Mrs Darling woke with a start and she instantly knew something was wrong. She ran to Aunt Millicent's room and Wendy wasn't there, she ran to the drawing room and Curly was missing, then she ran to the nursery and she found four empty beds and an open window.

"George" she screamed as she ran to the window and stuck her head out into the cold night air.

George wasn't far behind her, only he had stopped in the drawing room and pulled the three remaining boys from their beds. John and Nibs hadn't the faintest idea what all the fuss was about, Tootles was still weeping.

"Where are they John?" pleaded Mr Darling, "where did they go?"

"Sir, I haven't the faintest idea what you mean," replied John.

Mrs Darling had slumped to the floor; in her hands was Michael's quilt which she had torn from his bed in her desperate search. Tootles sat beside her and placed his hand on hers.

"They've gone back," he said, "back to Neverland."

"You offend reason sir," said John, "they have merely run away again is all, I'm sure Constable Jones will bring them back in the morning."

"No John," said Mrs Darling, "they won't come back, not this time."

She wrapped her arms around Tootles and burst into tears. John, Nibs and Mr Darling weren't sure what to do and stood awkwardly together against the wall. They weren't heartless, you must understand, but the whole situation was too dreamlike to be taken seriously. They couldn't believe that their siblings would desert them for a make-believe place without even bothering to say goodbye. But there were the empty beds, and there was the open window. They were truly gone.

Meanwhile, in the sky…

With every mile between themselves and home the boys and Wendy became happier and happier. They felt the worries and trials of the adult world lifting off their shoulders and they could smell the freedom of Neverland ahead of them once more. This time Wendy knew for sure; there was no going back.

They didn't have to worry about cannon fire with Captain Hook gone and they sailed peacefully towards the tree house which had changed drastically since their departure. Peter had been busy taking apart the pirate ship and using the parts to upgrade his home. There was now a lookout made from the crow's nest, inside he had hung more lanterns and hammocks, and he had installed a few port holes so they could keep an eye on what was going on outside.

The boys where at home instantly and set out at once to find more appropriate clothes; nightshirts were certainly not acceptable. Wendy was a little harder to please and she surveyed the tree house with scepticism, she had noticed that her little house was no longer outside and she certainly wasn't going to sleep in a hammock. But Peter had thought of everything and had built an alcove into the tree house using part of the rear of the great ship where he had fashioned a box bed for Wendy using some crates he had found on board. She was significantly impressed.

Other things had changed too; Peter had turned one of the ship's dinghies into a sailing boat by slicing up the sails of the pirate ship and chopping up the masts.

But, not everything was peaceful and perfect. Peter explained that he wasn't the only one who had been plundering the pirate ship and he suspected that the pirates who had survived the war were regrouping and rebuilding. He had a feeling they were congregated in the Black Castle under the leadership of Smee. Also the Indians were no longer their allies and hadn't been since Peter had refused to marry their princess, though she wasn't keen on it either to be perfectly honest. The fairies were uneasy because it was rumoured that the mermaids had fled their lagoon. And that boded ill for all those in Neverland. And if that wasn't enough to deal with there was still a large chunk of dark, unexplored woods, or at least, Peter couldn't remember ever having explored them.

After a few hours, or days, or weeks, it was always difficult to tell in Neverland, the boys had almost forgotten that they had left at all. Most of them had donned animal skins once more or thrown together scraps from the clothes they had left behind to make breeches. Wendy had adopted a grey wolf cub and taken over the running of the house again. She was forever darning socks and washing handkerchiefs.

Peter didn't seem to have changed in the slightest; he looked identical to how he had when they had left two years ago and he was still just as juvenile and carefree as ever.

Wendy noticed several things about Neverland that hadn't occurred to her the last time she was there. For starters, though Peter and the lost boys didn't age at all, the animals, the pirates and the Indians did; Tiger Lilly, for example, was a young lady these days. Also she had never once had a dream when sleeping in Neverland, but she figured that was because the whole place was a dream. There is no need to dream when you're asleep if you dream when you're awake.

Mrs Darling was dreaming though, sitting in her chair by the open nursery window, it was only when she was dreaming that she could see her Wendy again. It was a miracle that she had come back the first time and now there was no chance that she would ever return. Why oh why had she not boarded up that window? A million times she had told herself she should, and now it was too late, Wendy and Michael were gone and John was a grown up. At least she had Tootles, sweet Tootles who had moved into the nursery and slept with extra blankets to keep out the cold from the open window.

Mrs Darling stirred as the cold air rushed around her ankles.

"We can't both have her lady." Peter whispered though the billowing curtains as he slid the window closed. Mrs Darling woke with a start, she saw the shut window, she saw Tootles piled under a mountain of blankets and she walked out of the nursery.