The Captive (First Book in the Neverland Bound Series)

Chapter 15 (Catherine)

It has been exactly eight days since Pan forced me to leave the camp.  In the days following my banishment, I have become close to some of the other creatures, both magical and otherwise, that inhabit Neverland, including the island natives, the fairies, and the mermaids.

I've learned that everyone across the board dislikes Pan and, after learning of my connection to him, was a bit wary of me at first. When I told them of how Pan himself had severed all ties to me because of our complicated history and how I had no intention of ever returning to him and the Lost Boys, they seemed to trust me a bit more and have been much friendlier to me over the past few days.

My first encounter with the natives happened the day after my banishment and was a complete accident.  It was that day that I met the famed Princess Tiger Lily. We had coincidentally been stalking the same wild pig and were both patiently waiting for the opportune moment to strike.  I had taken the first shot, but had only succeeded in wounding the little beast.  Just before I could cock another arrow into position to deliver the killing blow, she went ahead and put it out of its misery with a clean shot through the eye.  She had then quickly dropped to the ground from a nearby tree, grabbed the dead animal, and took off with it into the jungle.

Of course I wasn't going to let her get away with the prize considering I was the one who wounded it enough for her to easily take it down.  If anything, we should split the kill.  I took off after her and, after much searching with no success, locked onto her aura and transported myself to where ever she was, which just so happened to be right outside her encampment.

"You really shouldn't take things that don't belong to you, dearie," I said.

She jumped and whirled around to face me, brandishing her knife in my direction.  "What do you mean?  I killed the beast.  It is rightfully mine," she countered, sneering at me.

"Well, you see, that's not entirely true," I explained, disappearing and reappearing directly behind her.

She jumped again when she heard me say, "I took the shot that weakened it enough for you to take it down.  Without my help, you probably wouldn't have even caught the wretched little thing.  So it was really a team effort, when you think about it."

She sneered, but remained silent.

"Come on, dear, half that pig is mine.  I have to eat too you know," I said impatiently.

"You are Pan's girl, Catherine, correct?" she asked me.

"Yes, I was.  But not anymore," I replied, trying hard to keep the pain from my voice.

She looks at me skeptically.  "How do I know you are not lying?" she asked.

"If you give me my share of the pig, I'll tell you everything," I offered, knowing that curiosity would get the better of her.

Still looking at me suspiciously, Tiger Lily takes her dagger and deftly slices the pig into two equal parts.  As predicted, she tossed me my half and said, "Alright, I have given you what I promised.  Now talk."

I then go on to tell her everything that happened between me and Peter.  I don't know why I told her as much as I did.  Maybe it was because I had bottled up my feelings for so long that when I was finally able to share them with someone it all just came out, like someone opening the floodgates to a river.  Or maybe it was the fact that I found Tiger Lily easy to talk to.  Well, no matter the reason, every little detail came out, from something as important as Lance's almost-kiss to something as insignificant as the look of pain in Peter's eyes when all his memories returned.  By the time I had finished, I had never felt more relieved to have told anyone anything than in that moment.