Belief Extraordinary

Best Laid Plans

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.