Run Little Lost Girl

Chapter Ten

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Thomas finally felt the trio let go of their grip on him and felt slightly betrayed when he saw Dimitri, who looked guilty as hell, was one of them.

He shook his head in disbelief at them and used that opportunity to stomp up to Pan in rage when it was still fresh. "How could you just let him take her and do nothing? You're Peter Pan for Christ's sake!" he yelled at him and strained himself from punching him in the face. "I thought you were one of the most powerful beings in the realms but the truth is you're just a coward!"

Pan's face did not scrunch up in anger like Thomas predicted but kept its usual blank look as if Thomas's outburst didn't faze him at all.

"I did not 'let her go'. As they say, Rufio may have won the battle but he has not won the war. I'm afraid we're going to have another bloody fight on our hands and Mia is involved somehow in Rufio's so called 'master's' plans. That is why we must send her home as soon as we rescue her."

"But you said—"

"I know what I said," Pan snapped and pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking of how he could explain his complicated mind. "Hook's ship still contains the magic that allowed him to travel between realms. If we can extract that magic, we can use it to make a temporary portal to send Mia home."

"Why didn't we use that when she first arrived?" Thomas asked, more like screamed while throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Because once you take magic out of its original host without a new one to put it in you can only use it once. I was hoping to save that specific magic for a time when we truly needed it. But it seems that that time has come sooner than planned."

Thomas still was angry at Pan for letting Mia go that easily but nodded in agreement anyway. There was nothing he could do now that she was officially captured except focus his mind on finding her and getting her home to safety.

"I need you to round up the lost boys and prepare them like we do for war. Send out the trackers. I'm going to go around the island to find as many allies as possible."

"Shouldn't Andrew round up the boys? I mean, assuming he's the new second in command..." Thomas trailed off more confused than ever, although his voice was bitter. He would never forget that Pan let Mia be taken by his psychotic brother, and made his own fellow lost boys hold him down as she screamed for help—screamed for him to help—and did nothing but look away.

"Andrew is not my second in command. You are."

Although Pan would never tell anyone this, he did feel guilty for sending Mia with Rufio. Giving Thomas the second in command position was the least he could do, for both her and him even if it made Pan want to die internally for the rest of his life.

Thomas gawked at Pan like he'd grown two heads, wondering why Pan would do that right after he'd broken his most obvious rule and kissed Mia. He didn't verbalize his questions though, too scared Pan would change his mind.

Pan rolled his eyes and walked away. At camp's border, he stopped mid-step next to James's corpse, feeling grief for the boy who never knew love.

With a wave of his hand and a flick of his wrist, James's body turned into ash and blew away peacefully with the wind, so much different then the boy's personality when he was alive—as if in death, he'd finally found peace.