I stumbled and grabbed the table to keep me on my feet before I collapsed. Peter put his arms around my waist to help me. “Alright, you can do this. I know it seems hard but you’ll get the hang of it. Walking will be like swimming on legs. It’ll become second nature eventually.”
I nodded and took my hands off the table. My legs wobbled and I fell onto my knees, groaning from the pain. I rubbed my face and sat on my legs, sighing.
Peter squatted down to my level and lifted my chin. “Don’t give up. It’s just a new thing you have to learn. Walking takes practice and your legs are new to you. It won’t be given to you like that. We won’t give up.”
I nodded a little and scooted off my legs before they fell asleep. I’d already felt that once and it was a terrible feeling. Peter told me it happened when you sat on them, putting them to sleep.
I coughed a bit and leaned my back against the wall. “One day I’ll hopefully get it. Maybe one day.”
Peter smiled and patted my hand that laid flat on my leg. “Of course. I’ll make sure of it.”
I closed my eyes.
“What are you doing?” Peter asked.
I barely opened my eyes to look at him. “I’m sleeping. I’m tired.”
“We’ve barely put in any walking exercises. We can’t sleep now.”
“But I’m tired.” I frowned.
He sighed. “Raina, what about walking? We have two different worlds after us. The sooner you can learn, the safer we will be.”
I looked at his hand that was still atop my own, and I flipped my hand underneath his, intertwining our fingers. “My eyes are so heavy...”
“We can fix that. I can wake you up.”
“I don’t want to wake up.”
Peter scooted closer, pushing the sides of our bodies together. “I don’t want to lose you.”
I looked at him and sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I want to sleep.” I swallowed.
He shook his head. “No, don’t say that. I would let you sleep but I just want to make sure we will be safe when we sleep. Until then, I want to teach you to walk.”
“Okay...” I closed my eyes.
“Raina...”
I groaned and opened them. “Fine.”
He kissed my cheek. “Come on, lets practice walking.”
I turned my head slightly and kissed him. I deepened the kiss as the pits of my stomach began to feel funny.
I lifted my shirt but Peter pulled it down. “I know what you want but we shouldn’t do that. We need to win this before we focus on anything that could get us both killed. Sex is a distraction and we have to avoid all distractions.”
I rubbed my eyes. “I can’t do anything I want, can I?”
“Everything you want involves us being vulnerable. You saw what happened. You were there when I died. We are in danger until this is solved.”
I sighed and nodded, pulling myself onto my feet, holding the table.
I tried to take steps with the help of the table but I stumbled so badly. My legs were still unstable.
This struggle went on for hours or what seemed like hours before I was allowed to give up. “Can we sleep yet?”
“You still want to sleep?” He looked at me.
I nodded. “Of course. I’m still tired.”
I yawned and took a seat on the bed. “This is comfy for me. It sure is different from sleeping on rocks.” I smiled.
Peter sat next to me. “Fine, I’ll let you take a nap but if I sense any danger, I have to wake you up.”
“Fair.”
I laid down onto his lap and closed my eyes. Peter started stroking my hair and I was out like the torches in this room.
I felt something poke me. I opened my eyes, shifting my body. “Who’s there?”
I sat up and looked around me, seeing all the boys that lived on this island. I looked at one in particular as he stepped forward, poking my leg with some weapon.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Felix said.
I swallowed and shook my head. “Peter took me here. He owns this island and it’s his decision.”
He laughed. “Ah, so you think he knows what he’s doing? No. Mermaids are evil. You are no better than the rest.”
“And you’re no better than your parents by treating me this way. I’m innocent.”
The boys stepped away from us. The anger grew within Felix as his skin turned red and his eyes turned a darker shade of blue. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
He came closer, putting the sharp weapon against my thread. “Don’t you insult me. I can kill you in an instant. I will kill you if I have to, and it looks like I have to.” He looked at the boys. “Start the fire. We’re having fish for dinner.” He looked at me with evil in his eyes.
The boys started a big fire in the middle of the area and Felix didn’t take his eyes off me as they did so.
He pulled me up by my arm, pulling me as I stumbled the whole way. He brought us to the fire. “We first need water to bring her tail, then we need to discard the clothes. I don’t need to have burnt fabric in my food.
The boys did as they were told and I struggled to get free. I knew it wouldn’t have mattered because I couldn’t run away if I did get loose. I had no balance on my legs yet.
“Don’t you dare harm her! I will banish every single one of you from Neverland. I will send all of you back to your families if you dare harm her,” Peter yelled.
The boys stopped what they were doing and looked at him. They knew what was at stake if they proceeded and they were not prepared to go back to misery at home. This was their home and they wanted to stay.
Felix dropped me and I fell in the dirt. He walked over to his leader. “You know that she’s fooling you. You can’t seriously be protecting a mermaid, especially one who is the queen of them all.”
“Felix, don’t tell me lies. I will do whatever I please. If you harm her, I will not hesitate to send you home where you’ll most likely be dead from abuse or neglect.” Peter’s expression was so serious that it began to scare me. I knew why he was threatening them, but it was not something I could picture him doing to them. He loved those boys like his brothers. He wouldn’t harm them, would he?
I never once threatened the lives of my people.
Felix shook his head, disappointed in his own king. “How could you choose a girl over us? We’ve always been there for you.”
I looked at the dirt, realizing what I’d done. I’d turned their king against them.
Peter shook his head. “If you were there, you’d let me be happy. I’m old enough to fall in love and make my own choices. I choose to be with her while I run this island. I choose this because I choose to be happy. You guys can’t fulfill romantic love.”
“She’s using you!”
Peter looked at me. “Raina, are you using me?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“If you were using me, would you continue to use me if your entire kingdom was plotting against you?”
“No.”
“Why would your people be out to kill me if you were just using me? Do you want me to die? Did you not save my life?”
“I was heartbroken when I thought you were gone.”
Peter looked at Felix and gave him a sarcastic smile. “There you have it. This girl here has been fighting her own people to be with me. She has been chained and she’s watched me drown. Would she really risk all of this if she was using me?”
Felix stayed silent and looked at me.
Peter came over to me and pulled me up, helping me stay balanced. “Raina has been rejected and controlled by her own people. They’ve made her feel worthless and ugly. They are forcing her to do something she doesn’t want to do. Not every mermaid is bad and she is living proof. Never judge a book by its cover.” He looked at his lost boys.
The boys keep their mouths shut as they kept listening to Peter.
“Her kind taught her that I was evil and I kill you guys if you step out of line. Is that true?”
“No,” a little boy said.
“If mermaids are wrong about me, can we not be wrong about their queen?” Peter looked at all of them.
The boys shuffled around and looked at the floor.
“We are quick to judge what we don’t know because we are trying to protect ourselves. It’s not wrong to trust someone I trust as well. She has been here for me. She has loved me and chosen to ignore the rumors about me despite what the mermaids said. If she really was out to use me, I wouldn’t be here. She would’ve eaten me a while back. I’ve given her plenty of chances and she has not abused my trust. She is safe.”
“If I was using Peter, I wouldn’t be here with you guys. I know that I can’t walk. I have no magic here since there’s no water. I’m completely defenseless here. I wouldn’t do something that could get me killed if I wasn’t in love with him openly,” I told them.
The boys looked at each other and began to talk amongst themselves. I chewed on my lip as I waited for the final outcome. Would I be roasted? Would Peter send him boys back to their terrible families? Could we live happily ever after? Did humans get to have such a thing?
Peter looked at me and back at the boys. “It’s either you accept her or you will have troubles. The mermaids are not all bad. They’re people, too.”
“Mermaids can be bad or good or in between,” I added.
Felix looked at the boys as they came over to Peter, one by one. “Are you serious?”
Some of them shrugged. “He’s right,” one of the boys said.
Felix groaned. He came over to peter. “I’m only doing this because I have no other choice but I still don’t trust her.”
Peter shrugged. “Fair enough. You don’t have to trust her. I just need you to tolerate that she’s going to be here forever. She’s the girl I love.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “So sappy.”
I chewed my lip. “Is this it? Does this mean the lost boys like me?”
Peter turned to me. “Not quite. They won’t continue to hurt you or threaten you. They will have to learn to like you in time.”
“I can live with that.” I smiled a bit. “Now we just have to make the mermaids stop threatening you as well.”
Peter nodded.
“Why is her voice like that?” a little boy asked.
Peter looked at him and bent down to his level. “She’s different. She’s not like the other mermaids. She’s the queen. I have magic and you boys don’t. She looks different and the mermaids don’t.”
The boy nodded his head and came over to me. “You looked funny.”
Peter warned, “Don’t be rude.”
“Sorry,” the boy said.
He looked at the ground, ashamed of what he said. Cora told me human children didn’t know how to filter their words. They were blunt people.
I smiled a bit. “It’s okay. I will always look like this but Peter likes that. You learn to live with it after nearly eighteen years.” I held onto Peter’s shoulder for support. “I’ve learned to live with the way I look. It hasn’t deterred me from a friend or a mate, yet.”
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