Everything was paradise suddenly. Mara Turner floated up the surface of the water, on her back, slowly having her arms as her body itself swam slowly around and her eyes closed. She was all by herself at the waterfalls, the boys had their turn and Mara had the place all to herself. The water was warm, glistening by the sun above, no sounds but the waterfalls was heard.
Just the moment she needed, alone at last, relax, swim a bit and clean herself up. Forget that she was in Neverland for a long moment.
The moment she opened her eyes, that's when she remembered she was in Neverland, though that didn't ruined her moment, she still enjoyed herself. The blue sky as clouds flew by, tall trees around surrounding the area, she waved her arms up, down in circles as she swam gently toward the main ground.
When she climbed out of the water, she sat on a rocky ground, her leg up to her below her knees remained in the water. She had a sleeveless tunic and small under trousers, all in brown coloured. She reached for the pouch that James gave her before he went back to the camp, it was some fruit snacks he picked out for her. She pulled a pear and began to eat it while gazing the waterfall with a rainbow forming in the middle of it.
While in the middle of having snacks, a voice rang out, yelling from behind her, from the woods "What the bloody hell you three doing?! Get out of here!"
She heard footsteps immediately retreating right away, she couldn't see who they were but recognized that yelling voice which was James's. He stepped out of the woods, and was approaching her. She wondered how long whoever those boys were were watching her, she never heard them at all, good thing she never removed all of her clothes before she jumped into the water.
"Sorry about them, those ruddy deviant bastards" he stopped near her, "Still not done here?"
She shrugged, weakly raising her half-eaten apple "Just replenishing. What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on you," he replied, "see if you're finished here because our tentmates wanted to go for a hike, figured you might want to come along unless you want to stay in the camp with the rest of the boys"
"Better with you guys than the rest of them" She stood up, tossed the apple behind the rocks and grabbed her long sleeved tunic from the log. She put it on, under her tunic, she took off the wet one, James awkwardly gazed away toward the woods, she kind of trusted him that he wouldn't look but only almost worried if anyone else was around looking.
She took her bottom cloth off, put on her trousers she had wore for the past few weeks. "Finished" she told James, she placed her wet clothes on a branch to let them dry and might use them for swimming again.
James lead the way into the forest, few moments of walking, they met with Slightly, Tootles and Curly, found them sitting and standing around as they waited for James and Mara.
"I take it little arseling is coming along" Curly smiled, Mara felt that smile was rather sarcasm.
Annoyed by the nickname, she pretended she didn't heard him. "Where are we going?" She asked as she and James stopped.
"Right in the middle of the island, a bit of a climbing when we get there but it'll be easy" Curly grabbed his spear, stood up and started walking.
Tootles and Slightly followed him, James and Mara exchanged glances, he nodded forward for her to go first then she did.
The sun was shaded by tall trees, every direction Mara gazed, there were bits of rays of the sunlight, brightening the dark forest a little, she had seen a few blue butterflies flying by them, she wasn't sure if it was the same one she saw on her first arrival in the island or maybe there were plenty of things around.
During the stroll, Curly was singing as she still lead the group, Tootles would sing along, Slightly's humming were low and James has been quiet most of the time while he was walking behind Mara.
O' we were lost before Neverland
Now we're found and we are the Lost Boys
Everyday we play games and have fun
We run and hide and hunt and kill for fun
We dance in some nights until we grow weary
Danger come but we fight and win like we always do
Because we never fail
Mara wasn't sure if Curly was singing in random or that was one of the Lost Boys songs but Tootles and Slightly seemed to be singing along.
"You know--" Curly had stopped singing, so did Tootles and Slightly. "--maybe we should change the song a little bit, with the whole We are the Lost Boys, we now got a girl, we should put Lost Girl somewhere in that song"
Mara huffed, "Don't even bother"
"Or we could make a Lost Girl song!" Curly exclaimed.
Mara sighed peevishly and said nothing. She could hear James snickering behind her.
"The unexpected day had come. Where the first ever Lost Girl arrived!" Curly began singing. "A girl coming from a pirate ship--"
"I swear if he doesn't stop--" Mara halted for a moment until James was beside her, "--he won't be singing anymore"
James chuckled before he called out loudly, "Curly, shut it already!"
"What?!" Curly turned around and glanced down toward the two, "It was starting to grow on me, Tootles liked it and even Slightly was starting to sing along"
"I don't know what you're talking about" Slightly uttered, walking pass by Curly and lead the way this time.
"Why you gotta spoil the fun, James?" Curly proceeded walking. Tootles suddenly slipped when he was attempted to climb over the log. "Tootles, you're ridiculous"
"Shove off, girly hair" Tootles stood up and cautiously climbed over the log.
The hill was getting more steeper as they were close to the mountain, the forest wasn't dark anymore, sun was visible where they were, exposing themselves to the light. Tootles tripped, slipped and fell few times along the way. The air grew warmer, Mara began feeling sweat forming on her back, she had tied her hair back using a lace to keep her hair together.
"Is the weather always like this?" Mara stopped.
"Sometimes it gets cold, sometimes it rains, sometimes it's windy and stormy" James walked by her. "Believe me, we're lucky enough that it isn't raining or there's a storm"
"What's wrong with rain and storm in Neverland?"
"It's brutal!" Tootles exclaimed then chuckled, "Lightning strikes near us sometimes, the rain is always heavy, rain sometimes lasts for days and during a storm season, there's always a thunder and lightning everyday"
"Well, storm season is near" said Slightly, "in a month or two"
"Thanks for reminding us, grumpy" Curly moaned.
When they reached the mountain, that's when the real climbing started, the five children had to help each other climbing, Tootles was the only one who had to be tied in a rope around his waist in case he slips or falls, the rope would be held by Curly and sometimes Slightly. Mara caught Tootles when he lost his balance, she grabbed both of arms as he nearly fell off the ledge.
It wasn't a difficult climb for Mara, but she'd need a boast or to be pulled up over the ledge sometimes. The hour felt long and stretched when they reached midways of the mountain, where they reached their destination.
"See? That wasn't so bad" Curly said, walking up to the cliff.
Mara helped James to get over the ledge by grabbing his hand then pulled him up. "Thanks" he strained as he got on his feet.
They both walked up the cliff where Curly, Tootles and Slightly stood. Mara was quickly stunned by the view. From where she stood, she could see half of the Neverland, the bay, the lagoon and the ocean. She could see a faded dark grey of line of smoke between west and north. It wasn't the only smoke she saw, on her right was there were few she saw. All of trees were in different shades of green, the waterfalls where she swam was near the lonely smoke.
"That's not all of it" James said, "This is just half of it, the other side isn't this nice what you're seeing"
"That's our camp" Tootles pointed at the lonely smoke, "The Cannibal Cove where the pirates usually arrive, the Mermaid Lagoon"
"Native Camp, Indian Camp, Tribe's Camp, you name it--" Curly pointed at the few smokes on their right.
"This place has its perks after all" Mara complemented.
"Oh come on, there's a bunch of perks" Curly laughed, "Give it time, little arseling"
The noon grew late, after relaxing, resting and having snacks, that's when they climbed back down. Mara admitted that she had never really seen a view like that, with the ocean, bay, and lagoon within the same place, a land of forest, she couldn't recall if she had ever seen anything like that before.
Evening arrived when they reached the ground, she was relieved and glad she got over all the climbing. That's when Curly sang the Lost Boys song again, Mara didn't really found Curly annoying with his singing but he would be if he dared to start singing the Lost Girl song again.
While the boys were singing, they suddenly heard an animal screeching almost distantly, the five halted and stood silent. A moment later, another animal cry, it sounded both screeching and roaring.
James groaned "Oh bloody hell"
"Is it Shadow or Lady?" Curly asked while Mara was confused.
"Does it bloody matter? Tootles, get up on the tree" James ordered.
"Shadow can climb trees" Tootles uttered worriedly.
"Best to hurry up there and stay quiet then. Go"
Tootles quickly went to the nearest tree and started to climb up. "What are you boys talking about?" Mara demanded.
"Pan's ruddy pets" Curly answered as he was reaching into his bag, and kept pulling out fruits and tossing them away. "Or at least one of them"
"The panther and the jaguar?" Mara began to feel anxious.
"Got it right, little arseling" Curly pulled out a cooked meat then tossed it in the different direction.
Another large cat cries, this time was louder and seemingly close. "Those bastard Twins let one of them out" Slightly uttered.
"Head for the waterfalls" James ordered, "Run!"
***