A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)

Chapter 2.10 - Filou

His mind swung back and forth. A restless flicker of will-o'-the-wisps in the dark forests watched them lurking from the eyes of a green beast to their right. The mists were gathering, growing thicker, and the shadows in the rows of trees darker. The woods were already dangerous by the day, but by night, probably only someone insane would venture deeper into the jungle-or here in Cannibal Grove, the Bay of the Dead. Filou quickened his pace, listening to the sounds of the surf and the forest. Was something creeping around there?

His eyes pierced the darkness. He felt the damp, cool mist that carried the voices with it. Ghostly shadows drove the warning sensation of cold ice into his limbs. Had he heard something? 

"Shh..." He murmured to her and stopped jerkily. His eyes peered across the sea, into the waves that shimmered only here and there as the moonlight filtered through the fog.... and there was something in the water.
"Go, to the ship now!" He commanded the others and walked briskly on. He wasn't sure - but he thought he saw blond hair in the shallow water of the waves and the light breaking in the shimmering scales of a fin. Eyes that glowed like rubies in the darkness- the abyss of hell incarnate with the voice of an angel! A deadly angel, if they were first forced to listen to the chants and were still in this proximity to the water- unprotected by the lights of the Jolly Roger.

He felt the trembling of the woman in his arms. How had she gotten here? Peter Pan had certainly not brought her here. Ever since that girl... Wendy... Peter had not made that mistake again. He brought boys here. Boys who admired him and died for him. Girls... they were too clever. Too smart for Pan, too smart for the pirates - and even too smart to believe the sweet words of fairies.

They didn't forget as easily as all the others, and their heart always hung with an unbreakable thread in the other world. It never let go of them completely, and so they were always one soul, torn and never WHOLE.

But how else had she come to this place? Sometimes ships came here. Beached on Neverland's reef and ran ashore there, only to be trapped in Neverland forever. Or Blackbeard would bring boys from the other world and make them slaves in the mines until they became a nuisance or a slave to him. As far as he knew, however, Blackbeard's ships were also no longer capable of crossing the border. Not only because there was no star to guide them back, but also because he long ago lacked the mass of fairy dust to power his ships and the 'jump'. Blackbeard himself, moreover, had already lost his sweetheart once to the fairies... nay, his heart, too, was now too withered to turn to a new flower.

Neverland itself was extremely fastidious in its choice, once it dragged someone through the mists. But a woman? Why would Neverland bring in a woman now, of all times, when it was in danger of falling apart? It needed strength... and women were fragile, fragile, dying too quickly. His brow furrowed as his heart beat painfully in his chest. A strange feeling seeped into his limbs and lingered there as he studied the soft features- as if he could find the answer in them. Probably only she could answer the questions.... those that would be of burning interest not only to him but no doubt to the pirate captain as well: was there another way through the mists, out into the other world?

His gaze slid over the delicate curve of that nose, the wet waves of brown hair that stuck in her forehead like cascades of liquid wood. The flushed cheeks, the full lips.... and for a second he paused there, before tearing his gaze away again. Damn, what was wrong with him? He was acting like one of those fools! A little harder the tug around his lips became. This woman looked so helpless, in need of protection, that it awakened inside him the protective instinct he thought he had already slowly lost. He had to stop it, slam the door and nail it shut a hundred times. There was no place for it in this world!