Neverland: Appetite for Murder

Do You Know The Killer

“What exactly are you asking, Miss Darling?” Hook asks, offended that she would think Smee has anything to do with this.

“I am not suggesting he helped her, but he knew she was a woman. When I said I found a long hair, he tensed but didn’t look guilty; he looked quite relieved that someone knew it was a woman and not a man. So, Mister Smee, how long have you known the killer is a woman?” Delilah asked him again, this time walking closer to him.

Smee only looked at her as if weighing his options. “I will not be telling you the story. Nobody but the Captain and the healer knows what happened, and the Captain did not even know it was a woman until now,” Smee said, lifting his shirt to show a scar he got. “I was attacked from behind but was stabbed from the front by a blonde woman. She looked familiar but ghastly pale. If you were to ever ask me who she was, I wouldn’t be able to give you a name, but her eyes haunt me in my nightmares.”

Smee stopped talking, lowering his shirt and tilting his head to the side. “Peter would want to know the next part, so he might as well come out from his hiding spot; I will wait.” Smee said, his voice steady, in no hurry to finish what he was saying.

All that Delilah could think of in that moment was, ‘Peter is here? Where? Why?’ Smee saw her confused face and laughed a bit. “He followed you, lass, all the way from the room the injured boy was in.”

Peter came walking out from the shadow he was hiding in. “What is it you think I need to know, Smee?” Smee really laughs this time, but it is a hollow, shallow sound. It sounded haunted; Delilah couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment that Smee’s eyes became as haunted as his laughter sounded, but she knew that look quite well.

“I didn’t get out of there just because, you know, if what the Captain and little miss detective here,” Smee says, pointing towards Delilah, “says is true, then I should never have been able to get out. She mentioned you by name, Pan. She said one day you will understand all the sacrifices she had to make over the last hundred years. She was laughing like crazy. I was barely able to get away clean, or without the woman’s knowledge at least, but I am guessing the pixie knew where I was going. I have tried many times to say the rest, but I can’t. The woman’s eyes kind of remind me of yours, Miss Darling, only yours won’t haunt my nightmares.” Smee says before telling Hook he has to go back to the deck.

“Do pixie dust have a signature of who it belongs to?” Delilah asks suddenly, wondering if it could help them in finding out who is behind the murders.

“No, but it does leave the signature of what type of pixie it is behind,” Peter says. “And only a pixie can figure that out. I will need to go get Ember, my pixie. You need to give me two hours at least.” Peter says, flinching slightly at the thought of it taking two hours to get the pixie he uses to the ship.

“Ember and Hook have a bit of a strained relationship,” Peter adds, trying to explain.

Hook’s face goes red with anger. “GO, PAN, NOW!!!” he yells, grabbing a chair and flinging it at Peter, who laughs while running away. “You would think he is 19 and not 300 years old,” he mumbles to himself before readjusting the black leather jacket he was wearing. “Stupid, stupid boy, giving out information that is not his to give,” Hook says before turning to Delilah, smiling. “Anyways, Delilah, have you had anything to eat yet? I am sure the Lost Boys are hungry, and the chef on board makes the best food in Neverland—or well, that is my humble opinion. Come.”

Hook’s words make Delilah realize she has not eaten since coming to Neverland. “I might be a bit hungry. I forgot I haven’t eaten anything since coming to Neverland,” she admits sheepishly as Hook leads her out and back toward the cabin the Lost Boys were staying in.

“Stupid boy. He just brings you and forgets to feed you—stupid, stupid boy,” he says, laughing while opening the door. The chatter in the cabin goes silent; the boys are staring at them, acting shocked about the fact that Hook laughed.

“Where is Pan?” Kai asked, worried for his friend’s safety. Hook contemplated telling them where he went and decided on saying, “He went to go get that blasted pixie of yours, of course. Why he just won’t ask to use mine, I don’t know,” Hook mumbles the last part.

The boys can’t help but laugh at what Hook said. “You and Ember still not on good terms with the fact that you have a female pixie on board, Hook?” Rowan asks, laughter in his voice. The boys laugh even louder when Hook glares at them.

“That doesn’t seem like it is any of your business,” Hook says when they hear a new voice. “James Hook, is that thing still here?” the voice said, sounding furious.

“Yes, Ember, she is. You wanted to be Pan’s pixie and not my pixie and wife, so I had to get another one. So please spare me the drama of me betraying you, sweetheart,” Hook says, turning around to face the red-headed woman he stared at in affection.

“Now, sweetheart, meet our guest, Delilah Darling. Delilah, meet my wife, Ember Flynn-Hook. She is angry that I have another she-pixie on board. Now, sweetheart, are you hungry? I am having the chef prepare some food for the girl and the boys. Would you like some as well?” Hook asked, his tone still affectionate.

The thought going through Delilah’s mind now centered around Hook being married and having a pixie for a wife. “Ahh, the shocked face of someone that only heard the old stories. Hi, Delilah, it is so nice to meet you. When Peter came to tell me that he brought a Darling girl to Neverland, I knew I just had to come see it for myself. Oh, you are even prettier than Wendy was—or at least the picture I saw of her,” Ember said, gushing over Delilah and making her blush.

“Sweetheart, leave the girl alone. She is here on business anyways,” Hook said, wrapping his arms around the pixie’s waist, pulling her into him, and kissing her neck.