"You"re worried for your friends," said Molly, seeing his expression.
"I just hope we"re in time," said Peter. He started to say more, but his chest was too tight. He looked away, hoping Molly wouldn"t see his eyes glistening.
Molly reached out her hand, anda"ignoring Tink"s glarea"touched Peter"s arm. "We"ll do what we can," she said. "All of us. We owe you that, for what you did back there."
He had help, noted Tink.
"What"s important is that you"re safe," said Peter, reddening. "We"re all safe."
"You saved more than just us, Peter." She paused. "Will you stay on the island?"
Of course he will, said Tink.
"I"ll stay on the island if there"s anything left," said Peter. "It"s home for me, Molly."
"And your friends? George says they should be in school."
Peter stiffened. "Well, if that"s what George saysa"
"I didn"t mean it like that, Peter."
Yes, she did, observed Tink.
Peter was about to speak when he saw George clomping toward them, his hair blowing and his smiling face ruddy with the cold. His injured arm had been expertly bandaged by Bakari, who had also tended to Thomas"s leg wound; fortunately, neither boy had been seriously hurt.
"Well, well!" George called out. "Smashing bit of wind Hook has managed to find up here, what? With no resistance from the water, we"re making three or four times the speed we could make on the sea, and perhaps more! If I"m not mistaken, Peter, that means we should reach your island quite soon. What do you think of that?"
I think most of the wind is coming from him, chimed Tink.
"What"d she say?" asked George.
"She said the sooner the better," said Leonard, just joining them. He and Peter exchanged a look; Peter grinned.
"So, Peter," said Leonard. "I a.s.sume George told you that we believe we"re nearing Mollusk Island."
"Yes, sir," said Peter. "I suppose the question is, what do we do when we get there?"
"That"s what I wanted to talk to you about," said Leonard. "I need you to draw a detailed map of the island, so we can plan our attack."
"I can do that," said Peter, "but there are hundreds of Scorpions, and they"re brutal fighters. All we"ve got isa" Peter looked around and shrugged.
"We have a ship, Peter," said Leonard. "A flying ship. And we have the element of surprise. And we haveaa pirate." They turned and looked at Hook, still at the wheel. Hook, seeing everyone staring at him, glared back.
"You trust him?" said Peter.
"I trust him to do what"s in his interest," said Leonard. "Right now it"s in his interest to take us where we want to go so that we don"t toss him over the side, which I have a.s.sured him we will happily do at the first sign of treachery."
Peter smiled and was rewarded with a personalized glare from Hook.
Leonard added, "And let"s not forget Tinker Bell."
Tink chimed with delight. You can see who got the brains in the family.
"After all," said Leonard, "she"s our secret weapon."
CHAPTER 66.
A MISERABLE NIGHT.
SHINING PEARL CREPT to the mouth of the cave. It was little more than a hole in the mountainside, the cave itself barely big enough to hold Shining Pearl and the pirates.
They had found it just in time. With Mister Grin close on their heels, they"d crossed the mountain ridge and started down the other side, tripping and falling in the darkness. It had soon become obvious that they could not outrun the relentless beast. They stumbled upon the cave with seconds to spare, crowding inside just as Mister Grin reached them. They huddled together in terror against the back wall as the hungry crocodile thrust his monstrous jaws into the narrow opening, his dagger teeth snapping at them from only a few feet away. But the entrance was too small by just inches. Finally, Mister Grin had backed out, roaring in frustration.
But he did not go away. All night long he stayed close to the cave, pacing in front of the opening, sometimes stopping to try yet again to force his way in. It made for a tense and miserable night; Shining Pearl and the pirates crowded together in the cramped darkness with no room to stretch out.
Now, as the sun rose over the island, Shining Pearl realized that Mister Grin had stopped patrolling past the cave. Cautiously, she poked her head outside to get a look. Her heart leapt. The cave was directly above the Mollusk compound. In the clearing far below, she could see the high pole wall that surrounded it and smoke rising from cooking fires. She saw figures moving about, though from this distance she could not tell which were Mollusks and which were Scorpions.
She hunched over and warily took a step outside. Coming upright, she looked right and left; she didn"t see Mister Grin. Another step, then anothera There!
The giant croc lay motionlessa"asleep?a"some fifteen yards away. Shining Pearl watched him carefully for a full minute. She waved her arms in his direction. He did not react.
She returned to the cave, where the pirates waited anxiously.
"Well?" whispered Smee. "Is he still there?"
"To the right, about fifteen yards," whispered Shining Pearl. "But I think he"s asleep. We might be able to get away if we"re quiet."
"What if he wakes up?" said Smee, with more than a hint of fear in his scratchy voice.
"That"s why I said we need to be quiet," said Shining Pearl. "That is, until it"s time to wake him up."
Smee"s eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Why would we do that?" he said.
"To get him to follow us, of course," said Shining Pearl.
"But I don"t want him to follow me," said Smee. "He keeps trying to eat us."
The pirate named Hurky cleared his throat. "Cap"n," he said. "That"s the plan, remember?"
"Plan?" said Smee. "What plan?"
"The little girl"s plan," said Hurky, "which we agreed on, is the croc follows us, and we lead him to them savages, and he eats them or runs "em off."
"Ah," said Smee, looking doubtful. "That plan." He glanced nervously toward the cave entrance. "Maybe we need another plan."
"With all due respect, Cap"n," said Hurky, "we been through this already. Them savages outnumber us a hundred to one, and they"re all over this island. Either we get rid of them, or they hunt us down like rats. That croc is our only hope."
His face pale, Smee stood looking at the cave opening. Shining Pearl put her hand on his arm; he jumped.
"You can stay here, Mr. Smee," she said. "You"ll be safe in the cave." She turned to the rest of the pirates. "You can all stay, if you want. I"ll lead Mister Grin down the mountain. This was my idea, and I know it probably won"t work." She paused a moment to steady her quavering voice. "But I have to do something to save my family, and this is the only thing I can think of."
A few seconds pa.s.sed uncomfortably. Then Hurky said, "I"ll go with you, little one."
"Me too," said the pirate known as Boggs. "I ain"t staying in a cave while a girl does my fighting for me."
That was all it took for the other pirates to declarea"quietlya"their intention to go with Shining Pearl. That left only Smee, who looked at the men, then at Shining Pearl, then said, more to himself than anyone else, "I"m acting captain. I"ll lead my men."
Shining Pearl nodded, too moved to speak. She went to the cave entrance again and looked out. Mister Grin had not moved. She beckoned to the pirates; one by one, they crept from the cave anda"casting wary glances toward the sleeping beasta"began to make their way down the mountainside. When they had what Shining Pearl judged to be an adequate head start, she turned, looking up to where Mister Grin"s ma.s.sive form lay, still motionless. She took a deep breath and emitted an ear-piercing whoop.
Instantly, the enormous head rose. With alarming quickness, the croc slithered over to the cave on thick, powerful legs. He poked his snout inside, and a moment later withdrew it with a roar of rage. The giant head swiveled left and right, seeking the scent of its prey. Then, with another roar, the beast began lumbering down the mountainside right toward Shining Pearl and the pirates, who were already running toward the Mollusk Village as fast as their legs would carry them.
As the trees crashed and snapped behind her, Shining Pearl could only hope they were fast enough.
CHAPTER 67.
BAD NEWS.
HOOK AND LEONARD STOOD on the quarterdeck, eyeing the sails and discussing strategy. They were getting along surprisingly well for two men who, had they met under any other circ.u.mstances, would likely be trying to kill each other. Leonard was in commanda"there was no doubt of that. But Hook was proving to be such a master of the flying ship that Leonard could not help but feel, if not admiration, a certain respect.
Hook, for his part, felt a grudging respect for Aster, but that had not prevented him from thinking of how he might get rid of him and have the ship to himself. Hook"s dark eyes glittered as he pondered the possibilities.
With a ship like this, a man could pirate as no man has ever pirated before. A man could . . .
"atuck in behind that cloud bank there," Leonard was saying.
"What"s that?" said Hook, coming out of his daydream.
"I said we can tuck in behind that cloud bank over there," said Leonard, pointing to a low line of clouds to the right of Mollusk Island. "That way we can approach the island without being seen by the Scorpions."
Hook studied the cloud bank, then nodded in agreement. He shouted some orders to the crewa"actually, to George, who translated the nautical terms for the other boysa"then turned the wheel to set the new course. This drew the attention of Peter, who flew up to the quarterdeck, alighting next to Leonard. Hook glared at him, but Peter ignored the pirate; the two had not spoken to each other once on the ship.
"What are we doing?" Peter asked Leonard. "Why have we turned away from the island?"
"We don"t want them to see us," said Leonard. "At least not before we know what we"re going to do."
"What do you mean?" said Peter. "We"re going to rescue the Mollusks, aren"t we?"
Hook snorted, which irritated Peter greatly. Leonard put his hand on Peter"s shoulder.
"Yes, we"re going to rescue them," he said. "But if we simply fly in there, they"ll see us coming. We want to see them firsta"where they are, what defenses they have. Then we can make a decision as to how to proceed."
"But we will attack them," said Peter.
"Yes, of course," said Leonard. He hesitated, then added, "But we might want to send Ammm to get reinforcements first."
"You mean reinforcements on ships?" said Peter.
"Possibly," said Leonard.
"But that could take days!" said Peter. "Or weeks!"
"Yes," said Leonard. "But if we charge in there vastly outnumbered, we could all be killed, flying ship or no. And what good would that do the Mollusks?"
Peter thought about that, then said, "So what are we going to do?"
"We"re going to send in our secret weapon," said Leonard, pointing to Tink, who"d been listening from her perch in Peter"s hair. "She"ll have a look and let us know what she sees."
A wise plan, chimed Tink.
"I"m going with her," said Peter.
"No," said Leonard, his voice suddenly stern. "They"re likely to see you, and then we"ve given ourselves away."
"But I"ll be careful!"
Like the last time? When they shot you with the poison arrow?
"She"s right," said Leonard, suppressing a smile. "We"ll send Tink alone. I promise, there will be plenty for you to do once we"re ready to attack."
Peter pouted, but that was the extent of his objection. He couldn"t argue with Leonard"s caution; he"d seen how easily the Scorpions had defeated the Mollusks.
A half hour pa.s.sed, and Hook had the De Vliegena"flying much lower nowa"tacking smoothly back and forth behind the cloud bank, which nicely shielded the ship from the island.
"We"ll stay here," Leonard said to Tink. "Come back as soon as you can."
I will, said Tink, and she was gone, a golden streak disappearing among the clouds.
Leonard told George and the boys to help him load the ship"s cannons. They went below, leaving the deck empty, save for Hook at the wheel; Molly, sitting forward with a blanket wrapped around her; and Peter, staring over the rail at the spot where he had last seen Tink. There was no sound other than the whistle of the wind and the extraordinarily loud ticking of the starstuff-touched clock, in the captain"s cabin below.
After a few minutes Molly rose and went to where Peter was standing, staring at the clouds.
"She"ll be all right," she said.
Peter looked at her. "Tink? Right, I"m sure she"ll be fine. It"sa" He stopped.
"It"s what?"