The Mermaid-Cursed Pirate

Chapter 23

Recap:

"Where are we going?" he questions.

"I'm trusting you, so I'm asking you to trust me." She holds out her hand to him. He steps into the water, and Sirena waves her other hand over his face and something like a bubble attaches itself to his mouth and nose. "Now hold on tight. If you let go, the spell will fade, and you can't breathe underwater without it."

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Gripping Pan's hand as tight as possible, she speeds through the water. She makes her path wind randomly around the island to disorient Pan. She could show him her haven in a desperate time, but that didn't mean he had to know where it was. Finally, they reach the pool inside and she slows, releasing her hold on Pan. The bubble around his mouth pops and he is surprised by the water suddenly rushing up his nose. He swims to the surface and sputters. Sirena laughs at him, but he smiles as he hears it, a sound he didn't think he would hear again, at least, not because of him. She stays in the water, but he goes to the edge and climbs onto the dry land.

"What is this place?" he questions as he looks around. He wanders around the small cave and takes in the various treasures Sirena has stored on the shelves.

"An underwater cave I found when I first got here. This is where my portal took me for some reason. I never found out why, but I was happy to find it. It's my own little haven in here. Peaceful."

"So this is why I felt that someone had arrived in Neverland, but couldn't tell who or where you were!" She nods. "I am hurt you would hide this from me when I showed you my Thinking Tree, but I understand. You still didn't know me and this was the only place you could get away, right?" he asks, gesturing to the cave's walls.

"Exactly. You know this island better than I, so I figured you still had a few other secret hiding places. Plus, outside of this cave, you can feel where everyone is, so that means I could never truly have my own secret place. A place where I can be me without fear and express my feelings freely."

"Is that why there's so much crushed rock over there?" Pan jests, pointing to the pile of various sizes of rock below what looked like a target on the wall.

Sirena smirks and uses magic to hurl a rock at the spot on the wall. "Boys can be so infuriating, didn't you know that?" Pan laughs at her and hurls his own rock at the wall. "Hey, that's my anger management wall! Get your own!" she jokes.

After their laughter fades, Pan moves to sit on the edge of the pool. His eyes grow serious as he looks at the mermaid. "Rena, I know that I hurt you, and I think I'm finally realizing what I did that was wrong. You must believe that I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you." She swims closer to him as she listens.

"Obviously you don't know what you did wrong," she explains, glaring at him, "because you are still calling me Rena." She gives him a grin and shoves his shoulder. He laughs sarcastically and rolls his eyes at her.

"You're so funny, Sirena. What's all this stuff anyway?" he asks as he stands up and spins a little, gesturing to the shelves. "Like these bottles, what are they for?" He picks up a tiny bottle with swirls of red and amber to examine it, but it slips from his hand and falls to the ground, shattering. Smoke in the same colors surrounds him, then a flash of light crosses his eyes. He sees Sirena with a bag of her things by her feet. She hugs each of the Lost Boys, then turns to him.

"I really am sorry I have to leave again. But you guys aren't losing me. If all goes well, I will return to Neverland someday soon. If it doesn't go quite as planned, we may still be able to talk to each other." She looks at the boys and gives them each a sad smile, then pulls out a beautiful shell from the bag. "I've enchanted this shell so I can talk to whoever is holding it. Unfortunately, I don't know if it will work where I'm going.

"Where are you going?" he hears Charlie ask.

"I may be going to the Land Without Magic."

The light flashes again and he sees Sirena standing across from the pirate captain. They weren't saying a word, only staring at each other. The captain looks nervous. Sirena looks excited but worried at the same time. She nods and the captain takes a slow step toward her. He places his only hand at the base of her neck and searches her eyes again. She gives him a slight smile and he leans in. The light flashes again and he wakes up to see Sirena leaning over him.

"Hey, can you hear me? Are you there, Peter?"

"You never call me Peter" he groans, his head throbbing for a moment, then he sinks into the blackness.