First of all a quick apology. I was looking back through the previous chapter and found a few spelling mistakes, sorry about that. It
was nothing big but enough to make me feel bad...I'll triple check next time!
The "Losties" or lost boys as they were originally are older because Neverland is more civilized and it might be weird if there's a lot
of young boys running around the forest with Abe... In chapter 10 they were originally four come to pick Ally up but I thought that
that was a little overkill and I was trying to get it finished quickly and didn't want to invent four new characters at one...But there is
one mention of "four" in there, please ignore it.
Also, I finally found a picture to represent the cover! I have to say I think it's pretty damn awesome, just what I was looking for...:)
PLEASE, give me some feedback, I'd like to know how I can improve. I've worked it out and with my current ending this is going to
be a long story, probably 30+ chapters, so if I'm in it for the long haul then I think it's only fair to get some constructive criticism
from you lovely people.
ALSO: Let me know if you'd like to see an alternate POV sometime soon. Any character you're interested in that I haven't touched on
much, like a family member? Or an unknown bad guy could maybe be fun... I might put a poll up, but otherwise PLEASE let me know!
The afternoon was waning, the sun hadn't quite set, it was about ten minutes before dusk. I was sitting in a big oak tree overlooking the lagoon, absent-mindedly listening to the river-and its mermaid inhabitants-babble.
"Hey, Ally!"
Called one of them, I looked down. It was Riley, a beautiful red-haired, pale skinned mermaid with violet eyes and a long tail to match. She was sitting on one of the rocks, desperately trying to tan.
"Yeah?"
"Are they any closer to finding the attacker?"She asked, and the others perked their ears up. I sighed.
"Nope."I had gone out with my Dad all of yesterday and today, scouring every last part of the island, and it had proved to be useless. The attack had been as sudden as it had been violent, and the attacker had simply melted into thin air afterwards. She frowned.
"We haven't seen much over here. I talked to Jasmine-one of the Indians-a while ago, and she said they hadn't seen anything, either,"she said, her tone troubled.
Keep your eyes open, I advised, and, standing up stretched, realising I should get home. Then I groaned. Mom had asked me to pick up some groceries when I went out, but that had been at two o'clock and she'd have kittens if I went now. Yes. Kittens, and then probably a litter of puppies, then maybe a cow. I glanced at the position of the sun, and gauged I could make it to the corner shop and back in about ten minutes and thus only receive a first-degree lecture.
"See you later," I called, and they giggled and waved. Shaking my head at their antics, I landed in the main street, which was nearly empty by now. People were packing up their carts and stalls, it had just been another Sunday market. I made my way inside and wandered around trying to remember the list- being the genius I was, I'd jumped in the lagoon and now all that was left of it was grey mush in my pocket. I bought three loaves of break and two bottles of milk, plus a big carton of eggs-food goes like the speed of light in my house, it's basically war, and then hefted my brown paper bag onto my hip and walked out of the store, pausing to stuff the change into my pocket. Then, I heard it. About two streets down, the clanging of metal dustbins, and somebody's yell, a horrified yell that became choked halfway through. A sick feeling went straight to my stomach as I followed the noise.
"Help!" Cried the voice, and dodging a few carts, it took me two or three minutes to locate the voice. A man was crumpled on the ground on all fours in the poorly-lit back alley. He looked to be about fifty years old with the startings of grey hair, kind brown eyes and a labourer's clothes. I didn't know him, but I had a pretty good guess what had happened. My groceries long-forgotten, I crossed to him.
"What happened?" I asked frantically, and as he turned to face me, I saw it. The horrible, sickening red mark in his stomach, spreading fast up his coarse white shirt. I fought not to be sick and scrambled for something to stem the bleeding.
"Help!" I shouted. "Help! Somebody's been stabbed!" I heard people come running and turned to him, watching the light fade slowly out of his eyes as I held him upright.
"Listen to me," I said firmly. "You are going to be alright, sir." I watched in horror as the faintest-smile?-crossed his face and he grasped my hand.
"Pan," he whispered.
"Do you know who attacked you?" I asked quickly as his eyes started to flutter. "Please, who attacked you?" I said, this time desperately. He shook his head, but locked his gaze with me, holding my hand.
"G-guardian," he managed, before his eyelids closed and I felt his body relax. That was the second footsteps reached us and people's horrified screams filled the ally. Numbly I let other people take him, then turned on my heel and ran. I ran so fast, so hard, as if I could run back through time and make it so that it had never happened. Make it so that I had left a few minutes earlier, and then maybe I would have been able to catch the attacker. The one work swirled around my brain as I ran. Guardian. What did that mean? Before I knew it, I found myself in a familiar place, but with no idea why I chose this one to come to. I landed on the deck of the ship with a thump, and still with the momentum of flying, crashed into the door, which would have to suffice for a knock. I banged desperately a few times and heard footsteps on the other side as the door was flung open and my favourite-insert sarcasm-Hook appeared.
"Why are you here?" He asked, and was probably about to insert a snarky comment, but I cut him off before he could.
"What do you think?" I retorted. "I've come to borrow a cup of milk." There was a pause, and he must have read my expression.
"Where?" He said quietly. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm my shaking.
"Corner of High Street and Fourth." He nodded grimly.
"I'll get my father. Did you tell the others?" I felt sick at the memory of watching the man die beside me and hugged my arms around my stomach as if that could help prevent me from throwing up. Wordlessly, I shook my head.
"No," I managed. "I came here, I just"-I broke off, and stared at the ground, feeling him step closer, and then put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up into those dark eyes that seemed surprisingly concerned.
"Are you alright?" He asked quietly, and, averting my gaze, I nodded. He nodded back and disappeared, returning moments later with his father. Not waiting for niceties I turned and ran off the deck, knowing they were following. Edward immediately began to try and get the crowd back as people came to remove the body and the police began to mark off the area. I couldn't stay. I felt terrible, so guilty, like this was all my fault. I could not believe that here, less than ten minutes ago, somebody had died. That less than ten minutes ago, a ShadowCreature had calmly walked down this street and stabbed a man to death. I turned again and ran, this time with a purpose. I had to find the Darlings. Within moments I was at their house, it was only minutes away from here. I banged again on the door and this time, Mike opened it.
"Ally?" He greeted me, cautiously but politely.
"There's been an attack," I said flatly. "You need to get your father and come with me." But John Darling, and Will, were already at the top of the stairs listening, and came down quickly, following me to the scene. A police officer was talking to Edward.
-"We need to find whose bag this is," he said gruffly. "The attacker probably dropped it."
"They're mine," I interrupted. He turned his sharp gaze to me.
"You, Miss Pan? What were you doing here?" He asked harshly. I clenched my jaw, hating the fact that he seemed to be implicating I'd been the one to do this.
"Well, that man kind of did die in my arms," I said coolly.
"You found him?" Will asked, and I barely nodded. He crossed to me and put a tentative arm around me.
"Hey. It's alright." The officer stepped closer.
"Miss Pan, I'm going to have to detain you," he told me, and fury rose in my stomach.
"How d-"I started, and felt Will's arm tighten around my shoulders as he finished it for me.
"How dare you," he said coldly. "You think she could have done that?" He said sharply. The officer hesitated.
"No. But she was the only witness. She'll have to stay behind." I met his eyes and nodded, but the concern didn't fade from his. He squeezed my shoulders a little bit and let me go, and a few police officers sat me down on the steps of a building. I told them everything I'd seen and was just getting to the guardian part when somebody ran up.
"Hey, Boss, you need to come see this," he said quickly, and both of the men rose, I followed. They walked back down the street to where people with flashlights had began to search the back alley. It was a dead end, and there was a big brick wall where the street ended. Etched on the wall in what looked horrifyingly like blood were words, in the same ornate calligraphy that the other words had been written in.
The predator walks amongst you.
Suddenly I heard my father's voice behind me, and turned to see both my father and mother.
"Jesus. What happened here?" My father's voice was hoarse with worry, and caught me up in a quick, strong hug.
"Honey, are you okay?" My mother asked, and squeezed my shoulder. The police officers quickly filled them in and I told my story again.
"And you didn't see anything, Miss Pan?" An officer repeated again, and I tried not to lose my nerve-or my temper-as about a dozen faces looked to me.
"No. I-I asked him if he saw the person, though," I said tentatively.
"What did he say?" The officer prodded, whilst my father shot him an annoyed look. I shook my head.
"He said the word Guardian." Immediately, whispered broke out within the crowd and the police exchanged glances.
"Interesting. Especially with the words written on the wall." My mother's eyes narrowed.
"Are you insinuating my daughter had something to do with this, Officer?" She snapped, and he gulped.
"No ma'am. I apologize." She smiled tightly.
"We'll leave you gentlemen to continue the search around here as you see fit. The Guardians will meet tomorrow morning, and if you require my daughter for questioning, you may see her then. For now, all of us are going home. It is not safe to be on the streets so late." The officers didn't dare to argue with her, and with a few words to my father about meeting at the Hook's place tomorrow, James and Edward left. Will caught my arm as I went to leave.
"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" He asked, still looking concerned, and I smiled half-heartedly.
"Yeah, I guess so." He nodded.
"Okay. Ally, it wasn't your fault," he told me quietly. "You did the right thing." I nodded.
"I know, I think." He nodded, his expression serious.
"Good. Get some rest," he told me kindly, and I managed a little more of a smile, and turned to follow my parents. We arrived back to a grave-looking Andre, and I explained, in a few words, what we had learned. With a heavy heart I climbed the stairs and changed into my pyjamas, curling up with the blanket. I couldn't stop the images from swirling around my brain, the horrible, graphic pictures, the memory of the man dying as I watched. But that was the worst part-watching. Knowing there was nothing I could have done to help him tortured me as I ran over the memory, searching for anything, anything at all I had seen that might help us to find the attacker. Cold settled thick upon my heart when I thought of his last word. Guardian. And then the writing on the wall; when put together, those two became a scary possibility. A guardian couldn't have done that, could they? One of us? One of the people Neverland relied on, trusted implicitly to protect at all costs? The possibility that one of the people who had been there tonight could have had knowledge of what had happened terrified me. Who could have done such a thing, and why? My brain screamed. Why would any guardian do that? Just then my father came into my room, startling me. He smiled a little.
"I thought you might still be up." He passed me a glass of water, I nodded in thanks. He met my gaze and squeezed my hand.
"I'm proud of you, Scout," he murmured. "What you saw was something...nobody should ever have to see. You did ore than I could have ever expected. You acted like a real guardian." I bit my lip.
"I don't know if that's such a compliment anymore," I said quietly. His eyes hardened.
"Scout, the writing...It isn't true," he told me firmly. "No Guardian would commit such an atrocity. The Darke creature that did that was trying to plant seeds of doubt within people. If it works, it will weaken us, and we cannot let that happen. This is why we must join together even stronger." I nodded, but could sense the unease in my father's eyes, the slight bit of doubt in his tone. Who, after all, were we to know what went on behind closed doors, away from the rest of the world. How could anyone know who anyone else really, truly was, and what they were out to win or lose?
"You aren't sure, are you?" I murmured. "You say that, but you don't know for sure." He sighed tiredly.
"I think we must all tread carefully. One wrong move could send us all falling."
Hope you liked it! It would mean soo much if I could have a few reviews, even just one or two! It would take two seconds and they
make my day, plus I get to know what I can improve on! Want an alternate POV? Longer/shorter chapters? More action? More of a
certain person? Only one way to get it...REVIEW!
Em xx