“What if she doesn’t want to come back?” asked James, narrowing his eyes at Lucinda as he remembered Circe’s warnings about her mothers.

“Then you take her by force. The High Fairy of this land took her memories of this place. Once the tinker fairy returns she will be happy to be home again. You know what it’s like to be far from the place you hold dear in your heart,” said Lucinda, feigning sympathy as best she could.

He did know how the poor fairy felt; he had felt that way since he had been snatched from Never Land. Maybe somewhere inside, Tinker Bell felt this sense of loss, too, but didn’t know why because her memories had been taken from her. But he wondered if the witch was being honest. He seemed to remember knowing that Tinker Bell was from Never Land, but it was a memory faded into the thin mist of his childhood time in Never Land so long ago.

“If you agree to do this we will give you the magic fairy dust you need to get to Never Land, though we only have enough to get you there. You will need Tinker Bell’s to get you back. If you don’t capture her you will be trapped in Never Land forever,” she said, her head oddly tilted to one side as if she was listening to someone else as she was talking to him.

The idea of being trapped in Never Land forever didn’t sound like a terrible fate—that was exactly what he wanted—though he still didn’t see why he should help the Odd Sisters when he could just as easily give Circe what she wanted in exchange for passage to Never Land.

“We have the power to grant your true wish, the one hiding within your soul. The wish my daughter refuses to give you,” said Lucinda, laughing.

“Do you truly? If you can give me my greatest wish, my secret desire, then I will do as you ask,” he said, wondering if he was doing the right thing. Part of him wanted to leave this place with Blackbeard’s treasures, never to return, and find another way to Never Land. He felt like he was not only betraying Circe, but also Blackbeard, and yet he didn’t feel he had another choice. Selling Blackbeard’s treasures would ensure his mother’s future, and if Lucinda had the power to send him to Never Land and grant his secret wish, the one she and Circe saw buried deep within his heart . . .

“Go back to London and sell that treasure as quickly as you can. The items in that box are cursed, and you’d do well to be rid of them as quickly as possible. Once you do, you will be free to go to Never Land.”