forever a lost boy

[lost_boy]

I woke with a start, my eyes open suddenly, instantly awake and without the slightest bit of grogginess that sometimes followed me into the morning. In Darrow, I had allowed myself to relax. When I slept, especially the nights I snuck into Eddie's room, I slept heavily. I slept like someone who felt safe, but this morning as I came awake, I knew everything had changed.

Somehow, I had known it even before my eyes were open, but now that they were, I could see everything in the dim sunlight that filtered in through the roots of the tree.

Slowly I sat up. The animal skins and furs piled on top of me fell away and it was a strange sort of relief to discover I was still wearing the t-shirt and striped pyjamas pants I had fallen asleep in. If nothing else, that meant Darrow hadn't been a dream, I hadn't gone there in my mind in some desperate attempt to escape Peter. Darrow was real and I was no longer there.

The very thought of it broke my heart.

I inhaled shakily, stifling the sob that wanted to slip out, then looked to my left. If I was here, it would be time to wake the other boys. Time to tell them what Peter was really like, but as I reached for the shape I thought would be Charlie or Nod or Crow, I realized the person lying next to me was familiar, but not for the reasons I would have thought.

I gaped at them, then turned to my other side and flung back the animal furs. I stood, stepping over shapes, pulling back the furs and skins so I could see those around me and another sob almost slipped out of me as I realized I wasn't alone. My friends were here. My friends from Darrow. I was overwhelmed with relief and gratitude for just a second before an absolute terror the likes of which I had only felt once before replaced my pleasure.

If they were here, they weren't safe. Not a single one of them. Peter would know I cared for them far more than I could ever care for him. He would see them as a threat.

As if my very thoughts had summoned him, a shape from the other end of the tree moved. Peter, holding a sharp blade in one hand and a rough piece of wood he'd been carving in the other, stepped into the midst of bodies, most of them still groggy, having just been pulled from sleep. He looked them over, a king surveying his domain, then smiled at me.

His teeth were perfect, tiny white pearls; his baby teeth. The ones I had knocked out the last time I'd seen him.

"Hullo, Jamie," he said cheerfully. "Welcome home."

[Initial post for anyone under 18. Feel free to use this for explanations, adventure, run-ins with fairies or mermaids or Peter, who will be outwardly cool to everyone, but won't be violent yet. In a few days I'll post a new top level for Jamie and Peter's fight.]

Comments

[lost_boy]

That was somehow both a relief and deeply upsetting at the same time. If Eddie wasn't here, it meant Peter couldn't get his hands on him and I was so grateful for that. But it also meant Eddie was alone back in Darrow, watching us as we all slept and wouldn't wake up and I hated to think of him stuck like that. Just waiting for us, never knowing what was happening.

"How are the pirates?" I asked. "Are they behaving themselves? Sometimes... well, I know they've welcomed other boys before, so maybe they won't mind some strangers joining their crew."

Maybe the ship was the safest place for all of us.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine has to stifle a snort at his question about the pirates. "They're behaving better than I'd've expected," she says. "They seem a bit confused, but... not to the point of drawing blades."

Which might mean they're better off on the ship than they would be at Peter's tree. None of this is exactly ideal, but at least the pirates are just human.

Daine takes a breath, then gets to business. "What do you need from me? I could carry messages between you and the folk on the ship easy enough. Should we all try and meet up, or something?"

[lost_boy]

That much was good at least, because it meant the others were safe, even if we weren't together. I had no idea what Peter might do if he saw someone like Magnus, someone clearly a grown up, or even worse, Elio. Someone who shared my face. It frightened me, thinking of how dangerous he might get, what he might try to do.

"I think they should stay there for now," I answered. "It sounds like all the grown up woke up on the Jolly Roger, which is a good thing. I'm not sure what Peter would do if he saw some of them, especially Elio. I don't want any of them to get hurt."

I paused, then asked, "Can you tell them that? Tell them I'm here, a few of us are, but it's safer for them to stay there. Or at least stay near the pirate camp."