Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Peter Pan, Captain Hook, or any of Mr. Barry's other wonderful characters. I write about them solely for my own amusement, and make no profit from it except that which I receive from knowing my writing has been enjoyed by others.

Chapter 2

An Alliance, of Sorts

Sophia's quarters were very fine. Not so fine as the Captain's, of course, but the blankets on her bed were soft and warm, and the sheets were smooth, pale linen. There was also a small dresser, a closet, and a desk, but Sophia noticed none of those things. Instead, she sunk gratefully into the goose down pillows that had been provided and promptly fell asleep. Finding oneself in on a magical island and meeting surprisingly genteel pirates was certainly tiring enough work.

She woke several hours later. She was a bit startled at first, as she didn't remember where she was, but after groping for her glasses on the nightstand next to her bed, her eyes adjusted to the dim afternoon light, and she remembered. She found that the door into the corridor that led to the Captain's room was not the only exit from her chamber. Another door led directly to the deck of the ship. After straightening her sweater and pushing a few loose strands of hair into place, she cautiously turned the gilt handle of the door. She poked her head out first, just to make sure that things looked safe. She received some astonished glances from the crew, but all of them had heard about the Jolly Roger's new guest by now, and so all of them made due with staring and whispering to one another.

As none of them had ever learned how to whisper quietly, the commotion drew the attention of the Captain. He had been searching the sky with a spyglass for any sign of his child nemesis, Peter Pan. He folded the glass and put it into one of his ample pockets. The small crowd of pirates that Sophia had attracted parted before him as he walked toward her.

"I take it that you are rested, my dear?" he asked. Sophia stared at him for a moment before remembering who he was. He cut a rather dashing figure, with the gold braid on his jacket flashing in the setting sun. His voice and eyes were kind, and she found herself suddenly more at ease.

"Yes, I… I feel much better, thank you," Sophia said. She looked to her right, where Neverland's single mountain thrust out of the sea. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and she shook her head. She had not just seen a human shape flying about the tree tops. She took a few steps toward the railing to get a closer look. Not knowing quite how to deal with Sophia's apparent lack of interest in their conversation, Captain Hook cleared his throat.

"If there's, ah… anything you need," he began.

Sophia squinted into the growing darkness, but whatever she had seen was gone. However, something in the water had caught her attention. Still leaning far over the railing, she said, "I'm a little hungry, now that you mention it."

She's as flighty as a little child… and as curious, he thought. A little worried that she was about to fall right over the side in her curiosity, he hurried to her side and gently pulled her back.

"That isn't surprising. You haven't eaten since you came here this morning," he said. "You will dine with me, of course. I wouldn't subject a lady to the crew's mess." A pair of pirates close enough to hear the Captain's comments gave Sophia sorrowful looks, as if to try and show her that they weren't so frightening after all.

"Your crew doesn't seem all that bad, but I would be happy to accept your invitation," she said.

Captain Hook's table was set with fine china and good silver, and Sophia didn't seem daunted by the elaborate table setting. Though Hook knew she was hungry, she ate neatly, precisely.

"This is excellent, Captain," Sophia said in between mouthfuls.

"The fish is from the sea that surrounds Neverland, and the candied fruits are from the jungle," he told her.

"Neverland seems to be quite a rich place," she observed. Again, he had the feeling that her sharp, inquisitive mind was noticing everything, gathering information with every word she spoke to be filed away for later. What, he wondered, did that mind of hers think about him? He wasn't quite sure what to make of her yet.

"It is unusually fertile," he agreed.

"Mhmm.." Sophia murmured and served herself some more candied fruit. Sweets were a rarity for her, and she was very fond of them.

"You're eating like one starved," Hook said. "May I ask how long you've been wandering around Neverland alone?"

"Oh, just since this morning," she told him. "I just… haven't had anything this good in quite some time."

"Please, have all you like," he said, and waved for her to continue eating. "And, where were you before this morning, Miss Sophia? Where did you come from?"

"You don't have to bother with the 'Miss,'" she told him. "You can just call me Sophia."

"And you may call me James," he told her. She smiled brightly at him.

"Thank you… James. As for where I came from, I guess you could say I'm from London. That's where I've been living these past few years."

Hook leaned forward. The comings and goings of people between Neverland and the other world had always interested him to the point of obsession. Peter Pan could travel back and forth, and he couldn't. The fact irritated him greatly.

"And what do you remember happening before you came here?" he asked.

"Well, I was doing some reading at the library, and I lost track of the time. It was terribly late, and I was very tired. I was walking home through the park, and I thought to myself that it was awfully silly of me to be walking all the way back to my flat when there was no one there waiting for me. No one would miss me if I decided to lie down and sleep right where I was, and so I did… and when I woke up, I was here." She frowned, still confused by the alarmingly random chain of events that had brought her to the island.

"You are a scholar, than?" he prompted her. "Or maybe a librarian?"

"The second one," she said. "But I'm not really in charge of anything. I just keep things in order. And I'm also…" she hesitated, and for the first time her eyes looked guarded and secretive.

"Yes, what is it?" Hook asked. He was rather curious to find out what kind of secrets this odd woman he had taken in was harboring.

"It's silly," she warned him. She folded her hands in her lap and stared down at them.

"Please, tell me," he said. Hook reached across the table and tilted her chin up. She didn't flinch at his touch. He smiled, and his clear blue eyes met hers, open, encouraging.

"Well, fine then," she said. "I'm also… a sorceress, I guess you could call it."

He had not been expecting that.

"You're a what?" he asked. Sophia mistook the surprise in his voice for sharpness or disbelief, and she looked down at her hands.

"A sorceress. You know, a user of magick, a student of the mystical arts… some people might call me a witch. Oh, I'm not very good. I'm actually quite second rate. Failed, even you might say," she quickly amended herself. Her eyes flickered up to his face as she tried to ascertain whether or not he believed her. Hook, being no stranger to magical, supernatural happenings, had never had any doubts.

"I'm sure you do yourself a disservice. Let's see you do something with your magick," he suggested. Ideas were already forming in his head. Such things he could do in his battles against the Lost Boys if he had a witch at his side! And he did think of her as a witch.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you if this doesn't go exactly as I planned," Sophia said. She chose an orange from a bowl of fruit sitting in the middle of the table. She balanced it carefully on her palm and stared at it intently. She whispered words James could not hear under her breath. Slowly, the orange began to rise off of her palm and float above the table. Sophia whispered more words, and it began to slowly circle overhead. Keeping the look of concentration on her face, she reached into the bowl again. Soon, and apple had joined the other piece of fruit in dancing through the air. With a flick of her fingers, the floating objects changed their pattern of movement.

Hook watched all of this with one eyebrow raised, but finally had to chuckle. Dancing fruit seemed to be yet another oddity of dinner in Neverland. At this sign of approval and amusement, Sophia's face broke into a bright smile, and she lost her concentration. The orange missed James' head by only a few inches, but his reflexes were quick enough that he caught the apple in his good left hand.

"I'm sorry," Sophia said. "I told you I wasn't very good."

James took a bite of the apple. "No harm done. Perhaps you simply lack practice, and an encouraging environment. Stay here, with me. You'll be free to practice, and to try to learn new things. And, I promise you that you won't find more congenial company anywhere in Neverland."

"That sounds marvelous. Thank you, Cap… I mean James," Sophia said, and blushed a little at her near-mistake. The sound of something hard hitting the window and the creaking of the ship's timbers cut off James' reply.

"What is that?" Sophia asked, running to the window to see for herself.

"Hail or rain, most likely," Hook said. Sophia stared out the window and pointed in disbelief.

"That's impossible!" she said. "The water around the ship is completely frozen! And it's hailing! But… when I was outside not an hour ago, it was as warm as a summer night. How…" She looked at James, head tilted to one side in confusion, and waited for an explanation.

"The weather here is… extreme. It doesn't stay one season for very long. It will only be winter for a few hours, and by tomorrow morning, it should be spring again."

"How very interesting," Sophia said, still staring out the window. It was a phrase James would hear her say many times over the course of their acquaintance.

-----

True to the Captain's word, spring had returned by morning. Sophia was awakened by bright sunlight streaming in through the slight openings in her curtains. She dressed quickly in the clothing she had worn the day before and went to find the Captain. Try as she might, she couldn't find the place in her bedroom wall that led to the secret passageway, and so she had to make do with the more obvious door instead. The crew, those that were awake, were mostly engaged in lazing about and doing nothing, and they paid her no mind as she stepped over several of them to make her way to James' door. She rapped smartly on the window pane.

"Come in," he said. Sophia stepped inside and shut the door carefully behind her.

"You said that if I needed anything I should come and ask you," she said. Hook, who had been sitting at his desk, thinking about the various uses to which the Jolly Roger's newest occupant might eventually be put, looked up at her.

"And a good morning to you too, Sophia," he said. The woman seemed to have no concept of social grace or pleasantries, sometimes, but she was direct, and so open and childlike that he couldn't fault her for it. "What is it that you need?"

"Oh… how rude of me. Good morning, James. I was wondering if I could have a book. A blank one. A journal! That's it." She nodded to herself in satisfaction after finding the right word. "And pens and ink, too."

James opened one of his desk's lower drawers and pulled out a leather-bound volume. "I use these for keeping the ship's log, but you're welcome to one if you'd like," he said and offered her the book.

"Yes. This should do very nicely," she said, nodding in approval. "There are so many odd, fascinating things about this place… I'd like to have a place to write down all of my observations. Maybe I can make some sense out of what I'm seeing."

"A noble goal," the Captain agreed. "May I?" He held out his hand for the journal. Unsure of why he was asking her for the object she had just been given, Sophia gave it to him. He pressed the sharp tip of his hook into the soft leather and made capital 'S,' complete with curls and flourishes.

"There, it's marked as yours now," he said. "Is there another initial you'd like?" Sophia shifted uncomfortably.

"No, just the 'S' for Sophia will be fine," she said.

James searched his memory for the rest of her name. "It occurs to me that I don't even know what your family name is." Sophia looked even more uncomfortable then sighed with resignation.

"I don't know either," she said.

"What? You don't remember?" he asked. This was very odd. Sophia seemed very good at remembering many things. Surely she hadn't forgotten something so simple as her name in the short time she'd been in Neverland.

"No, I don't know," she corrected him. "I don't know who my parents were, I don't remember anything about my family at all, and so it stands to reason that I don't know what my family name is."

"An orphan, then," he said.

"Raised by a succession of bumbling librarians and absent-minded sorcerers. They found me on the steps of a library, you know." Somehow, that fact did not surprise him. "None of them ever really wanted me. I was just an extra bother, an awkward girl-child trying too hard to learn about books and sorcery. They only taught me things so I'd leave them alone." The light, vivacious essence that had seemed to shine from her eyes and features since the moment she came on board the ship was suddenly dampened. For the first time, James saw sadness hiding behind Sophia's rampant curiosity.

"Well, you are certainly very welcome here. Not a bother at all," he said. I'd be a fool not to welcome a woman with such power as hers. If I can help her to learn, and have her on my side… he thought. Out loud, he said, "Perhaps everything that came before has led you here. Perhaps this is your place."

"Perhaps," Sophia said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. James put held the book out to her.

"You'll find pens and ink in the top drawer of the desk in your room, I believe," he said. Their fingers brushed as she took her notebook from his hands, and Sophia's cheeks colored slightly.

"Thank you very much, James," she said quickly as began to make a hasty retreat.

"Oh, one more thing," he said before she could escape. Sophia stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. She turned, and took a couple of steps back into the Captain's room. Uncertain, like an animal not quite tamed. "Would you, perhaps, like something clean to wear?"

Sophia looked down at her rumpled attire. "That would be nice. I'd forgotten all about my clothes…"

James laughed. "That's quite obvious. Come, I'll take you down to the hold. We'll find something that suits you." Sophia wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or be insulted at Hook's gentle teasing, but in the end she convinced herself there was no malice in his words.

"It's not as if I knew I was coming here and packed a trunk, you know!" she called after him as they descended into the hold. James' quiet laughter ghosted up the stairway to meet her.

The hold of the Jolly Roger was tightly packed with treasure, ammunition, and various odds and ends. After a bit of searching, Hook was able to find some clothing suitable for Sophia. That is, after she rejected the first several dresses he found.

"Too good for me," she said when he pulled a gown of green silk from its box. "I'd dirty that finery within five minutes. Put it back." James did so somewhat reluctantly, and found himself wondering what she would have looked like in something not so plain.