SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it's probably not mine. Don't bother sueing me, I'm broke anyway. *grin* Eleanor and Lynn, however, are mine. You're welcome to use either of them if it takes your fancy, but please let me know. I'd like to see what they get up to.

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Chapter 2: The Meeting

Lynn could hardly believe her luck. All her life she had adored stories that told of fantastic worlds where the impossible was possible and adventure abounded. Now, not only did she find that at least one such story was true, but she was involved in the adventure of a lifetime! The four of them were just settling into the thick jungle of the island after a truly exhilarating flight. Chuckling, she thought, If ever man was meant to take to the skies, it was like this. Never mind all that mechanical nonsense! Eleanor looked over at her with a broad grin, which she couldn't help answering.

Everywhere she looked, she saw something new and amazing. Flowers of all types and colours bloomed among the thick foliage, but the trail they had landed on was clear save for a blanket of leaves underfoot. Peter was calling something wordless from up in the trees – presumably a rallying call for his boys. All that was missing were the pirates. In particular, Hook.

From the first time she had read of Wendy's adventures in Neverland, Lynn had longed to meet the story's main antagonist. Never mind that he didn't exist, he had been real to her. She had felt a strange connection to the one-handed pirate, one that defied explanation and which she had kept strictly to herself. Not even her sister knew the depths of her fascination with this dangerous man.

And now, it seemed, he was indeed real. She had subtly questioned Peter on their journey and learned that Hook did indeed still haunt the shores of Neverland in the Jolly Roger . They had mostly been keeping clear of each other lately, it seemed, neither quite ready for another round in their ongoing battle. How she envied Wendy Darling. But perhaps she would at least have a chance to glimpse the man at some point. She mentally crossed her fingers for luck as the first of the Lost Boys burst through the undergrowth and more began to gather round.

The day had passed as a happy blur. They had met the Lost Boys, who had immediately asked if either of them could tell stories. Laughing, Eleanor had stepped back and pointed to Lynn, who was immediately besieged with requests. Her own laughter bubbling up inside, she had settled on a nearby log and offered to tell them one. She was greeted at once with a row of upturned faces as they all sat down in front of her and fell silent, waiting.

She had told several stories in that sitting – tales of adventure, battle and romance. Her little audience had been captivated, even Peter deigning to come down from the trees and sit with them to listen. When she pleaded a dry throat, the boys spirited the pair of them off to the house hidden in an old tree and brought them food and drink. Then they had all trooped back outside to play in the warm tropical sunshine.

Lynn had played with them for a while, even borrowing a knife from one of the boys and slitting the skirt of her nightdress from hem to mid-thigh when it became too confining. It soon became obvious, however, that while all the boys were blessed with vivid imaginations, they were not terribly bright about the way they employed them. It was clear that their games varied very little from day to day, and clearer still that they only played at something for as long as Peter was interested. After a few hours, she began to tire of the games and slipped away into the forest. Perhaps she would do a little exploring, safe in the knowledge that if she got lost she could always fly high enough to scout out a way back.

It was warm and dim under the trees, the air heavy with the perfume of flowers and the damp smell of fallen leaves. She wandered for some time, but time seemed to stand still in this twilight world and before long she lost all sense of how long she had been there. Would they have missed her yet? Well, even if they had it was unlikely that anyone would worry. They might even think it was part of a new game and start hunting for her. She smiled at the thought.

Another thought: it hadn't looked like a very big island, so what was to stop her heading down towards the sea? She might at least get close enough to see the ship, even if she wasn't sure she dared get close enough to see its occupants. A broad grin spread across her face. An adventure, indeed.

Her pace was quicker now, although she still took care to move as silently as she could. It was a skill she had learned at the boarding school her parents sent her to: creeping through the grounds after dark with a friend, each daring the other to go a little further each night and praying they wouldn't get caught. They had learned all sorts of interesting facts about the school on those night-time rambles, including a place where it was possible to slip through the thick hedge surrounding the grounds – not something you could do during daylight, since it was in full view of the headmaster's office window, but entirely possible to do after dark.

She told herself later that it was foolish of her to slip into reminiscences. It was only by chance that she noticed the voices ahead of her a moment before she stepped out from between the trees. Drawing back against the lichen-covered trunk, she strained her ears and heard a whining voice say: "Sorry, Captain."

"Captain," she murmured to herself, eyes lighting up with excitement. "Hook!" Common sense told her that she should turn and slip away quietly through the trees before she was seen. Common sense told her it would be foolish to go any closer, that it would leave her open to the risk of discovery. Common sense was told to walk the plank as she cautiously moved forward to try and get a better view.

It took a bit of work, but finally she slid into the shadows of a twisted tree-stump and peered over the top. There was a crowd of people in the small glade ahead of her, ruffians all. All except one, she amended, her eyes falling for the first time on the sinister captain. There was no way she could call him a ruffian, not when he simply oozed style and grace.

He was a tall man, his masses of dark hair falling in curls to below his shoulders, his moustache and beard neat and pointed, his thin lips twisted in a cruel smile as he looked down at the pirate cowering before him awaiting some sort of punishment. Her gaze was drawn briefly to the wicked hook that took the place of his right hand before returning to study his face. An intelligent face, she decided, but one that showed the pleasure he took in pain and cruelty in every plane. A dangerous man. A sinister man. A thoroughly captivating man.

She watched as he bent towards the man before him and said something in a low voice. The man hung his head in shame, but Hook tilted his face back up with the side of the metal claw. There were tears in the kneeling pirate's eyes as he nodded. The captain straightened up and nodded. He turned away. The man sagged slightly with relief. So did Lynn.

A sickening tearing sound. Hook had spun back abruptly, eyes blazing, and slashed his hook across the pirate's exposed throat. The poor man didn't even have time to cry out. Lynn clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp in the instant before she was forcibly turned away from the gruesome scene.

The heavy hand on her shoulder belonged to one of two pirates who stood leering down at her. Before she could even register what she saw, they had hauled her roughly to her feet and clamped hands like iron around her arms. "Not nice to spy on the Cap'n," one of them said with a rough laugh. Chuckling gleefully, they pushed her before them into the glade.

I won't look at the body, she told herself fiercely. The smell of blood hung heavily in the still air. A moment later, and none of that was important once she had met the periwinkle-blue eyes of Captain James Hook. Oh God...

"Well, what have we here? Another of Pan's little playmates? But you look much to old for that." His voice was rich, deep, and cultured. It sent a shiver down her back and she found herself wanting more than anything to win his respect.

The first response that popped into her head was, she felt, probably not the wisest thing to say, but the words were there and it was impossible to keep from speaking them aloud: "It's not polite to speculate on a woman's age, Captain."

There was a moment's silence, during which Lynn and the watching pirates all seemed to hold their breath, then a sly smile twitched at the corner of Hook's lips and he signalled to her captors to release her. "At least you identify yourself as a woman, so you must be older than the children he usually brings." He stepped towards her, and she found herself needing to cock her head at an angle to keep eye contact without toppling backwards. "What's your name, little one?"

She couldn't help smiling at that. "So you noticed the difference, I guess," she replied blandly. "My name is Eolynn." Now what had prompted her to give her full name? She had no idea where her parents had got the name from and she had never really liked it, which was why she usually went by Lynn.

"Eolynn..." On the other hand, she felt she could probably learn to like it a lot more after hearing it spoken like that. "Welcome to Neverland."

Not entirely certain how to respond, especially given the pace her heart was setting, Lynn bowed slightly. She was conscious of the rest of the crew clustered around them, watching her. She was even more conscious of the steady blue gaze of the captain. This was also making her uncomfortably conscious of the amount of leg that must be visible through the slit in her skirt. Her face felt warm with embarrassment, but she refused to drop her eyes from his.

"So tell me, little one, how you come to be so far from home? And where is Pan? I'm sure he's responsible for bringing you here, but I don't see him or any of his fellows about."

A wry smile twisted her lips. "Oh yes, he was. He really wanted my little sister, I think – he woke her first. She wanted me to come, and he let her. I left them playing a while ago." She waved a hand vaguely in the direction she had come from.

"You prefer not to play?" It was a loaded question; one Lynn decided was going to take more than a moment to unravel. But what was he really asking? She settled for answering the most direct aspect of it.

"Play is fine, but I prefer play with a bit of intelligence. Eleanor will probably get bored with it before long too. She's used to playing with me whenever I'm at home, and we're both bookish types so we tend towards a slightly more... I'm really not sure how to describe it..." She looked at Hook beseechingly, hoping he would understand, and he nodded for her to go on. "I got bored more quickly. I guess I was almost half expecting it, given that Peter's so young and wild and untutored." She shrugged.

"If you were expecting it, then why did you come?" He had moved closer to her has she spoke, and now raised his hook to brush aside a strand of dark hair that had fallen across her cheek.

The brush of the cold metal against her skin made her shiver slightly as she contemplated her answer. How honest should she be? After a moment, she replied with a shaky little laugh, "You'd think I was mad if I told you."

"I won't laugh. You have my word upon it. Come, share your madness with me." There was a hypnotic quality to his voice, and she found herself shivering again. In all her dreams of Captain Hook, he had never been as imposing as this, nor as captivating.

For the first time since their meeting, she dropped her eyes slightly and peered at him from under long lashes. If she answered truthfully, it would be the first time she admitted her fascination to anyone. She bit gently at her lower lip until Hook reached out with his good hand and brushed the corner of her lips with his thumb. "Tell me," he urged softly.

"You." Her voice was barely a whisper, and she feared the hammering in her chest must surely have drowned it out. He touched me! The words sang through her mind like a chorus. She could still feel the tingle where his hand had brushed her lips.

"Me?" His voice was almost as soft, but tinged faintly with surprise. "How did you know about me?"

"A book..." She answered unwillingly, unsure of his reaction if he knew what had been written about him. His eyes urged her to continue, however, and she couldn't bring herself not to. "There was a book about three children: Wendy, John and Michael Darling. They met Peter Pan, and came to Neverland, and met you... I'd always thought it was just a story, until I met Peter last night. Then I realised that it must mean that you were real as well... Well, you were always my favourite character in the story, so I came here hoping to meet you. And now I have."

"And now you have," he repeated, his voice thoughtful. His eyes grew distant for a moment, before returning to focus on Lynn with unnerving intensity. "We would all be honoured if you would spend the afternoon with us on the Jolly Roger , Eolynn." He extended his arm invitingly as the gathered pirates made mutters of agreement.

Without taking her eyes from the dashing captain before her, Lynn bowed again and slipped her arm through his. "I would be honoured, Captain," she replied with a smile.