A/N: Hello all, I'm back with a new chapter. I hope you like it! Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think of it.
That next morning we sat around the table, talking easily amongst each other when Tinker Bell floated into the room. I raised my eyebrows; where the hell had she been all this time anyways? I don't think I've seen her in a few days.
She landed on Peter's shoulder, though looked to be quite anxious from the sporadic motions of her wings. They flapped frantically against her back and I silently wondered what was going on; for her to be amiss for several days at a time was unlike her. She only got to meet Wendy once, and even then she wasn't focused or had any intent on staying to pull her hair or chime nasty things about her into my ear.
Peter listened with raised eyebrows and I watched them wearily. It was easy to tell that Wendy was trying to the best of her ability to make it seem like she wasn't interested, but even I could tell that she was attempting to eavesdrop. For once, I didn't blame her; I'd probably be doing the same if I were sitting close to Peter and Tink.
Eventually he gave his pixie one last strange look before she shot off again, all the way out of Home Tree and into the sky, leaving a faint trail of dust behind her. It took everything in me not to chase after her from sheer curiosity.
Peter cleared his throat to catch our attention and gazed at us with an odd look, barely glancing over my eyes before he continued, "Lads," He said curtly, "I've received news from Tink that the Jolly Rodger 's been spotted on the horizon-"
"What?" I gasped and the horrid memories of my last experience with Hook flashed through my mind like scrapbook pages.
Peter held his hand up, "Let me finish; Tink doesn't know for sure what it's doing there or why but I sent her off to find out. There's no way that Hook made it out alive after we fed him to the sharks, and if you remember correctly, we watched those fish swallow him whole."
A variety of a chorus of explanations sounded from around the table:
"Who do ya' think is the Cap'n!"
"More pirates to mess with!"
"Treasure!"
"Peter, we finally can have more games!"
"This is bloody insane!" I interrupted the boys' excitement with my own underlying worry, because surely this had to be some mistake. "You boys are excited to see Pirates? What is wrong with you! Do you even realize the kind of danger that puts us in? In case you all failed to remember, the last time we went after those damn gits they almost killed me."
The silence around me resumed to create an awkward tension, almost as if they were internally refusing to think about the past. It was a while ago of course, but it was still detrimental in several different ways, especially to myself.
Hook had captured Grip and Slip in an attempt to lure Peter in to finish him once and for all, but unfortunately for Hook, that plan had been used many times before and we were expecting that at least. They sent me in first at an attempt to divert the attention away from Peter. The plan was for me to distract Hook in a small sword fight that would weaken him just a tad, and it was all going great at first, but then he gained the upper hand. As we continued battling, I tripped over my own heel and crashed into the upper deck stairs where Hook continued to swing at me repeatedly. He ended up pinning me to the floorboards, which had definitely not been any part of our original plans, and put a 'dent' in our 'schedule'.
He had used his hook to keep me trapped on the floor and had used his cutlass to slash me up quite horribly along my midline when I couldn't manage to block the blows with my own dagger. As soon as Peter had rescued the twins and came for me, the amount of blood that I'd lost had resulted in me losing consciousness quick. I don't remember anything after that, only waking up in the Pixie territory wrapped in bandages. The boys refused to tell me anything other than that they finally got rid of Hook.
"I can assure you that nothing will happen again, okay Birdie? I'm never sending you in to fight anyone like that alone without someone by your side." Peter replied calmly but the tint of anxiety was present in his green eyes.
Wendy looked hesitant to intervene, "I've heard quite a few stories about the Captain, and I personally don't believe that he's alive nor is anyone capable of leading a crew like that in Neverland again without Peter knowing."
"I didn't ask, Wendy," I retorted, narrowing my eyes at her only because she truly did not know the extent of danger that we could be in. Or maybe it was my paranoia kicking in. "You've been here for a very short amount of time and I know that you personally have never met the Jolly Rodger crew, alright? They're not your silly little pirates that you daydream about. They're real people, dangerous as hell, and definitely not a group to be reckoned with."
The tension of the silence grew more intense and Wendy seemed to physically shift away from my hard voice, "I don't mean to pick a fight with you, Birdie, I just think that they don't stand a chance against you all."
"You're damned right they don't." I replied and folded my arms over my chest.
"Anyways," Peter said with a hard glare in my direction as a signal to cut it out. Normally that would never bother me, but my chest sank and I stood up abruptly. "I- what are you doing?"
"Shouldn't matter." I replied and returned his hard glare. With a quick glance at the others, I turned to leave and grabbed my bow on the way out.
As soon as I stepped outside into the warm air, I broke into a run down the trail leading to Mermaid Lagoon. I didn't mean to cause a scene but the thought of Hook's crew returning and seeking vengeance only hit me with true fear, and usually I was never too afraid of them. Like I'd told Wendy, they weren't to be reckoned with, but I could easily bring down two or three of them without them getting a hit on me in return.
I ran for a few minutes before the familiar sound of crunching sand beneath my ripped up combat boots was audible. The Lagoon was sparkling turquoise against the soft blue sky, and the familiar group of mermaids hung excitedly around a large rock that popped up halfway above the water. If there were anyone to confide in, it'd be Aura, the head mermaid.
As soon as she turned to face me, her lavender eyes lit up into a smile and her fiery red hair looked to change to an even brighter shade.
"Birdie!" She smiled at me and beckoned me over.
I made my way towards her and hopped onto the first rock that lead into the middle of the Lagoon, skipping my way over them all until I came to the large boulder. I sat crisscross on top of it, setting my intricately carved bow beside me, and greeted them all kindly.
Besides Aura, Leslie, an annoyingly cheerful mermaid waded lazily beside her, the same grin ever present among her lips. Her white-blonde hair contrasted perfectly against her turquoise eyes and tanned skin. She was gorgeous, an eye-catcher to any passerby but an aggravation if you hung around her for too long. The third was Anya, who had an odd pale skin color, long black hair, and green eyes, but she was also beautiful. They all were compared to anyone else on this island.
"Sorry for coming so suddenly," I panted as an aftermath from my long run and gave them a weak smile. "I just needed to get away."
"Why?" Aura asked.
"What happened?" Leslie questioned as well.
"Well, Tink flew in this morning and told Peter that she saw the Jolly Rodger on the horizon. Do you have any news about that?"
The three of them exchanged suspiciously weary looks with each other, and Aura gave me a soft glance, "Yes."
"And?" I pressed.
"We just know that it's out there but we're not quite sure why either."
"Please don't lie," I sighed when I noticed that Anya had turned away from me to face the opposite direction. "You know how I feel about that damned ship."
Aura also seemed to glance away from my eyes, "We know, and we wouldn't lie if it came to them."
"Oh- Aura!" Leslie sighed at her and turned to face her as if she were about to implode at any moment. "Please stop hiding things from the poor girl, she's got enough on her plate with that Wendy Lady."
I groaned at the sound of her name, "I'm not even going to ask how you know about her- just don't speak of her, please, I left to get away from them all for now."
"Sorry!"
"Now, what do you all know?" I crossed my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrows at the trio.
"Well-" Aura started but was interrupted from Leslie's eager tone.
"Birdie, I know you're going to hate this, but my good friend told me that she saw a new girl on their ship! She didn't see Hook, but she said that girl looked too young to be a captain or a pirate."
My mind immediately sifted through anyone that it could be and my suspicion increased ever so slightly, but it felt as though I was already too worried and anxious to feel anything else. I twisted my hair around my finger at a weak attempt to calm myself down, "A new girl? Did she say what she looked like?"
"I don't know-"
Anya, one who seemed to be quieter than the others today, finally spoke without holding my curious gaze for more than a mere second, "Short brown hair was all that she said she saw, but that could've been anyone."
"Short brown hair," I mumbled to myself and continued to let my mind reel. It searched everywhere; from Cannibal Cove to Pixie Hollow to Wendy to the Indian camp, and then I froze. "Naira?"
"Who?" Leslie frowned.
"This new girl at the Indian camp that said she washed ashore and had no recollection of how she got here. She's been hanging out with Nibs lately, I met her the other day."
Aura gave me a weary look and leaned her arms against the rock, "I know that Neverland makes people forget but not like that, Birdie, never like that. You don't immediately forget who you are and where you came from. She must be lying. That wench!"
Secretly, I agreed with Aura but I knew that she was just saying that because mermaids seemed to have no realization of what was right or wrong to say about a person. They just seemed to continuously gossip without a second thought about it.
As the sun reached past the midline in the sky, I talked with the mermaids and tried to come up with a solution to the new problem of the Jolly Rodger. It seemed as if the Boys and I had only just gotten rid of it and it wanted to come back for more. Except this time, nothing would be the same if they had someone new in charge that we knew nothing about. I needed every resource and anyone that could possibly find out anything about the ship to help me, and Aura agreed to let her friends know so that they could head out to find more news tonight.
We planned several careful tactics for them to eavesdrop without getting caught and hurt. It seemed as though Leslie held us up with her continuous distractions; like how she'd began untying my boots in the middle of our plans, but I let it slide casually. It didn't bother me compared to anything else that seemed to be going on lately. From the Wendy Lady to the Jolly Rodger to my growing hole of depression because the realization of Peter never feeling the same way hitting me; it all seemed like too much for the span of two weeks. Never had I felt so stressed or worried since I'd come to Neverland, and I'd been here for quite some time.
When it began to break dusk, I headed back to Home Tree after saying goodbye to my good friends. The only thing we'd come up with was to send out others to camp near Hook's old cabin window for the night in case someone new had decided to reside there in his place.
My mind drifted to Naira as I stepped lazily through the trail, and how she could possibly be a useful asset to the Jolly Rodger. But how? She was terribly scrawny looking which me think that she couldn't even hold a dagger without breaking her wrist- almost like Wendy made it seem. A frown spread across my lips at the thought of her back at Home Tree, and my curious mind quickly transformed to one of slight aggravation already.
When I'd arrived and made my descent into the underground home, the faint smell of meat hit my nose and the chatter of the Boys sounded. They were incredibly loud compared to the peaceful nature of how the mermaids had been today. As I stepped down the last stair, the den came into view and I noticed the Boys had gathered in a circle around each other to wrestle. Typical though, and it didn't surprise me as much as it should've when Sawyer shoved Slip backwards to crash into the fireplace. Wendy stood in the kitchen cooking something that had begun to steam up the entire area, and I rolled my eyes at that.
I searched for Peter and noticed the inviting sight of his makeshift bearskin door that lead to his room, and I headed to it. Hopefully he wouldn't be too busy or annoyed today. The boys gave me a light 'hi' as I passed them, but nothing too extravagant of a greeting given their game of wrestling was going on.
With a soft kick to the bearskin flap, I entered his room and took in the familiar sight of his simple area. The plush bed in the corner of the room, the small wooden beside table, the oak dresser, and a small hammock where his pan flute resided. Peter stood straight, facing the wall in front of him with a paper in his hands. I tried to see what it was while I approached him but he shoved it in the back pocket of his knee-long khaki trousers and faced me, his eyebrow raised in question.
"What's that?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"Nothing," He replied instantly. "Why?"
"It sure doesn't seem like nothing if you're so keen on hiding it from me, and besides, I've got news from the mermaids."
Peter sat on his bed suddenly, running a hand through his floppy hair and motioned for me to sit beside him, in which I obliged easily. Given our current circumstances, I made an extremely weak attempt to ignore the strange feelings in my stomach from the close proximity of our sides touching, but I found it to become harder as time progressed.
"What did they say?" He asked, reaching to bring the folded paper out from his back pocket.
"They said that they don't think Hook is back but they saw a girl on deck not too long ago. She had short brown hair; it could've been Naira- that new Indian girl. I told them to send a group off tonight to see if they could find anything else out about it."
Peter unraveled the note and gave me a slight nod, "I met her today when Tink told me to go get this from the Chief, she seemed all right but when I asked, she said that she didn't even remember how she got here. It's not possible to not remember anything at all." He smoothed out the crinkled paper and held it out for me to see. As I grabbed it from him, our hands brushed and the sudden contact caused me to clear my throat awkwardly, but he only shot me an amused look in return.
It was a map, full of color and detailed descriptions of every location on Neverland. Each place was color coded and intricately designed with small doodles beside the neat penmanship. It was old, obviously, and seemed to have come from somewhere out in the water as the familiar smell of sea salt and smoke drifted into my nose. I ran a finger over it, eyeing each detail carefully just to create a mental image of it in case I ever needed it some time in the future. The only place that was missing was Home Tree, which brought me great relief.
"It's a map," I replied bluntly and turned to hand it back to him. "But what is it supposed to mean? Am I missing something?"
"Birdie," He smirked and motioned to the paper, "Obviously someone new is here that wants to keep track of every place and every little thing. They've apparently explored every place on this island besides our hideout and are after something if they've made this much note of everything here."
"How would you even know if they were hunting anything, Peter, maybe they just needed a map, so you know- they wouldn't get lost?" I rolled my eyes at him, but we both knew that I was trying to prolong the existence of the blatant truth before me.
"Oh, come on," Peter said and nudged me, the same smug grin present on his face, "People don't get lost in Neverland and this is priceless! Someone's not going to be very pleased when they find out that this treasure is gone. We've got something on them, Birdie, maybe this could lead us to find out what's going on somehow."
And as Peter continued to tell me all of the reasons to why this map could be extremely useful for us, I noticed the faint smudge of black ink in the farthest point of the bottom left corner. Oddly enough, it looked like initials.