Hook's Regret: A Science Fiction Retelling of Peter Pan (Rove City Book 4) by Ariele Sieling

Author:Ariele Sieling [Sieling, Ariele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-10T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

IT WAS WARM, dark, and she liked it here. Whatever she was lying on was soft, and she felt safe, cocooned, alone.

Except, she wasn’t alone.

Hello, old friend.

Stiff. Sore. She blinked, but the world around her was still dark, silent, empty. She was alone. But the pain was there, filling her up from her toes to the ends of her hair.

It’s been a while, old friend. But I’ve been here the whole time.

She tried to shove the pain down, or around, or anywhere, but her mind was fuzzy, soft, and there was nothing else to focus on. She didn’t know what to do.

I missed you. Please don’t ignore me.

“Hello?” she whispered, trying desperately to push her mind away from the pain; there was so much of it now, more than she ever realized was there…

BANG.

Penny gasped, startled. The sound came from not too far away.

BANG.

It reverberated around her, filling her ears. She lifted her arm and reached out; her fingers touched a warm metal surface less than an arm’s length away from her. A pod.

It all came rushing back in a flash—the spaceship, Stark, Wendy, the ring, asteroids, the crash. At least she was alive. Someone must be outside.

“Computer?” she asked. The console flickered to life in front of her. It made a static noise. “Is it safe to breathe outside the pod?”

A green light blinked on the console.

“Open pod.”

The metal walls fell away from her. She lay on her back in the Captain’s chair, gazing up at a twilight sky. Deep blue and periwinkle blended together to create a soothing backdrop against the harsh, black, ragged mountains below. Beneath her was the crushed metal of her pod and a hard, rocky surface. The pod had carved out a large charred crater. They hadn’t hit the ocean, apparently. Or at least, the pods hadn’t. There was still hope for the ship.

“Penny?”

Stark stood over her, looking worried. He bent down and began to undo the straps holding Penny into her seat.

“Thank you.” Penny slowly and painfully pulled herself upright. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, if woozy,” Stark replied. “That gas has a kick.”

“Yes.” Penny rubbed her eyes. She pressed the button on her hook; it whirred and buzzed, still functional.

Stark put his arm around Penny, carefully helping her walk across the rough, rocky ground beneath their feet. A long, narrow rock, the perfect height for sitting, jutted out of the ground only a short distance away.

“Where’s Wendy?”

Stark pointed to a large outcropping of rock. “I think she ran off. She was gone before I woke up. I have no idea where she went.”

Penny nodded. Wendy was on her own then. Not Penny’s responsibility anymore. “Any signs of civilization?”

“Not that I’ve seen,” Stark said. “I think the ship crashed down over there, though.” He pointed to their left where a column of smoke rose into the air, clouding the perfect periwinkle veil of twilight.

The smoke. All that was left of her entire life. Her friends. Her family. She felt pressure building up behind her eyes, but she would not cry.

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