**Alex POV**

I was happy to say that the boys were getting better at knife throwing. I'm not saying that they can hit a perfect target right away but at least now their knives actually land on the board.

I would have spent more time on training them all with knives but I was starting to sense Pan getting annoyed by how long we have been spending on Knives, so I decided that for the next day of Training, I will teach them all something else.

I woke up a little later then I wanted too this morning. I had a feeling that today was going to be a hot day due to how warm it was this morning.

I wonder if the lost boys are in for a swim. I wondered.

**Half Hour Later**

I walked into the camp to find all the lost boys up and ready to go for today’s training. They all had their Knives in their hands and some were practicing on one of the trees with the target. I looked around but could not find Pan, but that didn’t bother me.

When I walked into camp, all the lost boys noticed me immediately and crowded around in a circle around me.

"What’s the plan for today’s knife lesson?" Drew, one of the lost boys asked as he pulled out his knives with a little too much excitement.

Ever since my rant, the lost boys have stopped fooling around when I'm around, and whenever I do come for the next lesson, the boys are all ready to go.

"We are doing something different today boys!" I replied with a smirk. Immediately all the boys dropped their knives and I could feel the excitement that they all were feeling around me. I smiled.

"Tell me, who can swim and who is most likely to drown if I throw you in the water?" I asked as I looked around at the boys around me.

"Depends on which place you bring us." Chuck called out from the back of the group. The rest of the lost boys nodded in agreement.

"At the beach, there are mermaids that will drown us if we swim in there beach, or there is the lake, where we have the squid that you so kindly injured, which probably hates all people now." Slim finishes. I laugh a little at the memory of me freezing the lost boys with squid ink.

"What!  You don’t believe there are mermaids here Alex? Wouldn’t this be another thing you don’t believe in Neverland?" Pan calls out in reply as he enters the camp.

He has his hands in his pockets and is walking over to all of us calmly, but his facial expression tells us otherwise. No matter how hard he tried I could tell that Pan was nervous about something.

I rolled my eyes to show that I did not care about what Pan said and instead turned back to the lost boys.

"Boys get ready to go swimming and hopefully you all know how to make a few traps." I called out.

"Where are we going to train Alex?" Drew asked with curiosity.

"To the beach of course, the lake is too small. If you all swim in the lake, then I am positive that at least one of you will get killed by the squid." I replied with a smile.

"So MOVE!" I demanded, and all at once all the lost boys ran to get ready, which really meant that they were putting their weapons back and grabbing rope for traps.

"What are you going to use the traps for? Capture Mermaids?" Pan asked a little sarcastically.

"No matter how much my inner five year old wants too, no Pan the traps are not for the mermaids. They are for the Lost boys who lose the game." I replied. I then turned around toward the fire pit where I last placed my knife.

"Another game? What, is this going to be a game called freeze tag, where if you get tagged you have to stop swimming and drown?" Pan asked mockingly. I decided to play along with his little game.

"Hey that’s not bad of an idea." I stated, turning around to face Pan, whose facial expression changed to outrage and then back to his normal glare.

"Not funny." He replied as I started laughing at him.

"Wow I didn’t actually think that you would believe me there." I replied as I started calming down from my fits of laughter.

Pan rolled his eyes. The lost boys were all starting to come out of the hide out tree and stood by me.

"All right let’s get going!" I called out and then started leading them to the beach.

**Later**

It’s been a long time since I set foot on the beach. As the lost boys started putting down all their gear on the beach, I scanned the area. The beach was made mostly of huge rocks and sand connected to the water.  There was a big rock that was taller than me that stood right where the water and sand connected. The water was a greenish blue, but the deeper you went, the darker the color of the water got.

The water seemed to give off an almost too calm feel to it which at first got me worried but I snapped out of it quickly. Tink told me that the mermaids would know we were there right when we stepped on the beach. By the way the water seemed to flow, I had a feeling Tink was right.

"Everyone grab some rope and sit by those rocks over there. I’m going to teach you all how to make a few traps." I called out to the boys.

The boys, who were before exploring the beach and attacking each other for fun on the sand, grabbed their ropes and did as they were told. That is, everyone except Pan and Felix, who did everything I asked slowly so that they were at the back of the pack.

I decided to ignore them and instead run over to the rocks were I will teach the boys how to make traps. The first Trap I taught them was used on Papa and James on the last training session. At first the boys had no idea what they were doing and it was all just a tangled mess but after I demonstrated it again, having Will, one of the lost boys, as my target, everyone grasped the concept quickly.

After about two hours of teaching the boys’ different types of Nets and traps, I let the boys work by themselves on the beach, making their own traps so that they would be ready for the game later.

I was walking past Chuck and Slim, who were working together to make a net that looked big enough to capture a whale, when I saw something by the rock in the water.

I turned around to make sure that the lost boys were busy working on their nets and then I turned toward the rock to look around.

When I got to the rock, at first it seemed like nothing was wrong with it. But then I heard a few small laughs from the opposite side of the rock.

Slowly, and while grabbing my knife from my belt I walked to the other side of the rock where I found three girls glaring at me, who were around my age, with tails instead of legs that were different shades of blue and green.

Mermaids...

Hello!!

So sorry that I have not posted something last sunday like I promised. I was a little busy, which I was not expecting but at least I have something for you all now :)

I just realized that these little writings I leave at the bottom of the chapter are almost the exact same thing every chapter... Stupid Me

Anywho, so I decided to add the Mermaids into the mix of this story too and you will find that later in this story the mermaids become very important to Alex. (Life-death important)

I hope you like this chapter. Please tell me what you think of it so far, and if you have any ideas for this book. I always like hearing what you guys want to see in this book. :)

Lots of Love

Wintergirl08