The voice was coming from nowhere, familiar somehow.

Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!

I grasped my friend's arm. "Do you hear that? It's Neverland!"

"Yes...and the last thing we touched was the Peter Pan statue in the Kensington Gardens!"

Suddenly, there was a flash. Harvey and I blinked, slightly blinded.

"Henley? What...?"

I opened my eyes and looked around. Birds were chirping. There were tall trees and a bubbling creek. It was peaceful. And then, suddenly, "Ho-ho! Welcome!"

We looked around but saw no one. And then a green figure dropped out of an overhead tree.

"Peter Pan at your service." He made a flourish and a bow and a big, mischievious grin spread over his face. "Who are you?"

We were awe-struck.

"Well?"

"I'm Henley and this is Harvey."

"And you're lost children?"

I glanced at Harvey. "I suppose you could call us that. We've been streetchildren all our lives."

The green-clad figure snapped his fingers. "Blast. I thought I had picked up most lost children so far."

"And you...you're really Peter Pan?"

"Of course! And you're a girl, aren't you?" He examined me.

"Yes, I'm a girl."

"Well, then, welcome to Neverland. Come to my palace. I have a proposition for you."

And with that, he whisked himself into the air. He was about to disappear before Harvey called out loudly, "But we can't fly!" Peter turned and gave us a puzzled look.

"You can't fly?"

We shook our heads.

"Silly me, I forgot. Hold out your arms."

He clapped twice and a fairy whizzed by.

"That's not Tinkerbell," said Harvey.

He was right. This fairy wore a rose-pink dress and had lovely dark hair.

"No, this isn't Tinkerbell, this is Sweetpea. Her mother is the fairy queen, and she's the youngest princess." Peter began shaking the fairy over us. Glittering pixiedust fell. This is like a dream, I thought. Suddenly, though, the pixiedust stopped falling. Peter gave the fairy a little squeeze. She retorted with a shrill noise, but the pixiedust continued. I grinned.

"Alright, think happy thoughts and we'll be off and away!"

Think happy thoughts. Neverland. Fighting pirates. Food! A feast!

I rose into the air. "Harvey, think about food!" Soon Harvey was in the air, too.

"Follow me!"

Soon we arrived at an old, magical-looking oak tree. It was huge. We walked towards what looked like a small door and Peter knocked. A cubbyhole opened and a pair of big eyes that belonged to a chubby face peered through and a voice said, "Passcode?"

"Hook's a dummy idiot and Peter's the king."

Harvey and I grinned at each other. The door opened and we began to walk inside. Suddenly, I slipped and began falling. I called out, and so did Harvey. I abruptly realized that this was a slide-this was how you entered the treehouse. I felt a whizz and landed hard on my bottom on the dirt floor. I looked behind me and scrambled out of the way as Harvey came flying. I stood up and examined the huge, dimly-lit room.

"Come, let me show you something."

As my eyes adjusted, I noticed a small oval basket laying in a corner. Thirteen boys were surounding it. They were clothed in scraps of fabric and vines, just as I had imagined they would be.

Peter pulled us toward the basket. There, under layers of old fabric, lay a baby. She had soft brown hair and big doe eyes. I guessed her to be a little over a year old. She had been sleeping-her eyes were now fluttering open.

"It's a girl. I rescued her a week ago. I didn't realize she was a girl until I brought her back. We call her Sugar, because she's awful sweet."

One of the boys reached out and stroked the baby's head. I smiled at how gentle the rough boys were around her.

"My proposition," Peter said, picking up an old, empty pipe and stuffing it into his mouth to look like a businessman, "is that you stay here and be our nurse, 'cause we've never had a girl before." He glanced at Harvey. "He can stay, too."

My mouth fell open. "Well, I...um, you see...I can't really-"

Peter and all the boys stared at me pleadingly. Talk about puppy eyes!

"I can't make a decision like that on the spot!" I was desperate.

"Blast," muttered Peter.

I sighed. "Let's eat. Then I'll make my decision."

"Hear, hear!" All the boys began shouting and pulling food from corners and low makeshift tables. Soon we were feasting, and a grand feast it was. I remember going to my hammock with a belly ache that night, and I don't think I was the only one. But as the table was being cleared off, Harvey and I crept into a corner.

"Do you want to stay?"

"Sort of," I said. "What about you?"

"Well...I suppose I could go either way."

"I rather like them, especially the baby."

"Well?"

"What?"

"What are you going to tell them? Shall we go or stay?"

"Let's stay."

Later, as we were all resting after supper, Peter looked at me. "Have you made a decision, ma'am?"

I took a deep breath. "Harvey and I have talked it over, and decided to stay here."

Loud cheering went up. I was embraced by sweet, dirty arms.

Suddenly, our cheering was interrupted by loud bangs on the treehouse. Everything went silent. "Follow me," Peter whispered. Swords appeared. Harvey and I were handed swords, too-his a curved one, mine a long, straight one. We crept up the stairs-these were built for emergencies, and almost never used-the boys preferred the slide.

"I'm going to count to three and open the door," whispered Peter.

"One. Two. THREE!" He kicked the door open and sunlight flooded in. We rushed out and I realized we were surrounded by pirates. And there was Hook.

"Hello, Peter."

"On guard!"