Magic ➙ Ethan Dolan

chapter twenty eight

     Annie caught up with her friends, just as Henry and Hunter were approaching them.

     "Run! Run, Pan's behind us!" Hunter yelled as he grabbed at his brother, and ran past. The trio tore off after the younger kids just as Peter came into view.

     Henry had a hard time keeping up, and fell behind. His scarf got snagged on a tree branch, and fell onto the ground. Annie noticed the incident, and ran back to help him. There was a large tear in his scarf as she unhooked it from the branch, and helped Henry to his feet. There was dirt stains on his knees, and one of his hands was scratched up.

     "Come on, can you run?" Annie asked. Peter was getting closer, a smug grin on his pale pink lips. Tanner looked behind him to see Annie and Henry being closed in on, and he ran over to help.

     "Jump!" Tanner demanded as he turned his back to Henry, and crouched over. Henry glanced over at Annie before jumping onto Tanner's back, and the older boy took off running. Annie ran behind, constantly looking over her shoulder at Peter.

     Just as Annie looked back again, Peter was gone. She stopped running, and looked around. "Guys!" She yelled, catching the Lost boys' attention. They all stared at her as she walked off the path, into the trees.

     "What the..." Grayson mumbled, but willingly followed. "Annie!"

     "We're playing hide and seek, right? So let's hide." Annie replied.

     "Man she's smart." Tanner mumbled to Grayson.

     The group came across a small dark cave they could hide in. It was deep in the forest, so it wasn't that easy to spot from the path. The boys and Annie all squished in, and Tanner put Henry down.

     Henry sat down on the dirt floor of the cave and stretched his legs out. He tried to brush the dirt out of the scratches on his hand, only making them sting more.

     "Now what?" Hunter asked. He was standing behind Tanner, his pressed against the stone wall of the cave.

     "We wait, I think. We have to know that Peter found someone else, then we'll head back to camp." Tanner replied.

     "How will we know when he finds someone?"

     "He sends green sparks into the air." Grayson replied. "He's been doing it since I first got here."

     "Wait, how do you play hide and seek with only two people?" Henry asked, looking up at the older boy.

     "We'd uh..." Grayson chuckled. "We just took turns finding each other. It wasn't just us two for very long though. Luke came about a week after me." He said.

     "Then I came." Tanner mumbled.

     "When'd you get here, Annie?" Henry asked.

     "After all of them." Annie replied. Henry simply nodded in response.

     The cave was silent for a while. Henry was still on the ground, Annie picked at her nails, Grayson was also sitting down, with his head against the wall of the cave, and the two brothers were drawing pictures in the dirt. Every now and then, one of them would let out a faint giggle.

     Annie sighed, and looked up at the sky. "Wait, guys. Look!" She said, pointing up at the green sparks that were up in the air.

     "He found Jakob." Tanner stated. Grayson and Henry both got to their feet, and the group left the cave. They found their way back to a path, and started heading back to camp.

     On their way there, Peter managed to catch up with them. "You've all been seeked!" He exclaimed before running over to the group.

     "Huh? I thought you found Jakob." Grayson replied. He then noticed that Peter was alone.

     "Not at all, why?" Peter asked.

     "We saw the green sparks."

     "What green sparks?"

     "The ones you shoot up when you find someone." Grayson looked at peter with a puzzled expression as he tilted his head to one side.

     "I've never done that Grayson." Peter replied, before his eyes went wide. "But I know who is. Follow me!" He said, before running off. Grayson sighed before running after his brother, followed by the rest of his friends.