Belief Extraordinary

Try

By the time she awoke the next morning, camp was already bustling with activity. Her difficulty in falling asleep the night before meant she had slept late despite her early departure from the group, and she could hear various and sundry of the Lost Boys clattering about outside her tent. With a groan – she still felt groggy – she sat up and fumbled for her boots. She had hoped her brain might leave off its worried from the night before after sleeping, but this proved to be in vain. She was preoccupied as she left her tent, wandering towards the center of camp.

She was so preoccupied, she didn't notice until too late the red-headed missile speeding towards her. She fell to the ground with a shout, clawing wildly at her attacker until she saw his face. "Xavier, you hellion!" Xavier grinned.

"You said we'd fight in the morning." He informed her happily, rolling the two over so he was looking down at her. "It's morning." With an aggravated growl, Sarah's hands scrambled at him, pinching hard at the cluster of muscle and tendon connecting his neck to his shoulder. He let her go with a cry of protest, and she pressed her advantage to reverse their positions. "That's a dirty trick." He grumbled.

"So is having at least ten extra pounds of solid muscle on me." She told him primly. "Let that teach you to attack people before they've eaten breakfast." Xavier narrowed his eyes as she rolled off of him.

"You're cranky this morning." He accused as the two stood up. Sarah frowned as she dusted the dirt from her clothes. She was feeling out of sorts, but she didn't think she'd take kindly to being tackled as her first activity upon waking on any day of the week. Xavier's glance turned sly. "Is it something to do with what Felix told you last night?" He winced as Arthur appeared behind him, cuffing him gently on the head.

"Aren't you the one who told me not to get involved with Felix's business?" He scolded. "Morning Sarah. Nice to see you in the daylight without having to chase after you, for once." He was joking, but Sarah scowled anyway. Perhaps she was cranky this morning after all. Felix's cryptic clue was a puzzle she couldn't solve, and it rankled. She was already stuck on the island, she even stayed in camp willingly. Pan "had" her, for all intents and purposes, and there was little to no chance she'd be getting away any time soon, if ever. He had told her at the start that they were trying to break each other. Is that what Felix had meant? By wanting her, he meant wanted her broken? If that was the case, his warning hardly seemed useful. If Pan's win condition was breaking her, it wouldn't matter if going against him meant she would fail. She'd have no choice either way!

Of course, there was another meaning to the word want. No. The idea was too ridiculous to entertain, even with Pan's odd behavior yesterday. He couldn't possibly want her, not like that. Could he? Something halfway between excitement and disgust twisted in her stomach. If he didn't, though, why would Felix have said he did? Maybe Pan put him up to it, she mused. This had to be just another part of Pan's game. To make her think he cared about her, and then – and then something, she wasn't sure what. Break her heart? She'd gotten over boys before. That seemed too trivial for him.

"Sarah?" She snapped back to the present, blinking. Arthur was looking at her with concern, Xavier with confusion.

"Sorry. Lost in thought." She shook her head, brushing aside her friend's worries. "Breakfast?" She tried to change the subject.

"Eat quickly." She startled as Pan's crisp voice reached her ears, striding through camp to stand amidst their group. The two boys shuffled automatically to the side, making space for their leader. "It's already late and we've got plans for the day." Sarah glanced nervously at her companions, then back to Pan.

"What plans?" She asked cautiously. Pan smiled, and a familiar trickle of panic crept up over her. Perhaps he'd abandoned his plans from yesterday already – in which case, she'd be in for it today.