Abbott landed with a splash behind her. She had barely caught her breath before he was yelling, “Fly! Up!”
Wendy leapt into the air, with Abbott following closely behind her. There were noises and shouts coming from the roof of the skull, and she briefly heard Abbott mutter curses under his breath before he was flying past her, his sword drawn menacingly. Wendy slowly rose up over the Vault, her heart dreading what she would—and did—find. In the middle of the horrific skull, tethered by the two laundry lines of skeletons, a dozen Lost Boys fought viciously against seven grown pirates. Seeing it from above gave the strangest perspective—like John’s tiny toy soldiers, moving, somehow alive. Wendy drew closer, unsure of what to do. The fighting was quick and furious, swords and axes meeting and ricocheting off each other in the afternoon light, filling the air with the grating of metal and the sweat-drenched cries of young boys. There were three bodies on the ground, surrounded by blood, the bodies of pirates. Relief flooded her as Peter emerged from behind a pirate, a golden sword poking out from his chest and then disappearing. The pirate fell to the ground at Peter’s feet. Lost Boys were launching off the skull into the air all around her, bags over their shoulders, tied around their waists. Peter was fighting four of the pirates as the Lost Boys around him struggled to contribute. On the corner of the rock, Kitoko was engaged in a fistfight that had come to desperate blows. Wendy reached for her dagger, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to draw it. What exactly was she planning to do with it when she got there?
“Hallo, Wendy!” Peter gave a loud laugh as he leapt off the shoulders of one pirate, spinning in the air and planting his feet squarely into the face of another. The man flew backward, his sword landing beside him. Peter grabbed him and launched into the air, pulling the man up by his ankle. The man screamed as Peter rose higher and higher into the air before changing direction and flying back toward the crowning head of the Vault. He spun his body so that the man whipped toward the rocks, crushing two other pirates on his way down. They all rolled to a crumpled halt, their bodies entwined, one man’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Peter picked up the man’s sword and thrust it backward into the eye of a pirate who was choking a young Lost Boy. The boy sputtered before falling to the ground, his legs pumping uselessly. Peter patted him on the back, but not before grabbing a bottle from the boy’s bag and breaking it open on the ground.
“Go!”
He launched himself off the ground and came back down hard again, driving the broken bottle onto the top of the pirate’s head like a bloody crown. The man collapsed at Peter’s feet. Another pirate snarled and threw himself at Peter, but unfortunately caught the edge of Peter’s sword when he vaulted himself straight upward into the sky. The sword shoved up into the man through his ribs, impaling him. The pirate’s body lifted off the ground a few feet along with Peter before he pushed him off his blade with a look of disgust. There was only one pirate left now, and he raced toward the cannon that faced the sea.
“Peter!” Wendy pointed, but it was too late. She was too high to do anything, but without thinking, she plunged down toward the fight. The pirate gave her a toothless grin and pulled a carved bone lever at the back of the cannon before aiming it right at her. As he gazed at her, a spear pushed out of the front of his neck, thrown by Abbott, who stood unsteadily behind him. There was a second of silence as she weighed her fate, but the cannon gave a roar that shook her bones before launching a yawning fountain of fire into the sky. The dozen red flares lit up against the misty clouds like the spark of a massive flame, a castle burning. A hundred shades of fire exploded in her vision, flares whirling like burning windmills, cartwheeling toward her, rendering her unable to move, to breathe. Finally, as she watched a tail of fire whip her way, she dove downward, narrowly avoiding the flames that licked her outstretched arm. Once the flares hit their peak, they burst into a brilliant explosion of gold and red light.