Peter by day, Pan by night

Chapter 32

        “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The lost boys chant.

        My stomach turns. The boys are jeering in a tight circle. I push my way through them. “What is going on?” I demand, but no one listens.

        I elbow past a cackling Bert and stumble to the front of the crowd. The fighters struggle past, their arms interlocked.

        Oh, no.

        “Stop it!” I cry as Kelvin pulls his fist back and punches Daine’s stomach.

        Daine’s face contorts with fury. He lunges at the smaller boy. Kelvin twists away and kicks Daine’s shin. The smaller boy’s face is red and his lip is bleeding, but he’s grinning.

        Grinning!

        And I barely recognize him. Hatred dances in his eyes. The firelights flickers over the cheering crowd. This is wrong. Someone has to stop them!

        Where’s Peter?

        Daine! Kelvin! Stop it!” I wave my arms, but they continue to shift around the small circle, their eyes only seeing each other.

        I grab Kelvin’s arm and pull him back. “Stop!”

        Kelvin turns on me. He sneers, his eyes wild. He punches my jaw. I crumble to the ground, pain splintering through me.

        Daine screams and throws Kelvin down. He kicks him in the side, hard. I stumble away from them. “Stop it.” I moan, but I can barely talk. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. I wince. I bite my cheek hard. My jaw stings and everything spins.

        Someone tears Daine away from Kelvin. A loud voice silences the boys. “Enough!”

        Relief pulses inside me. Peter Pan is here. Everything will be okay.

        Kelvin staggers up. “He hit first.”

        Immediately the boys start talking again-their opinions overlapping loudly.

        “I said enough!” Peter snaps. The noise disappears. He nods at Felix who grabs Kelvin’s shirt and hauls him away.

        “Are you okay?” Daine helps me up.

        I gasp. “Daine! Your eye is swelling!”

        He grins. “You are the one who was on the ground.” He frowns. “Your mouth is bleeding. You silly girl. Why did you get in the middle of that?”

        “Well, why were you fighting?”

        “Does it matter?”

        “Yes, it does! You can’t just hit someone for no reason.”

        “He was making fun of you.”

        Peter turns from the lost boys and sees me. He growls. “Daine!”

        “It was Kelvin.” I groan, shifting my jaw back and forth.

        He grabs my arm tightly. Peter growls. “Fights I allow, but if anyone touches Wendy again they will be sorry.” The clearing fades away, replaced by his treehouse.

        The last time I was here, he had turned it into a cage. But now it is like it was the first time I climbed up. Thankfully there is no more broken glass.