Peter Pan

A Different Wendy

Chapter Eleven

Marie stared at them, wishing they would do something to get them out of this water so she wouldn't look stupid, but it was Violet who first spoke, no, screamed, "Get me out of here! Please!" She was shaking from crying by this point, and Marie lifted her up and held her close to calm her shivers.

Peter was giving the Lost Boys orders and they ran off to obey. Peter called out to them, "Come out of there, Marie."

Marie wanted to say that she couldn't and she was scared, but she didn't want him and the others to think she was just a scared girly, so she slowly made her way across the water, holding the struggling Violet who was trying not to touch the water, and weaved her way around the faeries. She finally felt the grass beneath her feet and she sighed with relief, dropping her little sister to the ground. Violet was still in shock and she turned to stare at the water, whimpering as if she was in pain, as she always did when something else was hurting, she was just that way.

"What happened?" Peter demanded, grabbing Marie's shoulders.

Marie gaped at him, "You think we did this? Peter, you're crazy! We were about to get out and we saw them floating down the river." Marie shook her head. She couldn't believe he was as foolish as to think they had anything to do with this.

Peter let go of her, "I'm sorry, I was just surprised. Nothing like this has ever happened before. We have to find out what happened." He directed this comment to Nibbs, Slightly and Tootles who returned from their errand.

"So I guess this means we aren't gonna be finding a home today, right, Peter?" Tootles questioned.

"No, we'll still send some of the Boys to scout out an area, but you three are coming with me." Peter said, gazing at the water. There weren't anymore new faerie bodies, but the other ones were still making their way down the river.

"Okay, should we tell the others to go now?" Nibbs asked.

"Yeah, go tell them to get started, and Slightly, you bring Marie and Violet back in the hideout." Peter turned to Marie, "You two stay here, I think you've seen enough things today."

Marie frowned, "No, you aren't going to lock me up inside, I want to come, too."

"Marie, come on, maybe you should rest for a while, and we don't want you to get sick." Tootles said.

"Are you serious? I'm not going to get sick!" Marie gave an involuntary shudder, her clothes were wet and the cool air was giving her the chills. Tootles crossed his arms and Marie smiled weakly, "Okay, so I'm cold, you can't blame me, but all I need to do is get dressed in some dry clothes and I'll be fine. Just give me a minute."

"No, stay here, Marie, because if you come then Violet will have to come too, and I think she's still scared from what happened in the river." Peter gestured towards the little girl.

"Peter, stop making up excuses! Violet will be fine!" Marie burst. She grabbed Violet's hand and walked down the river to where their clothes were, and Slightly followed, thinking she had given up arguing and was going to let him bring her inside. Marie took out Violet's new clothes and handed them to her, and then she took out her own. Slightly walked over to them and Marie looked up at him. "Go tell Peter we'll be there in a minute, and don't let anyone come in here, we're getting dressed."

"What? I thought you were staying here?" Slightly's ears turned pink.

"No, I'm not! I won't be excluded from everything, so go and tell him we'll be there in a minute." Marie turned away, but she knew Slightly was still standing there. "Go, or I'll change right here."

"Okay, okay, I'll tell him." Slightly said and turned and ran away.

"What'd you do that for?" Violet asked, pulling off her wet dress.

"Do what?" Marie asked back, unbuttoning her dripping dress, letting it drop to the ground, and she stepped out of it, quickly pulling her new one over her head.

"Why were you so mean to Slightly?" Violet sat down in her dry clothes and pulled on some warm socks.

"I wasn't being mean; I just wanted him to leave so I could change. He was being a pest." Marie turned away from her sister's knowing gaze and pulled back her dripping hair and tied it up with a ribbon.

"Marie, I think there's something else you're upset about, and you don't want me to know, but you're gonna have to tell me, so spit it out." Violet stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Okay, I'll tell you later tonight, actually, I'll show you, okay?" Marie bargained.

"Fine, but remember, I don't forget these things." Violet stuck out her finger, "Pinky promise?"

"I pinky promise," Marie interlaced her pinky around her sister's and squeezed, then let go. "Well, come on, before they leave without us."

"Are we really going with them? I mean, what are we gonna do?" Violet nearly ran to keep up with Marie's quick stride.

"I don't know, but we're going, too." Marie said, shifting the bag of clothes from one shoulder to the other.

Peter, Nibbs, Tootles and Slightly were waiting right where they left them, and Peter smiled when she dropped her bag to the ground and waited for them to speak. He warned, "Are you sure you wanna come with us? It might be dangerous."

"Of course, like I'm going to miss out on all the fun?" She smiled shyly.

"Then let's go, we have to go to the Faerie Woods and see what happened there." Nibbs told her.

"Yes, I need to speak with the Queen of the faeries." Peter nodded.

"And Tootles and I are going to check out the rest of the area." Nibbs explained as they walked, "And Slightly is going to be with you two, and you can do whatever you want."

"We'll help check out the area, too, then, because I didn't want to come for nothing." Marie offered.

"Is that okay, Peter?" Nibbs looked to their leader.

"I guess so." Peter shrugged.

Marie was so happy she'd gotten her way she almost forgot that this wasn't a mission to enjoy; it had to do with the deaths of many faeries. She smothered the smile that was about to spread across her lips and pasted a resigned look on her face as the others had adapted to. Except for Tootles who seemed to look always pleasant, which in Marie's opinion was a good thing, and also except for Slightly who seemed to always have a look of gloom or confusion on his face that Marie did not remember ever having been there when she visited those many years ago.

Violet trudged sullenly beside her big sister. Marie knew that Violet would be like this for a few days now because she wasn't used to being exposed to something so traumatic and she needed time to comprehend what had happened. Marie was going to miss her sweet, innocent Violet, so closed off towards the bad things in life, but she knew that living in Neverland would change all of that quickly, especially with this new bad guy on the loose.

"Be quiet now, we're almost there." Nibbs warned, putting his finger to his lips and then walking softer on the crunchy twigs and leaves.

Violet silently slipped her hand into Marie's and was looking wide eyed around. Marie saw that she was shaking, and not from the cold, her lips looked a little blue as well. Her skin felt warm, but there were goose bumps running up and down her arms and legs. Marie pushed back the still-damp curls from Violet's forehead and found that she was burning up. She had no idea why Violet hadn't told her she wasn't feeling well. She stopped her and knelt down on the ground, holding her younger sister about the waist.

"What's the matter with you?" Marie wondered.

Violet shook her head, looking scared, "I don't know."

"Are you sick? Why didn't you tell me?" Marie picked her up and wrapped her arms around her to keep her warm.

"I don't feel sick, but it hurts." Violet put her head down on Marie's shoulder.

"What hurts, honey, you gotta tell me what hurts." Marie rocked her.

"Everything," Violet tried to lift her head again, but fell back. Marie panicked, Violet had just fainted in her arms and she didn't know what was wrong. What was she supposed to do? She lifted her up and ran swiftly back to the Lost Boys' hideout. She slid down the hole and carried Violet into the bedroom, placing her softly on their bed and wrapping the blankets around her as tightly as she could. She left her there and paced the room, trying to think of what you were supposed to do for a person who had fainted.

She thought she'd seen a film where someone had fainted and they put a cool cloth on their head and they woke up, so she ran back outside to the stream and dipped a spare shirt into the water. She ran back around the huge tree and into the hideout once more. She walked through the doorway to the bedroom and into the dimly lit room, stopping dead in her tracks. There was a man bent over Violet, touching her forehead.

"Get away from her!" Marie yelled, and the man turned around slowly. Marie gasped at the sight of him. He was the nasty man from the nightmare. "Who are you?" She asked cautiously. She didn't know if this man was as violent as his dream version, but she took a wild guess that he probably was.

He just laughed and took a step towards her, "You must be Marie. Am I right?"

Marie nodded her head ever so slightly up and down. She didn't want him to come any closer to her. "Yes, I am."

He didn't seem to mind her fear; in fact, it looked as if he enjoyed it. "Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you, or your sister." He added, and came closer, with each step forward he took, Marie took one back but she backed into the wall and had no where else to go. The dark man smiled triumphantly as he reached her and took her hand. He pulled it up to his face and…sniffed it? Marie was so taken aback she didn't even fight him when he pulled her back to Violet and pushed her down so she was sitting on the bed beside her sister.

Marie took this opportunity to place the cool cloth she'd gotten on her head. Violet made a noise in her not-so-sleeping 'slumber'. Marie looked up at the man from the nightmare and asked, "What did you do to her?"

"Me?" He chuckled softly. "I didn't do anything." Marie peered at the hooded man suspiciously. Why couldn't she see his face? It was all shadowy and she didn't think she wanted to know what he looked like if he took such careful precautions to hide it from her. She looked past his shoulder to the doorway and prayed the Boys would soon return. "You don't think I'd be here if they were just going to show up, do you?"

"What do you want from me?" Marie stood up, challenging him. If he was going to kill her, he might as well just get it over with.

The man looked away, "Silly girl, you don't know what you are doing. Sit back down." He pushed her down again, but she stood back up.

"No, I want to know who you are." Marie stared at his hood, since he was looking the other way.

"That is not for me to tell." He said mysteriously.

Marie was puzzled, "If you can't tell me who you are, then who can?"

He looked at her then and she saw that his eyes glowed red, and though she tried she couldn't look away, "Tell me something, Marie, daughter of Wendy."

"What?"

"What are you doing here? Do you even know?" He could have just been asking her why she wasn't out with the others, but somehow Marie knew he was talking about her being in Neverland. "Do you know what you've gotten yourself into? Are you really ready to give up your chance to live and grow old? Think of all of those things you're going to miss out on. Driving, going to college, falling in love and having a family of your own. You'll never be able to do that if you don't grow up."

"I don't want to fall in love, so I guess I'm lucky to be here." Marie swallowed.

"You can't possibly mean that." The man said incredulously. "How can you, a mere girl of only fourteen, say that you don't want to fall in love. Do you know what love is?"

"Do you?" Marie shot back. What was he trying to do, get her to go back home? Home to what, she didn't have a home?

He grabbed at her and spun her around so her back was pressed against his chest and his arm was bent across hers to keep her there. He whispered in her ear, "Too innocent," and spun her around again, dipping her back, looking to anyone who walked in at that moment that they were finishing up a ballroom dance. He leaned towards her face, looking like he was going to kiss her, but instead he forced open her mouth and sucked in air. Marie would have pushed him away if she could, but she couldn't, and it wasn't that her arms weren't free by her sides, but she could feel something being taken away from her. She saw with horror that he was sucking out some white mist that was coming from her own mouth, and she was feeling drowsier by the second.

With one last deep gulp, the dark man let her drop limply to the ground and he disappeared.