"It's been an hour and a half Riley. How do you explain that?" Curley asked accusingly.

"I don't know. I'm just as confused as you," I told them all.

Nibs paced the room. He had become my best friend of the boys and normally he was the easiest going. He always had a joke, but not now. He had a look on his face I had never seen before.

"We should go and check to see of everything is okay," Axle spoke up. "If it's nothing then that's fine, but if he is captured then we need to move quickly"

"Axle's right," I agreed.

"You're not going anywhere, princess," Axle scoffed. "You're the reason he could be dead right now."

My heart sank. I knew he was right, but it hurt to hear it out loud. Peter could be dead and it would be all my fault. I looked down at my lap and tried not to let myself feel anything. If I could focus on the positive or just not think much at all I knew I could keep it together.

"Actually the island and Peter share power so we would know if he was dead," Oakley chimed in.

"Either way we don't need to blame Riley," Nibs defended solemnly.

"Who else wanted to go save the pirate?" One of the twins pointed out.

"She couldn't have known," Valley countered.

"She didn't care to know," Axle accused.

It's like I wasn't even there. They all argued about me like I didn't exist in the room. I was invisible. It was wrong that I was the topic at hand when Peter is missing. But For the first time I questioned whether or not to speak up. They already hated me for it.

For that exact reason I knew I had to say something. "This isn't the issue. We need to find Peter." None of them answered and I started to get a little self-conscious, so I stood up and got my sword. "I'm going. Who's with me?"

The boys cheered and for a moment I wasn't worried anymore. How could I be? I had the support of the lost boys. They didn't look like much, but I knew they could be very dangerous. I wasn't going to be doing this alone like I seem to always have to. Nibs rallied the boys in order, once they gathered their weapons, and we filed out.

We marched to the place where I had found Kenner the night before. No one spoke; we were on a mission. I still had hope that Kenner was where I left him and that Peter was just giving him aid. Part of my brain wouldn't let me think there was any other possibilities. I think the mind does that sometimes. It wants to protect itself from the reality of a situation. But this makes learning the truth much harder.

We reached the beach with no sign of Kenner. I knew right then that I had been tricked.

"There's the Jolly Roger," Oakley pointed off shore.

"How do we know if Peter is on board?" I asked as I squinted against the sun to see if I could spot Peter.

Nibs whistled with his fingers so that the sound echoes all throughout the island. I stood there confused, but all the other boys seemed to know what he was doing so I said nothing. I had looked stupid enough for one day.

Moments later the glowing orb from before was back. I hadn't seen Tinker Bell in a long time. She had a family and a new daughter back in her hut, so we all understood, but she was always never far away.

"Tink is Peter on the Jolly Roger?" Nibs asked her as soon as she appeared.

The collection of sparkles wasted no time to fly over to the ship to get a better look. She fluttered gracefully above the ship and then floated back to shore. She stood on Curly's shoulder and nodded to nibs.

"Is he safe?" I asked urgently.

None of us spoke fairy, so she gave me the hand gesture for "so-so" then put her hands up to ask, "What's going on?"

"He was captured," Tootles announced, pushing between the twins to be heard.

The sarcastic look on Tinker Bell's face was not amused with such an obvious answer. She looked to the others to clarify how he had been captured.

"Riley fell right into Hook's trap and got him taken. She wasn't smart enough to know a pirate when she saw one." Axle spat at me instead of Tink. It was becoming more and more clear that axle didn't like me. I couldn't understand why, but I didn't think it mattered if he had a reason or not. He didn't need a reason.

Tinker Bell shook her head in disproval.

"It was an accident. Don't you think I feel bad enough?" I glared at him trying to defend myself. "I was trying to help someone in need and show some mercy. If that's so awful then maybe I shouldn't be in this group," I told him crossing my arms.

"Maybe you shouldn't," he threatened as he stepped up to me so that we were face to face.

He wanted me to back down. I could feel it. I held my stare and refused to back away. I wasn't scared of him or anyone else. I have been through hell. There wasn't a time in my life that hasn't been hard. It has been one struggle after another ever since I was born. From being kidnapped and dropped at a church to foster care to never feeling loved to being kidnapped once more to being a pirate to running away to being a lost boy. Life has never been a walk through the park. If Axle thought I would be afraid of him because I was new here then he had another thing coming.

Tinkerbell flew between our faces and we were blinded by her light. We both backed off. She jingled loudly, but none of us could understand her language. That was probably a good thing because I'm pretty sure she was insulting us.

"Let's focus, guys, we need a plan," Valley reminded us. "Peter isn't doing so well over there."

"Valley's right. Let's brainstorm," Tootles suggested squatting in the sand sketching a ship in the sand with his finger.