When Alette awoke once more her first sensation was a rigidness in her back. She shifted uncomfortably on the strange surface she was laying on. It felt as though she was laying on top of rough cylinders, that puzzled her greatly. Her wrists seemed to be tied to the rough cylinders with scratchy rope. That alarmed her.
Alette's light coloured eyes shot open with panic. Her eyes were met with a blue sky, it was so clear, with no clouds and the sun not in her sight. Across the edges of her vision she could see the tops of trees so green that they compared to the Pipers eyes. Nervously she looked down beside her. The sight of crystal clear water made her gasp in panic. She didn't know how to swim. Looking down at her hand she realized she was tied on top of a log raft floating in a small pool. On one side of the pool were gray and black rocks and on the other was a forest.
Alette's breathing quickened as she tried to sit up. She had to bend her wrist at an uncomfortable angle to do so but she didn't mind. How was she supposed to get out of this mess? How had she gotten into it in the first place? She groaned and leaned back down, the shadow like creature hadn't just been a horrible nightmare. What had she gotten herself into?
Alette realized her shoes and cloak were gone and sat up again. She had to find a way out of this, she had to. Shockingly her mask was still firmly tied to her face and her cap still kept her long locks hidden. She started to tug on the ropes, but after a while just ended up screaming at them. She was angry, angry because she had been enticed by freedom and taken the chance. Now she was screwed. She was stuck in the middle of what looked like a nine foot deep pool tied to a raft. She screamed in rage for a long time before a voice from the tree side of the pool spoke. "You're up I see."
The Piper's voice was smooth, and had a strange quality to it that made it sound different and enticing. Alette started to compare it to melted chocolate and caramel. As she looked up at him in fury though she realized. He must have done this, he must be working with the shadow creature. Alette was now angry with him, very angry. So she screamed loudly at him and thrashed against the restraints. Tauntingly The Piper rose his eyebrow. "Well you've got fire now don't you."
Alette silenced her cries of rage and tried to not focus on the water beneath her. She wasn't afraid of water per say, she was afraid of drowning in it. She now wished she knew how to swim. Then again she had never had a chance to learn, the biggest body of water she had ever gotten to experience was the bathing basin at the Convent. She stared at The Piper with fury and he started to pace along the edge of the pool. "If you want to survive I suggest you get yourself off that raft, it won't hold up forever."
Alette then looked down to realize that the water seemed to be rising around the raft. The raft was sinking with her on it. No it wasn't sinking, wood floats, the wood she could see was very slowly turning to stone. That's when she really started to panic. She focused her attentions on her left wrist. Tugging wasn't working so she tried to cut it on the slowly growing stone. It was working.
Alette started cutting faster as the stone increased. Water reached her legs and started to soak her pants. Her legs were nearly completely under water by the time she got her left wrist out. Suddenly the wood started to increase how fast it was turning to stone. Alette's breathing grew faster and more laboured as she turned her attention to her right wrist. It wasn't working as well on that wrist and she felt the water touch her waist.
Alette bit her lip as the water reached her ribs. She wasn't getting very far with the rope around her wrist but kept trying to cut it. Soon the water touched the bottom of her chest and she was still stuck. The rope was wearing away slowly and she could tell she was close to breaking it. Suddenly the water was at her neck and she knew she would have to hold her breath.
Alette took a deep breath as her head was submerged. Her insides were practically fizzing up they were so panicked but she tried to focus on getting herself out of this mess. She nearly had her wrist free of the stone cylinders that held her now to the bottom of the pool. Her ears were ringing and her head felt like exploding. Just as the edges of her vision were fading a figure entered her vision.
The girl had long blond hair that floated around her head like a halo. Around her one eye was a black pattern that moved down her face, it looked cool. Her skin was so pale Alette could see nearly all of her veins through it. The girls opal like eyes stared at her intently. She was wearing a shimmering bathing top that matched her eyes and had a golden latch in the front of it. That's when Alette looks down and realized. The girl had a long shimmering white tail, as I caught the light rainbows seemed to reflect along it. Alette would have gasped if she hadn't been underwater.
The mermaid girl approached Alette and put her two hands on Alette's shoulders. She stared at her for a second as Alette's vision was fading. Even if she got out now she wouldn't make it to the surface, the mermaid realized this. With Alette fighting he she grabbed her face and breathed oxygen into Alette's lungs.
Alette was shocked. As the mermaid separated away from her she pulled a bone knife from her waist. Alette widened her eyes scared but then she felt the rope on her wrist fall off. Looking down she realized the mermaid had cut it. Alette looked up at the mermaid with a slight smile. She wanted to thank her, the mermaid had just saved her life, if she could get to the surface anyway. The mermaid didn't smile back, instead she saw the mermaid slowly turn invisible from the tail up. Alette felt hands under her arms and got the message. The mermaid was going to help Alette to the surface without letting The Piper know. It was a good plan.
With the mermaid girls help Alette slowly made it to the edge of the pool. Although the mermaid did most of the work, Alette just tried to look like she knew what she was doing. Once her upper half was safely on land she felt the mermaid leave her. Alette looked back at the water but saw nothing. She knew she would come back here, she had to, she had to thank the mermaid girl.
Alette's clothes were plastered to her and she looked down and realized she could see her own undergarments. She rolled her legs onto land and slowly stood only to face a smirking piper. Her arms crossed over her chest so he could not see it and surprisingly her mask and cap were still firmly on her face. The Piper kicked up dust as he walked in her direction. "You sure were under there for a long time, I thought we'd lost a lost boy."
Lost boy? Alette thought that over, she wasn't a boy. Not was she lost. Could The Piper really not see that she was female. Then again to be fair, Alette had never spoken to him, and her face and hair had been covered. Besides she hadn't worn a corset either. The Piper raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you, mute?"
Alette thought over it. He could have lept in to help her, he might have been able to save her. He obviously didn't know about the mermaid. How could a person just watch a person nearly die and not do anything about it? As he neared her she spat out at him. "You're evil!"
He stepped back for a moment as he heard her voice. His eyebrow raise and an awful smirk crossed his face. He kicked a pebble into the water as he neared her. He pointed one finger at her. "You're a girl."
Alette almost wanted to roll her eyes at that. She thought it was obvious. Slowly she untied the mask from her face but kept it in her hand. With her other hand she pulled off her cap releasing her soaking wet hair that tumbled down her back immediately. It went down to her hips when it was straight and wet as it was currently. Usually it was so curly it only reached her ribs. She threw her wet cap at him which he caught and threw into the forest. "Of course I'm a girl!"
The Piper looked around as if she would turn into a boy when he looked back. He started pacing again by the shore. There was a puzzle going through his head. He hadn't realized she was a girl, she had seemed so daring and wild he had naturally assumed. He couldn't allow a girl to live on Neverland. Then he glanced over at her and saw the plain out fury in her white irises. Then again, she seemed different than other girls. Perhaps she could be of use. The Piper turned to Alette and asked her. "What's your name?"
Alette raised and eyebrow at that. She couldn't believe his nerve, you cannot just let a person nearly die then ask them their name. It would be ridiculous and foolish to do so. That's why Alette started to yell at the shocked Piper. "YOU NEARLY LET ME DROWN!!! LIKE HELL AM I GOING TO TELL YOU MY NAME! YOUR SICK, SADISTIC-"
Alette ran out of adjectives to describe The Piper and stomped her foot on the ground in rage. She wanted to hit something, actually she wanted to hit The Piper. Hard. Across the face. With a chair. She had never experienced such pure anger and she felt as though it was going to tear her part piece by piece. Staring at him she projected pure anger, and The Piper liked it. He knew instantly that she would make a good lost girl. A great one even. That's why he walked up to her, grabbed her arm, and started to lead her to camp. She didn't drop her mask.
Alette fought against his grasp but he was much stronger than her. Besides she was actually curious as to where they were going, but she would never admit to that. She kept trying to pull her arm away and he soon grew impatient, his arm tightened around her bicep. It hurt slightly and she winced. She quiet trying to fight though and walked through what seemed like an endless forest. She wondered how he knew his way through these forests, it all seemed the same to her. With an aggravated voice she asked The Piper. "Who the hell are you and where do you think you are taking me?"
The Piper stopped with a sighed and turned her towards him. He towered over her but she crossed her arms and stared up at him defiantly. His patience was growing thinner with this girl. "I'm Pan. Peter Pan. And I am taking you to my camp."
He started to drag her along again without stopping to let her process anything. At least now she had a name for the mysterious Piper. Peter Pan, what an odd name. It was one she had certainly never heard before. This place as a total did seem odd though. The air buzzed with a sort of strange electricity that made her insides spark. She did her best to ignore it.
They walked for quite awhile. Alette's feet started to tire, but she got the feeling she shouldn't mention that too, Peter. Or should she call him Pan. She debated it in her head. Both sounded like ok names, but in the end she decided on Pan. He just didn't seem compassionate enough to have a name like Peter, in fact he seems the opposite of compassionate.
In wasn't long after that that the two came to a clearing the woods, Pan's Camp. Alette stopped to take it all in. Scattered about the place unevenly were tents that seemed to be built out of sticks and white and green tarp like material. They each opened in the front and she saw boys going in and out of them periodically. Near the side of the camp there was a fire place with logs circling it as seats. Few trees sprouted randomly in the clearing making almost a leaf canopy overtop of nearly the entire place. Of course there were no leaves growing above the fire place. She saw four trails leading out of the camp and wondered immediately where they went. Near them Alette saw another tent, only this one was larger and was built on top of wood supports. She knew it must be the leader of the camps tent. She started to wonder who that was when she looked over at Pan. She almost felt silly for even wondering about who may be in charge, it was him without a doubt.
Alette didn't get long to stare before Pan marched her over to a tent on the edges of the camp far from both his tent and the fireplace. It seemed almost isolated, even though there were other tents just a little ways a way. In front and a little to the left of the tent grew a large tree from which apples were growing. Alette was about to reach up to pick one when Peter pulled her into the tent.
Perpendicular to the right edge of the tent there were two small 'beds'. Which were really just a bunch of straw wrapped up in blankets and flattened into a bed shape. There were a couple of blankets on top of each and the straw became more consistent as it got to the top of the bed so it almost formed a pillow. Beside each bed there was a tiny chest of sorts, both of the chests and beds seemed like mirrors of each other. Pushed against the left side was what looked like another bed. It didn't have the straw mattress thing but looked comfortable none the less. It looked almost like there was some sort of fur on the bottom, and there were a few blankets on top. Then at the head of the 'bed' Alette saw a black rolled up thing that seemed oddly familiar. At the foot of the bed like thing there was a slightly larger chest.
Pan had let go of Alette's arm once they got inside and Alette turned to Pan. She was somewhat confused. Then again who wouldn't be confused if they woke up in a strange place they didn't recognize tied to a raft, then while nearly drowning was saved by a mermaid, and then, after being stomped through the woods by a guy named after a kitchen artifact, was lead into a nice looking tent. Honestly though, who wouldn't be confused. Alette crossed her still somewhat wet arms and asked. "Why am I here?"
"This is were you'll be staying," Pan said simply looking around as she did. Without making nearly a sound he walked over to the large chest. He opened it with ease and inside there were all manners of clothes, and weapons. Alette spotted daggers, knives, a small sword, a bow, and arrows placed in a quiver. She had never gotten the chance to wield a weapon before, but she had seen and touched them. She was instantly excited by the thought of being able to use them. Pan started for the slit in the tent that was acting like a door. "Get changed, I'll send your roommates to meet you."
Alette raised her eyebrow. Roommates? She escaped the Convent where she had to stay with twenty nine other girls, staying with two other people couldn't be so bad. Pan exited the tent quickly without looking back, leaving Alette alone to change.
Alette kneeled down so she could rifle through the chest. It was nice, made out of a dark wood with a silver latch on it. She had to admit she liked it. Her mask was still in her hand and carefully she placed it in the chest not wanting it to get ruined. She liked it and although some of the feathers were drying stuck together she was sure she could fix it somehow. She made sure the ribbon was still firmly fastened to the one side of the mask before looking for some clothes.
Alette started looking through everything and it took her a while before she found something she wanted. She was glad that there weren't any skirts in the chest, she wouldn't have to go back to that. But as she searched through she found only men's undergarments, she would have to ask Pan for some other ones. With that Alette took off her clothes and hung them over a rope that went down the length of the tent, she assumed that's what it was there for.
Alette made sure that the slit wasn't blown open or anything before she took off her undergarments and hung them up as well. She decided to let them dry for a while before she put them on again. She again started to look through the chest. She was a little uncomfortable being naked in a place she had never been in before, but for some strange reason she felt secure there. She soon found a pair of pants that would probably fit her. They were dark brown and she could tell they would be loose on her. She started looking for a belt and found a leather one quickly she was pretty sure would work. She set those items aside and started looking for shoes. As she reached the bottom of the chest she found her boots there with her socks tucked inside of them. She smiled as she pulled them out and set them beside her. Now for a shirt. There were no corsets she could wear so that idea was ruled out of her mind immediately. But digging through she stumbled upon a shirt she really liked. It would be a little tight on her but didn't mind. It was a v neck top that laced up in the front and was coloured a deep gray. She set it down on the pile as well and went over to her undergarments.
Alette thought they were mostly dry so took them off of the rope and slipped them on. Her hair was still very damp and was plastered to her back immediately. Alette did a quick search for a hair tie in the chest, as Pan had thrown away her cap. She found a few kicking around in the bottom of the chest and quickly braided her hair. Alette slipped the shirt on doing up the v neck as much as she could. However the skirt was designed for a guy, it didn't fit around her chest well. It made the front of the shirt pull up so much you could nearly see her belly button. Alette sighed but knew that it was the best she could do at the moment. She started to slip on the pants but only got them up to her mid hip by the time they burst in.
"Hello."