Chapter Two

"So, how was she? When she wasn't herself?" (Gold)

"She was a monster." (Pan)

"What kind of monster?" (Gold)

"The most dangerous type. A mermaid." (Pan)

The two boys reached the lagoon just as night had begun to fall. Peter Pan blew on the shell and waited for the arrival of their guest. After only a few minutes a girl with dark hair and gray eyes emerged from the water. She looked like Vissa Van in many ways, but her eyes were different. They were cold and lifeless.

"Peter Pan," she said greeted him a cold smile, her eyes moving to his companion. "And Felix." she smile turned mischievous.

"My Queen." Felix said bowing, mostly out of fear of what the Mermaid Queen could do to him.

"Now, now. No need for false flatteries." she said hoisting herself by her elbows on a nearby rock. "You know what I want you to do." she said beckoning him with her hand.

Felix, in a trance like state, started to move towards the lagoon without taking into account that the lagoon was several hundred feet deep and he didn't know how to swim.

Peter Pan stopped his weak minded friend from jumping by blocking his way with his arm. "Felix, don't be stupid." he said.

"Don't listen to him, Felix. Come to me." Vissa Van said with a pleasant smile that sirens wear. "You can live with me underwater and share in my treasures."

"Stop it!" Peter Pan commanded her as Felix was getting harder and harder to hold back.

"Spoilsport." Vissa Van said rolling her eyes, like she had snapped her fingers, Felix collapsed. She jumped back into the water while Peter Pan knelt to the the ground to checked on Felix. "He'll live. For now." she told him. She was now leaning foward by her elbows on the grass.

"Why must you always do this?" Peter Pan asked her without looking at her.

"Because it's fun." she told him without a care.

He sighed. "Do you know about the ship on the harbor?" he asked her.

"Of course I do!" she screamed outraged at him. "What type of Mermaid Queen do you take me for?"

"Well, did you bring it here?" he asked her, not convinced by her outrage. "Is this another one of your tricks?"

"The ship didn't come here by sea." she informed him.

"Then how did it get here?"

"It flew here."

"How?" Peter Pan asked her. "Last time I checked, ships don't fly."

"Don't you think I know that?" Vissa Van said annoyed by how little he seemed to think of her. She was now face to face with him, anger in her gray eyes. "If you are so curious about the ship's arrival, ask its captain. They should arrive here by morning."

"How do I know this is not another one of your tricks?" he asked her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm a mermaid." she told him. "I sink ships, I don't bring them here from other lands."

"I'll speak to the captain in the morning." he said, though he didn't fully believe her.

"Great." she said moving away from the solid ground and getting ready to swim away. "When you find him, tell him to get his ship off my sea unless he wants to see it underwater."

He watched her swim away, thinking about how her old self was next to him less than a day ago. The thought made him angry. Pan was in no mood to talk to Felix when the boy woke up startled.

"I remember her." (Neal)

"I'm sure you do." (Pan)

"She tricked me." (Neal)

"Don't blame yourself. You were only a boy. Just be glad she didn't kill you." (Pan)

Baelfire was tired of running away from Peter Pan's shadow, he stopped near the lagoon to catch his breath. He looked at the water, illuminated by the moon the sea life was lite up with fluorescent colors. He was so distracted by the beauty that he didn't notice the mermaid slowly approaching him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she spoke up, making him jump. She laughed delighted by his reaction.

"W-who are you?" he stuttered, retreating to the nearest tree.

She raised her eyebrows at him, he really didn't know who she was. Even more delighted, she jumped from the water and to the lagoon shore.

"What do you think?" she asked him smiling mischievously, raising her tail from the water for him to see.

Baelfire's eyes widened in surprise. "You're a mermaid, aren't you?" he said, slowly inching closer to the mermaid on the grass.

"My, aren't you bright." she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm Vissa Van, Queen of the Mermaids."

"Queen?" he questioned. "But you aren't much older than me."

She laughed at him again. "Do you not know where you are?" she asked him.

"Neverland?" he said unsure.

"That's right." she told him. "Neverland is for children, there are no adults here."

"What about the pirates in the bay?" he said thinking of Captain Hook and his crew.

"They are an exception. Though, one could argue they are not entirely adults." she countered.

"How long have you lived here?" he asked her, taking in her beautiful features.

The girl opened her mouth to respond and then closed it with a frown, like she had forgotten. "I don't know." she said sincerely, something in her didn't feel right. "I think I have always lived here."

Before Baelfire could ask more questions, there was a howling wind that could bring a chill to any heart. Pan's shadow was coming. There was clear panic in Baelfire's face.

Vissa Van didn't know what possessed her to do what she did, but she felt a kinship with the boy. Seeing his panicked face at the nearing of Pan's shadow made her pull him into the lagoon.

"Stay down." she warned him with a cold voice. He fooled her commands as he held his breath and sunk into the lagoon.

The Shadow reached them, its red eyes questioning her as the Mermaid Queen came into its view.

"Why, hello." she spoke to it. "Did Pan sent you to spy on me again?" she asked it, knowing that her quips always annoyed him into leaving. "He can be such a bad boy sometimes." she teased the Shadow, rolling her eyes.

The Shadow shook its head, the most reaction anyone ever got out of it, and left. Vissa Van watched the Shadow float away until it was out of sight.

She quickly pulled Baelfire from the water, she laid him on the grass as he gasped for air. "Are you okay?" she asked concerned. He only nodded, too tired to speak. "Good."

"Thank you." Baelfire said when he regained his breath.

"Why do you have Pan's shadow following you?" she asked him coldly.

"I saved two boys from coming here." he explained, bringing his knees close to his chest. "And I don't want to join him and his lost boys. I've had enough of magic."

Despite his rueful tone, Vissa Van smiled. "So you are against Pan?" she asked him curiously.

"Yes, you could say that." he said looking at her.

"But you have nothing against me? A mermaid?" she asked him raising her eyebrow.

"Well, yes." he said, considering it. "You're like a fairy, and you're nice."

Vissa Van held in a visible choke. "A fairy? Nice?" she asked him, slightly outraged, turning away from him. Those were not synonyms used to describe the Queen of the Mermaids.

"Yeah, you saved me from Pan's shadow." he explained.

She smiled wickedly to herself before she facing him again. "I suppose so." she said. "I don't get much of a chance to be nice to boys. Peter Pan always makes sure to keep them from me."

"Maybe he's afraid the lost boys will leave him, and join you." he proposed.

Vissa smiled, she had this boy in the palm of her hand. Something inside her told her it was the wrong thing to do, manipulate this boy. But at the moment, she really didn't care. All she cared about was defeating Pan.

"Then, would you like to be the first?" she asked him, offering him her hand. "I know a place where you can hide from Pan."

Without hesitation, he took the mermaid's hand. "Yes." he said.

"Great." she said smiling. "Can you swim?"

"Yes." he said nodding.

"There is a cascade near here," she told him pulling him to the water. "Behind it, there's a cave. No one knows of it except for myself and my mermaids. You will be safe there."

They swam side by side. Halfway through, Baelfire began to tire, so Vissa Van had him hold on to her as she took him to the awaiting cascade. The cascade seemed out of place in the sea, a lone piece of rock amidst the calm water.

"How did you know her Bael?" (Gold)

"She hid me from him." (Neal)

"And what a good job she did. She was always clever." (Pan)

"Why doesn't Pan know about this place?" Baelfire asked Vissa Van. He was resting on the sand covered floor while the mermaid was holding herself up by her elbows in the pit of water that was a connected to the sea outside the cascade.

"Peter Pan may rule the Neverland, but I reign over the sea." she told him.

"But this island, isn't?" he asked, looking around he cave.

"Pan would never be able to reach it." she told him. "And even if he did, he is powerless here."

"What about his Shadow?" he asked afraid. "Could it just drag me back to Pan?"

"Pan's shadow has one weakness." she told him, looking bored. "It can't pass through water."

He gave her a confused look. "How could something so powerful be crippled by something so simple?" he asked himself.

"Most powerful beings are." she told him. There was a lingering silence between them until Vissa Van pushed herself from the border of the pit. "You must be tired, I will leave you to sleep." she told him getting ready to plunge back into her kingdom.

"Vissa," Baelfire called out to her. She turned to face him. "Thank you."

She bowed her head. "The pleasure is all mine." she told him, smiling to herself. "What is your name?"

"Baelfire." he told her.

Something clicked in her mind, something that made her heart soar and break at the same time. But it was immediately forgotten as her smiled mischievously at him. "Rest well, Baelfire." she said sinking into the water.

"You almost killed her for saving me." (Neal)

"I would have never killed her." (Pan)

"Are you sure about that?" (Neal)

"Where is the boy?" Pan asked Vissa as soon as her head emerged from the water in the lagoon.

"No hello?" she teased him with a smirk as she jumped on a near by rock. "What have I done this time?"

"You know what you've done." he told her, crossing his arms, looking angry.

"No Felix today?" she said deviating from the topic.

"After what you did to him last time?" he told her raising his eyebrow. "I doubt I could get him to come, even if I were to dragged him here myself."

Vissa laughed to herself. "That's too bad." she said smiling, congratulating herself on a well done job.

"Now, about the boy." Pan said getting back on topic.

"Have you lost one of your lost boys?" she asked him. "Kind of ironic, don't you think?"

"He isn't one of my lost boys." he said defensively. "Which I'm sure has you interested."

"Very true." she told him nodding. "If I find him, I'll be sure to keep him close."

"I know you hid him." he said with conviction.

"And why is that?" she teased him, being very clear about it.

"If he was somewhere in the island my shadow would have found him."

"Not if he's in a place with rushing water."

"So you do know where he is!"

"I never said that. I simply said that I know places where your shadow can't reach." she said jumping back in the water.

"Because you're the expert?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Of course." she told him, swimming closer to him. Willing him to bend down close to her. "I've known you longer than anyone on this island. I know everything about you."

"Everything?" he challenged her, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes." she whispered to him, as it became apparent to him how close they were to each other.

Peter Pan backed away from her and stood up turning away from her. While Vissa Van rolled her eyes and lowered herself back into the water.

"Just tell me where he is." he said, not looking at her.

"I already told you that I don't know." she said.

He faced her, his face was cold. "You say that you know everything about me, well I know a thing or two about you." he said.

Before Vissa could wonder what he meant by that, she felt something tugging from underneath her as she was enveloped in a net.

"What is this Pan!" she yelled at him as the lost boys emerged from the woods and began to heave the Queen out of the water.

"Since you won't tell me where the boy is, I'll have to make him come to you." Pan said emotionless. "Now turn."

"You know that I can't!" she yelled at him in pain, the dryness of land was burning her. "Today isn't the first day of the full moon!"

Once she was laid down on the grass, spasming like the fish out of water she was. Pan had the lost boys hold her down as he forced her mouth open and dropped a purple liquid down her throat.

"Tonight you can." he told her, as she stopped moving and passed out. Her tail was transformed into a pair of legs.