“In the fields,” Charlie said, and pointed at the desolation.
“Oh,” I said.
“If any of them survived, then they won’t want to help the ones that burned their homes down,” Sally said sadly.
“Then we’ve got to go back to the idea of sailing away,” I said.
“But Peter flies everywhere and knows everything,” Sally pointed out. “And if he doesn’t, then this fairy will spy us out.”
“We’ve got to do something,” I said. “We can’t stay here. What about taking a rowboat from the pirates? There are only five of us.”
“How would we do that?” asked Sally. “We’d have to swim out to the pirate ship, and I can’t swim.”
“Me either,” Charlie said.
“That’s all right,” I said, warming to my plan. “Nod and me can swim out at night and get the boat, and then take it around to the mermaid lagoon and meet you there.”
Sally looked doubtful. “Won’t the mermaids tell Peter what we’re about?”
“They won’t know until it’s happening,” I said. “I don’t share secrets with mermaids. And anyway, the mermaids don’t have any special love for Peter. They love themselves best.”
“And when will we do all this?” Sally said.
“Tonight,” I said. “We’ll go back and find Nod and Crow; then we’ll collect all the things we’ll need.”
“Then Crow and Charlie and me will go to the lagoon,” Sally said. “And you and Nod will go for the rowboat.”
“Yes,” I said.
“What if Peter tries to stop us?” Charlie asked.
I didn’t answer. I think we all knew that it was down to him or us.
If Peter tried to stop us, I would be ready for him.
chapter 16
None of us wanted to climb over the corpses of the Many-Eyed or cross the smoking fields. We clambered over the rocks for several minutes until we came to the lagoon side, then skirted around the edge of the lagoon until we reached the main part of the forest.
Three or four mermaids were sunning on a flat rock in the center of the lagoon, their fish tails lolling in the water. They didn’t give any sign that they noticed us but I was sure they did—mermaids noticed everything. It was the only way for them to stay alive in the ocean, with sharks and sea monsters all around.
We stayed on the border where the forest met the plains. Crow had done a good job of it—all the grass had been burned here too, right up to where the plains, the forest and the lagoon met. Smoke curled from the ground, and there was a lingering heat in the air.
By unspoken agreement Sally and I took it in turns to watch both the air and the forest. Now that we’d made our plans I felt a lingering unease, sure that Peter would somehow discover the plot.
If he did find out, it didn’t mean that he would face us and fight us. No, it meant that he would try something crafty—like removing the rowboats from the pirate ship so we couldn’t get at them, or even burning the whole ship itself.
Peter had killed my mother so I would stay with him for always. He’d destroyed the tunnel to the Other Place so I couldn’t get away. I was sure he’d do anything he thought he must to keep me there with him.
I was first for Peter, and it didn’t matter whether I wanted to stay or not. Peter always got what he wanted.
Then I saw him just ahead of us, kneeling on the ground over something. I let out a cry, and he stood and looked back at us, and I saw the bloody knife in his hand.
“This is your fault, Jamie!” he shouted at me. “Your fault! None of this would have happened if not for you!”
My dagger was out and I ran at him, Charlie and Sally forgotten. All I saw was Peter and the red haze that covered my eyes.
He killed my mother.
Peter killed my mother because he wanted me to play with him.
“It’s your fault!” I roared. “You took Charlie! You burned the pirate camp!”
You killed my mother, I thought, but I couldn’t say the words because the rage was choking me, consuming me.
“I did everything because of you!” Peter shouted. “All for you!”
I should have known he wouldn’t fight fair. Before I was within throwing distance of him he rose into the air, high above where I couldn’t reach him. Blood dripped from his hand and his knife and onto my face as he flew above me, and away.
“That’s not fair play, Peter!” I shouted after him. “Not fair play at all!”
Sally screamed then, and her scream shocked me away from Peter. Then I saw what he’d been kneeling over.
It was Crow. Peter had arranged him so all his limbs were pointed out like an “X.” Crow’s throat was sliced from ear to ear, and then Peter had done the final thing to hurt me.
He’d cut Crow’s right hand off.
That was my mark, the thing that I did to pirates. Peter wanted me to know that this was about me, not about Crow. Crow had died because of me.
Sally covered Charlie’s eyes, pulled him to her, but it was too late. The little boy had seen. He didn’t cry, though. He only said, “There’s so much blood.”
“Yes,” I said.
Yes, there was so much blood. That was what Peter brought. He didn’t bring magic and fun and eternal youth. He brought fear and madness and death, trailing blood behind him, trailing all the corpses of all the boys behind him.
And yet it didn’t weigh him to the earth at all. Every drop of spilled blood only made him lighter, gave him the freedom to fly.
“We have to find Nod,” I said. “And get away as soon as we can.”
“What if he’s already killed Nod?” Sally said.
“We still need to know,” I said.
“There might not be time for the rowboat,” she said. “You have to go all the way across the island for it.”
“What about the other one?” Charlie said.
“What other one?”
“The one you left on the beach the day you killed all those pirates,” Charlie said.
“That boat is probably gone now,” I said. “I didn’t anchor it, and the tide would have taken it out to sea.”
“Isn’t it worth finding out?” Sally asked. “The Skull Rock beach is much closer than the pirate camp. Me and Charlie will go and see while you find Nod. It will be faster if you go on your own anyway.”
She was right; the pirate camp was much farther away, though getting there was safer now that the Many-Eyed were gone. But there would be the difficulty of crossing the camp under cover of dark, as well, and then swimming out to the ship. If by some lucky chance the other rowboat was still there . . .
“I can’t believe it wouldn’t have drifted away,” I said. “I think you’d be safer just going to the mermaid lagoon like we planned.”
There was at least a small chance that the mermaids’ watchful eyes would stop any mischief Peter might try on Sally or Charlie. The mermaids had their own set of rules, and I hoped that they wouldn’t let Peter kill anyone right in front of them.
“Stop talking to me about what’s safer,” Sally said. “Nobody is safe here. It’s not safe as long as Peter is alive. Whether I’m with you or at the mermaid lagoon or at Skull Rock, I’m not safe. Peter took Charlie right from under our noses while we slept. There is no safe.”
She made me all knotted up inside, because she was right, but I didn’t want her to be. I only wanted to be sure she was still alive when I returned, but there was no way to be sure anymore.