Chasing Shadows

Chapter Two

I opened my eyes to see Ryan looking in my tent. "Are you awake Aaliyah? Pan wants you."

I groaned and sat up. "For what?" I asked annoyingly.

Ryan shrugged and ducked out of the tent. As I looked around trying to wake up, I noticed a piece of paper rolled up beside where I slept. I picked it up and on it were the words,

    Chase away his shadows

Chase away his shadows? Who's shadows? I wondered, tucking the paper into my pocket, and headed out of the tent.

Pan was standing in the center of the camp, playing his pipes while the Lost boys danced around him, Henry sitting on the side watching.

Worried, I walked over to him. "Henry? Are you alright? Why aren't you with the other boys?" Once again, my blood boiled. These boys better not have been mean to him. 

He turned toward me. "I'm fine, besides being away from the rest of our family. I just can't hear anything. I don't understand why they're dancing."

"Y-you can't hear that?" I asked, shocked. The music was clear as day.

Henry looked at me funny, but before he could answer, we were interrupted by Pan. "Are you ready 'Liyah?" He smiled his sick, twisted smile.

I rolled my eyes as I stood up. "May I ask where we're going?"

"For a walk." He was still smirking.

"Alone?" I asked nervously. Felix had been by Pan's side since I arrived, giving me a slight sense of uneasiness. Now Pan wanted me alone?

"Don't flatter yourself." He laughed. "We have something's to discuss."

I rolled my eyes again. "Trust me, I'm not flattered."

Pan turned and spoke a few words to Felix and Ryan, who nodded in return, before he beckoned for me to follow him.

"I'll be back soon, Henry. I promise." I hugged my little brother, before following Pan.

When we got a few feet from the camp, Pan finally spoke. "I'm sure you're wondering why I brought you to my camp."

"Just a little." I scoffed.

Pan stopped in his tracks and turned to me. "I want to prove to you that I'm not the one you should be worried about. Sometimes the ones closest to us are the ones we should fear most."

" What are you saying?" I snapped. " That I should trust you over my own family?" I laughed. " I don't think so ."

"You don't have to believe me. I'm going to show you."

He placed his palm on my forehead. The memories he gave back to me slowly making sense. I saw me breaking down the day I found out Bae abandoned me, Felix was hugging me as I cried, Pan standing to the side with his arms crossed. I felt the hopelessness that came over me when I lost faith in my family coming for me. I heard Felix and Pan comforting me.

I looked at him in confusion. "You and Felix cared for me. B-but what about how Bae said you erased the bad memories of you? I don't remember any of those. " I said suspiciously. "And how does this prove I should be worried about my family?"

Pan turned and continued walking. "I told you it will all make sense over time. "

I huffed in frustration, before following him farther into the woods.

Suddenly, he stopped and held his hand up to me, and motioned for me to keep quiet. I walked up beside him, and realized he was spying on my families camp.

"What are you doing ?" I whispered angrily.

"Shhh. Listen. You'll hear that I'm right." He put his hand over my mouth.

My mother was sitting by the fire beside a man I had never saw, Emma sat across them beside Baelfire.

So he found them. I thought happily. That means it won't be long before he tells them of our encounter, and they'll know I lied. But why does Pan think I should be worried ?

I began paying closer attention. That's when I realized what he meant. They were all so happy, laughing. It didn't even seem like mine and Henry's absence was affecting them. Once again I was just a lost girl, like all the years before. When I disappeared to Neverland for years, no one even bothered looking for me. Even Baelfire's father, the Dark One, looked for him. Cast a curse even, to find him. But what did my mother do? She replaced me. She adopted Henry to replace me, and now she's replacing my father. And who looked after me when I was stuck on this island, no family at all? Pan and Felix. And the Lost Boys.

I looked at Pan, who was still focused on Emma and my mother. "Can we go back to the camp?" I asked quietly.

A small smile crossed his face as he waved his hand and took us back to camp.
~*~
  Back in camp, I looked around at all the now familiar faces. There were a few new ones I didn't recognize from my first time here, but I had been introduced to them this time. That's when I realized I finally had a real family.