The Marooner sails through a curtain of misty fog.

I welcome the sea spray on my wind-burned cheeks. My hands shake on the railing and I shove the windswept hair off my face, tying it back in a plait to give my fingers something to do.

"Darling," Salt whispers at my side.

"How did you get out? This ship –how did? I mean–" I sigh, overcome with relief.

"Woah now. One at a time," Salt grins.

He leans so casually against the quarterdeck rail. Traces of blood are still etched in the lines on his face, the crinkles in the corners of his eyes.

"How did you get free? When they took us to Skull Rock, I mean. I was in some underground cave. I didn't know where they had taken you," I blurt out, all embarrassment gone.

"They took me down as well. I was tethered to a thin post. There was chanting and rumbling above me," Salt explains.

"Chanting," I say, nodding. My skin still prickles thinking about it.

"After a bit it stopped. I didn't know what had happened or where you were–" Salt frowns. He looks at me guiltily. "I broke free and I fled. It was never my intention to leave you. I was going to double back and come in the front. That's when I saw the ship."

"This ship. Your ship." I nod.

"Aye, this ship. Patch said the Marooner had been circling the island looking for us. They heard the drums on Skull Rock. Could hear them as far as the North Sea. I ran into them out front." Salt finishes recounting his night.

"Lucky they found us. I was so sure it was it–" I shake my head.

"What is it, Darling?" Salt asks, concerned.

"It's true. It's all true! It was horrible, truly and utterly frightening!" I almost shriek. My grip tightens on the railing for support. The kerosene lantern sways as we crest a wave.

"You mean he really does it, then? The Culling? Pan actually steals souls?" Salt asks.

I nod, solemn and resigned. "He does."

Salt lets out a long deep breath. "What of your brothers?"

"He spared them," I admit, shrugging.

"Spared them?" Salt's voice sounds skeptical. I know he would suspect me even if I could look him in the eye.

"I offered myself in their place," I say quietly.

Salt rubs his hands through his hair in exasperation, but I tune him out. Instead I focus on the way the kerosene burns orange in the night. Its light is warm and inviting and could not be further from the ghostly glow of Pan's dark sparks.

"–Just don't understand. How could you do that?" Salt's words nudge their way into my headspace.

"What?" I look at him.

"How could you make such a deal with Pan?" Salt asks, disappointment dripping from his lips.

"They're my brothers. I came to see them home and I will. Even if it means I don't go with them," I add. "Besides, the deal was not struck. Pan wants my answer tomorrow."

"Then it's double as well we got you off that godforsaken rock," Salt curses.

"Mhmm," I agree. My mind is elsewhere. It's out on the horizon –far from this island of insanity.

I know this is only an ephemeral reprieve. I cannot hide from him forever and sooner or later I will need to face Pan. A ten-foot swell rocks the ship and I nearly knock sideways into Salt.

"Easy," Salt says, placing a hand on my waist to steady me.

"Thanks," I mutter. I look up at Salt –at his marble skin shining beneath the starlight. It's a welcome sight in contrast to the dark tree line behind him. "Where are we headed, anyway?"

Star Point is well behind us now and Skull Rock is nearly out of sight. I've never been this north before. I realize it's almost freezing as I can now see my breath.

"We are circling around and north side. The coastal seas are treacherous, but it will ensure we are not followed. Pan's rowboats can't handle the North Sea," Salt says matter-of-factly.

"No, but Pan can fly." I remind him.

"But it's unlikely. More unlikely than him following us south," Salt tells me. I roll my eyes, annoyed. I suppose he's right.

A gust of wind brings more of the sea above deck. I shiver in the cold.

"You must be freezing," Salt says. He lowers the lantern from the post above us and holds it near my hands. It helps a bit.

"Thanks," I gasp, teeth chattering. My breath spirals in front of me. "Exactly how long is it through the North Sea?"

"Once we reach the northern most side of the island, it's a half day's journey. One day at the most depending on the seas." Salt puts the lamp back on the hook.

A day at the most! The sky is already lightening on the southern horizon. Dawn is mere hours away, but you would never know. It's hard to believe we exited Time Trap Forest just yesterday.

"Shall we go inside? For warmth and rest?" Salt asks.

I nod, allowing Salt to steer me from the deck and into the semi-warmer cabin inside.

The room is spacious, though not quite as large as the captain's cabin on the Jolly Roger. Still, the sitting room is quaint with plain drapes and old maps of the world plastered on every inch of wall. I recognize the landmasses. Europe. America. Neverland.

"These –er –are my quarters," Salt pauses, hesitant.

"They're brilliant," I smile.

I run my fingers along the aged maps, tracing hand-drawn lines and circles and nautical coordinates etched in black ink. "What are these?"

"Places," Salt shrugs.

"I know that," I say. "But what are these markings?"

"They're places I want to go. One day. If I–" Salt shakes his head like he's waking from a dream.

"Ever leave Neverland?" I say it for him.

Salt winces at the harshness in my tone. I know I've reminded him of all the adventures he will never get to embark upon –of all his dreams that will live and die in Neverland.

"Sorry," I blurt.

"Don't apologize. I know you're right. I know it's unlikely I will leave, but in the event that I am free of this place I will know where to go." Salt crosses the room and places his hand over mine.

He brings my hand up to North America. "I'd like to start here. The New World is still so young and ripe with much left to explore I am sure."

Salt's melodic voice thaws my icy heart, and some of the guilt and tension planted by Pan begins to ease. I am much warmer now beside Salt than up on the quarterdeck. He stares at me, his palm circling mine, and I feel his warmth envelop me. He moves closer still.

"Let's say I did leave –one day –and I could sail anywhere in the world. Perhaps you would come with me?" Salt's earnestness is evident.

I look into his deep eyes and frown, my heart fluttering. I can't do this. Not now. My hand feels so at home in his.

"Think of where we could go –what we could see –together," Salt breathes deeply.

"Salt," I warn, pressing my palm against his chest to create distance between us. "I want all of that for you. I want you to travel the globe and see the entire world, but–"

"But," he echoes. He moves a step back. "Have I misjudged us?"

Everything hits me at once. My brothers. The Culling. Pan. My bargain. The escape. Salt. I feel like I could cry.

Then I realize I am crying.

"Darling," Salt hushes me.

He ushers me through a secondary door leading to his bedchamber. He sits me down on the edge of his blankets and kneels at my feet. I hang my head in my hands on my knees, weeping.

"What is it?"

"Everything!" I cry. "I feel so guilty. So ashamed because I'm almost relieved," I choke. I'm thinking of my brothers and the Lost Boys Pan culled in their stead. Pan. The pull to him I feel is stronger than ever, though subdued in Salt's presence. "And I'm confused all the while. I can't stay here with Pan. I can't do it."

"Shh," Salt coos. "You will not stay as a prisoner to Pan. We will find a way to defeat him once and for all. You will be free to leave Neverland."

I think I hear Salt's voice break on his last promise. I wonder if it's out of jealousy of my freedom to come and go or if it's something more.

I find myself hoping Salt doesn't want me to leave.

Salt strokes my braided hair, smoothing it against my back. I feel so small and fragile beneath his heavy hands. I wonder, do I feel so delicate to him?

Am I still breakable if I'm already broken?

We sink into the covers piled high on Salt's bed. My eyes droop as soon as my head hits the plush pillow. The walls of his bedchamber are planked, and lined with brass lanterns. A singular porthole reveals the swirling sea outside. The sky is dark and starless now, but swirling with white. Snow.

We must be far north now. I wonder how far north we can go before the sky drops out from below us –before Neverland's exosphere ceases to exist. The window is almost frosted over and I can see my breath in the cabin. My only warmth comes from our bodies beneath the goose feather comforter. The light flickers as the oil burns off and I watch the shadows dance and die on the ceiling.

Neverland and shadows. They will be the death of me.

I look at Salt, asleep beside me, and count his heavy breaths. His dark eyelashes are long and curled with his eyes closed. The corners of his lips twitch ever so slightly. I smell the sea rolling off his skin and find myself inhaling deep dreamy breaths.

I smile to myself, feeling safe for the first time in I don't know how long.

Perhaps Salt will be the death of my determination yet.

///

Sometime after we drifted off, Patch alerted us to the rough squall brewing in the North Sea. It was too late to circumnavigate the storm, so we endured two hours of hellish waters as we waited it out. The Marooner was tossed around from wave to wave like some cheap bobber on a brittle line.

The air was even colder off the north coast of the island. I'd never seen the backside of Neverland before –one towering cliff wall standing like a defensive barricade, unwelcoming. Neverland's true colors at last. There is no beach to step on and no port for ships.

Rock clusters emerge from the sea as far as 100 yards off the coast, an ocean-abetted rampart. It is wholly impenetrable in every way.

The Marooner keeps a safe distance, far off the north coast. The sea swirls blackish gray beneath us as whitecaps break against the ship on all sides.

After another hour the waters calm down as the temperature rises. My bones feel warm again. I notice the ship turns south, heading down the west side of the island.

I walk to the ship's stern and watch as we leave the North Sea in our wake.