, wait! The swo-" But Peter had already left and was too far gone to hear him.

Peter flew as fast as he could, straining against wind and sea spray until he had reached the outer islands. The castle Morgan described was mermaid-built and located on the Forgotten Island. Named so because most of the time, the island was under water and land dwellers had forgotten that it was there. However, since the beginning of the Neverland's sickness, the oceans had been receding and the mermaids were forced to abandon the castle they had built on the island and find shelter elsewhere.

Peter arrived and crept ashore. He felt a light tingle on his shoulder and looked down to see Tinkerbell coming to rest beside his head. "Thanks for coming." Peter whispered to her. Tink nodded at him and together they crept forward to peek through one of the stone windows.

Hook had Mira chained to a wall and was using her as target practice for some of his other swords. He was obviously not trying to kill her, his throws were landing too wide to be considered real attempts, but he was trying to frighten her. And by the looks of it, it was working. Mira flinched with every sword crash and every filthy word the pirates spat at her. Peter restrained the urge to barge inside, swords swiping. But there were too many pirates and he was going to need a head start if he wanted to get Mira out safely.

The pirates were starting to lose interest in their distorted game of darts and were filtering off to other areas of the room. Mira was more or less alone and Peter saw his chance to get her out. He crept inside and along the wall until he reached her. While no one was looking, he raised the sword above his head and Mira squeezed her eyes shut as Peter brought it down onto the rusted chains that kept her pinned against the wall. Unfortunately, this didn't have the desired affect and instead of allowing them to fly free, it only called the attention of nearby pirates.

Pirates swarmed at them from all sides and Peter felt the sweat drip from his brow. They were in trouble now. The first pirate to arrive swung his sword at Peter who blocked its course with the stolen one in his possession. There was a kick from behind him as three more men charged at him and came between Peter and Mira. Peter began blocking and launching at all his assailants, suddenly realising that he probably could have come up with a better plan. He reached down and pulled out his trusty dagger to increase his chances of defending himself. Someone kicked him in the back, knocking him to the ground, while another stamped on his wrist and tore the sword out of his grasp. Peter was curled into the foetal position, trying to block some of the blows while unconsciousness begin to tickle behind his eyes. Suddenly the beatings stopped at the cue of an echoing bellow throughout the room.

"Enough!" Captain Hook growled.

Peter looked up to see Hook holding Mira by the hair and placing his newly repossessed sword to her neck. Peter shot upwards, wincing at the various bruises he had acquired but the closer he got to Hook, the closer the sword came to her neck.

"Come on, Hook. You don't want her!"

"Don't I? I don't know. I've been awfully bored lately and I think killing her would be a delicious way to liven things up – you'll forgive the pun." Hook continued to tease Mira's throat with the sword blade. Peter had no choice anymore. Hook needed to know his secret.

"I'm the one you want, Hook. I talked to Morgan, the man you keep chained up below deck."

"Ah yes, the magic-man. Lovely fellow. He made me this sword in fact. Quite special, isn't it? I can't thank you enough for bringing it back to me."

"I talked to Morgan." Peter repeated. "I am the child, Hook. I am Neverland, and killing her won't do any good."

Hook let out a cry of laughter. He was hysterical and almost lost control of Mira who looked very confused. "Is that what the old man told you?" Hook asked, breaking out in laughter once more. "You really are an ignorant fool, Peter Pan."