Run Little Lost Girl

Chapter Five

"Oh," Thomas said and rested his hand on her knee reassuringly. "That doesn't sound fun." He frowned. 

"It isn't," Mia agreed, nodding. "But, like I said, we never stopped loving each other. We just... aren't as close as we used to be."

There was a sudden rustling in the bushes and Thomas reached for his knife that Mia didn't realize he had while his other arm wrapped protectively around her. They both relaxed slightly when Pan walked through with his usual smirk plastered on his face. However, Mia was anything but relieved to see him.

I wish it was a bear, Mia thought, not entirely exaggerating.

"Great," Mia muttered under her breath sarcastically. "Mr. Smirk-boy is back."

"Smirk-boy?" Thomas asked her in a whisper, not being able to contain the slight chuckle in his voice.

"It's the quickest thing I could come up with without cursing."

Thomas key out a loud, barking laugh but quieted when Pan walked by, giving them each an evil look as if to say 'knock it off'. But Mia knew what he was saying. He was reminding her of his warning.

"Thomas," Mia said as soon as she was sure Pan had entered Hangman's Tree and was out of earshot, "what happened to Pan? Why is he such a... You-know?"

Thomas sucked in a breath and looked all around to make sure there weren't any lost boys around before settling his eyes on her own. "Nobody knows for sure. All I know is that he became this way right after Wendy died."

"Because he loved her," Mia guessed.

"Perhaps. But I don't think that was it," Thomas replied, shrugging. "I believe there is more to the story than he's letting on." Thomas leaned over so that his lips were a centimeter from her ear. "The greatest advice I can give to you right now, Amalia, is to not get close to Pan. He's not stable."

Mia shivered from the product of how close he was and the warning in his tone mixed together. "I would never befriend such a person."

Thomas nodded, not making a move to move his face away from her. "Good. That means you're already learning the first rule of Neverland: Never, ever get close to Peter Pan."

⋆✶

Mia started picking berries with a boy named Rupert who was very shy at first but quickly got comfortable with her and never seemed to shut his mouth except to breathe.

"...so then there was this mermaid and a crocodile fighting each other..."

Mia tuned out and focused on not cutting her finger on the thorns.

"Where is Captain Hook?" Mia asked abruptly, cutting Rupert off in mid sentence.

Rupert, his eyes wide with fear and confusion, closed and reopened his mouth every few seconds. For once, he was speechless. "Um... Pan has him locked up near Mermaid Lagoon somewhere. Why?"

"I was just wondering. I'd like to know a few things about this place since I'm going to be here for a while," Mia answered dismissively, purposefully making herself sound bored while her mind worked a thousand miles a second.

"You want to know more about the island?" Rupert said and Mia nodded. "What would you like to know?" He grinned, his normal persona returning.

She turned to face him. "Where's Tinkerbelle?"

"Nobody knows for sure. Pan banished her a while back and so she just kinda roams the island. Every once and a while a few boys will return from hunting and claim that they saw her. We don't know for sure if they really did see her though. She keeps herself well hidden in the jungle," Rupert replied. "But I, like all the other boys, think Pan still keeps in touch with her just to keep watch on everyone on the island."