Potential for Darkness (Peter Pan)//(Robbie Kay)

51 ~ Hostages

Soooo I got to update earlier than planned, courtesy of the quarantine :/
I hope you're all staying home, safe and healthy :)

<<<Day 207>>>

Adelina was squirming in her bed, fast asleep, the sheets twisting underneath her limbs as she battled against an invisible enemy. Sweat was beading on her forehead despite the early morning's chill, a whimper escaping her parted, flushed lips. Her closed eyelids fluttered, hidden beneath, her eyes jerked in every direction, panicked and vulnerable. Fear seeped into her skin, making her drown in it.

The tense, oppressive silence of her room was shattered as a heavy knock sounded. Yet the girl, still trapped in her nightmare, was unable to react. Whoever stood waiting outside her room knocked once more, louder this time. As still no answer came, they tried the knob and, finding it unlocked, opened the door.

At last, Adelina stirred from her fretful slumber.

"Oh, shit! Sorry, I didn't think you'd still be sleeping," Aiden exclaimed as he walked in. His first move was to cover his eyes then, noticing she was in decent sleepwear, slowly lowered his hand.

"It's okay," Adelina mumbled as she pulled herself out of her bed. The nightmare still clung to her skin and she shivered, the ghost of Ryan's cruel hands not dissipating easily. "I had to wake up soon anyways," she reassured him, crossing her room to pull on some more temperature appropriate clothes.

Doing so, she made sure to carefully control her facial muscles, not wanting him to see how truly vulnerable she was feeling in that moment. When would the trauma Ryan had inflicted leave her? When would she finally be free of the past that plagued her almost every night? As she was fastening her cloak, fingers trembling unnoticeably, she turned back to face her friend. He too seemed preoccupied, fidgeting nervously as he waited for her at the foot of the door.

She prompted him, "I'm assuming there's a reason you came to find me?"

Aiden nodded quickly, his movements jittery and on edge. "Two boys were taken hostage last night."

A frown settled itself over her features. "Pirates?" she guessed.

He shook his head. "Indians," he corrected with a somber voice. He knew just as well as she did what it meant. The Indians had sided with the pirates, and had begun open hostilities.

"And why didn't you go to Pan with this?" she questioned as she followed him out of her room, lacing her belt around her waist.

"That's what we did, but Pan told us to let them die for all he cared." He sighed, running a worried hand down his face. "They were two of our newest boys, they came in last week, and for some reason they snuck out last night," he informed her as they accessed the main clearing. "This morning, their roommates reported them missing and when we tracked down their footprints, we found a note where the tracks ended."

A ransom. Classic. Adelina bit the inside of her cheek. "What do the Indians want in exchange?"

Aiden shrugged. "Whatever it was that you took from them. The note wasn't really clear."

The bracelet. Hook's crew had taken their shot at recovering it, and now so were the Indians. They truly must be getting desperate if they thought bargaining two lost boy lives were going to get Pan to give up the one thing that could incapacitate him.

"So? Will you talk to Pan?" the swords master asked her apprehensively. "Those boys haven't been here long but... they're family. We don't give up on family."

The second in command nodded, determined. "I'll do my best."

Feeling for the energies around her, she located Pan in the training clearing. His light was so bright and overbearing that the task was done in less than a heartbeat. Still, it was becoming increasingly disconcerting how easily she always managed to pick up her leader's presence.