When you realise there's no chapter one... Sorry

Peter isn't back at the camp by the time I arrive, probably gone to do more of his creepy spy stuff or whatever he does. I come into the clearing and Marcus ran up to me, jumping into my outstretched arms. "Maria!" He crowed in my ear and pulled away. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you for ages."

"Oh, you know, just destroying the island," I chuckled. Marcus leapt off of me and dragged me towards a semicircle of boys around a campfire.

"Come meet the others." Marcus grinned. There were eight of them. "Everyone, this is Maria, Maria, this is everyone." I waved shyly as Marcus ticked off of all the boys; Jacob, Marley, Lawson, Kane, Harry, Daniel, Cooper and Christian. Christian looked only slightly older than Marcus and was stacking and unstacking a pile of rocks that fit together. Cooper gave me a wary glance over then went back to murmuring to Jacob who was prodding at the fire.

Marley shyly waved, Lawson beamed at my appearance, Harry gave a friendly nod, Kane gave a rather dramatic 'hello', waving his hands about in a very energetic way as he spoke, Daniel just turned and whispered to Cooper who snorted rather loudly. Aside from Christian, all these guys were my age, if not older.

Marcus energetically sat on a log, patting the spot beside him and began chatting to a somber Christian.

"So..." Daniel began, his face was in the midist of an acne outbreak but his eyes regarded me with a dark suspicion. "You're Pan's new-"

"That's not a nice way to speak to the new girl." Cooper interrupted, tsking Daniel.

Kane added in. "Especially when you sneak off at night and visit your Native girlie." The group broke in raucous laughter at this, apparently it was a funny joke among them, Daniel's love for a tribal girl. Daniel ducked his head in shame and I could've sworn he muttered something about never mentioning it again.

"Aww it's okay Danny boy." Jacob spoke, feigning sympathy, his voice had a slight British slur. "We won't tell Pan, will we?" Jacob looked to me and winked.

"Hey guys? Guess what?" Lawson interrupted energetically, he almost radiated it and it was a pleasant surprise to the rather somber auras of everyone on the island. Lawson, despite being what appeared to be, one of the oldest, had a wiry and tall frame with short curly locks of hair. Across his cheeks, he had a splay of dark freckles and had a slightly upturned nose. His smile twisted into an impish grin as he thought about his joke.

"No Lawson." Kane groaned, slumping back. "No more of your jokes."

"But this is a good one." Lawson protested.

"Oh my gosh." Harry whispered under his breath and pressed his head into his hands, I suppressed a giggle. "Here we go."

"Are Lawson's jokes really that bad?" I asked, suppressing a grin at the reactions. The majority were 'you've gotta be kidding me, right?' and defeated nodding.

"Aww deadly," Lawson snickered, there was another collective round of groans.

"Deadly is Lawson's newest saying, let's just say that he's overused it a bit too much." Marcus whispered to me, explaining. I nodded in a 'oh' moment.

Lawson went off on his joke and I clapped with slight sarcasm. The firelight lighting the boy's faces as they collectively groaned. They all talked about frivolous matters; fighting natives and pirates, catching the fae even though no one had seen them for a long time and who the new recruit would be. Cooper's eyes lingered warily upon me as we talked through the conversations, I wasn't sure what was in his eyes and his aura was hard to read, even though I wasn't that good at reading them yet.

The subject of the new recruit rose again, apparently he'd be coming in the morning tomorrow. I suddenly remembered my mission. "How does Peter get them?" I asked subtly.

"He..." Jacob started, "he just does it." Jacob frowned as if this were concerning, he couldn't remember.

"I thought he flew." Marley said suddenly.

"Have you ever seen Pan fly?" Kane spoke scathingly. "Think about it. Never." The were mutters of agreement and I felt as if I broached the topic any more, that suspicions would be raised, already Cooper was watching me intently.

"It's getting late." Kane said suddenly, standing, "and we've got morning shift tomorrow." More collective groaning.

"Morning shift?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, her highness wouldn't be aware but we rotate on chores." Kane spoke with the intent to insult, I felt my cheeks flush.

"I can help." I spoke lowly. "Somewhere."

"In the garden." Christian spoke suddenly, normally he was quiet but I looked at him in surprise. "She can use her magical powers to help us." The were mutters of agreement and a few nods.

"Marcus can wake you up, it's early, before breakfast, after brekky, we'll go swimming. I'm sure you can conjure something up." Cooper winked. There were a few chuckles and 'oohh's. I flushed and stood up, brushing off my breeches.

"Sure, whatever you say." I said shortly and returned to the tent as the rest of the group dispersed. I looked around and realised some of the other groups were too, I didn't realise the coordination between the groups, the somewhat matching design of cloaks or so forth.

Queer, cool. I thought to myself. Cool but queer.