The Land Never Lost

Chapter 26

As Reinhold told his tale, his eyes never left the flowers dancing across the ceiling of the throne room. When he finished, tears fell down the old fairy's face, but his cries were silent. Silent, like everyone else in the room, weighed down by the revelations. There were implications in Reinhold's story, and the truths would change the future of Pan as lies had manipulated its past.

"So that's what I saw in the first vision I ever had." Fittingly, Peter was the first to speak. "Wendy...my mom, was running with me. She was being chased by glooms, and she took me to the orphanage. She put me down on the front steps and disappeared into the darkness." The boys voice grew increasingly shaky. Trinkett walked to her friend's side and consoled him. "Perhaps we should all take time to digest this information." Trinkett said, but was cut off be Peter.

"The shadow man, who is he?" Peter asked through a fierce look.

Reinhold reluctantly replied, "It is hard to bring myself to speak of that evil man."

"Please grandfather, if anyone deserves to know, it's Peter." Trinkett implored him to try and divulge anything about the man.

"She only ever called him by name once. Duncan." Reinhold's voice tightened as he spoke it. "And although she never explicitly stated, Duncan is...".

"My father." Peter said softly. The obviousness of his words did not make them any less shocking to everyone in the room. "So that explains why he seems to be focused on me." He added.

"But how did he get to the point he is at now? Because he clearly is no longer just a human." Fox said. "And he has control over the glooms, or at the very least some authority. That would explain the coordination between glooms." Belias said.

"I have a theory about that. When King Reinhold fell into the human world it was the first time that 'door' had been opened. We know our world holds a supernatural essence known as nemerald that flows through Pan and into its people. The king unknowingly created an opening between worlds, but that wasn't all he did. I believe the nemerald from our world has been slowly pouring into the human realm." Ramona declared. Leif nodded his head in agreement, "That would make sense considering our understanding of it".

Riordan sat on the throne and said, "So that would explain how he got his powers. He corrupted the nemerald that escaped into his world. Fairy's however know of nemerald, humans do not, so it's possibly why glooms go unnoticed in the human world. I'm deeply angered by the fact that you hid this from me father."

Trinkett interjected, "He did what we thought was honorable." Riordan shot her a stern look, and Trinkett had not seen that look on her father's face before. "I have been ruling my people under false pretenses since I was made king of Pan. What we have heard here stays with us until we can properly decide the best course of action for both worlds." The king said.

Cadman chuckled, "Seriously? For both worlds? When are we going to have a King whose rule covers his own kingdom?" The words pierced the king like a knife to the back. Cadman looked at all the faces staring back at him, some angry and others confused. "This Duncan, is in pursuit of one thing and we know he can control the actions of glooms somehow. So if he gets it, the glooms can be called to halt."

Leif shook his head furiously and his deep voice echoed through the room, "Not an option!" The normally composed fairy was visibly angry. Fin, in his youthful ignorance, asked, "What does he mean?".

"Peter." Belias said. "He is suggesting that we hand Peter over to Duncan in the hopes he calls off the glooms. That's dark, even for me." Cadman stood singularly focused on the boy and, when his hand moved towards the iron pendant hanging from his neck, Brutus and Blink jumped in front of Peter. Fin and Scale followed suit, as did every one of the lost boys and fallen fairies. Cadman was outnumbered, but that did not mean he was outmatched.