The boy from Neverland

The Red Crystal

Emily's POV

My legs felt as though they were sinking beneath the ground the further I approached Pan's hut, the large scale of it causing my breath to leave my lips in harsh gasps of air. The structure stood dead in the darkness of the night, the odd-shaped windows on both levels holding no light inside them, some even remaining open. 

My feet stopped hard against the ground as I stared up at Pan's hut. I wondered if he was in there; if he knew someone was approaching and was watching, staring down from inside. I approached the first steps carefully, the lump in my throat suddenly sinking to my stomach as the wooden boards creaked under my feet, the breeze moving the vines curling around the hand-built wooden posts of the balustrade, dark swarms of leaves weaving around them, shifting in the darkness.

I held my breath as an unknown coldness brushed my skin even though the night air was warm. The sounds of clinking glass broke the silence and turned quickly to the source of the noise to find small objects hanging from the posts, some from the vines, their silhouetted shapes moving in the darkness.

I hadn't given much attention to Pan's hut, besides its difference in size from the rest in line. I didn't want to. I knew I was to stay away, that's a rule I didn't want to try and break, especially since the rest of the boys wouldn't go near it – besides Felix. Even still, I only ever saw the head lost boy reach the door to speak with Pan, never daring to go inside, which made standing before it even more terrifying. What if Pan was in there. I could only hope he was asleep, but I had a strange feeling I would be entering an empty hut. Surely he could sense it...unless he was waiting.

I shook my thoughts away and eyed the large open window to the left of the door. The bamboo frame was sturdy enough to apply my weight on it though I didn't waste more than a second to get through before creeping into the darkness of the room. I let my feet sink still into the floorboards like quicksand my eyes darting across the shadows in the room, waiting for them to adjust. Just the same as the other huts, jagged wooden floorboards ran across the room, the walls lined together with thick poles of bamboo. There was a cluster of odd shapes filling the room that I could make out, a rug of sorts set under my boots making my steps eased as I quietly observed the room.

I moved around a carved wooden table, no chairs accompanying it though I noticed stacks of parchment spread on top, the ink-filled paper too small to read in the dark. Dried plants scattered over the words, some in heaps others on their own between pages. I wasn't sure what they were and made no effort to touch them. Weapons hung from the walls, their silver slowly rusting away as I walked past them reaching closer to see they looked quite a lot like tools. Beside them on the far wall was a lined bookshelf filled to every shelf with spines of books, single papers sticking out of many and objects placed between.

I reached the long case, curiously pulling one of the papers. Just like those on the table it was filled with ink, hand-written to every corner. I pulled it closer finding my eyes settling on a drawing of a plant by the side of the words lining the page. I read it carefully. Lion Nightshade Plant...a mutation of the Dreamshade found by the cliffs of the far side of the island. Its dark green stem and spiky leaves contain a deadly substance which numbs the body's sense of pain and causes hallucinations. This plant is extremely poisonous, with toxins that vary from how much that person has endured. Death is common while attempting to hallucinate...My eyes left the page, my fingers cold against the thin page as I placed it back between the line of books. 

Why the hell did Pan have information on such a thing? I shuddered at the thought of how many others could be in these books, deadly poisons sought out by Pan himself and to use for what? I shook the thoughts away, the uneasiness twisting my stomach again as I remembered why I was in here in the first place and how much time I had already wasted. The Red Crystal.