The next couple of days were a hellish nightmare. I hadn't spoken to Peter since he had quoted my dreams as I was certain it had meant something although I wasn't quite sure what. Somehow, I found myself questioning everything, and not trusting anyone, including Peter, whom I trusted with everything the night before the dream.
For the following days, I found myself falling into a routine, where I woke up, ate, had target practice, ate hunted, ate and slept. It seemed like time stood still in Neverland. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month, without speaking to anybody.
I was surrounded by people and yet, I felt so alone, but there was no escaping this island. Felix's warnings were true. Peter had sunk his claws deep within me, by now. He may not have been talking to me, but anytime I left the camp, there would always be a lost boy following close behind.
I was now travelling the forest, and although I couldn't see anybody, I knew they were there. I saw the opportunity, and I took it. As fast as I could, I scaled a large tree that stood at the edge of the path, using the overgrowth of moss and ivy for a grip on my footing. Silently, I waited for my stalker to appear.
So he did, ambling along the path. He was one of the younger boys, only about 11 or 12. Nobody really kept track of ages anymore, but I knew I must be older than him, and so my strength and cunning would prove useful in this situation.
He looked lost. He glanced around, looking for me. The look of fear on his face was startling. He was clearly afraid of the consequences for failing one of Pans ridiculous and tedious tasks. I took a deep breath, before jumping from my perch and pinning the poor lad to the ground.
I didn't plan on hurting him, but the tears streaming out of his eyes told me that he dreaded the worst from me. I wiped them away with the corner of my cloak and prepared my statement.
"Don't let Pan see you crying" I laughed, but he didn't seem to be in a joking mood. "I'm not going to hurt you, so long as you tell me why Pam has you following Me." he bit down on his lip, trying to retain the urge to not give in and be released.
He writhed beneath me, struggling with all his might to be released, but there was no escaping me. Not when I craved information. "Tell me!" I demanded, pressing him harder into the earth.
"Okay!" he whimpered. His voice cracked as he choked back tears. "Pan wants you followed, because he doesn't want you to leave." This made no sense to me. What did he want with me here? He hadn't even made an attempt to speak to me since the following day from our evening together.
"Why?" I asked, needing to see farther inside Peter's mind. The boy opened his mouth, but somewhere behind me, a branch snapped, and it was followed by some rustling. I got up, and as I did, the boy ran back towards camp, but I set off in pursuit of the person or thing who had been watching my inquisition on the poor boy.
I really did sympathise for him, returning to Pan without completing his mission. God only know what punishment would be waiting for him when he returned, but I couldn't think about that now, not whilst I was hot on the trail of my stalker.
I ran for what seemed like an hour, a burning in my lungs as I struggled to hold onto my breath. I followed my prey to the beach, but my track stopped there.
I had lost hope at this stage; so instead, I decided to stroll along the sand. Night fell quickly, and I was slightly nervous to run off into the dark jungle, and so I found myself a large boulder, which I could sit against, watching the tide in the distance, come towards me, and then recede again, in and out, back and forth, A calming effect, that eventually led to my dozing off under the night sky which fell over the sea like a starry blanket.
I only awoke as I was roughly dragged by my forearm, up onto my feet. I blinked as my hazy slowly vision came into focus. At first I thought this was Peter and his cronies, but I was wrong. These weren't lost boys, these were men, and by the looks of it, they were pirates, and they were tying me up to take me aboard their ship.
"What are you doing to me?" I protested, struggling with all my might to wriggle loose from the coarse rope that bound my wrists behind my back.
"Gad her mouth there, boy" One of them said, presumably the leader. He was dressed in black leather and possessed a hook in place of his hand. He passes a bandanna to a young boy who slowly approached me.
"I'm sorry" He mouthed as he tied the scarf at the back of my head, the fabric caught in my mouth, rendering me from speaking. He looked into my eyes from under his dark floppy hair, and is gaze lingered for a moment before the one handed pirate broke apart the moment.
He took a sip from his hip flask in advance of speaking. "Now put her in the boat, so we can row back to the ship before Pan catches us!" The boy hurriedly ushered me into the boat and sat me down on a small wooden crate. "Right, take up to the Jolly Rodger, boy." He picked up one of the oars, and an older, plump man in a red cap took the other. They began to row in sync with each other, pushing us out to sea. When we reached the ship, the little row boat was jaggedly hoisted on deck by pen with ropes on a pulley system.
The hooked pirate spoke once more to the boy. "Take our guest to her 'living quarters', Baelfire." And with that, I found myself pushed into a small, dark and dank room, where the door was locked and I was left alone, only with my thoughts.