Chapter VII

I was halfway out the door before Baelfire was pushing me back into the hut.

"What are you doing? I thought we were going out to explore the island."

"We are, but first you need to be armed. Pan has eyes everywhere, he's gonna know where we are the second we leave. You'll need a sword or something." He started rummaging around the hut. He already had his sword in his hilt; I didn't really see why he would have needed or have a second sword. He paused and nodded his head to himself before turning and presenting me with a homemade bow and quiver of arrows.

"I've never shot an arrow before in my life, I don't think I can use that."

"It's pretty easy. Come on, you can try it on a tree outside." I followed him out the door again. Once outside he set me up to try shooting the bow. He showed me how to sight it and shoot before stepping back behind me.

I did everything exactly how Baelfire had showed me. I pulled the string of the bow back by my ear and looked down the edge of the arrow, sighting where he told me to shoot. I let the string go and the arrow went flying. Right past the tree I was supposed to hit and into the jungle. I turned and put my hand on my hip.

"I told you I couldn't do it." He had his hands on his knees, bent over laughing at me. I stomped over to him and step hard on his foot.

"Ow! It's just because your hair was in your eyes, pull your hair back and you'll get it."

"I don't have anything to pull my hair back, and I don't want to anyways. You know how to use this, you take it, and I'll take your sword."

"You know this is a real sword right? If you were still using a wooden one on the Jolly Roger I doubt your papa would be very happy with me if I give you a real one."

"Well my daddy isn't here is he? Now trade."

"No, you'll figure out how to use the bow, it'll work for now. We can go see Tink later, she'll know how we can get you a sword."

"Who's Tink?"

"An ex faerie. She had her powers taken away and was banished here a year or so ago. She's close to Pan, but she'll help me out when I need it. I can't tell her the sword is for you, because she might go tell Pan where you are, but she should still be able to find me another sword."

"If she'd go tell Pan about me, then why do you trust her?"

"She's only ally's with Pan for her own safety, like anyone on this island."

"We're not exactly ally's of Pan's right now, Bae." He stood up a little straighter when I said Bae. "What's wrong?"

"It's um, just that my papa used to call me Bae." He seemed sad and unsure as he spoke.

"I won't say it again, I'm so-"

"No, no don't worry about it. It's kind of nice to hear it again." We smiled at each other; I could get used to having a big brother.

"Here, you're probably better with it than I am anyways. Just don't fall on the pointy end." He handed me the sword and took the bow and quiver from me.

"I know how to not hurt myself with a sword. Daddy never trusted me with a real one, he said I was still too young. But I know what I'm doing with it."

"We'll see, come on."

We headed out down the trail we'd come running down the day before. Continuing down the path, I found this part was a lot smoother. It was straight and didn't have any lumps or rocks. The dirt was soft under our feet and there weren't any leaves in our faces. It was nice walking along this path. The morning air was cool and fresh on my face. The air smelled damp and musty from the morning dew. As much as I missed daddy, I felt like I could be okay here.

We had been walking along the trail for some time when I felt something wiz down past my face. I looked down and saw the arrow I'd shot into the jungle. I looked around me but there was no one but Bae up ahead of me. I looked up into the tree above me. Lying across a branch above me was the girl I'd seen years ago. I was about to call Bae over when she lifted her finger to her pursed lips. I looked back at Bae, he was getting farther away from me and I didn't want to lose him. I looked back up into the tree and the girl was gone.

"How does she move so fast?" I asked myself as I bent down to pick the arrow up.

"Hey! What are you waiting for? Come on!" Bae had stopped and was waiting for me up further on the trail where it turned into a T.

"Um, yea. Hey, I found that arrow I shot." I jogged up to where he stood. He gave me a curious look as I handed him the arrow.

"That's weird, you shot it in the opposite direction."

"Yea, that's what I thought. It was like it fell from the sky or something."

"Now that's sounds more plausible, what with the way you shoot." He chuckled and I shoved him. "Come on, Tink's tree house is this way."

We turned right at the T and continued for what felt like most of the morning. My stomach rumbled as we reached a clearing. Bae sat down on a log and handed me a fruit. It was pink and leafy on the outside with a white juicy centre. We sat and ate in silence then continued along. My feet were starting to get really sore when Bae finally stopped and turned to me.

"You're going to have to stay here. Like I said, Tink will want to stay on Pan's good side so if she knows you're with me she might go and tell Pan."

"Go tell Pan what?" The woman's strange accent startled me and I turned to see a short blond lady. She was talking to Bae but slowly looked down at me. "You didn't. You did not take Pan's hostage."

"She's my sister Tink. I couldn't let Felix take her. You know what he does to the girls."

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared me down.

"How is she your sister? You said your mother was dead."

I turned to see what Bae was going to say. I could tell he was thinking hard, trying to choose his words carefully.

"That pirate who used to work for Pan, Hook, that's her father. My mother ran away with him when I was young and apparently they had a baby together. Now she's here and I'm doing what any good big brother would; I'm taking care of her."

The woman shifted her gaze from Bae to me. I could tell she was trying to decide if she was going to tell on us or not.

"What were you doing her? If you didn't want me to know about her, why did you bring her here?"

"I need another sword. She's better with the blade than the bow, so I need one that will fit her. Do you think you'd be able to get one? I also need some supplies for a second bed in my hut. I don't want to have to sleep on the ground for the rest of the time we're here."

She nodded her head and headed up into her tree house. Bae gestured for me to follow him and we made our way up into the woman's home. It was small like Bae's, but more cluttered. Every corner was cluttered. I wandered into the corner left of the entrance. There was a big bookcase that had everything but books on it. Mostly vials of strange concoctions. There were vials with sands and dirt and dust; a larger one had dried mushrooms in it. I picked it up to examine it closer.

"DON'T. Do not touch that or eat that. It'll make you giant, and that's the last thing I need in my tree house."

I set it down gently. Bae was giggling at me. His arms were full of supplies so I rushed over to help take some of the load. He was also carrying a new hilt and sword.

"Did you get everything you need?"

"Yea, we'll be set for a while. On our way back I'll stop and try to hunt a little. Fruit can only sustain us for so long."

I nodded and started down the ladder. Bae tossed our supplies through the door and climbed down after them. We started dividing them between us so we could get on our way.

"Well, well. Looks like I'm getting my treasure back."

We both bolted around to see Pan, Felix and the other Lost boys surrounding us. There was no way we could escape them.