In which a young girl who doesn't believe in magic ends up on the most magical place in the world; an island called Neverland. After spending a few months on the island, she wants to go home. However, two years later, Annie Wood makes her return to...
Annie felt like her blood had run cold, a chill rattling through her as she stared at Jakob, his words repeating themselves hauntingly in her head. It was a suspicion Jakob had for a while, that Grayson was alive, but now he knew where the older boy was on the island and Annie wasn't going to hesitate to go there.
"Where is he?" Annie managed to say, not wanting to believe just yet that her best friend was alive somewhere. Losing him once was hard enough, and Annie knew that if Grayson wasn't actually still alive her heart would shatter into more pieces than it did the first time. Annie heard tree branches snapping behind her and spun around. She narrowed her eyes as she stared into the jungle, all her senses heightened due to the anxiety building up inside of her.
Annie wiped her palms on her pants as she turned back to face the boys. She was growing impatient, an overwhelming amount of emotions coursing through her stiff body.
"We can take you to him." Jakob replied, his jaw tight as he tried to keep himself calm. Victor stood beside him, his bottom lip caught between his teeth.
Annie nodded, not trusting her own voice. She felt like her throat was squeezing shut, with only one tiny hole for air to go through. Jakob glanced over at Victor before walking towards Annie, and looking at her as he walked by. The girl didn't return his gaze as he turned his body to prevent bumping into her. Instead, she was watching all the Lost boys as they stood up and followed Jakob. Victor was the last boy to move and Annie was quick to notice the absence of Pan's second in command, Felix.
"Wait." Annie grabbed Victor's arm before he could have a chance to walk past. "Is he really alive?" The girl focused on the brown and blue eyes of her brother, her own green ones pleading for him to tell her the truth.
"Yeah, he is." Victor replied, pulling his arm away as Annie's hand relaxed. If she didn't have to follow the boys, she could've collapsed right there on the dirt and start crying. However, with a deep inhale and exhale, Annie turned around to start following the Lost boys into the jungle.
Jakob led the way, with Victor walking at the back to ensure everyone stayed on the path. The air was silent of any voices, just sounds of nature filling the ears of the boys and Annie.
"Take a left here, Jakob." Victor called from behind Annie, his sharp and sudden voice startling her. Jakob looked over his shoulder as he slowed down.
The boy didn't say anything as he turned left onto a path that was much thinner, and overgrown with the dark green plants of the jungle. Annie kept her arms close to her sides and her eyes glued to the ground as she walked down the path.
"Sorry." Victor mumbled as he stepped on the back of Annie's shoe. She barely noticed since all of her attention was on the dirt path.
"What's that smell?" Troye asked, looking around with his head tilted upwards. He was much taller than most of the boys and had the advantage of seeing things before they did, but couldn't see where the smell of burning wood was coming from.
Before Annie could ask what he was talking about, the distinct odour of smoke from a fire reached her noise. She'd smelled it so many times back at camp, and knew exactly what it was. Something was burning in the jungle, but no one could see what.
All of a sudden, a loud crash caused everyone on the path to jump, Annie now stepping on Victor's foot. A burning tree had fallen over the path about 50 feet in front of the group of teenagers, and was now setting everything around it on fire. Bright orange flames danced around the fragile leaves of trees and plants, scorching everything they came in contact with.
"Run!" Jakob yelled, turning around and practically pushing all the Lost boys in the opposite direction. The boys ran past Annie, allowing her to fall in at the back with Jakob.
"What's going on?" Annie yelled over the sounds of footsteps and the jungle of Neverland going up in crackling flames.
"Pan. He knew where we were headed." Jakob replied. "Turn right! Go down that path!" The boy yelled at Nathan who now led the pack. The youngest boy had no problem navigating the corner of the jungle, following Jakob's orders. All the other boys ran close behind, but Annie faltered just as she was about to turn onto the path. She couldn't help but feel mesmerized as heat ripped through the jungle, fire and earth fighting against each other. If Pan had caused this then he could easily fix it, not caring how much damage he caused to his beloved island.
Annie's eardrums rattled as a thick tree came crashing to the ground. Hundreds of sparks rained through the air like fireflys, getting away from the tree as fast as possible.
"Hey, Annie! Let's go!" Jakob yelled at the girl, snapping her out of her thoughts. The tingling sensation in her fingertips that she hadn't even noticed before had left as quickly as it came, but Annie recognized it as the same feeling she had experienced on the beach, when Peter saved her. After quickly glancing down at her open palms, Annie started running down the path with the rest of the boys.
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The boys haven't been featured in this story for a while, so I wanted to write a chapter that was mainly centred around them!!
Question: what do you think the tingling feeling that Annie keeps getting is? Hint, it's not her magic. Comment your answers, I'm curious to know what you guys think!
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