VILLAIN

Chapter 10

I awoke the next morning to a less-than-friendly kick to the side. I yelped, bolting upright. When I saw that it was only Max, I groaned, collapsing back to the ground, my body sore in a dozen different places from a night spent on the hard ground of the forest.

"Get up," Max demanded.

I rolled my eyes, but obliged. "Good morning to you too," I said sarcastically.

Max didn't seem to find my comment humorous, instead tapping his foot impatiently as I stretched. He thrust a small object that I later recognized as a pear into my hand, urging me to move faster.

"The sun rose over an hour ago," he complained as I slowly rose to my feet.

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to kick me!" I shot back.

He only shrugged, all business. "If we want to reach Tinkerbell by nightfall, we need to hurry," he said, as though that justified his rudeness.

I huffed, brushing myself off. I took one bite of the pear, stooping down once more by the stream and using my hands to scoop up a sip of water. After I'd drank my fill, I stood again, rubbing the last of the sleep crystals from my eyes. The truth was that I hadn't slept overly well last night, despite the good start. My dreams had slowly morphed from various entertaining revenge tactics on Max to nightmarish scenes of Peter back on the pirate ship. I'd tossed and turned all night, my mind conjuring all my worst fears. It felt like I'd only just drifted back off when Max's kick had startled me back to reality. And the sad thing was, reality was no better than my nightmares.

I took another bite from my pear, then turned to Max. "Alright, Captain Max," I said with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Lead the way."

Max either didn't catch my mocking tone or chose to ignore it, starting off at a brisk pace into the woods. I followed him, but it was quickly apparent that I was far outmatched. Max was both faster and stronger than I was, and I soon found myself lagging behind him. I hated to be bested by him – especially considering how giant his ego already was – but by the time the sun was right above us, I had no choice but to ask him to stop. Sweat was pouring down my back, and twigs and other flora stuck out from my hair and clothes. My breaths came in rapid bursts, and my legs ached from the effort of trying to keep up with Max.

"Max, can we...can we slow down for a second?" I called, the defeat tasting sour on my tongue.

He made sure to sigh extra-loudly, turning back around and traipsing back through the forest to me. I plopped to the ground, leaning back against a tree and wheezing.

"How much...how much farther is it?" I panted.

Max looked far too amused at my fatigue, leaning against another tree easily. I noticed with contempt that he had barely broken a sweat.

"We're nearly halfway," he said, which did not help my mood.

I groaned through my breaths. "Well, can we at least slow down from now on? Not all of us have six-foot-tall legs."

Max smirked triumphantly, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry," he replied condescendingly. "I didn't realize you weren't used to physical exertion like this. How insensitive of me."

His voice held no remorse, and his bright blue eyes mocked me. Still, one of us had to be mature, so I forced myself to say, "Thank you."

Max raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting some sort of snappy retort. He didn't comment on it though, and I noticed that he refrained from saying anything else about my weakness for the rest of the walk. We hiked until well into the evening, and by the time Max finally announced our arrival outside Bitsy, it was past dark, and my body felt like a used dishrag. I collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to worry about my pride. My stomach growled loudly, and I clamped my hand down over it.