Return of the Queen

Chapter 5

---Flashback---

It had been a clear, warm night when the news arrived. The girls didn't hesitate for a moment and ran straight for the cliffs. Sure enough, there she was, lying across the rocks below the cliff, her petite body sprawled out amongst the immense boulders.

A trickle of blood smeared her blond hair, falling into her face, the contrast against pale skin so striking. Her eyes were that same shade of blue they had been earlier that evening, only now, glossed over and tinted with lifelessness.

I looked away from Mavis's still form and up the cliffs. A strange scent was coming to me with the wind. A scent of dirt, musk, and sweat. The scent of a lost boy.

I walked away from the group of girls now surrounding her body and went back to camp, seemingly indifferent to the events that had just been revealed. But a plan had soon made its way into my brain.

Blood called for blood, didn't it?

----------------------------------------

"You lying witch!"

"Now, now, no need to get all fussed up about this."

"You gave me your word!"

I chuckled, the absurdity of the statement he had just made ringing in the air.

He glared back at me and spat, "I killed him, now I want my freedom."

"You have indeed done what I asked for. Meaning, you are useful. Why would I rid myself of a useful asset?"

His composure seemed to snap and he bolted straight for me.

Fool.

A quick glance was all it took to liquefy the soil underneath him and encase him in it, leaving only his head and shoulders jutting out of the solidified mass.

I then approached him, smirking. "Bold move. A foolish one too. You have just ruined your only chances of survival. It won't be long before Pan and his boys get here. Have fun."

With that, I walked away leaving behind me the sounds of a struggling and screaming Killian Jones.

---End of Flashback---

~Felix's POV~

Sixteen.

That's how many lost boys Pan had lost.

Sixteen.

All dead in the fire.

Sixteen.

The same age Rufio had been when he died.

I gazed intently into the fire as I tried to attend to the severe burn on my cheek.

Another scar, another memory.

Pan sat on the log opposite mine, staring intently into the flames as if trying to absorb them. He seemed serious, intent, different from the lost boy he had been days earlier. Yet, so similar to the one he had been decades ago. Suddenly, as if awakening from a trance, he bolted upright, and chuckled mischievously.

"Come on, boys!" He called out in that same playful tone he usually used. Yet, his eyes betrayed him. However obvious this seemed to me, the others did not seem to take notice of it. He went on, "We have a new game to play. Who's up for a little game of witch hunting?"

Perhaps he wasn't turning back into the same person he had been all those years ago. That person would not have made such a mistake. But who was I to doubt his judgment? Pan never fails. And he wouldn't fail now. Would he?

----------------------------------------

~Thorn's POV~

I sat at the foot of the tree house, contemplating my newest victory. It was merely the start, of course, the first act in a story of my own composition. A story which would render me victorious.

As I plotted, I felt odd vibrations emanating from the ground. Someone was approaching. A light, dull pounding made its way into my sensors rendering me very attentive. Then it suddenly stopped. No sooner had it done so then I felt, and heard, a whooshing sound breaking through the air. Too late in my sensing of it, the arrow barely missed my head by a few inches. And then I was up.

It was easy to spot the intruder. He hadn't been prepared for such a miss and hadn't hidden in quite the right location. Foolhardy, hotheaded, foolish. Exactly what I had trained my girls not to be.

A swift tugging movement of my hands and the insolent boy was now sprawled in front of me, defenseless, having lost his weapons in the drag.

I smiled wickedly at him and bound him to an oak tree, rendering him incapable of the slightest movement. I then looked around.

"For all those of you out here, behold. One of your own is about to pay the price for his trespass. Watch, and let him be an example for any of you even considering stepping out."

I turned my gaze back onto the young boy and placed the palm of my hand over his chest.

The human body is made up mostly of water. There is water in every system, every organ, every tissue, and every cell. The one who controls this water has control over the body. To salvage or to destroy.

I chose to destroy.

The young boy squirmed and screamed as his blood boiled over and his internal organs gave way. A short while later, he was nothing more than a cold, lifeless, bloody lump at the foot of a grand oak. Nothing but compost for a tree.

And that is what the filthy deserve to be.

Apparently, my first warning had not been as successful as I had thought.

Time for a less direct approach.

~Felix's POV~

I froze as the youngest lost boy fell over, lifeless and bloody, onto the cold Neverland ground. The menacing laugh escaping from Thorn's lips was enough to render the lost boys fearful of her warning. Slowly, hesitantly, they dragged themselves away, one by one, from the scene unfolding in front of us. Anger raged in my veins and threatened to send me after every single one of them for their cowardice. Fear was forbidden. They would all be punished, for the loss of a game was not to be tolerated.

My blood froze over as Thorn slowly turned around, and, impossible though it was, her stone cold, fiery gaze landed right on me. I was sure I had imagined it. Yet as I made my way back to camp, I couldn't shake the feeling of how her eyes bore into mine. Mocking, menacing eyes, informing me of horrors yet to come.