Free(PanxOC)

Chapter 9 Dont Trust Me

I stared after the boys as they all ran full speed, weapons raised, into the forest shouting and cheering all the while. "They- they're going to kill him? For telling a lie?"

Pan actually had the audacity to smirk at my words, meeting my eye as he circled me once before placing his hands behind his back innocently. "Of course not. The lost boys are not allowed to kill each other. They can, however, potentially harm." He shrugged. "All he has to do is hide until I call off the game."

I blinked at him, only dropping my gaze to his hand when he reached out to grasp mine, pulling me behind him. "Until then we can do whatever we want." I allowed him to pull me over to a nearby log, sitting down quietly. "I figured you may have a few questions, yes?"

"How'd you get here?" I blurted out, the curiosity getting the better of me.

His eyebrows quirked up, obviously amused by my question. "Well, in order to tell you that I have a few things to show you." He offered me his outstretched hand, smirking at my inner debate.

After a few seconds of contemplation I accepted his hand and squeezed my eyes shut only to open them seconds later and find myself in front of a particular tree in the forest. I gazed up at it, noticing a few of the branches were bent a bit as if they had been worn down from constant climbing.

"This is my thinking tree." The question I'd been thinking of dying on my lips as he spoke. "I abandoned my boy here."

I spun around with my mouth agape. "You- you have a son?"

"I'm older than I look." He shrugged, gently touching my back as he walked past me and placed his palm against the tree trunk. "We ended up here through a portal using a magic bean. The shadow wouldn't let me stay because this is a place for children, so I made a deal- I stay and have eternal youth and my boy leaves."

"So just like that you traded away your child?" I took a step back, feeling odd emotions swirling around in my stomach. On one hand I wanted run and never look back at this selfish monster, but on the other I wanted to wrap my arms around him and trust that he had a good reason.

"I wasn't made to be a father. He was better off with the two spinners I often left him with when I was out on... Business." He tore his gaze from the trunk of the ordinary looking tree to me.

"But- but Amereta told me you-"

"Offered the shadow a gift? The power to rip another shadow from a persons body, right? Tell me, princess, how exactly do you expect that I could give the shadow magic when I was yet to have any myself?"

I mentally faced palmed myself for being so daft. "Why would she lie to me?"

"It was a test." He replied, walking closer to me. "These marks," He lifted my wrist up. "Prevent us from deceiving each other. She wanted to see if I would try anyway. Much like me, she has eyes everywhere."

"Why didn't you?" I asked quietly, gazing up slowly to met is pools of green.

"I knew that nothing is stronger than a star crossed love connection, and deception is my go to for most things, so I thought 'why not get use to telling the truth'."

Neither of us said anything for a few moments, just looked at each other. The longer I stared the greener his eyes got, so much so I was sure that every tree on the island paled in comparison.

He cleared his throat, stepping away from me quickly all of a sudden. "Um- there's something else I should show you." Once again he offered his hand, and once again I accepted it, being transported into a large cave.

Two large, almost circular holes were carved into the wall near the top of the cave, and the ground formed a ramp to the left of me which I assumed was the way out. I glanced over at Pan, noticing that he was facing away from me.

I quickly turned around, gasping at the massive hourglass that sat against the right wall with sparkling gold sand dripping down into the bottom half which was nearly filled.

"When I chose to stay here I broke the rules of Neverland. The hourglass was created so it could keep track of the time that I have left to live."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Once the sand runs out I will die, as will a great deal of the magic on the island. That's why I've been searching for something far more elusive than the greatest of all mysteries- the heart of the truest believer."

"What will that do?"

"I have to take it from whoever has it and use it myself. It's the only way I can live."

I'm not sure what came over me, but in that moment I was filled with so much grief that I could do nothing other than the thing that startled us both. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head against his chest, seeing as he was a few inches taller than me.

I felt his entire frame stiffen at the contact I'm sure he hasn't felt in ages before slowly relaxing and squeezing me tightly.

I felt his breath against my neck as he whispered softly. "Your not appalled that I'm planning on ripping someone's heart out and using it as my own?"

My mouth felt dry and my tongue grew heavy as I attempted to respond. "I trust that you're doing what you have to do."

"Trusting me is the worst decision you'll ever make in your entire life." He responded.

I nodded lightly, pulling him closer. "I know."