The Mermaid-Cursed Pirate

Chapter 13

Recap:

She seizes his hand in a flash, "No! You can't! I'm bound to him, remember? If you kill him, it could kill me, too. Just get him off Neverland, like you said you would," she pleads.

"I'm sure I could find a way around that, Rena-"

"There's no time!" she grabs his shirt, her eyes desperate. "He'll catch me before then! Please, Peter." she murmurs, burying her head in his chest.

At her last word, his mind was made up, "Okay, Rena. Look, I'll send him to another realm right now. Watch," he brings a hand up, moving it in a circle as the ship is surrounded by smoke.

Sirena collapses in his arms as soon as the smoke dissipates. "Pan! The curse! Help me!" she wheezes, then falls unconscious.

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When Sirena's eyes open next, she winces at the light in the room. Then she realizes that she's not on the shore anymore. She looks around the room from her place on the bed as she tries to figure out why it's so familiar to her. The haziness in her brain fades away, and she remembers this room. She's in Pan's treehouse, in his bedroom, in his bed. She searches for Pan, panicked and confused, but she doesn't see him anywhere.

"Pan?" she rasps, her voice hoarse from her slumber. He appears in a whirl of green smoke.

His face expresses pure relief when he sees her sitting upright with no problem. "What do you need, Rena?" he says with a smile. "Some water, food, another blanket?"

"Answers," she replies, returning his smile. "Although those would be nice, too." A tray of food with a glass of water appears on her lap, and Pan pulls another blanket from a chest at the foot of the bed. Sirena freezes, staring at the blanket. Its features seem familiar but its origin unknown to her. "I know that blanket," she mumbles to herself.

"That's because it's yours," Pan replies as he sits on the bed next to her. "You don't remember?" he questions, looking hurt. Then his eyes open wide in worry, demanding, "Do you remember anything?"

"No, I'm a complete amnesiac. What's my name?" she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why? Should I remember that blanket?"

"I had hoped you would. I gave it to you for your birthday," he clarifies, handing it to her.

She takes in the soft fleece, dark blue fabric with lime green, light blue, and white arrows covering it. She runs her fingers over it, the memories of her time in Pan's camp trickling back. She giggles, "You gave me this to make fun of me, you jerk!"

"You were terrible with that bow of yours. You almost shot Felix in the leg!" he laughs.

"That was your fault! I already knew how to shoot just fine. But, no, the all-knowing Pan had to try to teach me the "right" way to shoot! You should have let me use a normal bow instead of Felix's bow! His draw weight was way too high for me, I could barely pull it back far enough. That's why my hands were so shaky!"

"Whatever you say, Bullseye," he retorts with a smirk.

"Oh, I know you didn't just call me that," she threatens. She picks up the glass to take a sip but decides the liquid could be put to better use. She tips it over Pan's head before he can do anything, her smile growing wider in satisfaction.

He wipes the water from his eyes and calmly picks of the tray of food and walks it to the table. After setting the tray down, he spins around with a full bucket of water, running toward her.

After some quick thinking, Sirena screams. She fabricates a terrified look on her face and scooches toward the headboard as quick as she can. "Please, no!" she whimpers as she cowers behind her arms.

Pan freezes, setting the bucket on the ground. He approaches her with caution, his hands up in surrender. "Sirena, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you, see?" She lets her hands fall from her face, her breath shaky as she watches him carefully. "Are you okay now? I'm sorry for scaring you," he assures.

"It's fine," she mumbles, pulling her knees to her chest. They sit in silence for a moment, before she asks, "Pan, what happened after I collapsed?"

"Well, you passed out, so I brought you back here and tried to find something to help you. I couldn't find anything useful, so I let you sleep and kept an eye on you. You really scared the boys and me," he chuckles under his breath.

She thought for a moment, nodding her head before whipping it up to meet his eyes again in a panic. "How long was I asleep, Peter?"

He scratches the back of his neck, avoiding her eyes, "Well, Neverland time is different, you know. So I can't be sure-" he stammers, but an angry mermaid interrupts him.

"Pan. How many days was I asleep, in Neverland terms. Tell me the truth," she demanded.

He nods, pleading, "Don't freak out on me, okay? But you were asleep for almost 2 weeks. That's in Neverland terms," he explained.