Neverland Rebel

Chapter Five

 Now I'm back in another cage. He gave me another one after he found out about the hole I cut in the first cage. I think he just thought I was able to use a sharp rock or something to cut the cage, as he hasn't taken away my penknife yet. After he found me on the tree, he marched me back to the cage. He winked cheekily at me and told me that there would be consequences if I tried to escape again. I wonder why he still hasn't told me his name. Maybe he's worried about the aftereffects of me knowing his names. After all, names have power.

Well, here he comes now, out of the woods. I think I'll ask his name now, just to see if he'll tell me. As he draws closer, he says something about how he's glad I haven't tried to escape, but I'm not really paying attention. I blurt out, "What is your name?" Curse my impulses. He just smirks and says simply, "Pan. Yours?" I decide to say my name as well. A name for a name. "Saramia. How can you fly?" I feel like I shouldn't have asked right away but I really wanted to know.

"Magic." He replies in a tone that's clearly making fun of me, but I try not to get riled up, so I just roll my eyes and look away from him.

"I'm going to let you out of the cage now," he says, stepping towards me, "Any attempts to escape and you will receive a quick and brutal punishment." Again with talking about punishments. What does he get out of this? He unlocks the cage door and opens it. I jump out immediately, regardless of the fact that the cage is about five feet off of the ground. I've jumped higher before. I turn to him.

"Lead the way, Pan." I try to say his name as if it was an insult, but he just shrugs and turns around, walking back into the forest. He leads me to a clearing where a lot of boys are standing around a large fire. He gets the boys' attention and points to me.

"This is Saramia. She is your new lost girl. Teach her the rules of Neverland." The boys stare at me questioningly but nod in greeting and go back to whatever they were doing. However, something Pan said doesn't seem quite right.

"Lost? I'm not lost." I say, turning to Pan. He just smirks. "Lost doesn't mean literally lost, dear. It means you don't have a place where you really belong."

"Don't call me dear. And that's not true." I feel like I'm lying, but I don't know why. Didn't I belong in that new town? I had plans, didn't I? "I had a nice place before that shadow took me here," I argue, "In fact, if it weren't for that shadow-" He speaks suddenly, interrupting me.

"The shadow brought you here for a reason, dear," he says, stepping so close to me that I can feel his breath hot on my neck, "I want to know what that reason is." I involuntarily take a step back, cursing myself as I do it. I can't show any signs of weakness here, but it's too late. Pan smirks and steps back, gesturing for me to follow him.

"Come here. We need to go back to your cage. Nightfall will come soon." I question why I'm returning to the cage instead of staying wherever the Lost Boys were (after all, aren't I supposed to be a Lost Girl now?), but he just laughs and says it won't be safe. That's pretty sketchy, not going to lie. However, my mind is spinning away from that. What did he mean, the shadow brought you here for a reason? Am I lost? Why would I be here?

I arrive back at the cage and he locks me up again. It doesn't matter. I'm here regardless, and it doesn't look like I'll be escaping any time soon.