Happy Leap Year Day!

Chapter 17 - Secrets in the Ceilings

Cubby POV

Skully and I exchanged puzzled glances as Jake finished recounting Peter Pan's tale.

"Peter," he whispered. "That's it you guys. Peter can help us get out of here." I furrowed my brow, considering Jake's words.

"But Jake….how? He's out there, we're in here. The outside world doesn't exist until dusk comes around and who knows how long it will be till then." I tell him. Jake paused, his brow furrowing as he pondered the dilemma. Then, his eyes lit up with an idea.

"Skully," he said, turning to our feathered friend, "Maybe you could sneak out and find Peter when night falls." I blinked in surprise, turning to Skully, who also looked surprised.

"Me!? Why me!?" he squawked.

"Well you're the only one of us who can fly, and it would take Ria longer to notice that you're gone before she does me or Cubby." Jake lectured.

"But how in the crackers am I gonna get out? The doors are locked and the windows are barred." the parrot said.

"Maybe they are. But that isn't." the green eyed boy said, pointing up and we all looked to where he was pointing and sure enough, we looked up to see a small hole in the roof that was about twenty feet high and through it you could see the world of pitch blackness outside, though I knew a small beam of moonlight would shoot in at night, when the Temple appeared in everland. The hole itself was only about a foot by a foot, big enough only for a small bird to fit through.

"A….a skylight?" Skully asked.

"Well that explains why our room is so cold," I noted. "But how did we never notice that before?"

"It's tiny, Cubby. How could you notice something like that?" Jake asked. "So what do you say Skully? Will you do it?" Before the green parrot could respond, a knock echoed through the room, freezing us in place.

We exchanged panicked glances and then looked at the pile of letters, pictures and books on the bed that could easily prove that we had been snooping around.

"Hide the books!" I hiss as Jake and I scramble to do so. Jake lazily lifted up the covers and shoved all the written treasures under it and when he dropped the sheet, any idiot could tell that we were hiding something. Keep in mind that as we did this, whoever was at the door continued to knock every five seconds. "That's too obvious you fool! They're gonna-."

"Shhh! They're not gonna know." Jake interrupted me. The knocking at the door gets louder and more aggressive. I scanned the bedroom to see that several books had fallen onto the ground.

"That's it! We're dead!" I exclaim, throwing my hands up as I go to answer the door in defeat. I reached for the handle and swung the door open to reveal the burly man with orangish-blonde hair dressed in sailor clothes. My eyes quickly widen in fear as I slam the door shut on his face, looking back at my mates in panic. Jake slaps his forehead and makes his way over to me.

"Step aside," he said, pushing me out of the way and opening the door to a very irritated-looking Titan. "Hello." he said. Titan's gaze swept over us, his expression unreadable.

"Ria wants to speak with you," he said, pointing to Jake. "Alone." Jake's eyes widened in alarm, but he nodded curtly. But after he did, he immediately turned his head around and mouthed: 'Go get Peter'. He quickly drove his attention back towards the sailor.

"Alright," he said, swallowing hard. "Lead the way." He followed Titan out of the room and little did I know that I would not see him again for the rest of our stay here.

"Oh crackers, that was close!" Skully exclaimed, flopping his little body onto one of the pillows.

"That was weird." I said, rubbing my chin as I stared at the door that had just been closed on us.

"What hasn't been weird in the last twenty four hours Cubby?"

"What do you think Ria wants with him?" I asked.

"Beats me."

I crept over to the door, got a grip on the knob and then very gently pulled it open. I leaned my upper body out into the hallway for a look, but my matey and the sailor were nowhere in sight.

"They're gone." I said to the parrot back in the bedroom.

"Already?" he repeated. "You sure?"

"What part of 'they're gone' do you not understand?" I asked as I closed the door and walked back into the room to sit on the bed. "I don't like this Skully. Not one bit. That lady's probably gonna try an' sink her claws into Jake. I just know it!"

"Well I'm not flyin' out of that skylight until I can see Neverland outside and not pitch blackness!"

"Yeah. Well we'll just have to wait until it gets dark."

Thirty minutes had passed and Jake didn't return. I had spent half an hour taking a forced nap, hoping he would be back by the time I woke up, but he wasn't.

"What time is it?" I moaned, lying face up on the bed, staring at the hole in the roof that showed the pure darkness that surrounded us, signaling that it was still day time, but just how much longer till nightfall?

"I'm not sure." Skully responded.

"They could've at least put a clock in here." I pouted, rolling onto my stomach.

It had now been an hour, and I found myself pacing around the room, flipping through the photographs that we had hid under the sheets. I paced for about twenty more minutes as I blankly examined the pictures in my hand and thought that whoever had taken these was very much creepy and really didn't get my good side-not that I had one back then.

"Oh I can't take it anymore!" I exclaimed, chucking the photos to the ground and putting my hands on my hips. "Where is he!?"

"I wish I could tell you matey." Skully, who had been waiting for me to explode this whole time, said. I scratched the back of my blonde head as I made up my mind.

"Y'know what we're gonna do Skully?" I asked.

"What?"

"We're gonna go find him ourselves!" I said, determined. The bird's little eyes widened in shock.

"Are you insane!?" he screeched.

"Just call me 'Psycho Pirate the Second'."

"Cubby, they'll kill us if we disobey Ria! She said to stay here!"

"No she didn't," I replied flatly. "She just asked for Jake, she never mentioned anything about us. Stop making things up. And besides, Ria herself didn't say it, that Titan fellow did."

"Jake's probably fine Cubby. Afterall he isn't our leader for no reason."

"Exactly. And if you or me were gone for an hour, it would drive him mad and he'd come looking for us right away! So why don't we return the favor!?"

"Oh…oh alright Cubby!"

The dimly lit corridors seemed to stretch endlessly, casting eerie shadows that danced along the walls. I couldn't help but feel a shiver creep down my spine as we tiptoed down the hallway, each step on the stone floor we took echoing in the silence. We passed by the cracked door of the mysterious room where Jake had found those unsettling photos of us. My heart raced as I imagined what else was down there that he had seen? And more importantly, what else was down there that he had not seen? Like a pair of glowing red eyes that spied on him the same way our anonymous photographer did us. The mere thought sent a chill through my bones, and I sped up my steps, eager to leave that place behind.

As I turned to go, the door quickly creaked shut all on its own. Doors around here had a tendency to do so didn't they?

"C-c-coconuts," I stuttered, my voice barely above a whisper. "I wish I'd remembered not to come near that door when searching this creepy temple." Skully, perched on my shoulder, let out an indignant squawk.

"Yeah. And I wish I'd remembered not to come with you!" he exclaimed. "No telling who or what's hiding in the shadows waiting for us."

With a shaky breath, I forced myself to push aside the fear and press on. We continued down the corridor, but our journey was abruptly halted when the muffled sound of voices drifted through a nearby door.

Skully took flight from my shoulder as I approached the door, curiosity getting the better of me. I pressed my ear against the rough wood, to hear the voices of mine other than Titan and the assistant girl….but no Jake. He and Ria must already be somewhere else. However I still continue to listen in on the conversation anyway.

"How. Much. Longer!?" I heard the assistant's voice growl. "I am getting tired of waiting for the great 'Mistress of the Mountains' plan to play through!"

"Oh clam up little girl!" we heard Titan's muffled voice respond, irritated. "Let her take her time! If it weren't for my love Maria, you wouldn't be standing 'ere now would you!?"

"Little girl? I'll have you know kind sir that I am seventeen! And had a certain incident not occurred, I'd probably be older than you by now, Mr. Circus clown!"

"I am NOT a circus clown!" Titan barked back.

"Yeah. Not anymore that is."

"Look kid. You keep your previous life in Juvie Hall to yourself, and I'll keep my precious Circus career to myself. We're both in Neverland now and we're both going to keep going along with my beloved's plan and that does not include bringing up our previous mainland lives! Do you hear me!?"

"Oh boy do I," I heard the assistant girl moan after Titan finished roaring at her. "What does she want with Jake anyway? I thought that little shrimp Izzy was the one she wanted."

"That she does. But she's only out for the girl in an act of revenge. In the end, she is just plain useless to us. The Mistress just wants to see her suffer and then bury her in the desert so it will be as if she never existed. She plays no part in our plan." Titan lectured.

"Pfff! I'd just like to see her try and get rid of Izzy. I've attempted it before, and I still ended up defeated. I swear she is indestructible!"

"Well Ria clearly stated for us to leave the girl to her and her alone. And she also said that the scrawny blonde boy and the parrot…..," I gasped silently at the mention of my description. "Well she said she couldn't care less about what we do to them. Maybe we could use them as target practice," he suggested, and I felt my heart beat speed up. My mind said turn around and run away, but my ears said keep listening. And I did.

"Anyways," Titans voice continued. "Jake is the only one we need. He's the only one of the pathetic pirate crew that is of use to us. And what better bait to lure him in with than the cure for his poor sick friend?" My eyes widened. I don't believe it. After all that, Izzy's snake bite, creepy letters and photographs, was all just a red herring! She was never the target! He was! I had to find him and tell him before it was too late.

However, as I turned to dart away, the door to the room I had been eavesdropping on, to my absolute horror, opened. I froze in fear and slowly turned my head to see Titan, orange hair. sailor clothing and all staring at me sinisterly. He wore an angry glare on his face as he gripped the doorknob. The assistant girl on the other hand, gave me an evil smile as she relished in the fact that I had just been caught.

"What are you doing here!?" Titan growled. I swallowed hard and met his scary reddish brown eyes. His frizzed gingery blonde hair and beard, alongside his intimidatingly dark eyes made him look like a scary lion gazing down at its prey before saying goodnight.

"Uhm..I….looking for my friend." I squeaked.

"Looking for your friend, my arse! You were snooping!" he accused, pointing at me threateningly. I slowly backed away from him.

"I…..I-I-I'm a-s-s-sorry." I apologized, though he didn't seem to accept it. Instead, he looked at me sinisterly, and then punched the palm of one hand with the other several times and the growled,

"Not as sorry as you're about to be."

To Be Continued….

Well, Cubby has been caught, Jake is nowhere to be found and Skully...well he's in hot water too.

But we haven't seen Izzy in a while. What has she been up to his whole time?