"What is it I desire?" I ask cautiously, I sat on my knees so that I was a little more level with the mer-woman.

"Answers mostly, but a passage back to the life you were stolen from is also what you seek. You also wish for control over your powers."

"Thats basically it," I shrugged. "So can you give me those things?"

"There are ways off the island." She spoke, I was slightly entranced by the way her copper lips moved. "But they are dangerous and hard paths. Especially since no one wants to grant you passage."

"Why's that?" I interrupted. She nodded towards my feet and I looked down in shock. Normally when you sit on the ground, there's an imprint or some patted down grass. Where I'd been sitting, the ground had to begun to glow, all sorts of shades. It wasn't just underneath my feet but had spiderwebbed outwards pretty far.

"You returning to the island, has improved it, better than ever. It could even match Wendy Darling's power."

"I don't want to match Wendy Darling's power." I snapped, under my feet, the glow retreated. The mermaid's face fell, ashamed and in a quieter voice I asked. "But please continue."

"People don't want you to leave because you're improving the dying island. Maybe the pirates would but definitely not Pan, he wouldn't make the same mistake again."

"Again? Like with Wendy Darling?" I asked curiously. The mermaid froze in fear, her gaze looking behind me.

"I believe, that secret is for my to keep." I heard Pan's sneer.

My arms was grabbed and I was roughly spun around. Pan's furious face was lit by torchlight, I gulped nervously. I heard the flicker of fins and the screech of mermaids back into the water. The mermaids had escaped. Something I was partially glad for.

"I'm just getting answers." I said warily. Half of the Lost Boys were in the treeline, awaiting an order, the other half were... "Call back the rest of them." I scowled.

"The rest of who?" Pan feigned innocence.

"Don't play me for a fool." I sneered.

"Developing your skills already?" Pan toyed, I pushed him off of me.

"Call them back, the Lost Boys chasing the pirates." I growled. Peter's face changed, into one of slight confusion and like he'd been caught out. Pan let out a huff and then a shrill whistle, in the distance, I sensed the Lost Boys fall back from the pirates. I sighed in relief.

I could feel it, it was like I had a mental map of the island, I could feel the forces of life within the trees growing, the currents of the rivers and water, I could feel the stamp of the soft dirt where the Indians had walked, the way the air currents blew the clouds. I knew that Jace's pirates had hit the shore and divided into two groups; one group were pushing the boats to the shore, the others were defending them against non-existent Lost Boys. They got into the boats and moved out to sea. I let out a breath of relief, seems like I was doing that a lot lately.

Pan, on the other hand, grabbed my arm and began pulling me towards the treeline. I looked over my shoulder and waved goodbye to the mermaids who were just surfacing, they waved farewell back and flipped backwards into the water.

The world around me shifted and we were back in the Lost Boys' camp. I wrenched my grasp out of Pan's grip and glared at him with absolute fury. We maintained glares for a second before I spun away and stormed into the tent. I hit the plushed surface and buried my face into what subistuted as the pillow.

I missed home, even though I couldn't remember it very well. I missed the feeling of love that was so minimal in Neverland. The only love that they had for me was the love and lust for my power. I clenched my hands. Jace was being manipulated and he meant nothing. Felix. The name came to my mind and I jerked up wildly, I had to figure out what happened to him.

I saw Pan enter the tent, he knew what I was thinking. He kneeled beside my bed, I froze, refusing to let the thoughts run through my head. Pan drew a finger down my jawline, tilting his head slightly. It reached the bottom of my chin and I was waiting for him to draw it around my lips. I knew that what he'd do.

Suddenly, Peter pulled away and a hard light entered his eyes. He looked at me, a scowl upon his face. "I don't know what you're doing to me." He sneered, "toying with me, then Felix, then Hook. Make up your mind Maria."

I looked down in shame, at my hands that were clenching on the blankets. I looked back up at him, aware of the ghostly moonlight, striking across my face. "I don't know what you mean." I whispered, my voice so low that it barely interrupted the silence of the night.

"You really do." He said, kneeling next to me. My retort froze in my throat. "You need to choose, soon, Maria."

"I want to go home." I spoke suddenly, Peter closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, almost like he was trying to control himself. He stood.

"Don't you get it Maria?" You can't go home. Not with pirates, not with mermaids, not even with my shadow."

"That's not true," I cried, pushing myself up so I was kneeling. "In the stories-"

"The stories?" He cried. "They're stories Maria. The sooner you get that in your head, the sooner you'll realise that whatever charade you're going on, adventure." He spat the word. "It's not going to work out. You can't escape, no one can."

With that, he stormed out of the tent, leaving the flap drifting in the low breeze.