All eyes in the room were now focused on you and you could feel the weight of all the hope behind them. You swallowed hard; your throat feeling like sandpaper all of a sudden. You did have a plan, but you weren't sure it was even possible. Still you had to try. Taking a deep inhale you pushed your doubts aside and became serious. "It is my understanding that The Piccaninny Tribe have lots of canoes for fishing expeditions right?" you asked the circle of boys. They all nodded in confused unison. "Right, well then it stands to reason that since the tribe cannot fly then they should know how to navigate stealthily through these waters. If Hook's ship has been sailing these waters for years then The Picaninny have had to of found a way to sneak past it to be able to go into water deep enough to catch the big fish. If The Piccaninny Tribe does have a way to sneak past their ship then doesn't it stand to reason that they could somehow sneak you guys on to Skull Rock somehow? If they can find a way to get you to Skull Rock unseen as well you could quietly take out the lookouts. If Hook's plan is to box you all in the caverns from the back then that means he has to have reserves of men waiting in groups for you to go into the cave. If you can disable the lookouts without raising any alarms then you all could disguise yourself in their clothes. Since some of The Piccaninny Tribe will already be there with you to take you to Skull Rock you could hide them somewhere in the vegetation around the island. You did say they were some of the finest trackers right? Well then once you boys are changed you all could split up one Lost Boy along with a few Picaninny members and together you all track down and infiltrate each of the reserve groups individually. When they least expect it then you attack them and take them out as quickly and quietly as you can. If Hook is in the caverns in the heart of the cave then it is going to be hard for those inside of it to hear what is going on on the outside so you guys should have a little bit of leeway whereas noise is concerned."
You were starting to get really excited as you continued explaining your plan, "With the reserve groups all taken out then the only enemy you guys will have to face is Hook and whatever crew members he has left inside the cave. If Hook is unaware that you have taken out his reserves then he will more than likely not kill Tiger Lily immediately. He will probably stall you guys thinking that would give his reserves who were waiting for you to enter the cave time to sneak up behind you. Since he is prepared to stall, you guys can attack him with everything you've got since you all know there won't be any reserves. Caught off guard at having his plan ruined he will be more concerned with keeping his eyes on you guys than on Lily. Then it will only take one of you or one of the tribe members to free Tiger Lily while Hook is distracted. Once she is freed then you all can get out of there and get back here as fast as you can. With everyone back here hopefully safe and sound Hook would have to give up or chase you back here. If he does follow he will have to take the battle to the shore and we can implement Slightly's earlier plan to set up a line of the rest of The Picaninny Tribe's warriors on the beach. With half of his crew already taken out he wouldn't stand a chance against a full frontal assault. He would have to retreat back to his ship or die right?" As you finished you looked around the small circle of men looking back at you like you had grown another head. You had thought your plan was pretty good, but as the silence stretched those few painful seconds you felt yourself wither like a shrinking violet. Maybe it was actually really really stupid. You weren't a strategist after all. Perhaps you shouldn't have said anything...
"That could work, but it would take a lot of good timing and some luck to pull off." Nibs's thoughtful voice broke the silence. His sapphire eyes were looking at the floor as he seemed to be processing your plan inside his head. "We would have to go the The Piccaninny Tribe and see how exactly it is that they are able to get their canoes past The Jolly Roger. We would have to be sure that their method is something that we could all be able to do and replicate. Then there is the matter of hoping like hell that once we disguise ourselves none of the pirates recognizes any of us and sounds the alarm before we can attack them. We'd be riding off the seat of our pants the whole time." It was risky, you knew that when you came up with the plan. There were so many places for things to go wrong. Suddenly it didn't seem like such a good plan after all. "Sounds perfect for us. I'm in!" Nibs suddenly exclaimed as he clapped one of his strong hands on your shoulder and gave it a brotherly squeeze. "Most impressive for a plan formed on the spot," Slightly's cool elegant voice sounded across from you in the circle of Lost Boys. You looked up at his face and saw that he was looking down at you like a person who looks at a pet who has learned a new trick. It should have pissed you off, but you were just happy that the lost frantic look on his handsome angled face was completely wiped away and replaced with its usual composure. You guessed Slightly functioned better when he had a clear purpose of what he should be doing. You could already see the gears in his head turning as he no doubt was fine tuning your rough draft of a rescue plan. "Looks like we've got a plan boys. Start preparing for war men," Peter ordered and the circle of Lost Boys disbanded in a flurry of animal skins. Peter wrapped his broad arms around you and pulled you into a tight embrace. You allowed yourself to melt into him. Despite the chaos of everything that was going on around you both you still felt perfectly at peace just holding each other. All around you, you could hear the ruckus of The Lost Boys gathering things that they might need for the battle ahead. You were scared; scared for Tiger Lily, scared for Peter and The Lost Boys, but despite that you also felt a low thrum of excitement coursing through your veins. You couldn't explain it exactly, but it was like you had finally shed that part of yourself that shrunk back from confrontation. That same part of you that always played it safe, that bit your tongue and hid pieces of yourself from the world because you were constantly afraid of what people would say or think about you. Your old life along with your old self felt so far away from you now. You were in a different world and you were different now too. You weren't afraid so much of the battle to come just as you were no longer afraid to die. You realized in that moment that your entire life you had held yourself back because you were too afraid to really live.But you weren't that girl anymore. You were now the girl who had made an impossible wish and had taken the chance on a strange mysterious boy, you had followed him into a world so unlike your own and you had flown into the stars and over the clouds, you had been shot out of the sky with an arrow and survived, you had become family with a group of wild men in animal skins, you had witnessed a sacred Indian funeral ceremony, you had even been drowned by vicious but beautiful mermaids and healed by tiny faeries and now you were the girl who was staging a rescue mission for an Indian Princess turned Chieftain. You were the girl who was going to go to war against an entire crew of bloodthirsty pirates to save your friend. Yes, you most certainly weren't that girl you used to be anymore.
