Remy's POV:
Have you ever been so extraordinarily embarrassed, that it just overshadows everything else? The hate, the confusion, the dismay? That's how I felt as I stared at my hands, refusing my body's plea to move from the bed. Peter had left and I had since gotten dressed and forced myself to eat, because I knew I'd need it for today.
Really, embarrassed wasn't the word.
I knew I had fainted after hearing about him, in front of everybody. Including Peter. And Raybha. And Aaya. And God knows who else was in there. I struggled to make sense of it, of the fact that my murderer was still breathing. And waiting. For me.
Well, I didn't know that for certain. All I knew was that he was alive and I needed to find out why before I tore my brains out. So I made myself stand, and walk outside. The distant murmur of conversation stopped, so I kept my eyes on the ground at all times. I turned and headed straight for Raybha's tent, ignoring everybody. But I couldn't help peeking as I turned, and immediately wished I hadn't. Everybody was there. Aaya, Jamie, Jason, Aaron, Alex, Eddie and Sean. All looking. Wondering. I snuck a quick smile at Sean, to hopefully successfully lie that I was okay. He didn't buy it, and still had that same I feel so bad for you look on his face. He was my best friend. He knew me. At the last moment I caught a pair of pitiful blue eyes.
So I kept on without looking back. I focused on the never ending amount of trees passing by me. Moments later I was unsurprised when I heard footsteps behind me.
"Hey!"
I turned my head a little to see Peter jogging up behind me. He smiled, but just like Sean, I was hardly fooled. He looked as exhausted as I felt.
"Hi."
He caught up to me and I started walking again, trying to hide the fact that I really wanted to see Raybha alone. He saw me faint and judging by the fact he stayed with me meant I had scared the living daylights out of him.
"Peter, maybe you should get some rest. You know. In a bed."
He shook his head. "I thought you'd want me to come today."
"That's not what –"
"I know. I mean this." He whipped an envelope out of his pocket. I realised I had completely forgotten about the words, being so wrapped up in fainting and Hook and drama.
I nodded and we walked again in silence, leaves crunching beneath our feet. When we reached Raybha's tent I got nervous. Nervous of what was in that envelope, nervous of Raybha, nervous of the other things she'd want to discuss. Peter seemed unaware and stepped in first, holding the flap open for me. Hesitating, I finally went in. The tent still had its odd odours and atmosphere but something seemed different. Raybha was in a cross – legged position on the floor with some sort of wooden bucket in front of her. I was about to ask her what she was doing, but decided not to. It was best I didn't repeat my talent of wrecking her inner – concentration. It was clear Peter was thinking the same so we both stayed quiet, waiting for some sort of signal. I hadn't noticed until then that Raybha's eyes were closed and her lips were moving, but she wasn't whispering. Suddenly I really wanted to know what was in that bucket. It was dark in the tent and lit up by candles, so I could barely see. I knew there were some bird feathers and other small things that all seemed to be connected.
Like some sort of bracelet, or charm. I was trying to figure it out when I realised Raybha had stopped wordlessly whispering and was pushing the bucket away into the shadows for another day. Without a word Peter and me both sat down beside each other. The envelope in Peter's hand was as bright as day, letting everybody know that it was there. For some reason I wanted to burn it. It based it on my crazy-murderer-returning-anger.
Raybha looked as sorrowful as she did the night before, but she was looking at the envelope too.
"We…we got them. Yesterday," I said, trying to sound normal.
"Have you opened it yet?" she asked, trying to sound normal too.
I shook my head. "We were about to, but…um…"
"We got sidetracked," Peter finished.
Raybha raised a suspecting eyebrow, but I wasn't sure she really cared because her eyes were still on the envelope.
Peter handed it to me. I took it and suddenly my hands began to shake. I traced the bumped up bit of the seal where I had started to open it the day before, before we got 'sidetracked' . I looked at Peter, and he nodded. Without a moment's hesitation I ripped through the bumped bit and tore off the seal. Letting it fall to the ground I saw a piece of folded paper inside. A million questions were emerging in my mind. If these were the words, then how did they end up in my house? Behind a picture of Martina and me?
My shaking fingers caught the paper and the envelope swept down to the floor. I stared at it. It was a quite unextraordinary piece of folded blank paper. I could feel the tension. My companions were watching the paper. Peter was waiting patiently, even though his whole world's life depended on it. Raybha, however, was less discreet.
"Open it!"
So I did. I unfolded the piece of paper. Scrawly handwriting was set in the middle of the page.
What you seek, What you need
What you know, you don't show.
In your place, a lion will rise
To disturb the enemy's
Immortal eyes.
Kill the Dark, make your mark
To make us show
What we know.
As soon as I lifted my eyes off of the paper Raybha snatched it from me. Peter stood beside her and read over her shoulder. They spent seconds, that seemed like hours, poring over it. They started a quiet deliberation right there, igniting my sparks of anger into blazes of fire.
"What do you think 'Kill the Dark' means?" Peter asked. "And what mark? Immortal eyes? Lions? Raybha? What does this all mean?"
I was so angry I was frozen in place, unable to move or speak.
Raybha was still going over the words, and I saw them, floating above her head, trying to sort them into some sort of riddle she could understand. They wouldn't cooperate, and Raybha looked frustrated. She then looked at me.
"Remy? What does this mean?"
My determination to hold it together was rotting away.
"I don't know," I said through gritted teeth. She didn't notice, but I sensed Peter did.
"Okay, we'll be right back," he said, anxiety ringing in his voice.I turned and stalked out of the tent, him right at my heels. I couldn't turn around. I wouldn't. I kept walking, and walking, and jogging, and eventually running. I ran and ran, ignoring Peter's calls. He was usually faster than me, and he could fly too, but I guessed my anger made up for my lack of fitness. It was bubbling up inside me, threatening to explode. Just before I reached the main part of the camp I turned sharply into the dense trees, tearing through bushes and tall grass. I didn't know how long I was running for, but when I stopped, I was on unfamiliar ground.
At least, for a moment, I thought it was unfamiliar. But I realised my fierce anger was guiding me towards something I needed to see for myself.
The grass dramatically changed into sand and the trees into water as I walked towards the beach, looking for it. I didn't have a good view, and went right, around a few annoying trees that had somehow grown sticking outwards over the sand. As soon as I got around them, I saw it.
The dark floating prison drifted quietly in deep water. Men were striding up and down on its deck, unaware of my watch. I scanned their faces quickly, moving onto the next and the next when I knew they weren't who I was looking for. And then I realised, how foolish I was being. The people on deck were barely visible as it was. This person wanted the whole world to know he was back, that he was alive. It was the reason he had been seen, because he wanted to be seen. I looked at one of the highest accessible points of the ship.
James Hook was standing in the crow's nest, where I once stood. Alive as ever, but the look on his face was unusually dark, even for him. He looked evil, cunning, mad and full of hatred. And that's when I realised he was staring straight back at me.