Chapter Twenty-Two: Peter

Peter felt the pressure increase in his wrist. Captain Hook cleared his throat.

"Matilda?"

"What?" She growled.

"Didn't you want everyone to witness this?" He asked lazily, although his eyes were filled with fear.

Her irritation gave way to gratitude. "Why, thank you, James," she gushed. "In my excitement to get him out of the way I lost sight of the bigger plan."

She walked over to one of the screens, leaving the syringe hanging from Peter's wrist. Peter craned his neck to watch the Crocodile initiating a video conference with the pirate ship. The screen's view switched to the ship's cabin, which was completely empty.

"What? Where are they?" She roared. She turned to Captain Hook, and Peter thought he detected a faint smile on the man's face before Hook spread his hands and shrugged.

"You let them out, didn't you?"

"Matilda, I swear on my life I did no such thing."

The Crocodile looked as if she was going to strangle him, but before she could make a move, the window panels of the tower began to crackle and splinter. Peter stared as the glass frosted over. He could faintly see what looked like a snowstorm beyond it. The Crocodile rushed back to the screen and filtered through every video feed of Neverland. Each image was whited out, completely obscured by falling snow.

"What is this?" She screamed. While she was distracted, Peter tried to shake the syringe out of his skin, but the needle was stuck. She noticed his movement and rushed towards him, her eyes wild.

"They don't need to see it," she uttered frantically, reaching for the syringe. "Describing your excruciating death will be enough."

At that moment a flurry of robotic birds crashed through the glass. A blast of frigid air and swirling snow followed them in. The Crocodile shrieked as the birds circled around her, nipping and clawing at her face and hair.

"James! Do something!" The Crocodile yelled. Hook started forward, but his movements were sluggish and lacked conviction. The Crocodile picked up a chair and began swiping it at the flying machines, knocking several to the ground. In the next moment a dozen grappling hooks sailed up and caught on the now windowless ledge. Peter was greeted with the very welcome sight of all of the lost boys and a few pirates climbing into the Imagination Tower, armed with all their gear.

"Mutiny!" The Crocodile screamed. "You'll all go for several weeks without supplies!"

"Meh, you never bring anything good anyway," Smee replied, throwing tripping beads at her feet. "I'm sick of canned beans." The beads twisted around her ankles and sent her toppling to the floor.

The Crocodile, who was clearly outnumbered, did not give in. To Peter's surprise, she was very nimble and a skilled fighter. She disengaged her feet from the beads and jumped up, delivering a series of flying kicks to Starkey and one of the twins, who fell unconscious to the floor. She spotted Nibs coming to untie Peter, and punched him in the stomach. Nibs slid his miracle knife over to Peter's chair as he crumpled to the floor.

Suddenly a loud screech sounded from outside the window. Peter looked out and spotted the Buffalostrich Rex, with the girl he loved on its back.

"Wendy!" He called, and she winked back at him. He was overwhelmed with emotions: relief that she was in Neverland, fear for her life, and awe that she had managed to tame the beast. He also couldn't help but notice how fetching she looked riding the monstrous animal.

"Curly! Take these!" Wendy yelled, throwing a bag at him. Curly caught the bag and immediately upended it on the Crocodile, sending tickling hamsters down her dress. The woman rolled on the floor, alternately shrieking and giggling.

Wendy hopped off the Buffalostrich Rex and immediately went to Peter. She picked up the miracle knife and sliced through his cables. He jumped up, pulled the syringe out of his wrist, and embraced her.

"You came back!" Peter exclaimed, holding her at arms length and reveling in her presence.

"I had to," she responded, bringing a huge smile to Peter's face. "I had to get Tootles."

Peter's face fell, and Wendy must have noticed his disappointment, because she quickly added, "and I had to give you your shoes back."

Peter furrowed his brows and ran his fingers through her tangled hair. This was no time to be timid. "I don't want my shoes. I want you."

Wendy's blue green eyes grew large. Before Peter knew what was happening, Wendy was pulling him close to her and kissing him. Even though the air around them was freezing, Peter felt the most satisfying and enticing warmth trickle through his body. He pulled her closer, burying his hands in her hair. Birds sailed around them, a pirate crashed into them, nearly sending them toppling to the ground, and Slightly was pulling on his arm, but still he wouldn't let her go. When they finally broke apart, he held her hands and stared at her.

"That is the second kiss I've received today," he stated. The look on Wendy's face told him that that was the wrong thing to say. "It was Tink," he explained quickly, "I thought she was dying and ..." Wendy's frown continued to deepen, and he knew he'd better change tactics. "I liked yours a lot better," he said hopefully.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "That's not even the best I've got," she teased, and Peter almost lost his balance. A war cry pulled him out of his hypnosis. One of the twins was on the Crocodile's back, pounding his fists on her head while Bill Jukes was poking her with a shocking sword.

"Mrs. Carnivera?" Wendy said, her eyebrows shooting up.

Peter followed her gaze. "You mean the Crocodile?"

"She's the Crocodile?" Wendy looked confused for a moment, then slowly nodded her head in understanding. "That explains a lot."

The Crocodile shook the twin off and back handed Bill Jukes. The woman's eyes were crazed as she pulled a vial from her pocket and clutched at the circular pendant of her necklace.

"This ends now!" She screeched. She threw the vial on the floor and a cloud of gas rose up from the broken glass. Peter knew immediately what it was from the sweet smell. Drunken Vapor. Then the Crocodile pressed a button on her pendant and everything went dark. The remaining bird robots fell to the ground and all was eerily quiet. She had shut off the power to Neverland.

Nibs cracked a glow tube but as the vapor began to take effect he fell to the floor, the tube emitting only a dim light from under his arm. Peter stumbled around in the dark, trying to find Wendy. Instead, he found the Crocodile in his face. He was already growing dizzy from the vapor, and her eyes were changing colors and shapes. Another syringe was jabbed into his wrist, and the woman's erratic breathing sounded in his ear.

"You almost ruined everything," she whispered. "The others will pay for the mistake of trying to save you. I will not let you compromise my world." He struggled against her as best he could, but the hallucinations were growing stronger. She pressed against him. "Before you die," she hissed, "you should know that I killed your parents."

"What?" He breathed.

"It was too easy. I had been watching you for days. I had installed cameras in your house. That little fire you left unattended was the perfect opportunity. Hadn't you ever wondered how it spread so quickly? It's because I helped it along. Didn't you ever wonder where that strange bird had come from? It's because I planted it there to draw you out of the house, out of the danger. I was there all along. I could even hear your parents screaming as they burned to death."

"No!" Peter roared. "You are a monster!" In a moment of clarity and fury, he head butted her and pushed her off of him. She stumbled back a bit, but quickly recovered.

"It doesn't matter now!" She cackled, the wind and snow swirling terribly around her. "Soon you'll be dead, and no one else will dare defy me once they've seen what I'm capable of!" She started towards him again, but in that moment the Buffalostrich Rex appeared at the open window, reached its massive head inside, and snapped the Crocodile up in its strong jaws. The animal swallowed her whole, coughed, looked thoughtfully at Peter, and then took off into the dark night.