Chapter Twelve: Caught

                                    

                                          
Apparently, it didn't. Sarah watched with dismay as several of the boys on shore lay down their weapons and began swimming towards her. Emboldened by surviving her second near-death experience in as many days, she didn't want to give up just yet. She stole a glance up at the wall of the cove. The rocks here were more jagged than the ones she had so spectacularly failed to climb yesterday, which meant there were far more hand and footholds for her to take advantage of-provided they didn't crumble beneath her. And the wall isn't that high, she told herself. With the boys drawing closer, she grabbed for the nearest ledge. It held, as did the next one, and the one after that as she reached her feet successfully on the wall. She was doing it! With a whoop of victory, she scaled upwards about another foot-before Felix's grinning face ambled into her view. You forgot there were more of them on the beach, you idiot. She scolded herself.
                          
"Doing better than yesterday, little bird." The blonde drawled. With his already prodigious height and his vantage several feet above her, he loomed like the giant from a fairy story. Sarah gulped. Between the boys in the water below and Felix on the ledge above, she was pinned. Her eyes darted about, seeking some other escape. "Looks like your time is up, Sarah." The false cheerfulness of his tone no longer frightened her, but it did annoy her. She glared up at him. "Only question now is who you want to lose to." He hefted his club from his shoulder. Sarah looked down at the Lost Boys gathered below, and back up to Felix. With a snarl of frustration, she pushed herself off the cove wall. Like hell she would lose to him.
                          
She landed on one of the boys, which sent the others into whoops of laughter. A bevy of rough hands hauled her back to shore. She went quietly. She tried to tell herself it was because she was tired from her mad dash through the forest and that struggling wouldn't accomplish anything anyway. Nice try, her mind needled. We both know you're just sulking. How rude! She most certainly was not. Much.
                          
She continued to sulk as the victors tied her hands and feet with rope. She continued to sulk right up until one of them slung her over his shoulder, a younger teenager with a sturdy build and a wild shock of red hair.  She protested this treatment loudly. "I can walk just fine you know!" For a game, even one where they had been wielding real weapons, this was overkill. The Lost Boys, by comparison, were in high spirits. As they traveled through the jungle with their dripping prize, wild calls echoed between the groups. The one that had succeeded in catching her was by rights the most excited of all, laughing amongst themselves and rough-housing all the way back. "Look," Sarah tried when they had gone a bit further into the jungle. "If you really want to do the whole "glorious conquerors" thing, why not just tie me back up before you actually walk into camp?" The boys didn't respond to her. "Your arms would be less tired!" She insisted. And my ribs would be a lot less sore.
                          
That did make an impression, though not in the way she had hoped. "Hey Arthur!" The boy holding her called out. His eyes glinted mischievously, though Sarah in her current predicament could not see them. "Catch!" Sarah flailed as wildly as she could given both her hands and feet were tied, landing with a crash against her new carrier.
                          
"A gift, for me?" This boy was slightly older, maybe about the same age as Felix, with dark skin and a leaner build than her last confiner. Arthur slung her over his shoulder as well with exaggerated thanks.  "Xavier, you shouldn't have."  Sarah groaned.
                          
"I hate you all." She grumbled. Arthur laughed, and to her surprise, it sounded like it was with her rather than at her. An amused face popped up in front of her own, grinning. Judging by the familiar shock of red hair, this was Xavier-the boy who had just sent her flying through the air.
                          
"Aww, not enjoying the game Lost Girl?" Xavier asked her, looking for all the world to be having the time of his life. "Maybe you should try getting better at it." She glared back at him.
                          
"I am going to knife you all in your sleep." She told him flatly. The group surrounding her laughed, and Sarah felt strangely at ease considering she was traveling like a deer carcass. Is this... she wondered, Are we bonding?
                          
"Come on now boys," A familiar drawl drew her eyes up to see her second-least favourite person on the island. "Don't you know that's no way to carry a lady?" Felix swirled the twig in his mouth, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Arthur looked at her in mock surprise.
                          
"I didn't know we were carrying a lady." He exclaimed. "I thought it was a Lost Girl." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you tell us you were a lady?" His voice bounced with mock indignation. With a growing sense of dread, she watched as Felix tucked his club behind his back. Arthur whooped and sent her flying to the raggedy blonde. Wrapping one strong arm around her back and the other below her knees, he gestured at Arthur and Xavier.
                          
 "That's how you carry a lady." Glaring, Sarah tried to fling herself over his hands and out of his arms. Granted, this style of carrying hurt her ribs less, but the damage to her pride was exacerbated by a factor of at least ten. Felix gazed balefully down at her. "I guess you were right boys," He dropped her. "Not a lady after all." Sarah landed with a painful thud on a particularly pointy roof. Still, she considered it an improvement.
                          
"I'd rather crawl back to camp than be carried by you," She informed him icily. Felix snorted.
                          
"You couldn't find your way back if you tried, little bird." He stated it as fact, a fact Sarah knew she couldn't yet deny. Yet. Still, she was stubborn enough to force her point. Maneuvering onto her knees, she stretched her bound hands out in front of her on the ground. Balance her weight on them, she dragged her knees up. This is going to take forever. She thought grimly. Fortunately for her, she was saved from her own stubbornness by Xavier scooping her back over his shoulders.
                          
"I'm not missing lunch waiting for an inchworm." He told her flatly. Sarah just huffed.
                          
By the time they arrived back at camp, her ribs were aching. As the group breached the clearing with their prize, the re-assembled Lost Boys cheered. "Boys!" Pan's welcome boomed across the space. "I see you've caught yourself quite the prize." The boys dumped her in front of Pan, who grinned down at her with eyes dancing. "Looks like you lose, Sarah." He tsked. "Bad luck." Sarah chose not to dignify that with a response. "But what should your punishment be for losing?"
                          
"I had to listen to that bunch the entire way back to camp." She snarked, jerking her head at Arthur and the others. The thinking part of her brain appeared to be out of commission. "Isn't that punishment enough?" Arthur's group laughed as the others "oohed" and jeered. Pan, on the other hand, simply smirked.
                          
"No," He began slowly. "No, I don't think it is." Sarah sighed heavily. She had a bad feeling about this. "Which is why we'll be playing another game after lunch." Sarah stared up at him in impatient disbelief. Just how many games could his twisted mind come up with in a day?
                          
"Bloody demon." She grumbled, mostly to herself, but Pan heard her anyway. He grinned.
                          
"Oh you've noticed have you?" His eyes widened, taking on a crazed appearance. "I'm flattered." Sarah glared at the ground, not wanting to look up at Pan's infuriating face. "Well, the rest of us are going to get lunch." The Lost Boys, still laughing amongst themselves, ambled off. "You can join us-if you can get out of those ropes." He walked off with a laugh, leaving Sarah in a quietly fuming heap.