James was happy to see that Smee had been busy while he was in the Dead Woods, gathering more provisions for their long journey to Never Land. He had prepared a feast of a dinner that was ready upon James’s return, for which he was grateful, because all he had eaten that day was cake.

As he sat there recounting the day, and all the sights he had seen on his way, he wondered why it was he had never read of this land, or the strange witches that inhabited it. Part of him wondered if he should heed Circe’s warnings, but then how could he live with himself if he didn’t see his dream through? Would he always see himself as a failure, too cowardly to travel to the place he always wanted to live? He wished Blackbeard were here; he would know what to do. It felt strange and lonely to take his meals in the captain’s quarters alone. He had so many questions for him that would never be answered. Then he remembered the Book of Fairy Tales; surely the answers were in that great tome. And the moment it came to his mind, he heard a rattling sound coming from within the wooden box with the eye, which was on the other side of the room.

He slowly made his way to the box, remembering Circe’s and Blackbeard’s warnings not to open it. Instead, he bent down and examined it, and when he brought his ear close he realized he could hear voices coming from within. He stepped back quickly in shock. Then, gingerly, he picked it up and placed it on his bed. He sat there watching it shudder and tremble, the voices within getting louder, and shaking so violently it fell off the bed and opened.

Lying on the floorboards among the other items that had spilled out was an ornately framed mirror with the face of a frightful-looking woman staring at him intensely. James recognized her instantly from the portrait in the Dead Woods, in the place of honor among the other queens of the dead. Now, though, she wasn’t frozen in time. She was quite alive and animated. And she was laughing. James wondered how such a woman could be Circe’s mother.

She was disturbingly pale, with high cheekbones and overly large eyes. Her hair was black and curled into ringlets, and was adorned with red plumage that matched her lip color. She was wearing a silver necklace like Queen Circe’s, the three phases of the moon, the full moon at its center.