Chapter 8

"How- What did you- Where's my-?" I couldn't form a full sentence. I sunk to my knees.

"Now now," Pan cooed as he stilled up to me. I looked up at him, tears brimming my eyes. "There's no need to get flustered. I know you're happy to see me."

My mouth hung open as a tear silently drilled down my cheek and splashed into the hard, wooden floor.

"Where is my father?" I demanded.

"Killian? Oh, I would imagine that he's on the west side of the beach, in his ship."

My eye twitched as I cocked my head to the right. "But…we're-"

He squatted down in front of me and cut me off. "But we're not, you silly girl. This ship? It's an illusion: made by yours truly."

I slowly shook my head. "It cannot be. My sword was still in my cabin!"

"And you really think that that lifeboat was just conveniently floating there with the ropes still attached to it for you to climb, do you? My, you are more dull of a pirate than I thought that you were."

Anger boiling inside of me, I stood up and looked down at Pan. A look of shock crossed his face.

"I may be a pirate," I began. "But I am not dull. I am proud to be the daughter of the feared Captain Hook. That's more than you can say for yourself."

He stood up and chuckled to himself. "Captain Hook? Is that what he's calling himself now? My, how charming."

I glared at him. "What is it that you want from me, Pan?"

"I just want to have fun! Just like with everyone else!" he exclaimed as he threw his arms up.

"Wake up, Peter! No one else is having any fun but yourself!"

My next thought was interrupted by a swift slap to the face. My head spun to the right as the wet strands of my hair pasted themselves across my cheek. I let out a gasp. Pan leaned in close to my ear, and gripped my hair tightly. I sucked in through my teeth.

"Do not ever address me as 'Peter'. My name is Pan."

I gulped and closed my eyes as I quickly nodded. He released my hair and backed away from me.

I immediately brought a hand to my face and scalp, running where it was sore. "You cannot keep me here forever," I reminded. His glare hardened.

"Oh yeah?" he asked sarcastically, lifting his eyebrows. "Watch me."

He grabbed one of my wrists and dragged me out of the cabin. I stumbled over my steps, but he kept gliding confidently across the deck, smoothly and confidently. He made it to the center and held up my wrist. The Lost Boys were all gathered on the beach to observe this.

"Look who I found, boys!" Pan exclaimed. The boys all cheered. "The Jane-bird!" More cheering. "However...she broke the rules." They all booed. "Now, how should we punish her, then?" He glared down at me. "I think I know just the thing."

Suddenly, we weren't on the "ship" anymore. We were back at camp. The Lost Boys all surrounded us. I gulped. My eyes searched the crowd for Newt, but I couldn't find him.

Gally emerged from the crowd, his arms cross across his large chest. Felix appeared across from him, his hood up and club resting on his shoulder. My eyes shifted back and forth between the two boys.

"Jane broke the one rule of the game," Pan reminded them. They booed once more. I gritted my teeth. Some of the boys shook their heads in disapproval and glared at me. I rolled my eyes.

"However," Pan continued. "This was her first game, after all." There were some murmurs of agreement. Felix and Gally never took their eyes off of me. Their cold glares made me just want to kill myself on the spot.

"So," he went on. "I think we should give her a break this time. After all, a new playmate is no fun when she is unable to play."

This evoked several gasps and murmurs. Felix smirked and slowly shook his head in disbelief. Gally's mouth hung open as his arms sunk from his chest to his hips.

I crinkled my brows and slowly turned to look at Pan. He smirked and looked back at me. "So, I think that it is time to play a new game." They let out whoops of excitement. "Hide and seek," Pan explained. "But reversed. Jane will be the only one hiding. The rest of us will be seeking. You get a five minute head start. Whoever finds you first gets to do whatever they'd like to you." This caused more mourners of excitement. I rolled my eyes again.

"And is there no possibly way that I can win?" I asked hopelessly.

"You're right," Pan admitted. "That wouldn't really be fair, now would it?" He paused. "You, Jane, can win the game only if no one finds you before sundown."

I let out a sigh. "But, it can't be any later than midday! I haven't even eaten yet. How am I supposed to hide all day long?"

"Take it or leave it, love."

My eyes searched the crowd for Newt one last time, but I still couldn't find him. I breathed heavier.

"Well?" Pan asked.

"Fine!" I shouted.

He lifted a brow. "Go."

Still dripping wet and heavy from soaking up water, I took off into the jungle, not a single idea as to where I was going. I ran as fast as my legs could take me.

Where am I supposed to hide, anyway? I thought. These boys all know the island far better than I do. They know where all of the good hiding places are.

I'm sure that there were many who had tried to escape from Pan in his time, and hide somewhere on the island. What did he do to people who didn't obey him, anyway?

I stopped running, leaned over, and caught my breath. Pan had said that Papa's ship was probably on the west side of the island. Was he lying to me?

No, I thought. Peter Pan never lies...he manipulates.

So, of he manipulates, that probably means that, yes, the Jolly Rodger is at the west beach. However, since he told me that, he probably would figure that I would try to escape by running to the ship. To prevent me from doing so, he most likely told the boys that I would go west, this they would block my way and catch me. Clever, Pan. Clever...

Well, I wasn't falling for it. I looked up at the sun. It was bright, yet only halfway up in the center of the sky. That was where Lost Boys would be sparse. And that was where I wanted to go.

Once more, I took off, this time in the direction of the sun. No more than a mile behind me, I heard the howls of excitement and Indian calls from the Lost Boys. Cringing, I pressed on ever forward.

After several more minutes of running, I stopped again to catch my breath. I was so dehydrated. The hot sun beat down on me, causing the saltwater in my hair to crust into place. I crinkled my nose at it.

Looking ahead, I thought that I saw something in the distance. A mirage? I rubbed my eyes and looked again. No...there was die finitely something there. It looked like a line...of people. I raised an eyebrow at it. I concluded that I was seeing things, although the group of people did look awfully familiar...

I was about to turn away when I noticed an unmistakable red hat at the front of the line. Smee... It was a search party from the Jolly Rodger! They'd come searching for me!

Choked up and excited, I began to run towards them in a full on sprint. I didn't want to draw any unwanted attention from the Lost Boys to me by shouting, even though I desperately wanted to.

It was like a surreal nightmare, as I watched the crew seemingly getting further and further away from me. All the while, I was running as fast as I could, and yet, it was like I was getting further away front them, as if my feet were slowing me down.

At that very moment, I wished I could fly. For the first time in forever, I actually wanted to fly. Although I knew that without Pixie dust, that action was completely impossible.

The crew slowly seemed to slip away from me.

"No..." I whispered. Tears brimming my eyes, I suddenly tripped my boot over a raised root and fell face first into a pile of leaves.

Only, this was no ordinary pile of leaves. As soon as I made contact with it, they dissipated beneath me. I let out a shriek as I landed hard on the ground with an "omf!". The wind knocked out of me, I grunted and looked at my surroundings. It had seemed that I had fallen into some sort of animal trap pit. But, clearly, it had been meant for human beings.

"No..." I muttered. "No no no no no NO!"

I plopped onto the dusty ground, my skirt proofing up around me as I did so. I sat there for a moment. Snot accumulating in my nose from subconsciously holding back tears, I stared blankly at the dirt wall. Who was I kidding? There was no way that I was ever going to escape from Pan. He had every objective, every variable planned in his head, plus three steps more. Was I doomed to be trapped in Pan's tyrannical monarchy for eternity?

No, I told myself. He may be witty and clever, but who's to say that I'm not equal to or even more so to him? I was only what I claimed to be. And what am I? A pirate? A wench? Sure. But even more so, I am the only daughter of the bravest buccaneer who ever sailed the seven seas. Captain Killian Jones-Hook. And I was damn proud of that, no matter what Pan told me. I could overthrow Pan. I just needed time - I had plenty of that - and allies. Newt seemed to have lots of friends among the Lost Boys. I'm sure that he wouldn't object to helping me. Although...I didn't see him at all this morning...was something wrong?

Pushing my thoughts aside, I began to try and figure a way out of the pit that I was trapped inside. The muddy walls made it impossible to climb. Getting more agitated than I already was, I kicked the mud walls surrounding me in anger. There was no getting out of this one.

"HELP!" I screamed, my voice already hoarse from earlier on. I hoped that one of the crewmembers had heard me.

When several minutes passed with no sign of rescue, I plopped onto the ground once more and burst into tears. Why wasn't anybody coming to help me?

"Jane?" I heard a deep voice whisper.

Gasping, I stood up and looked to the top of the pit. Alby and Minho were there, staring down at me.

"D-don't hurt me," I requested, wiping my tears away. They lowered a rope down into the pit. I stared at it.

"Trust me, we don't want to hurt you," Alby assured, his voice soothing.

Closing my eyes, I clutched the rope tightly as the two of them pulled me up.

As soon as I was on the ground, I reached up and threw my arms around Alby. Even though I hardly knew him, he seemed to some how comfort me. And I was in desperate need of a hug right then. He patted my back in response.

"Alby, I didn't know that a tough shank like you could hug!" Minho exclaimed.

"Do I look like I'm an expert at it?" Alby sarcastically rasped. I pulled away from him. "Newt is the compassionate one. Which is why we really need him back."

I furrowed my brows and looked back and forth between the two boys. "Get him back?" I asked. "Where is he, exactly?"

Minho and Alby exchanged a glance. "Pan locked him up in the cage," Minho answered. "Chuck, too."

I lifted a brow. "Cage? But, why?"

"After Chuck shot at you, he refused to do it again," Alby began. "Pan was about to slap him, but Newt shoved him before he could do so. Pan locked both of them up."

My eyes widened. "That's awful!"

"We know that you're wiling to defy Pan," Minho pointed out. "So that's why the three of us came looking for you. For your help to break him out."

"Wait. The three of you?"

Alby and Minho started frantically looking around them. Minho let out a very long groan.

"That shuck-faced, slint-headed SHANK!" Minho exclaimed.

"Watch your language," Alby muttered.

"Who?" I asked.

"Thomas," Alby replied.

"Why can't he do anything that we tell him?" Minho groaned.

"What do you mean? Where is he?" I asked worriedly. Alby and Minho stood up, so I followed suit. We began running back towards the camp.

"He's going on with the plan without us," Minho answers. "And he's going to get us all into some serious klunk."