Belief Extraordinary

Chapter Two: Unexpected

"I'm getting up soon Mom, I swear" Sarah mumbled. She could feel her mom shaking her shoulder. Ouch, wait! Her eyes darted open. That wasn't a shake, that was a kick. She sat up in a heap, spitting sand out of her mouth. Sand? Why was there sand? "Heyyy, she's awake." A voice droned, and not a familiar one. Slowly, Sarah brought her eyes up from the sand. She quickly wished she hadn't as the memory of her late-night ride on the shadow express came back to her. It was dark, she was surrounded by strangers, and she had no idea where she was. More to the point, neither did anyone else.

Sarah's eyes darted around, panic-stricken. This was not what she had signed up for, not by any stretch of the imagination, she was sure. Shadowed faces leered at her from under rough cloaks as her brain tried desperately to process what was happening. She'd thought she was dreaming, but she could feel saltwater stinging in the rough cuts on her legs, and as dark as it was her vision was far more detailed than any dream she'd ever remembered. The figures around her jeered and shifted, laughing amongst themselves at what entertainment this new arrival to the island might bring. She tried to speak, to demand answers, but no words came out- not even a strangled sound, just like in her worst nightmares. Maybe I'm dreaming after all. She half-thought, half-begged.

So much adrenaline was pumping through her system she barely registered when the maddening crowd around her fell silent, until a smooth voice cut through the night air. "Come on now, boys." Sarah whipped her head in the voice's direction. "Is that any way to welcome a guest?"

The crowd parted as a boy dressed all in mismatched greens ambled lazily up to her. His collected attitude formed a stark contrast to Sarah's fear, and a small part of her- the very small part not frightened out of its mind- was pissed off at how calm he was. "Wh-" Sarah stuttered, and the figures around her laughed. She tried again, trying to will her voice to strength. "Where am I?" She squeaked out. The boy smiled down at her, though it was far from a friendly smile. Now that he was closer, Sarah could see that he was about her age, except for his eyes. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but his eyes seemed to her to hold something very old, and very dark. "Who are you?" She tried again, her voice somewhat stronger now. "And what do you want?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?" The boy mused. His voice was soft, but under the smooth accent and quiet tone she could feel a steely edge to it. Although the night was not a cold one, she shivered. "But since you came to our home-" He gestured broadly at the hoods surrounding her "Why don't you start?" Sarah stared at him, confused. It's not as though she had come here on purpose-if he didn't know why that shadow brought her here, who would? The boy's face took on a harder set. "I'm not a patient boy, little girl." He said darkly. "Start with your name. And then maybe you can explain why you're on my island."

Sarah gulped rapid breaths, trying to calm down. "Sarah." She began slowly, but the words quickly streamed out all in a rush. "My name is Sarah and I was brought here by a shadow, I didn't know it was your island and I'm very sorry for trespassing but if you'll just point me in the direction of the mainland and I don't know, maybe a boat or something, if you can, I'll get out of your hair and forget I ever saw you, really, it's pretty dark so it's not as if I know who any of you are so really I couldn't turn you in to the cops even if I wanted to, which of course I do not, so anyway sorry to bother you, I'll be on my way." She tried to scramble to her feet, but the sand underneath her was less than cooperative. Not to mention, her knees felt like jello and the intense stare of this island-owning boy was not helping.

To her surprise, the boy laughed. It was a harsh sound that set her ears back on her neck, and the fear that had subsided momentarily came trickling back in. "Did you hear that, boys?" Their leader called to the group. "The shadow brought her. The shadow brought us a girl! Oh, that is rich." Sarah was not sure her eyes could widen any more, but she could feel them trying to anyway. "Well, sweetheart, let me tell you something." He crouched down till their faces were only a few inches apart. "The shadow may have brought you here, but that doesn't make you a Lost Boy." Sarah blinked. A Lost Boy? The gears in her head started to whirl. No. No, it couldn't be. The boy spoke again. "But no one, and I do mean no one, gets off of this island without my say so." Sarah closed her eyes, feeling a very heavy weight settling down on her. Only a moment later a hand grabbed her face roughly. "Open your eyes little girl. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

Sarah opened her eyes, but slowly. If the leader of the boys was confused by the replacement of fear with hurt in the girl's dampening eyes, he gave no outward indication. "Peter?" She asked softly. Pan blinked, narrowing his eyes at this intruder's sudden knowledge of him. "Is...is it really you?"