The Boy Who Could Fly

chapter seventeen

Once every Lost Boy was suited up with weapons, they made their way to the pirate ship, stopping just before the treeline ended. True to her word, Spot and her Brookies stood there waiting for them. The Brookies were decked out with war paint on their faces, prepared for the fight.

"What's our plan of attack?" Race asked Spot as soon as they reached the meeting place. "We can't just go in there and start fightin' 'em."

Spot nodded. "I know. We ain't gonna do that. Jack's out there fighting by 'imself, so we gotta help him."

"How?" Race demanded.

"Calm down, we won't do him any good by freakin' out." Spot huffed a bit. "We'll need some of you to stay in the trees or out of sight. You got slingshots, use 'em. Distract the pirates as much as ya can. The rest o' us will go fight them. We'll need the distractions because they're obviously bigger than us." The boys nodded at her astute observation. "We don't hafta hurt anyone if we can help it. Just push 'em in the water or somethin' that'll keep them from comin' after us."

"What do we do if we can't beat 'em?" Romeo questioned, speaking from the back of the group.

"Then we scram. Make sure Jack an' everyone gets out. Head back to the camps and lay low for a few days. Got it?"

"Got it," many of the boys repeated back to Spot. Aimee nodded along, growing more and more nervous about returning to the ship. But if it was for Jack, she'd do it anyway, no matter how afraid she was.

"Whatever happens, we don't leave anyone behind," Spot said, looking at the pirate ship where Jack and Pulitzer were still fighting as the men watched. Both of them looked exhausted, but neither would give in. "Right. Let's go." With that, she let out a yelp and rushed towards the boat. Half of the group followed her while the rest stayed in the trees to shoot at the pirates from a distance.

As Aimee ran toward the ship, gripping a sword, she watched Jack turn and grin when he saw them. He suddenly seemed much more energized, and he fought Pulitzer with a newfound vigor. As the Lost Boys and Brookies stormed the ship, the pirates quickly met them with a defense. Everyone was suddenly thrust into a fight with one or two pirates.

Aimee found herself staring down a man almost twice her size. As she lifted her sword to deflect his first blow, adrenaline coursed through her. She was moving in ways she never thought she could as she began to battle the pirate. Soon, she was joined by a Lost Boy, Sniper. Together, they fought the pirate, pushing him backwards towards the edge of the boat. With one final push, they sent him toppling over the side, falling into the water.

"Nice!" Sniper cheered, high fiving Aimee before moving on to fight some other pirates. As pirates were pelted with little pebbles and random objects from the forest, the battle raged on. It seemed like most of the pirates were either being knocked off the boat or put in a position where they couldn't continue the fight.

Aimee couldn't believe they were winning. She was beginning to grow more confident in her sword fighting skills. That is, until she came face to face with Katherine. The redhead looked conflicted.

"Why are you doing this?" Aimee asked, hoping to talk her down from fighting before they even began. "You let me go."

"I have to!" Katherine exclaimed fiercely. "Don't you see that?" She swung her sword at Aimee, and Aimee had to jump out of the way.

"You don't!" Aimee replied. She knew she couldn't beat Katherine, so she hoped this would work. "Why do you feel like you have to?"

Katherine swung at her again. "It's because of my father! If I don't do this, who...who knows what'll happen?" As she spoke, her movements became a bit sloppier because of emotion. "I'll have nowhere to go."

Aimee wasn't sure why, but she suddenly felt bad for Katherine, even though she was a very mean person. "Talk to Jack or Spot. I'm sure they'll let you stay with them," she implored. "You don't have to stay here."

"I can't go with them! Especially not Jack." Katherine kept fighting. Aimee kept defending herself, refusing to make any attacks on the girl.

"Why not?"

Katherine hesitated a little, and Aimee took the opportunity to knock Katherine's sword out of her hand. "Because I just can't! We tried that once, and it didn't work out. So I have to do this," she said, looking incredibly broken.

Aimee couldn't help herself from asking, even though this was no place for curiosity. "What happened between you two?"

Katherine stopped, looking as if she was trying not to cry. "We fell in love," she answered finally. Aimee blinked. Out of all the answers, she had not been expecting that one. "And my father obviously couldn't have that," Katherine continued. "Jack didn't even know he was my father. And when he found out, I had to come back here."

Aimee didn't know how to respond. She didn't even have time to respond before she heard a shout coming from the dock. She turned quickly and saw, to her horror, that someone had knocked over a lantern. The flame had set the docks ablaze, and the fire was traveling both towards the ship and the forest.

Aimee jumped as she felt someone grab her wrist. It was Jack. "We gotta go!" He said hurriedly, ignoring Katherine. "Come on!" He pulled her towards the gangplank with the rest of the Lost Boys and the Brookies.

"We won't make it, the fire's spreadin' too fast!" Spot shouted, looking a bit panicked. "We've got boys in the forest, too!"

"Then we'll swim," Jack said quickly, diving off the edge of the plank and into the water. Everyone else followed, plunging into the cold sea water and swimming towards shore, hoping they could reach the others in time to put out the fire.

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y'all I only have two chapters left-