Everything around me distorts in a fuzzy haze. I blink and I am running, Pete leading me by the hand. Ahead, Doc sprints, waving to us to follow him. I stop at a set of double doors and look back at Hook. He’s curled in a crimson puddle, and he holds his bloody arm to his chest. He gives me one last sad glance, and my heart sinks as he is swallowed by the rainstorm. The palace doorway blurs as I run through it. The ground is littered with the bodies of soldiers. I blink the rain from my lashes again and I am racing through the garden toward the zeppelin fleet. Many of the ships are ablaze and the Marauders are nowhere in sight.
The whir of a zeppelin in the distance calls to me. A girl stands on the deck of the zeppelin, a girl waving to us. As we draw closer, I can see her wet, dark hair sticking to her face. Her black-and-gold sari hangs limply with rainwater. It’s Lily. Behind her, Lost Boys run about, preparing the ship for its departure.
We sprint up the ramp. Lily extends a hand out to help me board. “You didn’t really think I was going to leave Everland without you, did you?” she says with a smug smile.
“How did you know?” I ask her, helping Pete onto the ship.
She shrugs. “Because you’re one of the most courageous girls I’ve ever met. A bit mad, but courageous nonetheless. To face Hook all on your own? Now that is brave.”
Pete slips his hand into mine. “Agreed,” he says.
“And there was no way Pete was going to leave Everland without you,” Doc says as Lily helps him aboard.
Lily spins and shouts orders. I am greeted by my mother, Joanna, and Mikey. They wrap their arms around me tightly. From their embrace, I scan the royal gardens. The palace is ablaze. In the dancing light of the flames, a figure sprints toward the palace. The lanky boy turns to us. It’s Jack. He takes one step toward the zeppelin and looks back over his shoulder at the palace.
“Take your places!” Lily shouts, her gloved hands gripping the steering wheel.
The whir of the zeppelin’s engine vibrates beneath my feet. Across the garden, Jack spins, sprinting to the unguarded double doors. With a last glance at the ship, he places a hand behind his ear, touching the mark of the Marauders branded on his skin. Finally, he dashes inside the burning palace.
Lily calls to me, “Everyone is in place. Are you ready to leave, Gwen?”
Taking one last look as Everland burns to the ground, I turn and say, “Let’s get out of Everland … for good.”
All hands on deck!” Lily shouts.
Dozens of Lost Boys take their positions, cranking handles, feeding boilers, and pulling ropes, leaving the inferno of Everland in our wake. The zeppelin whirs with a subdued energy as we travel north toward what I’ve ached for over the last year, a place of promise for safety and peace.
Everland becomes just an orange flicker of light in the distance. Pete joins me by the rail.
“Will you miss it?” I ask as we fly away, leaving what’s left of Everland and the storm behind us.
“I don’t know. Absence makes the heart grow fonder … or forgetful,” Pete says, frowning.
I peer up at the star-adorned sky as we travel north. Pete slips his hand into mine. The warmth of his touch soothes the anxiety that lies beneath the surface of my optimism for safer lands.
“What are you thinking?” Pete asks, whispering in my ear.
I drop my gaze from the stars and smirk. “I was just thinking about when you pointed out the second one to the right. It was a point of hope, a means to bring my family back together.” I glance over my shoulder. Behind me Joanna and Mikey giggle as Gabs flaps his arms, teaching them a dance. My mother sits behind them, watching Gabs’s dance moves. She catches my gaze and smiles, but it’s mixed with relief and sorrow.
“And now?” Pete asks, watching the retreating clouds.
Returning my eyes to the clear night sky, I sigh. “Now I couldn’t find it even if I needed to. It’s lost among the thousands of other stars.”
Pete pulls me into him and buries his head in my neck. “It’s not lost, Gwen. It’s still there, guiding you to the things you desire most. Leading you to your next adventure. You just have to look for it.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, right. How can I follow a single point in a sea of stars?”
Pete’s lips quirk into a crooked smile. He puts his hands on my shoulders and turns me to the north. He wraps his arms around my waist and whispers, his breath tickling my ear. His warmth chases the chill from my body. “Search for the brightest star in the sky.”
Thousands of stars glitter in the inky black sky, each blinking to a rhythm of its own. One star shimmers brighter than the others, an iridescent display of colors in a single embedded diamond. I point to it. “There it is!”
Pete laughs. “That’s Sirius. Next to the sun, it’s the brightest star in the sky.”
“It’s beautiful,” I say, watching its silver pulse.
Turning me back around, Pete brushes my cheek with the palm of his hand. “Not as beautiful as you,” he says.
Blushing, I look away. With a crooked finger, he tilts my chin up so that our eyes meet.
“I’m serious, Gwen,” he says. “You’re beautiful. And what you did back there in Everland? That was brave, one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen.”
Images of Everland cloud my thoughts. Visions of Hook brought to his knees by my hand. Smeeth’s death. The sting of guilt pricks my heart.