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Chapter Six: An unknown amount of time later - Part One
Piper stirred, instantly awake as she stared into the surrounding darkness. She didn't know what had made her wake up but it could have been anything. Piper isn't a deep sleeper, she has conditioned herself to sleep lighter because sleeping deeper could have gotten her killed and almost did a few times. Then she heard it.
A branch snapped outside of her tent and instantly Piper was crouched in her tent, head lowered and dark eyes wide as they were trained on the entrance to the tent. Piper automatically reached for her special dagger before hesitating and slipping out one of the daggers Salazar had given her. The little boy had been an avid student in the time she has been here in Neverland and they were often joined by Angelo.
The daggers had a rough wooden handle wrapped with dark brown leather and the blade was a strange sort of black rock that was as sharp as any blade back home. Slipping it out, Piper held it tightly in her left hand, her right hand poised to reach out should she need to. Another branch snapped and Piper tensed even more, making a split second decision.
She pushed aside the small flap in the tent, exiting out of her secret exit. Sliding the little mat of woven vines in front of the flap out of her way, Piper quickly fastened it in place with little cords and slipped under the bush, dark eyes open wide as she stared at her tent. Another branch was snapped and Piper slowly wiggled out from under the bush, circling around a tree and stepping into the shadows, her feet ghosting over the ground.
A tall, shadowed figure was hovering in front of her tent and Piper's teeth glinted white against her mud stained face as she silently snarled. She recognized the tall figure. In the time she has been in Neverland, Piper has kept herself dirty with mud on her face and never really bathing. This has presented a target for Andrew (the large bully boy from her first night) and Smith (the boy whose wrist she injured.) They have tried to bombard her with sneers and insults, only getting angrier when she ignored them effortlessly. Neither of them were the type to let it go though.
Anger burned through Piper as she saw a smaller figure slip forward, crawling into the tent. Waiting until the taller figure ducked down to enter the tent, Piper darted forward and silently exploded, lashing out and shoving him to the side. With a loud shout and a muffled thud, he pinwheeled his arms and toppled over. Instantly, Piper was on him, kneeling and digging her bony knee into his chest and harshly pressing the blade of her dagger into his throat.
"Help-uughghghg!" He cut himself off when he felt the cool touch of the dagger, his wide eyes panicked and enraged. Piper didn't care though, baring her gleaming white teeth, a snarl building in her throat. The animalistic gestures only served to heighten his fear and Piper felt a flash of vicious satisfaction. She had built quite the reputation amongst the Lost Boys.
With her penchant for dark looks, animalistic noises, the mud streaked on her face and as little talking as possible, Piper was widely looked at with either wary ignoring or blustering confidence. Those that ignored her, she left alone. Those that tried to 'out man' her, she took down in as few hits as possible.
Pan knew what was going on.
How couldn't he?
But as long as the Lost Boys were never killed or injured too badly, he ignored it. He didn't care about anything but the 'savages' on the island he was engaged in a battle against. Felix had taken Piper under his monotonous wing and trained her...or at least assessed her skills. It wasn't long before she was being sent out on patrols. Piper didn't do anything to make anyone wary. She talked deep, walked with a swagger and did her general best to be the boy. It wasn't easy but she managed.
It helped that after a while, the novelty of the 'new' 'boy' wore off and she faded into the background. She wasn't significant. There was absolutely nothing about her that stuck out to anyone. If it weren't for Salazar, Angelo, Felix, Andrew and Smith, Piper would be completely invisible.
The Lost Boys pay her no attention, Peter Pan hasn't given her a second look since the first day with Angelo and there was nothing Piper did to draw suspicion. She was always careful to not get caught when she slipped out at night. She never bathed or swam with the boys, preferring to slip off into the woods. She talked as little as possible. She was in the background in everyone's minds. When she spoke, they listened. When she didn't, they never cared.
"Get off of him!" Smith was staring at the two in horror, only his head and shoulders out of her tent. Piper began to rise, intending to go for him but Andrew exploded from the ground with a shout, tackling her around the waist and slamming her down. Piper's breath left her, her eyes bugged open, her mouth hung open as everything went dull. Her vision was graying and little flickers of black tempted her with unconsciousness but in a sudden rush, the air flowed into her lungs. Her ears rung, her back ached and throbbed and Andrew drew back his meaty fist.
Piper's dark eyes widened and in a burst of self-preservation, had her special knife unsheathed and buried in his side in seconds.
The dagger slid in disturbingly easy, slicing through like a knife in water. It took almost no force at all to get the dagger buried in his side and the hot spill of blood soaked out onto Piper's hand, unfreezing her. She scrambled out of Andrew's way as he fell, almost too slowly. The frantic light in his eyes was fading at a rapid pace as he clutched his side, blood spilling from his lips and dark purplish-black veins crawling down his arms and up his neck. The Dreamshade poison spread quickly, killing Andrew faster than the dagger in the side did.
During the day, she was invisible. But at night...she had grown confident in the forest, going as far as leaving for several hours at a time. Her daggers were dipped in Dreamshade and she grew adept at using them. Angelo had attempted to train her in the crossbow but she preferred the use of her daggers. To Piper, the crossbow was awkward and cumbersome. Piper would much rather use her daggers and know that if she got into a fight, she would come out the other end alive.
Still though, she had never wanted to do this.
"What did you do!?" Smith shouted, staring at the boy dying on the ground. Weak spasms were running his body as he made little choking sounds, blood bubbling at his lips. Piper felt a distant sense of horror but it wasn't really making itself known. And the sad thing was, she had done this before. Piper had to kill someone else to defend Dolly and Cortez. Dolly didn't know but Cortez did and he had sworn she would never have to do something like that ever again. Not while he was around. To this day, he has kept that promise.
But he isn't here now.
And it has happened again.
Panic and fear swirl through Piper and she scrambles to her feet, a hundred ideas scrolling through her head...and she settled on one.
Locking her fear away, Piper reaches down, her copper skin gleaming in the light of the rising/setting sun. Her dark eyes were full of danger and Smith snapped his mouth shut. Piper pulled the dagger from the dead boy's side and slid it free with a wet, sucking sound. Smith flinched at the noise, frozen in her dark gaze. Piper's shorn hair fell in shaggy half curls around her face, dark with dirt and grime, half matted from the lack of bathing. Her high cheekbones were not as prominent since she has had the chance to put on a little weight with constant food but they are sharp enough that she still looks like a half wild child. The baggy clothes she is wearing carry a faint odor and swallow her in them, leaving her with the exaggerated look of a scarecrow.
Terror shone in Smith's eyes and Piper wanted to feel bad but right now, she is in the frame of mind that won't allow her to feel anything except grim determination to do what she needs to do. Piper has no intention of being caught by Peter Pan or any of the other Lost Boys.
Right now, she needs to bury this little...issue.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Smith stammered, his voice barely above a whisper. Piper didn't answer, slowly wiping the dagger on the dead boy's clothes and rising, taking a step towards the terrified Lost Boy.
"You, are going to help me carry his body into the woods. We are going to disguise this as an accident. If you tell Pan about this, I will probably be killed...but I'll make sure to kill you before I go. Understood?" Piper spoke steadily, deepening her voice purposefully, a detached look in her dark eyes. It terrified Smith.
"B-but-"
"There are no buts. Either you do as I say, or I kill you too. What's it gonna be?" Piper asked calmly, holding the dagger loosely, the blade turned so that it is laying flat against her sweater-clad arm. All it would take is a quick, effortless draw of dagger against his neck and would bleed out in seconds. Or, she could just knick him and let the Dreamshade do its work. As though sensing her train of thought, his eyes flicking down to the dagger and Smith flinched before raising his eyes fearfully to hers.
"I-I'll help." Smith stammered out and Piper nodded, bending down and grasping a thick foot. Taking the silent cue, Smith helped her. Struggling to be a silent as possible while carrying the large body, Piper led him into the woods around the camp and onto a barely see-able path. Confused, Smith shot her a glance that Piper did not answer. She wasn't going to explain about the paths she has hidden all over the island. If she did, her whole plan to get back home could be ruined.
Their journey through the woods is quiet, only broken by the harsh panting Smith is doing. Piper struggles not to roll her eyes and make a snarky comment, focusing on the heavy body they are lugging through the woods. Coming upon a path that is almost completely overgrown, Piper begins to turn down it.
"Wait! Are you crazy?" Smith hissed, glancing warily at the path. Piper paused, not daring to set down the body and leave scuff marks. Her arms burn with the strain of carrying the larger body but she ignores it in favor of blinking the stinging sweat out of her eyes and staring questioningly at him. "Honestly! You don't wander down paths you aren't sure about. Especially if they are overgrown. That means that something had to have happened to stop us from using them. In this case it is the feral cats that live a little down that way! They eat attack us and then eat us. Why do you think we don't go down there?" Smith ranted and Piper silently rolled her dark eyes.
"They eat us." Piper growled lowly and he snapped his mouth shut. "No evidence." Piper explained and he paled, scared eyes locked on the entrance to the path. Rolling her dark eyes, Piper began to tug them to the path. Unwilling, Smith dug his feet in a little, shakes running through his arms. With a muffled growl, Piper caught his attention, the warning clear in her dark eyes. Smith lightened his walk, twitching at every single noise. This path was admittedly a little creepier than the others.
It was overgrown and silent so any noise was so much louder than expected. Piper was on high alert, her dark eyes scanning the areas behind her. So when the forest suddenly went completely silent, she dropped her end of the body, her dagger out in the next second as she whirled around...and there it was.
The little feral cat from before. Its spiky black pelt was the same, the small dashes of silver on it glimmering in the fading light as one lynx ear twitched. The fangs looked just as long and sharp as before, curved against the jaw, seeming to be whiter against the soft looking black fur lining its jaw. The cat was just sitting on the trail, the silver tip of its spiky black tail twitching, intelligent silver eyes locked on the duo and the dead body.
Then two more stepped out of the woods, standing on either side of the black and silver one protectively. These two were far larger, about the size of a teenage lion. The one on the left was a dusky red, darker copper strands glimmering as it shifted, the muscles rippling under the thick pelt. Its eyes were a piercing green as it took a step forward. For such a large animal, it was so silent. The second one was white and tan, the pelt curling a little. It had sharp blue eyes.
"What do we do?" Smith whispered and the white and tan one let out a dangerous snarl.
Piper was frozen.
What should she do?
bittersweet S- Thank you so much for your review! And I know what you mean, my job is not exactly going easy on me either! I am glad you like where I am going with this and I hope you continue to enjoy this story!