by R. V. Bowman
“Are you Hook’s daughter?” The small boy who asked had brilliant red hair and freckles covered his face. He bobbed up and down, unable to stand still. His bright green eyes were alive with curiosity.
She looked at the boy and nodded.
He hopped up and down and jerked on the arm of the boy standing next to him. This one seemed a bit older, and he was tall, his hair a sandy color. “Did you hear that, Oscar? She’s Hook’s daughter, the one that can fight like a boy. And she’s going to be one us—a Lost Boy.” The taller boy patted the redhead absently.
Rommy turned her eyes back to Pan who was watching her with a sly smile. “You said that if I came, you’d let Alice go. Now, where is she?” she asked.
Pan shook his head. “Here I was trying to welcome you, but you are always in such a hurry.” He flew over to her, landing too close. Rommy had to fight not to step back from him. Instead, she lifted her chin.
Pan stared at where Finn’s hand still rested on her arm. He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think she’s going anywhere,” he said.
Finn dropped his hand and took a step away from Rommy. He gave a laugh. “You never know with this one.”
Pan chuckled. “Yes, our little Rommy is full of surprises.” He patted her cheek, and it was all she could do not to shudder.
Instead, she lifted her chin a notch higher. “This is all very nice, Pan, but where is Alice? She’s why I came, after all.”
Pan looked over at the boy still chewing his fingernail. “Jem, go get our newest recruit.” The boy flinched and then scuttled toward one of the caves.
Pan shrugged. “For some reason, Alice didn’t want to join us tonight. We did invite her.”
“I don’t want to come out there,” a familiar voice said. “I told you I ain’t wantin’ to be around that fruit loop.”
“P-P-Pan says you gotta come,” Jem said.
There was a scuffling sound, and then Jem dragged Alice from the cave, her hands tied in front of her. Her hair was a tangled nest on top of her head, and her dress’s sleeve hung from her shoulder. A purple bruise bloomed across her cheek. Noticing it, Rommy clenched her fists.
Across the space, Rommy met Alice’s eyes. She saw the relief in the younger girl’s eyes. Alice pulled her arm from the boy’s grasp and made a beeline toward Rommy. Pan intercepted her, dragging the little girl up close against his side. She leaned away from him, but he didn’t let go.
“I told you that you should’ve joined us,” he said. He ran his finger along the bruise on her cheek and made a tsking noise. “So stubborn, and you almost missed our visitor.”
“Alice, are you okay?” Rommy asked.
The little girl nodded her head, but her eyes cut to Pan. She raised her eyebrows at Rommy. Rommy gave a barely perceptible nod of her head. The side of Alice’s mouth flicked upward for a moment, and then she screwed up her face.
“You shouldn’t have come!” said Alice. To Rommy’s surprise, the girl blinked her eyes until two tears appeared and rolled down her cheeks. She bit the inside of her cheek. She had no idea Alice was such a good actor.
Rommy looked at Pan and spread out her arms. “You said you’d let Alice go if I came. Well, I’m here.”
Pan smiled, and, without warning, shoved Alice away from him. She stumbled and almost fell. “Go on then,” he said. “Nobody’s keeping you here.”
Rommy gritted her teeth. “Untie her. You know you can’t send her out all by herself with her hands tied up. She’ll never survive. You need to let Finn or another Lost Boy take her back to my father’s ship.”
Pan was suddenly nose-to-nose with Rommy. He smiled showing all of his teeth. “I said she could go free. I said nothing about how I’d let her go.” He paused, and his eyes slitted. “Of course, she can always stay here with us. I can’t say that I mind having Lost Girls instead of Lost Boys. They don’t eat nearly as much.”
One of the boys, she thought it was the one Pan had called Willie, laughed, holding his belly. “Good one, Peter!” he said. The others ignored him, focused on the exchange between her and Pan.
Pan flew up into the air and hovered cross-legged. His eyes focused on Rommy when he spoke. “Well, Alice, what do you think? Do you want to stay or leave? This is the only time I’ll ask.”
Alice scowled up at him. “You always was a complete git,” she said.
Pan laughed. “So much spirit,” he said. He looked around at the boys. “I told you she’d made a good Lost Boy. She just needs to be trained.” Then he swiveled toward Rommy and pointed. “And she will, too.” He flew up beside her, his face sliding next to hers. “Will you need training too, Rommy?”
“I wanna see her fight,” the redheaded boy said. He was jumping up and down again. Rommy briefly wondered if he ever stood still.
A light appeared in Pan’s eyes as he whirled toward the little boy. “What a brilliant idea, Henry,” he said. “Every Lost Boy gets an initiation. This will be perfect for Hook’s daughter.” He winked at Rommy. “I don’t suppose you brought your sword with you?”
Rommy just stared back at Pan and held both arms out at her sides as an answer. She wanted to throttle that little red-haired boy. Her eyes found Finn. She hoped that whatever he was planning would happen soon. The last thing she wanted to do was get into a duel with Pan.
With Pan’s focus on her, Finn had edged toward the darkness beyond the fire’s circle of light. Now, he froze, a look of panic on his face. He wiped away the expression when Pan whirled toward him.
“Get my extra dirk,” Pan said. He looked back at Rommy and shrugged. “I know you prefer your sword, but we have to use what we have.”
Chapter 12:
Midnight Rescue
Rommy crossed her arms, playing for time. “What if I refuse?”
Pan shook his finger at her playfully. “I’d say that would be a fatal mistake.” He let out a peal of laughter and spun away. Finn came out of a cave, holding a weapon that looked old and beaten up.
“Ah, here it is,” said Pan. He plucked the short sword from Finn’s hand and flew toward Rommy. He presented it to her hilt first. “It was my old man’s, but when I left, he didn’t need it anymore.” A spasm of rage flickered across Pan’s face, and Rommy flinched away from him. Noticing her reaction, Pan’s face smoothed back into a smile, but it had a sharp edge to it. She reluctantly took the dirk from him.
Rommy swallowed. Finn could start that distraction anytime now. She looked around for Alice. Catching her eye, Alice gave a small nod. The little girl was rubbing the bindings on her wrists against a rock. Alice would be ready.
The Lost Boys had formed a circle, and Rommy and Pan were at the center. She wasn’t sure when Finn would act, but she wasn’t about to let Pan get the jump on her. She raised the sword and balanced on her toes.
Pan let out a loud laugh. “Look at that, boys,” he said. “I knew our Rommy would not disappoint.”
Without warning, he whirled and brought his dirk down in a savage arc. Rommy thrust up her own dirk and blocked him. The force sent vibrations up her arm and into her shoulders. Her focus narrowed onto Pan. Dimly, she could hear the boys shouting, but she concentrated on blocking and striking. The two of them whirled up off the ground in a dance of clashing steel.
Pan flitted away from her, and his laugh was full of joy. “I knew it,” he said. “I knew you’d be brilliant with us.”
Rommy lunged at him, and he blocked her at the last moment. “I’m not with you,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Admit it,” said Pan as he drove her backward with a flurry of strikes. “You want this; you want to be a part of this. Your old man does nothing but disappoint you.”
Rommy halted his onslaught and went on an attack of her own. “I’m. Not. Joining. You.” She punctuated each word with a slashing strike. Pan blocked them. His next lock put them almost face-to-face behind their weapons. He stared into her eyes before he shoved hard. They separated, both panting.
“If you win,” he
said, “you and Alice can go.” He whirled around, and hot pain slashed across her arm as the tip of his sword sliced through the fabric of her shirt. He backed away and smiled at her. “But if you lose, you’re mine.”
Rommy’s grip on her sword tightened. She didn’t want to enter any bargains with Pan, but Finn had yet to produce that distraction. She gave a small nod. Pan rushed at her, holding his sword like a club. She dodged to the side, and he blew past her. Her dirk darted out, and Pan hissed as her weapon drew a line on his forearm.
Before Pan could strike back, the sky was suddenly full of birds. Bright feathers flashed in the twinkling light from the stars, and the air filled with a loud cacophony of squawks and screeches.
Startled, Pan clapped his hands over his ears. Rommy hesitated. Pan’s focus was on the birds flapping around him. He was completely vulnerable. Rommy could end this once and for all. The dirk trembled in her hand. She looked at his scrunched-up face with his eyes squeezed shut. He looked very young in that moment.
She threw down the dirk and whirled away, rocketing toward Alice who had gotten her hands free at last.
“We need to hurry, Alice.” She pulled the little girl toward the water that glistened in the moonlight.
Alice dug in her heels. “What’re ya doing? Shouldn’t we be bunking it?” She thrust a thumb in the opposite direction.
“That’s the first place Pan will look,” said Rommy, tugging at the girl to get her to move.
As they got closer to the waterfall and the frothing pool at its base, Alice balked again. “Come on,” urged Rommy. “Finn said there’s a cave behind the waterfall and a tunnel.”
“But I can’t swim,” said Alice, her face white.
Rommy stared at her in dismay. She glanced around. Finn was waving his hand to go. The birds continued to dart and dive, but she could see the boys were reacting now. Several had picked up stones and were throwing them. A few hit their mark. High above them, Pan was no longer stationary. She saw him point at Finn. “You!” Pan yelled.
There was no time left and no other options. Grabbing Alice’s arm, Rommy said, “Hang on and don’t let go.” And then she leaped into the water, pulling Alice with her.
Rommy and Alice both sunk below the churning water. The girls surfaced, Alice sputtering and clutching onto Rommy like a wet cat.
“Alice,” she said. The girl’s fear-glazed eyes didn’t seem to see her, so Rommy lightly slapped Alice’s cheek. “Alice, if you keep clutching at me like that, we’re both going to drown.”
Alice seemed to snap back, but she was trembling. “It’s okay,” said Rommy. “Now, I need you to come around me so that you can hang onto my shoulders from the back. You just keep a tight grip on me, and I’ll swim under the waterfall. It’ll be over before you know it.”
“Under the waterfall? Did yer mother drop you on yer head? You can’t swim under a waterfall. It’ll smash us to bits, it will!”
“It won’t, Alice,” said Rommy. “You have to trust me, or Pan’s going to find us.”
Alice’s violet eyes stared into Rommy’s, and she pressed her quivering lips together. “Okay,” she said finally. The little girl inched her way around to Rommy’s back. It seemed to take forever until her small hands clutched Rommy’s shoulders.
“Take a deep breath, Alice,” said Rommy over the roar of the waterfall. Following her own advice, Rommy filled her lungs and dove.
Within seconds, Rommy was being pummeled by the waterfall, the pressure pushing her toward the bottom of the pool with inexorable force. Alice’s fingers dug into her shoulders. It was impossible to see through the churning water, and the force shoved Rommy’s body from the force. Desperately, she moved what she hoped was forward through the roar of the water.
Her foot brushed the rocky bottom of the pool, and then she felt a searing pain. Her left calf was on fire, but she kept swimming. And then they were through. She surfaced inside a cavern that lay in inky blackness. Moonlight filtered through the rushing water and barely illuminated the cave’s interior. She paddled over to the edge of the pool. Alice peeled her hands off Rommy’s shoulders and pulled herself up onto the bank. Rommy flopped next to her.
She twisted around and stared at her leg. It was difficult to see in the cave’s darkness. She rolled up her pant leg, hissing in pain.
“What is it?” Alice asked, crawling closer.
“I think something bit me,” said Rommy, peering at two puncture marks surrounded by a dark splotch.
Alice looked up at her, her eyes wide. “Uh-oh,” she said. “What do you think it was? A snake?”
Rommy shook her head. “I don’t know. My foot hit the bottom of the pool, and then there was all this pain. Maybe I hit something?”
“Do you think it was poisonous?” Alice frowned at the growing dark patch on Rommy’s leg.
“I hope not,” said Rommy. She gingerly stood up and put her foot on the cold stone floor. Pain streaked up her leg. She gave a one-legged hop and floated up into the air. “Good thing I can fly,” she said, trying to smile around the pain.
“How do we get out of this place?” Alice asked, looking around. “I don’t want to go out the way we came in, that’s for sure.”
“Finn said there was a tunnel that would lead us out to the far side of the cliffs,” Rommy said.
“It’s so dark in here. How are we supposed to find this tunnel without bashing our brains out on all those long things hanging from the ceiling?” Alice gestured at the stalagmites that hung at various lengths from the ceiling hiding in the darkness far above them.
Before Rommy could answer, a small light came whizzing at them. It made a tinkling sound as it did a loop around them.
“Ooh, it’s Nissa,” said Alice.
The fairy made a tighter circle around the girls and hovered in front of Rommy’s leg. Her pant leg was still rolled up. The small creature made a hissing sound and then flew until she was eye level with Rommy. She started chittering and gesturing.
Rommy let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re saying,” she said to the agitated fairy. The fairy spiraled down, and Rommy felt her lightly touching her leg. Suddenly, pain exploded up her leg, and Rommy sank to the hard stone ground. She thought she might be sick. After the initial burst of pain, her leg felt like someone had set it on fire. She tried to pull it away, but the fairy hissed and chittered at her again.
“What’re you doing to her?” demanded Alice as she slid down next to Rommy.
Just when Rommy thought she couldn’t bear the burning any longer, it simmered down to just warmth. The fairy rose again to flutter in front of Rommy’s face. She clicked and whistled, gesturing with her tiny hands. Rommy still had no idea what she was saying.
“That splotchy spot is glowing now,” reported Alice who was inspecting Rommy’s leg.
Rommy looked at the tiny creature. Up close, she could see the fairy was wearing a silvery dress, and her hair was a pale lavender that matched her eyes. The fairy tinkled something at her and then buzzed away toward a distant spot in the cavern. Rommy tried to scramble up to follow, but her head whirled and she sank back down onto the ground.
“What’s wrong with you?” Alice said.
“I...I don’t know, but I feel strange,” said Rommy. The cavern seemed to be spinning around her, and no matter where she looked, nothing would stay still. Blackness crowded at the corners of her vision.
The last thing Rommy saw was Alice’s worried face and a tiny silvery light.
Chapter 13:
Alice Spills the Beans
As Rommy swam up out of the darkness, she could hear voices murmuring. She tried to focus, to identify who was speaking and what they were saying, but all she could make out were snatches of conversation.
“... brought her...fast...”
“Wot’s wrong...breathing all funny...”
Rommy felt heat on her leg again. It kept getting hotter, and she struggled to pull her leg away, but a strong hand held her lim
b in place. Something cool and wet pushed against her lips, and she swallowed.
The voices faded away again, and she sank back into the blackness.
ROMMY BECAME AWARE of voices. Softness covered her. She cracked her eyes open and blinked. A wizened face came into view.
“Welcome back,” said a soothing voice, and the wrinkled face broke into a smile. A gentle hand smoothed back her hair.
She tried to speak, but her mouth was so dry, all she did was croak. A cup appeared, and cool water flowed between her lips. She sputtered and then swallowed. “Where am I? What happened?” She struggled to sit up, but gentle hands pressed her back down onto the bed.
“Gently, gently,” said the old woman who was tending her. “You’re here in my home.”
Two more heads popped into view, one small with big violet eyes and the other with shaggy dark hair and gray eyes that weren’t laughing at the moment.
“You’re alive!” said Alice. “I thought you were a goner, for sure. If it hadn’t a been for Finn, here, you woulda been, too.” Alice jerked her thumb at the boy who stood next to her, his face grim.
Rommy blinked her eyes, trying to remember what had happened. The memories came rushing back—diving into the pool, being pushed down by the pounding water, the searing pain in her leg.
Her eyes widened in sudden understanding. “Something bit me! Is that what’s wrong with me? Was it poisonous?” She looked from the elderly woman to Finn and back to Alice.
Little Owl’s face was gentle as she answered. “You were bitten by a singing eel. They generally don’t bother people, but you must have disturbed one. They seem to be poisonous only to a few, and you, Child, are one of them. Usually a singing eel bite just makes you feel poorly for a day or two, but for some people, it brings a worse illness and even death. You are lucky that young Finn brought you here so quickly.”
“Brought me here?” Rommy looked from Little Owl to Finn, who was avoiding her gaze and staring at his feet. “Do you mean you carried me all the way here?” She could feel a blush working its way up her neck.