Greatest challenge/Peter Pan (Completed)

Chapter 7: The upper hand

The pain in my back slowly disappeared the moment the boy I learned to call Tootles had pulled the arrow out. They dragged me away, deeper into the forest, and I kept my feet slack. I wasn't going to make it easy for them, but they managed to pull me without much fuss. I reminded myself to in future, pick up some muscle weight. It was an insult that two boys with their scrawny arms and build could actually drag me...period. 

Peter Pan had vanished again, and I was surrounded by the lost boys. Most of them stared at me curiously, some stifled laughs, and others glared at me. That was what I was used to. 

They seemed to take me to their hideout, which I admitted, was useful, in the future, if I was to return, which I seriously doubted. I had never lost a teammate in a quest before, and here, in Neverland, we lost Maddox merely on the second day. That was, I have to admit, a bad omen...and why I also understood that Neverland was rated so dangerous. But I was still alive, no thanks to Peter Pan, and I prayed hard that the rest of them, Quinton, Zeke, Nova, and Penelope had managed to escape the natives. If they were wise, they would find the rest of the pixie dust and be on their way, and I would follow shortly.  

"Take the girl to the cages," the blonde boy with the scar and the hood spoke softly to the two boys holding me.

"Just hang right there on your cape blondie, a cage?" I snapped. My heart raced, and I forced myself to calm down. Sure, I had been imprisoned plenty of times, but I hated it. And I tended to make those who caged me, pay as well.

The boy glanced at me and smiled, "It's Felix."

"Right, Felax," I said. "You don't want to put me in a cage, I tend to get very mad."

"That's precisely what Peter wants," Felix said. "And what he wants, is what he gets."

I frowned as the two boys carry on pulling me. I didn't put up much of resistance either. The number of boys around meant that even if I tried out my latest fighting moves, I would be knocked out or injured within seconds. I could always get out of a cage. I believed that.

I stared at the cage they took me to and looked up. They were going to put me in there, and hoist me up like a crane did to a building block. I had to admit. That was kind of ingenious. But it also made my escape insanely hard.

They shoved me in, and I turned around. I did not have much moving space and sure was uncomfortable.

"How long do you intend to keep me in here?" I asked. The two boys looked at me and shrugged.

"He's got a fight planned tonight, he wants you to watch. Maybe, he'll take you out then," the boy said. 

"Indeed," I mumbled.  It meant that I had a few hours to get out. They locked the cage, and sure enough, hoisted me up. I shook my head to block out the dizziness as the cage moved. I prayed that the rope was strong enough, but although it swayed it seemed secure. As soon as I could see the boys walking away, I tested everything. I touched the wooden bars that surrounded me, up and down. I felt the ropes which kept everything secure. I tugged, and it barely moved. I would sooner rip out my nails than untie this rope.

I heard laughter below me, and I took a deep breath. Without any prior knowledge, it sounded like children having fun. Everything that I missed out as a little girl. I had to grow up immediately. I felt envy build up. I was a rat in a cage, quite literally now, but even as a world warper, with the chip in my neck, I was never free. They were, free from growing up, free from adults, free from being forced or told what to do apart from Peter Pan. 

For the first time in years, I actually envied the villains.

I shook my head. I had to stop with the self-pity. I had a rare opportunity on this island. The very remote that controlled my fate was now within my grasp. Freedom. I had my chance at freedom. If I managed to escape the cage, and destroy that blasted controller for my neck, I could return to the headquarters, pick any world of my choosing, and escape there forever. I had visited many beautiful places, and there was a few I wouldn't mind staying in.