Young & Beautiful

1. Fifteen

A girl.

The Shadow brought a girl.
It hadn't brought a girl for almost a hundred years.

Why? Because Pan told it to, of course.

And still today girls weren't permitted on Neverland without specific permission from its king, Peter Pan.
Only a few of the Lost Boys knew the reasoning behind this rule, but they were sworn to secrecy.

Pan was absolutely livid. Not only had the Shadow blatantly disobeyed him, but there wasn't enough magic left on the island to send her home. It was his worst nightmare come true.

"One last time," he said with barely controlled impatience and a thick English accent. The girl, whoever she was, seemed to sense she did not belong here and attempted almost immediately to escape. Naturally, and none to Pan's surprise, she failed miserably. To prevent another incident he had the boys secure her with the best rope to a tree in the camp center.

"One last time," Pan repeated, towering over the girl, "Why you? Why did the Shadow bring you?" His voice rose to a near shout by the time he was finished.
Like the past several times she'd been questioned, the girl remained silent.

She stared at Pan with wide, unblinking eyes. They were brown, a color that seemed ugly but somehow she made it into the most beautiful there was.

Pan could not believe the audacity of the newcomer to Neverland. She looked positively terrified, as she should be, he thought, but no one had ever dared to ignore him before. He wasn't used to being defied like this and found that he hated it, very much so.

His hand swung back and flung across her left cheek with a crack that anyone in the clearing would have heard - which happened to be all twelve Lost Boys. The girl's head snapped to the right and she yelped.

The reaction to the pain made Pan smirk, which spread to an impish grin when he saw the bright red print begin to form on her cheek. If he'd hit her hard enough it would be a bruise by the next morning.

Pan leaned down and forward until his lips hovered next to the girl's ear.

"You'd really do better by cooperating, girl, or that pretty face won't be pretty for much longer," he hissed.

The desired effect seemed to have been accomplished, as the girl flinched from his harsh tone. The Lost Boys observing saw her face crumple in fear but she quickly recovered and remained stoic.

"Do we have an understanding?" Pan asked, still in the same position. His tone was infuriatingly patronizing but the girl didn't seem too bothered.

Instead she nodded once, slowly, as if she wasn't quite sure of what she was agreeing to but still complied to avoid conflict.

Pan stood up straight again and for the first time since the girl's arrival genuinely smiled. "Excellent. Now tell me your name and how old you are," he commanded, as if she were a pet in training.

The slightest sign of a scowl formed on the girl's face, but she paused and seemed to sense it really was easier and less messy if she simply answered the questions.

"Kalani," she replied, wetting her lips.

Pan's eyes widened in true surprise. Her voice was so different from what he'd expected - shy, shaky, nervous.

But on the contrary, Kalani sounded as confident as ever.

This did not sit too well with Pan. He chuckled and took a step towards her to appear intimidating.

Centimeters away from her, he saw how small she really in comparison, but somehow that didn't seem to make her any more vulnerable than normal, and she didn't seem to feel that way either.