The Jewel of Neverland

Chapter 13

As I ran from Peter, all I could think was that I'd done more running away in the past few days than anyone else had done in an entire lifetime.  I had nearly gotten away without a hitch too, until Felix practically flew out of nowhere and blocked my path.

"I don't think you're allowed to leave," he said darkly, swinging his club threateningly. "What do you think?"

"I think I can run faster than you." I shouted as I whizzed past him and deeper into the forest.

I escaped into the forest without any more issues and kept going until I was certain I was a good distance away, but not so far that I couldn't find my way back. Henry was still there and I couldn't leave him. After all, he was my nephew. As I ran through the forest and the trees and paths felt familiar, I cursed myself for staying here longer than I had planned. My thoughts returned to Henry.

The weight of his name hit me hard. My insides fluttered from then nerves and weight of responsibility. Henry. . . I hadn't thought of him that way before. I was an aunt now. He was my nephew.

I definitely couldn't leave Henry. I owed it to him to protect him, even if I had only met his mother, my sister, for less than twenty minutes. He was my family; the only family that was both  was alive and hadn't tried to kill me.

Once I felt I was far enough away, every emotion I had been trying to suppress and block flooded over me. It was mostly anger and confusion. One-minute Peter and I were kissing in a way that brought out feelings inside me that I didn't even know existed, then the next minute I was being hurt by him so deeply I didn't know if I'd recover.

My mother was dead. I had no idea where my sister was or if she even cared about me. My nephew was being threatened and I was too wrapped up in Peter's game to stop it. Peter didn't care about me; I knew it. All he wanted was to manipulate and hurt me.

I let out a shriek of anger and grabbed a large rock from the ground and hurled it as far as I could. I watched with satisfaction as it disappeared behind a cluster of dark trees. It was childish and immature, I know. But I had to release my rage in some way if there were ever a chance of me thinking clearly again.

Seeing that there were more rocks at my feet, I breathed excitedly, ready to release more rage. Again, and again, rocks were hurled into the air. All the while I shouted profanity that I normally would never have. I was deep in the forest, who'd hear me anyway? It felt good to get it all out.

Suddenly, something touched my shoulder gently. I whirled around, brandishing my rock like a weapon, though by now only the small ones were left and I looked quite pathetic.

Standing there was an unfamiliar man, who held up his hands defensively. "Hey, it's okay. No need to use the pebble on me."

"Not another one!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "Where are you people even coming from!?"

My eyes shifted to another presence behind him and I saw a familiar face. It was that creepy man, Gold.

"Seriously, does Henry have his own personal army?"

The man chuckled. "Something like that. My name is Neal."

"I'm Amy," I replied, warily.

"Yeah, so I've heard," he said, glancing at Gold. "Regina's sister, huh?"

"Yeah. Gossip sure spreads fast around here," I said, my eyes darting to Gold.

I threw the rock to the ground and put my hands on my hips. "So, what can I do for you two?"

"Well that depends," Gold answered, stepping forward.

"On?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"On what you'd be willing to do to help us save your nephew," Neal explained. "Well, sort of nephew."