When Len awoke – for he had the strangest feeling that someone was watching him in his sleep, and who could sleep through that? – the first thing he saw was a pair of glowing orbs staring right at him.
He shot up with a yelp, pushing himself back from the eyes. His heart was racing. It took a while for him to realise that it was just the girl, and she was watching him with amusement on her face, clearly entertained by his shock. She was crouched next to him, her hands wrapped around her knees. His heartbeat began to slow, hand instinctively reaching up to cover his chest. He breathed.
"Don't do that!" he snapped, sounding more breathless than threatening. "It's creepy as hell. I have enough problems in Neverland without having to wake up thinking that a wolf got into my room or something…" though he wouldn't have been in any danger if a wolf really did enter the den. She didn't know that yet though. "What do you want?" he muttered now, the shock mostly receding from his blood by now. Miku rocked back on her heels, still smiling in that smug, satisfied way.
"I was just surprised to see you here when I woke up. You disappeared when I came back from looking for Piko, after all," she explained, pale fingers rapping out a quick rhythm on her knee. "It's night time already," she offered unhelpfully, "and it's time for you to be up anyway. Rei came in a while ago. He wondered where you were, but he left when he saw you were sleeping," she rose from the ground now, pale skin eerie in the faint moonlight that shone into his room.
"Rei?" he blinked, more interested in what she was saying now. "Is he still around? How long has it been since he came to look for me?" he jumped up to his feet, stretching himself, a low moan escaping his throat as he did so. He felt stiff all over – it had been a long time since he last had to take the thinner mattress, and the stone wore through his bones. If Rei had been in here just a little while ago, perhaps he could still catch the dark boy before he went out for his nightly feast.
"Not that long ago, maybe ten or fifteen minutes. I didn't keep track," the girl was facing away from him now, long teal hair a dark mass that reached down to her waist. She was combing her fingers through her hair, radiating complete dismissiveness. "He said it was nothing urgent anyway, I asked. Oh, and you know," she turned at this, eyeing him strangely, "if you wanted your pillow you could have taken it from me, I don't sleep easily but when I do I sleep deep. You don't need to use your clothes like that," she gestured at the coat he had bundled up at the head of his mattress.
"Oh…well, I didn't think to be so rude," he was not quite sure how to phrase his thoughts. He had not properly talked to a stranger in a long time, and manners were something quite beyond him. All he had were faint traces of what his mother taught him in the past, some deep-seated instinct to treat girls better than he treated himself. It came with having a twin sister like Rin. There were few chances to practice his manners in Neverland, given that the Red Indians were closer to savage beast than civilised humans and the pirates rarely interacted with him anyway. He knew enough to charm his way into things on Earth, but anything beyond superficial first impressions was almost foreign.
Last night, he thought he would have to wheedle his way into getting his pillow back. Perhaps this girl was not as spoilt or needy as Rin was – for, despite his love for his sister there was no denying that between the two siblings, Rin was always the more pampered one. Back then, in his time, boys were favoured over girls in most families, but his mother was quite different from the rest. It was why she wanted a little cottage, all the way out at the cliffs, away from most of the other humans…
She reached over to the bed she used now, grabbing the pillow she said she didn't need, and tossed it right at him. Instinctively he reached out, catching the soft mass in his hand. The material smelled faintly of her. She smelled like isolation – the dead scent of being trapped in one's room, in one's mind. There was an almost sickly sweet fragrance of flowers underneath that, but the mustiness of the isolation he sensed tempered the sickliness, making for a rather pleasant and intriguing mixture.
He wondered if her scent would fade, or if it would permeate his room in time to come. It was an almost heady sort of smell, and he wondered if it would drive him crazy – if he would be forced out of his own room to inhale the fresh scent of the woods. It was a feminine scent, the scent of womanhood – something he had not encountered in a long, long time, for the feminine had little place in a dangerous world like Neverland. Tiger Lily was far from feminine, or at least what he thought of as feminine. She was a warrior, a lithe and dangerous predator, screeching and whirling into battle with skill and arrogance that made her seem no different from her men.
If she was willing to give up his pillow, then perhaps for now he would not need to tell her why he needed to keep his head propped up while unconscious. The less she knew about his weaknesses the better it would be for everyone. "Thank you then," he muttered, letting the pillow drop from his hand to the mattress. She did not respond, and for a while all that remained between them was silence.
It was not the comfortable silence he was used to. He and the Lost Boys were usually silent for they had nothing much to say to each other, having known each other for years and years and years – she did not give him the same sense of calm for he barely knew her. He just knew that she was in some way not like the Lost Boys, not normal like they all were or liked to think they were. She was simply strange. She had already proven herself to be different from the Lost Boys, not just because she was a girl but also because of the time she took to recover from the cave ordeal. She knew the voices of the masters and knew that he was not the most authoritative person on this island. She knew.
Tomorrow he would go to Earth, and he hoped that she would not figure out what he was doing there. He already formulated a plan – he would bring back a child and set the child high up in one of the trees, where the canopy would shelter him or her and the branches would not claw the child into the darkness. Then he would return to the den first and bring the Lost Children any supplies he got hold of – usually weaponry like daggers or throwing knives, and sometimes other useful tools like firelighters and matches. Why resort to striking flint when he had the tools of the modern world at his disposal? Though his access was limited, of course. There was no electricity here, and even if there was, he could not possibly bring back an oven or a refrigerator. They made do with what little they had.
The meat they obtained from the Hunt would last them two or three days at most before it started going bad, so they had to act quickly and finish it – not that it would be hard, five boys who were constantly in the frustrating stage between child and adult could eat shocking amounts. Even Piko, the least active of all of them, the one who hunted the least and needed the least food, could eat much more than the average pirate or Red Indian – something the other two ethnic groups were aware of.
Miku was going to have to get used to eating animal meat much sooner than he would like. It always took a while for them to transit between the food of Earth and the food of Neverland. This place was steeped in poison. Something about the food would turn a stranger's appetite off – it was stringier, harder to chew and swallow. And there was a bitter tang to the meat, bitterness that spoke of the sorrow and darkness from which the prey grew and survived. Normally, in the past, he would bring back food from Earth and give it to their latest Lost Child, and slowly, slowly he would increase the amount of food from Neverland the child ate until eventually, they got used to the strange taste.
But he could not afford that now. This process of weaning could take months, depending on personal palate, and they did not have months. They had 29 days left until the Blood Moon, and that was how long he had to build defences against the Flame Wolves. Everything else – food, shelter, customs and traditions – everything else would have to take a back seat. Miku was simply going to have to get used to their ways, and learn as she went along. This time, he could not afford to bottle-feed her every step of the way, as he did in the past. He had to focus on the group rather than the individual, and he would not teach her everything slowly and patiently and risk being underprepared for the coming attack. "Come with me," he said abruptly, turning away from her and heading out of the room. He heard her stumbling behind him, clearly surprised by the sudden command, but following him out nevertheless. She would be put to work, same as the Boys – no exceptions.
Out in the main cave, Gumo and Nero were lazing on the logs, talking to each other in low voices – from the looks of it, they were arguing, but that alone didn't surprise him. Nero was always getting into arguments – something about his brutal, strategic nature made him see the loopholes in every statement other people said and come up with counter-arguments to strike back. Needless to say, that did not win him many friends. What surprised him was that Gumo actually allowed himself to be drawn into an argument with Nero. Gumo was typically the most level-headed out of the four, and he had a sweet, even nature that made everyone like him. Even the pirates talked to him sometimes, when they could be bothered to break away from the rest of their crew and mingle.
"You two, break it up," he knew he sounded more resigned than authoritative, but they stopped gesturing and talking at once, looking up almost guiltily at him. Gumo's green gaze flicked to the girl behind him, widened slightly in something resembling surprise, and then went back to him. Nero ignored the girl entirely. "I'm looking for Rei, and I'm sure you know why. Anyone seen him lately?" he asked, directing this especially towards Nero. Nero was the most sensitive to the comings and goings of the Lost Boys. He was still and observant, ever the strategist, always looking out for weak points and abnormalities. He would be a valuable asset if he wasn't so argumentative all the time. But generally, Nero was fine to talk to, as long as you agreed with everything he said.
"He went out, I don't know where and I didn't care to ask," Nero shrugged, flicking part of his blond fringe out of his eyes. "He's still sore over the creature. You'd think he'd have gotten over it by now, but he's moping like he lost a lover. The thing was trying to eat him, I don't understand what's gotten into his head," his voice trailed into a mutter, and Gumo fidgeted uncomfortably on the log next to Nero – he decided that he did not want to hear whatever Nero was saying to himself now.
He looked to Gumo instead. "Do you know where he went to, which part of our territory?" he asked. If Nero had seen Rei leave the den then perhaps Gumo had seen him too, if Rei departed while both boys were still in the main cave. Gumo looked at Nero, hesitant, and when Nero did not react in any way, he rose from the log and walked towards him. He raised an eyebrow – was wherever Rei going so secretive that he did not want Nero to know? Nero, the ever suspicious, ever hostile one, who fought against his own friends – if Rei was going to mourn, then perhaps it was better that Nero did not know. It was more than likely that Nero would mock Rei for being so emotional. Nero saw sentimentality as nothing but weakness.
"He went to the lagoon," Gumo reached him, leaning close to him and whispering in his ear, ensuring that the surly blond haired boy on the logs could not hear him. "I think he went to pray, or maybe to ask a wish of the mermaids..." he recoiled from the green haired boy at that, eyes wide as what Gumo said sunk in. "I mean, that's just my guess," Gumo hastened to say. "I don't think he's at the point where he would do something so stupid, I mean like Nero said, the creature was trying to eat him. We all know that Rei has the tightest link to his spirit creature among all of us, but to grieve that much over a potential murderer is…well, I don't want to say this, but it's idiotic if you ask me," he shrugged.
"You didn't try to stop him?" he resisted the urge to snap, forcing his voice to be as calm and even as possible. Gumo shook his head, this time a little shamefaced, and he resisted the urge to sigh. He sometimes wished that the other Lost Boys would have a little more initiative – something he had asked of them a few times before but never really saw developing. "He didn't leave too long ago, right? I'll head there now then," he glanced at Nero, who was watching the two of them coolly – he wasn't sure if Nero cared or not about their conversation but he didn't want him to know about his plans. Nero would just forcefully yank Rei away from the lagoon if he was aware, and this was not the time for brusque logic – sometimes, logic had to give way to emotion, there was no denying that.
"Len," Gumo called, just as he started to walk away from them, heading towards the open forest. He turned around at the sound of his name, and Gumo hesitated before shaking his head, retreating. "Just be careful. Rei still isn't in the best of moods right now, and the lagoon…the last time I went to the lagoon, they were hungry. I don't think that has changed," with that, Gumo went back to sit with Nero, though he said nothing to the strategist, simply reaching out with a long stick and prodding at the ash-covered dirt within the stone circle. Nero whispered something to Gumo, but he was ignored.
He knew what the warning meant, but he couldn't just ignore the matter when he needed Rei to share his knowledge about wolves with him. He strode out of the cavern, but stopped when he heard the sound of footsteps trailing behind him. He turned – Miku was standing a little distance behind him, not that far away from the entrance to the main cavern. The still lit torches flickered in their braziers, throwing dark, long shadows across the passageway's walls. "Don't follow me," he ordered, voice sharp and short. "I won't be able to look out for you and look for Rei at the same time. The dark is when the forest comes alive," he glanced past her, seeing the sudden orange flare of light that lit her up from behind – Nero and Gumo must have started up a campfire. She flinched at his words.
"Where are you going?" she asked, voice low. For once, there was no tranquil knowingness in her words – she sounded almost scared. He wondered why she was scared, for she definitely had not overheard the conversation between him and Gumo and even if she did, she would not understand the significance of their exchange. "You look…angry, and I've never thought Gumo could look upset. Wherever Rei's gone, it's somewhere he's not allowed or supposed to be, right?" she pushed lightly, and once again he had to credit her for being far more observant than he could ever have thought possible. He thought a while, about whether or not he should, in this case, give a truthful answer.
But then there was nothing scarier than the truth, was there? "Yes, it's not somewhere he's supposed to be," he spared the few seconds needed to give her a brief explanation. "Gumo suspects he headed to the lagoon, where the mermaids are. The mermaids promise to grant you a wish, but it's always at very, very terrible prices…no matter what you wish for, the price isn't worth it. I need to go stop Rei from making a wish, if that's what he's really doing," he turned away from her, continuing on his way. Still, footsteps sounded behind him, and he looked back, annoyed.
"I don't know much about Neverland, but aren't mermaids supposed to be…well, they're just women with fish tails, aren't they? How are they supposed to grant wishes?" Miku sounded uncomfortably curious, and he hoped that his words had not sparked an idea of any sort. Perhaps she wished to return to Earth. That was a wish the mermaids certainly could grant – but at what expense? The lives of her family? The destruction of her home? The consequences of a wish would never physically harm the wisher – it was mental anguish and pain the mermaids were interested in. They craved a broken spirit, wanted nothing more than to tear confidence apart. And what better way to do that other than by feeding desperation with desperation?
"Perhaps I did not make myself clear about the differences between Earth and Neverland. What you know of as mermaids are not such in our world. The closest term I can use to describe them…they are sirens. Beautiful women with haunted, mournful voices who live and breathe underwater. Their hair is magical – it is sleek and glossy but is never wet. If you burn their hair and inhale the smoke, your next spoken wish will be granted, but you will never know, until it's too late, what the price to pay is. By then you'll wish you never struck up that deal at all, but regrets only come in hindsight so regretting isn't of any use. I've told them over and over again, don't talk to the mermaids…" she looked alarmed now, but she still had not backed off, so he decided to throw in one more titbit for her. "The mermaids also have a distinct taste for human flesh, so I sincerely suggest you don't follow me. If you want to make yourself useful, you can start training with a weapon. Ask Nero for help," he closed the conversation with finality. She looked mutinous for a while, but eventually she turned and went back towards the main cave, leaving him free to track down Rei without impediment.
He let out a soft sigh of relief. He did not lie about the mermaids and their taste for human flesh. They only spoke to those they deemed worthy of their time – and that was determined by battle. If you lost to a mermaid, they ate you, disregarding how desperate you were for a wish. He did not fear Rei being eaten, though. He feared Rei doing something he would probably regret in the future.
"Is an animal worth it?" he muttered to himself as he hurried along the passageway, heading out to the hole that led up to the surface. Of course, there was absolutely no confirmation right now that Rei was at the lagoon, but Gumo seemed to think the worst, and…he would rather be safe than sorry. Rei had always seemed to prefer the company of animals to humans anyway. The Lost Boys were kin, the bonds of brotherhood forged deep in the hostile environment of the forest. Yet many times before, he had caught Rei sneaking out of his bed in the day and roaming among the wolves, them treating him and resting with him like he was one of their pack, a little wolf just like them...
He stepped back into the portal, feeling the familiar suspension, though knowing this time he was heading up rather than down. It took mere moments before he was clutching the edges of old bark, the wood rough and calloused underneath his fingertips. He waited in the shelter of the portal for a while, gaze habitually scanning the area for signs of movement and danger. When it seemed clear that no one would leap out at him right then and there, he relaxed slightly and leapt down to the ground, turning towards the direction of the lagoon. There was no trail, nothing to indicate where Rei had gone, but he trusted what Gumo said and headed towards there anyway. The lagoon was in the opposite direction of the heart of the forest, situated at the very edge of their territory.
The previous time he and Miku left the den, he had taken her down another path, a path with a normal exit. The passageway simply led up to the surface, though it was well-concealed by shrubbery and leaves and only the Lost Boys could, given their familiarity with their territory, locate this second exit. The second exit opened up much nearer to the heart of the forest and therefore the masters' territory, which was where he wanted to bring Miku then and the sole reason why he chose that route. Normally, the Lost Boys preferred this portal, which was nearer to the main cave.
Slowly, he made his way deep into the forest, relying on nothing but the moonlight and sheer, simple familiarity to guide his way. The light of the moon, in contrast to the weak and watery sun, was strong and bathed the ground in a faint, ethereal glow. He would have called the night lovely if he was not already disillusioned by the true horrors of the darkness here. Insects chirped within the foliage – there was the occasional shriek of a bird of prey, and other times the distant, warning growls of wolves when he came too near their territory. He never saw the shape of the grey wolves, but he heard their mournful howls, and once he saw a pair of glowing, reflective eyes. But he did not fear them. In his territory, the only being to be feared was him, and the animals respected him.
He had been here for so much longer than them, after all. Still, he kept his hand firmly on the hilt of his dagger, prepared to reach out and strike at a moment's notice if any sign of danger ever presented itself. In the forest of Neverland, especially at night, there were dangers far worse than wild animals and long shadows. There were malevolent entities, beings of the mind, which came out and tried to lure you into the unknown. Will-o'-the-wisps and all manner of strange things that danced mesmerizingly through the trees and into your heart and soul. Perhaps on Earth, ghosts did not exist, but in Neverland they certainly did – ghosts of the past, present and the future.
The moon was high in the sky. He looked up at it, trying to gauge how much time he had left till dawn. The canopy shrouded part of the bright, blind orb, but it radiated enough light for him to make it out through the shroud of black leaves. He hoped to make his way to the lagoon before the moon started to set, because once it did, he could be almost certain that he was too late.
"Len didn't let you follow? That's not surprising, it's a dangerous place, you know. The forest at night," Gumo spoke quietly, staring into the orange flames of the dancing fire. Miku was huddled up facing both Nero and Gumo. Nero was playing with two pebbles, tossing them between his hands.
"Dangerous?" Nero snorted. "As long as you have a good hunting blade and don't go stumbling through the bracken, attracting the attention of every nocturnal hunter out there, you're perfectly safe. Out of all of us, you're the only one who faces any danger when it comes to being out there. Especially alone," for the first time, Nero addressed her directly, his violet eyes piercing right through her. He had eyes like precious stones, hard and cold and unbreakable. She could feel his gaze freeze her, reach down into the very core of her being, leaving her immobile and gasping.
"That's probably why Len asked you to help train her," Gumo replied, taking one of the pebbles out of Nero's grip and tossing the stone into the fire. It landed right in the middle of the flames, a grey rock that seemed to glow red in the heat. "I mean, who else better to get her ready for the attack? I'd say Rei actually," Gumo said thoughtfully, earning him an aggravated look from Nero, "but since he's not around right now…you're the next best, I suppose. The most aggressive one out of all of us, aren't you, Nero?" he asked the blond haired boy, no hint of humour present at all in his question.
She was, by now, accustomed to Nero's stinging, caustic remarks. He had a tongue that lashed out at any flaw, any weakness in logical argument. His words flayed the very dignity from your bones. It didn't mean she liked it, but she realised that it didn't mean he had anything in particular against her, though at first it had felt that way. She realised that his sharp, sarcastic tongue did not spare Gumo either, and after a while, she realised that he was at his most bitter whenever they were talking about Rei's disappearance. She wondered if it was his way of coping with the situation.
Given his temperament, she fully expected him to retort, arguing that he wasn't aggressive at all, but he didn't so much as respond to the statement, instead looking for another pebble to replace the one Gumo had taken. Did that mean he was, in fact, violent and aggressive, and that everything she observed and everything Gumo said was not mere exaggeration? Should she be careful around the person who was going to train her to survive? She was intimidated by the mere possibility.
"Maybe you two should get to work," Gumo said, after some silent moments passed between them. Piko had not come out to join them, and she was somewhat thankful for that – she wasn't sure if she could handle the silver haired boy yet, given the events that transpired just earlier in the day. "Time is precious now, isn't it? Funny, that we're immortal yet still face such time constraints. You'd think we have all the freedom and luxury in the world, yet we still slave ourselves to the death like ants, constantly working to survive. You'd think that for people who can't die, we wouldn't have to work so hard, so fast – we wouldn't have to be so wary all the time," Gumo mused, more to himself than to her or Nero, though both of them could hear perfectly well every word he was uttering.
"If time was a luxury, Gumo," Nero barked out a short, sharp laugh, "then we would be the poorest peasants in the world," he patted him on the back, and Gumo sighed. Nero turned his gaze upon her, and she resisted the urge to recoil from his piercing stare. "All right, Hatsune Miku. Let's see what you got. Maybe your skinny arms actually have a little muscle to them – we'll never know until we actually put you to the test, right?" his voice was even and neutral. She said nothing, but when he rose from his seat, she followed. Gumo glanced up at them, looking faintly concerned.
"Don't push her too hard, she's probably never seen a hunting knife before, let alone know how to use one," he spoke to Nero, though his gaze remained fixed on her. Nero just laughed again, this time sounding slightly more humane, before he shook his head and looked at her as well. She wanted to cower under their combined gazes – one worried, the other calculating, but she did not want to show these boys any sign of weakness, so she pretended she was looking right back at them, though in truth she was merely staring at the wall right behind their heads. She learnt this trick when she was young, how to appear as though you were meeting someone's gaze when you were actually looking behind them. It was what helped her become such a good liar. She could lie when she wanted to, but she had not lied in a long, long time, because she had not spoken to other people.
Now she was among other people, again returned the compulsions, the urge to look away from and at people at the same time, the urge to twist their words against them – the urge to employ her lies as her only defence in a world where nothing was what it seemed to be. "We have no time for being gentle or for being patient. We have a month till the Blood Moon, and that damn soothsayer predicted that's when the animals will come and set fire to the area around our den. Who's going to look after her if she's left behind by the rest, unable to defend herself? You? And risk having to recover from third-degree burns – risk her dying?" Nero snorted, and she felt confused. Why was it that Gumo would suffer from injuries, while she faced the possibility of death? What made him different, what made her more...mortal?
Some part of her refused to fully take in his words and give in to the emotional trauma his words summoned. That same part of her listened with the distance of a bystander, simply listening and understanding and processing, not acknowledging that he was directly referring to her. She just focused on the questions her mind conjured at his statement, rather than focusing on the scenario he introduced – the scenario where she died. Because she did not want to die, not just yet anyway.
"Yes, yes, you're right," Gumo admitted, sounding reluctant. "You're always right, aren't you, Nero?" she could not tell if this second sentence was meant to be sarcastic or not. Either way, Nero didn't acknowledge it in any way, striding past him towards the passageway that led out from the main cavern. He jerked his head towards her, clearly indicating for her to follow him, and she hesitated, not really willing to just step blindly behind him into the darkness. She had no idea at all what he had in store for her, and honestly his personality was not the most likeable either. She could tolerate his caustic words for now, but if she had to stay in his company for long and continue listening to his spite, she wasn't sure how long she could last.
"Hey, you'll be fine. I'm sure you're already aware that Nero has a rough tongue, but he makes good on his word and he always acts with honourable purposes, though his methods might not be the most acceptable," Gumo saw her hesitate and picked up on her unwillingness. "You have little time left to toughen up, Miku – all people from Earth start off weak, and honestly as a girl, you already have a natural disadvantage compared to us. You aren't as strong," he leant forward, picking up a long stick and throwing it into the fire. The flames roared, consuming the wood. "But you have mental strength I do admire. Sometimes I wonder, if I hadn't been so young when I first came here, if I didn't have the ability to lose myself in daydreams and forts of my own creation, would I have gone insane after I realised this world for what it really was? Possibly. But you didn't, and that's admirable."
She felt a warm glow at being praised by him, though she was aware that he was just nice and any compliments he paid her should be taken with a pinch of salt. "Maybe it's just because I have seen demons when I was on Earth, demons locked away inside my own head. And now that I've come to Neverland, where demons dwell not in my head but in the forest, I've never felt freer. I no longer feel trapped within a reluctant body," she said slowly, testing the words on her tongue to feel the truth within them. It surprised her that what she said did not have the same heavy cloyingness of a lie.
"That's good. Good to know that one of us actually feels better being here rather than there, huh?" he left his hands on his knees, watching her curiously. She wanted to respond – whether with gratitude at being part of an 'us', or with defensiveness for she would not call this experience 'better', overall – but before she could open her mouth and decide, Nero called out for her from within the passageway, voice echoing into the large cave. She flinched. He sounded impatient.
"You'd best go," Gumo waved her away, green gaze returning to the dancing flames. "Nero does not like to wait, and he makes exceptions for no one, not even Len. Many a time Len has been shouted at for not showing up on time during a Hunt," Gumo smiled at this, though the smile was wan and somewhat forced. "If there's anything you need, Miku," he added, still not looking at her, "you can just let me know. Len asked me to look out for you, since I'm the closest to you age-wise. The others are all older. And honestly, you can come to any of us if you have problems, we'll be glad to listen. It's been a long, long time since we last had someone new to talk to," his voice softened, becoming a whisper. She was surprised she could even hear him. Nero shouted again, and she hurried away from Gumo.
His words had reminded her uncomfortably of what Piko said – about loneliness and not having someone else to talk to. It made her wonder how long she would have to stay here – it made her wonder if she would join their band of loneliness, simply waiting and longing for the day Len returned with another doomed child to swell the slowly growing ranks of the Lost Children.