As soon as James was back aboard the ship, he went directly to his quarters to admire his new coat and hat in the mirror. At last he looked like a captain. He had done what Lucinda had asked, he had helped his mother save her home, and now he was about to start a fantastic journey. He felt guilty for not speaking with his mother, but he had waited long enough to find Never Land.

He had one more task before he could set sail—he had to call Lucinda on her magic mirror. She had told him to let her know once he settled things in London and she would give him the means to fly to Never Land. He couldn’t believe this was all finally happening. His hands were shaking as he went to his desk, unlocked the drawer, and opened it. Lucinda’s face was already there in the magic mirror, waiting for him when he slid the drawer open. “Good grief, must you always be lurking in this mirror?”

“Hello, James. Did you sell everything in the box except for the mirror and iron clock as we asked?”

“I did,” he said. “But I don’t understand why you wanted me to keep the clock.”

“To keep track of time, of course,” she said, laughing. “I see you bought the crimson coat, just as it’s written in the Book of Fairy Tales. It will go nicely with the golden buckles Blackbeard gave you.”

“Am I truly in this book? How do you know of the boot buckles?” asked James, wondering why he didn’t think to read his story before he sold it to the shopkeeper.

“Yes, your story started long before the day you fell out of your pram,” she said, smiling. “We have been watching you ever since.” He could hear the laughter of other women in the background, but as before he could not see them.

“Circe says you have been watching me since before I was born, but I don’t see how that could be,” he said, looking into Lucinda’s eyes, which were now filled with anger.

“Circe speaks in nothing but riddles now that she rules the Dead Woods. She is lost in the mists of time, and she is lost to us, though she doesn’t now see it,” said Lucinda, her sisters laughing from out of James’s view in the mirror. Lucinda looked as if she was listening to one of her sisters speak to her.

“Where are these sisters of yours? I can hear them, but I see only you,” he said, not able to keep himself from asking.