A Dance with Pirates

Chapter 5

AUTHORS NOTE: Finally! I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to come up with such a lousy chapter.... I'll try and update when i can. Once again, please leave comments. I want to hear your oppinions :)

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"Come with me, Wendy. Come with me where you'll never, never have to worry about grown up things again."

Wendy practically skipped through the empty streets back to the Darling house. She decided that she would spend the rest of the night packing (and ignoring her parents who would try to persuade her to stay) so she could get a taxi early the next morning, head off to the docks and sail straight for New York. True, it would be the most challenging task she had yet to face but she was ready.

This time tomorrow she would be on a ship free from London society. New York was almost made for Wendy. It was casual and care free. Women in America didn't wear gloves, they shook hands, had proper jobs and even owned their own businesses. They were independent which was exactly what Wendy wanted to be. Wendy didn't want to be tied down to a nagging old husband and 10 children. She was still so young! There would be plenty of time for that when she got older.

Wendy held her shoes in one hand and held up the gold skirts of her dress with the other as she turned onto Baker's Street. Wendy stopped on the pavement and glanced up at the sky. It was surprisingly clear and the moon shone brilliantly. Then Wendy spotted a star. A star she hadn't seen in years yet held so much meaning.

She could still hear Peter's childlike voice,"Second to the right and then straight on 'til morning!" She couldn't help but smile.

Then the wind changed. A cold chill ran down her spine. She wrapped her arms around herself to shield herself from the cold. The ground beneath her feet became icy. Something wasn't right..

She walked a bit faster, aware of a certain fear filling her body. She could see the house ahead of her. Wendy stopped dead in her tracks. A group of shadows barged into her house. Shadows holding what appeared to be... swords?

Wendy stayed stuck to the pavement afraid to move a muscle. Suddenly the rest of the party guests who had not alredy left after Wendy's disappearance were shoved out into the street by the shadows. The frightened people fled down the street not daring to turn back. That's when Wendy moved. First a small step and then she broke into a mad sprint. Every nerve and muscle told her not to go into the house but something else compelled her to.

She raced up the front steps. The door had been broken straight off it's hinges. The scene which lay before her shook her to the core.

Pirates. Pirates were looting her house! They were emptying drawers, chests and cupboards taking anything which looked even slightly valuable and stuffing it all into brown sacks but they were too preoccupied to notice her. Her parents, her aunt and brothers lay helplessly on the ground next to the staircase with their arms and legs tied up and their mouths gagged. Ignoring the armed thieves, Wendy knelt down in front of Peter and began to untie him hastily. Her family shook their heads wildly trying to tell her to get out of there but she wouldn't hear any of it. "Shhhh!" she whispered.

Suddenly Peter spotted something behind Wendy. His eyes became as wide as saucers and he tried to scream through his gag. Wendy whipped her head around and was met by three pirates holding daggers and swords. She stood up slowly, her eyes never breaking eye contact.

"Now now girly, where do ya think you're going?" one of them said as she attempted to take a step toward the staircase. In her unfortunate situation Wendy could only think of one thing to do. She gathered all of her strength, swung her fist toward the one pirate knocking him to the ground and bolted up the stairs with the other thugs in hot pursuit. She reached her room and locked the door behind her only to have a sword being swung into it breaking the only barrier between them.