Brown Eyes

Chapter 21

(Peter's P.O.V.)

I laughed as I watched the Lost Boys play target practice. I felt something tug at my pant leg. I looked down and saw Cole. I don't know why he was talking to me. I usually tried to avoid him because he reminded me of Her. And I try my best not to remember her.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The shadow's here," he said.

"And why are you the one to tell me this?" I asked.

"Because everyone else is too afraid to tell you he wants to talk to you about Beth," he said.

Every Lost Boy with a ten foot radius turned and stared at Cole. I think they were expecting me to hit him or something. Nobody ever said Her name around here anymore. If someone really really needs to talk about her, that's all we refer to her as. "Her." But I couldn't hit Cole. He was like Her baby. If She ever knew I had hurt him, She'd be beyond pissed. Plus, he was the youngest one here. I'm not completely heartless.

"Okay," I said, and he smiled and ran off to play with some of the other boys.

I looked around and saw the shadow floating a short ways into the jungle. I walked up to him and said, "What about Her?"

"She summoned me," it said. I felt my stomach drop.

"That's impossible," I said. "You can only be summoned by children. She's been gone thirty years, she should be forty-something years old."

"Apparently you don't know the whole story," it said. "Are you familiar with Regina the Evil Queen?"

"Who isn't?" I asked.

"Well, she cast a curse twenty eight years ago, that sent most of the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest to a land without magic, where the truest believer lives,"

"I know this, get to the point," I snapped.

"In the town they live in now, time stands still," it told me. "She's almost your age now. She's still just a girl."

"But we made it clear that you could never be summoned by Her," I said.

"By a girl named Beth Valgus," it said. I almost flinched at that name. "That isn't her name anymore. The curse took away their memories of the Enchanted Forest and replaced them with new fake ones of miserable lives. They are all new people. He name isn't Beth anymore, it's Eliza. She's a troubled girl who's never had parents. She was raised by Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, but there they are called Ruby and Granny. She has lots of friends that constantly get her and themselves into trouble."

"She's still a pirate princess," I said to myself with a little smile.

"That isn't all," the shadow said. "Her best friend is a young boy named Henry."

My blood ran cold, and I stared down at my feet. Henry was the name of the truest believer. He was the owner of the heart I had to rip out. I had to kill her best friend?

"She told me to deliver a message to you," it said. My head snapped up.

"You talked to her?" I asked.

"She said, 'Peter, I don't remember you, and I'm not sure if I still love you, but there's one thing I do know--I'm still the same stubborn girl who used to know you, and no matter what you say or do, I'm going to find a way to break this stupid curse and get back to Neverland, and there's nothing you can do that's gonna stop me. And tell Felix the same thing, I know he and Beth were friends.'"

"That definitely sounds like her," I said with a little smile.

Then the shadow left.

I walked out and saw Felix walking towards me. I debated with myself whether or not I should tell him.

"What did the shadow want?" he asked.

"She summoned him," I said.

His eyes widened.

"She's almost our age still, cause she's stuck in a land without magic where time doesn't move," I told him. "She isn't the same person now because her memories of her past have been taken away and replaced."

"So, she doesn't remember us?" he asked, sadly. I nodded.

"But somehow she found out who she used to be and she summoned the shadow to deliver a message. She said even though she doesn't remember us she's still going to find a way to get back to Neverland, and nothing I say or do is gonna stop her."

I could tell Felix was happy about that.

"So she's coming back?" he asked.

"No," I said. "She can't come back."

Then I turned and left.