Chapter Thirty-one
Dawson had only gotten half-way to the barn when he remembered that Faith had another meeting to go to and would not be joining him. He was torn between following Jack and returning to Faith. Finally deciding to return and let Faith know that he was going with Jack to work on the ship, Dawson returned to the house, noticing that Donkey was right on his heels. He walked up the stairs and looked at the rooms, wondering which room they were having the meeting in as all the doors were closed. He turned to see if he could spy some one who might know where the meeting was being held only to see that Donkey had followed him up the stairs.
Donkey grinned up at the boy. "What ya looking at?"
"Trying to find the room where Faith is. Do you know where she is?"
Donkey's furry brow creased a moment as he thought. "She's the insane bitch, right?"
"Don't let her hear you call her that," Dawson warned him. "She'll gut ya right through before ya even know what hit ya."
Donkey grinned and nodded. "Yep. That's the one." He began to sniff the air. Catching her scent, he followed it to Katrina's closed door.
Dawson walked over and knocked on the door, hoping that the meeting had not started already.
Every one looked at each other, but it was only when the knock was repeated that Tom walked over. His tail twitched as he opened the door. His green eyes peered out only to be met with Faith's latest. "Yes?" he asked.
"I need to see Faith."
Donkey said nothing but grinned up at the catman.
Tom looked over his shoulder. "Faith, your boy wants you."
Faith's eyes snapped to Tom, and Tom had to remind himself that the anger therein was not meant for him. At least, he hoped it wasn't with a nervous twitch of his tail. "Tell him to go kiss Jack's ass," she returned.
Tom looked back at Dawson. He didn't want to hurt the kid, so he leaned out a bit and, with a gentle, reassuring smile, offered in a whisper, "She said to go have fun with Jack."
"I heard her!" Dawson said. "I was just going to tell ya, Faith, that when you're ready to train, call me. I'm going to be helping with the ship building, and I'm not kissing Jack's ass!"
"Yeah, right!" Faith retorted, making no effort to move from her seat or disturb Salem from his position on her lap. "Tell ya what, kid. He's your hero; get him to train you. Tom," she then instructed, "shut the door."
Tom looked at her. "Do I have to?"
"But I wanted you to train me, Faith!" Dawson called through the half-open door.
Faith shook her head. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll do it myself." Salem was hoping she meant she'd train Dawson herself when she stood up, placed him in the seat, and proceeded to march over to the door. Tom quickly stepped out of her way, and she peered out the door. "Maybe ya should've thought about that," she informed Dawson, "before ya went after him like a pup." She shut the door in his face.
Dawson was thunderstruck. What was wrong with Faith now! What had he done wrong? All he'd done was what the Captain asked him to do! He shook his head sadly and turned to walk down the stairs, slower than he'd entered.
Donkey took a long, sad look at the kid as he started making his way down the stairs. Dawson reminded him of Will, and he liked the boy. "Hey," he called to him. "Hold on there a minute. She ain't gonna get away with this!" He turned back to the door.
Tom was just beginning to relock the door when it was suddenly kicked open by a pair of flying hooves. The door hit him in the face, and he stumbled backwards.
Faith, who'd barely lifted Salem to return to her seat, whirled toward the interruption. "What the Hell!" she snapped.
Dawson stood where he was on the stairs, afraid to move. What had gotten into Donkey? He wanted to close his eyes. He didn't want to see what Faith was gonna do to him. "Donkey, come away from there!" he called urgently to his friend.
Katrina was at Tom's side immediately, checking him out to make sure he was okay. "It would be a swelling, darling," she told him and held her hand over his poor nose, healing it.
The others' eyes were also on the door and the donkey who stood just within it, but only Faith recovered fast enough to act. "Just what the fuck is your problem!" she demanded, dropping Salem back into the chair and beginning to stalk over to Donkey.
"Well, hum, it's not my problem exactly," Donkey relented, realizing he may have made a mistake. "It's more, hum, Dawson's. Yeah, that's right."
Faith's eyes cut into him as she stalked ever closer to her target. "The kid told ya to bust the door open like that?" she demanded, her voice angry and low.
"Huh . . . Well, hum . . . Not exactly . . . "
"That's what I thought." Faith was almost on top of him when Donkey broke and ran. However, his plan had gotten Faith outside the room. She looked at the staircase which he was swiftly disappearing down. "Don't worry," she called after him. "I'll get your jackass later!"
"Run!" Donkey said as he passed Dawson.
Dawson refused to run but continued his slow way down the stairs. He hoped Faith would get over her anger. He still didn't believe Donkey had kicked the door open. When they were safely outside, he turned to look at Donkey. "Why'd you do that? You should have known it was just going to piss her off more."
Donkey shrugged but would not look at him for the sadness Faith's comment had brought to his eyes. "I was trying to give you a chance," he replied with a shrug. "She sure as heck wasn't going to; she wouldn't even let the door stay open!"
"Thanks, Donkey, but now we'll have to watch out for you. I'm used to her anger. I don't know what I'll do to make her happy this time. She didn't give me a chance to explain. She wants me to kiss Jack's ass. What am I supposed to do?"
Donkey looked at him. "Maybe," he suggested, "for starters, try making sure the woman knows you want her more than the Captain?"
"I don't want Jack! Not that way, any way! I was all excited about getting to actually work on making a ship and excited to be able to work with Jack! My excitement got me into trouble, but she won't give me a chance to talk to her, let alone apologize for not telling her where I went. I don't know why she gets so upset when I do what Jack wants me to do."
"Women," Donkey replied, shaking his head. "They're like that." Which is exactly, he thought, why that wolf spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
"Let's go back to the barn and see what they're doing there," Dawson told Donkey as he headed toward the barn with Donkey following beside him.
Faith slammed the door so loudly that it echoed in the room. "Katrina," she called, "next time I want a second ride, do me a favor and talk me out of it." She shook her head. "Men! Ain't a damn one of them any damn good!"
Katrina blushed. "Some of them ain't, but some of them are good," she told Faith, "and you know you don't really mean that. You're just upset with him, because he didn't tell you where he was going."
"Upset?" Faith repeated as though the mere notion were alien to her. "Angry's more like it. I wouldn't mind cutting his dick off."
At that, both Morph and Tom blushed. Morph's skin turned red, and Tom's orange fur darkened a great deal. Even Celina was blushing deeply, and Meesy sat with his mouth open in shock.
Zora grinned, however. Smart girl, she thought. Kick their ass before they can get your heart.
Connor adverted his face. Damn, that girl would say anything! He couldn't remember a time of ever being so embarrassed, and it didn't seem to phase her at all! He felt sorry for the boy who'd been at the door and was glad that it wasn't him.
Zora, on the other paw, couldn't help thinking that she might offer the brunette a sparring match if the meeting went all right.
As Dawson had been getting a rather cold reception, so had another boy in a place far, far away. He looked once again at the dark-haired, pale-skinned man whose nose, he couldn't help thinking, rather fancied a fishing hook. "I told you," he repeated, flying up into the man's face and puffing out his chest, "that I'm here to see Professor Dumbledore on a very important matter! If you don't let me in there -- !"
The man sighed and knocked on the door. "Headmaster," he called in a cold, still voice, "there appears to be a Wererooster out here for you."
"I'm not any rooster!" the boy protested.
Dumbledore called out, "Let him enter."
Snape looked questioningly at the closed door. "Are you sure?" he called back. Looking down at the boy, he addressed him again, "As for you, you are what you act like."
The boy was just about to blast him again when Dumbledore called reaffirmation to Snape. The darkly dressed Professor opened the door just in time for the boy to fly straight into the office. He quickly shut it again, a sneer marring his face. "I do detest that boi," he muttered underneath his breath as he headed off to make other boys' lives miserable.
Dumbledore looked up from a book that he had been reading to glance at Pan. "What brings you here, young Master Pan?"
Peter burst into exclamations the very moment the wizard called upon him. "Hook's escaped!" he declared. "He stole Tinkerbell and used her dust to fly his ship out of Neverland! I've looked and looked, but I can't find him anywhere!" He was so high up that his feathered hat was nearly touching the ceiling. He looked down at Dumbledore with his arms crossed over his puffed-out chest. "What are you going to do about it?" he demanded to know.
"First of all, Pan, you are to return immediately to Neverland. Your little escapades have been noticed for a very long time, and I have failed to do anything about them. However, that stops this day. You will not be returning to this dimension every time the fancy strikes you, and before you start denying it, believe me, I keep tabs on you. I already knew that Hook had escaped. I am only surprised it took him this long to do it."
Pan's eyes shot wide, and his mouth shot wider. "What do you mean you knew Hook escaped!" he demanded. "You knew and you weren't going to do anything about it! He's supposed to be in my watch!" He was the one who got the pleasure of making that codfish's life miserable -- the only one!
"You will leave this very instant, Pan, and until you hear from me again, remain in Neverland. If I find out that you have returned here without my permission, you will take Hook's place."
Peter glared at the wizard. Surely he must be jesting? Yet Dumbledore's face did not falter, and Pan quickly realized that the man meant business. "Very well," he replied after a moment's hesitation, "but I expect that codfish to be returned to Neverland or I will be contacting the other Council members!"
"Be gone, boy! You bother me!" Dumbledore told him and made a waving notion at him as though he was a housefly. Much to Pan's shock, he found himself back in Neverland!
Left alone in his room, Dumbledore allowed a sly smile to chase over his features. He settled back into his chair, leaving his book on his desk, closed his mind to everything around him, and reached out with his mind to his best and oldest friend. Charles, the plan is underway.
Even further away, another old man lifted his bald head with a huge smile. Wonderful, Albus! Simply wonderful!
To Be Continued . . .
