

Neverland 2.0

# Peter   
Panhandler

by

Lauren M. Flauding

© 2018 by Lauren M. Flauding
All characters and events in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author.

# Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

# Chapter One

Wendy didn't know why she gave money to that boy. Her father had always told her not to encourage beggars. "It gives them no incentive to work," he would proclaim, adjusting his bland tie. He always wore a tie, and they were always bland. "There's no need to facilitate indolence in this city," he would say with finality as he steered his children away.

Perhaps she had been intrigued by the boy's sign: LOST MY SHADOW. NEED HELP. It was an unusual plea amongst the other cardboard petitions held by vagrants on the street. Or maybe she had been compelled by his bright green eyes. In the half second that she looked in those eyes she felt like she knew everything about him and yet nothing at all. And the fact that he had made eye contact was unusual, if not a bit unnerving. None of the other beggars ever looked her in the eye, much less smiled at her, but smile at her he did, and before she knew what she was doing she had pulled a few bills from her pocket and dropped them at his feet. She even lingered for a moment to return his clumsy smile before realizing how bizarre the situation was.

She shook her head as she continued down the street. She didn't have time to wonder about the odd beggar boy on the corner. She didn't even have time to admire her favorite buildings along her route. Today the new regional inspector, Mrs. Carnivera, was coming to the children's home where Wendy worked, and if the rumors circulating the city were true, this particular inspector was horrific. Several homes had been closed in the last month due to the near impossible standards imposed by this monstrous woman. Mrs. Nancy had taken on three more children as the other homes scrambled to relocate their wards, so everyone was already under more stress than usual. Mrs. Nancy's Children's Home for Boys was reputed as one of the most suitable locations for orphaned and destitute youth in London, and Wendy prayed that they could hold up under Mrs. Carnivera's formidable scrutiny.

The wind picked up and Wendy pulled the hood of her jacket over her head as she turned onto Barrie Street. She knew it would make her already messy brown hair even more untidy, but these days she didn't care much about her appearance. Mrs. Nancy's Children's Home for Boys stood out from the other buildings on Barrie Street thanks to the hideous mauve shutters that clashed with its dirty red brick. Wendy ran up the crumbling steps and was about to ring the bell when the door was thrown open.

"Miss Wendy! Miss Wendy! The oven exploded!" Trevor sang, his curly red hair flopping up and down as he danced around. "There are ashes everywhere!"

Wendy tried to usher the gleeful toddler inside, but soon Mrs. Nancy appeared in the doorway, her plump figure coated with a layer of ash.

"Wendy! Thank goodness you're here! Nana has gotten sick all over the stairs, and Eugene is playing in it!"

Usually Wendy would be squeamish about mopping up dog vomit, but today she went quickly to the pantry to fetch some gloves, rags, and solution, and then set to work. When she had finished that task, she continued on to the bedrooms and discovered that while she and Mrs. Nancy had been occupied with the stairs and the oven, two children had upended all of the toy chests and were now playing in the toilet.

"Zachary! Duke!"

The two 6-year-olds gasped and stood at attention.

"Wash your hands and change your clothes right now!" Wendy ordered. The two boys turned around and jostled one another for a turn at the sink. "And when you're done changing, come back and put those toys away."

"Yes, Miss Wendy," they answered, smiling innocently. She gently patted their heads as they ran by. She once again donned her cleaning gloves and hunkered down to wipe the water off the tiled floor. After a few moments Mrs. Nancy bustled in.

"Oh dear! What happened?"

"A couple of rascals thought they were plumbers."

Mrs. Nancy smiled. She was probably the only person in London who could constantly smile at messes and bad behavior, which, Wendy supposed, was what made her a perfect candidate for running a children's home.

"Bless them," Mrs. Nancy sighed, putting her hand on her heart. But in the next instant she became flustered. "Wendy, could you run to the kitchen? Trevor has disabled the security system again."

Wendy strained her ears and could just make out the faint beeping that indicated the alarm was down.

"Just let me finish this up and I'll fix it," Wendy replied.

The kitchen smelled slightly of burned toast and chemicals, but there was otherwise no sign of the disaster that had occurred in the oven. Wendy looked around and spotted a little shoe poking out from underneath the pantry door.

"Trevor?"

"I'm in the space rocket!" Came the muffled voice. "We're about to launch!"

Wendy snorted and opened the pantry door. Trevor was sitting on a shelf with a salad bowl on his head and two fist fulls of animal shaped crackers. He smiled unabashedly up at her.

"Five, four, three, two, one, blast off!" He shouted and jumped into Wendy's ready arms. The bowl fell off his head and clanged to the floor, revealing his red curls.

"Trevor!" Wendy laughed, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Why did you shut off the security system again?"

"I was trying to see how it works," the boy replied, munching on his crackers.

"Would you like to watch me reset it?"

"Yeah!"

Wendy punched in the complicated code and then shut the panel. But before she had a chance to set Trevor down, he reached over, whipped open the panel, and repeated the pattern Wendy had just entered. She stared at him.

"You are one brilliant little man," she said, tweaking his nose and setting him on the floor. "Now go help the others clean up."

"Yes, Miss Wendy!" He called as he scampered out of the kitchen.

Wendy sighed. She'd been working for Mrs. Nancy for just over a year, but she'd grown to love these boys as if they were her own little brothers. Zachary and Duke had come in the same week and were endlessly mischievous. These two factors made them inseparable. Matthew, at age 11, was the oldest boy in the house and had lived there the longest. Even though he was quiet and heartbreakingly sensitive, he was uncommonly endearing. And Trevor, who came to Mrs. Nancy three years ago when he was only 2, was in constant danger of being electrocuted. His inquiring and ingenious mind had him pulling apart electronics and devices all over the house, often merging them into some new, perilous invention. Wendy naturally favored him because of his creativity and guileless demeanor, but also because his smile reminded her of her brother Michael.

There were moments when Wendy could almost pretend the accident had never happened. But most of the time the memories lodged themselves in the weakest parts of her heart and spread their tentacles throughout her mind and body, causing a dull and relentless aching. At her worst, Wendy would wake in the middle of the night, consumed with grief and guilt, crying out in incomprehensible pleadings until her mother came to comfort her.

Two years ago, for her fifteenth birthday, Wendy had persuaded her family to go on a cruise to Norway. Her father was the most hesitant, being very concerned about the finances, but he finally conceded after Wendy's daily begging and promises of how much fun they would all have. She was only concerned about having fun back then.

The trip had started off splendidly. They had reveled in all the food, shows, and activities the ship had to offer. Michael and John had their hearts set on seeing whales, so when they reached Norway, Wendy's father and brothers joined a whale watching tour while she and her mother explored the city of Bergen. She remembered the magical houses along the shore and laughing with her mother as they tried on silly hats in a shop. One perfect day before her world fell apart.

When they got back to the ship that evening, the whale watching tour had not yet returned. Tensions mounted on the ship as hours passed and the group was still missing. It was past midnight when a local naval authority informed them that the boat had been seized by marauders and everyone on board had been killed.

Wendy was awoken from her dark thoughts by a large, black Newfoundland running into the kitchen and nearly knocking her over.

"Nana!" Wendy exclaimed, kneeling down and scratching the dog's neck. "What on earth did you eat to make such a mess on the stairs?"

"We gave her some chocolate ice cream last night!" Duke called from the other room.

"And she loved it!" Zachary added proudly.

Mrs. Nancy rushed in, nervously flailing her arms about.

"She's coming! I saw her in the street! She'll be here in seconds! Get that dog out of here!"

Matthew, Zachary, and Oliver had followed Mrs. Nancy into the kitchen, curious about the spectacle she was making. Wendy quickly put Nana outside, wiped an unidentifiable green substance off of Zachary's mouth, and ushered the boys to their rooms. The bell rang twice. Wendy helped Mrs. Nancy dust off the remaining ashes from her yellow dress and stood back as the frazzled woman went to open the door.

# Chapter Two

If she didn't have a name tag and a clip board, Wendy would have thought she was a banshee. Mrs. Carnivera was a truly frightening woman. It's not that she was ugly, by some angles she was quite attractive, but all of her features combined created an altogether abstract and formidable person. Her black hair stuck out from her head as if she'd recently been electrocuted. Her fierce gray eyes swept slowly from side to side as if hunting for falsities, and they were at odds with her huge smile, which was anything but friendly. She wore a purple dress which revealed a bit too much, and her knee high boots were covered in some type of animal skin. A large pendant resembling a spider web hung from a chain around her neck.

"Please c-come in," Mrs. Nancy stammered. Mrs. Carnivera took two long strides into the house and turned in a slow circle.

"I suppose you're the owner of this shelter?" She asked with her back toward Mrs. Nancy.

"Y-yes, I am."

"How long have you been in operation?"

"Nearly six years."

"Who is the young lady?"

"That's m-my employee, Wendy Darling."

"How many are in your stewardship?"

"There are eight now."

"Hm."

Mrs. Carnivera stood silent for an uncomfortable amount of time. Wendy glanced over at Mrs. Nancy, wondering if they should say something. Finally, the intimidating woman turned to face them.

"The space seems adequate," she stated.

"Thank you," replied Mrs. Nancy meekly.

"Adequate, but not ideal."

This rebuke was followed by another long silence, during which Mrs. Carnivera made some laborious notes on her clipboard. She then strode into the kitchen so briskly they had to run to keep up with her.

"Where are your safety locks?" She demanded as she pulled open all of the drawers and cupboards. "What do you use to sanitize your dishes? Are the children on a nutritious diet?"

Mrs. Nancy started to tremble. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Wendy didn't blame her for being flustered. Mrs. Carnivera looked like a tornado tearing the kitchen apart. Plus, the woman was hard to understand. She had a tendency to start and end her sentences rapidly but slow down in the middle.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Nancy squeaked, "I believe I left the wash running upstairs." She excused herself and rushed out. Wendy sighed and Mrs. Carnivera turned to her, looking expectant. Wendy stood up straight and stepped forward. She refused to be afraid of this woman. Although, it was a bit easier for her. She didn't have as much to lose.

"We teach the children to be cautious and trust them to follow through, so we don't use safety locks, except for some hazardous materials kept in the wash room," Wendy explained. "The sanitizing supplies are above the sink," she continued, "and we follow all the dietary guidelines set forth by the city."

Mrs. Carnivera narrowed her eyes, and Wendy coolly returned the glare. After a subtle grunt, the woman scribbled some notes on her clip board, somehow keeping one eye on Wendy.

"Bring the children," she ordered brusquely.

Mrs. Nancy, who had apparently been listening just outside of the kitchen, immediately began calling the boys from their rooms. All eight boys ran into the kitchen and lined up in front of Mrs. Carnivera as if they'd practiced it. In fact, Wendy suspected that they had.

Mrs. Carnivera walked deliberately down the row of smiling boys, her expression growing more sour with each child she passed. Suddenly, she whipped around, hunched over and came face to face with Oliver.

"You," she spat, "do you feel that your needs are being met in this home?"

"No, I need more chocolate," Oliver replied, matching her intensity.

She wrote another note and turned to Duke. "Do you feel that your voice is heard here?"

Duke furrowed his brow for a moment, but then broke into a smile. "It's not when I talk like this," he whispered, "BUT IT IS WHEN I TALK LIKE THIS!" He shouted.

Wendy stifled a giggle. She knew things were not going well, but who would think to ask such questions of young children?

Undeterred, Mrs. Carnivera continued down the line. "Where do you go to school?" She asked Arthur, one of the boys that had come to them last week.

" _I_ go to St. Joseph's down the street, but _Trevor_ goes to the Ashbury School for the gifted," Arthur answered, peering at Trevor down the line.

The woman eagerly stepped past Zachary and Eugene to face Trevor. "Are there adequate materials and activities here to suit your interests?" She inquired.

Trevor scratched his nose. "I guess," he admitted. "I just wish we had more advanced computers to play with. When I take them apart, it's too easy to put them back together again."

Mrs. Carnivera stared at him. Who wouldn't? Not many five-year-olds could dismantle and reassemble a computer, and Trevor had done it multiple times. But the woman wasn't staring at him in awe. Wendy couldn't quite read her expression, but she looked almost hungry. After a few moments, Mrs. Carnivera turned her attention to Matthew.

"Do you receive adequate support and education here to excel in your studies?" She barked at him.

Matthew was so startled by her abrupt manner that he fell backwards. Wendy and Mrs. Nancy rushed to help him stand up again.

"Well, answer me, boy," Mrs. Carnivera demanded.

The lad was shaken, and his lower lip began to tremble. Wendy took his hand to try and soothe him, but Mrs. Carnivera swatted it away.

"Don't coddle him!" She yelled. "He's nearly a man, he can answer for himself."

Matthew looked miserable. He was trying valiantly not to cry, but seemed afraid to open his mouth. Suddenly, Wendy saw movement out of the corner of her eye, but by the time she realized what was happening, it was too late.

Nana had appeared at the door and Zachary, likely believing it to be the best course of action, had let her in. Nana immediately bounded over to Mrs. Carnivera, knocking the woman over in her excitement to welcome the stranger.

"Get it off me!" The woman screamed as Nana voraciously licked her face. Matthew tried feebly to remove the dog from Mrs. Carnivera, but Nana persisted. Arthur jumped in and grabbed Nana around the middle to haul her off, which resulted in the dog retching all over Mrs. Carnivera's face and hair. Now Mrs. Nancy sprang to action, running over to assist the cursing woman, but she slipped on the vomit. She tried to catch her fall by grabbing the oven handle, and the force of her grip ripped the door clean off, sending hastily stashed debris flying into the air.

The boys started laughing and dancing in the chaos and raining ash, and amidst their merriment and Nana's excited barking, Mrs. Carnivera voiced her extreme displeasure.

"This is the most horrid establishment I have ever encountered!" She screeched. "You will be reported and shut down by the end of the week!" Mrs. Nancy followed the soiled woman as she left, pleading for her to reconsider, but Mrs. Carnivera marched out and slammed the door in her face.

# Chapter Three

"Hey kid, this is my corner."

Peter peered up at the ancient man scowling at him. His beard was so long it brushed against Peter's nose.

"Your corner?"

"Yeah, that's what I said, isn't it?"

"How'd you get it?"

The old man snorted. "By being here every day for the last seven years!"

Peter looked down the sidewalk at all of the others stationed with their signs and cups and wondered how long they'd had to sit there to claim those spaces. Sitting in the same place for seven years? It sounded like drudgery. They certainly had an odd way of getting things up here in the Grey World.

"Move along, now," the old man grunted, "you don't want me to make a scene."

Peter stood and stepped away from the man with pirate breath. Sitting there with the sign hadn't done him much good anyway. He had thought that girl might help him, the one with the tangled hair and the tease in her smile, but she ended up just giving him those two pieces of paper. He pulled them out of his pocket, wondering what they were. They had a woman's face on them. Maybe it was a picture of someone who could help him? But how could he find her? Would she know where his shadow was? He studied the papers for a few moments, but then decided that the best thing to do was to find that girl. She could at least explain what the things meant. He pulled his fingerprint collector from his jacket and scanned one of the papers. The small screen displayed several sets of prints. He discarded his own and chose the ones that were the most fresh. Peter held the collector out as it scanned the street and surrounding buildings, then the screen duplicated the image and lit up several spots where the device had found matching prints, showing him the direction he needed to go. He was glad he had brought the collector with him, usually he only used it to find Slightly whenever he stole all the rum berries and hid in the trees.

His collector guided him down a maze of streets, picking up the girl's fingerprints in various places: on the side of a building, on a hand rail, on a sign hanging in front of a toy shop. Peter walked through an alley of tall buildings, shuddering as he quickened his step. The towering structures made him feel trapped.

Peter had only ventured up to the Grey World a few times, but that was far more than the other lost boys, who had never come here. This was mainly because no one ever wanted to leave their home, and usually Peter didn't either, but sometimes he had an unsettling feeling that he was missing something - that some great adventure was passing him by. He was also the only one who knew how to get to the Grey World, but he didn't intend for it to be a secret. He would be happy to tell the others if they ever asked him.

The last time he had come up here was... _when was it?_ He couldn't remember. He just knew that he had encountered something unpleasant involving a badger and had sworn he would never return to the Grey World again. But then his shadow had gone missing, and he tracked it up through the tunnels and into the alley that smelled like ginger until he lost the signal on that large, twisted bridge. He had to get his shadow back. He was growing anxious about all the points he was losing, which would surely compromise their winning streak against the pirates, and he didn't want to... _great lion horns,_ he thought, _what was that smell?_

Peter doubled back to a window that displayed delicious looking pastries and breads. Nearly salivating, he walked into the small shop, eying a row of fruit filled doughnuts.

"Can I help you?" Asked a stout man behind the counter.

"Yes!" Peter replied, grateful for the man's consideration. "I've lost my shadow. Have you seen it?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Great," he muttered, "another cracked one. Probably an addict."

Peter was about to ask what 'addict' meant, but the man had started talking to another person in the shop. Peter shrugged and plucked a blueberry doughnut off of the shelf. The man behind the counter started yelling something as he walked out, but he didn't know why. He must have been shouting at someone else.

By the time he finished eating his doughnut he had arrived at a door covered in the girl's fingerprints. He turned the handle to let himself in and found someone inside. It was a lady. She was on a ladder painting the wall. It was a pretty lady, but it wasn't the girl. And she wasn't happy to see him. She whipped her head around and screamed. Peter backed up and slammed the door. He heard a loud crash. He considered going back in to see if the lady was okay, but a moment later his concern passed.

He reprogrammed his collector to find the most recent of the girl's fingerprints instead of the greatest quantity. He backtracked to the street corner where he had been sitting, and then continued on to an area where the streets were narrower and the buildings more crowded. Soon he was standing in front of an oddly colorful house sandwiched in between two dreary buildings. There was quite a lot of noise coming from inside, so he peered in the window and saw the girl sitting on the floor with two young boys who seemed very upset. Peter pushed the window open a bit so he could hear what they were saying.

"But Miss Wendy, where will we go? They're going to throw us out on the street and we'll get eaten by the alley monsters!" Exclaimed a red-haired boy.

"No, you won't, Trevor," the girl responded. "Mrs. Nancy and I will do everything we can to keep this home, but if we can't, you'll just go to another house where they'll love you as much as I do."

"Will they love me?" The other boy asked piteously.

"Yes, Zachary, I'm sure they will."

"But I don't want to go away, Miss Wendy, I want to be with you!" The first boy pleaded. "How will I find you?"

The Wendy girl pulled the boy called Trevor into her lap.

"Do you remember the story of Hansel and Gretel?" She asked.

"Handsome and who?"

"Hansel and Gretel."

"Are they the ones who got eaten by the wolf?"

"No. When Hansel and Gretel were sent away from their house, Hansel dropped white pebbles along the path so they could find their way back home."

"I remember!" Piped Zachary. " They got lost in the woods and found a house made out of candy and a witch wanted to eat them!"

"I'm going to get eaten by a witch?" Wailed Trevor.

"No," soothed Wendy, "I just think you're so clever that you'll figure out a way to find me."

The boy buried his ginger head into Wendy's shoulder and she wrapped her arms around him. The scene made Peter smile.

Just then a large black dog jumped at the window and barked in Peter's face. He stumbled back and fled down the street. The dog reminded him too much of that crazed badger from before. Peter resolved that he would go back to the house later. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he wanted to take that Wendy girl to Neverland.

# Chapter Four

"I've printed out the repeal forms, and I wrote down the address of the department. They're all on the desk."

"Thank you, Wendy. You've been invaluable today," Mrs. Nancy choked out. "I fear I rather fell apart in the presence of that woman."

"She was a bit more harsh than we'd expected," Wendy admitted, "but there were so many things that were beyond your control."

"Yes, well, I suppose it all comes from having a dog in the house."

"Nana is a treasure."

"Yes, but even so, I fear it will work against us." Mrs. Nancy's voice started to tremble. "I don't know what I'll do if I lose this home."

"It will be fine," Wendy said, taking her hand. "We'll begin the repeal process, they'll do some further investigations, and they'll see that your reputation speaks for itself. Mrs. Carnivera's decision will be overturned. She can't have that much power." But even as Wendy said it, she had a sinking feeling that perhaps Mrs. Carnivera _did_ hold a lot of authority, and their efforts for repeal might all be in vain.

"Thank you, Wendy," Mrs. Nancy said, dabbing at her eyes. "Sometimes I forget that you're just a teenager."

_So do I_ , Wendy thought grimly.

"Well, thank you again for staying later than usual," Mrs. Nancy said, glancing at the grandfather clock.

"Not a problem. I'll just finish cleaning up the kitchen and I'll be on my way."

Wendy scrubbed at the kitchen floor, mildly annoyed that she was cleaning up dog spew for the second time that day. She had hastily wiped it up right after Mrs. Carnivera had left, but then the other demands of the day and situation had descended upon her. Now she meticulously scoured the checkerboard tiles, letting the monotonous motion become almost therapeutic. As she pushed her rag under the refrigerator, it collided with a small object. She peered under the ledge and wriggled the thing out. It was a trinket in the form of a boy. It was made out of a strange type of tarnished material she'd never encountered before and it fit squarely in her palm. She inspected it further and found a small attachment at its base, as if it should plug into something. But the most odd thing about the piece was how cocky the boy looked. Looking into the little face sent an involuntary shudder through her, and she laughed at her reaction. She glanced at the base again and found a small switch. She toggled it and a dull light began to pulse next to it.

Just then, Wendy heard a scuffle behind her.

"Trevor, what are you doing out of bed?" She scolded, not bothering to turn around. The little delinquent came around to face her and Wendy dropped the metal trinket into her pocket. She wasn't sure why she felt she had to hide it. Maybe because it was just the kind of thing that would excite Trevor and keep him awake for hours. Maybe because she wanted to study it a bit longer herself.

"Miss Wendy, I couldn't sleep," the boy admitted. "Something keeps scratching at my window."

"Trevor, I'm sure it's your imagination."

"It's not. There's a noise and then little flashes of light."

Wendy frowned and followed him back to his bedroom, where Arthur was sleeping soundly.

"It comes from the bottom here and shines on the ceiling," Trevor whispered, pointing to the base of the window. Wendy listened for several moments, but heard nothing but the sound of traffic from the main street. She turned away.

"Trevor, why don't you lie down and try to go to sleep?"

The boy reluctantly crawled into bed, but as Wendy pulled the blanket over him, she heard a faint screech and saw a bright light out of the corner of her eye.

"There!" Trevor yelled, leaping up and rushing to the window. Arthur moaned incoherently and rolled over in his bed. Approaching the window, Wendy tried to suppress the irrational fear pounding through her body. She and Trevor stared out into the night, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Wendy ran her finger along the window frame. All she found was dust. She thought she heard the sounds of distant laughter, and she clung to this as an explanation.

"It's probably just some teenagers having fun," she said with a relieved sigh. "Now go back to bed and try to think of something uninteresting."

"Like goldfish?"

"Sure. As long as it helps you go to sleep."

"Alright Miss Wendy," Trevor conceded. He buried his head in his pillow, and as Wendy left the room, she heard a muffled, "I love you Miss Wendy."

Tears pricked her eyes, but she pushed the feeling away as she hurriedly finished cleaning the kitchen floor and double checked the security system before leaving for home.

It was a cold night for September, but Wendy was too focused on getting home quickly to really notice. She'd walked these streets hundreds of times, but in the dark they lost their familiarity. She knew her mother wouldn't be at home - she'd be working through the night, but Wendy had promised to finish painting the hallway in their flat before her mother came back in the morning.

They'd moved into the small apartment in Islington after they'd lost her father and brothers, and the place had needed constant attention since then. In the last two years Wendy had learned how to fix leaky faucets, repair holes in walls and reinforce drafty windows. They planned to move to a more suitable place, but it would be a long time before they could afford it. They both worked as often as possible. Her mother took as many shifts as she could working as an oncology nurse at the hospital, and Wendy had dropped out of school to find full time employment. At one time she had dreamed of becoming an architect, but she had abandoned those aspirations, knowing that additional education would have to wait until after they could make ends meet. Sometimes on her way to work she would pass girls her age heading to school and wonder what was going on in their heads. She imagined their thoughts were full of studies and tests, entertainment and shopping, and probably all the boys that they liked. Wendy didn't know any boys her age, but even if she did, she doubted she would have time to waste thinking about them. Right now she was thinking about Mrs. Nancy and what would happen to everyone if the home was shut down. Worry gnawed at her nerves and she resolved to be optimistic until a final decision was made.

She arrived at her building and rushed up the stairs to their flat. She put her key in the lock, but found that she didn't need to. She was planning the lecture she was going to give her mother about leaving the door unlocked, but then she turned on the light and screamed.

She stepped forward, wanting to embrace her unconscious mother but afraid to touch her. She looked around and gradually the pieces fell into place in her muddled mind. The paint splattered all over the floor, the overturned ladder, her mother sprawled out with a bruise on the side of her forehead. She had clearly fallen while painting, but how bad was the injury? Wendy knelt down and lightly touched her mother's arms, her neck, her head. She was warm, she was breathing, she was alive.

"Mom?" Wendy ventured, and when the woman didn't respond, she tried saying it louder and louder until she was screaming. "Mom! Wake up! Wake up!" She didn't realize she was sobbing until she noticed the tears dropping onto her mother's shirt. "Mom! I need you!" Wendy knew that she should take action, but she couldn't pull herself away from her mother's side. She felt loneliness and despair closing in around her. She was only vaguely aware of her neighbor stepping through the open door.

"Calm down, Wendy, I'll call an ambulance."

*****

"Miss Darling?"

It took a few moments for Wendy to realize the doctor was addressing her.

"Yes?"

"Your mother is in a coma. She has some bleeding around the brain, which is causing extra compression on her right side. Her injury does not seem extremely severe, and when the swelling lessens, I expect she'll regain consciousness."

Wendy focused hard on understanding the words. Phrases and fragments were floating around in the wrong order, and she wondered whether she too had a brain injury.

"How long...?"

"Usually someone in this condition will wake up in three or four days. You are welcome to stay here with your mother, but it might be optimal for you to go home and get some rest. We'll call you with any developments."

When Wendy didn't respond, the doctor gave a quick nod and then disappeared down the hallway.

Wendy crept into the sterile room. She sat down next to the bed and took her mother's hand. She looked so pale and distant, and after a few moments Wendy had to look away. She didn't want to leave her mother, but she also couldn't stand to see her like this, to have a constant reminder of the awful situation. She knew she'd be lonely and miserable at home, but at least she might be able to sleep through some of the aching. She lightly kissed her mother's cheek, then gathered her things and walked out into the cold night.

# Chapter Five

Peter awoke suddenly. Something was pinching his ear and he swatted at it. His hand connected with something sharp and a flash of light blinded him before everything went dark. He looked around.

_Where am I? What am I doing here?_  He thought, trying to make sense of the dark, the distant noise, the smell. After a few moments he remembered. He was still in the Grey World, he still needed to find his shadow.

After that dog had scared him away from the house he had wandered along the streets, asking people he passed if they had seen his shadow. No one had been very helpful. Either they ignored him or shouted rude things at him. One man had even hit him with his walking stick. He had arrived at a huge stone fortress with men dressed in red standing outside of it. He tried to talk to them, but they wouldn't answer, wouldn't even move. He had marveled that anyone could stand in one place for so long. It seemed like torture.

Finally, worn out from walking, he had collapsed on some large black bags in an alley. They were surprisingly comfortable, although the smell was awful, and soon he had fallen asleep.

Now it was dark and cold and that thing was pinching his ear again. He batted it away.

"Ugh! Would you stop doing that?" Rang out a metallic voice.

Peter blinked rapidly until his eyes adjusted to the flying robotic fairy in front of his face.

"Tink? What are you doing here?"

"What kind of response is that?" The fairy squeaked through her tiny speaker. "I thought you'd be happy to see me. Overjoyed, actually. I was imagining tears of gratitude running down your face..."

"You followed me?"

"Of course! And let me tell you, it was not easy. You left bits of Essentia all over that house with the dog, and I almost got caught by some big, ugly girl."

"Tink, you don't need to worry about me."

"Well, I'm not just going to let you get lost out here!"

"I know my way back."

"Oh, sure. You don't even know where you are right now."

"I'm in an alley."

"Ugh. Boys. Never think they need any help."

The bright light flashed out again as the fairy scanned the surroundings. Peter squeezed his eyes shut, but the momentary brilliance still caused white spots in his vision.

"I was going to go back to Neverland as soon as I found my shadow," Peter grumbled.

For once, the tiny robot didn't respond with anger or sarcasm.

"You lost your shadow?"

"Yeah. Did you think I came up here for fun?"

"But without your shadow you can't play! We'll lose everything!"

"I know, Tink."

At that moment, Peter's pocket started to vibrate. He pulled out the small, circular contraption that had suddenly picked up on his shadow's signal.

"Good news, Tink. My tracker has finally started working again."

"Great. Because this place is giving me the creeps."

"You're not even here."

"Don't insult me. I can see everything. It's almost the same as being there with you."

Peter shook his head and started in the direction his tracker was taking him. Tink followed closely behind him, often flying into his back whenever he stopped. After half an hour of listening to Tink ramble on about how dull Neverland had been without him, he came to a building that seemed vaguely familiar. He started to go up the front stairs, but a black and white cat jumped in front of him, hissing menacingly. It was a small animal that probably couldn't do much damage, but Peter was still wary.

"Hey Tink, do you think you could distract this thing for a little bit?"

"Sure, just use the fairy as bait," she whined, but even as she said it, she wove back and forth in front of the cat, intermittently shining her light around the stairs. The cat jumped at Tink but missed, then went to paw at the light.

"Thanks, Tink, I'll meet you back here in a few minutes."

"If I lose a wing, the repairs are coming out of your reserves."

Peter circled around the building and looked up. Light was spilling out of an open window on the third floor, and according to his tracker, his shadow was in there. There were enough protruding ledges that he could easily climb up. He reached the open window and quietly crawled through into an open room that smelled like paint. It seemed to be a nice place - there was a large couch and a beautiful green rug that Peter was tempted to take with him, but there were a few cracks in the walls and some of the floorboards needed repair. He heard a soft voice coming from another room. He crept around the corner and stopped abruptly when he saw her.

She was kneeling next to a broken ladder, her hands clasped together in her lap. She was staring intently at a splotch of paint on the wall. Peter almost shouted for joy that he'd found the girl from this morning, but stopped himself when she started talking.

"If only you hadn't stayed late at work, then maybe this wouldn't have happened," the girl murmured. "You always think you're doing what's best for other people, but the people you love always get hurt in the end."

Peter couldn't figure out who she was talking to. He thought perhaps there was an invisible person in the room. Nibs had made himself a chameleon suit that would assimilate to his surroundings, making him nearly invisible, but it would be hard for someone to blend into these drab walls. Finally, he concluded that she must be talking to herself, which he thought was strange, but sometimes Curly did that when he was trying to figure something out.

"Just pull yourself together. It will be fine," she said resolutely, wrapping her arms around herself. "She's not dead. She's going to wake up, and you won't be alone." Then the girl began to shake. "But what if she never wakes up?"

Tears began streaming down her cheeks, and Peter had an unfamiliar urge to embrace her, to run his fingers through her messy hair and catch her tears. He studied her for a moment. Her light brown hair was piled on top of her head, but several loose strands fell around her face and neck. Her lips, even though she was crying, reminded him of the moment just before someone breaks into a laugh.

Her sobs grew more intense and great shudders rippled through her body. Tentatively, he stepped forward.

"Girl, why are you crying?"

Her head snapped up and she screamed. In a moment she was on her feet and something was being hurled at his head. Then everything went black.

# Chapter Six

Wendy stood over the boy lying prone on the floor, gasping in great breaths of air and shaking her head back and forth.

"No, no, this can't be happening," she muttered, kneeling next to the boy and searching for signs of life. She had recognized him as the beggar from the corner a split second after she had thrown a ladder rung at his head.  _Please don't be dead, please don't be dead_ , she thought as she laboriously rolled him onto his back. Her eyes roved over him and caught on his chest rising and falling.

"Oh good, I didn't kill him!"

In her relief and exhaustion she collapsed on top of him, reveling in the small victory of not having committed involuntary manslaughter. She was surprised by how nice he smelled, like soap and ginger, which was not the scent she would expect from a homeless person. The next moment she realized how ridiculous she was being and pushed herself off of him. She rocked back on her heels and looked him over, wondering how she should try to wake him up, hoping that he _would_ wake up. She didn't want to go back to the hospital tonight.

Lying on the floor in front of her, he looked almost serene. A corner of his mouth was turned up, as if he were playing a joke on someone. He was wearing a plain green sweatshirt and jeans, but his shoes were unlike anything she'd ever seen before. They were a thin brown leather and covered in all sorts of buttons and baubles. The soles were made of flexible metal plates, and she wondered how someone could walk without breaking them. She glanced back up toward his face and noticed there was something shiny in his wavy brown hair. Was it glitter? No, it was something more sophisticated. Before she could investigate further, she heard a low moan and scurried away from him.

"What _was_ that?" He groaned, gingerly touching his temple where a large bump was forming.

"Well, it wasn't a kiss," Wendy snorted, not sure why she found that statement amusing.

The boy focused his bright green eyes on her, then looked around the room and frowned when he noticed the ladder rung on the floor behind him.

"You knocked me out?" He looked so heartbroken that Wendy momentarily forgot that he was trespassing in her flat.

"I-I'm sorry. You scared me, and I ..." she trailed off. He stood up and she found her courage. "Look," she said, "I don't know what you're doing here. I don't have any more money to give you, so please leave."

She was surprised and somewhat disarmed when he responded with a smile.

"Money? I don't need any money," he laughed.

"Then why were you begging this morning?"

"I saw those other people sitting there, so I thought I'd try it too."

"If you don't want money, then why-?"

"I was trying to find my shadow."

"Your shadow?" Wendy said dubiously.

"Yeah, I lost it yesterday."

"You mean, _that_?" Wendy asked, gesturing to his likeness on the wall.

He turned to see what she was pointing at.

"No," he responded, "that's an extension of my Essentia."

"Your what?"

"My Essentia. The components and characteristics that are unique to me. Your Essentia would be things like the sorrow in your voice or that freckle next to your eye."

Wendy stepped back, equally frightened and intrigued that he had noticed those things about her.

"No, I've been looking for my shadow," he continued. "I lose it more often than everybody else, so I finally put a tracker on it. I don't know how it got up here to the Grey World, but I'm betting one of those kangarabbits is responsible."

Wendy didn't even bother trying to hide her astonishment. This guy was definitely nuts. How was she going to get him out of her apartment? She watched as he held up a small stone. Then he looked intensely at her and before she knew it he was closing the gap between them and reaching for her hip.

"Stop! Get away from me!" She yelled, pushing him back as forcefully as she could. Once again his expression morphed into pained innocence. After several strained seconds he pointed to her leg.

"You have my shadow," he said softly. "It's in your thigh."

"What?" Wendy put her hand on her leg and was surprised to feel a lump there. She dug her hand into her pants pocket and pulled out the figurine she had found at Mrs. Nancy's. So much had happened since then, she had completely forgotten about it. The boy extended his hand and Wendy hurriedly pressed the metal figure into it.

"There," she said, stepping away again, "you have your shadow thing back. Now would you please leave?"

When he didn't move Wendy tried to look threatening, but he just returned her angry expression with a half smile and stepped closer.

"What's your name?"

"Wendy," she spit out before her common sense could stop her.

"Wendy," he repeated. "My name is Peter," he said, bowing to her.

Wendy didn't know how to react, so she just remained motionless. He took another step towards her. He looked older than she'd thought he was when she saw him that morning. He was probably about her age, and he was at least a foot taller than her.

"You've been crying."

"Yes, I have."

"Why?"

Something about the sincerity of his tone coaxed the words out of her.

"This day has been awful," she admitted. "I think they're going to close down the place I work at, and then I came home and found my mother unconscious on the floor. She fell off that ladder and now she's in a coma." Wendy knew it was ridiculous to confide in this stranger, but somehow it made her feel better to tell someone about it.

"What's a mother?"

She laughed at the inquiry, but stopped herself when she saw he was serious.

"It's a... she's my..." Wendy didn't know how to answer, and finally gestured to a photo of her mother on the wall. Peter studied the picture and his expression darkened.

"You care about this woman?" He asked, a trace of alarm in his voice.

"Yes, very much."

Peter ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm so sorry," he muttered.

"It's not your fault," Wendy responded.

"Yes, it is."

Wendy rolled her eyes. She had to remind herself that this guy was probably crazy.

"I want to make it up to you," he said, the smile returning to his eyes.

"Great. You can make it up to me by leaving."

"Okay, I'll leave," he conceded, "but I want you to come with me."

Before she could answer with a vehement 'no,' some sort of huge insect flew into her face and pricked her cheek.

"Are you kidding me?" Screamed a shrill voice. "We can't take this monstrosity back with us! She'll ruin everything!"

"Tink, stop that!" Peter yelled as the talking insect pulled at Wendy's hair. She covered her head with her arms to try and protect herself, but the thing was relentless. Suddenly, Peter pulled Wendy against his chest and caught the fluttering pest in his free hand.

"Tink!" He scolded. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? You left me out there with that feral animal! Thanks to you, I now have fur in my joints!"

Peter chuckled. "You're telling me you can't outmaneuver a little cat?"

"Of course I can! But it's been over half an hour and my battery is running low. I'm dying out there while you've been inviting some hussy to invade our sanctuary!"

Wendy squinted at the tiny entity in Peter's hand that was spouting off such offensive sentiments. She finally focused on a small metallic woman with wings. The creature turned its head to her and shined a blinding light in her eyes.

"Stop touching her!" The contraption demanded. "You don't know where she's been!"

Wendy gasped, realizing that she was still pressed against Peter. She hurriedly pulled out of his embrace, but with her eyes still impaired by the light, she stumbled and ran right into the wall. The tiny woman laughed, and Wendy had the sudden urge to throw her into the garbage disposal.

"Tink, calm down! She's not going to ruin anything," Peter exclaimed.

"Yes, she will. She'll throw off the balance. Plus, she doesn't have anything to contribute."

"But she'll love it! I want to show her everything."

"Peter, you can't just bring anybody into Neverland, they have to be chosen. They have to be screened. They have to fit the parameters."

Wendy was beginning to feel like she was in a nightmare. Perhaps the stress of the day was causing her to hallucinate. This situation was far too insane for reality.

"Stop!" She commanded. "You don't need to argue about it, because I'm not going."

"There you go," the tiny woman remarked, "she's much smarter than I gave her credit for."

"But Wendy, you'll have so much fun, I know you will," Peter pleaded. "Once you see it you'll never want to leave."

Wendy was unnerved by his use of her name and the confidence in his voice.  "There is no way I'm going anywhere with you," she declared, folding her arms across her chest. To her dismay, a hint of mischief lit up his eyes.

"That sounds like a challenge," he murmured, his mouth curling into a smile that was so charming, it was unsettling. He unhooked something from his shoe and crossed to her. She backed away but wasn't fast enough. He sprayed something in her face and within moments all the colors in the room began to blend together, spinning around in her vision until she slumped over and lost consciousness.

# Chapter Seven

"You could get banished for this, you know." Tink sniffed from her perch on Peter's shoulder.

"Not a chance," Peter replied cockily. "I'm too integral to the games and inventions. It would take them forever to rebuild that stuff."

"Well, I still don't think the others are going to be too happy about this."

"Why not? What's not to love about her?"

Tink growled and dimmed her light. Peter couldn't figure out why she was acting so strange. Usually she agreed with him about everything.

They had made decent progress through the night, considering that Peter was carrying extra cargo. He had cradled Wendy in his arms, and while this slowed him down significantly, he didn't mind carrying the unconscious girl at all. However, a pain was developing in is lower back, and he thought he had better change her position. They stopped outside of a pub where a bit of light illuminated the street, and he carefully hoisted Wendy over his shoulder. There were several curious glances from the beleaguered patrons in the pub, but they didn't say anything. Peter straightened up and continued walking down the street.

"You were supposed to turn back there," Tink said, a little too triumphantly.

"I know," Peter lied, "I just wanted to see what this sculpture was. He feigned interest in a large fountain featuring a winged baby and then doubled back to the street that smelled like ginger. He must have been really distracted thinking about the girl on his shoulder to have missed it.

"What are you going to do with her?" Tink asked.

"What do you mean?"

"She'll have to do something when we get there, she can't just be idle."

"I don't know, she can tell stories or something."

Tink snorted. "Tell stories? Wow, that will really win us points against the pirates."

Peter ignored her. He admired the red lanterns strung overhead and then took a right at the second tunnel. They descended underground and the air became damp. He thought about Wendy as he walked, only slightly aware of how much he liked the way her hand bumped against his back with every stride. He knew it was wrong to have just taken her like he did, but she didn't know what she was missing. Once she saw how wonderful and exciting Neverland was, she would be grateful that he had forced her to come with him. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she saw the lagoon, or climbed the zebra trees in the forest, or saw the view from the top of the silver mountains.

Tink did have a point, though. She couldn't play the games. She didn't have the right gear, plus it would take forever to explain the rules. Maybe she could just observe them and then point out better strategies. Or, he could make up new games that she'd be able to take part in. He was confident that everyone would be okay sharing their resources with her until she learned enough to start gaining her own points.

After navigating through the maze of tunnels, they came to a spot where the earth was raised along the side of the stone walls, creating a small ledge. Peter decided it'd be a good idea for him to stop and rest. He'd like to get a little sleep since he knew he had at least two or three more hours until they got there.

"What are you doing?" Tink inquired.

"I just want to rest for a little bit. I'll pass out if I don't."

"Well, it wouldn't be so bad if you weren't carrying that hag on your shoulder," Tink whined. "Plus, my battery is at 9 percent. I don't want to die before we get there."

"You can go on without me," Peter suggested.

"No! I don't want to go back alone!"

"You came through here alone."

"Well, yeah, but that was when I had full power and it was daytime. Plus, I don't want to leave you alone with this wench. What if she clubs you over the head again? Or worse, what if she _kisses_ you?"

"What's a kiss?"

"Hopefully you won't find out until I'm ready to give you one."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're an idiot," Tink spat, kicking her tiny foot at his earlobe.

"Okay, we'll only rest for a few minutes then."

"Fine."

Peter set Wendy down on the ledge. He sat down beside her and positioned her head against his leg. Tink growled again. After he was sure that the sleeping Wendy looked comfortable, he rested his head against the wall. He dozed for a few minutes, but then he felt Wendy stirring next to him.

He got a little nervous. Waking up in Neverland would be one thing, but waking up in a cold and dark tunnel would probably frighten and anger her even more. He could spray more Insta-sleep on her, but he knew that using too much of that solution in too short a time would make you have hallucinations. They weren't as bad as Drunken Vapor, but they were still unsettling. Sometimes the twins would overdose on purpose because they liked those effects.

"What happened?" Wendy murmured, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She focused on Peter and a range of emotions fluttered across her face. "You did something to me," she said lazily, although there was a slight severity in her voice. "What was that stuff?"

"Well, it wasn't a kiss," Peter answered, not sure if what he said even made sense. He was really just hoping that Wendy would explain what a kiss was. She didn't. Instead, she nodded her head twice and then rested it on Peter's shoulder. He glanced down at her. She had fallen asleep again. Peter watched her and smiled. He was intrigued by the way her long eyelashes fluttered every few seconds.

He was just starting to feel something curiously pleasant when all at once she gasped and sat upright.

"What did you do? Where am I? Take me back right now!"

The words all rushed together as she stood and stumbled about. Getting her bearings, she bolted down the dark tunnel, out of sight. But then he heard her footsteps stop. There was some shuffling, and then she appeared again, her eyes flashing with indignation.

"How do I get out of here?" She breathed out, every word laced with barely controlled rage.

"I'll tell you!" Tink sang, flying over to Wendy and shining light into her eyes.

"Tink, please don't," Peter called, but the fairy ignored him.

"You're going to walk 35 paces and then take a right," she explained happily, "then a quick left. Then you're going to walk until you see a ring of stones, and you'll have to climb ... turn around and go ... flowers on the left ..." Tink's light and audio were sputtering on and off. Peter guessed that her battery was almost dead. "... tunnel widens ... about 20 paces ... left ... Kung pao chicken..."

The metal fairy clunked to the ground, leaving them in dark silence. Peter pulled a small cylinder off of his left shoe and twisted it until it flooded the tunnel with light. He walked forward and picked up the lifeless Tink, carefully securing the fairy in his pocket. Then he lifted his eyes to Wendy. She stood motionless, but there was a look of desperation about her.

"I'm sorry," he began. "I just really think..."

"No, you don't think!" Wendy exploded. "You-you can't do this to people! This is illegal! You've kidnapped me!"

"Wendy, please-"

"Don't call me Wendy! I am not your friend! I hate you!"

Her last words somehow stung him more than getting pierced with a pirate sword. His face fell, and Wendy must have noticed because her expression softened a little.

"Look, if you take me back right now, I promise I won't report you to the police," she said hopefully.

Peter stared at her. He didn't know what she meant by police, but apparently she was offering him some kind of deal. He could play this game too.

"Neverland is only a few more hours down these tunnels," he explained. "If we get there and you don't like it, I promise I will take you home immediately."

She stood silent for a long time, her face pained with indecision. Then she dropped her head and covered her face with her hands.

"Fine, take me to this Neverland," she conceded, the words muffled behind her fingers.

Peter broke into a broad smile. "Great!" He exclaimed. "Let's hurry and we might get there in time for breakfast!"

# Chapter Eight

Wendy didn't know if she wanted to scream, cry, laugh, or just collapse on the ground and forget everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. Fantasizing about doing each of these things helped her stay lucid as she put one foot in front of the other, following behind Peter as he guided her through a complex system of tunnels.

_What have I just agreed to?_ She thought wearily. This guy might be leading her to a death cave. Or he could be luring her into some horrific trap. He seemed too innocent to be knowingly escorting her to danger, but then again, he was completely nuts. He could throw her into a snake pit thinking it was a fantastical lake. Regardless, this had just seemed like a better option than trying find her way through the labyrinth of dark passageways by herself. Her best bet was to make it to this so called 'Neverland,' proclaim that she hated it, and hope that Peter kept his promise to take her back.

"We're getting close!" Peter called back cheerily, interrupting her thoughts. His tiny lantern provided sufficient light to see about 15 feet in front of them, but since she was walking behind him, the area immediately in front of her was dark and she often stumbled over roots and rocks.

"So, what's this Neverland like?" She asked, not because she was interested, but because she wanted something to distract her from her crazed thoughts.

"It's incredible," Peter replied. "There's so much to see and you can do almost anything you want. It's nothing at all like the Grey World."

"Grey World?"

"The place where you live."

"Oh." Wendy was a bit put off by the name he had given to her city, but after she considered it for a few moments, she could see why he called it that.

"So, you live in Neverland?"

"Of course."

"How long have you lived there?"

"Forever," Peter said simply, as if this were an appropriate response.

"How old are you?"

"I don't know. I can't remember."

"Do you have any other family?'

Peter scratched his head. "Well, there are the other boys; Slightly, Curly, Nibs, the twins..."

"Are they your brothers?"

"No."

"Do you have any parents?"

"What are those?"

Wendy huffed. "A mother or a father. Your mother gave birth to you. Your parents are adults that are responsible for you, they take care of you."

"Oh, no, I definitely don't have any of those."

"Well, you had to have had a mother sometime."

"Maybe. I don't remember."

There seemed to be a lot of things this boy didn't remember. The most unnerving thing, though, was that he didn't seem to care much about it. They walked a few more yards in silence, and then Wendy tripped on a rock and lurched forward. She grabbed at Peter to keep herself from falling, and found herself hugging his back. He peered at her over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows. She quickly straightened up.

"Would you like me to carry you again?" Peter offered.

"Absolutely not," Wendy responded, a little annoyed that for a split second she had considered it. "But maybe I should walk in front of you."

"That'd be nice. I like to look at your hair."

"Ugh, never mind."

As they continued weaving through numerous tunnels, Wendy thought she could hear some kind of static humming, and she imagined electrical wires sparking beneath the tunnel walls.

"This is it," Peter called back suddenly, shining his light on a large door that looked completely out of place in the dingy tunnel. It was sleek and shiny and had a numeric keypad on it. Wendy drew in her breath. It was just a door, but this was already far more bizarre than she had imagined.

"Are you ready?" He asked, giving her an intense look that made Wendy want to turn and run. But her curiosity won out. Peter punched in a long code, and the door slid open, revealing a huge, well-lit cavern full of computers, controllers, scientific-looking instruments, and a massive screen that covered the far wall. Wendy was intrigued and horrified at the same time. _How did they get all this stuff down here?_ Her eyes wandered to some kind of lab set up in the far corner and she shuddered as thoughts of being dissected ran through her mind.

There was a scraping sound and Wendy whipped her head to the side as a group of boys approached them from the left. She shrank back. Not that the boys were all that intimidating, they were just completely unexpected. They seemed to be about as old or younger than Peter, and they were dressed in.... _what were they dressed in?_ Tight, metallic body suits adorned with leather belts and vests that held all sorts of foreign contraptions.

"Peter! You're back!" The foremost of them shouted.

"We were worried you'd been killed!"

They crowded around Peter, apparently not noticing her, which Wendy didn't mind one bit.

"What are you all doing?" Peter asked, a trace of disappointment in his voice.

"The pirates locked us out," two boys replied at the same time.

"What?" Peter gasped, as if this were the most devastating thing in the world.

"Yeah, we came for some supplies, and they reset all the codes."

"How long have you been locked out?"

"All night. We tried a couple times to get back in, but without everybody here it's been impossible to coordinate an attack. They've been stealing all of our tokens."

Peter's face grew dark. "Turn on the consoles," he commanded, "we have to get them back."

The boys scurried to their stations behind the computers and began outfitting themselves with items from their belts. They put on various goggles, earpieces, and visors, and stuck sensors onto their foreheads, hands, and feet.

Wendy watched as Peter shed his sweatshirt and jeans, revealing a similar bodysuit that showcased a rather impressive physique. She scolded herself for staring. "This is the lunatic guy that just kidnapped you, remember?" She muttered.

Peter held up the small figurine he had retrieved from her a few hours ago. All the other boys followed suit, each holding their own metal piece in the air.

"Everybody ready?" Peter shouted. "Now!"

They all connected their figures into a small stand at the base of their computers and simultaneously the screens lit up, including the massive one on the wall. The huge picture was pixelated, and the image was constantly changing, but Wendy could make out some kind of a forest or jungle filled with bizarre creatures and men dressed in worn and dirty clothing with matted hair and yellowed teeth. The stereotype was so extreme it was almost comical, but there was no mistaking who they were supposed to be. Pirates.

Wendy groaned. _This was it? This was Neverland? A bunch of boys hiding in a huge cave playing high tech video games?_ She was absolutely livid. This is what Peter had dragged her hours through wretched tunnels to see. She prayed that they would reach whatever their objective was soon so she could convince Peter to take her home.

"I've unlocked the Weather Tree, but Starkey's on my trail," someone yelled.

"I've got you," another answered.

Wendy watched the screen as a golden hawk pounced on a rotund pirate, knocking him to the ground.

"Thanks Nibs! Now come help me get the treasure chest."

The boys' fingers flew over keyboards and controls, and every once in a while they would jump up, run around, and punch or kick something in the air. They looked, on the whole, supremely ridiculous. Peering over at Peter's screen, she saw that his avatar would at one moment be a bobcat, and the next a bear, and the next a snake, and so on. It seemed all the boys were doing this, becoming different animals on their screens to attack their enemies and navigate this virtual world.

"Alright, the Pit of Uncertainty is unlocked."

"Good work, Curly."

"They've surrounded the rock on the lagoon," Peter shouted. "They must know that's the last one. Let's fake them out with the aerial attack!"

Except for Peter, all of the boys' animals changed to birds as they soared over a pristine body of water. They circled around a group of shoddy looking men, then dove at them. The pirates focused on the sky above them and took aim with an assortment of high tech guns and swords. But just before the birds came into range, a massive shark leaped out of the lagoon, spraying the pirates with water and diverting their attention. The rock was momentarily unguarded, and a small blue jay landed on top and pecked at a small button. The rock glimmered and the birds flew away, leaving an irate group of buccaneers. Wendy almost cheered, but then stopped herself and looked away. She refused to be interested in any of this nonsense.

She may have been largely unimpressed with Neverland, but she did have a thousand questions. Did all of these boys live here? Where did they sleep? What did they eat? Where were their parents? Who were these pirates? Were they just characters in the game, or was there another cavern somewhere housing an additional team of video gaming addicts?

"Now we just have to make it to the portal without getting disabled," a gangly boy announced.

"It looks like Captain Hook has barricaded it with rocks and mines," someone answered back.

Wendy rolled her eyes. _Captain Hook? Please._ It sounded like just the kind of name a gamer would give themselves.

"I'll take care of it," Peter answered, jumping out of his seat. The screens focused in on a man with curly black locks strutting in front of a pile of sharp rocks and devices obstructing the entrance to a cave. His regal garb made him look very out of place, but Wendy supposed authenticity wasn't the most important element in this virtual world. Peter began wriggling around, almost as if he were dancing. Wendy saw that his avatar had become a small lizard with a bejeweled head, and the creature was maneuvering expertly through the rocks. Between Peter and the lizard, Wendy had to admit that the spectacle was quite entertaining to watch. Finally, the lizard came to a large console and scurried around to punch in a code. A rectangular box with several shapes hollowed into it emerged from the ground, and Wendy gasped when she saw than an identical one had slid out from below the massive screen.

"Is everyone still active?" Peter called.

There was a chorus of affirmations, and Peter ran back to his computer.

"Disconnect in three, two, one, go!"

They all pulled the figures out of their stations and ran to the rectangular box, fitting them each into a unique hole. The screen went blank and the lights shut off, leaving them all in complete darkness.

_So is this what they get for winning the game?_ Wendy wondered. _A power outage?_ She tried to make out the shapes of the other boys in the cavern, but she couldn't see a thing. Suddenly a loud grinding noise erupted all around her. She yelped, but as far as she could tell, nobody else seemed to be concerned by it. Just as she was beginning to panic, the wall in front of her split open.

# Chapter Nine

Besides the brilliant light, the first thing to hit her was the smell. Unusually tropical and heady, Wendy felt that if she stuck her tongue out she'd be able to taste the air. A flurry of birds flew through the opening, circled the cavern, and flew back out. Some were real and some were machines, and they were not unlike the birds she had just seen on the screens. As the wall opened to its full extent, Wendy found herself peering down at the most incredible view she had ever seen.

Dramatic silver mountains rose up in defined layers, cradling the other features below them. The trees were unreal. They were every color, shape, and height imaginable, and they swayed gently in the impossible breeze. A magnificent lagoon shimmered below, reflecting some unknown light source, and a tantalizing mist rose up from it, playing tricks on her senses. In fact, everything was expanding and challenging her senses, daring her to believe that there could be such sights and smells, such sounds and flavors.

She instinctively walked to the edge of the opening, hungrily taking it all in.

"Who are you?"

"Um..."

"Oh, that's Wendy!" Peter shouted from the back of the cavern. Wendy turned and saw him taking off his gear and smiling at her.

The boy next to her just stared, mouth open. Wendy wasn't sure how to respond, so she stepped away and continued to study the world below.

It was huge. She guessed that it stretched on for at least 100 kilometers, although even with that estimation she couldn't see where it ended. Maybe it was a trick, an illusion. Maybe she was dreaming. She _had_ been extraordinarily tired and stressed. It just wasn't possible that something this marvelous was hiding underground.

"Curly! Will you release the pixie dust?"

"I'm on it!"

One of the boys ran to the side and pulled a lever. Instantly, fine dust began to rain down on them, clinging to their suits.

Wendy sneezed as it tickled her nose, and while she blinked it out of her eyes, a boy leaped off the ledge and plummeted down through the air. Before she could scream a warning, two more boys jumped over the edge.

"What are they doing?" She cried, watching their falling figures. The drop to the ground had to be over 200 kilometers.

"Here, let me show you," Peter said calmly, appearing at her side.

In the split second after mischief entered his eyes, Wendy discerned what he was going to do, but the realization came too late. Her protest was cut short as he wrapped his arms around her waist and flung them both into the air.

The scream caught in her throat as the wind rushed against them. _We're going to die,_ she thought. _What a waste. All this beautiful earth, and these boys were all just on a ludicrous suicide mission._ She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to think of how it would feel when she hit the ground, her bones crushed by the immense fall. Her only comfort was that death would be instant, there would be no suffering. Her thoughts became woozy, and the last image that flickered into her head before she passed out was her mother lying pale and alone in a hospital bed.

*****

"What happened to her?"

"Peter, did you kill her?"

"No, she's still alive, probably just knocked out from the fall."

"Can I touch her? I've never touched a girl before. Well, except for Tink, but that doesn't really count."

"You never touch a lady when she's asleep. You'll be cursed for 11 years."

"Back up, I think she's opening her eyes."

Wendy blinked a few times, trying to process her surroundings and failing spectacularly. She shut her eyes again. _Am I dead?_ She thought. _If I were dead, I wouldn't have this headache._ She peeked out again and was met by bright green eyes, laced with concern and a touch of exuberance.

"Wendy, wake up," he urged. "I have so much to show you."

Her thoughts cleared. She was with Peter, that strange boy who had kidnapped her. They had fallen down hundreds of kilometers into this new and exotic world, and somehow they had not been killed. As fascinating as it all was, she couldn't shake the image of her mother. She had to get back, she had to get home. She had to go to work. Mrs. Nancy would go berserk if she didn't show up, especially with all the stress of possibly having the home shut down. She had to be with her mother. What if she had woken up already?

Wendy sat upright, fighting the urge to lie down again. The circle of boys around her drew back, their expressions a mixture of fear and fascination.

"I don't know what just happened or where we are, but I need to go home," she pleaded. "My mother is in a coma and I have to get to work."

They eyed her curiously, and then one tall boy stepped forward.

"She's speaking gibberish," he declared. "Give her some medicine, that will clear her up."

They all scattered in different directions, then came back and pressed in on her, all attempting to put a flask to her lips. Alarmed, Wendy tried to back away, but they were relentless. She pushed their hands away from her face, but one broke through and suddenly a trickle of liquid was running into her mouth.

She froze as she processed the taste. It was indescribably delicious, and almost immediately she felt calm and content. She exhaled happily as the taste and sensations ran through her body. She looked back at the boys and smiled. What had she been saying? What had she been so worried about?

"See, there's nothing this medicine can't fix," a young boy announced proudly and put the stopper back into his flask.

Peter strode forward and helped Wendy to her feet. Now that her head was cleared, she couldn't help noticing how good looking he was.

"Boys," Peter said authoritatively, "This is Wendy."

"Hello, Wendy lady!" The boys sang out.

"Wendy, these are the lost boys." Peter crossed to the boys and started with the tallest. "This is Slightly, he takes care of the security."

"And I do a lot of building and cooking," the gangly boy added defensively.

Peter moved on to a bulky boy with a kind face. "This here is Curly. He keeps track of measurements and proportions, and chronicles the changes in Essentia." The boy gave her a shy smile and ducked his head.

"Nibs is in charge of battle tactics and defenses," Peter continued, gesturing to the shortest, but probably not the youngest, boy. He saluted her solemnly.

"And the twins are in charge of developing food and animals." Wendy could almost see the mischievousness bouncing between them. Except for their different colored vests, she couldn't tell them apart.

"It's very nice to meet all of you," Wendy said tentatively, not sure how she should act. Almost all of the boys beamed back at her. She glanced around. They appeared to be in some sort of house, but even that definition seemed inadequate. She was fairly certain that they were underground, that is, underneath the underground world she had seen from the cavern. The dwelling was made entirely of tree roots, some real and some fabricated. The floor was covered in various fur rugs, and in each corner there were huge beds. There were tunnels and trap doors leading to who knows where, and Wendy wondered what adventure lie behind each one. It was lit by dozens of turtles with brightly glowing shells crawling around on the floor, and curiously, up the walls and on the ceiling. The walls were adorned with screens resembling windows that displayed what Wendy assumed were scenes from around Neverland.

Wendy turned her attention to Peter, who had been giving assignments while she was studying the house.

"After the tiger mice are rebooted, we all need to reconfigure our shadows..."

"What is she going to do?" Nibs interrupted, gazing at Wendy.

"That's not your problem, Nibs."

"Well, it is if I have to share my resources with her. We're already low on tokens, and if she's not earning her own-"

"Can she code?" Curly piped up. "I could really use some help translating the Essentia archives."

"Ooh, can she sew?" Slightly inquired. "I always thought we should have a fashion designer."

"Stop!" Shouted Peter. "Right now she's helping me and we'll figure out her contribution later."

The boys held their breath and stared at Wendy. Finally, one of the twins spoke up.

"So, she hasn't been authorized?"

"Not yet."

The boys shuffled uncomfortably and a ripple of fear passed through Wendy's body. She wasn't supposed to be here.

"Don't worry about it," Peter said, a smile tugging at his mouth. "I'll take all responsibility for her right now. Now let's see if we can be fully functional again by the time I get back."

"Where are you going?" Asked Nibs, his eyes squinting suspiciously.

"I'm taking Wendy to the lagoon with me to retrieve our tokens."

# Chapter Ten

Peter was in exceptionally good spirits. He had found his shadow, he was back in Neverland, and he had Wendy with him. He still wasn't sure why having her there made him so elated, but he was confident that he'd figure it out eventually. He watched her carefully as they walked through the forest, thrilled at every tree she admired, every rock structure she stopped to touch. He had expected that she would change her mind about wanting to go back home when she got to Neverland, but he didn't think it would be so easy. It was a bit strange, actually.

"What is that?" She asked eagerly, peering at a large, furry creature hiding behind a bush.

"Oh, that's just a kangarabbit," Peter replied. When Wendy continued to stare at him in confusion, he remembered that they didn't have kangarabbits in the Grey World. "The twins like to hybridize animals," he explained. "A lot of the time they'll just do this with the animal blueprints to create machinery, but sometimes they'll fuse the animal DNA with plants or other animals."

Wendy frowned and stepped closer to the creature. It jumped out from behind the bush, it's huge ears flopping and it's small arms positioned above it's pouch. It studied them for a moment with its large eyes, and then took off toward a group of zebra trees, the ground shaking with its huge leaps.

"That doesn't seem very ethical," Wendy commented. She stared after the kangarabbit for a while and then glanced up at an eagle soaring overhead. Her expression became somber and she fixed her eyes on Peter.

"How did we get down here?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"We were in the cavern at the end of all those tunnels, and the wall split open, but we were so far above Neverland. You grabbed me and pulled me over the ledge. I thought I was going to die. I passed out."

Peter laughed and Wendy gave him such a severe look that he swallowed his mirth.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I should have explained before, but there wasn't a lot of time. The entrance only stays open for a couple minutes."

"Okay, but how did you get us here without our bodies being pulverized into the ground?"

"Oh, we flew."

"What?"

"We flew. About half of Neverland is made up of metal and magnetic substances. It's framed under the ground and in the rocks and there's even some in the sky." Wendy glanced dubiously above her. "These suits and our shoes have just enough metal to attract the pixie dust, which helps us fly."

"You lost me at pixie dust."

Peter ran a hand through his hair, picking up a few remaining particles and showing them to Wendy. "I developed this dust that has immense magnetic power," he explained. "Whenever we want to fly, we coat ourselves with this and it helps us navigate in the air, attracting and opposing the other magnetic forces. But you have to be careful to only fly where there's the right amount of magnetic power. You can't fly over the lagoon, obviously, because there are no magnets there and you'll just fall into the water. But you also can't fly over the silver mountains, which are almost completely made of steel, because the force will pull you in and you'll smash right into the side."

Wendy grabbed his hand in both of hers to study the metallic particles, and an odd sensation ran through his body.

" _You_ developed this?"

"Yeah, I got about 1,000 points for it."

"How?"

"We all get points for whenever we invent something useful, or find new ways to produce food, or win games, or just complete a bunch of helpful tasks. Our points indicate our status in Neverland, and we also use them to get tokens. Then we exchange the tokens for food, new equipment or resources, or extra time in the Imagination Tower."

Wendy shook her head. "You'll have to run me through all that again later. What I meant was, how did you make this pixie dust?"

"Oh, that was easy. The Imagination Tower has almost everything you need to execute your own inventions and experiments. I just combined some elements to create super powerful magnets and then crushed them into dust. Then Slightly and I designed these suits to enhance the effectiveness of the dust."

Wendy's mouth hung open and Peter felt a surge of pride. Whenever he explained his accomplishments to the other boys, they'd just shrug their shoulders and grunt.

"Can I try?" Wendy asked, her eyes bright with anticipation.

"Try what?"

"Flying."

Peter furrowed his brow. He didn't have an extra suit, and his would be far too big on her, but his shoes might be enough for simple floating.

"Sure, put these on," he instructed, removing his shoes and holding them out to her. She wrinkled her nose, but the next moment she took them from his hands and pulled them on. Peter took a small pouch of pixie dust from a thin compartment in his suit, grabbed out a pinch, and threw it on Wendy.

"Sit down," he commanded.

She lowered herself onto a rock and Peter rubbed the dust onto the soles of the shoes on her feet. A little too eager, she jumped to her feet, levitated for a split second, and then came crashing to the ground. Peter winced, expecting her to be angry, but instead, she smiled up at him, causing his heart to skip a beat.

"That's amazing!" She exclaimed. She slowly pushed herself off the ground and rose about half a meter into the air. She wobbled and flung her hands forward to grasp Peter's shoulders. He met her blue green eyes and gulped. They were face to face, their noses almost touching. He gained control of his senses and took her hands off his shoulders, pushing her away a bit, but still holding her hands in his own. He walked forward, guiding her along in the air. As she became more steady, he released one of her hands, allowing her to test her balance.

"This is incredible! Just absolutely stunning!" She kept repeating, alternating glances between the forest floor, her surroundings, and Peter. After a few minutes she let go of Peter's other hand and hung in the air. She experimented with adjusting her feet and hands to move in different directions or to adjust her speed. Peter was impressed. It had taken the other boys ages to master flying, and Wendy was only wearing the shoes. Suddenly, Wendy started zooming towards a large rock, and Peter had to dive to catch her before she smashed into it. He held her at arm's length as she laughed.

"That was unexpected!" She exclaimed giddily. "I suppose that one consists mostly of metal," she said, gesturing to the rock.

"Yeah," Peter murmured, "It's about 75 percent aluminum." He didn't know what had come over him, but holding her there, he felt weak and strong all at the same time. Wendy's face grew serious. He pulled her toward him, not sure why he wanted her closer. The air felt thick and everything around them seemed to dissolve into a mix of colors and smells.

"I think that's enough flying," Wendy announced quickly, clearing her throat.

Things came back into focus and Peter reluctantly set her on the rock where the shoes immediately stuck. She was quiet as she pried the shoes off the rock's surface, then removed them from her feet and returned them to Peter. As Peter was scraping the pixie dust from the shoes, she jumped down with bare feet and began walking away. Peter hurried to catch up with her.

"You did really great," he said, wondering why she was suddenly acting so distant.

"Thanks," she responded simply, avoiding his eyes.

"Um, did you want to get your shoes?"

She stopped. "Right, my shoes." She turned around, nearly bumping into him, and walked in the opposite direction.

"So, where is the lagoon?" She called over her shoulder.

"It's just past the Weather Tree. We should be able to-"

But Peter was cut off by a loud screech and the pounding of giant feet. Almost too late he saw the massive Buffalostrich Rex emerge from a clump of trees. It was running straight at Wendy, who appeared to be frozen in fear. He sprinted forward and grabbed her as he dove to the ground, just barely getting them both out of the animal's path as it stampeded past them. Wendy stared at the spot where the animal had disappeared, and then she turned her face to Peter, her eyes round with amazement.

"You saved my life," she whispered. In one quick movement, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. Peter tentatively returned her embrace, but then she stiffened and pushed herself away, brushing the dirt from her clothes. Peter shook his head at her strange behavior. Perhaps this was the reason there were no girls in Neverland.

# Chapter Eleven

"What _was_ that?" Wendy exclaimed, trying to make sense of the beast that had nearly trampled her. It had been huge, with a furry, horned head, a round, feathery midsection, and two enormous legs that ended in clawed feet. And she couldn't be sure, the creature had run by so fast, but she thought she saw a long, green tail.

"That was the Buffalostrich Rex," Peter grunted as he got to his feet.

"Excuse me?"

"Slightly created him," Peter sighed, a smile tugging at his lips. "He got this wild idea that the combination of buffalo, ostrich, and dinosaur would make the perfect hunting animal. He convinced the twins to help him make it and train it, but obviously it turned out to be a huge mistake."

"Wow," Wendy responded, a mixture of fear and amusement in her voice. "So you just let him run free?"

"We tried to kill him a few times, but he's too big and too fast. We don't have anything that can bring him down. Plus, I think Slightly's still a bit fond of him."

Wendy laughed in spite of herself. The creature had, after all, nearly killed her. She looked up and saw that Peter was watching her again with that warmth in his eyes, and she quickly turned away.

She was fascinated with this new world, and Peter was becoming more and more appealing, but the fact remained that he had forced her to come here against her will. So however tempting his eyes or how strong his arms may be, she still held on to that feeling of indignation. She knew she had to go back home. She was abandoning her responsibilities, although she was having trouble remembering what those responsibilities were. They would flutter through her mind, something about her mother and some little boys, but then those thoughts would be eclipsed by some new plant to be discovered or some burning question to ask Peter. She figured she could stay here for a day, do some exploring, and then go back. Surely she wouldn't be missed for one day, would she?

"I think the Buffalostrich Rex might have taken your shoes with him," Peter observed, his eyes searching the ground. "You can wear mine until we make you some new ones."

Wendy would have protested, but then she remembered that he owed her some decency. She shrugged and once again pulled the too big shoes onto her feet.

"We better hurry," Peter said, studying the sky. "Once the tide rises, the pirates will take their ship to the other side of the lagoon."

Wendy suppressed a shudder. She didn't want to admit she was afraid of the pirates, but now that she knew they were real people and not fabricated characters in some game, she couldn't help feeling apprehensive.

They tromped on in silence for a while, Wendy dividing her thoughts between observing the forest, trying to remember her duties, and pushing down her dread of the pirates. Eventually they came to a bizarre tree. One section of it was full, leafy and green, another section was covered in blossoms, around the side she saw a portion where the leaves were yellow and orange, and in the last section the branches were completely bare.

"It's a Weather Tree," Peter stated, coming up beside her as she studied it. "Curly designed it, and I helped with the development."

"What does it do?" Wendy inquired, although she felt like she might already have a good idea.

"Look in here," Peter directed, opening up a panel in the bottom of the tree. There was a set of controls, some buttons, and several spigots. "You just decide which bit of weather you want, and the tree will produce it," he explained. "If you want it to be spring in all of Neverland, you turn the handle this way. But if you only want a small sample of spring, maybe to carry home with you for dinner, you push this button and it'll come out of this faucet. You just have to remember to bring a bucket or something."

"Curious," Wendy murmured.

"It's almost always summer in Neverland, although sometimes we'll turn it to spring or autumn."

"Never winter?"

"Only when we need snow."

Wendy grasped the handle and turned it to autumn, simultaneously pressing the small button below. Out of the spigot flowed some nuts and seeds, a few golden leaves, and a liquid that smelled of spices and something on the verge of dying. She quickly returned the handle to its summer position and stepped back, wiping the autumn liquid on her already soiled jeans.

"How does it manage to change the weather everywhere?"

"A system of pipes run underneath the tree, to the outer walls and up to the sky arch. It draws on the elements underneath, which are mixed and distilled throughout Neverland."

Wendy's head was spinning as they continued on. These boys were brilliant and the resources they had available to them were incredible. Why was it all being wasted in this singular, contained system?

"Aha! There it is!" Peter exclaimed. Wendy followed his gaze to a clearing where the beach appeared, and beyond that, a large vessel on the water. They slowed their pace and crouched down low when they arrived at the beach. The ship sat next to a large rock jutting out of the water. They stole behind the rock and peered around at the ship.

"I bet they've buried our tokens on the beach," Peter whispered, "but they could still have them on the ship. They wouldn't hide them anyplace too tricky because they'll want to have quick access to redeem them tomorrow."

Wendy studied the structure before them. It was constructed of wood and aluminum and had the appearance of a classic pirate ship, although she could discern a few modern touches. Like the lost boys' house, screens were built into the walls, and an elaborate control system was in the place where the helm would be.

Two men appeared and Wendy instinctively drew back, while Peter leaned forward.

"That's Bill Jukes and Smee," Peter observed, his eyes bright with mischief.

"It's too bad they got back in so soon," growled a muscular, red haired man that Peter mouthed was Bill Jukes, "but we'll be able to take a killing with all these tokens."

"True, but maybe we ought to leave a few out for them," mused the other, who Wendy deduced was Smee. "Otherwise they'll probably starve by the end of the week." He was short, with a full beard and a bald head, and his eyes were crossed behind large spectacles.

"Nah, I'm sure they've got some reserves. We need these tokens. It's about time we updated our tech."

Smee hefted a large bag over his shoulder, nearly buckling under its weight.

"Well then, the captain told us to hide this in the cove. That way the ship will be safe and the boys can't track them very well when they're insulated in the rocks."

The pirates began to descend down a ramp on the ship, heading straight towards their hiding place.

"Ah, this is perfect!" Peter cried, rubbing his hands together. Wendy, however, couldn't imagine anything less perfect. "Here, watch this," Peter whispered. He reached down to his shoes on Wendy's feet and plucked off a round dial with a tiny microphone and speaker sticking out of each end.

"Usually I only use this to play tricks on the twins, but we'll see how it works on them."

Wendy craned her neck to see the gadget Peter was fiddling with. A tiny screen lit up in the middle and as Peter turned the dial, different names appeared on the screen. Finally he stopped when the screen read Captain Hook. He quirked an eyebrow at her and raised the microphone to his lips. Wendy would have laughed if she wasn't so nervous.

"Jukes! Smee! Come help me with these wires!" Peter barked, but the voice that erupted from the speaker was distinctly lower and more gravely than his own.

"Captain?" Smee answered, glancing around. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the main cabin, you fool!" Came the deceitful reply.

"We thought you'd gone with the others to recharge the helm battery."

Peter faltered a bit before saying, "I was, but I remembered the navigation had to be reworked first."

Bill Jukes scratched his head.

"Come help me! I'm about to get electrocuted!"

"But the tokens ... ?"

"Rusted fish, man! I'm about to burn off my hand and you're worried about tokens! Leave them and get down here!"

Smee reluctantly dropped the bag on the deck and seconds later he and Bill Jukes had disappeared below.

"Fantastic!" Peter cried, emerging from their hiding place. He sloshed into the water and expertly climbed up the side of the ship. Dropping onto the deck he was lost from Wendy's sight, but after a few moments he reappeared.

"Wendy, take these!" He exclaimed, hefting the bag over the side. The sack made a large splash as it landed in the water. Wendy scurried out and dragged the tokens back behind the rock.

"That's the strangest thing," Smee's voice carried up from below. "You heard him, right?"

"Yeah, I heard him," Bill Jukes replied. "But he didn't sound like he was in the cabin."

The men's footsteps sounded on the deck and Peter leaped towards the main sail, his head once again disappearing from view.

"Captain, are you here?"

"Of course I am. I had to come up for some tools," Peter responded in Hook's voice.

"Where are you now?"

"I'm back in the cabin. Quick, come help me!"

Jukes and Smee exchanged bewildered looks. Wendy began to panic. Any moment they'd discover Peter or notice that the tokens were missing. The bag of tokens was heavy and awkward, and it'd be too dangerous for her to try and lug the thing back by herself out in the open. Plus, she didn't want to leave Peter alone on the ship, although she assumed he'd probably manage. She peered at the ground and had an idea.

She carefully dumped the tokens out of the bag and then began to refill it with the rocks and pebbles around her. When the sack was sufficiently full, she crept away from the rock and set the bag on the beach in plain sight. She'd just gotten behind the rock again when she heard Bill Jukes exclaim:

"Oy! Where are the tokens?"

There was some cursing and shuffling until Smee called out, "Look! On the shore! How in the name of faulty firewall did they get down there?"

Wendy didn't have time to dwell on the peculiarity of that statement. She was busy covering the tokens with sand and pebbles. She managed to slip around the side of the rock just as the two pirates arrived at the sack.

"It's got to be those boys," exclaimed Jukes.

"But why leave the tokens here? And where are they?"

Wendy heard their footsteps coming near her, and she continued to slide around the rock, keeping on the opposite side from the pirates, grateful that the gentle waves covered up the sound of her footsteps.

"Let's just get these to the cove before they do anything else," Smee announced after a few moments. Wendy exhaled as she spied them walking away, heading towards some cliffs and dragging the bag between them. Once they were out of sight, Peter climbed over the side of the ship and splashed through the water.

"Wendy! Are you okay?" He called, a look of relief crossing his face when he saw her.

She nodded, her lingering fear and adrenaline starting to turn to giddiness. "It's too bad you let them get the tokens," he said, frowning, "but probably best that we weren't discovered. That was good thinking, although the boys will be angry about it. But now that we know the tokens will be in the cove, we can go out tonight and-"

"Peter," Wendy blurted, "calm down!"  She shuffled around the rock and uncovered the retrieved tokens. Peter stared at them for a moment, then looked over at Wendy with an amused half smile.

"Well, aren't you just marvelous?"

# Chapter Twelve

"What will they do when they find out they have a bag full of rocks?" One of the twins howled, dancing around the house.

"I wish we could see their faces!" The other twin added.

"Maybe we can," Curly said quietly. He moved to one of the screens and switched the view to the outside of the cove.

Peter had just finished recounting their adventure to the rest of the boys, how he had used his voice changer to lure the pirates below deck, how Wendy had switched out the tokens for pebbles, and how they had then stolen some of the pirates' pants to carry the tokens home. The boys were delighted to have their tokens back, and very appreciative of Wendy's contribution.

"I guess you aren't completely useless after all," Nibs told her, not seeming to notice how offensive his comment was.

But Wendy was happy with their reactions. She had been afraid that they would kick her out of Neverland or ostracize her, but now she felt a little more confident about being there.

They were all eating some kind of meat and fruit cake. Wendy had refused to eat it at first. After all, it smelled like an old gym locker. But after she'd taken a tentative bite she had changed her mind.

"It's butter beef shortcake," Slightly had explained. "Sweet and savory, but packed with essential nutrients. Everything you need for a growing body and genius mind."

They were passing around the carrot juice when a chime sounded.

"Time for medicine!" They all yelled, scampering off to a cupboard and pulling out their flasks. Wendy laughed. She'd never seen anyone so excited to take their medicine, but remembering how fantastic it had tasted and how wonderful it had made her feel, she couldn't blame them. She gratefully had a sip of Peter's when he offered it to her.

"Who's choosing the game tomorrow?" Asked Nibs between gulps of medicine.

"It's the pirates' turn," replied Peter. "They'll probably want Dead Man's Plague again."

"I love Dead Man's Plague," Slightly exclaimed. "Especially since last time Tink got on their ship and..." he trailed off. "Hey, where's Tink?"

It was silent for a moment, and then Peter gasped.  "Oh no! I left her in the cavern!" He exclaimed. "She is going to be so mad."

Before Wendy could ask for clarification, Peter had grabbed her hand and pulled her out with him through one of the tunnels of the underground tree house.

"Where are we going?" Wendy protested, wishing she had brought more shortcake with her.

"I have to go get Tink back so she can recharge," he replied. "She's back up in the entrance."

They hurried through the forest, and soon the foliage started to look more like a jungle. They passed a cluster of black and white striped trees, and Wendy glimpsed robotic monkeys swinging in the branches. Farther along they walked past some flowers with long red and orange petals that tried to wrap around Peter's ankles, but drew back when Wendy came near.

"Why did they do that?" Wendy asked, oddly disappointed that the flowers didn't try to caress her feet.

"They know me," Peter replied. "They were created from my Essentia."

"There's that word again," Wendy huffed. "What do you mean by that?"

Peter gave her a puzzled look, as if it was the most peculiar thing she had asked so far. He opened his mouth, but the next moment she had sunk several inches into the ground. She looked down and squirmed. She had stepped into a spongy orange substance that enveloped her up to her knees. Just as she was struggling to get out, the elastic matter tightened and sent her sailing two meters into the air. Peter caught her easily and put her on solid ground.

"Trampoline moss," he explained with a smile and continued walking. Wendy spotted several more of the trampoline moss pools on their way and took care to avoid them.

"Here we are," Peter announced, peering up at a spot in the sky. Wendy could just barely make out a dark patch which she guessed was the cavern.

"Are we going to fly?" Wendy inquired. As much as she had enjoyed it before, she wasn't yet comfortable with flying that high or that far.

Peter gave her a fleeting look of disappointment, and then turned to a large rock beside them.  "No, we'll just take the basket."

"The what?"

Peter answered by pulling a large contraption out from behind the rock. A thick cable was attached to it which seemed to be tethered to the sky. Swallowing her apprehension, Wendy followed Peter through the opening. He pulled a lever and the basket began to ascend. It was like being in a hot air balloon, without the balloon.

She took in the sight of the sky above them. It looked like sunset, although Wendy still couldn't pinpoint the light source. The sky was just gradually darkening, the clouds turning delicious colors of pink and orange.

"Do you like it?" Peter whispered.

_Like what?_ She thought. _The artificial sunset? The basket? Neverland in general? Or just being here, alone with you?_ The last thought made her ears burn and she pushed it down.

"It's beautiful," she admitted. "But what's the point?"

"Point?" Peter repeated, stepping back from her.

"The purpose, the goal. Why are you all here?"

"To have fun, mainly," Peter replied, grinning. "And to have the most points. I'm usually at the top of the leaderboard," he boasted, "but every once in a while Captain Hook or Nibs will beat me."

"So, it's all just a game?"

"Of course." Peter answered, not catching Wendy's cynicism. "Isn't it wonderful?"

It did seem appealing. Playing games all day, thinking up ideas and inventing them. But it was also a little empty. Before Wendy could voice her thoughts, the basket clanged against the side of the entrance to the cavern. Peter pulled them safely to the lip and helped Wendy out of the basket. He ran to get his jeans where Tink's body was stored, and Wendy looked around, remembering how she had felt when she was here before ... _was it just this morning?_ She glanced around at the screens and the consoles, and apprehension tingled in her subconscious. She had been so angry. She had been so determined to leave. Why? Peter had just been trying to introduce her to this magnificent world, but she had been resisting so much. What was it that had her so worried? She struggled to remember, and the image of a woman flashed into her mind, accompanied by a twinge of sadness, but a second later the image and the feeling were gone. She shrugged and followed Peter back into the basket, admiring the view of Neverland as they descended.

*****

"A whole day!" The girl screeched. "You forgot about me for an entire day! I've been sitting here, unable to go anywhere, unable to see anything, because you've been cavorting around with this tramp for hours!"

"Come on, Tink, you can see Neverland just fine," Peter said, gesturing to several screens in the small room.

"It's not the same," Tink pouted, giving Wendy a nasty glare before grabbing the robotic fairy out of Peter's hand and plugging a cable into it.

Wendy gazed at the small apartment. It was homey in a sterile sort of way. It was crammed with wires and technical instruments, as well as a small partition that contained what looked like lab equipment, but it was decorated with a wide variety of fabricated flowers and greenery. In one corner there was a bird cage housing two animatronic parakeets, which chirped melancholy melodies every few minutes.

After coming down from the cavern they had trekked over to the base of the silver mountains, where a door at the bottom of the tallest peak had led them into central control and the home of the real Tink, the entity behind the mouthy metal fairy. She was a very short girl, probably about 15 years old, with cropped red hair and impossibly pale skin. Wendy focused on her sour expression as she continued her rant.

"You all are out having fun, and nobody ever comes to visit me, or thinks that maybe I'd like to have my avatar back, because you always forget about me, even after all the things I do for you!"

"Why didn't you just go out and get it?" Wendy ventured, realizing she'd made a mistake before the words were out of her mouth. Tink flushed as red as her hair and jumped out of her rolling chair.

"Oh sure," she spat in Wendy's face, "why not go out there with all the imminent danger and the unspeakable diseases? I might as well just sentence myself to death!" She shouted, pushing Wendy against the wall. _Hm, she must have agoraphobia,_ Wendy thought, but wisely kept the speculation to herself. Peter pulled Tink back, and an odd smile appeared on her face, but she continued to struggle. Wendy could see how much the girl liked having Peter's arms around her.

"Tink, stop," Peter pleaded. "Wendy is important to me and I don't want you to hurt her."

Suddenly deflated, Tink pushed away from Peter and returned to her chair, staring at the screen in front of her. Wendy raised her eyebrows. Either he had no clue how much this girl liked him or he was being incredibly insensitive.

"Anyway," Peter said cheerily, "I figured since we're here we could get Wendy's Essentia into the system."

"What? _Her?_ " Tink exclaimed. "She's not even supposed to be here!"

Wendy shuffled uncomfortably. Even though the lost boys had accepted her, she was still keenly aware that she was an intruder in this world. Plus, she didn't know that she wanted whatever her Essentia was in the system.

"It doesn't matter," Peter laughed.

"Of course it matters!" Yelled Tink. Her shrill voice in the small space was beginning to give Wendy a headache. "Once someone is in the system you can't get them out, and I don't want _her_ everywhere."

"Tink, you're being rude."

"I'm being honest."

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Peter urged, turning her chair to face him. She softened for a moment, then scowled at Wendy.

"Fine," She grumbled, grabbing a packet out of a drawer and throwing it at Peter.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Wendy protested as Peter pulled her towards the lab equipment, "what are you doing?"

"It's easy," he replied, pulling a syringe and a vial out of the packet. Wendy stiffened. "It'll only take a couple seconds."

"But, I still don't understand..."

"He's going to draw your blood and mix it with an advanced chemical compound," Tink interrupted in a bored tone. "This will draw out the singular characteristics, history, hormones, and health that make up your Essentia. Then we'll put it into this pipe," she jerked her thumb at an opening in the wall, "where it will be diffused throughout Neverland. The encoded system within the framework of Neverland will decipher your Essentia and generate living and mechanical organisms that are uniquely related to your genes and experiences."

"See? Nothing to worry about," Peter said with a grin.

"I would argue there's a lot to worry about," Wendy disputed, but Peter had already drawn her blood. She glanced down at the crook of her elbow. She hadn't even felt the needle go in. He poured it in the vial, shook it for a few seconds, and then pushed it into the small opening in the wall. Tink reluctantly typed in a few commands and the vial was sucked into the pipe with a gush of air. Peter rushed to one of the screens and called up a video that showed all of Neverland. For a few seconds nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then a distinct ripple pulsed through the ground. Wendy watched, spellbound, as new trees, plants, and formations rose up out of the earth in various places throughout Neverland. Creatures and birds stirred to life, and a dark purple streak appeared in the orange sky.

"Hm, purple," Tink grunted.

"Is that bad?" Wendy asked.

"It means you're incapable of love," the girl said smugly.

"No," Peter corrected, "It just means you're harboring a lot of pain." He searched her face, as if he was trying to decipher what that pain was. Wendy shook off his intense look and studied the screen again. She had seen the new organisms being created, but now they all blended in with the rest of the other creatures and foliage.

"How will I know which ones were made with my Essentia?" She wondered, the word feeling funny on her lips.

"You'll know. You'll be able to feel them," Peter explained, as if it were the most natural answer in the world.

Wendy shook her head, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She felt anticipation and energy rising up inside of her. The whole day had been a bit unsettling, but she had to admit that Neverland was the most magnificent place she had ever encountered.

# Chapter Thirteen

Peter woke up before everyone else and crept over to the corner where Wendy was sleeping. Slightly had insisted that she have her privacy, so they had hung a blanket to separate her from the rest of the large room. She was sprawled out on a white rug wearing an old T-shirt that the twins had given her, and she looked like an angel. At least she looked the way Curly had described angels. He'd never seen one. He pushed down the urge to run his fingers through her tangled hair, guessing that he'd probably scare her.

He was still thrilled to have her here in Neverland, although he was a little nervous by the unfamiliar emotions he was experiencing. They made him feel delighted and nauseous at the same time. And he was also starting to experience a little guilt for having taken her away from her home, away from this woman she called her mother. Maybe he would take her back in a week or so, after he had figured out why she made him feel the way he did.

A bright light zoomed down one of the tunnels and he turned just in time to catch Tink in his hand before the robot collided with his face.

"Ugh, let me go!" The fairy screamed. "If I wanted to be carried around all day I wouldn't have given myself wings!"

She was generally brash, but this morning she seemed a bit angrier than usual.

"Get everybody up, the pirates are already in position for Dead Man's Plague," she warned. "I'm betting they think this way you all won't have enough time to come up with a strategy."

Peter put his fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly. Curly and Nibs bolted upright, Slightly screamed, and the twins fell out of their beds and collapsed on the floor, still sleeping.

"We've got to go!" Peter announced. The pirates are already in position!"

"Don't those jerks believe in beauty rest?" Slightly yawned, clumsily gathering his things.

All the boys began to collect their gear and put on their suits. Peter had just finished pulling his legs through his bodysuit when Wendy's face appeared around the hanging blanket. He beamed at her, but her face flushed and she disappeared behind the makeshift curtain. He finished dressing and went over to see her.

"Oh good, you're fully dressed," she murmured, avoiding his eyes.

"Good morning! How did you sleep?" She opened her mouth, but he didn't wait for her answer. "Hurry and get ready!" He blurted. "We're going to play Dead Man's Plague with the pirates!"

"We're going to what?"

"It's a game! You'll love it! But we've got to leave soon."

"Hold on," Tink blared, "there is no way she's coming."

"Why not?"

"Because she doesn't have any equipment! She'll just get in the way!"

"It'll be fine, she can just watch."

Wendy furrowed her brows and Peter was afraid she was disappointed.

"I can give you a gun if you want," Peter ventured.

"No way!" Tink argued. "The pirates will be livid if they find out we've got another player!"

"Oh, come on, she's not going to do that much damage," Peter reasoned.

"How can you be so sure?" Wendy replied, a flash of annoyance in her eyes. She stalked past Peter and  approached Slightly. Peter overheard her ask him to explain the rules of Dead Man's Plague. He was filled with sudden indignation. He didn't know why he was angry at Slightly. After all, it really didn't matter who explained the game to Wendy, but watching her approach him tied his stomach in knots. Before he could call her back, Slightly had already launched into an animated overview of the rules.

"Each team has to choose someone to have the plague," he began. "We can use whatever avatars we wish, but we're limited to two. If both of those get disabled, then we're on our own. One time I was manipulating a cheetah, but it malfunctioned in the first 30 seconds, so I had to switch to the first thing I saw, which was a sloth, and that didn't end well."

"Slightly, you're confusing her," Nibs interrupted, stepping in front of Slightly. "We use our avatars to distract the other players, but the goal is to shoot everyone on the opposing team."

"Except for the one who has the plague," a twin interjected.

"But we don't know who that is," added the other twin.

"Wait, shoot them with what?" Wendy inquired.

"With these," Curly said, holding up his gun and looking as if he was surprised that he had a spoken up. Everyone turned to him, so he continued. "These are pigment shooters," he explained, "Once you're shot, you're out. When the dart is embedded into your flesh, it changes the color of your skin for a few hours so you can't cheat and keep playing."

"But once I stayed purple for two days from a faulty dart!" One of the twins exclaimed, smiling gleefully at the memory.

"You can't use your avatars to shoot anyone," Curly pushed on, "you have to do that yourself, which is why we all have to be in pretty close range of the pirates."

"But the most important thing," Peter added, "is that you don't shoot the player who has the plague. If you do, then your entire team is out. You lose immediately."

Wendy nodded hesitantly.

"We don't have any extra gear for you," Peter said carefully, "but we do have an extra gun, and you can help me with my avatars."

Wendy narrowed her eyes at him for a moment and then broke into a smile.

"Sounds fun."

*****

Peter was sweating in his bodysuit by the time they got to the jungle arena. On the way there they had hastily put together a strategy and chosen Curly to have the plague. The twins had struggled to outfit Curly with the vapor packs as they ran along, and they had accidentally activated a couple of them, sending up sweet smelling fumes that made everyone's eyes water.

Wendy had asked a few more questions and she seemed excited, but every once in a while worry would cloud her features. He hoped she wasn't still upset with him, although he couldn't figure out exactly what he had done to offend her.

Peter took his place in the arena, glimpsing the pirates between the thick trees and bushes.

"It's about time you kids showed up," Starkey scoffed, adjusting his goggles. "We thought you were going to forfeit!"

"Never!" The twins cried simultaneously. The other boys motioned for them to be quiet. They knew better than to engage in taunting, that was usually how the pirates found them out.

Peter scanned the arena and quickly located all 9 pirates. Starkey and Noodler were half hidden behind some rum berry bushes. Bill Jukes and Foggerty were carefully coaxing a metal rhinoceros to stand in front of them. Alf Mason, Cecco, and Whibbler were in the zebra trees. Smee, curiously, was lying on the ground. And Hook, the coward, was near the back, hiding behind a rock. Peter could only detect him from his shiny boot sticking out of the side.

The pirates were dressed in similar gear, with goggles, ear pieces, and sensors, but their controllers were in their titanium swords while the lost boys all had them attached to their wrists. Peter had showed Wendy the code to scroll through and manipulate an available avatar, but he didn't know if it would do her much good without her own controller and sensors.

Nibs ran to the receiver in the center of the arena and plugged all of their shadows into the corresponding slots next to the shadows of the pirates. Now that all of their pieces were in place to track the action, they only had 30 seconds until the game began. Peter checked that there were enough mechanical organisms in range and made sure that Curly was a little more prominent than everyone else. He glanced down at Wendy who was crouching behind a bush on his left. He winked at her and she raised her eyebrows playfully in response. Then the alarm sounded and the jungle came to life.

# Chapter Fourteen

Everything happened so fast that Wendy had a hard time keeping track of it all. A herd of large mechanical animals lined up in front of the pirates, creating a shield. A volley of darts flew over the large animals, but they didn't hit anyone. The lost boys then sent their smallest animals to penetrate the animal wall. There were a few muffled shouts of surprise from the pirates. Wendy watched as Peter guided a robotic beetle into the inner workings of a rhinoceros and a buffalo, gaining access to their control systems and sending them running out of the arena. Two pirates jumped down from the trees, shooting their guns as they landed. One of the twins turned bright green and shouted in dismay. Slightly managed to hit one of the pirates, who promptly turned blue. Mechanical animals were running and zooming all around, and the boys were furiously directing their avatars with their bodies and controllers, all the while trying to hit the pirates with their darts.

Nibs shouted a command and a large eagle dove down, extending its metal claws to the face of a pirate in a multicolored shirt. Peter ran out and shot the pirate while he was grappling with the eagle. Wendy could only vaguely tell which avatars belonged to which boy, and while she was mesmerized by the action, she was afraid to move from her spot. She saw another pirate above in a tree and attempted to shoot him, but the dart hit a squirrel next to him. The furry creature screeched and took on a dark purple hue.

Tink flew back and forth above them, yelling out orders and shouting insults at the other side. While she was doing her job with an air of authority, Wendy didn't think anyone was listening to her, which was a shame, because she had a good perspective of the playing field. Wendy ducked as a gorilla bounded over her head, and glanced up just in time to see Peter yanking a cord out of its neck until it went still.

"Stay together!" Tink shouted from above. "They're picking you off whenever you go out on your own!" Wendy looked over and saw Nibs stalking to the side of the arena, his arms and neck a vibrant pink color.

Wendy was getting dizzy. Maybe she shouldn't have been so bold back in the tree house. She probably would have been just fine watching the game from afar, or even on a screen miles away. But she wanted to participate, and for some reason she wanted to prove her worth. She scanned the area and saw that a couple more pirates had been hit, but the remaining players of their team still outnumbered the lost boys by quite a bit. All in all, it seemed like they were showing off more than actually trying to win the game. They displayed a lot of skill and technical prowess, but not a lot of observational reasoning.

"Peter," Wendy whispered. He grinned at her, but looked a little annoyed at the interruption. They were losing. "The one with the big hat has the plague."

Peter squinted in the direction Wendy was pointing.  "Who, Noodler? How do you know?"

"He's been completely exposed this whole time," Wendy answered. "That other one in the yellow pants is pretending to have the plague, but he's far too anxious whenever a dart comes near him."

Peter studied the pirates for a while and then raised his eyebrows at her.

"I believe you're right." He pressed a button on his controller and spoke into his wrist. "Noodler has the plague!" He announced. "Everybody avoid Noodler!"

Wendy could just barely make out the responses of the other boys coming back into Peter's earpiece.

Just then a huge jaguar leaped on top of Peter, sending him flat onto his back. The cat's metal paws batted at his face. Peter struggled to open a panel on the jaguar's head, and finally got the door open to cut the robot's power. The machine collapsed on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"Wendy! It's too heavy!" He cried. "Help me get this thing off!"

Wendy heaved at the fallen robot, but she couldn't get it to budge. Realizing he was going to be stuck there, Peter tried another tactic.

"Here," he said, extending his arm to Wendy. "Find something else to manipulate. I've already lost my beetle. It needs to be something big and not too complicated."

Wendy seized Peter's wrist and typed in the code he had shown her. A list of organisms came up on the tiny screen, and with shaking hands Wendy scrolled through them. There were birds, snakes, turtles, and wolves, but nothing that seemed like a good solution.

"Wendy, hurry!" Peter urged. One of the pirates, noticing that he was trapped, was heading their way.

Wendy furiously went through the list, willing her fingers and her brain to work together. Finally, near the very end of the list, she gasped.

"No way," she murmured, and selected the organism. Peter glanced at the controller and gaped.

"What the-"

But the machine had already sprung to life. The ground shook as a massive titanium tree rumbled into the arena, crawling forward by its roots. Peter guided the tree to fall onto its side and roll towards the pirates, sending them running in the other direction. He righted the tree again and guided it back to them. Wendy stared wide eyed as the tree bent down and wrapped its branches around the jaguar on Peter's chest, lifting it off and freeing him.

"Wendy, this is brilliant," he exclaimed, jumping up and taking cover behind the tree. He moved the tree into the pirate's area, keeping close behind it, and began shooting his darts at the pirates, carefully avoiding the one he had called Noodler. Wendy watched in growing anticipation. One more pirate down, two more shot. There couldn't be many more. Suddenly a pirate dropped from the trees behind Peter and shot him in the back. Peter groaned as his skin became blue. He shook his head as he walked to the side of the arena, but he still had a grin on his face.

Wendy assessed the damage on their side. The only ones that remained were Curly and one of the twins. And herself, but she didn't know if she even counted. She was in the system, but she didn't have a shadow.  Of the pirates, she could see Noodler, one that was lying on the ground, one running around like a madman, and a tall one back behind a rock. Their best shot at winning was to get Curly to be hit.

She ran out from the bush, dodging a dart and jumping over a snake that reared up at her. She reached the twin first.

"Hide!" She commanded. "Run as far away as you can! You need to stay safe!"

The twin looked disappointed, but took off running towards a small cave. Wendy then crept over to Curly, who was shooting darts from behind a tree.

"It's not looking good," he admitted when he saw Wendy beside him. "I've lost both my avatars and there are still so many of them."

"Curly, you have nothing to lose!" She urged. "Just run over there and shoot as many pirates as you can. If you get hit, great!"

Curly gulped, but nodded, taking courage in Wendy's scheme. He took a deep breath and then jumped out from his post, charging at their opponents.  He hit the one on the ground first, who apparently had been sleeping.

"What's going on?" The man said blearily. "Did we win?"

Next, Curly hit the crazy one, who cursed and turned a shade of orange that clashed horribly with his yellow pants. Wendy lost sight of Curly as he disappeared behind a large rock, but she heard a loud laugh followed by a low voice that sent a shiver through her.

"Hello, Curly," the man scoffed. "Are you quite certain you want to shoot me?"

There was a pause which seemed to stretch on forever, and then a small cry broke the silence, followed by a cloud of sweet smelling fumes.

"Noodler! You imbecile! What were you thinking?"

"I was just trying to protect you, Captain," came the sorrowful response.

"They've won, you fool!"

Curly came running out of the fumes, an expression of pure joy plastered to his face.

"They shot me! They shot me!" He yelled. All the lost boys whooped and came back into the arena, surrounding Curly and patting him on the back. Peter lifted Wendy off the ground and spun her in the air.

"Oh, the cleverness of me!" He boasted.

Wendy frowned, a little put off. "Oh, of course, I did nothing," she responded sarcastically.

Peter set her on the ground, leaving his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes.

"You were exceptional," he whispered. "But _I_ brought you here."

*****

"Hey Slightly, look at these new data chips!" A twin exclaimed. "They might be small enough to hide in your tiny brain!"

Slightly huffed and turned back to a bin of brightly colored clothes. "Ooh, fancy!" He murmured, holding up a hideous vest with green and purple polka dots.

After their victory, the lost boys had gone home to retrieve their tokens for redemption at the supply depot, which was a small room off of the entrance cavern. The boys had flown up there, but since Wendy still didn't have a bodysuit, Peter had once again taken her up in the basket.

They hadn't brought all of their tokens. Wendy learned that Nibs always insisted that they keep some in reserves in case they ever had a losing streak. The shelves in the small space were filled with gadgets, batteries, wires and clothing. Wendy was drawn to a wall displaying various canned foods, dried meats, and candies. They hadn't eaten this morning in their hurry to get to the game. Peter noticed her staring and grabbed a few cans of fruit. It was still odd seeing him with blue skin, it made his green eyes stand out even more.

"I wish we could get some Drunken Vapor," a twin muttered. "I miss those crazy dreams."

The other twin looked wistful. "Yeah, too bad it was banned."

They turned and began ogling some seeds and small potted plants, discussing how they might be able to breed them.

"Where does all this stuff come from?" Wendy wondered aloud, scanning a pile of expensive looking headsets in the corner.

"The Crocodile brings it," Peter said simply.

"The Crocodile?" Wendy snorted, imagining a large reptile carting a stack of crates on its back through the tunnels, but Peter didn't elaborate.

"Hey! Look at the leaderboard!" Slightly called out, pointing to a screen in the corner. The look on Curly's face suggested that he would have blushed bright red if he hadn't already been that color from the pigment dart. Wendy glanced at the screen, seeing that it showed that Curly was in first place, followed by Nibs, Peter, and Captain Hook.

"Wow, Peter's never been in third place before," one of the twins observed.

At first Peter looked angry, but then he shrugged and clapped his hand jovially on Curly's shoulder.

"Well, I was gone for a couple days," he rationalized. "Congratulations, Curly. Enjoy your privileges."

"What privileges?" Wendy asked, her curiosity beating out her sense of propriety.

"Extra tokens, extra free time, the seat of honor at all meals, assigning the chores," Slightly said, counting each item on his fingers.

"Extra time in the Imagination Tower," Nibs added.

"It's a pretty big deal," Slightly stated.

"That's okay," Peter said, turning to Wendy with a smile. "This means I get to spend more time with you."

Wendy blushed, Nibs rolled his eyes, and the twins gagged, but Peter didn't seem fazed at all.

# Chapter Fifteen

Wendy took a sip of medicine from Peter's flask and then passed it back to him as they arrived at the beach. They took a few more steps and then Wendy stopped in her tracks.

"What is it?" Peter asked.

"The pirates are here."

"Of course they are."

"You eat meals with them?"

"Yeah. Whoever loses the game cooks dinner for the champions," Peter explained. "The pirates make us dinner a lot," he added, winking at her.

"So, you all are friends?" Wendy asked, the tease reappearing at the corner of her mouth.

"I wouldn't say _friends_ , but we get along."

"That's funny," she replied, continuing forward, "I thought you'd be complete enemies."

"Only during the games."

The pirates had already started eating, sprawled out on some rugs they had brought up on shore. A blazing bonfire crackled next to the food, making Peter cringe.

"Come on lads, we might have some lobster left for you!" Bellowed Cecco.

The other pirates laughed and made room for them on their rugs. Peter's mouth watered as they approached the food. Smee made the best seasoned Lobster, and as much as Slightly had pestered him for it, the old man had never shared his secret recipe. Peter carefully skirted around the fire, grabbed one of the wooden plates and began loading it with seafood and bread pudding. He was pouring himself some rum berry juice when he realized everyone had stopped talking. He turned around and saw that all the pirates were staring at Wendy. He expected her to shrink back, but instead she crossed her arms and glared at them.

"Who's the new one?" Starkey finally asked.

"Oh, that's just Wendy," a twin answered casually, his mouth full of pudding. "Peter brought her."

Now all eyes turned to Peter. He tried to form a response, but he still wasn't sure why he had brought her here, other than that when he looked at her he felt like he could fly without pixie dust. He knew it was unprecedented for anyone to bring someone to Neverland who hadn't been chosen, but up until that point he hadn't really thought it was a big deal. When he didn't say anything, Captain Hook spoke up.

"Welcome, Wendy," he said affably, raising his glass to her. "I trust you've enjoyed your stay here so far?"

"Very much, thank you."

"If you have any questions that those lost boys can't answer, please don't hesitate to come to me." Hook's tone was light but his expression seemed agitated. Wendy cocked her head to the side but didn't reply. Just as it was beginning to feel tense, Whibbler broke the silence.

"Why do they get a girl?" He grumbled. "I've been trying to get us a lady for ages, but I'm always denied!"

"Even if we did have a woman here you'd _still_ be denied!" Shouted Bill Jukes. The pirates roared with laughter and the chatter resumed. Peter exhaled and guided Wendy to a rug a bit removed from the group. Mostly everyone ignored them, although Peter noticed Captain Hook glance over a few times.

"You're afraid of fire," Wendy said, pulling his attention fully back to her. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

Wendy looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate.

"I don't know why it bothers me so much," Peter admitted, a muddled memory and a twinge of guilt sparking in his head and then fading away. "I just don't like to be near it. It makes me nervous."

"I didn't think you'd be afraid of anything," she teased.

Peter studied Wendy's face. He was afraid of _her_ , but not in the same way he was afraid of fire.

"So, how did you all get here?" Wendy asked. "The pirates, the lost boys, what was it that brought you all to Neverland?"

Peter frowned. He'd never given much thought to how people came here, they just showed up. He couldn't seem to remember a time when they weren't here. Instinctively he knew he was here first, him and Captain Hook, and then the others gradually followed. But how? He'd never thought it was very important.

"Is this one of those things I should ask Captain Hook?" Wendy inquired, drawing her brows together.

Peter started forward. "No!" He blurted, then tried to be more casual, "I don't think he knows either."

"Alright," Wendy conceded, but he could tell she wasn't satisfied. "Can you tell me why _you_ brought me here, then?"

There was an odd gleam in her eye, and Peter sensed she was trying to get him to say something he wasn't sure he wanted to divulge.

"I-I wanted you to see Neverland," he responded lamely. "Plus, I thought you could help us out in the games, and you have," he added.

"Oh."

Wendy turned away and bit into a lobster tail a little too vengefully. Peter was trying to think of a way to make her smile again when a loud, female voice carried across the sky arch.

"James! Open the portal!"

Captain Hook blanched. Wendy looked bewildered, so Peter explained before she asked.

"That's the Crocodile. She's the only thing Hook is afraid of. She can come through the entrance on her own, but she always makes Hook do it for her, using that big speaker in the cavern because she knows it scares him. Sometimes she comes and talks to him all night long, and the next day he's really on edge. It's hilarious."

Wendy only seemed more confused. He watched Captain Hook quickly board the ship to open the cavern entrance from the helm's control system. Peter wasn't too fond of the Crocodile himself, and he wasn't in the mood to stick around and see her yell at Hook. He slowly stood up and motioned Wendy to follow him.

"Come with me," he said, pulling her to her feet. "There's something I want to show you."

*****

The Imagination Tower was at the edge of Neverland, next to the sand dunes. When Peter had explained to Wendy what it was, she had practically run up the long spiral staircase to get to the top. The steel structure resembled a long needle sticking up from a bed of sand. The entire building housed pipes, wires and building materials, and at the very top was the creation lab, which was equipped with special programs and controls. The walls of the lab were made entirely of glass and they could see all of Neverland as it was enveloped in the twilight.

"This is phenomenal," Wendy whispered, her hands running reverently along the glass walls.

"I haven't even shown you how it works," Peter laughed. He plugged his shadow into the central receiver and all the screens lit up. He ran through a list of elements and selected a few, then turned to another screen and zoomed in on a quadrant at the waterfalls, designating the place where he wanted his creation to appear. He selected a design that he'd previously created and stored on his shadow, typed in some code, and executed.

"Watch," he instructed, pointing outside to the waterfall. A large glass and copper sphere erupted from one of the pools, bobbing on the water. Wendy gasped and pressed her face to the glass. "It's a fishing float," Peter explained excitedly. "That way you can fish in the waterfall without getting water in your boat and sinking."

"And you made that just by pushing a few buttons?"

"Well, no. I developed it a while ago and copied the design to my shadow. Just now I selected the required elements and the system configured the components."

"What else can you create?"

"Anything that can be pulled from the framework or matter of Neverland. We've made trees, rivers, mountains, houses, animals... once the twins even made it rain cranberry juice. Everything got really sticky," he remarked, grimacing at the memory.

Wendy put her hands on top of her head and laughed.

"Can I try?"

Peter hesitated. "You don't have a shadow..." Wendy's face looked so forlorn that Peter immediately blurted: "But you can use mine!"

Wendy jumped over to the controls and Peter held back a groan. He was really careful about which activities and creations were tracked on his shadow. He didn't want to lose points if she made something mediocre. Maybe he could erase it after a few days.

"So, where do I start?"

"Here's the design program," Peter responded, reaching over her and pulling up the application. Wendy stared blankly at all the icons and buttons before her.

"Help?"

"Ah, I'll switch it to the mode where you can basically draw it with your fingers."

Peter watched her, mesmerized, as her nimble fingers flitted across the screen, composing and merging beautiful lines and angles. She found the list of elements and selected several that Peter never would have considered. He helped her find a location for her structure by the river at the base of the silver mountains, then held his breath as she executed.

The trees next to the river trembled. The branches grew and stretched, melding with roots and metals that twisted up from the ground. An intricate bridge formed over the water, intermingling with the overhanging trees. You couldn't tell where the bridge ended and the trees began. Vines crept up the sides, weaving in between the delicate patterns.

"Wendy, it's incredible," Peter whispered. She slowly took his hand and laced her fingers through his. A multitude of sensations shot through Peter, but he didn't dare look over at her, afraid of what he would do if he did. Among the myriad of emotions was a wave of guilt. He had brought Wendy to Neverland against her will. He thought he was doing her a favor, but now he realized he had just been selfish. He had taken her away from her home because there was something about her that he couldn't leave behind. He knew he should apologize, but he didn't want to ruin this moment. Instead he just focused on her hand in his and stood next to her in silence, admiring Neverland under the darkening sky.

# Chapter Sixteen

Wendy stared at the tree roots above her as the remnants of her dreams lingered in her subconscious. At first she had dreamed of old buildings and skyscrapers rising from the forest floor. She had climbed them with Peter, and the memory of him brought a tentative smile to her face. But the second part of her dream was far more perplexing. She imagined she had been dancing with the pirates on their ship, but then the air became cold and the pirates turned into a man and two boys. They had tried to embrace her, but every time they came close the ship jolted and sent them spinning out of reach. Wendy tried to figure out what it all meant. She felt that she should have recognized their faces, but the dream was already fading and she was anxious to find out what fun adventures might be in store for the day.

The Imagination Tower had been spectacular, and she couldn't wait to get back in there. She also wanted to try flying again, hoping she would eventually be able to fly up to the cavern. And the more time she spent with Peter, the more her reservations concerning him melted away. When she was with him she felt something verging on elation. She couldn't imagine why she had ever distrusted him. They had so much fun together, and wasn't it all about having fun?

Wendy jumped up from the soft white rug and pulled back the blanket partition. She was pleased to see that Peter had been waiting for her outside of her makeshift room, but he didn't return her smile. His expression looked pained.

"Wendy, I need to apologize," he began.

"For what?" Wendy asked lightly, wondering if this were a game.

Peter exhaled. "I'm sorry that I forced you to come here with me. I should have been more respectful."

Wendy narrowed her eyes. He had employed a few questionable methods to get her here, but otherwise, there was no way he could have convinced her to come to this amazing world.

"That's okay," she responded. "I'm actually glad you did."

"You are?" Peter asked, his face brightening. "Even though I took you away from your mother? I'm sorry that I made her fall, by the way."

Wendy suppressed a giggle. "What's a mother?"

Peter raised his eyebrows, but before he could respond, there was a commotion at one of the entrances to the tree house.

"Look what I found outside my door!" Slightly sang, pushing a small boy into the room. "It's a new one!"

Wendy stepped forward to study the boy. He was so young, he couldn't be any more than six years old. His round face was framed with red, curly hair and he had an innocence to his expression that made Wendy's heart leap with emotion. He glanced around in confusion, clutching a new shadow in one hand and a flask of medicine in the other.

"Where am I?" He said quietly.

Everyone looked to Peter, but he deferred to Curly. "Curly's at the top of the leaderboard," he remarked. "He gets to welcome him."

Curly nervously cleared his throat and put his hand on the young boy's shoulder.  "You're in Neverland," he explained. "We'll find a place for you to sleep and get you outfitted with equipment from the supply depot so you can join in the games."

"Games?" The boy's face lit up. "I like games." Growing in confidence, he pointed at a gadget on Nibs' belt. "What's that?"

"It's a fear finder," Nibs replied. "It can detect when someone is afraid."

"Wow!"

"What's your name?"

The boy opened his mouth, then closed it.

"He looks like a Finny," Slightly commented.

"No, I'd say a Felix," one of the twins called out.

"How about Tootles?" Peter offered.

The little boy smiled. "Yeah, I think that's it."

"Good," Curly said, looking relieved. "Alright, Tootles, let's get you some new clothes."

While the lost boys were busy filling Tootles in on all the fun he was going to have, Wendy felt something brush against her leg. She looked down and gasped.  A white wolf cub was peering up at her. She bent down to inspect and pet him. One pass of her hand over his back told her that he was a machine, but he was covered in beautiful, shining fur and his large eyes were somehow kind and full of understanding. She knew immediately that this creature was made from her Essentia. Peter was right. She just felt that it was hers. The animal ducked its head and scampered playfully through one of the doors out of the treehouse. Without looking back, Wendy followed him.

The wolf ran ahead, leaping over streams and nimbly making its way through rocky passages. Every few minutes it would look back, as if to make sure Wendy was following.  Finally the wolf cub came to a huge tree, and when Wendy saw it, she almost cried. It was black and gnarled, with only a few leaves clinging to its outermost branches. The trunk had a gaping hole in it, large enough for someone to fit inside. Everything about the tree spoke of pain, from the way its roots wrapped around each other in absurd ways to the ashy color of the frail bark. But Wendy knew that this tree was also hers. When she gazed at it, she felt the anguish mirrored somewhere deep in her heart.

She wanted to run away, to forget it was there, but something drew her in. She crept through the opening in the trunk, discovering that the tree was almost completely hollow. She pressed her hands to the wood, feeling the coarse grain beneath her fingers.

She heard voices. She should have been afraid, but instead she felt a longing, a desire to hear them more clearly. She closed her eyes and the voices grew stronger, calling out in laughter, and then fear, and finally despair.

_Wendy, come play a game with us!_

_Tell me a story, Wendy._

_Wendy, where are you?_

_I love you, Wendy._

_Wendy, help us!_

She cried out and opened her eyes. The voices were filling her head and tears were streaming down her cheeks. As she struggled to steady her breathing, the voices quieted, until she heard only one, the voice of a young boy.

_Wendy, it wasn't your fault._

She pushed herself away from the dark walls. She staggered out of the tree, and into something far more frightening.

"Hello, Wendy lady."

Two pirates stood smiling hungrily at her. She screamed, but they held a substance to her nose and she collapsed on the ground.

*****

The pirate ship was loud and raucous. She had been treated kindly after she arrived on the ship. Knocking her out and lugging her through the forest was pretty barbaric, but afterwards they had been fairly respectful. Captain Hook had graciously welcomed her on the ship and instructed the others not to touch her. They had been polite and kept their distance, but Wendy was still apprehensive. Apparently, this was all part of a game.

"Let's have a song from our prisoner!" They called.

"I'd rather not," she answered.

"Alright, then. How about a dance?"

"No."

"A story?"

"I can't think of any."

"What about a joke?"

"I'm not in the mood to laugh."

The pirates frowned at her and scratched their beards.

"This game isn't very fun," several of them complained.

"It will be when those lost boys show up," Captain Hook assured them. "Now get back to updating those canons!" He yelled. "I want to be fully functional when they get here!" He strutted over to Wendy and offered her his arm. "If you'll please join me, Miss, I'd like to have a private conference with you in the cabin."

Wendy shivered, but stood up and headed down the narrow stairway, ignoring Hook's arm. She had the feeling that if she resisted he would carry her down there, and she didn't want to give him that pleasure. He followed her into the cabin and motioned for her to sit on a large sofa. He closed the door and Wendy was about to protest until he turned and she saw the expression on his face.

Gone was the bravado, the proud demeanor that had clung to this man only seconds before. Now his shoulders slumped and he looked defeated. He looked at Wendy with fearful eyes.

"Please Miss, I beg you, you must leave this place," he implored, his eyes darting around the cabin. "If she finds out you are here, she will kill you."

Wendy was beginning to wonder if this man was insane.

"What are you talking about?"

"The Crocodile!" He hissed. "Nobody is supposed to be here if she doesn't bring them." He sat down next to her on the sofa. "Nobody is supposed to be able to get in or out of Neverland, but Peter..." he pushed his long black hair out of his face, "Peter has always been a liability. I might not be able to save him, but I can save you."

Suddenly the door opened and Smee appeared. Captain Hook jumped up, once again assuming his sanguine and hostile disposition.

"Captain, the receivers are on the fritz again," he reported, giving Wendy a toothy smile.

"That's because they're operated by a bunch of imbeciles!" Hook growled. "Excuse me, Miss Wendy," he said, crossing to the door, "it seems we have technical difficulties. I'll have to leave you down here, for the sake of the game." He gave her one last desperate look, and then locked the door behind him, leaving Wendy to sort through her confusion alone.

# Chapter Seventeen

"Time for medicine!" The twins announced as the alarms sounded. All of the boys broke away from instructing Tootles to run for their flasks.

"Oh, I love the medicine," Tootles admitted. "It took a little time for that lady to get me to take it, but when I finally did I wanted more!"

Peter peered at the young boy curiously, but then looked around for Wendy. He had gotten into the habit of filling his flask with more medicine so he could share it with her.

"Where's Wendy?" He asked, first looking behind her curtain and then down all the tunnels.

"Oh, she followed a little wolf out the door," Slightly said.

"When?"

"About an hour ago."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Peter exclaimed, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Finding Wendy would probably be an easy task, but he was worried about her running around in Neverland by herself. He tried not to imagine her falling into a sand pit or being trampled by the Buffalostrich Rex.

He went to one of the screens and searched through the various feeds of Neverland, but she didn't show up anywhere. His hands started to shake. He kept telling himself that she was alright, that in a minute she'd show up and that they'd all laugh about it, but he had a feeling that something was very wrong. He'd never worried so much about somebody missing, even though sometimes the twins would be gone for entire days. He hadn't even been this distressed when he'd lost his shadow.

Peter rushed to the cabinet by his bed and rifled through his devices until he found his fingerprint collector. He was glad he hadn't pinned it back to his shoes, which were still on Wendy's feet. He pulled up Wendy's fingerprints and scanned the house. The most recent ones were at the tunnel by her room, and he ran towards it.

"Where are you going?" Curly inquired.

"To find Wendy."

"Oh, I'll come too."

"And me," Nibs added.

"Count us in!" The twins yelled.

"You'll definitely need me," Slightly assured.

"I'd like to help," Tootles said quietly.

Peter stared at them all, a little annoyed. He wasn't sure why he wanted to find Wendy by himself, but he quickly pushed the feeling away. If she was in danger then it would be useful to have as much help as he could get.

"Okay, but let's be careful," Peter conceded. "If she's in trouble, we don't want to make it worse." The boys followed him out the door and up the passageway as the collector continued to find her fingerprints. Peter rushed through the forest, only halfway listening to the conversation the other boys were having. Mostly Tootles was asking questions and Slightly was answering them. Finally they came to a rather disturbing tree. Wendy's fingerprints were all over it.

"What is that monstrosity?" Slightly remarked. "I don't remember seeing this before."

Peter squinted at it. As frightful as it looked, he could sense Wendy was a part of it. It must have been created from her Essentia. He crept through a large hole into the hollow trunk and shivered. This was where Wendy's fingerprints ended, as if the tree had swallowed her, but his collector had picked up some other fresh prints. Pirates.

*****

Peter peered through the small porthole and almost cried in relief. Wendy was sitting in the cabin, alone, looking unharmed and a little perturbed. He used the miracle knife Nibs had lent him to silently saw a large hole in the side of the ship. Captain Hook would not be happy, but they'd repair it later. He pushed the piece to the side and crawled into the cabin.

"Peter?" Wendy whispered, looking at him incredulously. He was surprised and a bit disappointed that she didn't seem scared, but in the next moment she had run over and wrapped her arms around him, soaking wet as he was, and suddenly he didn't mind that he had found her looking relatively calm.

"Peter, I need to ask you something," she stated when she finally broke away. "Captain Hook told me I have to leave Neverland, that someone is going to kill me."

Peter waved his hand dismissively. That man could put on a show and find his way around an electrical system, but Peter was certain the Captain was getting crazier by the day.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Captain Hook is delusional." Wendy drew her eyebrows together, but didn't protest. "Here, put this on," Peter instructed.

"What is it?"

"It's a forever breathe mask," he explained, helping her situate the contraption over her mouth and nose. "We're going swimming, and we've got to hurry before the pirates realize there's a big chunk missing from their ship."

Wendy's eyes grew big, but she allowed Peter to guide her out of the hole in the ship and slipped into the water behind him. They dove down a few meters and then began swimming toward the shore. They didn't need to come up to breathe, but Peter knew the mask only had a few minutes of stored air in it, so he tried to hurry along, even though it seemed that Wendy wanted to inspect everything they passed. Most of the fish swam away as they went by, but a group of bright purple turtles glided along next to them for a while before turning for the cove. He saw Wendy start as a couple of mermaids appeared in front of them. He wondered why she was making such a fuss, but then had to remind himself that they probably didn't have many mermaids in the Grey World. He continued on, then noticed that Wendy was no longer behind him. He turned and saw the mermaids pulling her down to the bottom of the lagoon. He swam after them, pulling on their slippery tails and motioning in not so polite signs to leave her alone. The mermaids pouted, but finally released Wendy and swam off. He grabbed her hand and didn't let go until they had finally reached the shore.

"Those mermaids!" Wendy sputtered as she emerged from the water.

"Yeah, I think they were probably trying to drown you," Peter said with a shrug.

"What? Why?"

"Because they're in love with me," Peter said simply. "They tell me so every time I'm out in my fishing float, and then they sing songs to me." Peter was pleased to see Wendy's frown, but before she could say anything, they heard Nibs calling them from a few meters away.

"Where is he?" Wendy asked, glancing around.

"He's just there," Peter said, pointing to some moving sand. "He's wearing his chameleon suit, so you can't see him unless you're looking very carefully."

Nibs moved in front of a rock and immediately his suit changed to match the black matter of the stone. Peter and Wendy crept over to the rock and found all of the other lost boys hiding behind it.

"Wendy, I'm so glad you're safe!" Slightly gushed, and Peter glared at him.

"Wendy, I remember you," Tootles said, his face oddly serious. Then he shook his head. "You were there this morning!" He exclaimed happily.

"Is everybody ready?" Peter asked. The boys nodded.

"What are you doing?" Wendy asked, eying all of their gear.

"We're going to let the pirates capture us," Peter explained gleefully.

*****

They couldn't fly very high over the lagoon, but they skimmed along the water as they neared the ship. Soon they were spotted, and the pirates started launching what looked like canon balls at them. They were all able to dodge them, except for Curly, who caught one in the knee. Peter glanced back and watched the canon ball dissolve around him. A ripple went through his bodysuit, and then he faltered and fell into the lagoon. Peter flew back and plucked Curly out of the water.

"It was like that canon ball ate away all the magnets," Curly grunted, struggling to hold onto Peter's arms.

"Interesting," Peter murmured. His suit and pixie dust weren't strong enough to hold both of them in the air, so Curly was being half dragged through the water. When they reached the ship, Peter left Curly clinging to the edge.

"Try to climb up," he instructed, "or maybe I can find some spare rope to throw over." Peter flew up to the deck and saw the other boys already engaged with the pirates. Slightly and one of the twins were still flying, but the others were grounded. A canon ball sailed at him but he flew out of its path, only to get hit in the arm with a numbing barb. He grabbed a stray piece of rigging with his good arm and tossed it over the side, hoping it would reach Curly. Peter lighted on the deck and Cecco immediately came at him with a neon club. He reached into his belt and grabbed some tripping beads, throwing them at Cecco's feet. The beads clung to the large man's boots and snapped them together, causing him to tumble over himself. Peter started to fly towards the main sail, but a canon ball hit him in the shoulder. He felt the ball disintegrate and spread through his suit, breaking down all the magnetic substance. Peter wobbled in the air and managed to grab a beam to keep him from falling to the deck below. He looked around to see how the other boys were doing.

Smee and Noodler had unleashed some tickling hamsters on the twins, and the pair were writhing on the deck, laughing hysterically. Curly had climbed up onto the ship, but Bill Jukes had immediately knocked him out with some Insta-sleep spray. Slightly was making a valiant stand against Starkey and Alf Mason, the two pirates were stumbling around with double vision pellets embedded in their necks, but soon Whibbler came up behind Slightly and poured chicken ticks into his mouth, meaning that Slightly would be clucking and pecking for the next half hour. Peter smiled. Everything was going exactly as planned.

Suddenly a pair of boomerang birds wrapped around Peter's arms and pulled him down from the beam and into the clutches of Captain Hook. The intimidating man snarled at him and shoved him towards the other boys, who were being rounded up and tied together. Peter laughed. After all of their gadgets and inventions they were being restrained with something as simple as rope. He wriggled his fingers and clutched the miracle knife in his belt.

"The game is up!" Yelled Captain Hook. "Admit that we've won!"

"Ah, but you haven't caught us all yet," Peter replied cheekily.

"Oh, you mean your secret weapon?" Hook sneered, gesturing to the other side of the ship. For a moment Peter panicked, then he saw Bill Jukes struggling with what appeared to be nothing, but every now and then Peter could make out Nibs' eyes and mouth showing through his chameleon suit. Peter frowned, and Hook's triumph was instant.

"Ha!" He roared. "We found him lurking around the main mast, no doubt looking for your precious Wendy!"

The other pirates laughed as the nearly invisible Nibs was tied up with them, and Peter struggled against the ropes.

"Where is she?" He shouted.

"Don't worry, Peter, she's safe, for now," Hook assured with an evil glare. "Although she may not be terribly happy with what we have planned for her."

"You've won your game, now let her go!"

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy. You see, our ship is in need of a good cleaning, and that kind of work will probably take all week. Plus, we need someone to stand in for target practice," Hook remarked. "It will be such fun to see how she reacts to the poison ivy bullets."

The lost boys shouted insults at Hook, and Slightly clucked. Peter felt the color rise in his cheeks, angered that the pirates were actually considering such a punishment.

"However," Captain Hook continued, quieting the boys, "you can spare the girl this suffering if you, Peter, agree to stay here in her place."

Peter raised his eyebrows. "Me?"

"Yes, you stupid boy!" Spat Hook. "If you allow us to take you into custody and be our slave for the week, we'll let the lovely Wendy go free."

Peter screwed up his face. "Your slave? I don't think so."

"Oh no?" Hook pouted. "I was under the impression that you were in love with this girl."

Curly gasped and the twins laughed, but Peter became thoughtful. _Love?_ He'd heard of it. The other boys and the pirates had talked about it as something magnificent and life changing, but also something that could ruin your life. Was it love? Was that how he felt about Wendy? He trembled as the truth of it became clear. Of course it was love. The reason for all his happiness, his confusion, the inexplicable feelings, the fear. From the first time he had seen her, that word, that feeling, had been brewing.

Peter blinked and focused back on Hook. "Nah, she doesn't really mean that much to me," he lied. "I just wanted to see what it'd be like to have a girl in Neverland."

But Hook smiled knowingly. He had seen. He knew. He sauntered over to Peter and whispered in his ear. "If you love her, you'll let her go," Hook drew back and gazed at him with a sad look in his eyes that Peter had sometimes noticed before. Then he straightened and strutted away.

"This is your last chance!" Hook announced, rounding on the boys. "Peter, give yourself up as our prisoner and we'll let the girl go!"

"Never!" Peter yelled triumphantly just as a loud squawk filled the air. Everybody's heads snapped up to see a massive mechanical bird hovering over them. Wendy had been nervous when Peter was telling her how to operate the Neverbird, but she seemed confident now. She waved pluckily at Captain Hook as she and Tootles peered over one of the machine's huge wings. In that moment, Peter realized that he never wanted to lose her again.

Hook looked astonished to see Wendy, and Peter savored the man's bewildered expression for a moment before grabbing out the miracle knife and slicing easily through their cords. Several rope ladders fell from the bird's underbelly, and the lost boys grabbed onto them as the Neverbird lifted and pulled them all out of reach. Captain Hook ran to the side of the ship as they were carried away.

"No, NO!" He screamed desperately, and Peter wondered why the man was acting so dramatic. After all, it was only a game.

# Chapter Eighteen

Wendy awoke in the middle of the night, drawing in shaky breaths and trying to sort out the fear and uncertainty that pressed in on her. First, she knew someone had been down in the house. Someone sinister who was not supposed to be there. She had been half awake when she saw the intruder leave, and only now when she was fully conscious did she comprehend that they had been real. Second, she had had the dream again. The pirates on their ship turning into the man and the boys, the sudden cold, the hands reaching for her. Faces and facts and emotions swirled around in her mind until one by one, they fell back into places that had been vacant for days.

She had dreamed of her father and brothers, but now she recognized them. She recalled the cruise, remembered that they had been killed, that they had all gone on that trip because she had insisted. Why had she forgotten about them before? Other facts jumped to the forefront of her mind. Her mother in the hospital, in a coma for days. How many days had it been? She thought of all the boys at the children's home and how Mrs. Nancy had likely panicked when Wendy hadn't come to work. She thought about how they were going to be shut down if the department didn't accept the repeal.

Wendy jumped up from her bed, and then hesitated. As much as she knew she needed to return home, she didn't want to. The thought filled her with immense guilt, but she loved this place. For a few days she had been carefree, she had learned how to have fun again. And Peter? Her breath caught in her throat when she thought of him. Sure, he had kidnapped her, but now he seemed so different from that boy who had dragged her here. He was kind and wonderful and marvelous and still a little bit cocky, but her heart ached when she thought of leaving him. How had she forgotten everything about her past until just now?

She searched through her muddled brain, trying to decipher what had been different. She had spent most of the previous day with the pirates, watching them on deck and then locked in the cabin below for hours until Peter came for her. She had seen mermaids who tried to kill her and she had operated the massive Neverbird. Had she just been so distracted with the splendor of Neverland and the joy of being with Peter that she'd forgotten her family? Her responsibilities?

Her throat was dry and she looked around for something to drink. Maybe she could steal a sip of someone's medicine...

_The medicine!_ She thought. _Of course!_ Hadn't it calmed her and taken away her worries the first time she drank it? And the more she drank, the more she forgot. She felt betrayed. It was all a trick. All a sick, twisted game. One that all of these lost boys had been subjected to as well. And yet, as much as it angered her, she was tempted to drink the medicine down again, to forget, to be blissfully ignorant of the pain of her past, the duties expected of her now, to stay in Neverland forever, to be with Peter...

She gasped and shook her head, willing the thoughts to leave. She had to go home. As beautiful and exciting as it was in Neverland, it was dangerous. Something unpleasant lurked beneath the colors and the magic.

She shuffled around in the dark until she found something to write with, then scrawled a hasty note to Peter and left it on the cabinet by his bed. She peered down at his face, peaceful and enticing even as he slept, and she wondered if she should wake him to say goodbye. But she knew he'd be upset, and would probably try to convince her stay, so she brushed her lips against his cheek, then turned and went out into the dark Neverland night.

*****

"It's a good thing I have an alarm to alert me of trespassers around here, because if you had crept in without warning I swear I would have killed you."

Wendy attempted a smile, but Tink gave her such a severe look that she abandoned the friendly expression. The pale girl was disheveled and angry, but beneath her hostile look there was a hint of glee.

"So, you forgot to take your medicine?" Tink stated.

"How did you know?"

"I can see it in your eyes. You've lost that annoyingly naive expression you had when you were here before. Plus, I've been watching you all this time," Tink admitted. "You were with the pirates during medicine time. Good work with the Neverbird, by the way, although your landing was a little bit rough."

Wendy stared at her.

"What do you expect? I'm in here all day, and Peter has conveniently forgotten about me since you've been here, so of course I'm going to be watching everything you guys do."

Wendy frowned. It was true. She hadn't seen much of Tink's avatar in the past couple days. But then another realization hit her.

"You don't take the medicine, do you?" She asked.

Tink's face fell, and she stared down at her hands.  "No," she replied. "I used to, but every time I missed it, it became worse and worse. The memories were one thing, but the uncertainty, the unfamiliarity of everything really, um, affected me."

Wendy glanced around at Tink's small room in central control. The room she never left. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said softly, pity creeping into her voice.

Tink's head snapped up. "Don't look at me like that!" She exclaimed. "Don't pretend like you know me, like you understand all my weaknesses. I don't need your sympathy."

"I wasn't... I didn't mean..." Wendy stammered, but she realized nothing she could say would appease the girl. She decided to just get to the point. "Look Tink, I'm sorry to barge in on you in the middle of the night..."

"You didn't barge. I knew you were coming. Alarm, remember?"

"Okay, but I wanted to ask you..."

"He doesn't care about you, you know."

"What?" Wendy asked, a little bit flustered.

"Peter. He doesn't love you."

Wendy bit her lip, wondering why the girl was bringing this up. Tink smiled evilly and turned to one of her screens.

"Here, watch this," she instructed.

The screen showed what must have been a recording from the day before. The lost boys were all tied together on the deck of the ship and Captain Hook was addressing Peter.

_"Oh no? I was under the impression that you were in love with this girl."_

The other lost boys looked dubious and made faces, but Peter gazed thoughtfully at Captain Hook. After a few seconds he responded:

_"Nah, she doesn't really mean that much to me. I just wanted to see what it'd be like to have a girl in Neverland."_

Wendy let out a small cry of indignation and immediately wished she hadn't. Tink turned to her, nearly gloating.

"See? He doesn't care about you at all. You were just an experiment. A game."

Tink's words stung her more than she wanted them to. Had it all been a game? But then, there had been the look on his face, the pause before he answered...

_It doesn't matter,_ she thought. She was leaving, so there was no use analyzing what Peter may or may not have felt for her. In any case, this would make it easier to go.

"Tink," Wendy said urgently, getting the girl to look at her face, "I need your help." Before Tink could unleash the string of expletives that were sure to come out of her mouth, Wendy blurted out, "I need you to help me leave Neverland. Help me find my way back home. Please."

Tink raised her eyebrows and a smug smile appeared on her face.

"I thought you'd never ask."

# Chapter Nineteen

Peter couldn't help smiling. He stretched out on his bed and breathed in the morning air. He had dreamed about Wendy, and at times she had felt so close and so real. Losing her yesterday had made him realize just how much she meant to him, and as much as it scared him, he planned to tell her how he felt.

He sat up and looked around. The other boys were still sleeping, predictably. They had stayed up late last night celebrating their victory against the pirates. Wendy had taught them all a dance called the tango, and they had danced and laughed until they nearly collapsed.

Peter crept out of bed and made his way over to Wendy's corner, unable to wait one more minute to see her. He hesitated at her partition, suddenly nervous. Would she be awake? What would he say to her if she was? He pulled the blanket back and peeked around it. His heart sank. Wendy was gone.

"Wendy!" He whispered, tip toeing around the house and peering into the tunnels and doors. Peter tried not to wake the others, but as he passed Slightly, the boy sat straight up.

"No! I will NOT lay eggs for you!" He shouted, then fell back in his bed, sound asleep.

Peter sat back on his bed and held his head in his hands. "If Captain Hook took her again, I'll cut off his hand and give it to the Crocodile," he murmured. Then he noticed a scrap of paper on top of the cabinet. He picked it up and read it three times through before he could process it, and even then he wasn't sure it made sense.

_Peter,_

_Thank you for bringing me to Neverland, but I have to go home. Don't drink the medicine._

_-Your Wendy_

He felt like laughing and crying at the same time. She had left. She was gone. She had essentially told him she was his. And what was this about the medicine? He opened the cabinet and found his flask lying at an odd angle. He turned it around in his hands a few times. Suddenly, something flew in his face and plucked the flask out of his hands.

"Tink! What are you doing?" He exclaimed, marveling that the tiny robot could heft something three times its size.

"Saving your life," the fairy responded, and flew out of the house. Peter jumped up and ran after her, scrambling up one of the passageways and out of the house, but he couldn't catch her. He followed and called after the fairy all the way to central control. He burst into Tink's small room and found her lying on the floor.

"Tink! Tink?"

She was paler than usual, and she kept coughing and gagging. The flask was next to her on the floor, empty.

"Tink, what happened?" Peter whispered, kneeling over her.

"I... I drank your medicine," she explained weakly. "It was poisoned. Captain Hook, he... poisoned it last night. He's trying to kill you."

"What? Why would he ... ? Why did you drink it?"

"I wanted to make sure you didn't." She seized up with a round of coughing, then exhaled and rested on the floor. "Peter, hold me," she pleaded.

He sat down on the floor and carefully pulled her to him, cradling her head in his lap. She smiled at him, then reached up and pulled his head towards her.

"Tink?" Peter questioned, but before he could say anymore, she lifted her head and pressed her lips to his. A pleasant tingling ran through his body and he instinctively knew he shouldn't be thinking of Wendy at this moment. He pushed the thoughts away and focused all of his attention on Tink. After a few moments she pulled away and sighed.

"What was that?" Peter ventured.

"That... was a kiss," she answered. She gazed at him and Peter detected a subtle sadness in her eyes. "At least I got your first, even if she gets all the rest." She let out a long breath, rested her head on his knee, and closed her eyes.

"Tink?" Peter whispered, beginning to panic. "Tink, wake up!" He shook her shoulders and her head rolled to the side. "No! Tink! Please don't die!" He felt tears filling his eyes as he pushed her ginger hair out of her face. Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she smiled mischievously.

"Aw, you do care," she cooed. "That's so sweet." She jumped up, brushed herself off, and crossed the room.

"Wait, so you're not dying?" He asked, completely baffled.

"No," she laughed, fiddling with something in the lab. "But I appreciate your concern, I really do."

"But, you drank my medicine?"

"Of course not! I'm not stupid," Tink spat. "But it _was_ poisoned," she added, holding up a beaker of cloudy liquid. "One sip of this would have killed you instantly."

"How did you know?"

"I saw the Captain Hook sneak into your house last night and mess with your flask."

"Captain Hook was in my House?" Peter suddenly felt a wave of nausea pass over him. "But, Wendy..."

"Wendy is back in the Grey World, safe and sound," Tink interrupted, anticipating his thoughts. "Well, more or less safe and sound. She might have _accidentally_ run into a few walls on the way out," she added with a grin.

"You took her back?" Peter shouted.

"Whoa! How about a 'thank you' for taking the hussy off of your hands?"

"Why did she come to you?"

"Well, I'm guessing if she had asked _you_ to take her home you would have thrown and fit and locked her up."

"I wouldn't have done that," Peter protested, although he was a little unsure. He wouldn't have locked her up, but he probably would have tried to persuade her to stay. "Why did she leave?" He asked. "Did she say?"

"She probably left because she was sick of you."

"Sick of me?" Peter repeated, his stomach twisting in knots. "She said that?"

"Well, she didn't say that _exactly_ , but think about it. You did take her away from her home, from the people she loved. You forced her to come here when she didn't want to. If someone had done that to me, I would hate them forever."

"Hate?" He felt like the word had punctured his heart and deflated all of his happiness. He sank into a rolling chair behind him. Tink's mouth twitched.

"What's wrong?" Tink pressed. "It's not like you care that much about her, right?"

"Of course I care about her," Peter moaned. "She's the most amazing person I've ever known."

Tink looked down at her hands. "But you told Captain Hook..."

"I was lying! I wasn't about to tell Hook that I loved her!"

"But you'll tell me," Tink said quietly. Peter gazed at her and saw that her face looked exactly the way his heart felt. The realization hit him like getting slapped by the Neverbird's wing. It was like he was seeing her for the first time. How could he have been so stupid? This love, these emotions that he had never experienced until he met Wendy, Tink had felt them for him all this time. He felt awful. Not only for causing Tink pain, but for the pain Wendy had caused him. Now he understood why the others had talked about love as something wonderful and horrible at the same time. He wanted to comfort Tink, but he knew he'd never be able to return that love. He could never make her as happy as Wendy had made him.

"Tink, I'm so sorry..."

"Don't," Tink commanded, wiping away a tear. "I'm fine." She turned away and began tidying some supplies. Peter didn't know what else to say, so he quietly left.

It was uncommonly warm outside, but Peter shivered when he looked out across Neverland. He didn't want to go home. He didn't want to explain to the other boys why Wendy had left. He didn't want to believe it himself. If she really did hate him for forcing her to come with him, then he had to at least apologize. He had to see her one more time.

His decision to find Wendy in the Grey World gave him some motivation, and he quickly headed towards the entrance cavern. He was out of pixie dust, so he took the basket up again, thinking of Wendy during the entire ascent. He was so preoccupied when he reached the lip of the cavern that he didn't notice that someone was inside of it until he'd already stepped in.

"Hello Peter," the Crocodile sneered, her black hair sticking out at odd angles. Her circular pendant swayed as she stepped towards him. "I thought I might find you here."

Peter saw the crazed look in her eyes and the gun in her hand a second too late. Before he could do anything she raised her arm and shot him in the chest.

# Chapter Twenty

Wendy walked into her flat, feeling both relieved and depressed. Amazingly, nothing more had happened to the apartment, even though the door had been unlocked and the window was still open. Her heart tightened when she looked at the spot on the floor where Peter had fallen after she knocked him out with the ladder rung. _When was that? Three, four days ago?_ It seemed like an eternity. She had learned and forgotten and felt so many things, and now she was back home where it was drab and empty. It was almost cruel to think of the wonders and experiences of Neverland in comparison to her real life. She would always be grateful for the time she had spent there, and she would never forget Peter, regardless of how he felt about her, but she knew she couldn't go back. Already the past few days were beginning to feel like a dream.

She heard something buzzing and it took her several moments to register that it was her phone. She grabbed it out of her bag on the table. She had 17 missed calls. Most were from Mrs. Nancy, but there were a couple from the hospital. Wendy skipped over some frantic sounding voice messages from Mrs. Nancy until she heard the one from the hospital. Her mom was awake.

Wendy flew out the door and headed towards the Underground station to get to the hospital. On her way she called Mrs. Nancy and left a message.

"I'm so sorry I've been absent, but my mother's been in the hospital and things have been... complicated," she explained vaguely. "I'll be in as soon as I can."

Once she got to the hospital she virtually ran to her mother's room, upsetting quite a few nurses and patients along the way. She halted at the door and slowly pushed it open.

"Wendy? Is that you?" Came a soft voice from behind a thin dividing curtain.

Wendy rushed forward and fell into a chair by the bed, taking in the sight of her mother as she clutched her hand. There was still a bruise on her head and she looked a little weak, but her eyes were wide open and she was smiling.

"Mom, I'm so glad you're awake!" Wendy said, tears springing to her eyes. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little out of sorts, I think," she replied. "Honestly, Wendy, I'm a little glad you weren't here when I first woke up. I was babbling on about flying boys and pirates and mermaids. I think I was hallucinating."

Wendy nearly choked. "I think I might have been having some of those hallucinations myself," she muttered.

"Wendy, have you been alright? I hope this ordeal hasn't put too much stress on you. You look a bit... distracted. And honey, what are you wearing?"

Wendy followed her mother's gaze down to her feet. She gasped. She was still wearing Peter's shoes.

"I, um, had to borrow them from someone..."

"They're quite odd, and a little too big for you," her mother observed. Then her eyes lit up. "Did you meet a boy?"

"Did I wh-what?" She stammered. "No! I mean, yes. It's just... I don't..."

Her mother's expression turned dark. "Oh dear, he didn't take advantage of you, did he?"

Wendy couldn't help laughing at the loaded question. Yes, he most definitely had, but not in the way her mother was insinuating.

"No, mom, we're just friends," Wendy replied, a twinge of sadness running through her.

"Well, you'll have to tell me all about him. Goodness, I'm unconscious for a few days and I miss everything!"

Wendy smiled. It was such a relief to have her mother back, to know that she would probably be okay. Her tears began to flow freely and she leaned forward and put her head on her mother's shoulder.

"Mom, I'm so sorry," she cried. "Maybe if I had been there, this wouldn't have happened. I had to stay late at work, and... it's my fault! It's always my fault!"

"Wendy, what are you talking about?"

"I should have been there. It would have been alright," she sobbed. "And I never should have suggested that cruise. I forced everyone to go, and now dad and John and Micheal..."

Her mother grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back with surprising strength.

"Wendy! Have you always felt this way? That you were responsible for their deaths?"

"Of course! If we hadn't gone on that trip..."

"Stop! Wendy, this is dangerous and irrational thinking. Accidents happen and we lose people we love, but please understand that it was absolutely not your fault!" She pulled Wendy into her arms and stroked her hair. "I wish you had told me before. I can't believe you've been carrying this with you all this time."

Wendy nodded, letting the truth of her mother's words soothe her. But now she felt guilty that she was causing her mother stress when she should be recovering. This was clearly a flaw she needed to fix.

"As for this incident," her mother continued, "there was no way you could have stopped it. It happened too early in the day. It was strange, really. I was painting the wall in our flat and a boy opened the door and startled me."

Wendy pulled back and stared at her mother. "A boy?"

"Yes. He just peeked his head in and then left, but he had the most startling green eyes."

Wendy shook her head. Peter. He had said it was his fault. He had tried to apologize. He wanted to make it up to her by showing her Neverland.

Wendy's phone rang, startling her. It was Mrs. Nancy again.

"Mom, I need to go to work," Wendy said, conveniently leaving out the fact that she hadn't been to work in three days. "Will you be alright? I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

"Don't worry about me, they take very good care of me here. Actually, one doctor pays me a little too much attention, I think."

Wendy smiled and kissed her mother's cheek. "I love you. I'll be back soon."

*****

Wendy expected a frantic lecture from Mrs. Nancy when she got to the children's home, so she was surprised when the woman took a look at her with forlorn eyes and silently gestured for her to come inside. She looked completely defeated. The boys were running around in differing levels of chaos, and Arthur and James alone were attempting to calm the rest. The house was a mess, and she could hear Nana barking madly from upstairs.

"It's a disaster," Mrs. Nancy wailed. "I'm the worst person in the world!"

"That can't be true," Wendy replied. Mrs. Nancy only gazed vacantly above Wendy's head.

"I've lost him," she cried. "What kind of a professional, what kind of a _woman_ loses her charge?"

"Mrs. Nancy, what's going on?"

"Trevor! He's gone! I've lost him! That sweet boy!" She collapsed into a chair, slowly shaking her head back and forth.

Wendy began to panic. "How long has he been gone? Have you alerted the police?"

"Since yesterday. And yes, I've alerted the police, the neighborhood... I've been considering calling the military."

"No, I'm sure he'll be found," Wendy said, although she couldn't help the feeling of despair that crept into her heart. _Not Trevor,_ she thought, picturing his innocent face and his red curls. Then something clicked in her brain and she let out a small cry.

"I know where he is!" She exclaimed.

"You do?" Mrs. Nancy said, bolting out of her chair.

"Yes, he's in Neverland." Wendy was furious at herself for not recognizing him sooner, although she had been impaired by that medicine.

"Neverland? Is that an amusement park or something?"

"Yes, something like that. I can't believe it! Tootles!" Wendy began pacing. "I don't know if I'll be able to find it again, but I have to try. Plus, I have to give Peter's shoes back."

"Oh dear, I went a bit crazy myself," Mrs. Nancy said knowingly, but Wendy ignored her.

"Boys!" Wendy called, and a few of them appeared before her. "If you all tidy up the house and get your studies done before I get back, you'll all get ice cream."

"Yes, Miss Wendy," the boys sang, rushing off to clean.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Wendy said as she ran out the door, leaving a dumbfounded Mrs. Nancy staring out after her.

Wendy had been groggy when Tink had guided her through the tunnels that morning, but she was confident that she at least knew where she had emerged. She walked through the streets of Chinatown until she saw the red lanterns overhead and detected the strong scents of ginger coming from a small restaurant. She turned into an alley and entered the second tunnel on the right. She reached down and pulled off one of the baubles from Peter's shoe, remembering that he had used it as a lantern before. She twisted the device and the tunnel filled with light.

She went about 20 paces before she came to a section that split off into three different paths.

"Oh, this is hopeless," she murmured, recalling how many twists and turns there had been, how many hours it had taken to get there and back. Suddenly she heard a scratching sound coming from the path on the left, and swallowing her fear, she followed it.

She came upon a squirrel chewing on some piece of food. It froze when she came near, but after a few seconds it resumed it's munching, then continued on a few meters to find another piece of food. Wendy studied the parcel in the animal's mouth. She looked on down the tunnel and saw another one ahead. She walked forwards and bent down to inspect it. It looked like a broken piece of those animal crackers they had at Mrs. Nancy's. The ones Trevor liked so much.

She slapped her hand to her head and laughed. _That clever, clever boy._ He had remembered the story of Hansel and Gretel, and this was the trail he had left. Wendy rushed ahead, following the cracker pieces and praying that other animals hadn't already scavenged the rest of them.

There were only a few turns where Wendy got lost, but she doubled back until she found Trevor's trail. After a few hours she arrived at the door of the huge cavern. Her spirits sank as she looked at the numeric pad. It had been a complicated code and she couldn't even begin to guess what it was. She supposed she could just wait there until someone came out, but as far as she knew the only people that came through here were Peter and Tink. She could be waiting for days.

"But the Crocodile must come this way too," she mused aloud, recalling that the mysterious woman brought in their supplies. She must have brought Trevor in as well. Wendy glanced around and saw a slim box next to the door. She pried the box open and found an intercom.

Peering down at Peter's shoes, she saw the device with the small microphone and speaker. The voice changer.  She grabbed it off the shoe and turned the dial until it read: Crocodile. She took a deep breath and pushed the intercom button. This was her only chance.

"James!" She yelled into the voice changer. "Open the portal!"

The voice had definitely not sounded like her own, but she didn't know if the tone was convincing enough. She stood there in silence for several terrifying moments, and then the door slid open. Beyond it, she saw the far wall of the cavern splitting open to reveal Neverland.

"Okay, that obstacle is out of the way," she murmured. "Now how do I get down there?" She didn't know how to call up the basket, so the only other option was to... fly? She dashed into the supply depot and grabbed out anything metallic that she could wear; a couple belts, a weird bracelet, and a vest that was covered in buttons. Wendy then pulled the lever that released the pixie dust and did the best she could to rub it onto her clothes, skin, and into her hair.

Then she stood on the ledge, shaking.

_There is a very good chance I'll die,_ she thought. All at once the walls began to close, and her fear was enveloped by a sense of urgency. She screamed and jumped out into the air, plummeting down towards the beautiful landscape of Neverland.

Wendy felt pulses of the repelling forces as she neared the ground, but they only sent her spinning in different directions. She spread her arms and legs out and felt a little more resistance, but she was still falling far too quickly. _What had Peter said?_ Avoid the lagoon and the silver mountains. She focused on the jungle and tried to guide her body towards the towering trees. With some effort she got her feet under her, where she knew she had the most power on the soles of her shoes. She lifted a little. She clumsily wove back and forth above a grouping of large rocks, stalling and falling at turns. She was still descending too fast when she hit the ground, but to her surprise, the ground swallowed her.

For several horrific moments she was engulfed in something spongy, and then the matter seized up and shot her back into the air. She had completely forgotten about the trampoline moss. She quickly repositioned herself with her feet towards the ground and her arms spread wide. She hit the jungle floor hard and rolled to the side. Her feet and legs stung, but otherwise she was fine.

Wendy let out a long breath and slowly got to her feet, trying to get her bearings. She had just recognized a path that led to the lost boys' house when she heard a voice behind her.

"Ah, Miss Wendy, I should have known."

She spun around and found herself face to face with Captain Hook. His eyes darted around and then he pulled Wendy underneath the canopy of a large tree.

"You shouldn't have come back," he hissed.

"But, I had to! I-"

"Ah yes, young love," he interrupted, his eyes misting over. "I suspect you can't bear to be away from him. He's very lucky to have found you."

"What? No, I didn't-"

"Don't worry, I understand. I was once in love myself." His face hardened. "And it got me into this mess, which is why I must urge you again to leave Neverland! It's even more dangerous now than ever!"

"No!" Wendy protested. "I can't leave until-"

"Well, if you're determined, I won't try to stop you. But I did warn you, so now my hands are clean." He looked like he was going to leave, but then he stopped and considered Wendy. "You're a bright girl, aren't you?"

"I... suppose."

"Maybe you can help." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large key.  He pressed it into her hand and looked at her meaningfully. "I seem to have misplaced this key to the cabin of the ship where all the lost boys and pirates are locked up," he whispered. "The Crocodile would be so angry if they got out. It might even thwart her plans to kill Peter in the Imagination Tower." Wendy gasped and Hook put his finger to her lips. "And I believe Tink is trapped in central control with no oxygen supply."

He pulled away from her, grinning.

"Oh dear, I've said too much." Then he turned and disappeared into the trees.

# Chapter Twenty-One

Peter groaned. His entire body felt sore, as if something had picked him up and wrung him out. But what was more distressing were the thoughts and emotions coming into his mind. He tried to open his eyes, but waves of guilt and nausea kept pressing in on him. He squeezed them shut again and shook his head.

"Wonderful, you're awake," came a sterile voice behind him. "We can finally get this over with."

Peter pushed against the thoughts swirling in his head and squinted out at his surroundings. He was in the Imagination Tower, strapped to a chair by thick cables. He peered through the glass that encased the creation lab and saw that it was night, even though the last thing he remembered it had been early morning. The Crocodile appeared before him, staring at him intently. She was wearing that awful purple dress and hideous, scaly boots.

"What's going on?" He slurred, aware that he still didn't have complete control of his body.

"I tranquilized you," the Crocodile responded. "I had considered just killing you there in the cavern, especially since all of my previous attempts have failed, but I wanted to make an example of you," she explained coolly. "I don't want the other boys to get any ideas." She walked forward and stroked his hair, an odd gleam in her eye. "Plus, I thought you at least deserved an explanation. You were the first, you know. Sometimes it felt as if you were my own son."

Peter coughed. "Most mother's don't kill their children." A sensation surged inside his head, another twist of guilt. Mother. He remembered his mother. He gasped and shook his head again, trying to rid himself of the feelings, the images.

The Crocodile laughed. "No Peter, they do not. And I would add that most children don't kill their mothers. But that does not seem to be true in your case."

Peter began to shake. The faces, the facts, the memories pounded in his brain, growing clearer every second.

"You should thank me for taking away those painful recollections," said the Crocodile, pulling a flask from her pocket. "This solution, the "medicine" as you call it, is one of my most brilliant inventions." She shook the flask in his face tauntingly. "The engineered microbes in this liquid temporarily destroy the declarative memory while keeping the procedural memory intact. This was crucial, you see, so that you all could have access to those brilliant ideas in your heads without being distracted by sentimentality, or in your case, grief. As long as everyone took this solution every day, their explicit memory would be constantly disabled. Of course, every once in a while someone would miss a dose, and those memories would return, as you're experiencing now."

Peter strained against his cords, wanting to throttle the woman in front of him, but as much as he tried to direct his pain towards her, he knew that his guilt was all self inflicted.

A strange calm overtook him as he allowed the memories to seep back into his subconscious. He saw them. His parents. Laughing, smiling, playing with him. His mother holding him close and dancing with him, his father teaching him games. They held his hand, embraced him, looked at him with pure love in their eyes.

Then there was the fire. He had only been seven. He had been dismantling a remote controlled car, and it had exploded. The curtains had caught fire, and he ran to tell his mother about it. But on the way to her room, he had noticed a strange bird out of the window. His attention diverted, he ran outside to look for the creature, momentarily forgetting about the curtains. Just seconds after he had made it down the front steps, the entire house erupted in flames. He tried to run back in to find his parents, but the neighbors and the police had restrained him. His parents were dead, and it was all because of him.

"Ah, yes," the Crocodile whispered, searching his face, "your memories are perhaps the most painful of all. I found you shortly after that fire. I saw how brilliant you were, and I brought you to Neverland."

Peter remembered. He remembered the woman coming to see him in the children's home, soothing him, giving him exciting gadgets to distract him. She had come one night and told him she was going to take him to a magical place, where he could forget about his past, where he could do anything and be anything he wanted to be.

"Of course, back then, Neverland was little more than a pit in the ground with a few robots and trees. But it sparked your imagination. As our resources grew, you helped me build it into so much more. Then others came. Children with minds just like yours, and you all kept building and inventing and designing, and you had a family again."

"So you stole the other boys too?" Peter asked bitterly.

"Stole? No, no. _Saved_. These boys were all orphans. Abandoned. Unwanted. Unloved. I brought them here where they could use their extraordinary gifts. Where they could reach their full potential."

"And the pirates? Were they orphans too?"

The Crocodile furrowed her brow. "No. The pirates, as you surely must have noticed, are not quite as intelligent as you are. Many of them came here by their own choice. As petty criminals, they needed somewhere to hide. It was a perfect set up. They needed to disappear, and I needed people to give you boys some competition, to spur your imaginations and keep your minds sharp and producing."

Peter shuddered. It was all a game. They were pawns. Happily and ignorantly playing into this woman's deranged, albeit, well funded, purposes.

"Why?" He croaked out, struggling to focus on anything but the memory of his dead parents. "Why are you doing this? How does it benefit you?"

She threw her head back and cackled. "My dear boy, do you have any idea how much these inventions are worth?" She pulled his shadow out of a nearby port. She must have taken it out of his pocket when he was unconscious. "I had a buyer for several of your designs," she said, inspecting the small game piece. "I was going to sell them to him and dispose of you later, but somehow this shadow made it back into your hands."

Peter frowned. He was struggling between his pride and sense of self preservation. "Why do you need to kill me?" He spat. "You could have just copied the files and left me alone."

"Yes, I could have. But the risk was too great. You're always cavorting back and forth from Neverland to the outside world, and there was a chance you would find out I'd stolen your designs and fight back. You have been very useful, but you've become unpredictable and cocky, and I'm willing to eliminate you for the good of Neverland."

Peter had some choice words for her, but suddenly the door behind him opened and Captain Hook shuffled in.

"James, finally!" The Crocodile said, extending her arms to the pirate. "Have you brought me my poison?"

"Yes, Matilda," Hook said miserably, handing her a small bottle. She took it to a desk and opened it, inserting a small strip of paper that gradually turned blue.

"Forgive me for not trusting you," she said with a forced smile, "It's just that you've already failed me so many times."

"So you've been trying to kill me, too?" Peter snapped, glaring at Hook.

"Believe me, my boy, I have tried to avoid it for as long as possible." He looked in Peter's direction but couldn't meet his eyes. "I may be a criminal, but I'm not a murderer."

"Then why are you helping her?"

"That is a very long story."

"I've got time."

"Actually, you don't," the Crocodile cut in, grinning evilly. "Your time is running very short, but if it would soothe your muddled conscience, James, I'll let you bore the boy with it. And I really do _love_ hearing my husband recount his sad life."

"Husband?"

"Ex-husband," Hook corrected.

"It's open to interpretation," she remarked, turning away. Hook sighed and rubbed his temples. "Matilda and I met in prison," he began. "She had infiltrated the staff and was pretending to be a guard. I'll admit I was smitten with this cunning woman back then, she hadn't showed all of her colors to me just yet." The Crocodile snorted but Hook continued. "With her help, I was able to escape. We then carried out one of the biggest bank heists in history. It really was an incredible feat, with fake diamonds and contortionists and a camel..." he trailed off, his eyes glazing over. "That money helped to build Neverland. Unfortunately, by some accidental slip by Matilda, I was caught. I was sentenced to life in the most deplorable prison imaginable. Somehow Matilda broke me out, on the condition that I do her bidding."

"Why haven't you just killed her?" Peter asked.

"It has crossed my mind," Hook admitted. Minerva turned and sarcastically batted her eyelashes at him, "but as I mentioned before, I'm rather reluctant to become a murderer. Plus, she's rigged a system that would immediately alert the police to my whereabouts upon her death, and I simply cannot go back to that prison."

"You know, Tink could probably overwrite that system in a matter of minutes," Peter said. Captain Hook looked thoughtful, but the Crocodile quickly interceded.

"Ha! Tink is slowly dying as we speak! I've cut off her oxygen supply and she's trapped in central control! This is her punishment for saving you this morning."

Peter felt the fight go out of him and hung his head. He couldn't bear the thought of one more person dying because of him.

"But let's get on with it," the Crocodile said, waving her hand dismissively. "All this chit chat is getting dull." She drew out a syringe and filled it with the poison from the bottle. "Because I'm feeling generous," she sneered, "I'll let you take one last dose of your "medicine" before I kill you. That way you can die with only happy memories. Except, of course, the memory of me injecting you with a deadly liquid."

She brought a flask to his lips, and Peter immediately longed for it. Longed for the pain and the awful knowledge of his past to fade away. But he knew that would be cowardly, and decided instead to die with a clear knowledge of the truth.

"No thank you," he said in mock politeness, stiffening away from the flask.

"Fine," she replied. "But you should know, this is really going to hurt."

He strained against the cables as she inserted the needle into his wrist. He thought once more of Wendy, of the teasing way she had smiled at him, then closed his eyes and waited for death.

# Chapter Twenty-Two

Peter felt the pressure increase in his wrist. Captain Hook cleared his throat.

"Matilda?"

"What?" She growled.

"Didn't you want everyone to witness this?" He asked lazily, although his eyes were filled with fear.

Her irritation gave way to gratitude. "Why, thank you, James," she gushed. "In my excitement to get him out of the way I lost sight of the bigger plan."

She walked over to one of the screens, leaving the syringe hanging from Peter's wrist. Peter craned his neck to watch the Crocodile initiating a video conference with the pirate ship. The screen's view switched to the ship's cabin, which was completely empty.

"What? Where are they?" She roared. She turned to Captain Hook, and Peter thought he detected a faint smile on the man's face before Hook spread his hands and shrugged.

"You let them out, didn't you?"

"Matilda, I swear on my life I did no such thing."

The Crocodile looked as if she was going to strangle him, but before she could make a move, the window panels of the tower began to crackle and splinter. Peter stared as the glass frosted over. He could faintly see what looked like a snowstorm beyond it. The Crocodile rushed back to the screen and filtered through every video feed of Neverland. Each image was whited out, completely obscured by falling snow.

"What is this?" She screamed. While she was distracted, Peter tried to shake the syringe out of his skin, but the needle was stuck. She noticed his movement and rushed towards him, her eyes wild.

"They don't need to see it," she uttered frantically, reaching for the syringe. "Describing your excruciating death will be enough."

At that moment a flurry of robotic birds crashed through the glass. A blast of frigid air and swirling snow followed them in. The Crocodile shrieked as the birds circled around her, nipping and clawing at her face and hair.

"James! Do something!" The Crocodile yelled. Hook started forward, but his movements were sluggish and lacked conviction. The Crocodile picked up a chair and began swiping it at the flying machines, knocking several to the ground. In the next moment a dozen grappling hooks sailed up and caught on the now windowless ledge. Peter was greeted with the very welcome sight of all of the lost boys and a few pirates climbing into the Imagination Tower, armed with all their gear.

"Mutiny!" The Crocodile screamed. "You'll all go for several weeks without supplies!"

"Meh, you never bring anything good anyway," Smee replied, throwing tripping beads at her feet. "I'm sick of canned beans." The beads twisted around her ankles and sent her toppling to the floor.

The Crocodile, who was clearly outnumbered, did not give in. To Peter's surprise, she was very nimble and a skilled fighter. She disengaged her feet from the beads and jumped up, delivering a series of flying kicks to Starkey and one of the twins, who fell unconscious to the floor. She spotted Nibs coming to untie Peter, and punched him in the stomach. Nibs slid his miracle knife over to Peter's chair as he crumpled to the floor.

Suddenly a loud screech sounded from outside the window. Peter looked out and spotted the Buffalostrich Rex, with the girl he loved on its back.

"Wendy!" He called, and she winked back at him. He was overwhelmed with emotions: relief that she was in Neverland, fear for her life, and awe that she had managed to tame the beast. He also couldn't help but notice how fetching she looked riding the monstrous animal.

"Curly! Take these!" Wendy yelled, throwing a bag at him. Curly caught the bag and immediately upended it on the Crocodile, sending tickling hamsters down her dress. The woman rolled on the floor, alternately shrieking and giggling.

Wendy hopped off the Buffalostrich Rex and immediately went to Peter. She picked up the miracle knife and sliced through his cables. He jumped up, pulled the syringe out of his wrist, and embraced her.

"You came back!" Peter exclaimed, holding her at arms length and reveling in her presence.

"I had to," she responded, bringing a huge smile to Peter's face. "I had to get Tootles."

Peter's face fell, and Wendy must have noticed his disappointment, because she quickly added, "and I had to give you your shoes back."

Peter furrowed his brows and ran his fingers through her tangled hair. This was no time to be timid. "I don't want my shoes. I want you."

Wendy's blue green eyes grew large. Before Peter knew what was happening, Wendy was pulling him close to her and kissing him. Even though the air around them was freezing, Peter felt the most satisfying and enticing warmth trickle through his body. He pulled her closer, burying his hands in her hair. Birds sailed around them, a pirate crashed into them, nearly sending them toppling to the ground, and Slightly was pulling on his arm, but still he wouldn't let her go. When they finally broke apart, he held her hands and stared at her.

"That is the second kiss I've received today," he stated. The look on Wendy's face told him that that was the wrong thing to say. "It was Tink," he explained quickly, "I thought she was dying and ..." Wendy's frown continued to deepen, and he knew he'd better change tactics. "I liked yours a lot better," he said hopefully.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "That's not even the best I've got," she teased, and Peter almost lost his balance. A war cry pulled him out of his hypnosis. One of the twins was on the Crocodile's back, pounding his fists on her head while Bill Jukes was poking her with a shocking sword.

"Mrs. Carnivera?" Wendy said, her eyebrows shooting up.

Peter followed her gaze. "You mean the Crocodile?"

"She's the Crocodile?" Wendy looked confused for a moment, then slowly nodded her head in understanding. "That explains a lot."

The Crocodile shook the twin off and back handed Bill Jukes. The woman's eyes were crazed as she pulled a vial from her pocket and clutched at the circular pendant of her necklace.

"This ends now!" She screeched. She threw the vial on the floor and a cloud of gas rose up from the broken glass. Peter knew immediately what it was from the sweet smell. Drunken Vapor. Then the Crocodile pressed a button on her pendant and everything went dark. The remaining bird robots fell to the ground and all was eerily quiet. She had shut off the power to Neverland.

Nibs cracked a glow tube but as the vapor began to take effect he fell to the floor, the tube emitting only a dim light from under his arm. Peter stumbled around in the dark, trying to find Wendy. Instead, he found the Crocodile in his face. He was already growing dizzy from the vapor, and her eyes were changing colors and shapes. Another syringe was jabbed into his wrist, and the woman's erratic breathing sounded in his ear.

"You almost ruined everything," she whispered. "The others will pay for the mistake of trying to save you. I will not let you compromise my world." He struggled against her as best he could, but the hallucinations were growing stronger. She pressed against him. "Before you die," she hissed, "you should know that I killed your parents."

"What?" He breathed.

"It was too easy. I had been watching you for days. I had installed cameras in your house. That little fire you left unattended was the perfect opportunity. Hadn't you ever wondered how it spread so quickly? It's because I helped it along. Didn't you ever wonder where that strange bird had come from? It's because I planted it there to draw you out of the house, out of the danger. I was there all along. I could even hear your parents screaming as they burned to death."

"No!" Peter roared. "You are a monster!" In a moment of clarity and fury, he head butted her and pushed her off of him. She stumbled back a bit, but quickly recovered.

"It doesn't matter now!" She cackled, the wind and snow swirling terribly around her. "Soon you'll be dead, and no one else will dare defy me once they've seen what I'm capable of!" She started towards him again, but in that moment the Buffalostrich Rex appeared at the open window, reached its massive head inside, and snapped the Crocodile up in its strong jaws. The animal swallowed her whole, coughed, looked thoughtfully at Peter, and then took off into the dark night.

# Chapter Twenty-Three

"Did the Crocodile just get eaten by the Buffalostrich Rex, or was I hallucinating?" One of the twins asked, rubbing his eyes.

"That's what I saw," Noodler confirmed with a grin.

"Yeah, and it was awesome!" Said the other twin.

Slightly peered outside and wiped a tear from his face. "That's my boy," he said. "I knew there was a reason to keep him alive. I knew someday he would make me proud."

Wendy got to her feet but immediately had to sit down again. Captain Hook had restored the power, but everyone was still a little unstable. The effects of that gas were wearing off, and she was trying to sort out what had been real and what had been fabricated. She was fairly certain the dancing llamas were fake, but the kiss had been real. At least she hoped it was. She stole a glance at Peter, who was already up and trying to help the others. Nibs had a big gash above his eye and Smee looked like he might have twisted his ankle, but otherwise, everybody seemed alright. Peter turned to face everyone.

"Thanks for saving me," he said sheepishly, his face growing pink. "I really owe you all."

"Wendy was the reason we were able to do it," Bill Jukes admitted. "She unlocked the ship's cabin and already had a plan. All we had to do was gather up the supplies and turn the Weather Tree to winter."

"Yeah, that way the snow would hide us from coming!" Trevor piped up.

Everyone turned to stare at Wendy, and she shrank back. "Captain Hook gave me the key," she said quietly.

"Captain Hook?" Peter said dubiously, raising his eyebrows at the pirate.

"Yes, Peter," the man responded. "I don't hate you _that much_ , you know." He smiled weakly, and then looked as if he were about to cry. "But now that Matilda's gone, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"I'm sorry, Captain," Smee said, putting his hand on the man's shoulder, "You must have really loved her after all."

"Loved her?" Hook scoffed. "Absolutely not. That woman was the devil's apprentice. No, I'm worried about myself! That information she was hiding is now going to be released and they'll be after me and I'll have to go back to that prison and rot!" He exclaimed, his shoulders shaking.

"We'll see what Tink can do about it," Peter assured him.

Wendy gasped, and comprehension dawned on Peter and Captain Hook at the same time.

"Tink is still trapped in central control with no air!" Wendy cried.

"I'll go get her!" Curly volunteered, a little too quickly. He pulled Slightly's belt from off his hips, grabbed a cord hanging from the shattered glass walls and slipped out of sight.

The others began to prepare to leave and Peter came over to Wendy.

"You are amazing," he said, taking her hand and helping her to her feet, "in more ways than one, it appears."

"Oh, it was nothing," Wendy said jokingly. Truthfully, the events of the last few hours had completely drained her. "Do you think I could stay the night before I head back home tomorrow?"

Peter frowned. "You're not staying?"

"No, Peter. And I'm taking Tootles with me."

He searched her face, and whatever he found there apparently stopped him from trying to persuade her otherwise.

"Well, you are welcome to visit anytime you like," Peter said softly. "The boys will miss you."

Wendy raised her eyebrows at him. "Will they?"

"Of course. But not as much as I'll miss you." He pulled her to his chest, and Wendy was sure he was about to kiss her, but Slightly interrupted.

"Will someone go turn off the Weather Tree already? I can't feel my bum anymore!"

*****

It had been hard work getting Trevor to leave Neverland, but once his medicine started to wear off he was glad that Wendy had taken him back to Mrs. Nancy's. Over the next few weeks, however, he frequently asked if they could go back.

He had entertained the other boys at the home with his adventures in Neverland, and Wendy had to make them believe that it really was some amusement park on the other side of town. Mrs. Nancy had scolded him for running off, but in the next instant she had taken him in her arms, crying tears of relief that he was safe and back in her care.

Wendy's mother had fully recovered and had been released from the hospital, and everything was back to normal. Almost.

Wendy thought about Peter a little more than she should, and while she knew she couldn't live in Neverland, she had thought maybe she would go back and visit from time to time. The first two weeks had flown by with taking care of her mother and putting everything back in order at Mrs. Nancy's, so when Wendy finally tried to make her way back to Neverland, she found that the tunnel had been completely sealed up. She had been severely disappointed, and she felt betrayed. Maybe Peter didn't care that much for her after all. After being bitter about it for a few days, she had decided it was best this way. She couldn't spend her weekends frolicking around in some hidden wonderland with the lost boys, regardless of how much one of those boys meant to her. She had responsibilities. She had to grow up.

"What are you thinking about?" Trevor asked, tugging on Wendy's sleeve. Wendy started, realizing she had been staring out the kitchen window.

"Neverland," she whispered, ruffling the boy's curly hair. She turned back to the sink to continue washing the dishes.

"I think about it a lot too," Trevor sighed, leaning against the cabinets. "Will we ever get to go there again?"

Wendy looked down at the boy and for a moment she thought she might cry. She swallowed the lump in her throat and picked him up. "No, Trevor," she replied quietly. "Only in our dreams."

"Oh, I dream about it all the time."

"So do I," Wendy admitted.

"I bet you dream about Peter."

"What?"

"I know that you love him," Trevor said, his nose wrinkling. "I saw you kiss him. Yuck!"

Wendy laughed, but still felt a tightness in her chest. She couldn't love Peter. It was impossible. A peculiar boy living far beneath the city in an unreal world. A boy she would never see again. No, she didn't love Peter, but she would always remember him as the boy who kidnapped her and forced her to have fun again.

"Alright, it's time to do your schoolwork," she announced, setting Trevor back down. Trevor groaned, but slowly went to his room. Wendy finished cleaning the kitchen and began to gather her things.

"Wendy, I've just received the best news!" Mrs. Nancy said, nearly knocking Wendy over as she rushed into the kitchen. "We're not going to be shut down!" She exclaimed.

"That's wonderful! I knew everything would work out."

"Yes! Apparently that woman, Mrs. Carnivera, has disappeared, so she wasn't able to refute our appeal!"

"Well, isn't that odd?" Wendy replied, hiding a smile. She shouldn't smile, really. The woman had been devoured by a massive, hybridized animal. But her untimely death seemed to be advantageous to both Neverland and the Grey World.

"It's absolutely serendipitous!" Mrs. Nancy cried, pulling Wendy into a nearly bone crushing hug. After the woman had calmed down a bit, Wendy started for home.

She was so lost in thought as she walked along that she almost didn't notice him. She glanced over at the street corner and saw a boy with bright green eyes sitting there, holding a sign. At first she thought she was seeing things, but no, it was Peter, right there in the place she had first seen him only a few weeks before. She read his sign and her jaw dropped.

LOST MY WENDY. NEED HELP.

She crossed to him slowly, wondering what she was going to say to him. Apparently he couldn't wait for her to reach him because he jumped up and ran to her, meeting her in the middle of the street. He scooped her off of her feet and spun her around. When he'd finally returned her to the ground, Wendy wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him or slap him.

"I have so much to tell you!" He exclaimed. "We've made a ton of changes and improvements and I can't wait to show them to you. Plus, I want you to build some things over by the silver mountains."

Wendy's eyes lit up and she quivered with excitement, but she had to remind herself to stay rational.

"I tried to come down to Neverland," she said coolly, "but the tunnel was shut."

Peter clapped his hand to his forehead. "Oh no! I should have told you. We made a new entrance. Those tunnels took way too long."

"A new entrance?"

"Yeah, it's right there!" Peter said, pointing to a nearby uncovered manhole.

"You're joking."

"I'm not. We can go down right now!" He looked at her hopefully and took her hand, but Wendy gently pushed him away.

"Peter, I can't go with you."

His smile only faltered a little. "Okay, tomorrow then. I'll meet you right on this corner..."

"No, Peter, I can't go back to Neverland. Ever."

Peter looked so forlorn that she was tempted to kiss him, but she restrained herself. She wasn't sure when she had reached this conclusion. Perhaps it was when the real world had been such an unpleasant shock. Maybe it was because it had taken her so long to adjust back to her responsibilities, and she didn't want to have to go through all that again. She had just consigned herself to a life of mediocre normalcy, one that was largely mundane but sprinkled with the small joys of spending time with her mother and taking care of those rambunctious boys at the children's home.

"Wendy, come with me," he pleaded, his eyes intense and beseeching.

"I can't. I'm not a child anymore," she responded, almost choking on the words.

Peter laughed. "Of course you are! The only people who have stopped being children are those who have stopped dreaming."

Wendy cocked her head to the side, considering his surprising wisdom. He reached up and brushed her hair out of her face, then gently pulled her closer. But before the moment got too tender, Wendy noticed a large truck heading straight for them. She cried out and pushed Peter into the manhole, then jumped in after him just as the truck rumbled above.

She was falling in darkness for several seconds, and then she landed next to Peter on the back of the Neverbird. The smells, the colors, and the excitement all hit her at once. She peered down and took in the wonder, the thrill of the unknown. Maybe it would make going back home worse every time, but wasn't the adventure worth it? Catching her breath, she looked over at Peter and smiled.

"Alright, then," she conceded. "But only for a few hours."

Peter broke into a lopsided smile and kissed her cheek, then flew the large mechanical bird through the air and down to Neverland.
Read on for a preview of the next book in the Neverland 2.0 series:

Rinky-Tink

# Chapter One

_So this is how I'm going to die_ , thought Tink, squeezing her eyes shut. _Like a fish in an empty tank_. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on them, somehow imagining that if she could make herself smaller, she wouldn't need as much air. She muttered another curse as she recalled the Crocodile barging into central control a few hours before, raving mad about how she had prevented Peter from drinking his poisoned medicine. She should have known that her act of mercy would come with repercussions. Tink had thought that the Crocodile was going to kill her on the spot, but instead the woman had just smiled evilly, cut Tink's video feeds and her air and locked the door. The only screen that was still functioning was the one that indicated how much oxygen the small room held. She was at 13 percent.

_Was it worth it?_ She wondered, and then smiled a little at the thought of kissing Peter when he thought she was dying. It was a cheap trick for sure, but she saw her opportunity slipping away with every adoring glance he gave to that stupid Wendy girl. And now she really was dying, so she felt justified. Plus, what was the point of living if Peter was dead? She didn't regret saving him at all, even as she began to feel the dizziness pressing in on her.

Suddenly, the lights went out and everything became quiet. For a moment she thought she had died, but then realized the power must have been turned off. Thinking that the door might somehow be unlocked, she groped around in the dark until she found the handle. It wouldn't budge. She rested her head against the cool metal, thinking of everything that was beyond it, and was suddenly grateful that she couldn't get out. This realization filled her with a new flood of weakness and guilt. _Would I really rather die than leave my tiny room? Am I so scared of the outside world that it would kill me?_ She imagined the marvelous landscape of Neverland: the exotic trees and animals, the rivers and the lagoon, and the silver mountains that she was housed in. All the things that she only saw on her screens and through her robotic fairy avatar. She began to shake, but then quickly pushed herself away from the door. _It doesn't matter_ , she rationalized. _The door is locked, I have no air, and I'm going to die alone. But at least I'll die a hero, and I hope Peter thinks about me every day and feels awful for not loving me.  _

The minutes dragged on and she felt herself getting drowsy, floating away from reality. Snatches of her former life in the Grey World passed through her mind, of the parents who abandoned her, of living on the street, stealing food and doing odd jobs for strangers, sleeping in that huge library whenever she could manage it. She was barely surviving when the Crocodile found her and brought her to Neverland.

Then there was the medicine. The glorious solution that took away all of her memories, her bitterness, her fears. There was meeting Peter and creating all sorts of games and devices with him. They had so much fun together in those early days. But she had been so caught up in the fun that she often forgot to take her medicine. And the memories would come back, and the new world she was in would overwhelm her, until she couldn't handle the sensations and the unfamiliarity and the uncertainty anymore. So she made herself a home in central control and never came out. A place where she could see everything but do nothing.

Tink felt tears streaming down her cheeks and cursed. She didn't want to be crying, she wanted to handle death like she'd handled everything else - bitter and removed.

"But don't I deserve to cry a little?" She yelled, beating her fists against the wall. "I am dying, after all!"

Nevertheless, she took a few shallow breaths and gained control of her tears. She sat down on the floor and tried to clear her head until the only thing she could see in her mind's eye was the glorious Neverland sunset.

"I shouldn't have let the world win," she muttered, slipping in and out of consciousness. "If I get another chance, I promise I'm going to leave this room."

She leaned her head against the wall and prepared to slip peacefully away, but her peace was disrupted by pounding and yelling.

"Tink! Are you in there?" Came a vaguely familiar voice.

Tink didn't know if the voice and the noise were real, but she couldn't find the strength to respond.

"Tink! I'm going to get you out of there!"

The pounding intensified and it seemed as if the walls were going to collapse around her, but Tink just sat there lazily, trying to make sense of it all. Then the huge metal door burst open, and Tink saw him silhouetted against the Neverland moon. The air hit her and almost immediately her senses cleared. She took a few gasping breaths and tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn't support her and she collapsed to the ground.

"Tink, are you alright?"

Strong arms were around her, pulling her up, pulling her close. She inhaled his scent and suddenly felt euphoric.

"You came for me!" She exclaimed weakly, clutching at him, burying her head in his chest. Of course he came. She knew he would come to his senses eventually, especially when she was dying (for real this time). They were meant to be together. She knew, somewhere deep down, that Peter loved her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face to hers, meeting his lips with her own. There was a moment of resistance, and then he responded eagerly, pressing into her and kissing her with more passion than she could ever have hoped for. She ran her hands over his broad shoulders, up into his thick, curly hair...

_Curly hair?_

Tink pulled away and tried to focus, but it was too dark and she felt she couldn't trust her senses.

"Peter?"

There was silence for a moment, and then-

"Oh. Oh no."

She could almost feel the disappointment filling the space between them, and she wasn't sure if it was hers or his. She scrambled to her feet and found the button to reboot the room's power. The lights flickered on and instead of a self assured and cocky Peter, her eyes rested on a very bashful and red-faced Curly.

"What are you doing here!" She shouted.

"Rescuing you," Curly answered meekly.

"So you thought you could just come in here and take advantage of me?"

"But you... I didn't..."

"I would have expected behavior like this from Slightly, or even the twins, but you?" Even now, Tink couldn't reconcile the gentle-faced boy with the strong, passionate lad who had kissed her moments before, whose lips had been so urgent and welcoming...

"Ugh!" Tink cried, pushing the memory away. "Just leave me alone, I need to think." And before she knew it, she had marched right past Curly, out the open door, and into the vast expanse of Neverland. She looked around and froze.

The air was cold and fresh and enticing. The stars were twinkling in the fabricated sky, and below everything was coated in glistening white snow. It was so beautiful, and big... too big... too foreign...

She forced herself to breathe, to keep her eyes open. She remembered the desperate promise she had made about leaving her room if she was given the chance to live. But the newness and the space and the smells swirled around her and she felt like she was going to be sick.

"Well, I'm alive, and I came out here, but I never said I had to _stay_ out here, right?" She whispered. And with that, she turned, rushed back into central control, and faced Curly.

"Leave!" She ordered, pointing to the door. He opened his mouth and then shut it. He looked miserable, but he ducked his head and slowly walked out. Tink slammed the door behind him and leaned against the wall.

Her head was reeling with emotions. Relief at being alive, mortification from that incident with Curly, fear, frustration, exhilaration... guilt? She groaned and quickly opened the door again.

"Hey!"

Curly had already walked a dozen paces down the path, but he turned around, looking bewildered.

"Thank you for saving my life!" Tink yelled angrily, then slammed the door again.

# Chapter Two

"Incoming!" Shouted Peter as he and Nibs flew up to the Imagination Tower, hefting a large panel of glass between them. As they brought it up to the empty frame, Curly immediately noticed the panel was a little too big.

"Hold on," Curly ordered, studying the large sheet of glass hovering in front of him. With one glance he could tell that it was half a centimeter too wide. He took his razor string and expertly trimmed off the excess, nearly cutting into Peter's thigh.

"Whoa!" Peter exclaimed, drawing his leg back. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to incapacitate me!" He joked.

"Oh, of course not," Curly replied, his tone rich with sarcasm. "Who would want to hurt you? Everybody _loves_ the fantastic Peter."

Peter's smile faltered, but he didn't say anything as he fit the panel into the frame and flew off to get the next one.

Curly sighed and massaged his neck. He'd been feeling this irrational jealousy ever since that night, but he knew he shouldn't blame Peter for his miserable predicament.

Yes, he had a huge crush on Tink. He'd always liked her, from the day he'd arrived in Neverland and she'd punched him in the arm for being too tall. So he didn't hesitate to rescue her that night when the Crocodile had cut off her air supply. And then she had kissed him, and he had nearly lost his senses. That was probably the best moment of his life. The next moment, when he realized that Tink thought he was Peter, was probably the worst.

He'd never been jealous of Peter. Even though he was generally the best at everything and was always at the top of the leaderboard. Even though he'd known Tink liked Peter all this time. Curly had usually been too scared to go see Tink, so mostly he saw her as an unattainable dream. But now he'd had a glimpse, and knowing that all of that wonderful emotion was meant for Peter ignited an envy that Curly had never experienced before.

On top of all that, Tink was being incredibly hostile to him. He hadn't seen the real Tink since he'd kissed her, but her robotic fairy avatar seemed ever present. He had thought she would just go back to ignoring him like usual, but to his dismay, she'd been talking to him more than ever before, and her comments were all negative. In the last two weeks that they'd been rebuilding the Imagination Tower, she had criticized all of his work, accused him of being lazy and worthless, and had yelled at him on numerous occasions for wearing the wrong color. A small, weird part of him enjoyed the attention, but mostly he became more and more embarrassed with every irate remark she directed at him. He'd tried numerous times to explain himself, but there were always other people around.

Curly didn't know what he was going to do about Tink, but for the present, he focused on clearing his mind of the thoughts that involved punching Peter in the face as he flew up with another panel of glass.

*****

"Dinner is served!" Slightly announced, pulling a tray of meat pies from the fire. The lost boys and pirates descended upon him at once, grabbing the pies off the tray before he had taken two steps forward.

"These are delicious!" The twins exclaimed, each with their mouths full.

Slightly beamed. "Thank you! I started with a savory roux, and then added in the meat and pineapple..." he explained, but nobody was listening, except for Wendy, who was politely nodding at him even though Peter was trying to pull her towards the cove. Curly was glad that Wendy was back, although it seemed to put Tink in an exceptionally bad mood.

They were all eating dinner together on the beach by the lagoon to celebrate the reconstruction of the Imagination Tower. Tink had spent most of the time flying around shouting insults at no one in particular, but now the robotic fairy was in an animated conversation with Captain Hook, and Curly couldn't help eavesdropping.

"I told you," spat Tink, "your preliminary data was easily accessible, but your criminal file is in a secure network, and I'd have to plug directly into it in order to erase those records."

"So, when can you do that?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm not going to go cavorting around in the dirty legal system of the Grey World! Why don't you just kill me now?"

"But it's got to be done, and soon!" Hook insisted, wringing his hands in an uncharacteristic manner.

"Well, I'm not going," Tink replied. Then she raised her voice and said: "why not send somebody useless, like Curly? He won't be missed."

Curly sighed and turned his head away. Nibs chuckled next to him. "What did you do to her to make her so mad at you?" He asked.

Curly shrugged, trying to act ignorant, but he could feel the redness rising in his face. He'd be mortified if everyone found out about the incident between him and Tink. But before Nibs could press him further, their dinner was interrupted by a loud whistling sound. Curly looked over just in time to see a massive object fall into the lagoon, sending a large wave of water out to the beach and extinguishing their fire.

"Oh, come on!" Slightly whined. "Dessert was going to be legendary!" He gingerly pulled some pudding-filled coconuts out of the wet ashes and mumbled something about the price of milk, but everyone else was staring up at the hole in the Neverland sky.
