Gabe, Felix, and James struggled up the mountainside, slipping and sliding through the mud, struggling to keep a foothold in the wet ground. It rained, but didn't storm, which made it easier for them to climb, however it didn't bode well for their quest to capture lightning in their jar.
Finally, gasping for breath, all three of them hauled their way over the ledge of a cliff and onto soft, flat ground. Panting and rasping, they rolled onto their backs and let the rain hit their faces, washing away a lot of the dirt and grime. Finally, Felix sat up and turned to Gabe.
"Aren't we supposed t' look for lightning?" He asked.
"Right!" Gabe said, sitting up straight. "Alright, everyone spread out! If anyone sees a lightning strike, let me know so we can go get the ekeltricity and put it in the jar."
Felix and James nodded and they all began to fan out in search of lightning and ekeltricity. They spent over an hour walking around in the rain and searching the skies for any sign of a lightning strike. At the end of the hour, they were soaked to the bone and quite miserable.
"Gabe, can we give up now?" Felix whined.
"No, we have to find the ekeltricity for Peter!" Gabe snapped. If there was one thing he hated, it was when people gave up on things. Especially when Peter was involved.
"But I'm tired, and wet, and hungry."
"Well too bad!" Gabe flared up, "Peter asked us specifically to find the ekeltricity, an' we're gonna do it for him! No matter how long it takes!"
"B-but Gabe…" Felix started to sniffle, and his eyes started to brim with tears. One look and Gabe knew he was going to give in.
He sighed, "Alright, alright, fine. Go take a short break in the cave I saw back there. But stay near the entrance, and don't go too far in!"
Felix gave a small smile and hugged his brother, then scampered of towards the mouth of the cave. Gabe looked around and saw James wandering not too far away, his neck craned skyward. He looked up, too, still hoping to find any sign of lightning.
Meanwhile, Felix, finally in the cave, took off his hood and wringed it, trying to get out as much water as possible. Once he was satisfied, he placed the hood onto a nearby rock to let it dry out a bit more, then sat down and leaned back against the rock and closed his eyes. The cave was cold and dark, but at least it was dry. The ground was dirty and dusty and there was an overpowering smell of mustiness. The sound of the rain was very soothing, and before he knew it, Felix had fallen asleep.
…
Felix woke with a start.
"Wh-where am I?" He muttered, stifling a yawn. It took him a few moments, but his memory finally caught up with him. He sat up straight and looked around. It was still light out, (or as light as it could be during a shower) so there was no way to tell how long he'd been asleep.
"I'd better get back to Gabe." He thought, "He's probably mad that I've been in here so long." In truth, Felix really hadn't been asleep too long, and Gabe was too distracted looking for lightning to think about his brother.
Felix grabbed his hood and got up to leave, but just as he got near the entrance, he noticed that there was a light coming from somewhere deeper in the cave. He turned around and faced the back of the cave. The light was not very bright, and was gold in color. As he crept closer to it, he noticed the temperature of the cave got slightly warmer.
Finally, he reached the back of the cave and was surprised when he found the source of the light.
"They're just…rocks?" He tentatively picked one up and examined it, and sure enough, that's what it was. The rocks were an opaque, yellowish color. Sort of like amber, but not as dark. They gave of a faint golden glow, and felt slightly warm in Felix's hand, as if they had been sitting out in the sun for a little while. He let it sit in the palm of his hand. It was almost perfectly round and smooth, like one of the ocean rocks that had been weathered down by the waves. It was also fairly large, almost the same size as his palm.
"I gotta show these to Gabe!" He exclaimed, running out into the rain. "Gabe! Gabe!" He shouted from just outside the mouth of the cave, "Come here!"
"What is it?" Gabe shouted, still looking up at the sky.
"I think I found some ekeltricity! Come look!"
Both Gabe and James tore their gazes away from the sky and sprinted over to where they had seen Felix disappear. They walked into the cave to find Felix dancing in place next to a glowing pile of rocks.
"What is that?" Gabe asked, his eyes growing big in surprise.
"I think its ekeltricity!" Felix grabbed a rock and thrust it into Gabe's hands, "Look at it! It glows just like lightning. Ekeltricity would do that, right? Right?"
"I…I think it would." Gabe said, looking at it more closely, "It's all we got, so let's take it back to Peter, see what he thinks." Gabe knelt down and started shoving as many of the glowing rocks into it as he could. By the time the jar was full, it was fairly heavy. "Alright, let's go!" Gabe said. And they set off into the rain on their way back to camp.
…
The sun was low in the sky when Gabe, Felix, and James came striding into the campground carrying what they thought was ekeltricity. They were the second group to arrive, as Prentiss was leaning back against the trunk of their tree playing catch with Curtis, Tubby Ted was no doubt inside sleeping. Or eating, depending on his mood. Prentiss tossed Curtis the ball, which he missed, and catching sight of the approaching trio, stood up, brushed the dirt off his trousers and walked out to greet them.
"How was the hunt?" He asked when he got close. Upon catching sight of the glowing rocks, his eyebrows shot up and he took a step back. "Whoa, is that…?"
"They're ekeltricity!" Felix shouted, "I found them in the back of a cave!"
"Isn't it great?" Gabe said, holding up his prize, "Now when Peter gets back with the box we can put them together with your signal and have the tellervision!"
"Yeah…about that…" Prentiss said rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. He quickly reiterated the story of what happened on the rocks and how they decided to call it quits early and return with only one treasure and how they weren't even sure if it was a signal.
"So…you an' Curtis almost died today?" Felix asked, or more like stated.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Just then, Curtis ran towards Prentiss shouting "I got it! I got it!" holding the little ball high in his fist before he tripped on his skunk tail and went sprawling in the dirt. The ball rolled out of his hands and hit Prentiss' foot. He picked it up and walked over to Curtis. The others migrated over to him.
"Whoa," Gabe said, "You know Peter's gonna be really angry when he gets back an' finds out you didn't get a signal."
"Speaking of which…" Felix pointed up to the clouds where Peter was looping and diving, clearly having the time of his life. "Hey! Peter! Down here!" Felix called, waving his arms.
Peter waved and descended, landing in front of them on the ground. He held a wooden box in his right hand. It was made out of wooden boards and open at the top. It looked like it used to store something; there were stains all along the inside. It looked fairly well made.
He crowed and set the box on the ground in front of him. He then folded his arms across his chest and held his chin high, not hiding the fact at all that he was very proud of himself.
"Alright, men! I take it that you were all successful in finding the parts to the tellervision." He smiled, knowing that his brilliant plan was all finally coming together.
"We got the ekeltricity!" Gabe and Felix held aloft their jar of rocks, both showing smiles that stretched from ear to ear.
"That's what ekeltricity looks like?" Peter examined the jar closer, "They look more like rocks to me."
"Yeah, we know." Gabe said, "they light up in the dark, just like lightning. And since ekeltricity comes from lightning, anything that looks like lightning has to come from it. Right?"
Peter smiled, "Alright. Well, put it in the box. Now all we need to do is put in the signal that Prentiss found and we'll have our tellervision!" Peter turned to Prentiss, "Alright, give us the signal, Prentiss." He stretched out his hand, waiting for Prentiss to put the signal in his open palm.
Prentiss looked at Peter's hand for a second, then he tossed the black box that Curtis found at him. It hit him in the chest and Peter juggled it in his hands for a few second trying to get a hold of it. Once he had it enclosed in his hands, he held it up to eye level and examined it.
"So…I take it this is a signal?" He asked.
"I have no clue what it is." Prentiss responded stony faced, "But it's all we came back with."
"What?" Peter said, taking his eyes of the black cube, "What do you mean that's all you came back with? You were out there all day, weren't you?"
"No," Prentiss clenched his fists, "We weren't. Because-"
"So you're tellin' me you disobeyed your direct orders?"
"Yeah, Peter, I did. Because-"
Peter floated off the ground and floated close to Prentiss' face. In actuality, they were both about the same size, Prentiss even maybe being a little taller. Which is why Peter floated over him; it made him seem bigger.
"You had one job," Peter growled, "and you didn't do it. Why?"
"Because, Peter," Prentiss moved his face even closer to Peter's, "Curtis and I almost died trying to get that treasure right there."
"Well, maybe if I had sent someone other than you, then that wouldn't've even happened in the first place!" Peter was turning as red as a tomato, "Maybe then we could've gotten a signal!"
"Do you even care that we almost died?"
"Of course I care! But you also had a job that you didn't do!"
"Well I think these jobs are pointless! If you ask me, I think we were better off with Raine."
"Nobody asked you."
"You didn't ask anybody." Prentiss' voice got really low, "You made that decision without asking anybody else."
"I'm the leader. I'm supposed to make decisions."
"Well what if no one likes your decisions?"
"Then they should just say so!"
"Fine." Prentiss turned away from Peter and walked towards the rest of the Lost Boys. Puffing his chest out, he said in his calmest voice, "Would someone please go and wake Tubby Ted? We are going to have a vote as to whether we should keep looking for a signal, or bring Raine back, instead." Prentiss looked at Curtis who nodded and sprinted off towards the tree house.
"Take your vote if you want, Prentiss," Peter said trying to hide his anger, "They're going to vote for the tellervision. That's better than any mother, anyway."
"But a tellervision can't sing." Prentiss said with a small smirk, "Or draw. Or play. It can only tell stories. I'd rather have a mother who could do all that than only tell stories."
"We don't need a mother to do those things."
"But we do need a storyteller. And I'd rather have one that can do more than just tell stories." It was then that Curtis ran up to them, dragging Tubby Ted, still half asleep, along behind him. "Alright, now that we're all here we're going to put this to a vote.
"Put wha' to a vote?" Tubby Ted asked sleepily.
"Whether or not we should keep trying to build a tellervision, or get Raine back."
"Oh, okay." Tubby Ted said, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Alright," Prentiss said, "All who want Raine back, raise your hand." And he put his hand up. Curtis' hand shot right up in the air, and hesitantly, Gabe and Felix put theirs up, too. Giving Peter apologetic looks as they did so. Peter just narrowed his eyes, and looked away. Tubby Ted, who didn't want to be against the clear majority, put his hand up as well. James just hung at the back, with his hands in his pockets.
"James, do you not want Raine back?" Prentiss asked. James just shrugged his shoulders. "You just don't care either way, do you?" James shrugged his shoulders again. "Alright then. All opposed?"
"Why even bother?" Peter said, gliding up to his room in the tree house, "You've all made your choice. So go on and get her!" he threw back the curtain over his doorway and swept inside. Tinkerbelle followed close behind. The Lost Boys all stared up at where they disappeared for a few moments before they all turned to Prentiss.
Prentiss looked up at the sky, where the last rays of sunshine were disappearing over the horizon. "Alright," he said, "first thing tomorrow, we're all going looking for Raine."
"But where do we start?" Gabe asked.
"We'll spread out around the island. Some of us can ask the Neverlanders if they're seen a girl, we can also ask the mermaids. Who knows, maybe even Hands saw her." The sun then fully disappeared below the horizon and night started to sweep through the island.
"Come on, let's head up to the tree house, we'll figure out what to do from there." Prentiss scooped up Curtis and they all climbed up the tree to begin their planning.