Chapter 13: Do You Believe in Fairies?

The pirates snatch the boys out from their trees and proceed to violently tie them up. Hook, in “malicious triumph,” watches as the pirates struggle to tie up Slightly; he discovers Slightly’s secret, which is that he “whittled his tree to make it fit him” without telling the others. Hook then orders the other pirates to take the captive children to a conveyance.

During the attack, Peter is alone in the underground house, unaware of what is going on. As he lies on the bed, he mourns Wendy’s departure; he has been having painful dreams since she left. However, on this night, Peter falls into a “dreamless sleep.” Hook watches him from a tree, becoming infuriated at Peter’s “impertinent appearance as he slept.” When Hook notices Peter’s medicine, he decides to add five drops of poison to it and quietly scurries away into the night.

Peter wakes up to a knock on the door the next morning, which turns out to be Tinker Bell. She frantically tells him what happened to Wendy and the boys. Peter immediately exclaims that he will save Wendy and wants to take his medicine beforehand as a tribute to her. Tinker Bell, having overheard Hook in the night, warns him that the captain poisoned it. She stops Peter from drinking it by intercepting his mouth and the cup, thus drinking the poison instead to save his life. Tinker Bell’s light begins to fade as she weakens, and tells Peter that she might survive “if children believed in fairies.” He cries out, hoping to reach any children “who may be dreaming of the Neverland” to clap if they believe in fairies. Tinker Bell is saved by the distant sound of clapping children, and the two of them then endeavor to find Wendy. Peter, initially apprehensive about traveling by foot in the dark, begins to feel invigorated, swearing “Hook or me this time” as he and Wendy depart. 

Chapter 14: The Pirate Ship

Some of the pirates are sleeping on their ship, the Jolly Roger. Meanwhile, Hook paces the deck, feeling conflicted about capturing the boys and sweating profusely at his impending encounter with Peter Pan. He displays self-pity, lamenting that he has “no little children” to love him. Hook’s dejected demeanor soon changes, though, and he asks the other pirates if the children are chained. The children are brought to him, and Hook affirms that while six of them will walk the plank that night, he will allow two of them to be his cabin boys.

Soon after, Hook singles John out of the group to question if he has ever wanted to be a pirate. John responds that he sometimes called himself Red-handed Jack. When Hook asks Jack and Michael to join the pirates, the two boys seem tempted but refuse after Hook commands them to vow “Down with the King.” Infuriated, Hook signals the other pirates to fetch Wendy and tells John and Michael that they will both walk the plank tonight.

As Wendy appears, Hook taunts her. After she tells the children that all of their mothers would want them “to die like English gentlemen,” he orders the pirates to tie Wendy up. However, soon after, the crocodile’s ticking clock is heard. Hook collapses in fear, just as another pirate yells that the crocodile is boarding the ship. As he crawls away in anguish, Hook commands the other pirates to hide him. The pirates gather around Hook to obscure him from view, aware that they have no chance of winning against the crocodile. Hereafter, the boys run to the ship’s edge to see the crocodile; instead, they see Peter.

Chapter 15: Hook or Me This Time

After Peter swears to avenge Hook once and for all at the end of chapter thirteen, he stumbles upon the crocodile while traversing the island and notices that it is not making a ticking sound. He reasons that “the clock had run down,” and when he passes the other crocodiles, Peter makes a ticking sound to fool them and manages to make his way through them without incident. In his resolve to get to Hook, Peter continues to subconsciously make the ticking sound.

Peter, aboard the ship, begins to aid the boys in their escape; he strikes the first pirate to spot him, but the other boys manage to muffle the sound before throwing the pirate overboard. While Peter disappears into the cabin, Smee, Hook, and the others wait in terror for the ticking noise to return. When Smee assures the pirates that the sound is gone, Hook gleefully mocks the terrified prisoners with pirate songs and then asks them if they’d like to see his cat before they walk the plank.

Hook commands Jukes to fetch the cat from the cabin, where Peter is currently hiding. As Hook continues singing, they hear a terrifying screech from the cabin, followed by Peter’s crowing noise, which the boys recognize. Cecco then stumbles out of the cabin to tell them that Jukes was stabbed and killed. Hook notices “the exultation of the boys” and orders Cecco to get him the “doodle-doo” from the cabin; afterward, they hear another “death-screech,” followed by the crowing sound. Frustrated, Hook then demands Starkey to go, but Starkey begs for mercy before leaping overboard.

Hook thus decides to go into the cabin himself. Soon after, he stumbles out of the cabin without his lantern, telling the others that his light went out. Hook’s “reluctance to return” to the cabin prompts the other pirates to call him out on his cowardice, now believing that the ship is cursed. Irritated at the children’s gleeful reaction to this news, he orders the other pirates to force the children into the cabin to “fight the doodle-doo for their lives.”

Meanwhile, Wendy—who is still tied to a mast—looks around anxiously for Peter to emerge. Luckily, Peter finds the keys to unchain the boys, and they arm themselves for battle. He goes first to free Wendy, taking her place on the mast. After mistaking Peter’s crowing for the children’s screams, the other pirates become incensed at Hook, who reasons with them by saying that it is bad luck to have a woman aboard, and everything will be fine once Wendy is off of the ship.

When the pirates approach, Peter unveils himself. Further recognizing Hook’s incompetence, the pirates do not follow his orders, and the boys take advantage of this situation. The pirates scatter in fear, and the boys defeat them with ease. As the boys surround Hook, Peter charges forward, and they form a ring around “the two enemies.” The fight ensues, and it is unclear who will be victorious; however, this changes when Hook’s attempts to do his “favorite thrust” are ineffective. He instead tries to swipe at Peter with his iron hook, but Peter drives a sword into Hook’s ribs. Hook, now at Peter’s mercy, asks him what he is. Peter responds by saying that he is “a little bird that has broken out of the egg.” Peter invites Hook to continue dueling, and Hook, “fighting now without hope,” swings his sword erratically as Peter dodges his blows.

Feeling determined to see Peter “in bad form,” Hook runs from the fight and fires the powder magazine. As Peter advances upon him, Hook jumps overboard. Unbeknownst to him, the crocodile is in the water, and Hook dies after it attacks him. Soon after, Wendy puts the boys to bed, except for Peter, who paces the deck before falling asleep. Wendy holds Peter—experiencing “one of his dreams”—in her arms as he cries.