What was the test? How was I supposed to help?
My gaze shifted over the edges, searching for any shadows, any hints of danger, but my eyes continued to be drawn back to the blazing water. Bay pulled me along with his stride, approaching the glittering pool, and my anxiety raced. I clutched his hand and shook my head. “It’s not real, Bay. I don’t think we should go near it.”
“Don’t be silly.” Anger sparked in his eyes, and his hand gripped mine tighter. “Do you know how hard I’ve fought to get here? It has to be real. Why bother protecting something fake?”
“Believe me, Bay. It isn’t real. We have to figure out the trial, then we’ll be able to find where the real Fountain is.”
His hand slipped out of mine, and he narrowed his eyes. “Of course,” he said darkly, “it’s all been too simple. You aren’t real either, are you?”
I stepped back when his fingers found the hilt of his blade. “Bay…” The gleam in his eye. I had seen it before. On Hook’s face. When I was Wendy. “No,” I breathed, and my exhale shook.
“Prove it. Don’t stand in my way. If it’s not real, we have nothing to lose.” He faced the pond. “But if it is…” His head dropped, and he scrubbed a hand over his face, leaving a trail of blood that he ignored. “You’re a demigod, Wind Song. I don’t know how a goddess’s ancient blood permeates you. What if time takes me away from you?” He turned to me, lifting his tortured gaze. “I love you. If you care for me even a fraction of how much I care for you, I don’t want to slip away. I refuse to leave you alone like my mother left me.”
You were slipping away. Time was taking you away from me.
What choice did I have!
“You don’t have to do this,” I choked. Hook’s face overlapped Bay’s, and I stepped back, terrified of how realistic it looked. The temple was toying with my vision again. I knew that, but the meaning behind it sank deep into my soul. “You don’t have to choose this.”
He sighed, a joking, pained smile lifting his lips. “Is that how you’re going to reject me then? By implying you’d like to watch me die?”
Airwoman . Would that really happen? Tears sprang to my eyes, but the sirens had warned me not to let him drink from the Fountain. They had told me why Peter was the way he was. I couldn’t bear to watch Bay—or anyone else I loved—die, but we didn’t know what any of our futures held, and watching him become like Peter…wouldn’t that hurt far worse?
“I see,” he murmured after I hadn’t replied. Turning, he stepped toward the fountain.
I jerked after him, catching his wrist. “Don’t!” This was why the sirens showed me his parents’ past. They were warning me that history would repeat itself. I couldn’t lose him like this. I didn’t want to watch him die. I didn’t want to live forever. I wanted to go on adventures with him. Grow old together. Watch our kids raise their kids. “Don’t do this. This is exactly what your father did. I don’t want to see this again. Please, Bay!”
He whirled on me, sneering. “So you are just another part of this damn temple. I should have known they’d use you against me as well.” His blade flew for my throat, and I slammed my eyes shut, knowing that sharp weapon was real.
Cold metal didn’t reach me.
A force burst to life between Bay and me, wrenching my hand off his. When I dared to open my eyes, his other stood between us, but unlike Whisper’s and mine, his other was a precise copy. “Stop,” his other said, nothing wavering in his voice. “We love her. I won’t let you hurt her.” One of the being’s hands squeezed mine while the other held Bay’s sword, refusing to let it move. Its gaze narrowed as Bay wrestled with his weapon. “Bay Darling,” he said after a moment. “You have failed.”
The world washed black.
“It’s okay.” Bay’s voice called me from the darkness, and blue lights lit in the tunnel. I peered around us, then at our joined hands. He wasn’t the real Bay. He wasn’t there at all. Though his chest rose and fell with breath, the air around him remained undisturbed.
His expression gentled, and he repeated, “It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” I choked. “It’s really not. This place brings out the deepest parts of people. That was Bay? I don’t want to believe that!”
Bay’s other cupped my cheek, offering me a half-smile. It looked so real, and I had to remind myself I had already passed my test, and this amalgamation wasn’t my enemy. I squeezed his hand for strength, and it kissed my forehead. “It has been so long since I’ve felt this way. You and your friends have brought me fresh love.” His smile became too gentle. “Thank you for it. I’ve already released the pixie and Whispering Meadow. I will show you where the Fountain is, then I will send you back to your friends.”
“What about Bay?”
Sorrow touched the being’s eyes. His hazel eyes. Bay’s hazel eyes flecked with gold. “He failed. Most violently. Only the pirates who dare to enter a temple decide to cut their way through us. He has displayed greed and hatred. We cannot free him again.”
“Again?” My breath caught. The last temple. He said he’d done this before.
His other nodded. “We knew you’d need him to survive this far, but now, you have Whispering Meadow and your own strength. We allowed him another chance for your sake, but we cannot risk another Peter, a cruel Peter.” The being morphed, and fiery hair burned on his head. He grinned, the likeness cutting me to my core. “I was special. All of Neverland knew it. I was special, like you, Lyric. We can hear the pixies. We are fearless.”
“Bay can hear the pixies! And I’m not fearless! I’m actually terrified right now. You can’t keep him.” Panic swelled in my voice, but the being didn’t appear troubled by it.
“To be fearless isn’t to be without fear.”
“I’m certain that is exactly what it is,” I hissed, still clutching Peter’s hand like a lifeline. To hear his voice and see him like this, after so long, when I knew he’d likely already dismissed me from his mind. This might be the last time. That also terrified me.
“To be fearless is to not let fear hold you back. You have come this far.”
“By relying on others.”
Peter’s brows lowered. “We have been through this; you are enough.”
“Don’t take him from me. I love him.” The words left my throat raw, and I closed my eyes. “I love him. Give him another chance.”
“We know we love him.” My voice. My eyes snapped open, and my other stood there, holding my own hand, torment reflecting in my own eyes. “But another chance would be too great a risk.”
“He isn’t his father.”
“He followed the exact path his father did. For greed, masked by love, he justified horrible things.”
“He knew it wasn’t real. That’s the only reason he did what he did. If he…” A thought occurred to me, and I raised my head, staring my other directly in the eye. “How much control do you have over the mind of someone in your walls?”
Her head tilted, and she was Whisper’s cocky other. She smiled. “These minds are ours. We do not take them because we are built from love. From the first, we were erected as a sanctuary of belief and love.” Her eyes widened, and I felt fingers caressing my thoughts. “And if he fails this?”
“I will stay with him here until he succeeds.”
Her head reeled back. “You can’t change someone, and you don’t have time to wait for him to choose to change himself.”
