────── ★★★ ──────

────── ★★★ ──────

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟔
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄

────── ★★★ ──────

A week passed since Baelfire told Everly his plan to escape their nightmare and she never felt more excited in her entire life. After listening to his mostly solid plan, the only concern she had about his plan was how she'd be able to get away from camp without being noticed. It'd be easy to notice the absence of one of the only girls on Neverland. The only solution Baelfire came up with to ease her worry was that they'd leave camp when everyone was asleep like they usually did. His idea made Everly feel slightly better; however, she couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't enough to keep Pan and the Lost Boys from figuring everything out.

While the former pirate kept up her part of the plan and kept the Lost Boys busy, the son of the Dark One was able to sneak away a few times to get the supplies we need. After many nights of charting stars and figuring out exactly which one they needed to follow in order to escape the realm, the last thing Baelfire needed for their successful escape was Pan's shadow. This piece of the plan was another thing Everly was concerned about, considering everyone who had gotten close to that shadow got theirs ripped away.

While Baelfire was in his tent and planning how to get close to the shadow without getting caught, Everly sat on one of the logs by the fire with a million different thoughts swimming through her head. Just as she felt herself calming down a bit, the former pirate's body stiffened at the sound of footsteps cutting through the silence that surrounded her. After creating the straightest face she could, the blonde girl looked up to see Felix coming her way with a curious look on his face before he stopped a few feet in front of her.

"You okay, Everly?" the second-in-command of the Lost Boys asked with his head slightly tilted and an eyebrow quirked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied with shakiness in her voice before mentally cursing at herself for her inability to lie.

"You sure?"

"I said I'm fine."

"Okay then," he paused then his eyes darted around the clearing before they land back on the blue-eyed girl in front of him, "where's Baelfire? I don't think I've ever seen the two of you apart for more than a few minutes."

"He's still asleep but he should be up soon if you really need to talk to him," Everly responded as her fist clenched under her cloak in an attempt to keep them from shaking while maintaining contact with the gray-eyed boy, "is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Pan wanted me to tell you to get ready to hunt. They're leaving in ten."

"Another one?"

"Better hurry. Don't wanna keep them waiting."

After letting out a long sigh, Everly got to her feet and grabbed a map from her bag before getting to her feet. The lone Lost Girl shook out her stiff limbs before beginning her journey towards the training hollow to grab my bow and arrows. Just as she was about to pass the boy who was staring her down, Felix stepped in front of her, blocking her path to her destination while looking down at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

"Be careful," the blonde boy whispered in her ear then left without giving Everly the opportunity to respond.

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The day for Baelfire's plan to get them off Neverland had arrived and the brunette boy was certain they were getting away. Everly, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. Since their encounter by the fire a few days ago, Felix had been watching the Lost Girl closer than ever before, making her wonder if he suspected what they were planning. That wouldn't surprise her though, considering Pan was basically connected to the island and knew almost everything that happened before anyone else did.

While Baelfire left to get everything ready for that night, Everly found herself by the fire in the center of the camp. Her doubtful thoughts continued to swim through her head as Lost Boys walked around the clearing and talked amongst each other. For some reason, their voices added to Everly's panicked state before she found it too much to bear and got to her feet to make her way to her tent. Just as her hand wrapped around its flap, the sound of her name being called by the last person she wanted to see that day filled her ears.

"I need you to go with Baelfire to Dead Man's Peak to collect more Dreamshade. We're almost out and we can't take any chances," Pan explained to the blonde girl in front of him with a blank look on his face.

The only immediate response the leader of the Lost Boys received was silence as shock filled every inch of Everly's body. Her mind replayed his words over and over again before the surprise quickly transformed into paranoia. During the blonde girl's time on that nightmare of an island, Peter Pan had never willingly let her leave camp just with Baelfire. Not even for a second.

"Do you un-der-stand?" the green-eyed boy slowly asked with a hint of irritation in his voice, causing Everly to meet his gaze once again while trying to shake away her negative thoughts.

"I understand. You want me on patrol with Baelfire."

"And Felix, of course."

Her next words got caught in her throat for a moment as her eyes studied every inch of the boy's face, attempting to find any sign of him knowing more than he's letting on. After coming up short in her findings, Everly let out a long sigh before muttering "of course." When he turned to talk to a group of nearby Lost Boys, the blonde girl found herself looking over at Felix without fully thinking it through, only to find his eyes already on her as a small smirk began to form on his face.

"Can I go now?" Everly asked as she looked away from the blonde Lost Boy on the other side of the clearing and drew Pan's attention back to her.

The leader of the Lost Boys' eyes scanned over Everly for a moment before taking a step closer to her, causing the blonde in front of him to take an unconscious step back, "is there anything you need to tell me, little Lost Girl?"

"Nothing that I can think of," she responded while trying to hide the fear that was dying to break free then cleared her throat, "is there something you think I should tell you?"

"Nothing that I can think of. You're dismissed."

Once their conversation ended, the blonde girl quickly got to her feet before she walked away from the Lost Boys and towards the outer ring of the camp where her tent was while attempting to continue her confident facade. When she reached her destination, Everly found a smiling Baelfire sitting on one of the logs outside the one place she had privacy. A sigh passed over her lips as she continued walking toward the brunette boy, causing him to look up and meet her gaze before his smile faded away.

"What's going on?"

"They know. They know what we're planning. I don't know how they know, but they know," Everly told him, making his eyebrows scrunch together as he studied the look of our terror on my face.

The two of them just stared at each other for a long moment before Baelfire got to his feet and made his way over to the girl. As soon as he stopped a foot away from her, he placed his hands on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her before opening his mouth to speak. "Then we leave as soon as possible."

"We can't. We have to go to Dead Man's Peak with Felix. If we don't go now, Pan will know for sure that something's going on if he doesn't already."

As Baelfire tried to figure out their Plan B, Everly sat down on the log the son of the Dark One was previously on before she let out a long sigh and ran her hands through her hair at the thought of staying on that nightmare of an island for all of eternity.

"I got it!" the brunette boy practically shouted, causing the lone Lost Girl's attention to leave the ground near her feet and go back to him, "remember when Hook taught us how to make Sleeping Powder?"

"We don't have the ingredients to make it, Bae," the blonde girl whispered while studying the excitement in her friend's eyes.

"I still have a bag of it."

"You really do think of everything," Everly smiled before it faded as she stared at the boy who had become one of the most important people in her life, "if something goes wrong-"

"Nothing is going to go wrong," he interrupted.

"But if something goes wrong-"

"Nothing will go wrong so tell me after we get off this island."

────── ★★★ ──────

Hours passed before the time arrived for Everly and Baelfire to go out on patrol with Felix and the duo had never felt more nervous in their entire lives. Before they were called to leave, the lone Lost Girl made the brunette boy switch their necklaces as a form of reassurance that their plan would succeed. While hers had a golden sun given to her by her unknown parents, his was a silver sword that Milah gave to him when he was a baby. Just as the pair was about to have a hushed conversation, their names were called by the one and only Peter Pan, making their plan start even if neither of them wanted it to.

As Felix and Everly followed Baelfire through the dark forest, the blonde girl found her paranoia returning while her mind kept going back to how much stronger Felix was compared to her and Baelfire. Even with the sleeping powder on their side, the Lost Girl wasn't sure they could take him down without starting some sort of a fight. When they began to get closer to the cave where the portal would appear, Everly felt herself beginning to shake as the fear within her became almost too much for her to handle.

"Cold, Everly?" Felix asked, causing her eyes to leave the back of Baelfire's head and land on the tall blonde next to her.

"Yeah, a little," the girl lied as her thoughts raced with the idea that she was the one that could make or break their attempt at escaping if she didn't time hitting Pan's second-in-command with the sleeping powder correctly.

After looking up at the moon to determine the time to be about midnight, Everly's eyes landed back on the brown-haired boy in front of them as she waited for his signal to make her move. Right as the second thoughts of using the sleeping powder on Felix began to sink in, Baelfire turned around to face his blonde friend before sending her the signal. Everly quickly shook away all previous thoughts before she moved to cut Felix off then threw the sleeping powder in his face, only for him to stay standing as if nothing happened.

When their initial shock vanished, Baelfire and Everly sprinted away from the Lost Boy and through the familiar dark forest. As soon as there were about to reach the cave that would take them away from their nightmares, a puff of green smoke appeared in front of Everly, blocking her path to Baelfire and forcing her to come to a skidding stop. Once the cloud of green disappeared, Pan was standing in front of Everly with the straightest face she'd ever seen before a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and forced her feet off the ground.

While she struggled to break free from Felix's grasp, Everly's eyes landed back on Baelfire, who was staring at the three of them with a look of concern on his face. Hope flowed through the blonde girl's veins at the idea of him coming back for her, only for it to fade as she watched Baelfire sprint into the cave after Pan took one step toward him. Through the darkness that surrounds them, a bright flash of white light appeared, signaling the successful escape of Baelfire.

After a long moment of silence passed, Everly felt a hand roughly grab her chin before it forced her attention away from the cave Baelfire ran into to look directly into the green eyes of Peter Pan.

"You'll never escape Neverland," the leader of the Lost Boys hissed before he brought his other hand up then blew red dust in her face, forcing the world around her to fall into darkness.

────── ★★★ ──────

When she finally came out of her forced sleep, Everly was greeted by the feeling of sticks digging into her back before her eyes flashed open to see the top of a bamboo cage. The events that occurred earlier that day quickly came flooding back to her as she sat up in her small prison to find Pan sitting on a nearby log with an emotionless look on his face and a dagger dripping with Dreamshade in his hand. Before a single thought could run through the girl's head, the leader of the Lost Boys reached through the bars of the cage and grabbed her wrist before placing the dagger against her skin.

"I know you know that this does so you better be smart with your answer. Where did Baelfire go?" the boy said so calmly that it sent chills throughout Everly's entire body. The Lost Girl's mouth stayed shut while her eyes were glued to the Dreamshade-soaked dagger near her arm. Even after everything that has occurred in the last few hours, Everly knew she couldn't bring herself to reveal where Baelfire escaped to. "Fine, then answer this for me, little Lost Girl. Would you have done anything differently?"

"What?" Everly questioned as her eyes finally left his dagger to meet his emerald eyes while she tried to think of a logical reason as to why he would ask that question.

"Would you have done anything differently?"

"I would do everything exactly the same, even if that means being stuck on this island for all of eternity with you," the blonde girl responded, making a small smirk form on his face.

"Perfect."

Before Everly could say another word, the leader of the Lost Boys made a small cut with the Dreamshade-laced dagger on her wrist. Pain shot through her entire arm as she yanked it out of his grasp to hold it against her chest while tears began to form in her eyes. After letting out a shaky breath, her blue eyes left his green ones to look down at the damage that he caused to see what looked like a black spiderweb creeping up her arm on its path toward her heart. Everly tried to hold back the scream threatening to escape her while the pain did nothing but grow before she found herself looking back up at the Demon Boy.

The smirk stayed on Pan's face as he studied the girl in front of him for a long moment before he made a canteen filled with water from the Spring of Neverland appear in his hand. The leader of the Lost Boys taunted her with the liquid for a moment then tossed it through the bars of the cage before it landed in her lap. Everly simply stared at it for a long moment, contemplating whether or not she should actually drink it before the pain finally got the best of her. After taking the object into her hands, the blonde girl brought the canteen to her lips before slowly drinking the cool water inside. As the liquid made its way into her system, the pain in her arm faded gradually until it vanished along with the black spiderweb veins, leaving a small scar in its place.

"As I said before, little Lost Girl," Pan said, drawing Everly's attention away from her arm and back to him, "you'll never escape Neverland."

────── ★★★ ──────

────── ★★★ ──────