A/N: Hello hello back with a new chapter. Hope you like!
At the counter in the kitchen of Peter's large mansion Olivia sat, eyes closed, hand on her forehead, trying to remedy her hangover with a nasty looking substance that Marina swore was the best cure against 'the aftermath of an awesomely wicked night'. Right now she felt more wicked than awesome. She must have dozed off for a moment because when she opened her eyes, a jolt went through her. Thankfully it was still light outside, but all the same, she frantically searched for her watch, turning her purse upside down with a great deal of vigor. Her heart stopped for a minute when she saw the time presented to her was past 3. How could this have happened? She only closed her eyes for a second. Well clearly not just a second, but still. No clocks to ring the time to remind her of course. Damn it. Where was Peter? Was he not back yet? And if he was, had he seen her? Lying there. Doing nothing.
Olivia stood up and listened very quietly. No sounds. She inched her way to the hallway. His coat was still missing from the stand. He was not back yet. This was good. Yes. She still had a chance to get at least a few of her chores done. However, for him to be gone for this many hours surely meant he wouldn't be much longer now. After all, he had implied it was but a simple errand he was running.
She flew up the stairs into his bedroom. Best to at least finish cleaning the room he would have to sleep in. If he couldn't at the very least relax in there she'd be in big big trouble. Although, Liv had a feeling she was already in trouble. And her feeling were more than accurate.
All that was left to do was change the sheets, when Olivia faintly heard the sound of footsteps downstairs. Trouble had arrived. But not in the form she had expected. No it came in the form of Peter's six friends. His six, very annoying, very dangerous friends.
She crept up closer to the door to try and catch a voice or something. She heard him pacing around the hallway. Just one person. Good so he didn't bring back his friends. Peter did not go up the stairs though. While she'd rather not let him know her whereabouts, it was likely he would find her in the end anyway. It was best to get the confrontation over with and so Olivia yelled out to him. She knew he didn't like to be yelled at, but seeing as the same was about to happen to her, she thought it only fair. "Peter?!"
The footsteps came up. She took a deep breath. The door swung open and there was, not Peter. It was Austin.
"W..what are you doing here? How'd you get in?"
"Nice to see you too Liv," he ignored her questions, but continued when she stayed silent. She eyed him cautiously, she hadn't forgotten on which terms they last departed.
"Peter asked me to keep an eye on you while he was gone. Didn't want you to burn the place down." Austin grinned as he leaned himself right next to the door.
This was of course complete hogwash, she'd been alone in the house many times and it never seemed to be a problem before.
She gave him a false smile and turned back to her chores as if he wasn't there. She could feel his eyes on her everywhere she went. He kept completely silent. Just watching her. It was giving her the creeps. She should say something to him to make him leave but she really didn't want to engage him in any sort of conversation. When she started making the bed, he was studying her form closer than ever. Looking over her every curve while she bent over to tuck in the corners. Ready to move on to the bathroom, Olivia walked to the door, trying her best to ignore the smug looking boy standing right beside it. Just as she was about to walk out of the room, Austin blocked her path. She hated it when people did that.
"Feel like going downstairs? The boys are looking forward to seeing you. You left so suddenly the other day..."
Ugh, the boys. So they were here as well. Funny, she hadn't heard any of them come in. In fact she couldn't recall hearing the front door open or close at all. Usually Peter's friends liked to make a show of their entrance. Olivia placed her hand on Austin's chest to move him out of her way. "Do you mind?"
"Why Liv, if you wanted your hands all over me, all you had to do was ask," he teased. All mirth was gone though, in its place was an evil glint in the eyes. Clearly he had not forgotten how they left things either. And he wasn't about to let her off the hook now. He took a step towards her so that he was towering over her. Olivia wasn't in the mood for his games so she sidestepped him, but what she hadn't counted on was for him to grab her by the wrists and spin her around to face him.
"You looked real sweet lying on the kitchen counter asleep, let's see how you'll look lying on the bed underneath me?"
White hot panic surged through Liv's body. He'd been here the whole time. He would tell Peter everything. Oddly enough her main concern was still Peter, while the very immediate threat was standing right in front of her. Before she knew it she found herself on the very bed she had just spent making.
"No! No! Get off me!"
For a minute he actually seemed to consider her command. He studied her face, as if weighing his options.
"Hm, you're right. I'm not a selfish guy, let's go see the boys first."
Austin smiled a wicked smile. "Then you and I can have some private fun."
He dragged her by her wrist down the long staircase. "Look what I have here boys!" He held her arm up as if he was holding some sort of prize. A prize that he was going to share with all his friends.
"Liv!" it sounded from various mouths.
"Come 'ere Liv, we've missed you." A boy with scruffy brown hair extended his arm to her. When she didn't take it, he grabbed her and pulled her on his lap.
"Bad manners Liv," another boy with exactly the same scruffy brown hair scolded her. "I think you should apologize to my brother."
Olivia looked at him as if she just witnessed water burn.
The boy grabbed her by the chin firmly. "I said, apologize."
Olivia felt anger boil up inside. Her lips remained pressed together for a second longer than necessary. She considered not playing their game, but maybe, just maybe if she said sorry they'd leave it at that and she could still get back to work and finish before Peter arrived.
"I'm. Sorry."
The words were drawn out and her voice was raw from the bottled up emotions desperate to be released. Her demeanor, however, was composed and calm.
"I'm sorry what?"
Liv almost rolled her eyes. Weren't they done having their fun yet?
"I'm sorry, Logan."
"Ah, good. We will have to have a talk with Peter though. Isn't that right Landon?"
"Definitely. He should brush you up on your manners, Liv."
Olivia struggled to get out of the boy's grip, only to be yanked up by her wrist again. Her skin was turning red from all the rough handling. Logan got up as well; he now stood directly behind Olivia. Trapped in between two identical boys, Liv didn't stand a chance. She jerked her arms out of Landon's grasp.
Logan gazed down at Olivia. "Oh, she's decided to be difficult." His brother shrugged in a 'what are you gonna do about it' kind of way. She pushed herself away from Landon, inadvertently thrusting herself right into Logan's arms.
"A bit keen isn't she," Logan laughed as he snaked his arms around her waist. Olivia gasped, turned around in his arms, and found herself staring into a pair of brown eyes that were looking back at her in an unsettling lascivious way. She stumbled back a final time, making sure she was in no one's clutches.
"You stay away from me," she pointed a trembling finger at each one of the boys. Nothing but laughter assaulted her from every side of the room. Austin was the only one not amused. He stood by and watched the twins have their fun with her. Like two cats toying with a mouse.
Time for a real game.
"Alright boys, how about a game. A game of hide and seek."
Liv's heart skipped a beat. She knew this game. All too well. True enough, everyone knew this game, but not this game. Peter had taught them to play it this way. It was more a game of hunt and capture.
The twins grinned. They loved this game.
"Great idea!"
"1... 2...3... Better get a move on Liv."
Olivia bolted for the door, but the oldest of the boys grabbed by the back of her blouse. "Uh uh, that's forbidden territory Liv. Come on, you know the rules."
She backed up, eyes searching wildly for a way out of this game. Finding none, she ran upstairs. Okay, she knew this house better then they did. With a little bit of luck she could stay hidden long enough to figure out a way to get past them unseen.
The attic. She had never seen anyone go up there. Not even Peter went there on a regular basis. The door was incredibly squeaky and so with an agonizingly slow pace she inched the door open until she could just squeeze through it. With the same speed she closed the door behind her. It was dark, but luckily not pitch black. There were two windows that let in a fair amount of light so that she could make out the floor and various pieces of furniture. The carpet was old and run-down and with every step the floor beneath it creaked. In the stillness of the room the sound roared like thunder. Hopefully the boys were hard of hearing or possibly searching for her on the ground floor.
Olivia spotted a bunch of dusty boxes at the far end of the room. She tiptoed her way there and hid herself from sight. Draping her arms around her legs and resting her head on her knees she waited. This was turning out to be some day. That was the thing about this household, you never knew what to expect when you walked through those doors in the morning. Things could be lovely as daisies or your life could be made a living hell. Like today.
For a long while she sat there without a hint of disturbance. Attics were usually not the most pleasant of places, but this one really gave Olivia the creeps. All around her were strange foreign objects lying or hanging around. Items that seemed to come from another planet as she did not recognise them as anything she had previously seen. Weird looking things in jars that Liv didn't care to know the origins of. Vials with colored substances in them. A bamboo crate with nothing in it.
And books. Stacks and stacks of books. Even right next to her was a pile. Had it been there the whole time? She must have missed it when she took her place in hiding. She let her eyes scan the covers. Magic, other realms, curses. Odd topics... Then her attention was caught by a heavy looking brown book. 'Once Upon a Time' it said. Olivia caressed the cover to clear it from the dust and she carefully opened it up.
"Snow White and Prince Charming," she read out in a whisper. Hm, a fairy tale maybe? She read a few pages and something felt familiar to her as the words echoed on in her mind. Yet she had never seen this book before. Nor had she ever read anything that was even similar to this story. Then why did it feel like she knew what it was about? As she pondered this question her gaze fell upon another book. One that was almost hidden underneath the big brown book.
Olivia took in a sharp breath. That name. His name. It was on the cover of the book.
'Peter Pan'
How... why was there a book with Peter's name on it? Did he write it? Curiosity burned within her. However, there was a slight reservation to open it. Her hand rested on top of the book for a long time. Then slowly she opened it to the first page.
'All children, except one, grow up.'
Olivia's eyebrows shot up. What a peculiar sentence. Why it was peculiar though, she couldn't quite explain. Wendy Darling. Neverland. These words, they meant something to her. Completely enthralled by the book she forgot where she was. Page after page she read. Fairies, mermaids, pirates, a hook. Tinkerbell. The boy in the book was actually quite similar to the Peter she knew. He was arrogant, self-centered and the part about never growing up certainly seemed to apply. Though the real Peter would never think a girl was worth 20 boys. Quite the opposite in fact. And then there were those lost boys...
Suddenly the door swung open and it startled Olivia so, that she dropped the book. The loud thud was unmistakable. Before she knew it the boxes were flying everywhere and her hiding spot was destroyed. She looked up to see Austin smirking down at her triumphantly.
"Found you."
Additional A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger guys! But the chapter was way too long, so I had to break it up. Feedback is kind of appreciated btw, cause out of all the stories this is the one I'm least confident about. Let me know what you liked or hated. It would be really helpful.