The voice on the wind seemed to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at once, filling the room with its sound.

“But why must it be his destiny? Why can’t he choose another path? Surely we changed ours,” said Primrose, looking at the portraits of the queens that came before her. James realized it was the former queens of this place that were now speaking.

“Did you change your fate, Primrose? Are you not now ruling the lands you wanted nothing more than to escape?” James saw the light dim in Primrose’s eyes and her face crumble into despair. He knew there was truth in the dead queens’ voices, and he hoped they were right, and that his destiny was to be in Never Land.

“Nothing you say will sway him from his purpose. All you can do is warn him. The choice is his,” said the voice that sounded like many speaking in perfect harmony. But the voices stopped as suddenly as they started, and the room felt as it had before they were visited by the spirits of the dead queens.

“Yes, James that was the voice of our sisters, our mothers, and their mothers before them, speaking to us as one from beyond the veil. And they are right, we cannot keep you from going to Never Land if that is what you truly want.” Primrose waved her hand at the pianoforte, making it play on its own and causing James to spin in its direction. “But you will do one thing for us in return,” she said in a soft whisper so the spirits of the previous queens of the dead could not hear her above the piano music.

“Give us the wooden box with the eye, the one Blackbeard gave you,” she said with a sly smile that unnerved James.

“If I give you this box, you will send me to Never Land?” he asked, lowering his voice.

“We will, and with heavy hearts,” said Circe. “Is there nothing we can say to change your mind, James? Nothing more we can offer you? Wouldn’t you like to make a life for yourself here? Ours, too, is a magical land, and I have sensed that you feel at home here. You’ve seen so little of it and already you hold it in high esteem, if for nothing else but its beauty. Imagine what you would make of it if you were to spend more time here.”

James could see that Circe meant it, but even this bewitching land couldn’t sway him from his life’s purpose.