Potential for Darkness (Peter Pan)//(Robbie Kay)

4 ~ The lost boys

By the time Adelina and Pan got back to camp, night had fallen like a heavy drape of velvet covering Neverland, protecting them for a few hours from the harshness of the exterior worlds. The moon hung high and bright in the sky, bathing everything under its unlimited reach with silvery light. Even Pan's features softened under its touch, their sharpness losing their edge. The mountains and peaks of his cheekbones mellowed out into more circular planes, the gushing and screaming rapids that swirled in the depths of his eyes slowed down to gentle, babbling brooks, his eyelashes batting slowly, just like the leaves that hung from the trees, whispering quietly in the breeze, keeping secrets locked away for only them to know.

But the moment Pan stepped into the reach of the camp's firelight, all that gentleness evaporated, taking in an even harsher form. Rivers in his eyes dried out from the heat to leave place to barren earth, cracked from drought. His cheekbones rose like cliffs under the harsh, flickering red light, casting elongated shadows that moved across his face like the vulture in search for prey. The trees turned to stone, nothing moved, nothing was alive, everything was either cast into the unforgiving depths of darkness or burned in the inferno of the harsh firelight.

Adelina was once again reminded of the unhumanness of the person besides her.

"Boys!" Pan called as a form of greeting, letting the word fall carelessly from his lips. Adelina had been too preoccupied staring at Pan to notice the lost boys. They were all sitting around the fire, about fifty of them, ages ranging from eight to nineteen. At the sound of their leader's voice, all heads snapped towards him. Silence fell as they rose in unison to salute him. "You may sit down," Pan said dismissively as he grabbed Adelina's wrist and pulled her into the light without bothering with gentleness, pushing her into the middle of the circle of lost boys, like a gladiator forced into the arena filled with starving lions. All gazes were fixed on her now, eying her suspiciously, their cold, unfriendly gazes seizing her up as if she was their next meal. Her skin crawled from all the unwanted attention. "Let me introduce you to our newest member, yet to be truly part of our family. This is Adelina."

Exclamations of surprise and protest erupted at his statement. Their curious stares turned into accusing glares, as if it were somehow Adelina's fault Pan had decided to keep her here. She'd been expecting some discontent, Pan had warned her, but this felt outright cruel.

"But she's a girl!" one of them shouted, revolted.

"Yes," Pan snapped, "I do believe you've already seen one, Connor?"

"But girls don't become part of our family!" another one replied, outraged.

"Well this one will," Pan said calmly, speaking to the boys as if Adelina weren't there, or worse, as if she were too stupid to understand them.

"But why?" the boy sitting nearest to her asked whiningly.

"First off, because she's managed to get here by herself, which is more than most of you can claim." Pan's glare travelled the clearing, daring anyone to speak up. No one did. "Also, because none of the precedent girls had what it took to pass the tests and become a lost girl. I'm confident this one will." Pan lay a hand on her shoulder like she were some sort of prize to admire, and she resisted the urge to flinch away from his malevolent touch, for she knew that it wouldn't sit well with Pan, not in front of his lost boys. Shouts and cries of indignation erupted once more. "Silence!" Pan barked and at once the noise died down, all looking at him with mixed feelings in their eyes, some fear, others submission, others revolt. "There will be no further discussion on this subject," he said loudly, his deep voice easily filling the whole clearing. "If you do not abide, I will have to act in consequence," he said, letting the threat hang clearly over their heads.