فصل 18

CHAPTER 18

TINK’S SEARCH

TINKER BELL SHOT ACROSS the surface of the sea, a streak of golden light, flying faster than any bird ever had.

But not fast enough.

She had kept her promise to Peter: she had observed the brutal, one-sided battle; she had watched as the Mollusks were driven back to their village and forced to surrender. Then she had flown back to the boys’ hut to discover—to her horror—that Peter and the other boys were gone.

She flew up high, frantically searching for them, but the jungle canopy blocked her view. She then flew lower and darted from tree to tree, asking the birds and monkeys where the boys had gone. The birds, as usual, were useless—idiot birds!—but the monkeys told her that the pirates had come and taken the boys in the direction of the beach.

Tink zoomed to the beach and saw a mark in the sand where one of the Scorpion war canoes had been dragged back into the water. Soaring high into the sky for a better view, she quickly spotted it: a dark shape on the blue water, already growing small in the distance. In an instant she was flying toward it, and in the next instant she saw that something was wrong. The canoe suddenly veered to the left, then rose straight into the air. Then, in a sickening moment, it turned sideways, spilling its occupants into the sea.

Tink was almost there now, swooping low, skimming the water. Her heart leapt when she saw figures flailing in the water—Peter?—but then ached when, zipping from head to head, she saw that they were all pirates.

Where was he?

Tink zigzagged frantically above the overturned canoe and the pirates, searching for the familiar head of tousled red hair. Back and forth she shot, again and again and again, until finally, with an anguished burst of bells, she accepted the horrible truth.

Peter was gone.