Darkness Dies with the Sunrise

Chapter 7

- Marigold -

It was as if Pan had become a different person, as if a darkness had descended upon him and made him cruel. Just as he had been in the arena the day before. Or maybe the darkness had simply arisen out of him. Marigold thought something in his expression showed a sort of pleasure in the fear he struck in these boys. It was like it was all a game to him, his confidence emanating like it was a game he always won. She turned from the scene with a chill running down her spine. Perhaps his behavior this morning had been an act. But she wanted to believe the scene behind her had been the act. She wanted to believe the best, to see the light. But as she walked behind the group of Lost Boys headed for the beach, the shadows of the forest seemed to envelop her.

She eventually caught up with the rest of the group, joining in on the jokes and conversations. Neverland may be a dark place, but it was full of life. They reached the beach as the sun began its descent toward the horizon. The Boys naturally drifted into cliques along the shore, grouped by different tasks. Some of them were tossing nets into a few rowboats, some were walking along picking up clams, and some were combing the woods' edge collecting sticks and firewood. Marigold approached a group containing Slightly, Brooks, and a few of the boys who'd shown her around Camp the day before. The group's tasks seemed to revolve around collecting, sorting, and prepping the catches of the day. Marigold had never cleaned fish before, or any animal for that matter. But the boys were patient as they taught her. She didn't catch on very quickly. But she was persistent.

One of the younger boys who was hunting clams along the beach, who she was pretty sure was called Clay, timidly approached her. His auburn hair was dusted with sand. With a bashful smile, he held out a hand covered in beachy grime. In his palm was a glistening pearl. "I found it in one of the clams I dug up," he half whispered. "I thought you might like it." He furtively met her eyes.

"Oh, it's beautiful! Thank you!" Marigold smiled brightly at him. She rubbed her hands on a rag and plucked the pearl from his hand. "I love it," She said giving his shoulder a small squeeze. The boy smiled and quickly ran back to his group. Over the next hour or so, a few other boys came up to her, giving her pearls they had found. Kane came over at one point and helped her fashion a necklace out of some fishing line and attached the pearls for her. She tied it around her neck, a small smile forming on her lips. The five pearls lay against her collarbone: five tokens of welcoming and acceptance.

The other three boys joined the group at some point. And Pan followed some time after. Marigold hadn't noticed until the blood red of the sunset was spreading across the horizon line. Pan was watching her from a distance, but she avoided his gaze. She focused on her work, trying her best to imitate the techniques Slightly had shown her. She occasionally looked around the beach watching the Boys working together. She noticed Miles had a sort of trident and was catching fish in the shallows. When the rowboats returned, he helped them haul the fish-laden nets across the beach toward the preparation group. He held his trident in one hand, several fish skewered on the end, and a full casting net dragging behind him in the other. The other rowboat boys were dragging the other two nets in pairs. Miles dropped off his net by a pair of the boys in Marigold's group. He then sat on a log beside her, pulling the fish off his trident and handing them to Brooks who handed them to Slightly. His eyes met hers before falling to the pearls hanging from her neck. "Nice necklace," He said offering a smile. He grabbed a spare rag from the ground and began cleaning the three points of his spear.

"Thanks." Marigold smiled. "A few of the boys brought them to me as they found them digging for clams."

"I know," he replied, working at a particularly stubborn spot. "I saw Clay bring you the first one and overheard the others' excitement when he came back after you accepted it." Marigold blushed a little at the thought of being regarded positively by any of the Lost Boys other than the few friends she'd made. "Hey, um," Miles started. "You doing, okay? Since this morning, I mean." He finished, pausing his cleaning and looking at her directly.