Greetings!

So its been a few weeks since I last posted and that is how I roll... cause I'm a person with no motivation and no will power on the best of days! *finger guns*

Like I said, still not sure where this is going if I'm honest, I just like to ramble and throw people in to situations without much reason which is awful... and yet.. *gestures to stories* Though it is still fun to do; just not so much when it comes to writing why certain things happen. Meh *shrugs* I'll work it out... eventually :)

I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy the fanfic, mi amici!

Sounds Like An Adventure ~ Chapter 3

The young woman, flanked by the faerie, found upon exiting her new home that the willow tree's branches hung lower and cascaded around the trunk keeping all inside the perimeter well hidden. Well, that answered her first concern for others finding the secret base but now made her wonder how she herself would find it again. As she had been doing since she returned, Wendy pushed those worries to the back of her mind and continued on her way. She would cross that bridge when she came to it.

"I don't know why in Neverland you would choose to seek the mermaids," Asteria grumbled as she lead the way to Mermaid Lagoon, "You know full well that they eat people. I know you do! The Prince took you to them once."

Wendy sniggered as she followed close behind the faerie, "Of course I know that. But I also know that if I want to know anything I should ask them. They know all."

"Yeah, for a price," the fae lady shook her head and pointed her tiny finger in Wendy's face as she flew backwards, "Your life." She placed her hands on her hips, "What is it you wanna know that I can't answer?! I'm meant to be your guide after all!"

"Do they eat faeries, Asteria?" Wendy asked with amusement still present on her face.

"I'm a light snack in comparison to you!" she threw her arms in the air in frustration and turned to face forward again "Why would they eat me when they could eat you?"

"Then stop worrying and let me be concerned," Wendy reassured the grumpy faerie.

"But you're not," Asteria frowned.

"We're in Neverland! The place of adventure and thrills! This is just another adventure!" Wendy chuckled.

"I think you don't know the difference between fun and dumb," the tiny woman muttered underbreath. Wendy laughed once more in response.

It didn't take too long to reach the shoreline but a different coast from the one she arrived on. This beach was far more inset in the land than the one before, creating an almost perfect circle apart from the mouth that lead to the ocean. It was lined by the most vibrant green trees making the sand glisten golden in contrast and shine under the sun. In the centre of the pool were three large rocks jutting out of the water at different heights and there they were. The mermaids.

There were four of them and the moment Wendy's slipper clad feet touched the golden beach, their silvery eyes shot straight toward her and locked on her face. A tense moment passed before two of the mermaids slipped back into the water and disappeared under the surface. The other two remained on the rocks watching from afar.

Wendy took a few steps towards the water, Asteria perched on her shoulder. The faerie gave a little tug on Wendy's golden locks so the woman stopped where she was; three feet from the softly lapping waves and six feet from the single mermaid who had just resurfaced.

"Where's the other one?" Wendy asked out loud and with confidence. The first mermaid did not answer only turned her face to the left causing her black hair to slide forward over her right shoulder. Wendy followed the mermaid's line of sight and saw the second mermaid gracefully climb out of the water and perch on a closer rock watching as intently as the others. "Okay."

"A lookout!" the little faerie rolled her eyes, tutting, "What do they think we're gonna do? Go fishing for one of them?" Asteria hissed glaring at the watchful mermaid. She shivered next to Wendy's face and whispered, "Can we get this over with?! I hate being near them."

The young woman nodded and finally turned a smile to the first sea maiden, "Hello. Do you remember me?" The mermaid mirrored the smile - though it didn't look nearly as welcoming with the two rows of jagged razor sharp teeth - and bobbed her pale silvery head once, "I… I was hoping to… ask a few questions. If that's okay?"

Wendy glanced over the first mermaid's head back at the others on the rocks in the centre of the lagoon and noticed there was now three of them. The young lady swallowed around a lump forming in her throat and faintly noticed Asteria's small hand gripping a few locks of her hair.

She forced her eyes back down and the maiden bobbed her head once more and waited. Wendy shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable under the scrutiny. Yet she continued, "Uh, okay. Is there anyone new? Other than myself, of course."

Hissing from the mermaid as she nodded her head once more and slithered slowly closer. Asteria gave a sharp tug on Wendy's hair but Wendy was already stepping backwards to keep the same distance. Still she got an answer; yes.

"Who? Pirates? Natives? Lost boys?" she asked.

Asteria grumbled from beside her, "I could have told you that."

"Ssh!" Wendy snapped before turning to the mermaid again. The mermaid hissed and clicked in response. "What did she say?"

"She said Lost boys but like I said I could-"

"Is she telling the truth?"

"Y-yes. There are six of them," Asteria confirmed, "But I don't-"

"Okay good. Would you happen to know where Peter is at this very moment?" Wendy asked the mermaid. The creature had narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the young woman and after a moment of contemplation she nodded. A webbed hand slowly extended out of the water in offering.

"Don't you dare!" the fae woman snapped tugging sharply on the strands of hair with both hands.

Wendy finally whipped her face to the faerie on her shoulder, "Asteria, I know! Please stop pulling my hair!" The young woman didn't wait for the frowning faerie to let go, she just turned to look at the sea maiden who was grinning in an eerie fashion. She shook her head, "I would rather you pointed me in the direction or, better yet, told us where to go. I know that if you show me I'll never reach my destination."

The webbed hand sunk beneath the waves once more but that eerie smile remained causing a shiver to run up Wendy's spine. Her eyes glanced to the left and the second mermaid was still there but also grinning now as well.

"Asteria, I don't feel so confident anymore," Wendy muttered and her eyes shot out to the centre of the lagoon and her blood ran cold. One mermaid. One mermaid who, even from this distance, she could see the pearly white daggers of that smile glistening back at her.

"I told you how I've watched them drag live men screaming, right?" the fae lady whispered and Wendy nodded her eyes scanning the waters around. Where were the other two? Wait! There's one, swimming up behind the first so now she was faced with two just over five feet in front of her. Asteria continued, "Well I don't mean to alarm you, but there is one behind us."

"What!?"

"No! Keep your eyes forward! I'm watching this one!" the little lady snapped, "Ask your questions! They won't attack us until you're done! It's how disgusting they are. Playing with their food," Wendy heard the mermaid from behind hiss and Asteria snapped, "Yeah? Right back at you, you fancy tuna steak!"

"Where is Peter?" Wendy asked. The mermaid's clicked and squeaked reminding her of dolphins, "Asteria, do you where that is? Did she say a place?"

"Yeah and I know where it is," the fae woman confirmed, "But nothing's there! Or at least there shouldn't be!"

"Do the pirates have a new captain?" Wendy asked, "If so where is he from?"

"Really?! Now you're just insulting me," Asteria hissed from beside her. The mermaid replied and she translated without Wendy asking this time, "She said 'No. He's not new. You know him.' Like I could have told you myself! Captain Hook of the Jolly Roger."

"Hook?" Wendy repeated incredulously, "But I watched him get eaten! I watched him get swallowed whole by the crocodile! How did he survive?"

"'The beast's body lay carved and bloody on the ocean floor', just like us if we don't find a way out!" the faerie translated and ended in a mutter. Wendy was thoughtful for a moment and this made the faerie very tense, "Oh, please tell me that that's not all you wanted to know. I could have answered all but one of those and you only had to wait for the Prince to show up eventually which you know he would have." Clicking from behind, "There! See! He is looking for you already!"

"Peter's looking for me?" Wendy asked and felt her heart fluttered at the thought.

"She said he came by as the sun was rising, so before you regained consciousness," Asteria explained.

The young woman thought for a moment and looked back at the mermaid's in contemplation before she asked, "Is it possible to return home for me?"

The mermaid's faces seemed set in stone now and the two who had stayed back had now joined the two in front of her. It made her feel trapped and she knew that that was what they were doing. Closing in around her. Of course, they still humoured her with a response but when she glanced sideways at Asteria the faerie was glaring at the mermaid behind them. Her lips in a firm line.

"What did she say?" The woman urged the faerie, "Asteria!?"

"We need to get out of here!" she snapped, "Now!"

At the faerie's urgent command to leave the mermaids shot out of the water and moved with incredible speed. Wendy jumped merely avoiding the first maiden's claws wrapping around her ankle. She spun and made for the treeline however the mermaid who had been behind her grabbed two fistfuls of her night gown and pulled hard, dragging her feet out from under her. The young woman fell forward, her chest colliding with the sand underneath and almost winding her. She had no time to catch her breath or wait for the dizziness to fade, she was being dragged so she flung her arms around one of the larger rocks along the shoreline and kicked hard with her legs.

There was suddenly a mermaid with long opal hair - the lookout - at her side wrapping her slimy webbed fingers around her wrists and prying them away from the boulder. Wendy had a firm hold until she felt a sharp shooting pain in her left leg and instinctively she lashed out with a yelp. That brief moment was all the mermaids needed to grab her and pull her into the water.

Panicking, Wendy couldn't focus on a singular monster as they began circling her but she could faintly hear their squeals which now sounded like laughter along with panicked cries of her name from somewhere nearby. Despite the now burning sensation in her left leg, she kicked treading water. But of course the game began and by her ankle she was dragged under the surface. The woman was dragged only maybe a few feet before she was released. She swam up and gasped as she broke the water… but then it happened again. They were playing with her. Playing with their food like Asteria had said they would.

By the fifth time she wondered how long she would last as everytime her lungs were filling up more and more and the mermaid were allowing her less time to cough up and clear her airways. Once more she was dragged under however this time she thought she heard gun fire just before the water muffled all sounds around her.

Wendy kicked but she was tired now and realised she could no longer hold on to what little breath she had left. As her tired limbs moved too slow to lift her toward the surface, she watched with faint confusion as dark blue clouds drifted down around her and suddenly the mermaids swam away with speed.

It was peaceful now that those nightmare creatures were gone. It was quiet and the ocean around her soft and gentle. Her eyes fluttered shut in surrender.

However Neverland had other ideas in mind and Wendy was suddenly hoisted out of the water and dragged once more but this time back to the shore where she was unceremoniously dumped on the beach. The sand clung to every inch of her that it touched while she heaved and hacked up what felt like gallons of water.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry!" the faerie was suddenly buzzing around her head, her attitude vanished and replaced by complete worry and concern. But it only irritated the woman who was currently heaving in breath after breath and she waved her hand dismissively at the fae lady who paused a foot away.

"Well, I don't think we need to speak with the maiden's of the deep anymore, do you Smee?" the voice was familiar and it sent another chill down her spine. The lady felt dragged from one nightmare and placed in the hands of another.

Her eyes looked up and found his boots planted in the sand directly next to her. She dragged her eyes up the length of his body to confirm, to her horror, that she was indeed beside Captain Hook. A very much alive Captain Hook.

He sneered down at her with a menacing smile and she shuddered. He crouched down in front of her lifted her face with his hook under her chin. She gasped and stayed still, staring blankly back while he tilted her face scrutinising it. He muttered, "So this is our newcomer, hm?"

"A woman," one of the captain's lackeys pointed out at which Hook rolled his eyes, "Cap'n its a woman."

The captain sighed deeply and quietly grumbled to Wendy, "Forgive the lads, my dear. Finding men smart enough to serve a ship such as mine are few and far between." He rose up to his full height and held out his hook as if it were a hand in offering. Wendy stared at it in somewhat fear and the captain seemed to notice. He retracted his hook and bent that arm behind him offering instead his gloved hand.

The woman's eyes glanced up at Hook's bright blue orbs before she accepted his hand he pulled her to her feet. As Wendy rose up to standing, the sand clung stubbornly to her dress as did the material to her form. The young woman wrapped her arms around herself and turned sideways her cheeks burning with embarrassment. There were only four men on the beach with her but just one man would have been enough to make her feel uncomfortable with how fabric of the nightgown left almost nothing to the imagination when it was this thin and soaked.

Suddenly something heavy and warm was tossed around her shoulders. Wendy glanced up at the Captain frowning in confusion as he smoothed the lapels of his coat and did the first button around her.

After a moment of silence the captain frowned at the woman and grumbled, "You're welcome."

"Oh, sorry," Wendy stuttered, "T-thank you."

"Jim! Craulin! Fetch the palanquin!" Hook worded and the two pirate soldiers ran off into the green out of sight. That left Wendy, Captain hook, Asteria and Smee on the shore of Mermaid Lagoon.

"Sorry," Wendy repeated feeling awkward in the silence.

"It's quite alright, my dear," Hook reassured her and that just confused her more. Why was he being so… well not nice exactly but as nice as Hook could be?

Wait… maybe he didn't… did he realise that...

"And what would be your name, my lady?"

He doesn't know.

Enter the Captain! Fwooo boii! Raise the sails... if you know what I mean... *clears throat*

I would love to hear your thoughts, on the story thus far as I can only improve upon what I am told. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my ramblings. Have a wonderful rest of the week.

Catch ya later.

Linx

*Copy and pastes chapter sign off...and returns to cave of dwelling until next time*