A pained whimper rolled over the pirate's brittle lips. Smee's narrow shoulders shuddered, and no clear thought wanted to be washed into his mind by the waves of fear.

The creature, meanwhile, pushed its massive body out of the water. A deep gurgling and rumbling sound came from its mouth, its tail flapped wildly, and again and again, it jerked its head from side to side. Its vast jaws snapped into the air as if it were fighting an invisible enemy. An awful sound was heard whenever the massive jaws hit each other as soon as the mouth opened and closed again. The crocodile roared and raged, twisting and turning.

It was that moment when the boatman understood that if he cared anything about his life, it would be a better time to take flight. Whatever was going on here - when the stars fell, and the crocodile escaped its waters, something could not be right!

Smee was gathering all his strength to rise from the water when the beast let out a booming roar. It went through the pirate's marrow, so angry and inhuman it sounded in his ears. Then an unearthly gurgling sound came from the fanged mouth. A massive gush of blood poured like spilled ink across the ivory-white beach. It stained the yellow teeth and greenish scale plates a dark red, over which the lights of the falling stars danced like flames.

Eyes wide, Smee watched the beast twist its glowing red eyes, its long, slippery tongue hanging out of its mouth, and finally slump. The wild throbbing in his chest continued even after the crocodile's rattling, and roaring had ceased. Blood flowed from the beast's nostrils and mouth, turning the white sand a ruby red. Only the sound of the waves and distant sounds of startled animals could be heard and ...

There it was again. His name?But that could not be.Had the crocodile called him?

Smee's legs were weak with fear, and they shook like aspen left when he ordered them to move. Very slowly, he put one foot in front of the other, and against all reason, he stepped closer to the beast. Cold, fearful sweat stood on his forehead and shone in the pale light of the night. The man's leathery brow furrowed deeply. Only a few more steps separated him from the massive creature, which was large enough to bite a dinghy in two easily.

The stench of seawater, fish, and reptile stung his nose, mixing sickeningly with rotting flesh, carcass, and the metallic hue of blood. Smee's face contorted in disgust; not even the wind managed to dispel this smell, and his bulbous nose wrinkled. Nausea forced its way down the sailor's throat. He wouldn't have been able to tell whether it came from fear or the stench. His heartbeat drummed in his ears. Smee's blood rushed along the waves, merging everything into a wild, chaotic sound. But in between all this confusion was something else.A sound in a rhythm that kept repeating itself evenly ...

Tick. Tack. Tick. Tack...

Smee was now so close to the monster that he could hear it. The ticking in the monster's belly came from the old alarm clock it once accidentally devoured as it sought to quench its thirst for human flesh. The sound sent an icy shiver down Smee's spine. 

"Is it ... dead?" the old sailor murmured as if anything or anyone could give him an answer.

Suddenly, a jolt went through the beast's body, making it tremble. Smee let out a hoarse scream, staggered back, and landed backward in the sand a second time.

Tick. Tack. Tick. Tack ...

The beast trembled. Again and again, as if struck by an invisible bolt of lightning. Something bulged outward on its flank like an outgrowth in the flesh, bursting the scales, then poking through the scale plates. A spike glinted in the moonlight, then a sickening smacking and tearing sound rang out. With repetitive motions, the shiny thing jerked through the beast's flank, pulling it open more and more, even as a sharpened blade sliced the taut sails of a ship to shreds. The horn scales cracked and groaned, ligaments, muscles, and flesh smacked with a sickening sound. Dark blood oozed from the body and flowed in streams over the scaly body. The dense mass and numerous puddles of blood and salt water formed quickly softened the sand beneath.

Tick. Tack. Tick. Tack ...

Smee crawled backward to put more distance between himself and the beast. His throat felt like it was being crushed shut. The pirate saw steel flashing, and guts and entrails poured from the slashed belly. These seconds seemed eternal to him; a figure suddenly broke through the smacking flesh. Like seaweed, the entrails clung to an emaciated body. Wet, pitch-black hair formed thick strands and fell like the curtain to hell over the ashen, sunken grimace that might once have been a face. Bones cracked and creaked as the figure straightened.

Tick. Tack. Tick. Tack ...

A reflection crept across blood and glass, and Smee recognized the old, battered alarm clock that had miraculously kept ticking all these decades. Then the figure turned aside. Sand sank under the body's weight, one leg naked to the knee. Flesh hung from it in shreds, the shin peeked out white and bare, and the skin was stale and whitish. The other foot alone was still in the boot that had once been noble, the leather now dark and smeared with the crocodile's blood and stomach acid.

Tick. Tack. Tick. Tack ...

The figure stopped at a group of trees; a jolt went through the emaciated body. Frozen, Smee watched as the case of the alarm clock hit the rock of the cliff. It banged. The glass shattered, and screws, gears, and other bits and pieces flew everywhere. Again and again, he slammed the alarm clock onto the rock until only the remnant of the round support ring hung from the silver-cut hook. The small rest of what had been the last witness of time and the symbol of death haunts everyone.

Now, however, the ticking had stopped. No sound from the alarm clock sounded anymore, just as the Beast Neverlands no longer drew a breath.

"Ahhhh ..." sighed a voice, deep, harsh, and so icy that even the blazing fires of hell would have frozen to it. "Finally ... silence."

The gaunt figure raised his other hand and brushed the straggly hair from his face. One side was pitted and muddy flesh. Two red, glowing spots lay in the black depths that might once have been the eyes. An otherworldly, silver glow delighted the tattered, torn captain's coat in the freshly dyed blood red. Meanwhile, fingers, one or two of which were no more than bony extensions of bare flesh, slid across the narrow chin. The shadow of the beard adorned widely sunken cheeks, the upturned ends of the once noble beard slanted and out of shape.

On the one hand, Smee was glad that the shower of stars seemed to have passed and the darkness newly spreading over Neverland cast its veil of shadow over the scene. On the other hand, he was unsure, considering that the night seemed darker and the long shadows blacker.

"C-captain?" stammered the sailor, unable to believe what was happening there before his eyes.The significant red cloak was around the body of the skeletal figure. The flesh was decomposed in parts where only bare bones could be seen elsewhere. Veins seemed to poke out from under the pale skin like black traces of the death that still unmistakably clung to this being.

Smee swallowed, but a lump hung in his throat and would not go away.

The bony skeleton of the rib cage peeked out at a spot on the beige shirt where Smee detected a faint glow where the captain's heart should sit.

"The star ... my wish!" the boatswain babbled, staring like a child who felt equal parts joy and bottomless fear. He could not believe it, and the star had granted his wish. His captain was back!

The dark returnee's thin lips pulled apart into what could almost have been interpreted as a smile. But Captain Hook's smile had never been warm or a cause for joy.

There stood the captain, not alive, but not dead either. He had conquered the crocodile and death itself, and the ticking of time had ceased under the night sky where stars barely sent their light into the pitch blackness of night.

"Smee," hummed the voice, black as oil and ready to set the world on fire anew. Captain Hook spread his arms as if to greet his old friend, and the hook flashed ominously. "I'm back."

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