"Charlie." The hands on my shoulders rattle me back and forth.

I open my eyes to reveal Max leaning over into my hammock. I sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes only to wince sharply as my hand trails over my left eye.

"Better not touch that." He says. "Touch it and you'll get a black eye like me. It's only swollen now."

I nod, cracking my back. "What time is it?"

"We just ate breakfast. You slept for a good twelve hours." He offers me a hand, then hands me a canteen of water. "I heard about the fight, damn awful what happened. At least those boys are in the cages for now."

I down the liquid, following him out of the tent. "What am I supposed to do today?"

He shrugs. "The Hunt's on a hold because everybody is a little bashed up. So most people are out scavenging for food. Log team already came back. If you don't feel like joining Devin in the clothing tent you are basically free to roam."

I haven't really had to do much other than the clothing tent. It's been a week since the Hunt, which means everyone has exhausted the period of mourning, and duties are supposed to continue as normal.

I turn to speak to Max but he's already gone. People seem to have a habit of doing that around here. I walk over to the medic tent, then to Harry's tent, and find no one. Who knows where they have gone, they could be anywhere.

I've been told before to not go out into the woods on my own, but I choose to do it anyway. I'm not normally one for following the rules.

I begin walking through the forest, my purple knuckles grabbing at branches in my way, and snapping them off. My hands seem to be finally healing; the air will do them better now than the bandages would. The scab on my face seems to have crusted over in the spot in broke again. I'm definitely going to have a scar.

I trace my fingers along it, from my hair down to my chin. It's difficult to see, given its location on my face, but the red marks are still there.

I find myself in a clearing between the trees, with three paths branching down off it. Pausing, I decide to take the one on the left.

"Where do you think you are going?" Pan asks.

I turn around, slowly and grinning. "Pan, stalking me as always?"

"These paths are very dangerous." He tells me.

I chuckle. "Since when are you for avoiding danger? Doesn't seem like a lot of fun to me."

He leans back against a tree, gesturing to the path I was heading down. "Down that path is where the shadows live. No fun being down there, they'll rip out your souls. Down the second is where the Indians live, and down the third is a lovely trip to mermaid lagoon, which you have already been to. By all means, take any of the paths."

I fold my arms over my chest. "Why do so many boys die here?"

"So many, why only a few have died in your short time. Seven, I believe." He says. "And it was all fun and games. Most died because they couldn't follow the rules of the game."

"Like Lyle and Jared?" I ask.

"Lyle wasn't fair." He agrees with me. He fails to mention Jared though.

He does have a point though, Evan killed himself via tiger mauling. Who knows what happened to Nick, could've been the Natives. Caleb went into a storm, that other boy apparently went for a swim with the mermaids, and if anyone deserved to be killed during the Hunt it was Samuel. The deaths have been fair, almost as if weeding people out.

"And trust me, Lyle with have justice."

I scoff. "I thought you said Gregory's punishment was over."

"I said it wasn't my place to punish him anymore." Pan corrects. "Although I can see the confusion. Trust me Charlie, Peter Pan never fails."

"Peter Pan also talks in the third person, and it freaks Charlie out." I add on coyly.

He rolls his eyes, but smirks back. "We haven't seen much of each other recently Charlie. Did you know that?"

I shrug off his question.

"I have 32 days to guess what your biggest secret is, starting from the day you arrived. Gives you a better advantages if I count the first week. I'm nothing if not fair."

"Nothing." My tone drips with sarcasm.

"I have a short time left, and I haven't ever lost a bet yet," he says, "and I don't plan on losing this one."

"That might prove to be a challenge. People tell me I'm hard to read." I purse my lips together, nodding.

He suddenly turns towards the forest, and his brow lowers. He glances at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Let me guess, somethings come up, and you have to go deal with it?" I ask.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" He asks. "Nothing that no one else can't handle. I'll be fine right here actually."

He turns his head again sharply, but turns back to me. His serious composure is shatter b a smile, which quickly fades.

Something is up.

"Who's causing trouble now?" I ask, twirling the bottom of my cloak in my fingers.

His grin spreads. "I'd say you should figure it out on your own, but I'm a little bit hard to read."

I take a step closer to him, then peer off in the direction he's looking at.

"You can't see it." He tells me.

"Oh right. I forgot you had hallucinations. Been eating a few berries more than you should have? Don't worry too much about it." I tell him. "I survived."

"I'm not quite as dumb as you." He interjects. "I don't get myself into the habit of eating poisonous things."

"I tried to avoid toxicity as best as I can, but somehow you seem to follow me around no matter where I go."

This earns a chuckle out of him, until it turns into a sort of snort.

"You think you are much funnier than you are." As the words end he turns back, glaring into the forest.

"I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me." He says. "It seems as though something's come up."

"I could go along and see what it is." Though I'm not particularly keen on spending more time with Pan, I am keen on seeing what has been distracting him.

He snorts lightly out of his nose. He does that a lot when I'm being ridiculous, but when he looks back at me he realises I'm being serious.

"Very well then, if you want to be in the big leagues." He steps forward placing a hand on my shoulder, and I feel the painful popping again.

I don't open my eyes until my sense of balance has returned and I realise that we are in a clearing surrounded by Natives. About ten of them, not many, but enough to kills us all. Beside the two of us is Felix, and one of the boys who karted off Fred after yesterday's fight.

There is a man who stands, much taller than the rest. His long black hair thick, and goes down to his waist. The man begins to speak to us in a language I don't understand, but his tone is universal. Anger.

"I hardly think that's fair." Pan laughs. "Have you forgotten our deal?"

A boy repeats this to the man in their language, who straightens up and barks something out. The bows and arrows all get raised at us. I reach my hand into my cloak, my hand gripping tightly on my dagger. I haven't used it since I stabbed Samuel. It still is my best weapon, though I don't know if I can use it against bows and arrows.

Even if I can't, at least it's comforting.

"I understand that I may have crossed a line." Pan says. "But the deal wasn't for us to stay off your land. You don't have land. You occupy a space that belongs to me."

This is repeated to the man in his language, before he barks something back at Pan.

"Well I hardly think that's fair." He answers. "Listen, if you don't abide by the treaty, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to act."

It's repeated and the man chuckles, spitting something out back.

Suddenly there is fire in Pan's hands, and everyone steps back, staring at him.

"As if you'll win." Pan finishes.

The man says nothing, until he turns to his man and barks something. I unsheathe my dagger, whipping it out. The men around me back down, except for one, who sends an arrow flying straight at me.

The black tip stops directly in front of my face, the mysterious liquid oozing off the tip and on to the ground. It stares me in the eye, and I stare back. Waiting for the blow, the shattering of my skull.

The arrow is lowered, and that's when I notice Pan had caught it in his hand. He hands it to Felix, who shoots it back, landing straight in the man who fired it. Through the chest, and he falls to the ground. Knees collapsing like a demolition tower. A tree in a thunderstorm, only this is his fault.

The man, the one who is their leader, barks something back angrily at me. I flip my dagger in my hand, ready to take on anyone who dares come near me.

A few of them yell back at the leader, who promptly yells back, and begins to walk away. The others follow suit, as one of them picks up the fallen man. I loosen my grip on the dagger, dropping it back into the cloak's pocket.

"It took you a while to come," Felix says to Pan, through gritted teeth. "And why'd you bring him?"

Pan looks at Felix, and Felix backs down. Pan shakes his hand at me from behind him, without even turning back, and I'm gone.

For Pan's sake, I hope he did not do what he just did. I feel the popping and when I open my eyes I'm at camp, right in front of the table where lunch is currently being served. I grab off bread, which is an abnormal food on the table, and an apple, and quickly stalk away.

He sent me back to the camp, without so much as an explanation. Suddenly, I'm no longer in the midst of a fight, and back at camp with everybody else.

How very rude of him. How incredibly rude.

I stalk off towards his treehouse, resolving to spend the day waiting until he comes back. He owes me an explanation, and a mighty larger one at that. The food is done by the time I arrive, a small trail of breadcrumbs and an apple core lie between the camp and his house. I climb the ladder, lifting the roof up above me into the room.

I step up into the room, taking in my surroundings. I've been here twice, once while hallucinating, and once when visiting Robert while he was examining Nick's corpse. Extenuating circumstances caused me to barely glance around here. I do remember the mattress. White sheets cover it, with a thick red wool sheet stretched across it. The thick black frame extends twice the height of the mattress itself, and the head and foot board are done rather well.

The walls are entirely made of rock, as we are inside a cave. A few yellowing lace curtains drape down through the air. There's a table with a water basin and food tucked underneath. Next to the bed is a red satchel. I walk forward, peering in and discover a few books.

I squat down next to the satchel and begin to shimmy a book out of the tight space it's in.

"So you're the kind of person who goes through other people's things then, aren't you?"

I turn around, and spot Pan behind me.

"I thought it was only fair, seeing as you sent me away." I don't look up from the book.

"The big boys were talking." He says, squatting down next to me, and taking the satchel from my hands. He sits it down beside us, sitting on the ground. I follow suit.

"You brought me to a fight, but had no intention of telling me why?" I ask. "I demand to know what's going on with the Natives."

"You demand?" He laughs. "That's not quite how things work around here, princess."

"I'm not a princess." I tell him. I wonder if he catches the glimpse of worry in my eye at the word princess.

"If you want to be treated like the other boys than stop thinking I owe you explanations as to what I do." He says. "People earn their places in my circles."

I let a small smile creep on to my face. He doesn't know yet. Not if he didn't call me a girl, and said I was like the other boys. This is useful information; something that can be used to my advantage. "Let's make another deal than."

"Another?" He asks. "Well this should be exciting."

"You are supposed to have 32 days to figure out my biggest secret, yes?" I ask.

He grins. "You are trying to make the days shorter, aren't you?"

"I'll give you 10 days instead," I tell him. "And if you win, I'll never ask you a question until I earn my place here. I'll keep my head down and go help Devin in his tent for however many years until I prove myself ready."

"I wouldn't even need 10." He smirks. "I'll let you have them though. If you are wishing to shorten your freedom, then by all means go ahead. I'm not going to stop you."

"Fine," I stand up, stepping past him. "10 days it is then."

He stands up and follows me down the ladder. "That means, essentially, for the next 10 days you are mine for the taken whenever I ask."

I nod. The sooner I get out of here the better.

"Literally all hours." He explains. "We are going to have some fun."

His hand is on my shoulder and I feel the popping again. The crunching of my bones, and the emptiness of my skull. Landing on the ground is the best part of this experience, because it means it's over.

Only this time, I land on top of a body. I groan, rolling off the boy.

"I am so sorry about that." I tell him, adjusting my hat. "Really, it wasn't my intention at all."

Soft hands clasp mine, and I'm up on my feet. James slaps me on the back, laughing. "It's alright."

"You feeling good?" Robert asks. "Your eye looks a lot better than when I sent you to bed yesterday."

I nod, making sure my feet don't slip from beneath me. "Don't even worry about it. Just a little dizzy."

"Thanks for helping us." James grins. "That other pansy, Johnny, ran off as soon as it started, so did Kiki and Greggs. We would've been toast without you."

I crack a grin, my balance finally returning. "Where have you guys been all day?"

"We went to the cages. Rubbed it in their faces that they lost and are now stuck over there." James grins.

"They got it coming. Ruined a perfectly good meal they did." Robert adds. "We were hunting deer."

"There's deer here?" I ask.

"There is if Pan wants there to be." James laughs.

"We're going to check on Al and Harry, you coming?" Robert asks.

I ponder it for a second, but then decide against it. "I'm on call."

"Right," Robert says. "Natives."

"Good luck," James says, slapping me on the back for a final time, as he and Robert run off down a path.

They're heading to the beaches. I wish I had agreed to come; although the water has mermaids, I've never seen one over by the beach. It would've been nice to go in the water.

Regardless, I head over to the table and sit down. Thomas comes up and sits next to me, leaning his head against my shoulder.

He's made himself scarce for the last week. His last appearance was at Lyle's funeral, where he threw in a flower as well as the dirt he was supposed to throw in. His hammock has been empty the past few nights; who knows where he has been off to.

I sit with him in silence, him silent because he doesn't speak and I because I have no words to say. We don't move, except to eat when dinner arrives, and until I finally walk off to bed.

 ~~~~~~~~

This was long, and I'm satisfied. Ten days, how exciting. The bet will be over, and Charlie a winner or loser. More conflict. Only over halfway through the story. Oops.

Who's your favourite character? Your favourite moment? Let me know in the comments, I love hearing from you.

As always, sleep well, and I'll see you Thursday.