The Greatest Adventures

Chapter 2 Familiar Strangers

Inside of the Banning's mansion, there was a glittering party filled with chandeliers and dancing. The clinking of champagne glasses mingled with the melody of soft music. All of the porcelain-doll guests were drowning in a sea of how-are-yous and other petty grown-up talks, completely content in their meaningless banter.

Outside of the Banning's mansion, there was a sinister figure hidden within the shadows of the night. He stood inside the Rose Garden, his icy gaze glaring into the golden room and transfixed on one man. The man was none other than the one who had planned the ball himself, and who was apparently a highly respected and educated banker.

His name was Banning. Peter Banning. Or if he hadn't changed his name many years ago, he would've been called Mr. Pan.

He was no longer the boy with the wild blond hair and cocky grin. His once smooth, glowing countenance had grown gaunt, sharp, and wrinkled. Far more wrinkled than Hook's, in fact. The sparkle that had once possessed his forest eyes was gone and replaced with a dead one from the all the years of sleepless nights.

The pirate captain mustered up every ounce of self-control he had left to not barge in and gut the man right then and there. After all, Mr. Banning was surrounded by a protective barrier of swishing skirts and sleek tuxedos. Like any other Englishman, he was dressed in a classic tailcoat. He blended in so perfectly with the boring adults around him since he was one himself.

It was too risky trying to sneak in from one of the windows because climbing trees were not ideal and he might lose his way inside the excessively large residence. The next best way to enter was simply walking in as if he was a guest of the party as well. Now if Hook wasn't dressed in clothes that hadn't been outdated centuries ago, and if he did not have a metal weapon for a hand, he could've gone in without a problem. But his current appearance would grab the attention of everyone and immediately raise suspicion and hostility, and so going in was not an option.

Before he could think of fetching some of his men to resort to a more violent method, a door flung open.

Hook jumped a bit before ducking behind the tree. Every part of him grew tenser than it already was, and he instinctively reached for the pistol on his belt when he heard the door shut once more. Then he heard loud rustles of a silk coming his way. They stopped when reaching the exact tree he was hiding behind, and when pirate glanced down, he found the ends of a blue gown peeking out from behind the trunk.

'A woman.' James relaxed, his fingers sliding away from his firearm. He could never shoot or harm a woman, it'd be bad form.

His ears picked up a strange, stifled sob that came from the other side of the tree, where the lady was at. Deciding to investigate, he leaned over to get a better look.

The lady had placed both hands on the trunk and had buried her head into the back of them. Loose, fiery hair fell to her elbows veiled her face from his view. As she continued to try and mute her wails, her torso ended up heaving up and down with even more violence. She almost sounded like a whimpering kitten, or like someone who had learned her love had been killed at the battle. Or someone who had just learned their mother had died.

He knew that he should take her distraction as an opportunity to slip away unnoticed, but his curiosity got the better of him. So he ended up venturing further out from his hiding place until half of him was illuminated by the pale moonlight.

"Girl, why are you crying?" The young lady lifted her head upon hearing the baritone voice and let out a soft gasp.

Both of them froze, and for a moment all they could do was stare.

A jolt of recognition traveled through his memories when his eyes locked onto her familiar pair of green ones. Her pronounced features with freckles sprinkled across them stirred up ghostly images of the boy who still haunted his nightmares. Her pink lips with a hidden kiss lingering at the bottom corner conjured up memories of another girl. She was the perfect, mirror image of the two people Hook had hated the most, yet he found himself staring at her and unable to look away.