The Captive (First Book in the Neverland Bound Series)

Chapter 19 (Catherine)

Picture of Hook attached! :D

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"Why would you be telling me this? Besides, don't you think it's a little late in the game for that?" I hear Peter question.

"Not necessarily. You see Pan, I have a certain friend who has been dying to see her," Hook replies, a smirk in his voice.

I think about all the people I know who would "be dying to see me," but none of the ones that come to mind have any connection to Hook as far as I know.

"And who, pray tell, is this new friend of yours?" Peter voices my question.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Hook counters, chuckling.

The whole clearing quiets and I silently peak through the tent flap. There is an eerie mist shrouding the entire camp, and I strain to make out who the figure entering the clearing is. Ethan is peering over my shoulder, also trying to see who the new visitor is.

When her face finally becomes fully visible, I gasp in shock.

"What the..? It can't be," Ethan whispers behind me, but I know that what we are seeing is real. There, now standing next to Hook is the one person I hoped I would never have to lay eyes on again. My mother.

Even though my first instinct is to flee, I remain still so I don't attract any unwanted attention. Mainly Mother's.

"Morgana," Peter says coldly. "Isn't this a surprise?"

"Hopefully not too much of one, Peter Pan," she replies in a silky voice, and I can practically feel the glare Peter shoots her way.

"What is it you want, Morgana?" he asks icily.

"Why, isn't obvious? I'm here for my children. To remove them from this godforsaken place and bring them back home where they belong," she answers innocently.

"If they really were so important to you, wouldn't you have already tried to retrieve them before now?" Peter scoffs.

"Well how do you expect me to take on one of the most powerful beings in all the realms by myself?" she returns, again with feigned innocence.

I silently snort unbelievingly at this. She herself is one of the most powerful beings in all the realms and could easily take on Pan alone if she had truly wanted to.

Peter catches her bluff as well and states, "Please love, flattery will get you nowhere. Besides, even I'll admit that you could easily take me on. Why are you really here?"

Her false smile immediately disappears and a stony look replaces it. "You should know exactly why I'm here," she spits out. "And you know what I want. You brought Cathy here for a reason, Pan, and I am going to see to it that you fail."

"And what makes you think that I brought her here for a certain purpose?"

"Oh Peter, you and I both know that you never do anything without a specific reason for doing it. Otherwise you find it a waste of your time."

"What if I had just brought her back because I missed her?"

"Once again, I know your history with my daughter and how she wiped any memory of herself from your mind, so I know that can't be true," she says and then repeats, "I know that you brought her here for a special purpose and I won't let you go through with it."

"Oh and I suppose that this is just some new-found form of parental compassion?" Peter mocks her and her scowl deepens.

"Call it what you will, Pan, and mock me all you want to but I speak the truth."