Roedean Boarding School had a prestigious place atop of a hill that overlooked Brighton Marina, while behind it the Sussex Downs stretched. It was a beautiful place but Wendy felt trapped. Here she was safe and no longer a point of gossip and slander from their neighbours and friends. Here her oddness could be ignored and some part of Wendy wished that she could, that those weeks where she was beset with paranoia and fear would fade like a dream but they do not. She had been scared for her brothers and determined to the point of obsession to find a way to get Baelfire back. However running away to Kensington Gardens for an entire night had finally broken her parents and they had sent her to boarding school.

She had explained why she had gone to such lengths, why she had defied them but her honesty had only convinced them of her unbalance, especially to her father. He had his reputation to think about and while she had no doubt of his love he was a rather selfish man. Sometimes she thought she saw a glimmer of uncertainty in her mother's eyes but it was not enough to change her fate. As soon as she reached Brighton she had tried to run back but her efforts had been thwarted and after many months of uncertainty and worry she finally started to relax.

It had been a year since Baelfire had been taken and she and her brothers had been left alone. But what is a few months to someone like that boy? She could never truly be at ease. In her bones she knows that she could be small and white with age and one day she'll feel that giddy, malevolent figure at her back. So one night when the dreams started and music played she was not surprised.

Waves lapped distantly over the pebbles, a lulling noise that would be interrupted rudely by the creaks and groans of the school relaxing for the night. There was the murmur of girls whispering and snoring, a comforting reminder for Wendy of her brothers. It used to drive her mad when they would not be quiet but now she would give anything to hear them again.

After awhile the whispering stopped and the sound of sleep filled the room. Wendy felt herself being pulled along with them and the rhythmic inhaling and exhaling transformed into the movements of a shore. Under her feet were not uncomfortable pebbles but smooth white sand and the water that bubbled up over her toes was warm.

Neverland.

The sky above was gloomy and overcast - not so different from her native island – and that introduced the first seed of fear. This wonderful place of mermaids and fairies shouldn't be gloomy, it should be beaming with sunshine and arced with deep blue skies. But there were mermaids and all many of amazing creatures here, so she should not be so unfair.

Lying on her back she stared at the sky and saw the stars through wisps of cloud. She wiggled, the ground under her back uneven and bumpy but her sense of discomfort was forgotten. Two small pricks of light were detaching themselves from the sky and moving towards her and she watched, mesmerised. But as they came rushing down Wendy was gripped with fear. The lights – the eyes – narrowed into slits and she leaped to her feet with a gasp.

But she was no longer on the sandy beach overlooking the sea but at the bottom of a white cliff, pebbles under her feet. She was back at school, looking up at the cliff and what she saw made her tense up with fright. Dark figures were lining up along the cliff edge, she could see their night gowns flapping in the wind.

Get back, she wanted to shout, you'll fall! But she could not speak, her teeth frozen together. Suddenly there was a lull in the sound of the sea and she could hear faintly the music of pan pipes caring over the air. One of the figures leaned forward and a boy laughed as they plummeted to the pebbles below. Wendy wrenched her teeth apart and screamed.

"NO!"

Her scream of horror echoed through the dormitory and then her harsh breathing filled the room. Heart pounding Wendy gripped her blankets in shaking fists, staring through the darkness. She was in bed, at her school and it had only been a dream. She began to stiffly lie down when something made her stop. Music drifted through an open window, beautiful but melancholy and the sound of it froze her blood.

"No..."

The beds she took to be occupied were empty, her vision becoming accustomed to the dark and with her breath held she got to her feet and walked to the window. Lined up along the cliff edge seemed to be almost every inhabitant of the school. Judging by the height of some of the figures he had even managed to lure some adults out too. As if waking into a dream she climbed through the window and walked stiffly along the dewy lawn until she reached the girls.

None of them made a noise but all of them wavered back and forth to the music, like a snake tempted out of a basket. Wendy, now breathing raggedly, grabbed the arm of the nearest person and pulled her away from the edge. The girl, no more then eleven and tiny, gazed unfocused through lidded eyes.

"Wake up!" she begged, giving her a little shake but the girl remained unresponsive. Wendy looked up along the line of potential death and craned her neck to peer over the cliff edge. The tide was in and truthfully there was not much of a drop but she had no doubt that if they took one step more they would all drown.

"Now they usually say that girls and children should go first but I think I'll be contrary and go with the adults. What do you think?"

The sound of his voice, though pleasant, sent a spike of dread into her. It sizzled through her, like electricity and she found that the paralysis that had gripped her since waking faded. She whipped around and, with a shriek, barrelled into him. Maybe he did not expect a young, respectful lady to barrel into him like a ruby player at a scrum but he was certainly delighted to be.

"Ow! Haha!" He laughed, slamming onto his back.

"Shut up!" she screamed into his grinning face. She thought she would be frightened to be face to face with him again, imagined the flood of humiliation that would make her flush and feel stupid but never this rage. She had him pinned to the ground, fist raised to give him a punch when he relaxed beneath her, smiling cheerfully. By appearances he was her age, a teenager edging into adulthood but the longer you stared at him the less likely that was. There was a horrible, giddy joyfulness in his eyes, something cruel and intelligent that was far beyond that of a boy or even an adult. He was old.

And he's mine, she thought but batted it away as she reached for the pipes in his hand. He stretched it over his head, grinning all the while as if they were playing a game. This drove her even more mad and she dug her knee into his stomach which made him jerk. She snatched the instrument and jumped to her feet and was about the throw the pipes into the sea when she felt his hand wrap around her wrist.

"I wouldn't, not if you want them to go for a swim."

She stared at him with wide eyes. "Then put them back in their beds."

"And for nothing in return?" he said and the smile on his face faded. He gazed at her seriously. "I'll send them back and this will have all been a dream...but only if you return."

Wendy stared into his eyes, shaking her head but gripped the pipes. The last time she had seen him he had sworn that he would never see her again, that she meant nothing and she had taken that devastatingly to heart.

"Why?"

"You know why," he gritted out and his hand grew tight around her arm.

This time it was her turn to smile. "But it was nonsense, that's what you said and for this once I do agree."

Something flashed in his eyes, too quick to really be sure but she thought she saw hurt. But then he smirked at her, letting her arm go. "Oh you're talking about what Tink said. I told you she was nothing but a common fairy. I was talking about Bae."

"Baelfire!" her body seemed to squeeze with feeling at the sound of his name.

"I propose a deal: you for him."

"You'll let him go?"

"Yes," he said pleasantly and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why would you do that? No one leaves Neverland."

"I let you go didn't I? He was proving to be a bore. You were much more fun," he smiled, a slow curling thing.

Wendy felt herself flushing and looked away. The girls were still standing there, their night gowns flapping and hair trailing in the breeze. Would he really send them to their ends? She looked back at him, knowing all to well his preference for mind games but knew that he was too strange to take the chance.

"I want to see them walking back to their beds. Every last one," she said firmly and offered the pan pipes back. He started to play, his eyes fixed on her as the students and teachers drifted back towards their beds. When they were left alone Wendy stared out to sea, memorising the view and inhaling the British air deeply. Soon it would all be gone.

"Remind you of anything?" He breathed into her ear and she tried not to react.

"What?"

"The sea. The first time you came to Neverland I saved your life."

Wendy stared at the waves as the horizon started to glow faintly and then lifted her eyes to the second star to the right that was almost gone. She closed her eyes tightly as he gripped her hand and pulled them over the cliff edge.

a.n: there should be a mixture of flashbacks to Wendy's time in Neverland and what's happening after this chapter. Thanks for reading!