Hello. This is a story I was writing for my little sister. Then I was talking with a friend and we decided to have a competition with Peter Pan stories so I published it.
I don't own anything you recognise.
Isabel Winter was perched in a tree. She was watching the forest, listening out for movement. She could hear a group of birds chattering in the trees nearby. She let out a shrill whistle, listening to the reply of a few birds. It was getting dark and the shadows were getting longer. She was more at home in the woods than anywhere. She was in her element and her only fear was that the time would have to end soon.
She leapt out a childish call of glee as she hoisted herself up onto the branch above her head. The strain on her arms was easily ignored as she pressed her feet against the higher branch. This one was thinner than her original perch and arched slightly under her small weight. Isabel didn't care. She stood up to her fell height and threw her arms open, crowing joyfully.
Then she heard laughter. She frowned and ran her eyes over the ground. It was a boy's voice, a boy who must be her age. She briefly wondered what a twelve year old would be doing in the woods so late in the day. None of the other children who lived near the woods would dare enter it as late as it was.
Then something whipped past her. It had been a mixture of green and skin colour. It had flown through the air and had been too large to be any form of animal. Isabel let out a yelp of surprise. Then a glow of yellow flew past. This was much smaller but loyally following the first projectile. It had follow closer to Isabel, so close that the light made her eyes sting. Isabel almost lost her footing. She gasped, crouching down the hope that she could correct herself. Her arms began to windmill about and she felt herself falling backwards. She gave out a yelp as she began to fall. She had never fallen at that height before and she wasn't sure if she could survive the drop.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable impact.
She never hit the ground. It took a second for Isabel to comprehend it. She frowned into the darkness of her eyelids and tried to work out what had happened. She could feel something cradling her, almost as if she had been cushioned by two branches on her way down. Slowly she opened her eyes. There was a boy's face grinning down at her. The grin was the first thing that Isabel noticed. It was full of a cheeky and childish life that Isabel couldn't help but smile at. As her eyes spread outwards from the smile, she noticed the other parts of the boy's face. He had perfect and youthful features, each one infected by the smile. The boy also had brilliant blue eyes – the most brilliant blue that Isabel had ever seen. A wipsy mop of blonde hair curled slightly around his face.
"Gravity's working." Isabel reported, joking to try and cover up how scared she had been just seconds before.
She squirmed in the boy's arms and prepared to jump free. She wasn't prepared to be treated like some form of damsel in distress.
That was when she looked at the ground to judge where she should be jumping. She saw the ground probably two metres below them and the boy's bare feet dangling in mid-air.
"You're flying!" she shrieked.
The boy smirked and drifted down until his bare feet made gentle contact with the undergrowth. As soon as Isabel made contact with the floor, she pushed away from him. He didn't move back but it gave Isabel enough distance to feel comfortable.
"You can fly." Isabel murmured. "You're a boy who can fly."
She stopped and looked over at the boy. He was standing there, frowning at her. He was dressed in clothes made of leaves, covering his form. They crisscrossed against his chest and formed a pair of shorts that ended just above his knees. There was a vine hung over his shoulder and the sheaf for a dagger hung off it. The dagger was in place and the boy's hand was near the handle as if by instinct.
"Who are you?" Isabel asked.
She took a deep breath and moved towards the boy, trying to work out how he could fly. Then a glow off to her right got her attention. Isabel turned. She gasped. There was a fairy floating in the air. She began to mutter under her breath, amazed.
The boy enjoyed her bewilderment, smiling and smirking as she scanned him and his fairy. He took off when she circled him, showing off. As soon as she began her second circuit of him, he began to spin, facing her all the time with an excited glint in his eyes.
"Who are you?" Isabel asked again.
"I'm Peter Pan." the boy said with a smile. "And that's Tink, she's my fairy."
Peter took in the girl. She had long dark hair that was slightly messed from the fall. There was a gentle, faint line of freckles forming a trail over her perfect noise. Above this ridge of freckles, two bright blue eyes shone out. The possessed a wonder that matched Peter's own and there were the signs of a born adventure creeping around her pupils. Isabel was dressed in a set of jeans and a scrappy t-shirt. Her trainers were coming apart and the treads had long ago worn away. They were Isabel's worse clothes but she felt more comfortable in them then in clothes that weren't littered in stains and had been fixed at least once.
"Who are you?" Peter asked, suddenly becoming slightly defensive.
"Isabel Winters." she answered. "And I have a lot of questions."
Peter frowned and floated up onto a low hanging branch, placing his hands on his hips. For a few seconds, Isabel believed he wasn't going to answer her questions but then his smile broke through. Given confidence by this silent approval, Isabel darted forwards, asking questions.
"How can you fly?" Isabel asked.
"Happy thoughts and pixie dust." Peter answered, flying upwards slightly.
She paused for a few moments and asked him where he was from. He answered that he was from a place called Neverland. He explained that it was a place full of pirates, adventures and sword fights.
Isabel looked at him suspiciously and walked away.
"I don't believe you." Isabel challenged. "How do I know you're not some sort of goblin boy?"
Peter screwed up his face in thought and Isabel smirked. She turned and scanned the trees for a few seconds and then she moved towards a tree.
"I'm a boy. I ran away from home and got lost in Kesington Gardens. I found myself in Neverland and I'm never going to grow up, ever!" Peter answered, his tone challenging Isabel to deny his story again.
Isabel snapped two branches from the tree and threw one to Peter. She began to snap the twigs off the branch, snapping the end so it was strong enough to survive a fight. Tinker Bell watched. She was sitting on a high up branch, watching Isabel with a frown. She wasn't sure about this new girl.
"Prove it." she challenged.
Peter grinned and began to snap the twigs from the branch.
.
It had been two months since the duo had met and joyful cries were echoing through the forest. A wooden sword clashed with another and a cheer echoed around. It was night time but Isabel had crept out of her house and had done every time there was a knocking against the window from Peter.
Their friendship was a strange one. He was a boy who could never grow up, living on a land that could have easily been mistaken for a fantasty. She was a school girl who was being told to grow up, running to the woods at every chance she got. Both lived their day times lives as if oblivious of the other, forcing the smiling face of the other from their thoughts the moment it arose. They found themselves having to remember how they would have acted two months previously and put it into their actions. Both were aware that they were changing and Isabel put it down to the sudden realisation that the world was stranger than she had ever been told. Peter had no explanation but he didn't want to search for one.
The friendship, despite its strangeness, was worth it. It was built on the best of childhood: the open-mindedness and the wonder at the world that both gave way to scepticism as the child became an adult.
"I win, again!" Peter laughed.
Isabel smiled and picked up her sword from where Peter had knocked it out of her hand.
"Oh, the cleverness of me!" Peter cheered to himself.
Isabel rolled her eyes and kept her back to Peter. Then she turned around, the swinging the sword out. It slammed into Peter's branch, which he had just raised in time. He smiled, triumphantly.
"I've told you I've fought pirates." Peter smirked.
He had told Isabel his stories and she had told him a few of his. Peter's stories were exciting and often acted out by the boy. Isabel's were slower, more description than action.
"And you told me when they caught you." Isabel smirked, lunging forwards.
Peter blocked it, knocking the sword from her grasp. Tinker Bell flicked towards them, moving between the two. Peter stopped and frowned.
"She wants us to stop." Peter said, after listening to the fairy. "She thinks you're trying to hurt me."
Isabel smirked and tells him that she is. Peter offered the girl a daredevil smile. Then Isabel stopped. She frowned and looked at Peter.
"Can you hear that?" she asked, looking around.
Peter listened out and frowned. He could hear someone calling for Isabel. He didn't like his time with her being interrupted.
"Who's that?" Peter asked.
He didn't recognise the voice. Isabel looked at Peter with a frown.
"You need to hide. Hide Tinker Bell too."
"Who is it?" Peter asked, grabbing Isabel's arm.
"She's my mother, Peter." Isabel answered.
There was a flash of understanding in Peter's eyes and he hissed to Tink to hide. Isabel made sure she knew where they had hidden.
She turned to see her mother. There was a brief pause as the matching blue eyes of mother and daughter met. Isabel felt her heart break with guilt as she saw the relief on her mother's face at the sight of her. Ms Winter rushed forwards, pulling her daughter into a hug.
"Isabel, sweetie, you had me worried sick." Ms Winter said.
She kissed Isabel on her forehead and smiled. Ms Winter was an attractive woman with caring in her blue eyes. Her face was a mask of worry.
"After what happened with your father, I was worried that I would lose you."
"Mum, you're never going to lose me." Isabel replied.
There was a brief pause and Ms Winter examined her daughter. Isabel's hair was ruffled and there were smudges of dirt from falling during the sword fights with Peter. One of Isabel's hand were still tightly clutching her branch, her fingers fixed around it as if holding a cutlass.
"What have you been doing?" Ms Winter asked, studying her daughter.
The seconds past quickly and then Isabel looked down. She managed to slip out a half truth that she had been practising sword fighting, avoiding the fact that she had been with anyone.
Happy with this answer, Ms Winter smiled. She knew how much Isabel loved her time in the woods and had often got used to her daughter disappearing to them. Now that her fears had been shown to be unfounded, she felt she could relax. She took her daughter's delicate hand and told Isabel that she had just been worried. Isabel smiled at the compassion in her smile. As Ms Winter began to head back to their house, Isabel pulled back. She glanced over her shoulder at where Peter and Tinker Bell were hiding.
"Mum, I'll come back. I just need to..."
Ms Winter looked back at her daughter and frowned. She paused and then gave her daughter an uneasy nod. Isabel offered her mother a weak smile.
"I'll catch up." Isabel promised.
Ms Winter nodded once more and moved off. Isabel waited for a few seconds before she turned to look for Peter. He landed behind her, tapping on her shoulder. Isabel jumped and turned.
"What happened to your father?" Peter asked.
Isabel frowned and said she would tell him the next time they would have more time. Peter nodded and then Isabel went darting through the forest, calling after her mother.
.
Isabel's room lingered between childhood and adulthood. There were still childish toys littering the place with hand crafted wooden swords resting against the walls. There was a pen knife on the desk and scraps of forgotten homework littered it. The signs of adulthood crept across the room in the form of adult adventure books and were piled in the corners, disguised as discarded textbooks.
Isabel collapsed upon the crumpled covers of her bed. She lay on her bed for a moment and then sat up, looking at her mother. There was a pause between them and Isabel waited for her mother to tell her about the dangers of the woods at night. Instead her mother sighed exasperated. She turned away and when Ms Winter turned back, Isabel could tell something had upset her mother.
"Your father called. He wanted to talk to you." Mrs Winter admitted.
Isabel looked away from her mother. She turned and looked out of her bedroom window. She silently watched the trees swaying in the gentle breeze and the moon light resting upon the leaves.
"I told him you were asleep." Ms Winter added.
"Good." Isabel replied sharply.
She shifted so she could face her mother but still glance freely out of the window and at the forest. It comforted her to see it.
"You don't mean that." Ms Winter said.
"I do." Isabel snapped back. "I wish he would stop calling and just leave us alone."
"He's your father." Ms Winter reminded her daughter.
She kept her tone calm and her gaze caring. She moved closer to her daughter and brought Isabel into a loose hug.
"It doesn't matter what he is." Isabel challenged into her mother's shoulder.
Her mother shook her head and pulled back so she could look into Isabel's blue eyes.
"He just wants to talk to you, to explain. You need to talk it through with him like an adult."
"I'm not an adult! I don't want to be an adult. I don't even want to be like an adult!" Isabel shouted at her mother.
She glared, seething, and watched as her mother slowly moved away. There was a silence after Ms Winter had left and, slowly, Isabel's face fell.
She never meant to hurt her mother. She cared greatly about her. Her mother however was too strong. After Isabel's father had left, Ms Winter had been heartbroken and, although she had tried to hide the tears from eight year old Isabel, the girl had known. Isabel hated the tortured look in her mother's eyes after her father made contact and wished he would just stop. Begging that the morning would allow them to forget the night, Isabel curled up in bed.
.
Isabel smiled sweetly at her mother as she left the room. It was the night after her mother had almost caught her and Peter and the events were still affecting what they did. Isabel had tried to be good that day, doing as her mother had asked first time, doing all her homework before going to the woods – anything to make her mother happy once more. Her mother had been very concerned at Isabel leaving in the middle of the night. She had locked the window to make sure Isabel couldn't get out and get into trouble.
Isabel smiled at the key that she had stolen out of her mother's pocket when she had given her a hug that night. She was expecting Peter to show up. In a way, Isabel was sure he was the only person who could cheer her up.
She pulled the covers over herself and smiled looked up at the moon, watching for the shooting star that signalled Peter's arrival.
Then a boy's smirking face appeared. Isabel smiled and slid the key into the window lock. She smiled and opened the window, letting Peter slip into her room. She grinned at him and let Tinker Bell in.
"Hello, Peter." she smiled. "Have you got up to much?" Isabel asked.
Peter grinned. He produced his knife, beginning to renact a battle between him and Hook. Isabel had heard all of the stories that Peter had to tell but they never got dull. She watched as he sliced invisible pirates with his dagger and kicked out at imaginary threats.
"And then, just when I thought it was the end for Tootles, there was a ticking noise. The look on Hook's face!"
"Have you ever used it as a trap?" Isabel asked. "The ticking noise?"
"How would you do it?" Peter questioned.
Isabel paused and moved forwards. She grinned.
"Well, get a clock, get some sort of cone and make it loud enough for Captain Hook to hear it." Isabel said.
"Girls are so much cleverer than boys. None of my Lost Boys would have come up with that." Peter smiled.
Isabel blushed. Peter grinned and turned towards the window, looking out at the woods that were opposite Isabel's house.
.
Peter smiled as Isabel pressed the tip of her make shift sword against his neck. He was impressed by her skills.
"One day, you must join me when I fight Hook." Peter grinned. "Hook's mine but I'll let you take out a few of the other pirates."
Isabel rolled her eyes, letting her sword drop.
"Dropped your guard." Peter teased, swinging the sword down so it tapped Isabel in the stomach.
She laughed and pretended to be stabbed, falling to the ground. Peter let out a pure youthful laugh. Tinker Bell was sitting on a branch nearby, watching the two of them unimpressed. She wasn't enjoying Peter's constant trips to meet up with Isabel.
Isabel got to her feet as Tinker Bell flew down. The fairy had had an idea and rushed to whisper into Peter's ear.
"What's she saying?" Isabel asked, knowing that only Peter knew how to fully understand Tinker Bell and the other fairies.
"She says that me and her should go, that your mother might be coming soon." Peter said, his face screwed up with a slight disappointment.
Isabel faltered, looking down at the undergrowth below her feet. Her feet were bare and for the tiniest of moments, Isabel found herself wondering if she should keep leaving her room in the middle of the night and returning with cut and scratched feet. When she looked up and her blue eyed fixed on Peter, she knew she wasn't masking her own disappointment. In that second, it was clear to her that she wasn't ever going to stop adventuring out with bare feet.
"So, will you be going?" Isabel inquired, slowly, letting her branch sword drop.
"I don't care about any mother." Peter said.
He rested his hands on his hips and moulded his features into a look of conviction. Isabel saw through it in a second but she made no comment.
"And if your mother catches me, I'll just fly off. I've never met a mother who can fly." Peter stated.
Isabel smiled at Peter but rolled her eyes at him. She considered lunging at him with her sword, sparking a new leg to their duel but was stopped when she noticed a change come over Peter.
"What happened to your father?" Peter asked.
"What?"
"Your mother said 'after what happened to your father' and... She didn't explain. I can't ask the lady to tell me, can I? Was he killed?"
Isabel took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. She looked down at her hands and began to let the words slip from her mouth. She told Peter that he wasn't around any more – that her father had left and started another family. She explained that, somewhere, she had a duo of half brothers who must have been only three.
"I don't see my father any more. He left when I was eight. He calls sometimes but I'm always in the woods."
"Why?" Peter asked. "Why were you always in the woods?"
He could think of plenty of reasons to go into the woods. Woods were wonderful and mysterious places full of adventure. Peter loved spending time in the woods and thought that one of the greatest pleasures of his existence in Neverland was that he was able to live freely in a wood.
"I was hiding. After my dad left, the world, the grown up world became so clear and I wasn't even an adult and it..."
"It hurt?"
"It terrified me. I couldn't get how mum could be like that. How she could be so calm and strong and... She looked after me even as the man she married walked out of her life." Isabel said.
There was a brief silence between them. Isabel looked down and Peter stayed silent. There was understanding in his blue eyes and that said more than any words would ever say. He didn't make contact with her, letting Isabel look up when the time was right.
"Are you hiding from...?" Isabel began but Peter interrupted her.
"Tell me about your parents. Tell me what happened." Peter asked, looking away for a brief moment.
When he looked back, he offered Isabel an encouraging smile.
"I like stories. Tell me the story of your parents." he said.
Isabel paused, shaking her head for a moment. Then she found herself nodding. She felt the story forming in her head, the actions becoming the childhood adventures that she knew Peter could understand. She offered Peter a sole and single nod and his smile deepened. He flew backwards and sat upon a low hanging branch. Isabel stood on the ground, smiling up at the boy.
Tinker Bell flicked around, annoyed. She wanted Peter's attention to be on her, not the girl in front of him. She smiled at the long pause, expecting for Isabel to feel unable to tell the story. The moment passed when Isabel offered her the knowing smile of a story teller and began to weave an adventure out of a life that Peter had left behind long ago.
"Well, my mother was a thief and, when she met my father, she stole something very precious from him."
"What was that?" Peter asked.
There was a strange confidence filling Isabel know, spurred on by the excited encouragement that lurked in Peter's voice. She no longer felt as if it was the painful story of her father walking out on them. She saw it as one of her adventures, a tale that matched one of Peter's in every way.
Isabel looked at him and rolled her eyes, savouring the look of confusion on his features. Instead of explaining, she continued with her story. Peter looked at her defeated but listened to the tale.
"Soon her having it became too much for him. He asked for it back and she loved him enough to return it to him." Isabel said, a sad look swelling in her eyes. "Then he gave it to someone else."
She took a deep breath, looking away from her friend. Her eyes wandered over the branch Peter was perched upon. She floating the twisting pattern of the branch until a question from Peter brought her gaze darting back to him.
"But what did she steal?" Peter asked.
"His heart." Isabel answered. "She stole his heart."
Peter parroted it back incredulously before leaning forwards, boyish enthusiasm in his eyes.
"Did it hurt? Did she cut it out of him with a dagger? Did he tell you what it felt like?"
Isabel remembered back to a conversation with her father. He had told he what love was like.
"Well, you spend all your time thinking of that person and it almost hurts to be apart from them. But when you're with them your heart starts racing and you go weak at the knees and you can't always get your words right."
Peter frowned. He studied Isabel, moving towards her. His eyes examined her, trying to answer his question before he had asked it.
"Are you a thief like your mother?" Peter asked. "Can you steal hearts?"
"I don't know." Isabel said with a sly and playful smile. "Even if I was, do you really think I would tell you?"
She let out a small laugh at the suspicion on Peter's face. He fell silent for a few moments and then flew over, landing beside Isabel. He faltered for a second before speaking.
"How do you steal someone's heart?" he asked, searching Isabel for a weapon.
He made her lift her arms so he could search better. He couldn't find anything that might allow the girl to steal anyone's heart. He did his with one hand resting on his own dagger, not going to let her steal it.
"Through a person's eyes." Isabel answered, her smile spreading into her own blue eyes.
Peter looked quickly away, his back facing Isabel. He didn't understand how it worked but he wasn't going to risk it.
"How does it fit?" Peter asked, his eyes set on the trees around them.
He curled his hand into a fist and told Isabel that he had seen a heart. He said that a heart must be that size and that it couldn't fit through an eye.
"I don't know. I think it might escape through the eyes in small bits as the feelings grow." Isabel said with a shrug.
Internally she was smirking. She was enjoying this new game. Peter liked playing tricks on her and she felt a small satisfaction at the fact that she held a few of the cards.
"And it can't kill, right?" Peter inquired.
He went to look back and then stopped himself. He pretended he was searching the trees for Tink's glow. Tinker Bell was clearly in the trees. Her glow was slightly red, suggesting something was making her annoyed.
"Well, it's said people can die of a broken heart." Isabel teased.
Peter's eyes widened. He looked at Isabel and she burst out laughing, clearly enjoying the situation a lot more than her friend. Peter managed a weak smile and then found himself smiling properly.
"How do you break a heart?" Peter asked, interested.
Isabel shrugged playfully, smirking. She told Peter that she didn't know and waited for Peter to challenge her on it. He didn't. He was staring at the ground.
When he looked up at her, his eyes were wide with excitement. It was contagious as Isabel soon found herself grinning madly.
"You must be like your mother! You could get her to teach you how to steal and then you could teach me and the Lost Boys!" Peter rushed, beaming at his own plan.
"Would I get to go to Neverland?" Isabel asked.
Peter paused, looking reluctant. Then a smile crept across his face. His eyes lit up with an adventurous glow and he gave Isabel a single nod.
Tinker Bell gasped from where she was perched. She couldn't think of a more horrible thing than Isabel in Neverland. Then Tinker Bell realised something with a dark glee – Isabel had been talking about love. Neither Isabel, nor her mother, knew how to steal and it meant Isabel could never learn.
"Learn." Peter said. "I'll be waiting. I must go and tell the Lost Boys about what you are going to teach us!"
Then Peter took off. Tinker Bell blew a raspberry in Isabel's direction and then followed the wonderful boy across the sky.
.
"And I've been teaching her how to sword fight and she has all these great plans about fighting Captain Hook and..." Peter rushed to the audience of the Lost Boys.
They had never heard about this Isabel Winter but it answered their questions about where Peter had been going almost every night. Slightly was interested in the stories Peter had of Isabel, stating that he knew all about the subjects that Isabel talked about. Tootles asked about how good Isabel was at stealing and Tinker Bell noted some exaggeration in what he said. Isabel had stolen Peter's knife a handful of times but none of them had been as daring as Peter made out.
"When will you bring her here, Peter?" Curly asked.
The twins looked at Peter with matching looks of expectation and the other boys leant forwards to the small degree, silently urging Peter to have set the date soon. Peter leapt upon his throne in the centre of the room, one foot on the seat and another on the arm rest. He shot a proud smirk around the underground hideout before continuing.
"As soon as she's ready and then she'll teach us to steal and we'll rob the pirates." Peter said, the energy in his voice exciting a cheer from the others.
The boys began to rush around, preparing the hideout for Isabel's arrival. Peter dropped down and sat upon his throne, one leg thrown over the arm rest. He watched the boys working and reached for his panpipes.
As he began to play, he thought of Isabel and a smile flooded his face.
.
The next day had come and a boy was flying through the sky at great speed. Peter rarely left Neverland during the day but he could no longer stop himself. He flew into the woods to find Isabel. When he heard her voice, he darted towards her. He had to stop himself before he slammed into her.
She was playing with a wood sword, demonstrating the stances Peter had taught her in their playful fights. Her student was a little boy who must have been only half her age. He was taking it in well, mirroring Isabel's movements.
"Keep the point up." Isabel said, using the tip of her own branch to correct the angle of his.
Peter watched from the trees, smiling slightly. Isabel caught sight of Tinker Bell's glow and her eyes fixed on Peter. She smiled up at him and Peter felt his heart begin to race. He gasped and tried to glare at Isabel but he couldn't make his features go cold.
"Johnny, go and see if you can find a willow branch so you can make a bow?" Isabel said.
Johnny gave a small laugh and raced off. Isabel turned to watch the little boy run off and smiled.
When Isabel's eyes returned to where Peter had been, she frowned at the fact he was missing. He had ducked into hiding behind the tree he was near. He wasn't sure what he was meant to say to her.
"What's wrong?" Isabel asked, watching as Peter landed behind her. "You're early. You've never been this early."
"Yes, Peter, what's wrong?" Tink snapped in Fairy, hanging by his ear.
She crossed her arms, flying around Peter's head. Peter went to bat her away so she flew off a small distance.
"The Lost Boys were being annoying and I was bored." Peter lied, only just managing to hide his blush.
Peter looked away, not letting his eyes meet Isabel's. He was sure that she was stealing his heart. He had already felt one of the symptoms – his heart was racing. He stayed however, half drawn to Isabel and the other half to the danger that she promised.
"So you came to talk to me." Isabel teased, circling Peter so she could look into his eyes.
Peter found himself smiling, almost forgetting to look away. Isabel continued to dance around Peter, moving silently. With each turn he made, Peter found his smile growing at the new game. He gave a small laugh, lifting slightly off the floor. Isabel smiled, grinning at the clear show of happiness.
Then their eyes met for a few seconds. Isabel's eyes were bright with joy and Peter's shone with his wonderful sense of adventure. Peter landed, moving closer to Isabel. Then he went weak at the knees.
Peter gasped and looked away. He found his eyes settling on Tink and silently begged her for help. The fairy shifted uncomfortably and then fixed her eyes on Isabel. She glared at the girl, turning slightly red.
Peter's face turned a gentle shade of red. He wanted to fly away but he didn't want to leave.
"I need to... I, um... have to go." Peter stumbled over his words.
His cheeks began to burn. He noticed Tinker Bell's red glow and shifted nervously. Isabel was stealing his heart and he was letting her. He had fought pirates. She wasn't even armed; yet Peter was helpless.
He shook his head at Isabel, trying to make it harder for her to look at his eyes.
"But you only just got here!" Isabel protested, moving forwards.
Peter took off and hung in the air. He looked down at Isabel and then over at Tink. There was a pause as the wonderful boy waited for his fairy to join him.
"Keep safe, Peter." Isabel called at him.
Peter didn't look back or reply. Isabel watched as he flew off with with his fairy. He disappeared into the trees and Isabel felt slightly hurt. She sighed sadly then turned to go and find Johnny.
From his hiding place in the trees, Peter watched her go. He wanted to go and talk to her again but held back.
"She's stolen it, Tink." Peter murmured, watching as Isabel moved through the trees. "She's stolen my heart."
.
"She's stolen it. It had to be her. No one else could have done it, Slightly!" Peter growled, pacing the den.
He looked over at Slightly. Slightly was watching Peter, not completely aware of what had caused this rant. Peter had returned like it and sent the rest of the Lost Boys away. Tink seemed just as agitated. She was glowing red, flicking through the air around Peter.
"What did she steal, Peter?" Slightly asked.
Peter stopped pacing. He blushed, looking straight at Slightly. Then he looked away.
"It doesn't matter!" Peter snapped. "She's stolen it and I need it back."
"Well, we'll just treat her like any other thief." Slightly answered. "Treat her like when we're dealing with the pirates."
Peter's face paled. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Tinker Bell was smiling at the idea. They dealt with thieves very viciously on Neverland. He knew he couldn't be able to face either the Lost Boys or Isabel again if the boys had punished her. He didn't care that she had stolen his heart. He wasn't going to let them hurt her.
"No!" Peter shouted.
Slightly frowned at the outburst. He began to stay something but Peter interrupted.
"We need to make her tell me where she's hidden it and give it back. If we hurt her or kill her then she won't tell us." Peter rushed out. "I'll have to bring her back here and you and the other Lost Boys will need to make a cage to keep her in."
Slightly nodded. He waited for another order from Peter but Pan had nothing more to say. Slightly leapt up and scurried off to find the other boys. Peter turned to Tinker Bell.
"Do you know where girls put the hearts they steal?" Peter asked.
Tinker Bell landed near him. He looked at her and noticed she was smiling.
"You know, don't you? Girls are clever, Tink, and so are thieves. It's going to be a real struggle for me to find my heart and we need her alive so she can tell me how to put it back inside me."
Tinker Bell waited until Peter moved away before she rolled her eyes. She flew over to him as he left the den.
.
Ms Winter was sitting in the lounge of the house. She was watching the television, happy in the knowledge that Isabel was sleeping soundly upstairs. She had gone and checked on her only minutes before. Isabel had been asleep in bed, curled up around a book on famous robberies. Ms Winter had pulled the covers up around her only child and worked the book free from her daughter's grasp. She had noticed that the key to the window had been on the windowsil but had ignored it, knowing that her daughter wasn't going to go adventuring while she was sleeping.
The television fell silent for a few second as the adverts began to play. She was watching the repeat of a comedy show and, if the sound had come only a few seconds before, it would have been drowned out by laughter.
However, the smashing of an upstairs window sounded at a silent beat. Ms Winter frowned, almost believing she had imagined the noise. Then were was a creaking on the floor above and the sound of movement. The room above hers was Isabel's and Ms Winter saw no harm in checking on her daughter for a final time that night.
She moved out of the lounge and slowly began to climb to stairs. She heard a whispering from Isabel's room, too quiet for her to make out the words. The sound made her heart race. She froze on the stairs and noticed a small glow was coming from her daughter's room.
Then the whispers stopped and the creaking finished.
Ms Winter managed to regain her scenes and raced up the stairs. She pushed open the door to Isabel's window and checked the bed.
Empty.
The window was smashed and the key was missing from its place on the windowsil. Ms Winter felt tears forming in her eyes. Her daughter was gone.
She tried to move towards the window but the floor was covered with splinters of glass. She stared out at the night sky and then looked down on top the street, searching desperately for her daughter.
Then she noticed that there was a rock on the carpet. It was clearly what had been thrown through to smash the window. The rock was the size of a fist and was a strange shade of white in the star light.
Only, Ms Winter realised as her heart stopped, the white was from a scrap of paper tied around the rock, not from the rock itself.
She knelt down, carefully picking up the rock. She untied the loose knot and laid the paper out in her hand.
'She stole from me, lady.' the note said.
Scribbled in the bottom corner, almost taunting the distraught mother, were the initials 'PP'.