A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)

Chapter 7.4 - Jake

Irritated, he turned his head, and slowly but surely, a strange restlessness grew in his chest, not as quickly calmed as Jake would have liked.

The island is big. Maybe you just don't see it. He was told the voice inside him, which was even imaginary, had already taken on a rushed sound. At first, he pushed a little through the returned lost, whose stream from the edge had now died away, and those near the island's heart had gathered to celebrate their success. But he could not spot them. So he climbed into the treetops, over ladders, and across the bridges that connected the trees, and finally pushed open the creaky door to the small hut that had 'belonged' to Luke since their arrival.

As long as they were just Pips, they were entitled to one of the small sporadic huts outside the main tree, far on the edge of the camp- but that was all right. Many of the lost were content not to live in the Hangman's Tree or the caves among the roots, which were reserved for exceptional favorites of Pips anyway. They could design, modify or even improve the hut as they saw fit. In the short time they were here, Jake had proudly hung an antler of a self-hunted deer on the wall of his little hut, and two smaller antlers lay next to the blank of a blade that he still wanted to combine into a first homemade dagger. On the other hand, his sister had assembled some shells and wood into small mobiles that displaced the silence from their hut with a sound all their own. 

Although they each had their retreat, they had asked fervently that their shelters be closed. Otherwise, they would have shared a cabin as well. The siblings were thrown into a foreign world, and they had learned in London not to trust anyone too quickly. Luke and he had been content with the small hut where they had made their sleeping places on the floor. After all, they were no smaller than the tiny room in the run-down house in the East End where they had had to live until now. 

Sometimes Luke had withdrawn from the hustle and bustle outside to devote a little time to their thoughts in their hut. Whatever those thoughts might be, he allowed her the space. Now, however, there was no light burning in the little house, which lay only dark and deserted before him, the only glimmer of light coming through the open door. Luke's blanket was folded in a heap as they had left it.

No sign of his sister, which now slowly made him feel a little more rushed as he let himself down on a rope to a wooden plateau and then slid down a narrow tree trunk that had been carefully sanded and treated with oil so that one could slide down it painlessly and quickly to be caught in a net afterward.

'Nonono! When did you last see her? She ran into the woods, didn't she?'The gears of his thoughts jerked and snagged on each other.

Hastily, he climbed out of the safety net. His boots crunched on the ground as he searched back to the skin fire, where everyone else had gathered, celebrating the raid and the adventure stories. Inside, however, a cauldron flickered on a wildfire. Bubbles bubbled because the pot would not cool with alcohol or a cup of water. Jake pushed his way between the others, a little more tensely shoved aside a more petite lost man who stood in his way and continued to the giant campfire.

You should have kept a better eye on her!

His fingers were already tightening as they rested on the shoulder of another lost whose aura was different from that of others. An atmosphere that did not reach Peter for a long time surrounded some of them invisibly, like a cloak that still had a special glow even on a light night.