"I'll come back in a year for you. You need a future."

She could still see the tears, slipping down his tanned cheeks, bouncing off the collar of his leather jacket. " You'll always be my sister Col!"

It hurt her to see the tears gleaming, forming, racing, dripping. It hurt her to say it.

"I don't have anyone any more."

" I love you Col. I'll always love you!"

And she was drowning, drowning in a pool of his and her tears, Nigel pushing her head down down down into the icy water. Conner was walking away, hands in his pockets.

"Conner I'm sorry," she spluttered. "I didn't mean it. I 'm so sorry…..so sorry..so..."

"I think she's waking up!"

Do not wake up. Don't wake up if you want to relive the nightmare.

" Ra Ra Ra!"

" Ssshh! Stop that!"

Strange Voices. She stirred, eyes still shut, sweeping the hair from her face, and clutching at the soft fur beneath her.

"Hey guys stop manhandling her! From what Peter says she been through a lot. Poor little thing."

Slowly, very slowly, her eyes opened, staring at the low domed ceiling. There was a little yellow fish swaying gently above her, opening and shuting it's mouth and staring at her with wide eyes. She sat up, then her eyes widened at the sight of the six wary eyed strangers around her. She gave a little gasp and scrabbled backwards, as far as should away from them, hands grabbing fur, silk, knobbly wood. Her head hit something hard and she winced as a fiery pain hit her in the back of the head.

"Ooo! Take it easy!" Two strong hands pulled her upright. " Don't hurt yourself."

This had to be a dream. Colette bowed her head, blinking hard. Wake up! This is all a dream.

She pinched her arm, and winced at the pain. Finally, she raised her head and stared at the faces around her. "Peter…" she murmured.

"Peter isn't here lovie." Said a silvery haired girl to her left.

"Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious! We're the Lost Boys!" said a tall, boy with dreds, spreading his thick muscled arms. His teeth and brown eyes were the only thing visible, he was so black.

The silvery haired girl coughed conspicuously, then stared pointedly at the dark skinned boy, tucking her hair behind one ear.

"How like a boy!" The girl next to the silver haired one spat in a funny half cockney half foreign accent, throwing an arm around the silver haired girl, and flicking her long raven locks over her shoulder. "How could you forget us? Birch and me, we're not boys!"

"Calm down Liana! We haven't forgotten you." A curly haired boy replied.

Colette studied the room. She was in a small cosy feeling room, with earthen walls, smoothed and covered with vines and leaves. Above her was a small window; in fact it was more like a porthole. The frame was made of hollow bamboo reeds, and outside the window she could see a fish and –wait a minute! A fish? She blinked hard and looked up again, but no, there was a little yellow fish outside, gasping and blowing bubbles, surveying her once again with it's wide eyes. Watery sunlight shone through the window onto the bed, which looked like it was attached to the wall of the room. Spindly tree roots made up the headboard, twisted into Celtic knots, and the legs of the bed looked like they'd grown straight out of the ground. The two girls and the boy were arguing in a corner, the curly haired boy sat on the edge of the bed, picking his nails with a small knife, one ankle resting on his knee. Behind them, she could see that the ceiling got higher, resulting in a little arch, lianas creeping around it, blossoming large yellow flowers. There was a little balcony, guarded by a large wicker railing. Standing besides the railing looking out was another boy, arms folded, long black shiny hair blowing in an unseen wind, over his face, his bare slim chest. At this point, he turned to look at Colette. A strand of hair fluttered over the scars on his left cheek, what looked like a "u" with a long straight line under it. His brown eyes locked with Colette's.

"Hello!" Said a small voice on Colette's right, breaking her concentration. The boy turned away, leaning back over the railing. She looked down. A small freckly boy of about eight was tugging her sleeve. " Hello!" he said again, beaming wildly, his green eyes twinkling mischievously. "I'm Loki. What's your name?"

"I'm Colette." She said smiling. And as her name passed over her lips, every memory of the night before came flooding back. Her father, her mother in hospital,

the adoption papers,

Peter.

Conner.

Her dream came back to her. How could she have been so mean? Furiously she wiped her eyes. Why couldn't she stop shuddering? The girls had stopped arguing now. They were all staring at her. She drew her knees up to her chest and lowered her head, her small body racking with sobs.

"Aw no, bella! Don't cry!" Liana pulled her into a warm embrace. Colette rested her head on her tanned shoulder. She smelt of Lavenders.

"Liana! Don't go all motherly now. Maybe we should give her a bit of space."

Liana glanced wearily at the others, then turned back, lifting Colette's head with her shoulder. "Will you be alright bella? What's wrong?" she said gently, her tanned face smiling, her stormy grey eyes concerned.

" Nothing." Colette decided at that moment not to tell the others what had happened. "I'll be ok."

"You sure bella ?"

Colette nodded.

"Ok." Liana let go slowly, brushing Colette's wet hair off her cheek. She turned to the others.

"All right, guys!" The black boy clapped his hands, eagerly. Let's go find that Leprechaun's treasure. Willow thinks he's found it."

"Yeah!"

Chattering happily, they all jogged up to the wicker fence, Loki bouncing up and down excitedly, and pitched themselves off suddenly. Colette thought they were mad. She leapt out of the bed and ran over to the fence, to see Loki somersaulting down to the fuzzy mossy ground. Beyond the wicker fence was a massive domed hall, big as a football pitch. Tree roots emerged from the ceiling supporting the smooth walls. There were little nooks and crannies everywhere, tunnels leading off in different directions. All around, there were little balconies just like the one she was standing on. Obviously, they were the entrances to the others bedrooms. A large wide tree grew in the centre of the hall, spreading out it's leaves over the hall, sunlight streaming through. And in the walls, there were little pockmarks, like holes in a sponge. Colette looked around in awe.

This was defiantly the underground home.

" There're faerie holes." A hoarse voice said behind her. Colette jumped. The long haired boy from before was standing beside her, looking across the hall.She had forgotten he was still there.

"Sorry?"

"The holes in the walls. They're faerie holes. Where the faeries live."

"Oh. Which one is Tinkerbelle's? "Colette asked, face brightening, remembering her favourite tale.

The boy turned to her, eyes confused. His handsome face was long and smooth, except for the u and stripe under his eye, carved into his high cheekbones. "Tinkerbelle?" he asked, shaking his head.

"Tinker belle. Peter's faerie."

" Tinker belle." He turned away, thinking. " There probably was a Tinkerbelle once. But now there are such a lot of faeries. I expect she is no more. Faeries don't live long."

"Oh."

Silence.

" Are you better now?" The boy asked.

"Oh yes, thank you." Colette forced a smile.

"You must be special." The boy said thoughtfully, pushing his wavy hair over his shoulder. "Peter doesn't bring just anyone here. He brought you here for a reason."

Colette looked down, pondering.

The boy shrugged. "Hey," He said. "If you need me, I'll be down there." He pointed to the hall, swung himself one handed, over the railing and jumped, floating softly to the ground.

"Wait!" Colette shouted down, to his retreating back. "I don't know your name."

He frowned for a moment, then grinned.

"My name," He shouted back. "Is Laurel."