an: hello my lovely readers! How are you this fine evening? We got the day off at school, so I figured I would write this little chappie in my spare time. Now I must return to my chemistry homework or I will fail the test tomorrow! Enjoy!
We hit the ground running. Peter only barely caught me when I stumbled, not even bothering to let up his pace, let alone look at me. Once we entered the mouth of the cave, I halted, taking in the scene before me.
The lost boys were all shuffling around, making themselves look useful. They all looked a little relieved when Peter and I came into sight. I noticed all of the activity was centered around a bed, the same low bed that I was first situated on when I was knocked out. Another body was occupying the space this time, a much smaller body, looking still and pale and...
"Tiny," I breathed, walking over to where everyone else was, pushing past everyone but Peter, who stood next to Tiny's small head. "Is he...?"
"Dead?" Peter asked. He shook his head. "No. He'll live. He just needs to rest." His eyes looked relieved when he relayed this to me.
I couldn't say I wasn't relieved. I sank to my knees and looked at his face. His eyes were closed, I could see the quick movements under his purple-tinted eyelids. Tentatively, I reached out and stroked the light brown hair back from his face. It was smooth, soft, softer than I would have imagined. After all, did these boys ever bathe?
"Mum?" Tiny whispered.
I froze. How could I respond to that? I wasn't really his mother, simply some underaged imposter, hoping she was doing the right thing, and failing miserably.
"Yes," Peter said, kneeling next to me. "She's here."
"Father?" he mumbled.
"I'm here too, Tiny," he said quietly. I had never thought that I'd see this side to Peter. He was always so wild, unruly, untamed... But now he looked like he carried a hundred years of weight on his shoulders. I was once again surprised at how grown up he seemed now.
"Did I get 'em?" he asked.
I looked at Peter, not knowing the answer. I had run, run away and left Tiny-
"Yes," said Peter, "you should have seen the other guy, Tiny." he smiled a little as he said this, and my heart melted.
"Good," Tiny said with a small, extremely triumphant smile.
After that whole event, things had calmed down in neverland. Nerezza had disappeared, and I almost completely managed to forget about the strange boy I had met.
Until things changed.
the boys were hunting, like they usually did without my help (apparently it wasn't a mother's job), leaving me alone to tend to business, which meant I had absolutely nothing to do.
I tried climbing the jagged rock wall to get all the way up to my bed, but only succeeded to making it a couple of feet off of the ground before my footing slipped. Discouraged, I fell back onto the bed on the ground and stared at the small opening at the top of the cave, right above Peter's bed.
I heard a shuffling noise coming from the mouth of the cave while I was studying the roof. I sat up and turned to see an animal had crawled through the mouth of the cave. Disgustingly deformed, I couldn't tell exactly what type of animal it was. Maybe it was one only known to neverland.
The closer I looked though, it looked like a grotesque mix of a rat and a pig. I shuddered and stood as the thing came closer to the bed.
It bumped into the bed and shook its head, disoriented. I then realized it was blind, and scent was leading it around. It was also making an odd sort of noise, one that sounded a lot like.
"Gracegracegracegrace" the thing said repeatedly. I stifled a scream and took a silent step back.
Except it wasn't so silent. A branch cracked when I stepped on to it. The beast before me froze and whipped it's head in my direction.
I was done for.
"Gracegracegrace!" the thing cried as it opened it's mouth and sprang for me, showing huge sharp yellow teeth.
I screamed and fell backwards as something flew from behind me, something blonde, at the creature.
I watched as Peter sank his knife into the beasts chest. It dropped like a rock with a wounded grunt.
Peter turned and looked at me, his hand still gripping the knife protruding from the animals chest. There was a spattering of blood on his cheek. "Are you okay?" he asked.
All I could so was stare.
"Grace," Peter said, "answer me. Did it bite you?"
I shook my head. "What was that thing?" I whispered.
"They're trackers. Nerezza won't be dumb enough to send another one. They're extremely rare and hard to get ahold of."
"It tried to eat me," I whispered.
Peter shook his head. "His bite would have knocked you out. Then he would have gone, gotten Nerezza, and brought him back here."
I stood quickly. I needed space. Needed air. "I have to-" I choked out before running out of the cave.
Peter didn't stop me.
an: awh, I wish he did stop her! But alas, no such luck! Now we get to see what happens to Grace in the neverland forest! EEEEK! alrighty guys, read on! Peace!cc: