8

    I don't remember falling asleep, after all, it was my watch. I should not have fallen asleep. Pulling myself up against the base of a tree, I squat then stand. Alex's body is propped against a tree across from me, Harry's head resting on his knees.

    I take a step backwards, moving away from them. I pull out my canteen and drink. We managed to find food last night: berries, apples, and a boar. We got lucky. My stomach churns. I need food now.

    I hear a twig break behind me, and I whip my head around. Walking towards the sound, I pause. Something shuffles behind me.

    It could be animals, or it could be people. I guess it could be neither as well.

    Stepping further, over trunk, following the noise. It sounds like scratching on a tree, or branches being smacked together. As I move in the direction of the sound, further and further, it still sounds as if it's the same distance away.

I feel like I'm being corralled like a horse. Distracted by a noise just to be pulled far enough away from Harry and Alex. They are asleep, and vulnerable. I turn around and spot her. A native girl, sneaking up on Harry and Alex. Not the enemy I had assumed was coming, but given the spear I see in her hand, I doubt she has come to politely tell us to move.

    "Harry! Alex!" I screech. Harry's eyes pop open, and he makes eye contact with me, scrambling himself up and shaking Alex awake.

    I move forward, suddenly noticing how large the distance I let slip between us.

    Harry and Alex sprint away, and I turn to follow them when I feel arms grasp around my stomach, and a hand over my mouth.

    I'm yanked backwards, falling behind a few feet.

    I begin to scream, before I see the girl's hand clamp over my mouth. She shushes me, panic in her eyes.

    My friends are going to come back, and they're going to kill her.

    I just hope she doesn't kill me first.

    I lift my knee, kicking her in the gut.

    She rolls off me, and I begin to run. There is a boy, one who I hadn't noticed. He grabs hold of me. I meet his eyes, and he shakes his head.

    I recognise him. He's the translator.

    "Don't run," he says. "We aren't going to hurt you."

    Alex rounds the corner, sprinting back towards us. He slows down the closer he gets to me. Did he come back to fight them, or to help me?

He breathes, nodding at the boy. "Inali."

    "Alex." The boy replies. "We haven't seen you in years."

    The girl walks up holding her stomach. I shrug out of the boys grip, running over next to Harry, and pulling out my dagger. My left arm wrapped around Harry's wrist, the blade held up like a shield.

"Your friend just attacked me." The girl mutters.

"I'll do it again if you don't stay back." Threats that are spat out through gritted teeth aren't really my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean I trust her.

"Would you quit it for ten seconds?" Alex demands. He turns his attention back to the girl. "Please, don't pretend like you didn't do something to deserve it Walela. I wasn't born yesterday."

    She snorts, almost laughing. "Yeah but he was. How long's he been here?"

    "I see you still haven't learned to mind your own business." Alex says.

    She grins, a sneaky grin. Little cheeky fucker.

    "It's nice to see you," Inali says calmly. "I just wish it wasn't under these circumstances. There was an attack. Of boys, your boys. On our land."

    Of course Dominique is messing with Natives. As if we needed anymore problems between our groups.

    "They've gone rogue." Alex says. "Killed one of our own already, and another could die any minute. They've got Felix kidnapped."

    Walela cocks an eyebrow at that. "The great Felix, kidnapped? How interesting."

    "Yes interesting indeed." I mock.

    She laughs. "We've got a mini-Alex on our hands. How very cute. Did you train him to act like this?"

    Alex glares at me.

    Inali straightens up. "Walela."

Walela clears her throat, turning back to Inali. Her eyes are soft when they meet his. She looks down.

"Your rogues, they killed Kanuna. Now we're down to just the six of us."

There's only six Natives in total?

    "So you're seeking passage off the island as well then?" Alex asks.

    Inali shakes his head. "No, not yet anyway. If I have any say we will do it by treaty. By agreement, not by force."

    "So what is it you want?" Harry asks.

    Inali looks from Alex to Harry, then reaches out and shakes Harry's hand. "You're new?"

    Harry grins. He probably hasn't been asked that for a long time. "I've been here for a few years. I'm Harry."

    Inali nods from him to Alex, then turns to me. "And you are?"

    "Charlie." I take his hand and shake it.

    "Forgive me for not staying longer and helping you." Inali says. "But I'm afraid we have to make arrangements now that Kanuna is dead. It seems as though I will be becoming Chief much sooner than we thought."

    Kanuna was the Chief? We are lucky they don't start a war. Last time we met, they didn't seem all too happy.

    "I'm sorry Kanuna is dead." Harry says.

    Inali grins, slightly. Walela steps forward. "We know where they are headed." She pauses. "I heard them talk about it after they killed Kanuna. They are headed up to the falls, hoping to ambush somebody. Where your people go to make medicine."

    Alex nods, putting his hand on Inali's shoulder. "Thank you."

    Inali nods, before Walela herds him off. We turn around.

    "Alex," Inali calls out.

    I stop, turning back to face him. Inali sighs. "This doesn't mean we are all on good terms though."

    Alex nods, turning around.

    "What did he mean by that?" I whisper, as we walk away.

    "Will you ever stop asking questions?" Alex demands, crossly.

    Harry looks at him. "There's still going to be a war?"

    Alex scratches his neck. "Inali can't be in charge yet, not while his uncle, Adahy, lives. Adahy hates Pan more than Kanuna did. Inali will bargain for safe passage off the island, but Adahy will try to kill us. For trespassing, kidnapping, theft. Inali is reasonable, and believes in cohabitation, and sharing. Adahy believes in imperialism, and wants Neverland to himself."

    "Are they going to kill Adahy?" I ask.

    Alex scoffs, not dignifying my question with an answer.

    "Don't worry about that yet." Harry says. "Pan managed to buy off the pirates; he'll be able to buy off the Natives."

    Alex grins. "You weren't even here for when the Natives were bought off."

    "Yes, but I hear you talking about it every single day." Harry teases.

    We continue to walk, quieting down as we get closer to the falls.

    "How did Inali learn English?" I ask, as we approach the base of the cliff which the falls are on.

    His words are clipped in only the way someone who speaks a second language words are. I know, I took French all through high school instead of Spanish. History and languages were my things, and I'm good at recognising things that are only slightly off.

    Harry grins. "Alex taught him."

    My eyes widen, peering over at Alex. He shrugs. "Felix used to do negotiations with them, and could barely speak the language. Inali agreed to teach him and myself Cherokee if we taught him English."

    "You know Cherokee?" I ask.

    My French is shifty at best. How long has he been learning Cherokee, if Inali has spoken English just as long? His words are nearly perfect.

    "We couldn't simply have Pan and Felix knowing it." Alex rolls his eyes. "If Felix were to die then what? He'd have been the only one who could speak to them that was Pan. Inali taught Walela, and his Mother too. No one else would learn it."

    We reach the back of the falls.

    "We're climbing up the back?" I ask. "Isn't this way a lot steeper?"

    "Do you ever stop asking questions?" Alex demands. "We can't have the boys know we are here. So we are sneaking up the back, and shutting up while we're at it."

    He's the first to begin to climb the mountain. It's essentially vertical, and appears to be three stories in height. I follow behind Harry, struggling slightly, and nearly slipping and falling a few times.

    It takes quite a few minutes, but they reach the top and shortly after so do I. Alex then boosts Harry up, on top of a boulder, then begrudgingly boosts me up as well. Harry then lowers himself down, silently, pulling Alex up. Harry puts his finger to his lips, grinning.   

    It's been a while since I've seen him so happy. It's odd and refreshing. Harry seems to be at his happiest when he's about to cause mischief.

    He peeks over the edge, nodding back to Alex. They leap down, and I don't dare look. A grunt, and the squeaking of boots against the rock. A sharp intake of breath. They have a boy, one who Alex holds and Harry holds a knife to his neck. His hand wrapped tightly around the boy's hair, tipping his head back to the sky.

    Fred and Dominique freeze, turning their attention towards the threat.

    Judging by the looks on their faces, we got the jump on them.

    "Well, what do we have here?" Dominique begins.

    I hop down next, joining alongside Harry, pulling out my dagger and shielding the two from Dominique.

    "Let Felix go," Harry grunts. "And we'll let Sam go."

    "You don't know what you are getting yourself into." Dominique's eyes flash with anger. "You don't know who you are messing with. You kill him and we kill you."

    "We'll take him then." Alex says. "Kidnap him."

    Dominique scoffs. "Then we'll take him back. Don't you see, you can't win."

    "We'll find you." Harry says. "We did once, it won't be hard again."

    "Not when Pan can't even." Dominique demands. "The Indians aren't going to be on your side forever."

    "You killed their chief." I but in.

    "Ah, but Pan killed the other chiefs before that. Isn't that right Alex?"

    Fred steps forward. I move to lunge at him but feel myself get tackled from the side. My body slams off the ground, and I can feel the dagger slice on my hand as my arms hits the ground. Pain roars through my side as I turn my head to face my attack.

    It's another boy, one whose face I've only seen once before. He was dragged off to the cages with the rest of Dominique's crew.

    Struggling beneath his grip, I can't escape his arms that pinned down my arms, and his legs that straddle me. He knees me in the stomach. I shift the dagger in my hand, which is pin to the ground, in an attempt to stab him. He shifts his knee on to my arm, freeing his hand. He rips the dagger from me, tossing it aside.

    "It was nice of you to show up." Dominique offers. I look over, to see Alex keeled over on the floor, Sam with a foot on his back, digging into the ground. Fred loosely holds Harry, who struggles beneath the grip.

    Harry did say he wasn't made for hand to hand combat. The boy he was holding punches him in the face, and Harry's feet give out beneath him.

    I can't get out of this pin. If I tried I might here the snapping of the bones in my arms. I can already hear the bones cracking, as they are being stretched.

    "Now we have more leverage." Dominque adds. "More than we can handle in fact. Eric, before you follow us, would you take care of this one here?"

    I doubt he even knows my name. Asshole.

    I attempt to kick him off of me, but my legs don't rise high enough to lift him off.

    He grabs my dagger, and moves to cut me as I head-butt him. The dagger scrapes across my chin, and I feel a searing pain as it slides down, hitting my neck.

    I immediately retreat back on to the ground.

    I feel dizzy, but he let's go of me. Holding his nose.

    Anger contorts on his face, as he raises my own dagger at me plunging it down.

    I scream, shooting my hands forward.

    He goes flying. Head first, far, far backwards, landing on the ground. Just on the edge of the cliff. He slides to the edge, body scarping against the rough sand, dust raising in the air he trails forward. His head snaps back up off the ground, only to hit a final time. I wait for his body to tip over the edge, but the moment never comes.

My heart stops.

    I swear, I didn't even touch him.

    I get up, choking on my own horror. I turn around, and spot Pan behind me, holding his hands forward, in attack.

    He saved my life.

    Sam runs over, peeling Eric off the ground, and running with him. I turn around, Dominique and Fred are already gone, but they left behind Harry and Alex.

    I scramble off the ground, watching them run off. Alex grabs a hold of me, as I thrash about.

    "We have to chase after them." I growl.

    "Yeah, and what good will that accomplish?" Alex asks. "Think about it."

    "What good it will accomplish is I'll beat that happy smirk off of Dominique's face."

    Alex's hands are off me and I stumble forward, flipping on to the ground.

    Pan's eyes meet mine; he's standing above me with his arms crossed. Alex and Harry are gone.

    "Where did you send them?" Bouncing up, I stare him down.

    He did not just teleport them away. Not when he can still catch up to Dominique and Harry.

    "Back to camp." He tells me. "We need more people there then on a wild goose chase through the woods."

    "We have to chase after them." I tell him. "They know where Felix is."

    "And how do you suggest we make them tell us?" His expression is playful. "Torture? A really good scolding?"

    I glare him down, but do not argue.

    It's awful when I'm wrong. It's worse when he's right.

    "We'll wait for them to come to us." He says. "If we ignore them, we making them seem insignificant. No one can force me to do anything. It's setting an example."

    "We could make an example of them." I say.

    He cocks an eyebrow, and laughs. "That we could do. You're forgetting I have an image to maintain. They are but a grain of sand."

    "Exactly, nearly invisible and hard to catch." I tell him. "They could kill Felix."

    I place a hand on my chin and neck, feeling the long slit down in. It's shallow, but still could very well scar. At least the part on my chin is only a thin slice angularly. The one on my neck is barely noticeable, so the scar will be well hidden. Like the one from Samuel.

    "I'd like to see them try." He sits down on the edge of the cliff patting the spot next to him.

    Begrudgingly, I sit down. Keeping a safe distance between us, I look out into the forest. The trees coat the ground. There are a few spots that aren't hidden: the Natives' camp, our camp, the lagoon. Otherwise, Neverland keeps its secrets covered carefully beneath the trees.

    I look up at the sun, bright in the sky above our heads. High noon.

    "Let me guess," I begin. "Everything the light touches is yours?"

    "That and more." He answers.

    He didn't get the reference. Of course he wouldn't; it was stupid of me to think he would. In what universe does an essentially omniscient being watch The Lion King? Not this one.

    "I'm calm now." I tell him. "I'm listening."

    He grins, but doesn't turn to face me. "You must understand, as much as I value Felix, he is being used as a pawn. I don't like being blackmailed. Believe me, I will have my revenge. Just at a time and a place that suits me."

    "I guess it doesn't matter what Felix feels." I say.

    He scowls. "Felix wouldn't want me to give in to those traitorous bastards. I'll slit their throats when I have the chance. No mercy is given out to those who partake in mutiny. It's all about proper timing though, and now is not the time. Not when I have bigger fish to fry."

    I don't bother asking anymore questions. Pan tends to be right about things. I tend to think of myself as forgiving, but when those idiots come around, and they attack, kidnap and murder people to forward their own selfish goals, I begin to question whether or not capital punishment is okay.

    As much as I believe Gregory and Keaton to deserve to rot away, they deserve it more.

    "We'll win." He assures me. "Peter Pan Never fails."

    Pan is always trying to achieve something, whether it's power or influence or simply winning. He doesn't do things unless they somehow directly benefit him. He chooses to sit next to me on a cliff, in the middle of the day as the sun passes over our heads. Why?

    "What do you want?" I ask him.

    He grins, peeking at me out of the corner of his eye. "I want everything."

~~~~~~~~~~

That was fun. So many things. Who's Inali, and how does he know Alex? What happened to the by on the cliff (his name is Eric, the other boy's name is Sam, but that doesn't matter). What exactly does Pan mean by everything?

What do you think of the new antagonists? I felt Gregory and Keaton were a bit two old, so I brought on new people. Who do you like more as villains? Dislike as people? Sympathize with? Let me know in the comments.

As always, tell your mother you love her, and know she loves you. I'll see you Monday.