“Who, sir?”
Staring at his first mate as fury raced through his veins, all he could do was snarl out, “Peter. Pan.”
Chapter 11
It’d happened so quickly, Trisha hadn’t had a moment to prepare herself. One second she’d been slowly waking up, smiling as she’d looked into Hook’s strong face, body tingling as she remembered the wicked things he’d done to her with his tongue, and the next there’d been a boy’s face peeking at her through the window.
Grabbing a section of the sheet, she’d covered herself as best she could. She was still naked and boy or not, she didn’t exactly like the thought of turning into a young boy’s cougar fantasy. Something about his face had teased the back of her senses.
He was plain looking, blond haired and freckle faced, with wide and honest looking brown eyes and a sly little grin. Looking no more than nine, ten at the most…he’d stared at her like he couldn’t understand what he was seeing.
The fact that he wasn’t openly ogling her had made her relax a little. “Go away, boy,” she’d hissed at him, glancing at Hook to make sure he didn’t wake up. If he saw someone staring at her through the window she didn’t think he’d take it as well as her.
But instead of going away, the boy had done something to the window, opening it from the outside. Next thing she’d known he was flying through. The window wasn’t very large, but neither was he.
All scrawny arms and legs, he’d slipped through and the second he did it took all of a second for her to realize the boy hadn’t been a deckhand, but the legendary Peter Pan. Fairy dust drifted to the carpet beneath him, his green tunic was stained with dirt and grime. Holding out a dirty little hand, he said, “Come with me.”
She’d shaken her head, ready to tell him no way in hell, when he’d tossed a brown cloth over her head and body. The rest was a blur of soiled smelling linen and then the incredible rush of air blowing over her. Absolutely no light spilled through the fabric, which meant she couldn’t see a thing and could only imagine what he was planning. Was he going to drown her, drop her against some rocks?
She had no idea how he’d gotten her out the window, because she knew she couldn’t fit, which meant it had to have been magic of some kind. By the time she’d gotten her senses in order, and screamed for Hook to help, she’d known it was way too late. She might not be able to see, but she could feel the rush of the wind, Peter was moving fast. Really, really fast.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed that whatever he did he didn’t drop her. Her stomach lurched and swerved and skidded and threatened to make her puke all over the place. “If you don’t stop soon, I won’t be responsible for what I’m about to do,” she growled.
“Hush.” He wiggled her inside the bag and he must have sprinkled fairy dust on the cloth, because he was definitely carrying her and she really, really hoped the dust would keep her light as a feather because otherwise those scrawny arms of his were gonna give out soon and she shuddered to think how high up they actually were.
Thankfully, she felt their flight begin to slow. Good thing, because the way her heart was racing, she was pretty sure she was about two seconds away from complete cardiac arrest. Then she was tossed onto a hard surface and all the air rushed from her lungs on impact. A scream trapped in her throat. What was she on? Where were they? She hated not being able to see. “Get me out of here,” she yelled, shoving at the cloth, not caring that she was as naked as a day old baby chick.
Light flooded her eyes when he untied the makeshift pouch and let her out. Blinking, eyes watering, she strained to see. It took at least a minute before her vision cleared. First thing she noticed was that she wasn’t precariously balanced on the tippiest, top most spire of a mountaintop. No, she was sitting smack dab on the edge of a cliff, a cliff that looked to be a good thousand feet above the water. Oddest thing about this cliff was that it also seemed to be floating. Peering uneasily over the edge, she saw nothing but water and sky below.
Oh God.
Butt puckering, she scooted back a little. A strong wind, and she’d be a goner. She still had no idea where she was. A floating forest maybe, trees covered every inch of land as far as her eye could see. The trees themselves were enormous, the size of ancient redwoods, but these weren’t pines, they were more like oaks with extended branches that draped almost everything in shadow. Dangling from thick branches were long roots that reached nearly to the ground. She’d never seen trees like these on Earth.
Feeling the weight of his stare, she whipped her head around. The little brat was crouching down, peering at her like she was a bug under a microscope. His dirt-smudged face so close she curled her nose at his stench. The kid needed a good scrubbing.