The Jewel of Neverland

Chapter 23

I laid curled up against Peter, beneath his thinking tree for a long time.  I had been stroking his wrist, which sat in my hands. My fingers ran over the scars, as if my touch could take away the pain he had been through.

At one point, Peter rolled over so that he was on top and began to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, eagerly deepening my mouth to his.  Forget alcohol, I could get drunk off of his touch alone.

He snickered against my mouth and pulled back so that he was hovering over me.

"What?" I asked nervously. "Did I do something wrong?"

"When you first got here, you had a panic attack if I got too close to you. Because of what happened at that motel." He brushed the hair out of my face and his voice lowered. "Now look at you, Amy. Do I make you feel safe?"

I barely heard a word he had said. My eyes had been focused on his face instead. Somehow in the time we'd been there, the underneath of his eyes had taken on dark circles that stood out boldly in contrast to his skin, which was a dreary gray.

I reached up and put my hand on his cheek. "Are you feeling okay?"

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before flickering up to the sky. Very slowly, he shifted off of me and got to his feet. He breathed deeply as he stared into the cloudy night sky above. I stood up as well and saw that a full moon shone brightly. It seemed to light up the entire night sky with its glow.

I glanced back to Peter and saw that his gaze had fallen back onto me. I raised my eyebrows questioningly which only seemed to amuse him further.

"Look at that," he whispered with a chuckle. "I almost forgot." He smirked. "You've been quite the distraction."

I frowned in confusion. Despite how drained he looked, the malicious glint in his eyes seemed to grow even more profound.

"What's going on?" I asked anxiously. "Forget what? Are you sick?"

"Don't worry," he said, smiling innocently at me. "There's just something I need to take care of."

"Which is what?" I demanded.

He ignored me and began to walk away. "Stay here. I'll come back for you in a little while."

I lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "Peter, what's going on?"

He turned around and I released the hold on his arm.  He stepped forward, placing a hand on my cheek.

"There's nothing you need to concern yourself about," he whispered darkly. "Our forever starts tonight."

And with those words, he vanished.

I stared at the spot where he had just stood moments before, unable to comprehend what was going on. My mind replayed his words. 

I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.  My eyes found the moon once more and all I could think of was Henry. 

Soon, I was running through the forest, back to camp. 

As I approached the edges of camp, I came to a sudden halt. It was eerily quiet.  No sounds of weapon repair, no roasting of the fire, and no whoops and hollers. Something was wrong.

I edged closer to camp until I was stepping through the trees and my eyes met those of the Lost Boys.  They were all sitting together, looking dejected and defeated.  Hook and Tinkerbell stood with swords and knives in hand, guarding the group of boys.  They were alert and seemed ready to take them down at the slightest movement.

To my even greater surprise, among them was a young girl of about fourteen or fifteen.  She had messy dirty blonde hair and exposed busted feet. She was wearing a long white nightgown and looked hungry.