TAKE ME OVER | HENRY MILLS [1]

LV. anchor

Chapter Status: Edited. 

Tahlia cannot believe it, Max is sitting only a few metres away, he does not even seem to notice they are there. He is there, alive, breathing, she did not even realise she is shaking.

"Tahlia?" Pan asks.

"H-he really is alive," she stutters.

"And you're the only way he can get out," Pan adds.

Tahlia turns and looks at him in confusion, "what do you mean I'm the only one that can get him out?"

"Well, when I died the island's magic took over for me, and it was a lot of work coming back to life; my magic isn't strong enough against the field, but yours... yours is," he explains.

"I don't know, I mean, what do I even do?" she asks.

"Tahlia, you brought Bradley back to life! You can do anything!" Jamie says enthusiastically.

Tahlia looks at him for a moment before looking back at Pan.

"Can he see or hear us?" she asks.

Pan shakes his head, "no, but he will if you go inside, but I must warn you, when you step inside there, you won't be you," he warns.

"What do you mean?" Tahlia questions.

"There's something I didn't tell you, the only person that can get him out is either someone he cares about more than anything or someone extremely powerful," Pan starts. "Because you are both, when you step inside, you will turn into the age that you were when he was put in there. In this case, you will turn twelve, that way he will recognise you, when you step out you have to be touching him so he can come out with you. When you both are out you'll both be your normal age had you aged since you were in there, which he has, so he'll be about 19 as well.

"He might be a little freaked out, and extremely hungry since he hasn't needed to eat for the past 7 years. But I think he'll be calm since he knows you, you're sort of like his anchor," he finishes.

Anchor. Tahlia instantly thinks of Henry and Anna, her best friends, her anchors. She shakes the thought of them out of her head and proceeds to think about the task at hand.

She has to save Max.

"So, I just go in there, grab Max, and get out, that's all?" Tahlia clarifies.

"Pretty much," Pan shrugs.

Tahlia turns around to face Max, and she takes a deep breath before slowly walking towards him. Just before she reaches the field that separates them, she touches it, making it jiggle, sort of like jelly. Max looks up, seeming to have noticed it and he quickly stands to his feet, looking straight at her in fear, but he still cannot see her.

She breathes in and closes her eyes before stepping through, when she opens her eyes, it is like the world is a completely different colour. It looks more brownish, she can still see all of the colours, but everything is just darker. She looks down at herself, she has smaller hands, straight dirty blonde hair, a long white dress, she is definitely twelve again. The days where she was a blonde instead of a brunette, her hair was straight, not curly, the days she hated but loved the most.

"Tahlia?" a quiet voice asks.

She looks up and meets his brown eyes, his brown hair is messy, his arms and legs thin, he looks the exact same, just more tired.

"Max?" her voice is definitely different, she sounds like she is six.

Max breaks out a giant smile and runs towards her, giving her a tight hug, which Tahlia returns. She really did miss his hugs.