Unhooked

by Lisa Maxwell

Rowan between them—his face is bruised and bleeding, and a dark stain is spreading across the front of his drab-colored coat. “No—” I step toward him, but Pan steps between us, Olivia still in his grasp. “Ah, Rowan. How delightful of you to join us,” Pan drawls. “Gwendolyn was just deciding how much she values the life of her friend.” Rowan coughs, blood dripping from his mouth. “Too late, Pan,” he says in slow, halting words. “You’ve lost.” Pan smiles. “No, my dear boy, I don’t think I have.” “Any minute now the Queen will be coming for you.” Rowan tries to struggle, but the boys hold him tight. “True enough,” Pan says, “but by then Gwendolyn will have made her choice. Because she knows I am her only hope of stopping the Queen. Of saving her dear friend.” Rowan practically growls, his breaths coming in difficult bursts. “Villain,” he rasps. “No, boy. You’re quite mistaken. Have you not heard the story? I’m the hero of this piece—the victor,” Pan says. “It was I who conquered the Queen of this world. I who ruled over the Fey, Light and Dark alike.” “You who murdered the helpless,” Rowan chokes out, his face contorted with hate. “Well, yes, that was unavoidable,” Pan tells him pleasantly. “Though that ridiculous story did help.” Pan looks at me, his eyes alight with amusement. “Imagine my surprise when that first boy gave himself willingly to me, all because he mistook this world for something out of a storybook. As entertaining as it always had been to listen to their scre...