Chapter 17
"That was while you were unconscious?" He asks, and I can't discern the curiosity from the concern that fills his voice.
I shrug. "Probably, it's not that big of a deal."
"I don't like being threatened." He counters.
I turn to glance at Peter of out the corner of my eye. He's frowning, in a way that I can't dissect. He doesn't seem angry nor worried, more pissed off.
I pull my shirt down. "Well you weren't, and neither was I."
"We're lucky you aren't dead." He counters.
I shake my head. "Their plan wasn't to kill me. You're smart; if you were to kidnap someone with the intention to kill them, wouldn't you want to make sure they're dead? This seems lazy."
"I never said my boys were smart." He sighs, leaning against his bed frame.
"This is a whole new level of stupid." I snap, knocking my hand aside.
My wrist hits a small ceramic jug of water, knocking it over on to a scroll. Peter frowns at me, snapping his fingers and the water is cleaned up, back into the jug.
"You should just leave." He tells me, spinning around.
I scoff, moving towards him. "You can't just send people away when you are mad at them."
He glares at me. "This is my island, not yours."
Fingers are on my wrist, and I feel myself vanish before I can spit out another word.
I'm in the Med tent, and surprisingly no one else is in here. How rude of him to just send me off. Why is he mad anyway? Sure I disappeared for days, but that isn't any of his business. Not when he can disappear for days without having me worry. We're partners; I'm not his property.
It's been a long day, so as I lie down on the cot, I let my eyes close. There's no point in trying to stay awake since I haven't really slept in a week. Sure, my body was gone but my mind didn't get a break.
I need a break.
When I wake up, it's still dark out. I was hoping I would hit the ten minutes of sun shine, but either it has already come and gone, or I might be waiting for it for a couple more hours. Nothing seems to be really working in my favour as of late.
Who knows? Maybe the sun is gone forever.
I step outside the tent, moving into the slight space around the fire. Gregory and his friends are sitting around chatting, as Blaize walks over with a smile on her face. This can't be good.
She moves over to the boy next to Gregory, the stupid one named Oliver, and whispers something in his ear. He turns around to catch a glance of her, smiling before getting up to look at her dead on. With a smirk on his face he leans in closer to her, wrapping his hands up inside her cloak. He whispers something to her and she bites her lip looking back at him.
I move forward, and Gregory stands up as he sees me, but that doesn't attract Oliver's attention. He still seems to be off in space when I grab him by his hair, ripping him off of Blaize. He falls backwards, tripping over the logs in the fire and landing behind it.
He's lucky the logs weren't lit. I however, am not.
"Nobody touches them, alright." I spit, looking down on the boy from above.
He grabs hold of me by the ankle, dragging me down to the ground. When my spine hits the dirt, I can't help but groan. I can't tell if I am bleeding or not, but do I hope I'm not. If there is one thing I don't need any more of, it's scars.
"You're funny." Gregory chuckles.
I can see him out of the corner of my eye, peering down from above me. For a minute I think he's about to begin a soliloquy, but that would be ridiculously out of character for him. My eyes search for Blaize but I realise she's gone. Whatever information she was trying to extract from Oliver is lost at this point, and I watch as Oliver's eyes flash beside me.
"Little girl, you can't go around picking fights with the big guns." Spencer, the smart one, leans down and whispers in my ear.
I almost laugh at him. "You think you're tough shit huh? I'll break that face of yours, somehow make it uglier than I already is."
I feel a foot kick me in the side, and I grit my teeth together. Gregory chuckles, grabbing me by the base of my ponytail and lifting me up off the ground. He spins me around to face him, pulling me in close to him with his fist wrapped around my neck. He wipes his tongue along his teeth, tilting my head up.
My feet threaten to dangle me off the ground. Only my toes manage to support me, but I don't raise my hands to fight. I need him alive for the upcoming war; Gregory is one of our best hand to hand fighters. He certainly has the brute strength to snap my neck in his fingers.
For some reason, I'm not scared.
"You know, you're lucky you're Pan's." Gregory chuckles. "Otherwise I'd already have you in my hammock. All night long, and the nights are quite long here."
"Careful," I warn, "keep talking like that and I might vomit on you."
Gregory's smile quickly breaks, and I feel him slam me into a tree behind me. Over his shoulder I watch someone light the fire, and I can't help but hope that Gregory's sees its danger in my eyes. I want to frighten him.
"You're in a place to talk." He grunts, leaning into me. "After being so easily dragged into the woods a week ago."
I can feel our stomachs pressed tightly together, and I can feel his breath on my neck as he whispers. "Pan won't care about you forever. You're nothing but a play thing, and boys are bound to get bored with their toys."
I lean into him at the waist, trying to create space between our heads. He leans back to look at me, and I move my lips so close to his that they are touching.
"Didn't realise you were the kind of boy to want scraps," my words are more breath than air, "willing to chew on the bones of whatever is thrown into his clutches."
Gregory laughs, slamming my head back into the tree. My vision blurs and my eyes water, but it was more than worth it.
Gregory's lackeys have moved back away from us, silently watching from the distance.
"You've got a mouth that's only going to get you in trouble." He chuckles. "I should stick something in it just to shut you up."
I can't help but gulp at that. That threat was a little too pointed.
Gregory is ripped off of me, and when he turns around, Johnny's slags him across the face. Gregory stumbles, and hits Johnny back.
When Johnny hits the ground, I take this as my chance to kick Gregory as hard as I can below the belt. The boy grabs hold of himself, before letting his knees hit the ground.
Oliver and Spencer stand up, while Max averts his eyes. With a flick of my hand, the two boys fall to the ground, and I turn to glare at Johnny.
Who does he think he is stepping in on my fight when he's got no business even touching me? I'm not his property, nor am I his friend to defend. If I can't manage to handle Gregory, than I deserve whatever I've got coming without his interference.
Alison grabs a hold of Johnny on the ground, picking him up and dragging him off. She looks at me, and shrugs at me to follow her.
I cross my arms, standing still. As mad as I am, I've got nothing better to do than give a pregnant girl and her disabled boyfriend a piece of my mind. I should feel bad, probably, but I don't. I can't figure out why I don't.
With one last look at Gregory's angry face on the ground, I follow the two into the forest.
"What the hell was that?" I demand, spitting over at Johnny.
He limps out of Alison's grip, turning to face me. "Gregory's isn't to be trusted."
I growl, kicking the tree behind me. The leaves shake down as my foot collides with it, and one lands in my hair but I don't bother to move it.
"That doesn't mean it's your place to step in and save me!" I shout.
"Stop yelling." Alison's voice is meek, and she turns away from me.
I grab a hold of her by the cheeks, staring into her eyes. Johnny tries to pull me away from her, but I just bring Alison closer. If he gets too rough he could hurt the baby and Johnny is too much of a pansy to do that.
"I'm going to yell." I scrunch my nose up at her. "Look at me Alison."
She turns her eyes away from me, but I just rip her head towards me. She winces, before looking at me, tears in her eyes.
"You can't just pretend this isn't happening." I let go of her, backing up. "This is Neverland, and here, it's dark and gritty. Be scared all you want, but you can't pretend that we aren't who we are."
"This isn't you." She pleads. "Look at what that boy has done to you. I'm just trying to protect you."
"I don't need protecting."
"You're mother asked me-"
My hands slam her into the tree behind her, and this time Johnny doesn't hesitate to yank me back. He is angry, but still unable to fight properly. If there is a war coming up I've got to get someone to fix him. He's a good fighter, but he can't fight like this.
"You don't get to say her name."
Alison shakes her head. "This is why she asked you to get girls, don't you see? Because she knew what would happen here."
"My mother is dead." I spit, looking up and away from the pair of them. "You don't know anything."
Silence follows my words, and neither of them argue. I can't bear to look at their faces, opting instead to turn around. Pulling out my dagger, I swipe it across a tree, cutting deep into the bark.
"You have a fate, Charlotte." Johnny manages to say. "You can't keep fighting it."
"And what's that supposed to be?" I ask, spinning on my heels.
Alison shakes her head. "I'm not allowed to tell you yet. You can't know."
"You're full of shit." I turn around again, moving through the forest.
I want to kill them both, but Pan needs them. This stupid war is finally coming, I can feel it. Even if Peter and I aren't exactly speaking, I'm not going to just go off pretending I'm not by his side in this.
"There was an oracle, or a prophet or something." Alison calls out. "I know what is going to happen."
"And I don't care," I mock. "I don't care about anything."
"Maybe that's why I am here." Alison presses on.
This is a waste of my time. I keep walking back to camp, leaving those two in the dark woods. Maybe something will attack them. Then I won't have to feel bad about doing it personally.
I need to talk to Peter.
~~~~~
So this was a lot of a chapter. Maybe I'm projecting everything in my life on to the plot, literally and metaphorically speaking. So I just have one question.
What happens next?
For now, stay safe, and I'll see you Thursday.