The children surged forward with all the strength of the Tantalus. Tiny hands clawed at William's guitar, and feet kicked his shins. William shouted, raising the guitar to block the blows. "What's gotten into all of you?"

No one answered him.

Nails dug into William's arms as Jennifer Baker and Matthew Cunningham forced his hands away from the strings. Wood groaned beneath a dozen pummeling fists. Blood spilled from split knuckles, yet the blows kept coming as Peter Farnsworth grabbed the neck of the guitar. He bared his teeth as he struggled to wrestle the instrument out of William's grip, a horrible hissing noise coming from his mouth.

Unlike the others, Emma stood away from the chaos. Her lips moved wordlessly as she fidgeted with her skirt.

"Emma, make them stop!" William screamed as he blocked Edmund Wright from punching him in the gut. He dared not lift a finger against his young assailants, only shield himself with the guitar he held dear.

She locked eyes with him then, drawing her lips into a fine line. A twitch curved the corners of her mouth downward as she took a deep breath.

Her high-pitched scream pierced through the children's grunts and snarls. William yelled, his grip on the guitar loosening as he fought the urge to clamp his hands over his ears.

Peter ripped the guitar from his grasp and threw it out of his reach. Strings snapped as the instrument hit the ground.

With his only protection gone, the children pinned William under their weight. Jennifer yanked his arms above his head and grabbed his wrists so hard they cracked. Matthew pressed his legs into the damp leaf litter, leaving Emma and Peter to stand on opposite sides of his head.

"I didn't mean to upset you," William said hoarsely. He strained to lift himself into a sitting position, only to wince as Emma pushed him back to the ground. Her face didn't betray the slightest hint of emotion as she stared into his eyes. "Please let me up. I just wanted to help you."

None of the children said a word to him.

"What should we do about him?" Jennifer Baker asked. Her nails dug into William's wrists, carving stinging crescents into his skin. "He knows what we're doing. Otherwise, he wouldn't have played that."

Matthew Cunningham giggled as he took a rock out of his pocket. Smooth enough to skip across a pond, the stone thumped against the palm of his hand as he tossed it into the air again and again. Dried blood marred the dark surface, a thin crust of brown running along the edge of the blackness. "If he knows what's good for him, he'll say this was all just a game."

"You win!" William gasped as Edmund twisted his leg. "Let me go, and I promise I won't tell anyone."

Peter laughed. The horrible, ugly sound that rattled out of his ribcage made William's insides quiver. "That's as much of a lie as cheese in a trap."

"We could cut his tongue out." Jennifer licked her lips. "Can't tell anyone anything if he can't talk."

"I say we keep him pinned until he swears to obey us," Edmund said. "That worked well enough on my brothers."

Suggestions flooded the clearing, each one ringing in William's ears like church bells at a funeral. He didn't dare try to resist. The slightest twitch of his limbs made the children tighten their grips until his bones ached, and he couldn't bring himself to risk hurting any of them in his struggle to free himself. Despite everything, they were still just children.

"Quiet!" Peter silenced the other children with a withering glare. "In case you've forgotten, I'm the one the Piper chose to be our leader. Would any of you dare to question him?"

Matthew snapped his mouth shut, and Edmund averted his eyes. The two bowed their heads in unison as if they were two marionettes controlled by the same puppeteer.

Jennifer was not so easily silenced. "I would never question his wisdom, but I do question yours." She twisted William's wrists, earning a sharp gasp. "Did you not attack that cat in front of the whole town?"

Peter bared his teeth. "I was following the Piper's orders. Can I trust you to do the same?"

For a long moment, the other children held their breath. Tension hung in the air like a guitar string on the verge of snapping.

At last, Jennifer looked away.

"Good." Peter's snarl twisted into a sharp smile. "Now, before we do anything else, we need to determine how much this boy knows. Nettle," Peter nodded toward Emma, "you have spent more time near him than any of us. What do you think of him?"

William gazed up at Emma with tears welling in his eyes. His own sister, now called by a name that belonged to stinging plants, refused to meet his gaze. "He knows too much," she said. "He heard me speak our tongue."

Murmurs broke through the gathered children. Peter bared his teeth as if he wished to bite her. "You know full well the efforts we must take to stay hidden until the Piper orders us to reveal ourselves. Why did you choose to reveal yourself?"

"I thought he was one of us. He deceived me by mimicking our tongue." Tears glistened in Emma's eyes as she bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"As you should be," Peter snarled. "You are a disgrace."

Hearing Peter lashing out at his sister sent a wave of anger surging through his veins. "Leave her alone! She didn't do anything wro—"

"Quiet!" William cried out as Peter's fist sank into his stomach. "I did not ask for your opinion, nor does anyone wish to hear it."

"It's no wonder he's so troublesome with how poorly he has been watched." Jennifer shook her head, sending dead leaves tumbling from her messy braids. "You should have known better, Nettle. Why didn't you tell us of your mistake?"

Emma sniffled. "I feared the Piper would cast me out."

At this, a wave of sympathetic murmurs broke out amongst the children. "The Piper is as understanding as he is wise," Peter said gently. "He shall forgive your transgression, but only if we bring this boy to him."

"Wait." William sighed with relief as Emma eased off of his chest, only for his heart to redouble its pounding as she returned with something clenched in her fist. Matthew Cunningham's rock. "It will be easier to take him to the Piper if he is unconscious."

"Get off me!" William ripped his wrists free of Jennifer Baker's iron grip. The children shrieked with surprise as he thrashed his legs, throwing the last of his captors off of him. His muscles throbbed as he surged to his feet.

He couldn't pause to make sure he hadn't seriously hurt any of the children. He couldn't grab anything to defend himself with in case they attacked him again. He couldn't scream for help, not in this part of the forest so far from town.

All he could do was flee.

Branches lashed William's face as he ran through the forest. Tree roots rose from the ground in a maze of tangled tendrils, threatening to trip him and send him sprawling into the leaf litter. Mud sucked his boots into the ground with every step he took, making it feel as if the earth itself had turned against him.

The children faced no such difficulties. They raced through the undergrowth as if they'd been born in the forest, with only their shorter legs slowing them down. Inch by inch, they closed the gap between them and William until their footsteps echoed in his ears as loudly as his heartbeat.

Peter surged ahead of the others, his breath whistling through the gap in his teeth. Closer and closer he came until the high-pitched whistle gave way to a triumphant screech. He lunged forward, his hand closing around the back of William's tunic.

"No!" William reared back, slamming his elbow into the soft, yielding flesh of Peter's stomach.

SQUEAK!

William stumbled. He wheeled around to fight off any children who tried to take advantage of his momentary pause, but they were no longer watching him.

They only had eyes for their leader.

Little Peter Farnsworth clawed at his throat, tears streaming down his face as a mass of black fur muffled his screams. The rat's body thrashed in his mouth, with Peter's muscles spasming against the head still inside him. Shrill squeaks peppered the air as the rat lashed its long, naked tail in its struggle to crawl back down his throat.

The other children were upon him in an instant. Their larger quarry forgotten, they tackled Peter to the ground and pinned his limbs the same way they had incapacitated William. Peter flailed against them to no avail, wordlessly screaming for someone, anyone to free him from his captors.

William paused for only a moment. He couldn't try to save Peter. Not without the other children subduing him as well.

Peter's cries rang in his ears the whole way home.