Chapter 4

"On Skull Rock"

As his archenemy was making his way back to Neverland, Captain Hook and his band of pirates were now back in skull rock without a ship and without any way to get back to their old methods. They had been defeated by Peter Pan and were now stuck here with only each other and the confines of skull rock for company. Fortunately, they had managed to outrun Tick-Tock the Crocodile who was chasing after Hook because his hand had tasted so good, that he wanted the rest of him.

"Good morning, shipmates!" called Smee, who was feeling joyful after a morning bath in the lagoon. However, the pirates were not that interested in hearing Captain Hook's first mate say good morning.

"And what's so good about it, Mr. Smee?" asked one pirate, pulling the first mate to his chest before passing him to another pirate.

"Here we are, stuck on Skull Rock with no ship because of that Peter Pan and his lost boys," said the second pirate throwing him over. "So, if I were you, I wouldn't tell us that it is a good morning."

The rest of the pirates all nodded in agreement as they saw Captain Hook, his clothes ruined from the encounter with the crocodile walk in after a lack of sleep. The pirates rose to their feet upon his arrival, but Hook was not in the mood for formalities.

"Sit down, you dogs," he groaned. "I don't feel well this morning because of that cursed Peter Pan. I've lost my ship because of him."

"I told you that we should have left Neverland forever," said the small pirate. "Now, look at what has happened to us now, Captain."

Hook was powerless at his situation and that he felt like the lowest man on Earth. He was once the world's most famous crook and now here he was, trapped in a rock cavern that had the shape of a skull.

"Oh, shut up you!" retorted Hook, weakly throwing a small rock at the pirate. "I chose not to leave and that's all there is to it."

He then got up and walked over to the edge of the lagoon and looked down at his reflection in the water. As he looked down, Hook thought that he needed to go after Peter Pan, but he knew that doing it by himself was not going to be possible. He needed help and the only help he had were in fact, his pirates, who were a useless lot to him.

"But, there was a good reason why I chose to not leave," said Hook, still looking down at the reflection. "I was always taught that pirates never run away from anything. Had we left, then I would have gone back on the word that I taught myself and yourselves. I will fight Peter Pan to the ends of the Earth and will not rest until he lies dead."

Then, he turned back to the pirates who all gave his undivided attention. To them, they could sense that Hook was coming up with something to combat Peter Pan with. It was at that moment, that Hook realized something that could be done.

"I've got it," he cried. "What if that Wendy and her brothers are still here on this island? We could recapture them again if we had to."

"They've left the island, remember?" said the small pirate. "Remember, Peter took them away on our ship."

"Indeed," remarked Hook, upon realizing of this minor setback. "We need to get back to the island and its highly likely that Pan would bring someone like him here to Neverland. We just need to find out who."

Suddenly, one of the pirates let out a cry as he saw what appeared to be a ship out in the distance with a heart flag on top. This caused Hook and the pirates to run over to the source of the call.

"Mr. Smee," he said to his first mate, a smile coming onto his face. "Call this ship over here! If that is who I think it is…"

So doing as he was told, Mr. Smee went over to a small campfire that they had set the night before and relit the fire. After a few moments, the fire produced a large smoke signal that could be seen for miles. Aboard the ship, a playing card who was up in the crows nest was seeing the smoke through his telescope.

"Smoke signal to the west!" he shouted to the card sailors below. "Smoke signal to Skull Rock!"

The Queen of Hearts then raced up to the deck and called out to the lookout for being so noisy. She was still in her nightgown after all and had been asleep.

"What is the meaning of this?" she shouted. "Can't you see I am trying to sleep here? Do it again and I will make you lose your head!"

"But, your highness, out in the distance!" called a card sailor. "It's a smoke signal! Should we head for the source?"

The Queen desperately wanted to back down and keep finding Alice, but then she knew that someone over there could know about their target. So, turning to the ship's captain, ordered the ship to turn towards the source of the smoke. Soon, they were nearing the source and dropped anchor just outside the rock.

"Walrus! Carpenter! Come here at once!" bellowed the Queen and a large walrus and a small man walked over towards her and bowed to her.

"What do wish us to do your highness?" asked the Carpenter.

"I want you to lead an expedition into the rock and find whoever attracted us over here with the smoke signal. Find out who it is and return to me, understand?"

"As you command, your highness," said the Walrus and the two sea friends led about ten card soldiers into Skull Rock. The Walrus was hungry for a seafood breakfast, but knew that they had an objective that they needed to fulfill and could not back down from their mission.

Meanwhile, Captain Hook and the Pirates had been waiting for any sign for several hours and were now starting to get desperate.

"Maybe no one is coming, Captain," remarked Smee. "Guess that we will just have to accept our fates and wait for our maker to come."

"No, my dear Smee," said Hook, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. "Someone will come and we will be saved at last."

Suddenly, another loud cry came from the pirates and Hook and Smee ran over to the source of the cry. They came out to see the Walrus, Carpenter and the card soldiers in a standoff with the pirates, who had their weapons drawn at them.

"Who are you?" demanded Hook and the card sailors lowered their weapons.

"We come in the name of her majesty, the Queen of Hearts, ruler of Wonderland," said the Carpenter.

Hook was delighted at this, for he knew that at last, he would meet her majesty and she would meet him.

It was to be a very interesting introduction indeed…