Molly shook her head as she listened to Peter hurriedly explain the things he had done, how he had let his temper get the best of him- again.
"Peter, how could you do this? I'm dissapointed in you." Peter stared down at the ground and sighed. Molly was right, but he hated when she scolded him like that. She sounded like a mother, and Peter found many things wrong with that. Firstly, she may have been a mother to Prentiss or Ted, but she was something different and special to Peter. And second, Peter just plain hated being chided like that.
"It was Black Stache's fault!" Peter cried. "Besides, I'll get her back somehow. I'll go find the Wasp right now!" He got up to leave, but Molly's voice halted him. Prentiss and Ted, who had Tinkerbell sitting on his shoulder, sat in the back of the room and watched the scene play out.
"Peter, don't." Molly said sternly. "Your temper got you into this mess, no doubt if you confront Black Stache you'll just make it worse." Peter mumbled a few incoherent words in frustration. Molly was right, but he would never admit it. He did have a bad temper.
"Then what do I do?!" He huffed, crossing his arms. There was a long silence.
"I'll be there to help you soon." She said finally. "I'll bring father and we will work to sort this out. I'll see you soon, Peter." Prentiss and Teds' eyes lit up, and they stood so suddenly that Tinkerbell tumbled off of Ted's shoulder and towards the ground before she caught herself.
"Mother's coming?!" They asked excitedly in unison.
"Yeah, I just wish it wasn't because of a mess I made." Peter replied quietly.
"What do we do now?" Ted asked, not so much because he wanted to help the girl, but more because he was bored just sitting around the 'hideout' playing with Tinkerbell.
"Yeah." Prentiss chimed in. "I know Molly said to wait for her, but we can't just sit here."
Peter stood up straight and put the locket around his neck. "You're right, Prentiss!" He said. "We can't just sit around and wait for Molly. If we go find the girl at least, if we can look through the portholes in the ship, then we can find out where she is and that'll be a start!"
"Yeah!" Prentiss and Ted cheered. Tinkerbell darted around the room, matching the excitement of the three Lost Boys.
"Mother will be so proud of us!" Ted grinned. "Let's do it." Peter nodded, put on his green hat with the red feather, and led the way out of the hideout. The three ran down the beach, and Peter shielded his eyes from the sun, searching the horizon for The Wasp. He spotted it just as it was about to dissappear around the corner of one of the big mountains on the island. Peter quickly thought about it and tried to figure out Stache's destination.
"Skull Rock!" He yelled suddenly. "They're passing Mermaid Cove, they'll be docking at Skull Rock. Let's go!" They waited for Tinkerbell to sprinkle her starstuff on them and soon they took to the air, quickly gaining on Black Stache's ship.
"How do we find the girl?" Ted asked. Peter folded his arms in determination.
"We'll check every porthole in the bottom level of the ship until we find her." He concluded.
"Good idea, Peter." Prentiss agreed. "He probably put her in one of the cell rooms down below."
"Right."
"Let's go!" Ted cheered, dipping down towards the bottom of The Wasp eagerly to begin searching. Peter and Prentiss soon followed suit.
Minutes went by, and they had not found Nova. Prentiss and Ted were having more trouble because they had never seen her and could only go off of Peter's description.
Peter hovered just above the water, moving up and down slightly in time with the waves so that they barely missed splashing his dangling feet. He peered into the very last unchecked porthole, crossing his fingers, hoping that Nova would be there. If Black Stache hadn't put her in one of the prisoners' rooms, if perhaps another fate had befallen Nova, then it would be all his fault.
He sighed in relief as he saw her standing there. Nova was staring crestfallen at the closed door, completely still as though she were a statue.
"What are you doing?" He asked simply, forgetting the circumstances. Nova jumped and whirled around, and stared at Peter with wide eyes.
"You!" She said accusingly. Peter immediately began to apologize profusely.
"Look Nova, I'm sorry." Nova held up a hand slightly to stop him.
"First of all, Peter-" She began, realizing too late that she may have made a mistake in letting his name slip.
"Wait, how do you know my name?" Peter asked as his face contorted in a questioning way. Nova bit her lip, mentally cursing herself for the slip-up and trying to think of a way out of it.
"Um...that pirate called you Peter back when you let him take me." She said, hiding her relief at her cover up with an accusation aimed at Peter.
"That's Black Stache. I'm sorry that I let him take you, but he..." Peter trailed off, looking anywhere but at Nova.
"But he brought up a sore subject?" Nova concluded. Peter nodded.
Prentiss and Ted suddenly pushed Peter away from the porthole, having heard the entire conversation.
"He brought up Molly!" They teased in unison.
"Molly is a girl who was here before you." Prentiss exclaimed. Peter glared at him, shoving him angrily so that he could retake his place by the porthole.
"Shut it, Prentiss!" Peter growled. Ted leaned into the porthole and rested his elbows on the rim of it. While Peter and Prentiss were busy fighting, Ted took the chance to talk to Nova one on one.
"Hi, girl!" He said, goofily hanging over the side of the semi-large porthole as far as his upper-half would allow.
Nova, although startled, couldn't help but be interested by this seemingly friendly boy. She returned his toothy smiled and said, "Hello."
"What's your name?" Ted asked innocently.
"Nova. What's yours?"
Ted smiled proudly, hoping to be friends with this new girl. "I'm Ted! But you can call me Teddy. Or even T, if you like! Just anything but Tubby." Nova laughed slightly.
"Get away from the window, Tubby." Ted grimaced at Peter's snide use of the name, but he backed away from the porthole regardless. "Anyway, Nova-"
"Oh girl!" A familiar singsong voice sounded on the other side of the door. Nova gasped but didn't move.
"Oh no, we've gotta go guys!" Peter whispered harshly to Prentiss and Ted. Without even a word of goodbye to Nova, they flew off, leaving her there helpless to Black Stache.
The door swung open and Black Stache entered slowly, watching Nova as she stood utterly still by the porthole. He edged closer to her, and she didn't dare move.
"So, girl..." Black Stache stared expectantly at her, waiting for her to answer his unasked question. When he got no response other than a confused look from Nova, he rolled his eyes and threw up his hands slightly in defeat. "I'm not going to go on calling you 'girl' forever." He said matter-of-factly.
"My name is Nova." Nova told him quietly. Stache grinned.
"Well then, Nova...let's talk."