I really hope you liked last chapter, and this chapter! Let us know how you like the story so far!

We're back to Sophie this time:)

Sophie's POV:

"You wanna tell me where we're going?" I asked sourly.

"Nah," Peter said with an infuriating smile.

"Why?" I groaned.

"It's a surprise, of course!" Peter exclaimed like it was obvious.

I rolled my eyes and grumbled, "Great."

Peter chuckled and leaped over a big log. He turned around and held out his hand in a very gentlemanly style, like he wanted to help me across. Like I needed help stepping over a log. I gave him a funny look and he smirked at me.

"I'm only being polite," Peter frowned.

"You're weird," I said as I placed my hand awkwardly in his and swung my legs over the log. I really didn't need his assistance in doing so, like I'd thought earlier.

"How so?"

I scoffed, "Um, well, you go from crazy scary threatening maniac to 'polite' like, really fast."

Peter was walking beside me now. "I'm a man of many titles," he said in a dramatically low voice. I couldn't help but laugh at that. I thought I felt his eyes on me again, but when I looked up at him he was staring straight ahead. I chewed my lip and slipped my hands in my pockets.

We had been walking for what seemed like hours when, finally, Peter turned to me and said, "Almost there."

I looked him up and down warily. "This isn't gonna be good, is it?"

"Sophie! The whole point of this is to convince you to stay! It'd be a little ridiculous to frighten you now," Peter assured me, grinning widely.

I raised my eyebrows questioningly.

"I promise it's not that bad," Peter said. "I won't let anything too bad happen."

"Gee, thanks," I muttered sarcastically. Peter slipped behind me, covering my eyes with his hands. "Um, Peter-"

"Trust me?" Peter leaned down and whispered in my ear. I gulped as my entire body went tense. I didn't know why he was so hung up on this trust thing. Why would he care so much if I didn't trust him, of all things? He must have realized that if I had any sense at all I wouldn't ever trust him. "Are your eyes closed?"

"Yes," I said grudgingly-and they were.

"Okay, just, um, keep them closed," He commanded as his hands fell from my eyes to my shoulders. I felt a strange sweeping motion, like I'd left my stomach at the top of a roller coaster, and I almost opened my eyes but suddenly felt Peter's hands over my eyes again. Peter pushed me forward a little, keeping his hands over my eyes until he said a little breathlessly, "Okay. Open!"

Peter's hands fell from my eyes. I was a little confused, expecting to still be in the forest since we hadn't appeared to move much. Instead, I found myself in a strange cave of sorts, with an opening that appeared to connect to the ocean surrounding the island. The slow, gentle lapping of the waves against the rocky platform I stood on cast eerie green and blue shadows on the cave walls.

I looked over my shoulder at Peter, he was a little hunkered down so he was eye-level with me. He was chewing his lip and watching me anxiously. "Peter, where are we?" I asked, whispering for no apparent reason.

A big grin spread across Peter's face as he spun around in front of me and gently held my wrists and walked backwards toward the unearthly waves. His eyebrows flicked up in excitement that had the same innocence as a child's. "I call it Mermaid Cave."

"Mermaid?" I repeated, feeling a little queasy.

Peter pulled me down beside him abruptly so we lay flat on our stomachs with our heads poking over the jagged platform's edge. He put a finger to his lips. "They'll come if you're very quiet."

My wide eyes fell from his face to the reflective water beneath me. I saw a girl looking back at me, her blue-green eyes looking a little startled but mostly curious and...awestruck. So, I wasn't going to admit it to anyone, much less Peter, but I was pretty damn excited about the mermaids. My hair fell forward, the long ends getting caught on my blouse so they didn't get wet. I didn't look scared. I looked entranced, and it scared me. My eyes flicked from my image in the pool to Peters. He was watching the side of my real face with a strange look that I could only describe as an odd mix of anticipation and...admiration? I snapped my attention from his bleary reflection to him. He quickly looked down at the clear water.

"They'll come if you touch the water," Peter confessed.

"Why?" I asked slowly, pretty sure I didn't want the answer.

"Because they want to drown you."

"They what now?"

Peter turned to me. "I promise I won't let them actually drown you."

"Well, that's comforting."

"You want to see them, don't you?"

"Of course!" I blurted, exposing how excited I actually was. "I-of course I do. But I don't want to drown, for God's sake!"

"Here," Peter entwined my fingers in his despite my flinch at his touch. "If they do try to pull you in, we'll both go under."

I had to admit, his relaxed hand over mind made me feel a lot better. And I did want to see a mermaid. Like, um, pretty bad. Peter's mouth quirked up in a devilish smile. Our fingers slowly met the calm water surface. I could feel a chill run up my arm and travel down my spine, but Peter remained unfazed. The whole cave fell strangely silent. I couldn't remember if it had always been that way, but I literally could hear nothing. Maybe the water made you deaf. A bright purple light seemed to be radiating from the bottom of the pool. It was the second time that day that I was reminded of the lilacs from my childhood backyard. I instinctively tried to take my hand out of the water, but Peter held it tight below the surface.

"Peter, I-"

"Just a couple more seconds!" Peter assured. His eyes, full of adrenaline, searched the water's surface hungrily.

Unable to argue or do much to get my hand out of the water because that stuff was going crazy, I just swallowed hard and watched the pool. I could have sworn it was bubbling even though I felt no temperature change. Again, things were getting crazy.

All at once, two ghostly pale hands latched onto Peter and I'd wrists. Peter laughed like he was winning an intense game of Monopoly, but his smile faded as he couldn't wrench his hand free. I struggled against the hand locked onto my own wrist. It's long nails were digging so deep I could feel the claws starting to break the skin. Abort. Abort mission. Run, Soph, run!

"Peter…" I croaked warily, my mouth feeling like the Sahara desert.

Peter looked at me, his eyes wide with alarm. "Don't let go of my hand, whatever hap-"

I was suddenly submerged in salty violet tinted water, my hand still squeezing Peter's tightly. I immediately flicked my eyes open under the water, despite the burning I felt from the salt. I was face to face with an eerily pale woman with dark black hair that surrounded her hauntingly beautiful face. She cocked her head at me sharply and kept her long nails dug into my wrist.

I noticed Peter was beside me when he suddenly thrashed violently, alarming the red haired mermaid holding him in a tight headlock and thrusting me to the surface. I clawed my way to the rocky platform, assuming Peter was right behind me.

With only one leg still hanging in the now deep, royal purple colored waters, a slimy, bloodless hand reached out and dragged me back under. I kicked at the mermaids midsection, and she released me and doubled over in pain. I burst through the surface, treading water as my eyes frantically searched for Peter.

Darn it all. Aren't I supposed to be the damsel in distress?

I could see the vague blur of his light brown hair and ridiculous all-green outfit at the bottom of the pool. Goddamn Peter Pan was being abducted by mermaids and guess who had to save him? Me. Mostly because my strong moral compass was telling me I had to at least try, and also because...I mean, there was a dude. Being drowned by mermaids. The only dude who could get me off this island. So, I took one very, very deep breath and torpedoed myself to the bottom of the murky purple depths.

The two mermaids must have knocked his head on the bottom, because Peter's eyes were closed and he had a strangely peaceful look on his face, which was not normal for mermaid victims. He also no longer had a shirt on, from what my bleary salty vision could tell. The dark haired mermaid was cradling his head, her own cocked at a weird angle and her lips moving.

I was guessing it was some kind of creepy freakish mermaid ritual. I was expecting Peter to sprout a tail at any moment. I didn't know where the red headed mermaid had gone. I was just praying she wasn't going to come hurtling at me before I reached Peter.

I figured it was either drown or drown trying to save Peter. I mean, the trying to save Peter one at least had the possibility of one of us surviving. So, I hurtled myself at the dark haired mermaid, making her head flip back at a sickening angle by literally karate chopping with my foot at her neck, like they do in movies. I was impressed with myself but mostly disturbed by how easily I had done it. She was still, floating there with her hair fluttering around her. I took full advantage of the situation and wrapped my arms around Peter's chest, and, using all my might, propelled him up ahead of me. He was suspended in the water about halfway to the surface, but I had been pushed down when I shoved him up.

I swam frantically, my vision starting to turn black and the pain in my lungs getting unbearable. I used both my hands and whatever momentum I had left to shoot Peter to the surface as my palms collided with the bottom of his bare feet.

His boots were gone, but that was the least of my worries as I heard hissing in my right ear. Stupid nasty mermaids. Red hair blocked the small line of vision I had left. I was not going down now, no matter what the stupid mermaid had to say about it.

I kicked every whichaway and I swam as quickly as I could to the surface. The red head somehow managed to sink her stupid claws into my right calf, dragging them as I kicked away from her.

So, yes, that hurt like hell. But I wasn't letting anything get in the way of me and dry land, so I broke the surface just as my vision went completely black from lack of oxygen. I sucked in the most gratifying puff of air I had ever had and quickly found Peter's limp body floating so only the top of his forehead was above the surface. I paddled over and flopped his heavy, water logged body onto the platform with as little difficulty as I could manage. I glanced down into the murky purple depths to see both the dark haired mermaid and the ginger demon who had scratched my leg up advancing toward me very quickly. I scrambled back onto the platform just as their creepy claws burst through the surface. I jumped back as they hissed and screamed loud enough I could hear it echoing around the cave, which confused me because it didn't seem physically possible.

"Stupid girl!" Echoed around the cave at least twenty five times.

"Well this stupid girl just outsmarted you creepy, weird...things, so, hah!" I shouted back.

I heard the mermaids let out two ear-splitting screeches that made me cover my ears, and then saw them sink beneath the waves. They knew they had lost.

I suddenly felt the crippling sting of salt water in the five, deep gashes in my calf. I fell to the ground and bit my lip to keep from crying out. I gingerly angled my leg so the gashes weren't touching the uneven rock beneath me and crawled over to Peter, dragging my right leg behind me. I cradled Peter's head in my arms much like I had just seen the dark haired mermaid just do.

Peter's eyes were still closed. His face was pale and felt cold against my clammy palms. My heart raced. I could feel sheer panic settling in my stomach. "Oh, God. Peter, dammit, wake up!"

I shook his shoulders hard, but he didn't move a muscle. I drew my hand back, coming down and slapping his cheek as hard as I could. His head just rolled to the side with the impact. I could feel tears prickling in my eyes. I wiped one away, my lips trembling. "No, please...wake up, stupid. You're supposed to wake up now."

I pushed down hard on the center of his bare, unmoving chest like they'd taught me to do when I had taken a babysitting class in 6th grade. They'd always said to call an ambulance before you tried anything, but I didn't think an ambulance would reach Neverland any time soon. I pumped hard with both hands hard and fast, spitting out insults as I did so. "You're arrogant, cocky, manipulative, English, stupid, irritating, annoying, and too damn hot for your own good, you-you idiot."

After 30 pushes on his chest, Peter wasn't coughing or anything. "Peter Pan, you are not dying after what I just went through. I went into purple violent bubbling evil mermaid hell to save your ass and you are not dying now."

I tucked my wet long hair behind my ears and leaned down, prepared to give him the dreaded mouth to mouth, when Peter coughed up a gallon of salt water everywhere. I flopped down beside him on my stomach, breathing an exhausted sigh of relief. "You have no idea what I just went through."

Peter sat up. "Sophie...did you say I was hot?"

I sat straight up so I was now sitting beside him. Of all the things I had just said to him, he chose to remember that one. Of course. My cheeks flushed pink. "No."

Peter laughed. I couldn't help but laugh too. I threw my arms around him, surprising both of us. He almost shrunk away before he hugged me back, like he didn't know how to react. I wondered when the last time someone hugged him was. I felt another tear roll down my face as I said quickly, "No dying, okay? It's really stressful."

"Oh-okay," Peter said earnestly, squeezing my shoulders. I wiped away my tears before he pulled back so he didn't see them. His eyes dropped to my leg. My soaked jeans were ripped where the five gashes were. One for each nail. The blood had stained the material around the wounds, and there was a puddle of water around us mixed with eerie ribbons of my blood. I swallowed hard and felt my stomach flutter uneasily at the sight of the wound. I didn't have a big problem with blood, but I didn't like the look of big nasty cuts. The stinging seemed to worsen as I let myself look at it.

"You're hurt."

"It's nothing, really-"

"Nothing? You're bleeding buckets!"

"Uh, well, yeah-"

"I'm so sorry. I wanted...I told you to trust me, how could you ever trust me after this?" Peter rambled, crawling over to the other side of my leg, kneeling in the puddle of my own blood. I noticed he has wet marks on his back that were stained red from the spread of water mixed with blood. I swallowed hard. Peter raked his hands through his wet hair, pushing his bangs out of his face. "I honestly didn't know they were gonna...I mean I thought we'd just wrench free...this is all my fault."

I was actually genuinely touched for his concern. And somehow, the honesty of the tears in his bleary eyes convinced me that I could trust him. It defied everything my head was telling me, but my heart immediately forgave him for the mess. I could barely believe I was actually trying to make him feel better. "No, Peter, it's...it isn't your fault. You just wanted to show me the mermaids."

Peter wiped at his face with the back of his hand as he looked up at me, his eyes innocent and childlike again. Was he crying? God, he really was a mess. He looked like a little kid. He bit his lip, then looked down at my leg. "Sophie, please don't take this the wrong way. In order for the skin to heal, and not into the fabric, you need to take off your pants."

I just stared at him. Because he was right. The skin was going to get caught in the material soon and digging that out was gonna hurt even more. Trouble was, I could barely stand. I breathed deeply. Sophie, he's gonna have to help you and you're just gonna act mature and curse yourself for wearing your goddamn frilly underwear to bed today.

"I, um."

"I'll turn around," Peter said quickly as he stood and spun around. "I'll cover my eyes too."

I looked up at the back of his head pleadingly. God, why? "Peter, I...I can't stand." Peter looked back down at me in my feeble position. His Adam's apple bobbed like he was swallowing hard. "I tried earlier. I kinda fell over and crawled over here."

Peter's face remained honest and concerned as he squatted beside me. "Here. I'll support you...and see how it goes from there."

Again, since when was this guy nice? Maybe he felt obligated since I had just saved him from drowning. Peter wrapped one arm just below my arms at about the bottom of my shoulder blade, his fingers feeling tight and secure against my side. I was pressed up against him on the right side, and his face was so close to mine that I could feel him breathing softly on my neck. I looked up at him, his eyes locking with mine and making me regret looking at him in the first place. There was nothing mischievous or suspicious about the concerned crinkle in his brow or slight redness rimming his eyes. He just looked like a normal boy. And that scared more than any creepy maniac serial killer Pan. This was just Peter, just helping Sophie.

I kicked off my soaked leather lace up boots. My fingers fumbled with the button on my heavy, sopping jeans and unzipped them as quickly as I could. I wanted to get this over with. Stupid damn tight jeans. I chewed my lip as I tried to pull the jeans that clung to my cold, damp skin. Peter suddenly slipped a finger in my belt loop on the right side. I glanced up sharply, and he looked at me like he was about to jump off a bridge or something.

"I, um, just want to help. Promise. You're losing blood," He explained apologetically.

It was true. I could feel myself getting light headed. I nodded and we managed to get the left leg and thigh of my right leg free from the jeans. Peter helped me sit back down as he gingerly pulled the jean back down from the knee to my ankle, touching the wound as little as possible. I was still wincing in pain as the material pulled back from the sticky blood around the gashes.

Eventually, I was free of the cursed, nightmarishly wet skinny jeans. I didn't care too much- Peter had seen me in my ridiculous oversized tee shirt, and the loose blouse I was wearing covered most of me. Neither of us were too concerned with the fact we were both missing key articles of clothing.

I was pretty much half way into unconsciousness as Peter said, "I have magic. I can heal you."

I nodded my head as I slumped down on the hard ground, my head pounding. I didn't have any energy left to object, not that I would. I felt a weirdly soothing sensation crawling up and down my leg as my eyes rolled back in my head. The last thing I heard was an unusually loud clap of thunder, then my mind slipped into dreamy darkness.

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