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Chapter Seven: An unknown amount of time later - Part Two
Piper snapped out of her daze, mentally blaming it on the fact that this is only her second murdered person.
Taking a step forward, Piper tried to seem non-threatening to the feral cats. Ignoring Smith's panicked hissing about danger, stupidity and holy-hell-he-was-going-to-leave-if-she-didn't-get-back-there, Piper boldly met the middle cat's gleaming silver eyes.
"I am here with an offering." Piper ground out, her throat aching a little with how hard she is forcing herself to sound like she has gravel in her throat. The feral cats didn't twitch. The tan and white one rose to its paws, twitching a lynx ear back to the others as it took a threatening step forward, baring its long, curved white fangs. "That doesn't scare me." Piper growled, forcing herself to not react with anything other than her hand tightening around the dagger of her island dagger. How she wished she could pull out her special knife.
"Why are you here?" Piper stiffened with shock as another feral cat stepped out of the bushes. It's voice was light, musical and entirely female. Her pelt was a gleaming white with light orange stripes down her back and reaching down her sides. She took a regal step forward, larger than a lion but striped like a tiger.
"To dispose of a body." Piper had debated lying but that didn't strike her as something that would go over well with these feral cats. The largest cat cocked her head to the side, pale, slitted green eyes wise and knowing.
"Self defense is not something we will argue against. We will take the body but only because Fiercemoon seems rather fond of you." The large female flicked an amused gaze over her shoulder at the spiky black and silver cat. She twitched her inky black ear, stretching absently before trotting forward, past the largest feral cat and stopping before Piper. "She wants to be your companion but has yet to decide if you are worthy of it." Piper shot a surprised look at the largest female and she chuckled. "She would tell you but she cannot speak. Only I, Tigerstripe, as the leader of my clan can speak. We thank you for your gift but I bid you farewell now. We have not trespassed on your territory and now I ask that you grant us the same courtesy." Turning away, Tigerstripe flicked her tail at the two middle cats. "Duskrose, Tanpatch, take the body. You know where to dump it." Tigerstripe ordered and the two cats bowed their heads in acknowledgement before padding forward.
Smith squeaked, dropped his end and took off. Piper held still as the two feral cats got closer, though the temptation to roll her eyes was very extreme. Backing away from the two cats respectfully, Piper was awarded with another nod before they dragged the body off and all was still. The black and silver feral cat- Fiercemoon, padded forward, flicking her dark ear back and stopping in front of Piper. The two held gazes before Fiercemoon dipped her head once and crouched down, bunching her muscles up and leaping onto Piper's shoulder.
Reflexively reaching up to help steady Fiercemoon, Piper felt a little shock at the extreme softness of the spiky looking pelt. The closest she could describe it is the time she ate cotton candy and the way it melted in her mouth, both soft and liquid at the same time. Piper froze, unsure if she had startled the feral cat but didn't dare look.
To be fair, this really hasn't been a good night for her.
Then a rusty, rumbling purr vibrated through the feral cat and Piper relaxed at the soothing sound. It only went on for a few moments before the feral cat jumped down, shaking herself off and then trotting into the bushes without a second look back.
Piper stared after her for a second, shocked and confused before shaking herself off in a mimicry of the feral cat.
Turning, Piper ghosted to the closest stream, rinsing the dry blood off her hands as best as she could before rising and racing silently through the threatening trees back to camp.
~Unbowed-and-Unbroken~
"Where's Andrew?" Piper forced herself not to react when she heard Felix's dry question. Pan may be the leader of these Lost Boys, but he doesn't spend much time with the boys, thus allowing them to build up his image in their minds. Felix is left in charge of everything and he is like a big brother- albeit a very emotionless one- and the boys both respect and look up to him. "Anyone? If no one can tell me, I will be forced to tell Pan." Felix threatened and the whole camp froze.
Piper shot Smith a glare and he wilted, not wanting to face the dangerous truth in her dark eyes. He knows that even if he did go to Pan right now, he would be severely punished for not only not telling right away but for helping get rid of the body. Smith has made his choice and now he has to live with it.
"Who cares? He kept going on about how the savages didn't deserve to be attacked like this. He wanted to know what it was like to live with them." Smith scoffed, forcing himself to look annoyed and angered at the mention of his now-dead best friend. "He wasn't truly loyal to Pan and I bet he went off and got himself killed!" Smith let his disgust at what they did with the body show, convincing Felix that his words were true.
Without saying anything else, Felix turned on his heel and stalked over to Pan's tree house, knocking on the door.
Piper forced herself to continue with eating the 'stew' as the boys called it, despite the lack of stew appearance. The taste is something she has grown used to and Piper wonders how long exactly she has been here.
It feels like she has been here forever, the days never appearing or the nights. Piper had overheard the boys whispering and managed to figure out that it wasn't always like this, stuck between sunrise or sunset. Things like that are determined by Pan's mood. If he is in a good mood, he might have it be day all the time. If he is in a bad mood, storms and dark nights. Right now, he is as settled as a person like him gets, hence the balance between morning and night.
When Piper first heard that, she had scoffed but then remembered how he had used magic to appear and disappear. It was effortless to him so Piper didn't say anything, burying her fear at being caught as a girl and a liar deep as it could go before continuing on with what she had been doing.
Felix returned, a grim look settling over his features.
"Get up, Lost Boys. We are going to search for Andrew. If we find him, Pan has orders that we bring him back alive." Whispers emerged but were silenced with a dark glare from Felix.
"Angelo, take Salazar, Tony, Carter, Smith and...Pierce. Your group will take the fifth path, if you find anything, send one of your group to report to me immediately." Piper forced herself not to react. She had been sent on a path that ran parallel to the one she had taken to drop the body off with the feral cats. Smith shot her a panicked glare, one that Piper ignored as she finished her food, waiting until the entire group rose to follow.
It is easier for her to blend in when she is surrounded by boys that are louder and wilder than she is acting.
Dropping her bowl off with a disgruntled looking boy, Piper followed at Angelo's heels; his silent shadow. It wasn't an uncommon a sight to see: Piper following silently after Angelo with Salazar bouncing along and chattering with the both of them. That is mostly how they travel. Despite how it looks though, Piper has always been the leader of the little group. She has been their teacher and has saved their lives more than once in skirmish with the savages.
She hasn't killed any of the savages but she does know she has fatally injured them with her daggers a time or two before she dipped them in Dreamshade. As a result, Angelo and Salazar hold an awe close to hero-worship for her.
Angelo is younger than Piper by a few years and so he looks up to her as another big brother. If the poor boy ever discovered what her gender really was, he'd probably die of shock.
She once asked them why she, who is nineteen, has been brought to the island considering she is technically an adult and Angelo told her that there are no kids allowed older than Pan, who is also nineteen. If anyone one older than Pan is brought to the island, they are considered adults and the island doesn't like adults. Neither does Pan apparently. Salazar told her the tale of two adults that had made it onto the island once.
They hadn't left alive. Or fully whole but rather dead and in pieces, a message to any other adults that would think they could travel to a land for children. Piper had bristled at being called a child but kept her mouth shut, not wanting to draw attention.
It really burned in her, having to hold back so that she could be invisible. Piper isn't the type of person to be invisible. She is the type to be noticed for no other reason than her rather exotic looks but since she has to keep herself covered in big, baggy clothes and mud smeared on hands, face and neck, she has faded away.
Not many truly bother to see her and if it weren't for Angelo, Salazar and Felix, Piper would have gone crazy by now.
She still can't trust them fully (she had once had a conversation about Pan with Felix and after eyeing her silently, he had told her in no uncertain terms that he was Pan's man through and through and he would never forsake that. To which she had snarkily replied, man or Lost Boy? Causing Felix, Angelo and Salazar to look at her, completely flummoxed. Piper didn't joke. She just didn't.) Still though, despite the fact that she couldn't trust them to have her back should the need arise, Piper did appreciate the friendship that Angelo and Salazar freely offered and that Felix reluctantly and somehow by mistake offered.
There is just something about her though, once they really noticed her, that was hard to let go of once they got to know 'Pierce' as best as they were allowed.
She is intriguing to them. She is quiet and closed off, half feral at times, yet she follows docilely after Angelo and listens with a patient ear to Salazar. When she is teaching, she barely speaks but still manages to get across the information in a non-confusing way. She isn't overly harsh yet there is something undeniably dangerous to her, though they haven't glimpsed it in a while.
She is close to an adult but never scolds them for childish acts. The way she walks mimics a boys swagger but they can see there is something far more lethal in her movements. She moves like she is prepared to start fighting at the drop of a hat, yet she is so steady and reliable during a fight that Felix, Angelo and even Salazar relax, knowing she would protect their backs as long as they protect hers.
The enigma of Piper only grew when they realized she could not hear the whistle of the pan pipes Pan played once. She had faded away and only reappeared after the music was gone, silently retaking her spot at Angelo's shoulder.
She doesn't believe herself to be unloved and uncared for yet she makes no move to escape to get away and she never talks about her past. Ever. Salazar tried to pry once and the look she gave him made him back off and avoid the subject with a passion rivaled only by his glee at being allowed on patrols.
Their group searches for Andrew and Smith drifts to her side, subconsciously clutching the once injured wrist in his other hand. Glancing down, Piper can see she left five thin crescent moon scars dotted between the veins in his wrist.
"What do we do if we find him?" Smith whispered and Piper shot him a wry look.
"We won't." She rumbled lowly and Angelo cast a curious back at hearing her voice. Piper so very rarely spoke that it was odd for the boys to hear it. She only spoke when she felt she absolutely had to. Salazar glanced back too, lowering his eyebrows in a scowl when he saw who she was talking to. Neither of the boys like Andrew or Smith as a result of their constant attempted bullying of Piper and deep down, their loyalty warms her a little, though she would never admit it aloud.
"How can you be sure?" Smith persisted and Piper shot him a warning look, causing him to clutch his wrist tighter and back off into the rest of the group. Piper allowed a sharp little grin to cross her lips before it was gone and she slipped up to take her place at Angelo's shoulder at the head of the group.
~Unbowed-and-Unbroken~
By the time they made it back to camp, the first true night that Piper had seen on the island had fallen but it was accompanied by whipping rain, roaring thunder and fierce streaks of lightning. Piper was a little anxious. She had a cloak to cover her head with but it wouldn't take long to soak through the cloak and start washing the mud off her face. Piper knew she would be caught as a girl if that happened because her face was so obviously feminine when there was no gooped on mud to disguise it.
The rest of the boys are gathered in the clearing of the camp, some standing, others sitting on the logs surrounding the fire and all of them anxious.
"Anything?" Felix asks when he spots them and Angelo slants a gaze to Piper. She silently shakes her head and he turns back to Felix, mimicking her movement. Felix sighs and for a moment, seems weary before he straightens his shoulders, returning to monotonous eyes and a dead voice. "Join the rest of the Lost Boys." Felix orders and they silently do as he says. It sort of reminds Piper of the day she 'proved' herself as a Lost 'Boy.' Felix had been running ragged with patrols all that night and didn't seem to care all that much when Pan put an apple on his head, placed a crossbow in Piper's inexperienced hands and told her to shoot.
She had almost missed the shot. Two inches lower and Felix would have died, yet when he pulled the apple down and saw it, he just pulled the arrow out and tossed the apple to her before marching off to his tent. Piper had caught it, rolling it in her palms before shrugging and sinking her gleaming white teeth into the apple.
He has that same tired look about him but Piper doesn't comment, knowing that guy doesn't appreciate when someone points something out like that. She had tried it with Cortez but after the first time he had snapped at her, she never directly mentioned he looked tired ever again.
Felix marches over to Pan's tree house, knocking before backing a step.
Like the first night she arrived here, Pan appears and they exchange terse words before Felix nods and moves back over to them.
"We have found evidence that Andrew was in league with the savages. If you see him, shoot on sight. That is all." Felix said tersely. Whispers burst out of the group as the rain slowly tapered off but it stayed dark.
Thanks to all of my new followers, favers and reviewers!
bittersweet - I am glad you liked(?) the cliffhanger and I am so happy you are excited for this story!
BookRain - Yeah, Piper is pretty tough, thank you so much for your review!
The Striking Storms - Thank you so much! I actually came up with this story after reading a few on this sight but I never saw a girl try to pretend to be a boy...then I wondered what would happen if they did and this story was born!