Chapter Three

I must have slept deeper than I first supposed, for the next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake by several small hands. I bolted upright and knocked the Twins over in the process.

"What?" I hissed, not happy at being awakened in such a way. The Twins glanced at each other and that was when I noticed that Curly and Tootles were gone.

"Where's Curly and Tootles?" I asked. The Twins looked at each other again and then pointed to the ceiling in unison. "They're outside?" I asked for clarification. They nodded solemnly.

"Why?"

"Peter's back." The Twin's eyes were huge.

I am sure my expression soon matched theirs: that wide-eyed look of wonder and fear that had appeared as soon as my ears heard those two dreaded words. I scrambled out of the bed and hastened to make myself look at least half-way presentable before hurrying out of the Home Under the Ground and stumbling into the bright sunlight of the morning. Curly and Tootles were already there, shifting nervously on their feet as a whooping figure dressed in leaves shot through the trees, a bright ball of light beside him.

The stormy clouds had dissipated into a bright spring sky, and the flowers were all in bloom. The trees' leaves shone a bright green and the chattering of animals and the chirping of birds could be heard throughout the forest around us. The dew felt cool beneath my bare feet and as the sun shone down a clump of bushes, the reflection of the sun on the dew almost blinded me. I looked away quickly.

I took my place next to Curly and the Twins stood beside me on my other side. My heart was pounding nearly out of my thin chest as Peter landed in front of us, hands on his hips.

"Great news!" he crowed. "I have heard the ending of Sleeping Beauty!" We Lost Boys exchanged a look of curiosity mixed with apprehension. Did he not see that one of his followers was missing? Apparently not for he went on to describe a great battle scene complete with sword motions and sound effects. We shifted uncomfortably on our feet, waiting for him to end and notice Nibs's absence.

"And they all lived happily ever after!" Peter concluded, sheathing his knife and placing his hands once more on his hips, watching us expectantly.

"Well, that's good news!" I forced out with a tight smile. The boys around me nodded and murmured their agreement. Peter glowed with satisfaction.

"Now we must attack the pirates!" he said suddenly. "They shot at me as I came back." He looked at all of us and slowly frowned in confusion. It was then that I realized he had noticed the nonexistence of one very important Lost Boy.

"Isn't there supposed to be six of you?" he asked, looking over each one of us in question.

Curly dropped his gaze to the ground. Tootles looked up at the sky, squinting against the bright light. The Twins turned toward each other and began digging their small fingers into each other's side, as if trying to get the other to talk first. Finally Peter's gaze rested on me. I knew I could not escape now. I stepped forward and took a deep breath.

"Peter," I started and licked my lips nervously. "Nibs is gone. The Mermaids took him. He's . . . dead."

Peter still looked at me expectantly for a moment as if he did not understand. Then he grew angry.

"They promised me they would not touch any one of my Lost Boys!" he shouted, his face growing red with rage.

The Twins stopped poking each other and looked at him with wide eyes. Curly flinched and glanced sidelong at me. Tootles cringed and clenched his cubby fists to help relieve some of his stress. I'm sure my face paled for I felt the blood drain from it. Glancing once more at Curly, I noticed that he looked ready to step forward and take the blame himself. I gritted my teeth and spoke up quickly, not wanting Curly to get in trouble for something I had done.

"It-It's my fault Peter," I said softly and he looked sharply at me. "I-I didn't go after him."

He narrowed his hazel eyes at me, as if debating whether or not to punish me. I braced myself for whatever he had in mind.

"Why not?" he asked, stepping toward me. I kept my gaze on the ground.

"I was-I was afraid," I admitted and glanced up at him. A smirk curled his lips.

"Ha!" he cried. "I am never afraid! I shall rescue him!" He flew up into the air and I had to shout after him:

"You can't! He's dead as in dead. No longer living. Not breathing. Dead. Dead. Dead!" I was trembling then, my own hands clenching as he slowly floated to the ground, his face screwed up in an expression I could not read.

The rest of the Lost Boys had stepped back and Peter strode toward me, pulling his dagger out once more. He held the tip up to my throat.

"I should kill you myself before you kill anymore of my Boys," he said softly, contemplatively. I held my head high and tried to calm my trembling.

"Do it Peter," I said confidently, although my voice shook slightly. "I deserve it."

He nodded slowly and pulled back the knife, ready to plunge it into my heart. I could hear the collective gasp of the Lost Boys behind me. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the pain and the blood. But before anything pierced me, a voice called out from the trees.

"Peter! Hold your knife!" The voice sounded familiar and my eyes shot open to see Peter turn swiftly toward the voice. I heard the Lost Boys behind me sigh in unison.

Princess Tiger Lily stepped out of the forest, stepping toward us silently, as Indians are wont to do, shaking her head slowly.

"Your Lost Boy is not dead," she said and I could feel my mouth drop open in shock as I'm sure the other boy's did. Peter however, grinned widely.

"I knew he could not be," he said boldly.

When he said nothing else, I felt the need to speak up.

"Well, where is he?" I asked, somewhat breathlessly.

Tiger Lily looked amused. "He is with Singing Rain and her brother Leaping Buck. Singing Rain is the one who found him wandering alone in the woods. He was wet and shivering, the poor thing."

Every single eye in the clearing fixed themselves on me. I felt my cheeks flush heatedly and I dug my bare toes into the soft earth beneath my feet, staring down at them in shame. However my heart was once more pounding restlessly and I could barely keep myself from rushing out of the clearing toward the Indian camp to see Nibs alive for myself.

"Can we go see him?" Finally one of the Twins spoke my mind. We all sucked in our breaths together, waiting anxiously for Tiger Lily's answer. Once more she looked amused.

"Of course," she said, and gestured for us to follow her.

We did so hurriedly, almost tripping over our feet in our haste. Only Peter seemed not in a rush. He rose lazily in the air, looking disinterested in our mad scramble. He spoke with Tinker Bell as he flew above us, laughing at something she said. I was concentrating too much on what I would say to Nibs to notice when he suddenly flew off. I was not surprised when I did notice however, knowing how Peter's attention span wandered easily. Now that he knew Nibs was fine, he was not interested in a heartfelt reunion.

We were all breathless when we reached the camp. Tiger Lily gestured for us to stay and wait for her to bring Nibs to us. We nodded wearily. The Twins were the first to recover and stood close to each other, holding hands tightly. Curly's face was so pale his freckles stood out sharply, he was breathing heavily and when our eyes met for a brief second his gaze retreated to the ground. Tootles wheezed and concentrated on taking deep breaths of air. My hands were shaking so badly I quickly put them behind my back.

The sound of laughter made me lift my head suddenly and turn to my right. There, several yards away, was Nibs, clapping his hands delightedly as the knife he had just thrown embedded itself into the trunk of a tree quite a ways ahead of him. We watched as a tall, handsome Indian walked over to the tree and pulled the knife out, walking back to Nibs and handing it back to him. Then Tiger Lily appeared and said something to Nibs which made his head jerk up. My breath caught in my throat. Tiger Lily pointed to where we Lost Boys stood and I heard Curly inhale sharply.

My heart thudded a strange rhythm in my thin chest as Nibs sheathed his knife and made his way toward us. The Twins began bouncing on their toes lightly and before he had quite reached us, they took off toward him, tackling him to the ground with great shouts of joy and relief. Curly suddenly grinned and color returned to his cheeks as he turned to beam at Tootles. Tootles was grinning as well and gave a yelp of excitement, joining the Twins on the pile. Curly soon joined them. Only I hung back, unsure of what Nibs's reaction to seeing me again would be.

It took several minutes for him to even notice me; the boys jumping on him took up most of his attention. When the screaming, laughing, and tackling died down, he sat up suddenly and his light blue eyes met my brown ones. Then he stood up slowly, pushing the Twins away as he did. I swallowed hard as he made his way toward me. Finally he stood directly in front of me.

For a long time we stared at each other. Then I opened my mouth to apologize. Before I could, however, I found I was unable for all my breath left me in a whoosh as he punched me hard in the stomach. I was too surprised to retaliate and doubled over in pain, groaning and clutching my midsection. Nibs simply stood there while I recovered. I looked up at him and grimaced.

"What was that for?" I gasped loudly. The Lost Boys were looking on with eyes wide with surprise.

"That's for leaving me at the lagoon," Nibs said haughtily, crossing his arms and looking down at my cringing form.

"I thought you were dead!" I cried, straightening with another grimace.

"So?" Nibs shot back, clearly not going to let me go easily. "You could have tried to save me."

"I was scared!" I finally admitted, shouting now, tears of frustration gathering in my eyes as well as tears of relief that he was alive. Nibs blinked and then slowly smiled.

"Ha," he said quietly. "I knew you were."

I looked at him in surprise and then grinned faintly. "I was not," I denied, even though I had just confessed not two seconds ago.

"Was too," Nibs took the bait gleefully.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

Nibs was giggling now, and I could not help but laugh as well. The Twins started laughing too, although I doubted they knew what they were laughing at. Curly and Tootles looked greatly relieved and they began chuckling. Tiger Lily rolled her eyes as if at our stupidity and walked away with Leaping Buck, leaving us to our own devices. After a while our laughter died down and we just stood around grinning at each other. Then Nibs suddenly asked:

"Where's Peter?"

We looked around and saw that Peter had indeed disappeared. Puzzled, I tried to recall when I had seen him last. I remembered that he had flown off to the south but could not think of where he could have gone. However we did not have to wonder for long, for suddenly the sound of a cock's crow echoed through the forest. We all jumped in unison and turned toward the sound.

Peter flew in and landed among us. He gave Nibs only a brief look of satisfaction before addressing us all.

"Hook is on the move!" he declared. "He and his gang of dastardly pirates are heading this way to ambush the Indians! We must fight!"

I looked around at the boys surrounding him. None of us had any weapons besides Nibs and his was only a knife.

"Um, weapons Peter?" I asked, stretching out my arms to show him that I, along with everyone else, was unarmed.

He looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded. "Very well, you and Curly will go get our weapons, the rest of us shall stay here and await the battle." His eyes gleamed with excitement and I knew better than to argue with him on the verge of what had the potential to be an exciting game. Curly and I exchanged a glance before we nodded to our leader and sped off into the forest.

Ah, nice little heartfelt reunion there. ;-) Please review and tell me what you think! :-D