Chapter 10
I'm awoken in the morning by the sound of Sage roughly pushing my door open. I squint my eyes to the bright morning light that's fallen on my face and Sage looks at me judgementally.
"Where is he?" She asks in annoyance. I glance to my side and notice the empty space beside me. I sit up and look around the room.
"You've done it this time." She says, turning and letting the door slam behind her. I move to my feet and hurry down the hall. When I reach her in the dining room she's already talking to Zilocke and blaming me for Peter's escape.
"Calm down, Sage. I'm the one who released him." He says, a mug full of steaming coffee in his hand.
"What? When?" I ask, feeling embarrassed at the thought of Zilocke seeing Peter and I holding each other as we slept.
"Early this morning. We had a chat about his current mental state and decided it's time for him to spend some time alone." He responds.
"Yes, I'm sure both of you were happy with that decision." I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Zilocke looks up at me with careful, watching eyes.
"He can't return here as I've put a barrier around the cabin. This will last until the day after tomorrow when we can contact the Elders." He says.
"That's not going to affect anything, you know she'll just leave the cabin and meet up with him somewhere." Sage says, her English accent getting on my last nerve.
"I've already considered that, Sage." Zilocke says, his eyes moving back to me. Sage pauses and looks to me in realisation of something that I've clearly missed. I look between them before widening my eyes. I quickly leave the room and walk for the front door to swing it open. My foot moves over the threshold of the door way but I'm stopped in my path. I run into some sort of invisible barrier. I can see beyond the front porch but when I press my hands against where the door would be I feel something pushing back against my skin. It feels like a wind pushing constantly in my direction. I step back into the dining room to see Sage with a smug expression. Zilocke appears braced as he can predict the verbal lashing he's about the receive.
"It's on all the exits to the house, even the windows." He adds quickly but sternly.
"You can't keep me prisoner here, I am not under your jurisdiction." I say in warning. Behind me I hear footsteps coming from the porch and into the house. I glance behind me to see Emmeline walking freely through the front doorway.
"I see you're all at each others throats again." Emmeline says, casting a glare at us.
"What makes you think I won't go harpy and tear the walls from the floors? I'll make my own exit through the roof." I warn, leaning against the wall.
"I've considered that as well." Zilocke adds, nodding to my chest. I look down to my shirt and notice a black ink on my skin, sitting over where my heart is. I tug my shirt aside slightly to take in the full sight of the rune tattooed to me.
"What the hell is this?" I ask, standing straight.
"I have to take precautions, Lena. It's only temporary but it can't be removed by anyone but me." He says. I feel ready to scream but I'm beaten to it by Emmeline, who has her jacket pulled aside revealing her own matching tattoo.
"You put one on me as well!?" She asks, wide-eyed and angry.
We all suffer through ten minutes of arguing and knocked over furniture before we each escape to our own space. Emmeline storms off to her room and I do the same to mine. I lie on my bed and watch my bedside alarm clock tick away the hours. I drift in and out of miserable naps until the hours tick over to the afternoon. When I wake up I glance over to the untouched nest of blankets and pillows in the corner. I'm caught in my day dream when I hear a noise on the window. I get up and draw the curtains aside, throwing the window open. Peter stands with pebbles in his hand.
"Hey there." He says, dropping the rocks to the ground.
"I'm afraid there'll be no sneaking out as I'm grounded." I say with a smirk.
"That's too bad, I think I just got my head levelled out." He says, returning my smirk.
"You could always sit by my window and whisper sweet nothings from afar." My lips curl into a flirtatious smile.
"God, I want to kiss you right now." He says with serious eyes, walking towards the window.
"Careful, I don't know what it will do-" I say, pausing when he's able to place his fingers over the window ledge. We both look down at his fingers and he boosts himself up, climbing in through the window. I stare at the window frame in wonder, running my fingers along it.
"Looks like the warden has a blind spot." He says, not moving his eyes off of me. He takes my hand and perches on the windowsill.
"Come on, let's get out of here." He says, sliding his legs out the window. I try to move forward with him but the same forcefield prevents me from leaving. I step back and fold my arms.
"This doesn't make any sense, it doesn't seem like Zilocke to make a mistake. Especially one so obvious..." I say, running a hand through my hair. Suddenly I'm lifted from the ground as Peter murmurs in my ear.
"Who cares?" He asks, pulling me to his chest and walking me over to the bed. I let out a laugh and wrap my arms around him, moving my lips to his.
–
The next couple of days pass quickly. Peter hides in the morning from Zilocke's morning patrol and I avoid speaking to any of them. I spend my afternoons locked away in bed with Peter and I enjoy every minute of it. All the worries of our real lives fade away and I forget any duties I have at the Aerie. I'm running my fingers gently through Peter's hair when three sharp knocks indicate a surprise patrol from Zilocke.
"It's time, Lena. We can contact the Elders." He says. Peter and I break apart and Peter exits through the window. I straighten my hair and clothes in the mirror before opening the door.
"Before we do, I want to talk to you." He says, walking in to the room and looking around.
"What is it now?" I ask him, shutting the door.
"I know Pan has been staying in here." He says, looking at the mess of blankets on the bed. I straighten my posture and my mouth gapes slightly.
"Oh." I say. He nods slowly,
"I found out Sage has been poking holes in my barrier around the house." He says, turning to face me, his hands in his pockets.
"Why would she do that?" I tilt my head, unsure why Sage would do something nice.
"It's out of spite. She's not taking the news well either." He says, moving over to sit on the chest at the end of the bed. I join my hands together and look to the window, feeling slightly awkward. After a moment Zilocke continues.
"I don't want you with him because he's no good." He says, looking up at me. I smirk and shift my weight to my other leg.
"You really can't decide that for me." I say, seriousness in my voice.
"I know I must still seem like a stranger to you, Maddalena, but I wasn't lying when I said I've watched you your whole life. I was always there in the background, looking out for you." He says.
"Oh really? Well then what about when I was taken to Neverland? Where were you then?" I cross my arms.
"I lost you for a short while, I admit, but that doesn't mean I forgot about you. I started my work on getting a portal as soon as you were taken." He says. I shake my head and sigh.
"I was wondering if you would consider coming with me when we get back?" He asks, looking up at me intently.
"You're asking me to run off with you and Sage rather than becoming a queen?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Lena, you're not going to be their queen. I won't allow you to become their pawn like Arabella was." He stands up when he says this. His tone isn't aggressive but it's weary.
"Okay, now we're done with this conversation." I say, moving to the door and throwing it open.
"Lena, stop running away when I try to talk to you." He says, walking towards me.
"I don't 'run away'. And this isn't even talking, this is just you telling me what to do." I say, defensively. Zilocke goes to reply but he pauses when Emmeline clears her throat to get our attention.
"We have visitors." She says. Zilocke walks past her and heads back towards the entrance. I follow him through the house and out to the front where the Elders are standing in front of a portal. Emmeline is at my side when the Elders walk towards us, ignoring Zilocke and Peter who are off to the side.
"Come with us, the issue has been sorted and we need our princesses back." One of the men says.
"What about our luggage?" Emmeline asks, walking with the Elder as he leads her to the portal.
"They'll be collected for you." The same Elder promises. I begin to walk towards the portal but I'm stopped by someone tugging on my arm. Peter pulls me to his side firmly.
"Not this time." He says, looking at me with seriousness in his eyes. I purse my lips as I look up to him.
"I'm not letting you go again, Lena. If you want to be a queen and rule a whole race then you do it, if you want to live in New York and live as a human then you do it... but I won't let you go if I don't have a place at your side while you do." As he finishes another Elder walks up to him and looks at him sternly.
"Get you hand off her, son." The Elder says, grabbing Peter's arm. Instinctively I reach for Peter and pull him to my side again.
"No you get your hands off him. He's your princesses' boyfriend for god's sake." I tell the Elder. The Elder looks displeased as I move my hand down to hold Peter's and we walk into the portal together, meanwhile Peter looks ecstatic.
–
As soon as we cross through the portal the high winds have torn Peter and I apart so we're no longer holding hands. I walk out onto the courtyard of the mansion and see Emmeline and William passionately kissing each other by the doorway. William has his arms tightly wound around Emmeline and she has her hands firmly gripped in his hair, pulling herself closer to him and holding him in place like a bareback jockey on a stallion. I can't help but widen my eyes as I watch them in a daze. I'm so busy watching them that I barely notice Felix has moved up next to me and pushed Finn into my arms.
"He missed you." Felix says with a half-smile. I blink down at the blonde cherub baby in my arms. He's drooling on my shirt but his smile reveals two tiny teeth growing on his gums. The sight of it causes me to smile as well.
"I could get used to holding someone so tiny." I say, moving my lips to kiss along Finn's forehead. Finn squeals in delight and he wriggles around in my arms.
"Careful Felix, she might take him away from you." I hear Peter say from my side. I feel Peter's arm slide around my shoulders and notice the surprise on Felix's face.