Read Online Captain James Hook and the Siege of Neverland by Jeremiah Kleckner, Jeremy Marshall - Free Book Online

examined the wire spring that dangled from its end.   I took the clock apart again and found its place.   Something clicked and the gears began turning.  
    Gentle ticks overtook the room.   I watched the spokes grip and spin in perfect measured beats.   I sat for long minutes as each metallic pulse drained the tense weight from my neck and the sides of my head.   The muscles in my jaw loosened and the throbbing behind my eyes ebbed.  
    Then I heard a beat rise from behind the door of the cabin.   It started low, but soon grew to a repeating boom that shook the floor underneath me.   I listened with growing fascination as the booming outside my door synced with the rhythm of the room.  
    I rose to my feet and stepped out onto the main deck.  
    This was, after all, my Quarter Master’s signal that everything was ready.  
    Billy Jukes stood atop the forecastle deck, the back of Ed Teynte’s neck in one hand and a mug of the knight’s wine in the other.   He waved his mug back and forth with each beat of his verse of the Dread Song.   The men followed his lead, sometimes changing the words to suit their humor, but never missing the pace of the pentameter.   Both men appeared drunk, until Jukes saw me and sobered his expression.  
    I gave Jukes another silent order and stepped back into the cabin.   I looked down at the clock’s naked metal innards and listened for long minutes as the booming of the Dread Song kept in perfect time with the spinning gears.
    A smile started from my heart and beat waves over my whole body as I rediscovered the joy of simple counting.   Each couplet at the pace Jukes set was ten seconds long.   Three quatrains made a minute.   One hundred and eighty was an hour.   Twenty-five thousand, two hundred would make a week.   I sat at my desk and worked out the possibilities of my discovery.   The men couldn’t sing at all times, but this would be a way to synchronize assaults or keep track of time away from the ship.   This was not a perfect solution, but it was better than what we had so far, which was nothing.
    This was my last thought before Billy Jukes opened the cabin door and pushed a drunk Ed Teynte to the floor.   The dazed pirate brushed his sandy hair out of his eyes and stared around confused.   He made several attempts to sit in a chair before he succeeded.  
    “Tell me why I shouldn’t have Mr. Jukes strangle you,” I said.  
    “You just made me Quarter Master,” Teynte stammered.  
    “Mate,” Jukes corrected, “and you’ll be in quarter pieces if you don’t answer true.”  
    I passed a look to Jukes and the large man settled back on his heels.   I then turned my attention back to Teynte.   “What was the plan?”
    “The plan?”  
    “The plan to take the ship,” I said.   “You were in on it.”
    “Aye. I was in on the plan, but I was not her architect.”
    “Who was?”  
    Ed Teynte crawled further up into his chair. “Phillip Gulley.”
    “That’s convenient,” Jukes sneered.  
    “It’s the truth,” Teynte said.   He swallowed hard and continued.   “When you returned on the yawl, we were to blow you out of the water with Long Tom.   And with you dead, Phillip was to strike an accord with Pan to get us home.”
    “You know that wouldn’t have worked,” I said.   “You do understand that now, right?”
    Ed Teynte started to speak, but cut himself off with a sigh through his nose.   He met my eyes and nodded.  
    “Do the others understand as well?”  
    “Yes,” Teynte said.   The flush of drink drained from him and a calm acceptance overtook his face.   “How am I to die?”
    “Why would I kill you?” I asked.   “You are mate to the Quarter Master.   You have the ear and trust of the crew.”  
    The man’s face twisted into a puzzled look.   “This was mutiny…”
    “Born out of a misguided necessity,” I finished.   “Every hand is needed here against Peter Pan.   That being said, know that if