The Princess and The Piper

Chapter Twenty

The night air was ashy and smelled of a burning carbon as the smog from the fire filled the atmosphere. The blazing flames danced, orange and yellow between the logs in the stone pit. Crickets chirped, easily filling the silence around us as the lost boys unintentionally dozed off. Pan's persistent stare didn't cease to startle me as he sat across the way, hands crossed over his lap and shoulders hunched. I leaned on Baelfire, laying my head on his chest as my eyes began to close. I was seconds away when...

"Pan! Pan!" a lost boy called as he raced through the bushes and into the camp, another on his trail. "Pan! We...the...they...arrow...note..." The poor kids were out of breath, relying on their knees for support as they bent over to calm their erratic heart beats.

Pan got up from his log and approached them suspiciously. "Boys," he warned, his accent barely noticeable. "What did you find?"

"There was a...Well, we were out...hunting for tomorrow's...breakfast and..." The younger boy was struggling to breath as he gulped between words. His dark brown hair hung past his eyebrows and into his bright blue eyes which held tremendous fear.

"Someone must speak!" Pan commanded, throwing his hands into the air and rolling his eyes.

The older boy stepped forward, guarding the younger one from Pan's ill temper. His dirty blond hair was cut short and shaved on one side so that it swept over. "We were in the forest, chasing a large boar when an arrow zoomed past his head and lodged itself in a nearby tree." The blond paused and began digging through his pockets. He pulled out a crumpled slip of paper and handed it to his leader. "This was tied around it."

Pan smoothed the edges and held the piece of parchment in front of him, reading over it with difficulty. He growled in irritation and stomped over to me, completely catching my full and undivided attention. "What is this?" he grumbled, reshaping it into a ball again and throwing it at my chest.

I groaned and got up, unraveling it and letting my eyes graze over the words. Except there were no words-- there were hieroglyphs instead. Various symbols were carefully drawn onto the sheet it squid ink. It wasn't Danish or even English. It was Atlantican.

I glanced up at him curiously. "What do you want me to-"

"Read it," Pan deadpanned. "Obviously I can't."

I crinkled my nose and looked down at the ripped parchment again, stuttering as I tried to comprehend the ancient language. "Um...It says something about a trade, I think."

"Keep reading," he ordered sternly, his gaze never faltering from me. "What trade?"

"They're at skull rock?" I'd never heard of such a place before. "What's skull rock?"

"No," he ran his fingers through the golden locks in his hair-- something he does quite often when stressed or worried. "What are they doing there?" He grew antsy and anxious, beginning to pace around the dying fire.

I continued to read aloud, letting my brain do the translating. "They're going to break an...Does that say hourglass?" I squinted my eyes, making sure that I was reading the symbols correctly.

Pan moaned and made a grab for the sheet of paper. "Let me see that." His eyes ran over the parchment again and he groaned once more before throwing it back at me. His body slumped by my side on the log and his voice grew calm again. "Keep reading. What else does it say?" He closed his eyes and listened.

"Uh...If I am not returned to them within the next hour, they are going to take something from you that is just as important as what you stole from them." I peered up at him. "What does that even mean?"

"Stop stopping, _____. Keep. Reading." Pan placed his fingers around his chin and began stroking it in thought.

I rolled my eyes at him and scoffed. "If you agree to the exchange, the curse grandfather placed will be undone, but if not, the demon will get what he deserves." My eyes softened as I stared at the sheet. The letter left me absolutely bewildered. I had so many questions for him.