James ended up staying while Felix got called to help Pan with unknown business.

I was now sitting up in the bed, mostly healed except for the headache. I had a bucket next to me, which I had used twice and resulted in James having to clean it out.

He seemed to think it was just the beating...but it was also the stress and the confusion that sadly contributed to my disgusting puking.

Not like I expected to see him, but Pan didn't visit that day. Apparently he had other issues to attend to. Instead, James delivered messages back and forth, provided me with food and helped me walk to the toilet when I needed to go. We would barely chat but when we did, he would discuss the island, which he told me was called Neverland.

He explained how it was...magical, and that there were also pirates and mermaids.

I didn't sleep in the medical bed that night but instead, my own. I was glad to get some rest, despite not doing anything for most of the day except, well, being beaten up of course.

The soft hymn of the flute returned that night, soundly sending me to sleep.

+++

When my eyes opened the next morning, I was surprised to feel that my injuries were gone, including my migraine. I just sat in bed, not really having the enthusiasm to get out of it and change for the day. What if yesterday repeated again?

Pan won't let it happen.

I rolled my eyes at myself. I don't need him to be my guardian angel I thought back, grumbling aloud.

Taking a sigh, I managed to heave myself out of bed and get changed into the same attire that I wore yesterday – it felt nice to put it back on, as it surprisingly gave me a boost of confidence. I ran my hands through my hair, de-knotting it and attempting to style it, but I could feel the dirtiness already.

I was about to walk out until I paused by the tent's exit, the glimmer of the chest's golden hitch sparkling in the corner of my eye. The chest laid mysteries not even I could figure out and...my curiosity was too strong to ignore. Taking another, deep breath, I walked over and kneeled my knees before it. I swallowed down the forming lump in my throat, the soft breeze of Neverland chilling my spin and awakening me.

My finger-tips brushed the metal hitch, my bottom lip slightly dropped.

I was brought here for a purpose, was I not? What was that purpose?

I heaved the chest open and by some sort of magic that I was unaware of, it had re-filled with another attire, a dagger placed upon the clothes and...

A rolled piece of parchment.

Without any hesitation, my hand shot inwards and snatched the paper. My hands surprisingly began to start shaking as I unwrapped it, anxious to see what it read.

And it only said 6 words:

Rolling it up instantly, I sheathed the dagger, slammed the chest closed and ran out of my tent, heading straight to the camp. My eyes were as wild as my mind: so many questions, so many unsolved mysteries...but these 6 words, these 6 simple words was enough.

I skidded to a stop on the camp's outskirts, all eyes locking on me now.

The first person I saw was James, his face smeared with concern. Holding the parchment tightly in my hand, I demanded, "I need to see Pan."

+++

James and I sped walk to his tent, both in silent like usual. He hadn't asked to see it and I found it quite polite of him.

But the silence sat uneasily in my stomach.

"Will he be there?"

For a moment, James didn't respond – his hesitation told me he was about to lie.

"I don't know."

Stopping in my tracks, I grabbed his wrist and stared right into his eyes, glaring him down.

"You know where he –"

"He's doing errands with Felix, Serena," James said strongly, pulling his wrist away from my grasp. "Hold your tongue. I'm surprised you're not dead yet."

"Yet..." I grumbled, clenching my jaw as we started walking again.

"You underestimate him."

"Who, Pan?"

I paused in my tracks, blankly staring at him. "I've been here for what, three days? You can't blame me," I said in a matter-of-fact tone, half disgusted that nobody seemed to understand that factor. For goodness sakes, I didn't even have any memories of my previous life, whatever it was; James sighed before talking.

"You see any other girls around here?" he asked but I knew it was rhetorical. "If you want to stay here –"

"I took down Daniel."

James scoffed. "And then you got beaten up. You're a smart one, like a fox – OH!"

Confused, I stared back at him with my head slightly tilted. He shook it off and we kept walking.

"The point is: you were brought here for a reason."

I rolled my eyes and said, "we've established that."

"Yes, and once Pan finds out what is it and realizes he may not need you on the island –"

"What, he'll kill me?" I said it in a joking way but when James replied with a single "yes", I pursed my lips and decided to end the conversation there.

+++

James and I waited outside of his tent, sitting on a log. He had read the parchment and it was now wrapped in his hands, both of our gazes locked onto it.

When I had shown up, I saw something click in his mind but no matter how hard I pursued getting the information out of him, I never could.

I gulped, my eyes staring at the paper. I wasn't anyone special. In fact, I was so less of a person that I could get disregarded and killed at any second.

It's also the fact that Pan didn't know himself why I was brought to Neverland, but I had a feeling James knew...and soon Pan would too.

"What is it?"

We both lifted our heads to see Pan storming towards us, Felix at his side. "It better be bloody important or –"

James held out the parchment in silence, Pan's words stopping in their tracks, just like his feet. His demonic, green gaze flickered to mine, his plump, pink lips pursed in a straight line.

He snatched the paper from James' hand and opened it within a second. I watched as his eyes filled with the realization that had hit James moments ago, the realization that I had not known yet.

Pan pulled himself together and kept his emotions hidden as he wrapped up the paper, shoving it beneath his belt. If his gaze could truly burn, then it would.

He walked over, his eyes scanning me like a predator and I merely felt like a little rabbit, unable to escape the viper that would soon attack.

And then he did.

I don't know how, but he smashed his hand into my chest, his eyes locked on mine ferociously. All the air left my chest in an instant, gasping loudly as it felt like something caught in my throat. I stared into his eyes then, into the hell that I was witnessing.

He removed his hand...and also my heart, bright red and beating in his hand. Oxygen came back to me but so did a tear – a single tear rolling down my cheek, my eyes unable to look at him.

"This isn't it," he mumbled, somewhat disappointed and angry. With a loud groan of agitation, he smashed my heart back into my chest and the pain and breathless feeling returned for a second.

Nobody spoke...until I snapped.

"You were going to kill me!" I sneered, my shaking, glassy eyes staring at his; I couldn't read them. "Just like that. Am I really that worthless?" I was yelling now, not caring about 'holding my tongue'. I'd live with the consequences but looking at what just happened, I wouldn't be living for much longer.

I reached out and snatched the parchment back.

And then I ripped it up, my bottom lip quivering as a couple more tears fell.

"Go to hell. All of you."