We walk, following the sun deeper into the sky. I only imagine we are in the middle of Neverland when the sun reaches its peak. If it were not for the shade of the trees the sun would melt our skin off.

Sweat beads across my forehead, escaping out below the brim of my hat. Pan must be in a sour mood for it to be this hot. It's always the perfect fall day here; so whenever there's a shift in the weather, something abnormal must be occurring.

"It's too hot to keep moving like this," I sigh, letting my knees collapse beneath me. "Can we take a break?"

"Every second you sit is a second we waste." Alex argues, though he and Harry stop moving.

"Can we at least have lunch?" I ask.

"We had lunch." Harry jumps in.

I reminisce on the little we had eaten. An egg, an apple, a bun. That was lunch?

"I'm going on hunger strike." I say.

"Hunger strike is when you refuse to eat to get your way." Alex explains. "Not when you refuse to move until you eat."

"Did they even have hunger strike in your day?" I ask. "What even was your day?"

Alex rolls his eyes, but begrudgingly sits down. "You've got two minutes."

"Two?" Harry asks. "Al, give us ten. We didn't even stop for lunch."

"We're losing light." Alex says. "It's high noon, so we've only got about nine hours until it gets dark."

"Only nine," I scoff. "That's nothing."

"It is nothing," Alex snaps at my sarcasm. "We've got to find Felix, rescue him, then bring him back to the camp. And chances are if he hasn't managed to escape Dominique, he's incapacitated."

"What do you suggest?" I ask.

"We keep moving, cover more ground." He stands up.

Harry leans off of a tree, stepping closer to me. He offers me a hand that I don't take, choosing to stand up on my own.

"If we want to cover more ground, let's split up," I suggest.

Harry looks bewildered. "That's mad, that is."

"You find the boys then what, you get killed?" Alex asks. "We won't be there to take them on."

"We won't even know where you are." Harry says.

"How about this, we each walk 100 steps, one north, one east and one west-"

"The camp is west." Alex cuts in. "And 100 steps is nothing."

"Then one south." I say. "And 500 steps. It could work. We come back after the 500 steps. If anyone has found them we head that way. If no one has, then we walk forward, and do the same thing later on."

Alex looks at me, squinting. "I don't trust this idea. But that's only because it's the first thing you've ever said that makes sense."

"Are you kidding me?" Harry scoffs. "That's the worst idea I ever heard; and I'm including the time Marcus suggested we use dream shade as camouflage."

"You're tired, I'm tired, we're losing daylight." I prompt.

Harry crosses his arms and turns to Alex. "I don't like this."

Alex crosses his arms back, glaring Harry down before looking at me over Harry's shoulder.

"We'll do it."

I almost pump my fist in the air. It's rare that an idea of mine is ever listened to, much less agreed with.

Harry doesn't look back at me, instead, heads off past Alex.

"He's going south." Alex mutters, letting his eyes turn back from Harry to me. "I'll go east if you go north?"

"Sure," I nod, heading off in the opposite direction Harry went.

When I turn around to thank Alex for listening to me, he is gone.

I lost track of my steps a few minutes ago, and should probably head back. The last number I remember was 76, and that felt like it was barely a minute in. My guess is I'm moving a 100 steps a minute, and though I haven't got an exact idea about how long it's been, I'm going to count another one hundred steps before heading back.

I take a few steps forward before hearing a click behind me. The dagger gets whipped out of my pocket and straight behind me before I manage to turn around.

My firm shoulders relax when I see who's behind me.

Pan's feet are firmly planted to the ground, and his fist is wrapped around the hilt of the dagger. The tip barely touches his chest, but as he lowers the object I see the slight rip in his shirt.

I can't help the small grin that grows on my cheeks as I realise I got the best of him.

I choose not to pay attention to the way his eyes squint at me when he realises the same.

He chucks the dagger back at me, but I do not have the same finesse as he does, so I simply duck and dodge, picking up the dagger off the ground.

"So, what's up?" I ask, cocking my head to the side.

"Why does something have to be up? Can't I just pop in unannounced? This is my island after all."

I cock an eyebrow, crossing my arms as I wait for him to continue.

"Two more boys are sick." He says. "Came down just a bit after breakfast."

"No one has come down in days." I'm a little bit startled by the news.

"Precisely, which is why I was going to call you back." He says. "We need to make a trade deal with the Natives. This illness isn't on accident. They could probably figure out a cure."

"And you couldn't?" I tease. "Not with magic?"

"All magic comes at a price," he tells me. "The rules tend to be a life for a life, and I don't know about you, but I'd like to find a solution that saves everyone if possible."

"And the Natives will have it?" I ask.

"I may know magic, but they know plants." He tells me.

I guess that makes sense. Maybe if Jared was still here, he'd know what medicine to use to save all our lives. Unfortunately, we were robbed of him.

"So, you need me to help you negotiate with them?" I ask.

He almost laughs, stepping closer to me. "Alex is good friends with the chief's son. I'll offer them asylum in exchange for a cure."

"Aren't they waging war on us?" I demand.

"Asylum isn't the right word then," he tells me. "Passage off the island?"

"They'd eat that up." I smile.

Maybe the boys will survive. I just have to go get Harry and Alex, and all the boys will be healthy again. Scratch that off the list then all there is left to do is get Dominique and his gang into Pan's hands. What he does with them is their business, but once that's all said and done, I'll be free to go home.

"Let's go get-"

A bloodcurdling scream whispers in my ears. It's far away, but it still leaves me feeling numb. I've only heard one scream like that before, the screams of Lyle. The only difference between his cries and these, is that I could hear the fear and tears in Lyle's voice. This scream, this is the sound of raw pain.

And it's coming from the south.

I leap forward, darting past Pan, only to feel his arms wrap tightly around me.

"What are you doing?" I screech, struggling. "Let me go."

My throat already feels raw. Someone is attacking Harry, and he's in so much pain. That is if he's still alive. We are only apart because I thought it would cover ground more quickly, despite all the danger it throws us in.

Harry is in trouble and I need to help him. He'll die if I don't, and it will be my fault.

"I can't feel his attackers." He says. "Which means it's got to be Fred and Dominique."

"So let's attack them." I kick backwards, and only for a second his grip loosens and I dive out, running forward.

The tears are already escaping my eyes. I rarely feel guilt, and the sensation is causing me pain. Is the guilt making my stomach turn, or is it the fear?

"You'll never make it in time to help." He teleports in front of me, but I dodge past him. "We're one kilometer away from him. It's a shock we can even hear him."

I turn, hitting him with my arm. "Teleport us."

I rarely hit Pan, but desperation claws inside me. I shove him again, harder, and once more before he grabs my wrists and holds them close to his chest.

He shakes his head, so I shake out of his grip and take off running. My body collides with his and I fly backwards.

"If you kill them here, we'll never get to Felix." He alerts me. "And we've got no way to track them."

They won't give up the hideout, not even for their lives. Sam would've let me kill him and Eric in order to protect Dominique.

"They could kill him." I shout, standing up and running past him once more.

He grabs my arm and spins me around. Our eyes meet.

"Trust me." He seems to be asking it, rather than ordering me. "It's so much easier to get people to hate something than to believe. Believe in me more than you hate Dominique, please."

The adrenaline is coursing through my body, and I have every intention to take off and run. His eyes stop me. Normally they are stern or joking, but I've never seen him look at me the way he does now. He's always indifferent, or seems to find every situation funny. Serious or playful. But now, he looks at me as if pleading for me to listen to him.

If he had told me to stay I would've run. If he had made fun of my attempts to save Harry I would have run even harder. Yet here he is, giving me the choice to trust him, and I do.

"Okay," I muster, relaxing.

Another scream slithers towards me, barely a sound.

Pan looks past me, deeper into the forest. I run up next to him.

"What's happening?" I demand. "What's happening?"

He doesn't answer immediately, choosing to pause instead. "Harry's in a lot of pain, but I can't hear him scream so presumably he's gagged. Alex is running towards him, he's not far away but he's moving slowly. Either it's difficult terrain or he's injured"

I wait for a change in Pan's expression, as he seems to be lost in a world of thought.

It may not be easy to concentrate on his emotions and ignore mine, but panicking isn't going to help anyone.

"Alex is hurt now, Harry's unconscious." He explains, waiting.

"Are they moving?" I ask. "Are they being taken to the hideout?"

Pan shakes his head. "They're still."

"Maybe Felix is dead, or with them." I offer. "It couldn't hurt to check."

He shakes his head. "You've got to lose the fight to win the war."

I don't argue, listening to the silence as I wait for him to answer. Seconds turn to minutes.

"They still haven't moved?" I demand. "Alex and Harry are both alive, right? They aren't getting hurt more?"

"Alex is unconscious, but only just." He answers. "I think they'll move him n-"

He doesn't answer again.

"What's happening?" My question falls on deaf ears.

Pan's face is still and pale. I grab hold of his arm, tugging on it, shaking him. "Peter, what is happening?"

"They're gone."

I whip him around to face me. "What do you mean they're gone?"

My voice is no longer surprised. It's low and angry.

"They've disappeared." He answers. "I haven't got a clue where they are."

I scowl, shoving him. Normally he blocks me, or is completely unfazed by me. It's only when he falls back on his foot slightly that I know he's serious. Now he isn't pleading, now he's shocked.

"You lost them!" I yell. "How could you be so foolish?"

"It wasn't on purpose!" He's earnest now. He steps back, looking at me, then at the ground. "When I find those bastards, I'm going to kill them."

He suddenly disappears, and I'm alone. Left here in the forest, with killers.

Alex and Harry are gone, and I'm going to find them.

The issue with this being I have no idea where they could've gone. My best idea was to head south, but once I reach the site of their abduction, I don't know where to turn next.

The grass has a deep tint to it, the blood needing only a few seconds to dry in the sun. Grass has been kicked up out of the Earth, and while I can tell there was a scuffle here, I'm no detective. Where they were taken is as good of a guess as it gets.

I continue walking, ignoring the churning of my stomach as I move further. It's been hours since I've eaten, and as I walk minutes and hours seem to mesh together, and the sun is much deeper in the sky.

The grassy area morphs into a more familiar space, a hazy memory I can't exactly put my finger on. The trees are tall as I move further south, and the grass begins to grow sparse.

Soon the sun, which is nearly below the horizon as it is, is blocked out by the trees towering above me. Their thick leaves hang over me, casting a shadow along the ground. Their bark is hard and cracked.

This is where I fought Johnny, and this is where I beat him. As I step closer, I look for the specific trees where we collided. As if our heads bashing against the thick trunks would leave some sort of lasting impact. Of course it doesn't. Neverland is more permanent than I could ever hope to be.

Thinking back on it, even when we seem to kill trees and knock down animals, they all appear back to normal the next day. Even the remanence of the forest fire is gone. As if the island itself is always healing, and indestructible.

The only place that seems out of reach of Neverland's magic is the cave I camped out in during the Hunt. Dozens of lines crossing the cave, counting something but who knows what that could be.

It's beginning to get dark, which is when I realise I must have been walking for hours. The camp is very far from where Johnny attacked me, not a full day's walk but I didn't walk for the full day.

I move towards where I remember the cave to be. The run as I escaped Johnny burned my lungs, and it felt as if I had run for barely any time, but as I move now I notice how long the journey actually seems to be.

As I reach the cave, I watch the sun duck under the horizon. The sun set casts a glow over the forest. It always takes a few minutes for the sun to disappear completely, so I only spare a glance for a few seconds. Otherwise, I'd lose the last of the daylight I have.

I round the corner, nearing the entrance of the cave. Sam's body ducks out, and I quickly slide back, slamming my body into the cave wall.

No way.

My feet slowly slide backwards, rounding to the back of the secret hideout.

The boys are being kept here? How am I going to rescue them?

~~~~~

This season is almost over. Only a few more chapters. It's all coming together. The illness, the conspiracy, the bet. One big puzzle. And Charlie makes mistakes, sure, but so did Pan.

Do you think Charlie should've chased after the boys, or do you agree with Pan? Do you agree with Pan as a general rule, or do you side with Charlie. Let me know in the comments.

As always, stay smiling, and I'll see you Tuesday.