Second Star to the Right

Chapter Fourteen: The Thimble

"'Surely you know what a kiss is?' she asked, aghast. 

'I shall know when you give it to me,' he replied stiffly, and not to hurt his feelings she gave him a thimble."

~Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie

Chapter Fourteen: The Thimble

"I never really liked you, Wendy Darling." Felix said and sauntered towards her. His cloak covered his head, but his glowing eyes and scar still were visible. "So I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'm going to help you." Felix said, then grabbed Wendy's arms before she could reply. 

Just as the Lost Boys exited the cave, Wendy and Felix disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Wendy and Felix arrived in a small tree house with nothing but a bed and some curtains. Wendy could hear the Lost Boys cheering and yelling a mile or so away. 

"Why did you save me?" Wendy asked Felix. Felix removed his hood and smirked. 

"I'm afraid I didn't." Felix said. Wendy held her breath as the curtain behind Felix moved. Pan came out from behind them. 

"You tricked me!" Wendy yelled and held her sword up. 

"This suprises you because...?" Felix asked. 

"Leave us, Felix." Pan said, and Felix exited down a ladder in the floor. Wendy backed away from Pan and pointed her sword at him. Pan laughed and walked closer to her. 

"Stop playing, Wendy." He said, then waved his hand. Wendy's sword was thrown to the ground. Wendy backed up into a wall. She was trapped. 

"You've been lying to me this whole time!" Wendy yelled. Pan stepped closer to Wendy.  

"It's the game, Wendy." Pan was getting closer and closer to Wendy. "I need your heart to live, and now, I'm going to take it from you." Pan was within an arm's length of Wendy. He reached out to her. She had one last thing to ask before she died. 

"You never cared about me did you?" Wendy asked. Pan dropped his hand. His face was inches from Wendy's. She could feel his breath on her lips. Something snapped inside of Pan. He felt sick to his stomach. He finally realized why he hated lying to Wendy. Words that tasted like poison spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them. 

"No, Wendy Darling. I loved you." He whispered so quietly that Wendy could barely make out what he had just said. Wendy's head swirled.

Suddenly, everything made sense. Pan said her name all the time because he liked it. He had sent Felix to save her from the man because he didn't want her to die. He showed her mermaid lagoon and the fairies to show off. 

She remembered the little things Pan had done when he thought she wasn't paying attention. Pan had tucked Wendy in, and waited for her to fall asleep. That night, when they watched the fairies dance in the night sky, he had whispered, "I'm sorry." He was sorry because he knew that it could never work; he knew what was going to happen to Wendy. 

Wendy slowly reached into the pocket of her dress and felt a small metal object that felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in her pocket; Pan's thimble. Wait, Pan had deceived Wendy once. She didn't believe that he loved her. He was just playing with her emotions so that she would give her heart to him. 

Wendy slapped Pan across the face. 

"LIAR!" She screamed so loudly that Pan was startled and took a few steps back. She pulled the thimble out of her pocket and threw it across the room. While Pan stared stunned at the thimble, Wendy grabbed her sword and fled the tree house.

She didn't know where she was going, but her feet carried her along anyway. The trees were a blur passing her, as were the last few weeks. She couldn't believe how badly this all had turned out. She should have listened to Baelfire. 

BAELFIRE. Her new brother. She had to get back to him and John and Michael. They were her family. Wendy couldn't remember why she had wanted to leave them in the first place. Neverland was never her home, and it never would be. She felt a horrible pain in her chest. She missed her dog, Nana. She missed her parents. She missed the comfort of her bed and her school friends and her childhood. She missed the innocent bliss that came with being young. She missed London. 

If Wendy ever returned, she vowed in that moment to never open her window again. She would keep it shut until the day she died. 

Wendy was so rushed with adrenaline that she didn't feel the sting of the arrow when it struck her side. The only thing that she felt was, well, nothing. She had been struck with Dreamshade. Wendy couldn't move. She saw Lost Boys approach her from the front, and heard them from behind. Wendy was trapped. Again. 

*********

Pan let Wendy leave. He couldn't believe she had actually slapped him. He still felt the sting of her violent touch. She didn't believe him, and that didn't surprise him. He deserved a slap across the face. He would have done the same thing. 

What Pan was most shocked about was that Wendy had carried around his thimble. His good luck charm. She really did care about him. He felt so stupid, but he had to focus. A girl couldn't get in the way of his youth. He needed to be young forever. He wouldn't allow him abandoning his son to be for nothing. 

Felix climbed up the ladder, and saw Pan sitting on the floor, leaning up against the bed, and holding the thimble in front of his face. 

"Find her." Was all that Pan said. Felix nodded, and left to give the order to the Lost Boys. 

Pan stood up and angrily chucked the thimble out of the window. He would get Wendy's heart if it was the last thing he did. The heart of the truest believer was going to be his.