Felix snorted. "Didn't think you'd want an audience, little bird." Sarah snapped her eyes to him in a fierce glare.
"Stuff it, Felix." She ordered. "I'm not following your plan." Martín and Teo exchanged looks behind her back. Both of them doubted whether Felix's plan to distract Pan would work, whatever it was, but they doubted even more any plan which Sarah made. She glanced back to Martín, who tried his best to look as though he didn't doubt her in the slightest. "I'll only need him for a little bit." She told the boy's intended partner. Then, she paused, brow furrowed. "No, scratch that – can you follow Felix alone?"
Martín glanced sceptically towards Felix, not wanting to overstep his orders. Felix merely shrugged. Unlike the rest of them, Sarah had real skin in this game – if she thought she could do better, let her try. Whether they won or lost, he had a feeling he would get what he wanted. Sarah knelt before a wary Cody. "Alright, here's what we're going to do."
A short time later, hoots and howls sounded as Pan called for the boys to gather round. "Today we play the Triple Race!" He called. "The rules are simple." He glanced at Sarah with a smirk, and she told her heart very sternly to stop its stupid fluttering. "No magic. The first team to make it with half their people to the endpoint, wins. And the endpoint is..." He paused. She had to hand it to him, his raw charisma was impressive. The boys were raring to go, and even Felix seemed quietly excited. "Deadman's Peak." Cheers erupted. Sarah had no idea what anything on the island was called, but she supposed it didn't matter. She wouldn't be going there anyway. "The three teams will spread out in an arc to start off – your team captains know where to start. May the best team win." A cocky grin lit up his face. "Boys. Let's play!"
The three teams spread off like rockets from the camp. They'd have fifteen minutes to get to their start points, then the race would begin. Felix's team was on the right of the arc, Nibs' on the left. Conveniently for her plan, Pan was on the center. Martín had told her it was to even out the playing field, or try to – Pan's team would have to deal with attacks from two directions. They were still expected to win. We'll just see about that, she told herself. She took deep breaths as they waited at the start point to try and calm her nerves. Her plan was something of a crazy one, but she had hope it might be just crazy enough to work.
And if it doesn't – she shook her head. No, she would not stoop to trying to distract Pan with Felix's methods. Even if the Lost Boys learn your secret? The voice in the back of her mind had picked a fine time to start needling her again. They'd never respect you again, you know. Surely it wouldn't be as bad as all that. Just another of Pan's games. She growled at her thoughts. "Shut up!" She whispered fiercely. Cody, beside her, looked up in fear. He hadn't said anything out loud – could she read minds, too? He tried to focus on keeping his thoughts very, very blank.
"Sorry." Sarah told him sheepishly, when she noticed his expression. He looked at her with widened eyes, and she smiled. "I didn't mean you." Cody looked away quickly. When Pan smiled, it was usually dangerous. He had seen her smiling with the other Lost Boys many times, and nothing bad had happened to them, but all the same it was a risk he didn't really want to take. "Are you ready?" Cody nodded stiffly. She hoped he was. There was a lot of places where her plan could go wrong, she knew, but she told herself she didn't have to stop the entire team – just distract Pan long enough that Felix and the others could get ahead.
When the fifteen minutes were up, she ran. Cody trailed after her, his longer tenure on the island making up for her longer stride. He moved much more quietly as well, but for once Sarah didn't mind her loudness. She was out for attention, and crashing like an elephant through the jungle was one sure-fire way to get it. She carried a long staff in her hand, identical to the one she'd lost before. For all she knew, it was the same – it hadn't been there when she'd gone back to the ledge while out of camp. She hoped she wouldn't have much need to use it.
Just when she thought she couldn't run anymore, they heard sounds. Not footsteps, the boys moved too quietly for that, but laughter. Arrogant laughter. She looked to Cody to make sure he was ready. Then, as the sound drew closer, she nodded at Cody. He yelped a warning, then she threw herself with a to the ground with a blood-curdling scream. The laughter stopped. The echo of her scream faded into silence. Everywhere in earshot, Lost Boys listened. Cody, panicking, forgot his lines. She flashed her eyes at him, and he ran to kneel beside her, making a frenetic show of fussing around her ankle. "Only half the team has to make it, Cody." She told him loudly, with a straining in her voice. "I'll be f-" She sucked in a deep breath. "Fine, just go." She caught sight of bodies through the trees. Brown hood, brown hood – there! Green shirt. She covered up a smile. "Run, Cody!" She yelled.
"N-No," Cody fumbled over what he was supposed to say. "I won't leave you behind!" His eyes flickered to the boys coming through the trees. "N-not if you're hurt?" Sarah wished he'd sounded a little more convinced.
"Now!" She ordered. "Warn Felix!" Cody nodded at last and ran, far and away from where Felix had any plans to go. Sarah panted heavily on the ground. She made a show of trying to use her staff for leverage to get up as a ring of six boys came into her view. Pan nodded to two of the boys and jerked his head in the direction Cody had gone. They followed after him – if all went well, they would meet with Nibs' team long before her own. She had hoped for more of his group to follow Cody, but she'd take what she could get. She just hoped Cody ran fast enough to make it count. Pan looked down at her, a smirk on his face.
"Having trouble, Lost Girl?" Sarah's hands clenched on the staff as she blinked up at Pan through narrowed eyes. His brow furrowed.
"I'm." She spoke through gritted teeth. "Fine." She pretended as though she were trying to stand once more. "Peachy." She let out a half-whine that converted on the end into a growl. "Ready to beat you all at this..." She huffed. "Game." She narrowed her eyes, blinking them rapidly as she did whenever she was trying not to cry.
Pan looked at his remaining teammates and nodded. The three exchanged wary looks, but went ahead without their leader. She turned the resulting smile to a grimace. It was working. Pan knelt down beside her. "Can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?" He asked softly. A twinge of guilt pulled at Sarah's conscience. After all her talk at wanting him to care, here she was trying to take advantage of him now that he did. "That's quite a scream you've got." Sarah tried to push him backwards with her staff. He batted it aside as though it were a twig – she had not put much force in the attempt. He rolled his eyes, although those eyes were smiling. "Just let me look at it."
"I'm fine." She said again. Once he looked, he'd see there was no problem at all. She told herself she wasn't actually lying. After all, she had just told him she was fine. It wasn't her fault if he misread body language. Keep telling yourself this isn't a lie. She tried to shove that little trickle of guilt far down. "Don't you have a game to play?" She grumbled. "Find me later." She tried to move again, fake-wincing with the effort. "Or if anything, I'll just teleport back to camp."
"I wouldn't, if I were you." He remarked lightly. "Magic transportation's chancy when you can't put weight on something." Sarah blinked.
"How do you know?" Had the great Peter Pan actually once been injured? The idea was humanising, and therefore very appealing. Remembering that she was supposed to be in pain, she added in a wince. She was too late.
Pan's eyes roamed over her legs and narrowed as he saw no bleeding or dislocation. He looked back to Sarah's face. An unpracticed liar, the guilt gave her away. He stood with a snicker. "Clever." He said, his tone shifting to something much cooler and sharper. "But not clever enough. I sincerely hope you weren't depending on that plan." How long had it been? Not nearly long enough, she was sure. As he turned to run through the forest, she stood. Her brain raced, trying to think of a way to keep him from meeting up with his team. Magic was off limits, which meant...telling herself all the while that this was her dumbest decision yet, she ran at Pan's retreating back.
She leapt to grab him, but having heard her approach, he turned at the last moment and she missed, crashing instead to the jungle floor. She scrambled upwards, wiping scratched palms on her trousers. Pan watched her with a smirk. "You're going to have to do better than that, Lost Girl." He taunted. "Did Felix really send you to try and stop me?" He barked a laugh. "My lieutenant's losing his touch."
"Maybe Felix knows I'm stronger than I look." Sarah told him firmly. She knelt to pick up her staff. "It's been a while since the last time we fought." She held her jaw up stiffly. "Maybe I'll surprise you." Pan snickered, looking off to the side and back to her.
"You don't really think you have a chance?" He demanded. Nonetheless, he drew a sabre from his belt. Sarah grit her teeth, and moved her staff to a defensive pose. His first few strikes were light, and she could block them with her staff easily enough. He's toying with me, she thought with irritation. Well, let him. Every minute was another minute of lead time for Felix. Sarah danced away from him, trying to stretch the fight as long as possible. "I'm surprised you're putting such an effort into this." Pan noted idly. His attacks had hastened, and she was panting now trying to keep up. "Considering this morning you didn't even want to play."
"What. Can I say?" She huffed between blocks. "I just love running around the jungle getting into fights I'll never win." As if to prove her right, his blade nimbly twisted the staff from her hands. He brought the tip to her throat, and sulking, she raised her hands in surrender. Think, Sarah. Deception had failed, as had fighting him head-on. Pan slid the sword back in its scabbard with a laugh.
"Better luck next time, Lost Girl." Think faster! She grabbed his hand. He looked from it to her in surprise.
"Peter, wait. I–" She faltered. She wasn't thinking fast enough. He smirked as comprehension dawned.
"Oh now I see what Felix thinks he's doing." He laughed. "I suppose you didn't tell him that you can hardly even bear to stand next to me?" Sarah's hand fell away. She was batting zero for three. His hands scooped up her own. "It's a shame." He told her smoothly, holding her transfixed with his steady gaze. "I'm sure you would have made for quite a fun distraction." Something coarse tightened around her wrists. When had he managed that? She broke his gaze at last, trying to push him away and wriggling her wrists. It was too late. They were already tied.
A growl ripped from her throat as she tried to yank the remaining rope from his hands. "This is overkill." She complained. Pan tugged on the rope, and she was forced to stumble forward. She watched with growing annoyance as he walked it around a tree – and tied her to it. "Peter!" She yelled at his repeating back. "Get back here!"
"Don't worry Lost Girl." He called lightly over his shoulder. "I'll come back for you after I win."
Sarah continued to struggle against the ropes, trying to wriggle out from the ones around the tree if not the ones around her wrists. She groaned as a familiar sensation began to sting – rope burns. She knocked her head lightly against the bark several times, and groaned. "I knew I should never have played this stupid game."
