"Meggie, wwwwhat you are saying..." Darius hesitated as he squeezed himself through two pillars of yellowed books. "what you're saying is im...impossible."
Meggie took a deep breath. She knew she was troubling Darius whenever his stammer would sneak itself out and tie his tongue into a sharp knot. He would be no good to her if he couldn't speak properly.
"Darius, calm yourself. You're stuttering again."
"S..sorry Meg...Meggie." He halted in the corridor for a moment to remove his wire-rimmed spectacles.
He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose tightly, humming gently to himself to relax.
Resa had taught him this method in order to calm himself during times of stress. Several times a day, Meggie would see him standing in various rooms of the house, completely still, murmuring to himself and rubbing his forehead in meditation.
"Meggie," he began again, replacing his glasses, "If you, me or Mo didn't read her out of the book, then who did?"
Meggie laced her fingers around the door handle leading into her bedroom and carefully pushed it open.
"That's exactly what we're going to try to ask her."
Meggie and Darius searched around the room carefully, tiptoeing in case the little fairy happened to be underfoot. They shook out several pairs of Meggie's shoes and looked in every drawer to make sure she hadn't gotten herself stuck.
"I...I don't see her anywhere, Meggie." Darius mumbled, scratching the back of his head.
"Are you sure she was Tinkerbell and not just a fairy from the garden?"
Meggie nodded her head vigorously and continued moving items from under the bed.
"I'm positive. She even responded to the name."
With a heavy sigh, Meggie gave up searching and plopped down onto the bed angrily.
"I could have sworn I saw her." she whispered, resting her hand on her sore scalp.
At that moment, a brilliant green light shot out of an unnoticed hole near the doorframe and landed, once more, on the fireplace mantle, tinkling to itself loudly.
Without a word, Darius stumbled over to the excited fairy and slowly held out his hand.
Tinkerbell had extracted a tiny comb from the satchel dangling from her belt and had begun to delicately comb her hair. She glanced up at Darius for only a moment before turning back around again.
He let out a stifled laugh.
"Why, it is her! I'd recognize that amiability anywhere."
Meggie shot up from her bed and walked over to Darius and the little fairy.
"So how did she get here?" she asked hurriedly, peering over Darius' shoulder to get a better look at her.
"I don't know." he returned once more reaching out his hand.
Seeing Darius' enormous fingers out of the corner of her eye, Tinkerbell shot around quickly and poked him hard in the thumb with the teeth on her comb.
"Ouch!"
Meggie let out a giggle and Tinkerbell went back to her grooming.
"Well, why don't you ask her some questions?" Darius asked, sticking his thumb into his mouth.
Meggie kept her eyes positioned on the pixie as she placed her comb back into her bag and began walking further down the mantle.
"Oh, it wouldn't make much of a difference. I can't speak fairy. If only Peter were here."
The instant Meggie uttered the name, Tinkerbell shot back in front of her, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"What? Peter?"
The pixie nodded hurriedly, accidently lifting herself up into the air.
"Do you know where Peter is, Tink?" Meggie asked slowly, placing her hand up underneath the fairy.
Tinkerbell landed in the palm of Meggie's hand and marched around in a circle with her hand up over her eyes, as if she were searching for something.
"She's looking for Peter." Meggie said to Darius.
Meggie hurried over to the bookcase and grabbed ahold of her copy of 'Peter Pan'.
She flipped through the worn pages until she reached the picture she was looking for.
Meggie set down the book as Tinkerbell traced the ink lines of Peter's face with her fingers carefully.
She knew the face perfectly, each contour and laugh line, with more detail than the book could ever give.
"How did you get here?" Meggie whispered to the fairy, but all of her concentration remained on the illustration of her best friend.
"I just don't understand it." said Darius, reaching his hands into his pockets.
"She's oblivious as to what happened."
He looked over at Meggie but her eyes were no longer positioned on the small fairy but on the ceiling directly overhead.
"Meggie, what is it?" he began, his eyes shooting back and forth from her to the ceiling.
"Shhh!" she spat, raising her finger to her mouth. "Don't you hear it?"
After a few moments of silence, Darius could hear something and began to shuffle over to where Meggie sat.
"I...ttthink I should get Mo."
"No! Wait. Listen."
It began softly. A far off thundering sound, almost like waves crashing against a rock. The smell of water again, just like when she had been reading 'Treasure Island.' But these were two different smells.
The smell of the sea in 'Treasure Island' had been sharp and salty. This new aroma was something she had never smelled before. The smell of salt, and then a sweetness like a flower. And then another, a burst of vanilla.
The crashing was getting louder, and soon Meggie could also hear the distant sound of pipes echoing.
It had attracted the attention of Tinkerbell as well and she searched around the room excitedly.
Soon, a cacophony of sounds blazed around Meggie's ears.
The caw of a bird, the beating of drums, several shrieks of children's laughter, the ticking of a clock.
A sudden wind had picked up, causing Meggie to lose her balance. She hobbled over to her bedpost and grabbed a tight hold. Darius was soon behind her, and grabbed onto the post as well.
The wind continued until Meggie's cheeks began to sting.
"LOOK!" Darius shouted, pointing to a corner of her room.
Meggie turned her head against the wind and spotted a small wigwam holding itself up steadily.
She continued searching around her room and through the gale could make out several items that had not been there earlier, including a few rusted pots and pans, an umbrella, a small sword and a pirate flag.
Suddenly, a huge lump broke through the ceiling and dropped down hard onto Meggie's bed.
As soon as it hit the bed, the wind stopped and everything became instantly quiet again.
Both afraid to move, Darius and Meggie remained where they were, attached to the bed.
Then, after a minute or two, Meggie slowly untangled her fingers from each other and walked over to the lump that had plummeted into her bed sheets.
"What is it?" Darius whispered, his knees knocking together.
Meggie let out a small gasp as she glanced down at the lump.
"It's a girl."
"What kind of a gggirl?"
Meggie's eyes shot up at Darius with a look of derision. "A girl girl, Darius."
After a moment, the girl began to move slowly and then finally pricked her head up.
Soft brown hair tumbled delicately over faint pink cheeks and sharp blue eyes stared back in a stunned glare. The girl was dressed only in a light blue cotton nightgown and a neat little bow in her hair.
Meggie looked down upon her arms wide-eyed.
They were covered in an ink-black script, reaching from her wrists to her elbow and other random spots.
Hurriedly, Meggie read some of the words printed across the girl's pale white skin.
"There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window."
"Peter Pan." Meggie whispered.
Then, the girl shot up and bounded out of the tangled sheets, grabbing a quick hold on the small sword Meggie had seen earlier.
Both Meggie and Darius instantly raised their hands in surrender while the girl straightened out her nightdress and tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.
"Who are you?" the girl questioned, darting the sword from person to person.
"I'm Meggie Folchart and this is Darius."
Darius gave a swift wave before thrusting his hands back up into the air.
"Where am I?" the girl chirped, switching the sword into her other hand. She couldn't have been more than Meggie's age and a steel blade like that would weigh quite a bit.
"You're in my bedroom."
The girl seemed pleased enough with this simple answer and began to look around the room.
Meggie slowly lowered her hands and asked the girl a question.
"What is your name?"
As if a switch had been flipped, the girl lowered the sword and curtsied low.
"My name is Wendy Moira Angela Darling."
