Checkmate

10. Pushing everything too far

The next morning, my whole body felt like it was on fire. After assessing the bruises that Pan had missed the night before, including one on my face, I made my way down to breakfast, only to find a rather angry Felix in my way.

"Hey." His voice was low and gravelly, as if he had been screaming all night instead of sleeping.

"Hey tall one," I sassed playfully, flashing the boy a smile. "You okay?"

"Pan said you failed to catch someone before he caught you last night, so- "

"So, I'm on firewood duty, obviously." I rolled my eyes, sighing at the clever play by Pan. "I'll be back soon."

"Obviously," Felix growled, clearly angered by something. After a second of watching him, I deduced the issue.

"I have to go alone, don't I?" Silent anger was my response. "I'll be fine." I turned to walk into the woods, picking up an axe lodged in a tree stump on my way. "At least I'm not blindfolded, right?"

I rushed off before Felix could follow me and get into more trouble.

Making my way through the forest, I made sure to keep my mind open like Pan had said, not willing to be ambushed again. I easily removed a few branches from a patch of struggling trees before stripping them of any leaves and carrying them back to camp.

I unceremoniously dropped my bundle near Pan's self-proclaimed throne and turned to collect more. But not before noticing Nibs gesturing for me to follow him. I shrugged and followed the boy into the dense undergrowth to find the rest of the boys in a small clearing, neither Felix nor Pan anywhere in sight.

I gestured with a single pointed finger towards the small group. "If anyone attacks me, then I will regret trying to save your lives." I appeared to be joking on the outside, but I was preparing myself to run with my other hand tight around the handle of the borrowed axe.

"No, miss." Nibs said quietly. "We wanted to thank you."

Almost immediately and altogether, every boy in the small clearing uttered a "Thank you." I smiled warmly at the boys and dropped the axe to the floor to open my arms out, resulting in a soft group hug.

I noticed Tootle's tear filled gaze refuse to meet mine. Effortlessly, I leaned forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be sad, you have an entire island to run around with no grown-ups to tell you what to do."

"Pan tells us what to do," said Curly as his crossed arms tightened into his chest. "He says that he will kill us if we don't follow him."

I smiled warmly at each of the boys in turn. "And if you didn't follow him, what kind of danger would you be facing without him?" All the boys paused in thought. "Also, if he wasn't in charge, keeping you all together, there would be chaos."

"What's chaos?" Asked Slightly, his blond brows furrowing.

I sat cross-legged on the forest floor, careful of all my aches from the night before, my side still thankfully dry. "Sit, I'll tell you." I waited for all the boys to join me and took a deep breath, feeling two more join the clearing. I knew it to be Pan and Felix, but still I continued. "Chaos is when there is no leader. Everyone fights to be in charge. Food is scarce, meaning everyone would be hungry and so unable to properly fight. Pan's chaos is something else. Organised."

I saw some confused faces and spotted Pan peering from behind a tree. I knew he wasn't one to hide; he was just observing. "Organised means... everything is in its place. Pan is in charge because he has the magic. Felix is second in command because he is the oldest of us. Everyone takes it in turns to help with the camp and keep everything in order. There is always food, fresh water and weapons that everyone helps to make and that, ultimately, is organised chaos."