Chapter 9

"Rescuing Tiger Lily"

As Peter and Alice flew towards Skull Rock, the once again imprisoned Tiger Lily was brought to Skull Rock to be interrogated on the whereabouts of Peter Pan under the watchful eyes of the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook and Davy Jones, who were aboard the Flying Dutchman. But, from the way that the villains were talking, it was apparent that Peter Pan was not the intended target.

"Very good, Hook," said the Queen of Hearts as the captured Indian princess was placed in the low tide waters by several members of Davy Jones' crew. "We've brought the bait and wherever Peter goes, that girl will follow. It's all working perfectly now."

"Indeed," remarked Hook, putting his hook against his mustache. "That Pan will finally be mine as long as everything goes according to plan."

But, the Queen was not going to let Hook take all the credit and looked at the Walrus and Carpenter aboard the Flying Dutchman armed with shackles and chains for Alice.

"As long as you don't fail me," ordered the Queen, her temper suddenly rising. "Because if I lose my temper, you lose your head, understand?"

"And you join my crew for eternity," sneered Jones, looking over at Hook close enough for his tentacles beard to be slobbering over Hook.

Hook nodded nervously and made his way down to the captured Tiger Lily under the watchful eye of the Queen and Davy Jones. Meanwhile, Peter and Alice landed on a lone cliff overlooking where Peter's archenemy looked down at the captured Indian princess for another one of his interrogation methods.

"Now my dear princess," began Hook as Alice and Peter listened in. "This is me proposition: you tell me, the hiding place of Peter Pan and his accomplice and I shall set you free."

Alice and Peter looked over nervously as hearing Hook mention Alice as an accomplice sent chills down their spines.

"You dog," gasped Peter as he looked over at Alice.

"Poor Tiger Lily," replied Alice, who was more concerned for her rather than herself. "We have to do something, Peter."

Hook then looked over at Smee who was standing over a few feet from him, holding the end of the rope that was holding Tiger Lily.

"Am I always a man of me word, Mr. Smee?" asked Hook smiling.

"Eh, yes," chuckled Smee, who wanted to say that his boss was not a man of his word. However, a card soldier looked down sharply at him and this made Smee realize who he was really talking about. "Uh, always, uh, captain."

"You'd better talk, my dear," said Hook, leaning closer towards Tiger Lily. "Or soon, the tide will be in and then it will be too late."

This finally got Peter cross and he decided immediately to jump into action to once again save the Indian Princess.

"I'll show you, codfish," he whispered, turning over to Alice. "Stay here, Alice and watch the fun."

"Fun?" asked Alice. "But, Peter…"

Before Alice could say another word, Peter immediately flew behind a rock and was going to use the same technique that he used the last time Hook captured Tiger Lily.

"Remember," said Hook to Tiger Lily. "There is no path through water to the happy hunting ground."

But, Tiger Lily stood steadfast and kept quiet and at this point, Hook lost his patience and with his face turning red in anger, he pulled Tiger Lily close to his face.

"THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE, TIGER LILY!" he bellowed into her face as the Queen of Hearts looked on in disgust.

Suddenly, they all heard a ghostly voice coming from behind them and unbeknownst to them, the voice belonged to Peter who was trying to distract Hook from interrogating Tiger Lily.

"Mantoa! Great spirit of mighty seawater speak," called Peter as Smee went nervously over to his captain. "Beware, Captain Hook! Beware!"

Hook then remembered that this was nothing more than his archenemy trying to scare him and feeling prepared from last time, he drew his sword and began to seek out Peter.

"What is he doing?" asked the Queen of Hearts as Jones walked back to where a large wheel was being turned by several of the crew members. This made the Queen focus her attention on several of the cards who were with Hook for protection.

"You three!" she ordered. "Follow Hook and make sure the disturbance is taken care of!"

"Shall we go, too, your highness?" asked the Carpenter, pulling out a hammer.

"No, you remain here in case the girl is seen," ordered the Queen and the two sea friends returned to their posts.

Meanwhile, Hook continued his pursuit of Peter and with each time that he got close to getting to him, the crafty eternal boy quickly flew away. Finally, this caused Alice to get an idea on how to free Tiger Lily now that she was alone.

"I've got to help her," Alice thought. "She did it for me and now, I must do it for her."

With no one looking, Alice attempted to quietly climb down to the captured Tiger Lily and free her from her bonds. With her layer of petticoats, it wasn't going to be easy to trend through the waters and reach Tiger Lily, but she had to do something. As Hook had said, the tide was coming in and Alice had to be quick.

"Alice, what are you doing here?" gasped Tiger Lily as Alice tried to untie her. "Hook, those cards…"

"Shh, I'm getting you free," replied Alice hastily. But, just as she was about to free Tiger Lily, several members of Jones' crew spotted Alice and she cried out for her safety.

"PETER!" Alice screamed and Peter leapt into the air, as Hook attempted to get his hook on Peter. The boy who never grew up attempted to help Alice and Tiger Lily, but a cannon was fired from the Dutchman and nearly missed Alice and Tiger Lily.

"I've got you all, now!" cried the Queen of Hearts as Peter and his two girls were now staring death right in the face from all sides.

It was about to get very tense in Skull Rock…