Tiger Lily (A Peter Pan Fanfic)

Chapter Nine

"What's this, love?" Pan asked absentmindedly as he toyed with the locket secured around my neck.

We were taking a break from practicing magic. Several weeks had passed since he shot arrows at my head, and we'd been making progress little by little ever since. It was almost as if we had an understanding of each other. I never thought I could relate to Peter Pan, the most feared villain of all the realms, but I did. However, each day he grew more well-behaved around me, the colder he became, in a sense. He lashed out at the boys more, threatened them more, and made them work more. It was if a war was raging inside of his mind. But I didn't ask questions.

Currently, we were both sitting next to each other, our backs against a rather thick tree, several items for levitating and transforming scattered around the clearing surrounding us. Turning my head toward him, I answered, "It was a birthday gift from my father and the crew."

He raised an eyebrow at me, in a curious way. "A birthday gift?"

"You get them when you don't spend your life the same age forever, Pan." I quipped, chuckling.

Rolling his green eyes at me, he said, "I know that, love. Just didn't know you were so close to those pirates."

"Well, I did grow up with them, Pan. And one of them is my father."

He nodded, standing up and extending his hand to me. "Right. Let's get back to work. I want to try something new."

Ignoring his hand, I stood up, wiping the dirt from my hands. "What do you have in mind?"

Pan shook his head, amused at the fact that I hadn't taken his hand, before leading me back into the center of the clearing. With a wave of his hand, a small chipmunk-like creature was in his grasp. He stood, holding the squirming thing as I now warily walked over.

"I want you to take its soul." he said seriously, his eyes blazing with intensity.

Taken aback, I looked at him with wide eyes. "Take its soul? Pan, I've barely mastered transforming things. I can't just take its soul. And besides...that's dark magic."

He approached me, his jaw locked in determination. "You can do it, love. Just use your magic. Neverland has already accepted you, you just need to believe you can do it."

"What if I don't want to do it, Pan?"

Pan blinked at me, his brow furrowed. "Don't you want to improve your skills?"

"Yes, but there has to be another wa-"

"There's no other way. You're either with me or you're not."

Not in the mood to push the argument, I cast a cautious glance at the little animal. "Will I be able to return its soul to the body?"

It took Pan a moment to answer, and when he did, he spoke slowly, choosing his words. "No. That's the thing about taking souls. Once you take one - that's it. They're gone forever."

 My hands were involuntarily shaking. My heart was racing. If I went up against Pan, the result would be much worse than a dead little animal. I'd killed before, so why was I so nervous about doing it now? Especially since it was an animal. 

Casting a nervous glance at Pan, I took the animal from his grasp. "How do I do it?" 

"Reach your hand in, and pull it out." he said simply. His eyes were gleaming with excitement.

"How will I know when I've got it?"

"You'll just know. Trust me, love."

Taking a deep breath, I collected myself before plunging my hand into the side of the animal. It squealed in protest, thrashing around trying to get out of my grip, to no avail.