Catherine's POV
I wake up the next morning with a start. I scan the area of the tent wildly in search of the source of the voice that I could have sworn whispered my name. When I see no one, I start to settle down. I take deep breaths to calm myself while knocking it off as nothing more than a dream, and turn to look at Ethan. He's still fast asleep. I'm not that surprised. The end of the world could commence and I seriously doubt that boy would even so much as stir. I can't help but smile at the thought.
I quietly sneak out of our tent, hoping to give him a little more time to sleep before Pan wakes everone. The whole camp is silent, all the boys still asleep in their tents. Even Pan isn't up and about as I expected he would be since he always wakes with the dawn. They must have stayed up later than I thought. I decide to go out and find something to cook for breakfast, so I take up my bow and quiver of arrows and silently leave camp.
The forest is quiet with only the sounds of small animals scurrying about and the occasional call of a lark. I take a deep breath and sigh as I feel the energy of the jungle humming around me. Through the quiet, the loud snap of a twig can be heard and I jump. I scan my surroundings and listen hard for any sign of what had made the noise. I wait patiently for a while with an arrow cocked at the ready, but nothing seems out of the ordinary so I continue my hunt.
I hear similar sounds throughout my excursion, but nothing ever presents itself. I shoot three squirrels and four rabbits before I feel I have enough to for everyone to eat. During my walk back to camp, I begin to hear footsteps following behind me. I halt in my tracks, but the steps continue to sound. I quickly turn around to face whoever is following me, arrow once again cocked at the ready.
I look around and call out, "If this is some kind of joke Peter, its not very funny."
"Oh, I'm not Peter, dear," a voice proclaims from behind me and causes my blood to run cold.
"Lance," I whisper, eyes widening ever so slightly.
"Good. So you remember me. Makes my job that much easier," he says materializing in front of me.
"But I thought..." I whisper, still having a hard time comprehending what's going on.
"Everyone did, dearie," he says smirking. He takes another step towards me, but I stand my ground.
"Brave little devil, aren't we? Nothing like the little brat who always ran to Pan whenever something scared her or didn't go her way," he chuckles taking another step forward.
I still refuse to budge and respond, "No, I'm not."
"Heard you left shortly after I did. What happened with that?"
"What's it to you?"
"Oh nothing. Just curious," he answers, shrugging.
"What do you want, Lance?" I ask, sneering at him.
"Its not really what I want. Its more like what Hook wants. He would like to have an audience with you, dearie," he explains.
"What makes him think I'll come willingly?" I ask.
"Well you see dearie, that's what I'm here for," he says.
Before I can react, he pulls out a rather large club and swings it in my direction. The last thing I remember is him saying, "Night, love."
And then everything goes black.
I wake up and wince at the pain I feel in my head. Opening my eyes, I have a hard time focusing on anything and after a short moment I am forced to re-close them due to the bile building in the back of my throat. After finally getting control of my stomach, I reopen my eyes and focus on the ceiling above me. I then reach up and feel the beginnings of a lump forming where Lance had struck me with his club. I also feel something sticky and warm. I pull my hand back only to see that my fingers are now covered in my own blood. I try to sit up, but a wave dizziness overcomes me and I have to lie back down. After the nausea fades away again, I begin to take in my surroundings.
I have been placed in a dark, dingy cell with only one window for light. Both the floor and walls are made of wood and, if I concentrate, I can almost feel the room swaying. Large, steel bars split the room in half, separating me from the door and I try to use my powers to teleport myself out of the cell. Unfortunatly, it feels as if something has placed a muffler over me, suppressing my magic so that I can still feel it inside me, but just can't use it.
After waiting for what feels like ages, the door at the opposite side of the room opens and two figures step into the room. One I recognize as Lance, but the other I'm not so sure of. He stays in the shadows and appears to be completely clothed in black leather. Then I see a something small and sharp shine from where the left hand should be and it gives the man's identity away.
"Hello Lance, James," I say.
"Hello Catherine, me dear," Hook says stepping from the shadows, a broad smirk on his face.
"Lance told me you wanted to see me, James," I say rather coldly, using every once of strength I have to sit up and face him.
"Yes, and he'd be correct about that," he replies, not giving anything away.
"Well, I'm here now so what do you want?" I ask sharply, sounding much stronger than II actually feel.
He laughs. "You see me dear, I've been hearing things as of late," he says, stepping closer to the bars on my cell.
"About what?"
"About the fact that you want to leave the island. And even though I find great satisfaction seeing you in your current state, I believe I have a plan that will be beneficial to both of us."
I remain silent, but he knows that he has my full attention now.
He grins devilishly. "You see, there is something I need you to find out for me if you want my help getting off the island."
"And what, pray tell, would that something be?" I ask, trying to sound indifferent but fail tremendously.
Lance answers, "He wants you to find out Pan's weakness."
"And what makes you think I'll be able to do that?" I ask.
"You're close enough to him that he's bound to open up to you. Besides, you were, how should I say it, together once, were you not?" Hook inquires edging even closer, hand now gripping the iron bars.
"Yes, but that was a long time ago. And besides, he doesn't remember me from then anyway. I wiped his memory of me, so as of right now, he doesn't exactly trust me," I say bitterly.
"Those are only minor difficulties really. It should be fairly easy for you to get close to him again shouldn't it?" he asks.
I look at Lance who leans silently against the wall. "And why should I help you?" I ask, turning my attention back to Hook.
"Because my dear, I will give you the one thing you crave most in this world," he pauses a moment and continues. "Your ticket back to the Real World."
"And how exactly are you planning to achieve that?" I ask scoff. "No one can leave Neverland unless they have pixie dust to fly or have one of the keys that unlock the Portal Between Worlds. And I don't believe that you have either of those things."
"Oh but thankfully for you, me dear, I do," he says and chooses that time to bring forth a small box. I realize, however, that its not a box but in fact, a cage, and inside that cage floats a tiny ball of light. As Hook brings it closer, the small light takes the shape of a tiny person with wings. I catch my breath. A fairy.
"How?" I ask dumbfounded.
"All I had to do was flatter her until she got close enough to catch. Fairies are quite vain you know. It was a piece of cake really," Lance explains smirking.
"Now, you have your ticket home. You won't get it until after you finish my little task, but you have your proof that you will be able to get home. Do we have a deal?" Hook asks offering his good hand out for me to shake.
I look at the fairy and see her frightened features. What horrors he has put her through I frankly don't want to know. I really want to return to the Real World but if I betray Peter, I will also be betraying the boys and I can't bear the thought of that.
After much thought, I give him my answer. "No," I say, turning my face away from Hook.
His mouth curls into a snarl. "Fine then. Have it your way. Just know that you won't be leaving your little sanctuary in here for a long while."
"Fine. Its not like I have anything to do outside here anyway," I reply nonchalantly.
He huffs loudly and storms from the room, slamming the door in his wake.
"You shouldn't have done that," Lance says.
"And why not? Its not like he can do anything worse to me. He needs me for information or as bait for Pan so he won't kill me," I say glowering at him.
"He may not hurt you, but that doesn't mean he won't go after your precious Lost Boys," Lance says and turns to leave. His explanation is like a blow to the stomach.
"What have I done?" I whisper.
"I'm not going to answer that. Luckily for you, you have plenty of time now to think about it and answer it for yourself," he says, and with that he exits the room as well.
After the door closes behind Lance, I curl up into a ball, absolutely helpless to stop whatever it is Hook plans to do to get back at me for turning his offer down.
Lance visits me often throughout the day, bringing me water and food and bandages for my head wound. He is quiet most of the time and I'm okay with that. He's one of the last people I want to talk to right now.
I mostly just sit staring at the ceiling and contemplating things. Nothing really in particular. Just about my life in the Real World, the Lost Boys, Ethan, Hook's offer, Lance.
Peter.
I close my eyes as tears begin to prick them. I hated having to leave and I regretted it every day after I had left, but it couldn't be helped. At the time, I had thought that Pan was becoming a monster. Now seeing Lance alive and perfectly well, I begin to wonder if I was wrong to leave in the first place.
How is Lance still alive anyway?
When he returns to see me again, I ask him.
"Why do you want to know?" he asks.
"No reason. Just curious," I reply, mocking his statement from earlier.
He smirks at my answer and says, "Hook suggested that I should replace my real heart with the heart of a pig and keep my actual heart in a safe place. We knew that Pan was on to me as a traitor, but when I 'attacked' you, as Pan so graciously put it, that was the last straw for him. So when he yanked out my heart I let him believe that it was mine when-"
"-it was actually the pig's heart that he was draining," I finish for him.
"Yes. I then pretended to die and he gave me no other thought. That is, until you approached him about the incident later," he says and I grimace at the memory.
"Since you got to ask me a question I now get to ask you one," he says after a long pause.
"Fair enough," I say, after a long pause.
"Why did you leave after you thought Pan killed me?" he asks, an emotion I can't place flickering in his eye.
I take a sharp breath and look away from Lance.
"Its alright if you don't want to answer. Just curious," he says flashing me a small grin.
"No. Its alright. You of all people deserve to know the truth behind my actions," I say facing him again. I take a deep breath and tell him about how Pan and I had exchanged words over the situation and how he had struck me. When I mention that part, Lance appears as if he's about to explode.
"It's ok though," I reassure. "I knew after that incident that I had to leave, so me and Ethan set out on our own. I erased everyone else's minds so they wouldn't notice us missing and come searching for us," I finish.
"And now Ethan is Pan's right hand?" Lance asks, a dark undertone to his voice that causes a shiver to run down my spine.
"Yes, but Pan's better now. He's not as harsh as he was before I left," I state defensively.
"Oh and that makes it all better doesn't it?" Lance says angrily.
I sigh and look to the ceiling, but don't say anything more. I'm in no mood to fight with Lance over the issue so I settle with a hard stare in his direction.
He gets the message and turns to leave. After a moment, I call him back. "Can I ask you one more question?" I ask.
"You just did, dearie," he says smirking, anger now gone, and I roll my eyes.
"Why did you come after me? You know, that time in the woods. It almost looked as if you wanted to kiss me."
He looks surprised at my statement and asks, "Do you really not know?"
I silently shake my head, confused.
"I did want to kiss you. I wanted to because I loved you, and believe it or not Catherine, I still do," he answers then quickly turns and exits the room leaving me to stare after him, mouth agape and entirely speechless.