"When you protect yourself from pain, be sure you don't protect yourself from love."
~ Alan Cohen
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Alice's P.O.V
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"Hurry up, boys!" Peter yells. "We have to find them before nightfall. They won't survive out there on their own."
I look up, the sky is tinted a light shade of orange, purple and pink. Just an hour until nightfall. We have about two dozen boys with us, a handful of older boys stayed behind to take care of the younger ones.
Are Neverland's jungles so dangerous that you won't be able to survive a night in there alone?
"There are too many deadly plants and animals here," Felix explains as if he read my mind. "If the plants don't kill them, the animals will."
"Good to know," I say, desperately trying to catch up with the group's pace.
I scan the group for Ray but it's hard for me to spot him as majority of the boys are a head taller than me. Why are you people so tall? God, I hate being short. The group suddenly stops. I make my way to the front of the group, which isn't hard seeing as I'm smaller than all the boys. Peter is kneeling down, studying the two fresh pairs of tracks on the ground.
"We need to split up in order to find them as soon as possible. Hayden, Joseph," he says, pointing at two red haired boys. "You two stay here so the others will be able to find the meeting point."
"The rest of you get into your pairs! We'll rendezvous back here," Peter orders, standing up. "Is that clear?"
"Yes, Pan!" the boys shout in one voice.
They immediately get into their pairs as soon as those words leave their mouths. Where's Ray? Was he asked to stay back at camp?
Someone wraps places their hand on my shoulder. I don't even need to see his face to know who it is.
"Hi, Peter," I say.
"You'll be partnering with me," he says.
"Where's Ray?" I ask.
"Back at camp with the younger boys."
I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I feel safe with him around me. But it's just a feeling, right? It doesn't mean anything.
"Are we gonna look for your "guests" or are we just gonna stand here?" I ask.
Peter answers my question by teleporting us to the beach.
"How do the Lost Boys even get here?" I ask.
"My shadow brings them here," he says. "It only brings children who feel lost or unloved."
Then what about me? I don't feel unloved, I have Will and Lewis to keep me company. I had Lewis. So maybe I was lost, I always felt that I was missing something, that I didn't really belong in England. I craved adventure that of which England couldn't provide with its busy cities. Maybe I really did belong here. But am I happy here?
"You alright, love?" Peter asks. "You've been awfully quiet."
"I'm fine, I'm just thinking," I reply, keeping my eyes on the horizon.
"That's a dangerous pass time."
I smile. "That's something Halt would say."
"Halt?"
"I wouldn't expect you to know him," I say. "It's Ranger business."
"Why do you read so many books?" Peter asks.
"Why do you breathe?"
"Because if I didn't I'd die."
"Exactly."
Peter sighs. "Touché."
****
"Damn, those boys are good," Peter says.
"What?" I ask.
Peter kneels down and points at the soil. "Look at these tracks."
"What about them?" I ask, kneeling down next to him.
"Do you see how they're standing out in the soil?" he asks.
"Yeah. Isn't that what tracks are? Footprinta standing out in the ground."
"I meant, look how obvious the prints are, it's like they want us to follow it."
"So you think that the newbies are playing with us by covering up their real tracks and leaving fake ones?"
He nods approvingly. "They're careful with where they leave their tracks. One of them must be a tracker."
"How long do you think it'll be until your boys bump into them?"
A shrill whistle sounds throughout the rainforest. Peter and I look up.
"I think Felix just did," he says.
I grab Peter's arm and he teleports us away from the breach. Felix stands in front of a group of Lost Boys, ordering them to tie their prisoners up.
Felix approaches us. "It was a miracle we found them. The boy was really good at masking their tracks."
"Bring the prisoners to me," Peter says.
Felix gestures for the boys to move, they part like the red sea.
I catch a glimpse of bright red hair. No. No, it can't be him, he's dead.
The two boys in front of us are tied up, probably Andrew's handiwork. The boy standing on the left has short black hair with red highlights. He looks sleep-deprived with bags under his eyes. He's dressed in a pair of black jeans, black converse shoes and a black shirt with the words "Digital Daggers" written in white.
The boy next to him has light brown hair and black glasses. He's dressed in blue jeans, lime green sports shoes and a black T-shirt with a stormtrooper's mask on it.
I gasp. It's Lewis and Will.
"Alice!" Lewis shouts, attempting to run forward, but Hunter grabs his shoulder, keeping him from approaching me.
I push past the crowd of Lost Boys and make my way towards Lewis and Will. "Are you guys alright?"
"Forget about us, are you alright?" Will says. "What are you doing with these people?"
"I—" Wait a minute, how did they even get here?
I turn to face Peter. "This is your doing, is it?! You brought them here, even after I told you not to."
Peter shakes his head. "They came here on their own, I didn't bring them here."
I storm towards him. "You must have have brought them here!"
"Alice, what's going on?" Lewis asks.
I ignore him. "Peter, you sick bastard! You told me he was dead!"
Peter glares at me, then leans down and whispers in my ear. "Don't ever talk to me like that again."
I scoff. "What are you gonna do? Kill me?"
"Boys, take the prisoners to the cages," he orders. "I'm going to have a little chat with Alice."
"Don't you dare hurt her!" Lewis shouts.
Peter laughs. "What are you going to do about it? You're outnumbered seven to one and you're tied up."
"That's true. It isn't a fair," Will says. "Get a dozen more boys and it'll be a fair fight."
"That's a lot of talk for someone who's tied up," Peter says.
A series of events happen all at once, the boys break out of their bonds. Lewis then eblows Hunter and Jerome in the ribs, he grabs Hunter's machete from him. While Lewis does that Will smacks Andrew's face with the butt of his own staff, leaving Andrew dazed. Will then swings the wooden staff in an arc, knocking the resuming Lost Boys down.
Will looks at the expression on Felix and Peter's face and grins. "You really need to teach your boys how to tie a proper knot."
Peter sighs and waves his hand over Lewis and Will and they fall to the ground, unconscious.
"Felix, take them to the cages, I'll deal with them later," Peter says.
He then turns to face me. "You're coming with me," he says, teleporting us to the tree house.
****
"Come on, Peter, say it."
"Do I have to?" he asks.
"Yes," I say, nodding my head. "You got yourself into this mess."
Peter sighs. "Is this really necessary?"
"Yes. It's not that hard to say. It's only three words and eight letters.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he asks.
"Oh definitely."
"Do I really have to stay it?" he asks.
"Yes."
"Iamsorry," he mutters.
"What was that?"
"I'm sorry for letting you believe that your friend was dead and for being rude to you," he says.
"Much better."
"In my defense," he says. "I only shouted at you because I needed to maintain my reputation."
"You do know that the cages won't keep Lewis and Will from getting to me, right?" I say. "Will was a boy scout when he was younger. He's good at tying and un-tying knots."
"Bugger," Peter says. "Is there anything that boy can't do?"
"Not that I know of," I say. "Give him an hour or so and he'll have escaped the cages with Lewis."
Peter rakes his hand through his hair, sighing. "I'll just wait until they find the campsite to introduce them to the other boys. No doubt they've all heard about how those two managed to beat my best boys."
"I'll be with Ray," I say. "I'll be looking forward to the boys escaping."
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Will's P.O.V
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"Thanks for getting me out," Lewis says, stretching his cramped muscles.
"I would've gotten us out faster but they tied my hands up," I tell him.
"Why didn't they tie my hands up?"
"I suppose it's because you aren't much of a threat."
"Hey, I knocked out as many boys as you," he protests.
"Yeah, cause' ten and six are of the same amount," I say, rolling my eyes.
"Let's just find Alice. I overheard scar face talking to another boy about going back to their campsite."
"Scar face?"
"What? I don't know his name."
"I believe it's Felix."
He waves his hand, dismissing the subject. "Whatever, let's just find Alice and get out of here."
"Where is "here" anyways?" I question.
"I don't know," he says. "I'll ask Alice when we find her."
"We can't just charge into their campsite without a plan," I say. "We don't know enough about them, what if they have backup?"
"You're right we don't know anything about them, but we do know that they're keeping Alice captive."
"I have a bad feeling about barging into there without a plan," I say. "I don't like how that Peter guy managed to knock us out with just a wave of his hand."
"He probably threw powered chloroform at us," Lewis says.
"He wasn't holding anything though," I say. "His hands were completely—"
"Will, I appreciate how much thought you've put into this but every moment we aren't searching for Alice is another moment she's held captive by those guys."
I really want to tell Lewis how flawed his plan is but I shouldn't hold it against him. He's gone through enough, losing Alice and seeing her just to have her taken away from him again.
I pick up a bow and quiver from one of the guards that we knocked out and pass Lewis a machete. "Here."
"Thanks," he says, taking the machete from me. "Now let's get Alice back."
****
"Do you smell that?" I ask.
"If you're talking about food then yes, I do smell that," Lewis says.
"Nice observation, Lewis, but that's not what I meant," I say. "I meant do you smell a fire?"
"Yes," he says. "That's good, isn't it? It means that we just need to look out for a trail of smoke."
I nod and point at the night sky. "There's the trail of smoke."
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
We make our way towards the trail of smoke. I notice a faint light, it gets brighter as we get closer to the campsite. Soon, I hear the sounds of boys cheering. After awhile, we spot the camp's borders. There are two boys standing guard.
"Shall I knock them out or do you want to do the honors?" I ask Lewis.
Lewis takes the machete out from it's leather sheath.
He sneaks up behind the first boy and raises his hand and hits the boy's temple with the butt of the machete. The other boy opens his mouth to call for help but Lewis is too quick. He rushes to the next boy and does the same to him. Both boys fall to the ground with a thud.
"Shall we?" Lewis asks. "While they're still out cold?"
I nock my bow. "Let's go find, Alice."
Boys of all ages dance around huge a bonfire. They whoop, performing a weird bonfire dance that involves jumping around and doing backflips in the air. I notice a cloaked figure playing the flute as he dances along with the other boys. I hear a very faint sound of the flutes playing, and it makes me dizzy. I'm no expert, but I can tell that it's not an ordinary flute.
I turn to face Lewis. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows.
My eyes land on a diminutive figure in dressed in black, dancing with the piper. The person looks familiar, my eyes widen when I realise who it is.
I nudge Lewis.
"What?"
I point at the figure in black. "Look."
"Is that—?"
"Alice," I say with my mouth agape.
"She's fraternizing with the enemy."
"Wait, look at that," I say pointing at Alice, then at the other boys. They look so carefree but dazed at the same time, like a stoner.
"Is it just me, or do they look like they're in a trance?"
"It's not just you," says a voice with a strong British accent.
We spin around and come face to face with the piper. He towers over us by a few inches, but that's not what intimidates me. It's how he managed to sneak up behind us without me noticing.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here," the brunette says. "Our prisoners have escaped. Who was the one who locked the cages?"
"The runt did!" shouts a tall, dark haired boy.
"Ray!" the piper shouts. "Get over here!"
Ray? That's not possible, it can't be the same Ray. The crowd parts and a boy dressed in green emerges from the crowd. At a first glance, he looks like the typical nice guy who gets bullied by the popular jocks. My jaw drops as he approaches us.
He looks just like I remember him. It's almost as if no time has ever passed by. How is it possible that he still looks the same age as the day he left? Ray looks awful. His lip is split ans he has a deep gash on his forehead. Someone must've beaten him up, and recently, too. It's evident in the way he's limping when he walks towards us.
He looks up and gasps when his eyes meet mine. "Christian?"
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Four updates in four days what is this madness?! I deserve an award for not being too lazy to write another chapter. I'm taking advantage of the fact that my writer's block is gone by updating new chapters more often.
Don't get too used to it though, I'll probably go back to updating once or twice a week due to writer's block. Bloody writer's block -_-
I don't know how to sign off for this A/N so... Bye 👋
~ Alice xx
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Alice, Lewis or Will?
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Vote, comment, rate, do whatever you want <3
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Edited: 23.11.2017