final opponent. He’s my—”
“He’s your youth, Cap’n! Everybody knows it!” the Duke finally exploded.
“What?” Hook roared. “Not this nonsense again!”
“He is. Your youth,” Zane said tiredly. “Get it through yer thick skull. You’ve been chasing him all over Never Land and the seas between the worlds because you think you can recapture it. And him.”
“Stuff and nonsense!” Hook said, shaking himself all over and resettling himself. “He’s an irritation, a thorn in my side, a veritable pain in my—”
“And when you had your famous confrontation with him, finally,” Wendy interrupted, “he took your hand and fed it to the crocodile. The tick-tock croc, Hook. The one whose very sound puts a thrill of fear up your spine, reminding you of time passing.”
Hook again glanced involuntarily at his hook.
“What will Peter take next time?” Wendy asked, stepping closer, speaking more softly. “If you don’t finish him off?”
The pirates were silent, all eyes fixed on her and their captain.
(A bouncing glow shot over to another Lost Boy.)
Peter let out the slightest puff of a groan and twitched.
Wendy’s shadow must have roused his shadow, but Wendy didn’t dare risk a look over to see.
“There are people like me, all over the world, telling the story of the deadly Captain Hook and how he is…changing. Bits of him slowly hacked off, going gray, unable to take a single ship or port anymore…Not even wanting to! All he can think about is this one small boy and his island home. This boy. This slip of a thing you wouldn’t have thought twice about making walk the plank and being done with years ago. He’s gotten into your mind and skull, subverting your every thought and happy moment.”
“It’s true,” Hook moaned. “I haven’t had a moment’s peace since the appearance of Peter Pan.”
“What has it done to you, Captain?” Wendy whispered.
“But I have Peter Pan now!” He backed up toward the mast, waving his pistol wildly. “It’s all over. I’ll finish him and get rid of Never Land—then I’ll get it all back. My peace of mind, my life…I can go back to being a real pirate!”
“But is it too late, I wonder?” Wendy said thoughtfully. “Peter has already used up every moment of your time. Time passes, even in Never Land. You can practically hear the ticktock of the hours as they pass.…Listen.…”
Tick.
Tick.
Everyone on the Jolly Roger grew perfectly silent and strained their ears.
Tick.
Tock.
Hook’s eyes practically rolled up into his head, the whites showing all around.
Tick
Tock.
Tick
Tock.
“Yes, that is the sound of time, Hook,” Wendy said. “Ages passing, even here, and taking you with them.…”
“No. NO!” Hook shrieked. “That’s the crocodile! No! He has my hand! He’s coming for the rest of me!”
“Crocodile, clocks, life, time, it doesn’t matter, Hook. It’s coming for you. Whether or not you kill Peter Pan.”
The clockwork crocodile surfaced, spines gleaming in the dying scarlet light of the day. It circled the ship, snapping its jaws and slapping its tail.
Several pirates looked over the side at it and blanched.
“I really thought it were dead,” T. Jerome Newton whispered.
“SMEE! IT’S COME FOR ME!” Hook cried, sliding down against the mast until he was crumpled at the base. “SMEE! HELP ME! HELP!”
Wendy waited, unsure how to deal with a potential rescue.
None came.
“Smee…Please…can’t you do something?” Hook moaned, beginning to cry. “Get it away. I have Pan. I won! Get the crocodile away. He can’t get me anymore, really, can he, Smee?”
Slightly leapt up, throwing his bonds dramatically aside and striking a heroic pose.
“To arms, men—and Skipper! We must overpower our captors!”
The Lost Boys leapt up right behind him.
The pirates…
Did nothing.
“Don’t bother,” Zane said, sighing. “I think, as they say, we’re done here.”
“What?” Slightly asked, taken aback—and not a little disappointed.
“It’s over, Lost Boys. You won. All right? Is that what you want to hear?” Zane looked at his captain and shook his head sadly.
The clockwork crocodile had taken a turn closer to the boat and its ticking grew louder. Hook buried his head, whimpering into his knees, continued calling for Mr. Smee. Wendy reached over and gently took the pistol out of his grip. He didn’t even try to resist.
“Who is this Smee I keep hearing about?” she asked curiously.
“There is no Smee,” Djareth spat. “Didn’t you get that, love?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Aye, no Smee at all,” Zane said, patting Hook on the shoulder. “Never has been. There’ve been others—that giant rabbit, Barney…Remember that one, mates?”
“Aye, that was right cuckoo, that one.” Ziggy nodded sagely.
“Oh…my. I thought Mr. Smee was like…a first mate,