Elizabeth of the Lily

Impertinant Imp

Lost Boy Rule: Pan is always right, even when he's wrong. 

At first all Melody saw was a shadow. That it was a shadow, she was not even certain. The moon was shining brightly in the window, casting all sort of strange shapes into the room but, that shadow was petting her dog Link. And Link, being the touch glutton that he was, fawned and wriggled with delight.

 Her sleepy brain accepted the friendly shadow until she remembered with a jolt that shadows were usually connected to a living breathing person!  Melody's eyes fully opened and she even pinched herself to make sure, but there indeed did appear to be a disembodied shadow that continued calmly to pet her traitor of a dog. 

She cautiously turned her head to see if anything else weird was going on in her room. She remembered for the first time since it happened the events in the graveyard and tensed. She tried to sit up but a hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down. This hand was corporeal and strong.  A cold prick of metal made its presence felt at her neck.

 She stopped and waited, terrified. The shadow had picked up her dog and walked over to the bigger dog Cookie who was watching with interest from his dog bed. Before she could even blink, both dogs were tossed out of the room and the door locked!

Melody felt an angery scream rising to her throat. She would not go down without putting up a good fight. The intruder, whose blade was still at her throat, must have heard her quick intake of breath for a heavy hand covered her mouth and nose muffling the sound of her scream. A face then floated into view, which was strange because it's body seemed to be hovering off the ground a few inches. But that would be impossible. 

The face was that of a young man in his late teens, perhaps eighteen or nineteen, with pert nose, curly, thick hair that glinted red in the moonlight and striking green eyes. There was an irresistible charm about him. His eyes were like witch fires and ancient forests. He had the audacity to grin at her! 

The grin had the opposite effect of what he had intended, for it incensed her enough for her to start resisting. She was not going to be robbed or assaulted. Oh No! She was a cop's wife. She lashed out with her elbows trying to topple the boy off of her. In doing so, she also managed to knock away the knife. He was unmoved, however and his muffling hand still held.

 He actually laughed. 

This infuriated Melody so much that she found the ferocious strength to shove him off of her. He rocketed backwards hitting the opposite wall with a surprised grunt. 

She ungracefully scrambled out of her hammock bed, almost falling,  and turned to face her attacker fists raised. She knew escaping the room was her only good option. How long could she actually fight before being over powered? Judging by the difficulty she had already had, not long. 

She scanned the room for an escape but started when she realized *he* had vanished! She lowered her fists in consternation. Had she dreamed this whole thing up? Was she going insane? 

She then remembered there was also a disembodied shadow and turned to see what the shadow was doing, it too was no longer there. 

She then heard a noise like a swimmer pushing off from the wall. She quickly turned to the  darkest corner of her room and was knocked off her feet with the force of a linebacker. The air rushed out of her lungs in a painful whoosh.

She tensed for the inevitability of her body hitting the floor of her bedroom. She felt an arm snake around her waist holding her in a grip of iron close to his body. The other pressed her face against his chest muffling any scream she may have uttered, not that she had breath left to scream. 

Their bodies did not hit the floor. Instead their forward momentum seemed to have carried them out the open window. Horrified, she wrapped her arms around his stomach and held on for dear life.  

They never did hit the ground though. In fact it was full minutes of them whipping through the night air. Melody shook uncontrollably. 

When their bodies finally righted, feet improbably landing softly on a solid surface, the arm holding her head released. She looked around her in shock. All around here were acres of corn. below their feet was a water tower. 

 This was crazy! She must be dreaming, She had set herself up for such a fancy by thinking that stars were dancing and quoting from Peter's book and yet, here they were. 

Her captor was unphased at the possibility of her screaming. They were in the middle of nowhere.  She did not scream however. 

Instead she uttered, "What? Who? HOW?" she rather shouted the last question. 

She met his gaze again and again he grinned at her. That infuriating grin! He would soon learn that it drove her to violence. She began hitting him with her fists out of pure rage. She got in a few blows that actually managed to get a grunt of pain from him. Obviously irritated,  He caught both her wrists with one lazy hand and spoke for the first time. 

"That is not a very good idea Lizzy. If I drop you, there is not guarantee that I could catch you again." It was a reprimand. She, a teacher, didn't like to be talked to in that tone of voice. 

Through gritted teeth still fighting to free her wrists she responded, "My name isn't Lizzy. I'm Melody. You've grabbed the wrong person. Take me back to my house and let me go!"

The boy shook his head and said, "I can't take you back. Even if I did, You'd only get grabbed by Hook. He finally found you today and was waiting for the bell to toll three to come and capture you. He's very superstitious about timing, is our friend Hook. Luckily, I had been keeping an eye on you, princess, and swooped in a whole hour before Hook could get his act together!"

I really have lost it , thought Melody. 

The young man continued, " Your name is Lizzy, by the way. Princess Elizabeth of the Lily. Do you remember me?"

At the mention of 'Hook' Melody's mouth dropped open. The men in the grave yard had talked about a Captain...Could it be. She realized with absolute certainty that this boy in front of her could only be, the boy who never grew up, Peter Pan. 

Melody could only shake her head 'no' in response to his question. Peter only shrugged, "I'll tell you the whole story later. We have a journey to make back to Neverland. Do me a favor and stop struggling. It'll be easier if you hold on tight instead. I promise I am here to protect you."

Melody knew struggling would be futile. Her strength was no match for his and if she fell, she would not survive the landing. She nodded and Peter released her wrists. She wrapped them around his neck. His free arm scooped up her knees and without further delay he flew into the night. Second star to the right and straight on till morning. Shadow trailing along behind like a naughty school boy.