Present day…

Tigerlily felt like she was drifting in the open sea, buoyed by roiling waves that threw her high into the cold air and dropped her sickeningly back into the depths. Everything hurt, especially her stomach—it was like someone kept stabbing her over and over, deeper and deeper. Chills wracked her body, making her shake uncontrollably. Even her teeth chattered.

Colors swirled in front of her eyes, but she couldn't focus enough to distinguish shapes or faces. She could hear worried voices but was only able to understand patches of words. She felt tired—so tired. All she wanted to do was sink back into oblivion.

She heard Peter's voice, high, quivering, pleading: "Please! Can't you… I'll do… my fault…"

Suddenly bells jingled, seemingly all around her. She thought she recognized those too, but she couldn't place them either.

She tried to form words, but no sound came out on the first try. She tried again, managing to croak out, "Peter?"

Peter was at her side instantly, clutching her hand in both of his. "Don't worry, Tigerlily," he assured her. "You'll be all right. They'll make you all right."

His face started coming into focus, but she had to squint against the bright light that framed him like a halo. With awful effort, she forced out more words. "Where… are… we?"

"We're with the fairies," Peter explained. "I brought you here. They'll fix you."

Now she was starting to recognize the bells. Fairies.

Peter turned back to the fairies. "Right? You'll fix her? You can fix her?" His voice was choked with desperate tears.

More bells. Tigerlily tried to understand; she should have been able to understand. Again, she only caught snatches: "Can't… both… trade…"

"Yes, I understand!" Peter cried impatiently. "Just do it!"

Something wasn't right. Tigerlily reached out a weak hand. "Peter… wait…" She tried to sit up but the pain was too great, and she collapsed back onto her back.

Peter was back at her side instantly, pulling her up with remarkable gentleness to lean against him. "Don't," he said. "It's okay."

The light suddenly glowed even brighter than before, enveloping Tigerlily and Peter in its white blaze. Tigerlily felt a fizzling warmth wash over her, surprisingly soothing, which slowly but surely began to replace the pain. Her entire body relaxed; the chills were gone, and in their place was a wonderful, pleasant lightness. She vaguely felt Peter shudder next to her, but she hardly noticed as her mind drifted peacefully through a happy haze that filled her to the core.

As suddenly as the feeling had come, it faded away, and Tigerlily felt her body return to its normal self—or almost. She seemed to hum with a new energy. The light died back down to its former brightness, as Tigerlily's head cleared and she was able to distinguish fairies flitting around them anxiously. She turned to Peter, only then noticing that the both of them were covered in a fine layer of glimmering pixie dust.

"Peter?" she asked. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Tears filled Peter's eyes as he flung his arms around her neck. "You're all right! You're all right!" He buried his face in her hair, which muffled his words, but she could still make out, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!"

She didn't understand what he meant, why he was apologizing… why they were even there. "What happened?"

One of the fairies dropped down in front of her, and she automatically held out a hand for it to land. It was a female, a lovely one that looked like she could be related to Tinkerbell. Tinkling bells pealed around her, and Tigerlily's mind was finally sharp enough to translate again: "Your highness, I'm Aurora. I'm afraid you were poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Tigerlily repeated dumbly.

"I'm sorry!" Peter wailed again, and a new dread began to well up inside her.

"How?"

"You accidentally ate some Lover's Spite berries," Aurora explained.

Tigerlily's mind labored to make the connection. Lover's Spite berries? When had she ever touched those? Everyone in the tribe knew to avoid the highly poisonous berries, the ones with the bright sour taste… bright sour taste… sour taste…

The initiation meal.

Her mind flashed back to that evening, when she had eaten Peter's meal, too angry at James to notice the sour taste that spiked through the main dish. Cold horror seeped through her as she finally understood, and she automatically looked over at Peter—Peter, who met her gaze with eyes filled with such awful sorrow, such agonized guilt.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"It's all right," Tigerlily replied without thinking. "I'm all right." She turned back to Aurora. "Thank you."

"Our power is great, but such healing comes at a great cost," Aurora said solemnly. "We cannot give life back where there is none; there must always be a trade."

"I don't understand," Tigerlily protested. "I'm… I'm all right. I feel fine. What do you want from me now? I'll give you anything I have."

"We ask nothing from you," Aurora replied. "It has already been given…" She gestured towards Peter. "…by him."

"What do you mean?" Tigerlily asked. She twisted to look at Peter. "Peter, what does she mean? What did you do?"

"It's okay, Tigerlily," Peter reassured her, trying to grin but coming up a little short. "It wasn't that big of a trade anyway."

"What did you take?" Tigerlily demanded, panic starting to bubble up inside her. They couldn't take Peter! They couldn't!

"Do not fear, Princess," Aurora reassured her. "The question you leave unasked was never even a consideration. Peter is one of us, even if only half of a fairy's blood runs through is veins. He is immortal. We can't take that away, and we never would if it were possible. He will live forever, unless he is cut short by an outside source, just as it is for all of us."

Overwhelming relief flooded through Tigerlily, but the question still remained. "Then what…?"

"With Peter, we could not trade a life for a life, but we could trade a future for a future."

"I don't understand."

"Peter will live forever, but he will never grow up," Aurora explained gently. "He has traded his future for yours. As you see him is how he will remain—forever."

"See, Tigerlily?" Peter spoke up, his voice full of forced cheer. "It wasn't a big trade at all. I… I didn't even want to grow up. It's too much of a hassle. Now I get to stay a kid forever! Really… the fairies did me a favor..." He looked into her eyes, begging her to agree. "Really."

Tigerlily forced back the urge to wail. Her Peter, her sweet, precious Peter, would never grow up, would never fall in love, would never have a family… He would be frozen in time, suspended in limbo for all eternity. She was only glad that he was too young to realize what a hell he had agreed to. She prayed he never did.

Instead, she put on a brave front. "Peter, thank you. You're the bravest boy I've ever met."

"Don't," Peter pleaded, shaking his head. "I had to. I just wish I could have…" He bit his lip, stopping himself, as a new pain blossomed in his eyes.

"What?" Tigerlily asked. His expression pricked at her consciousness, offering a half-asked question that her mind had until now shied away from. But there was still something missing, some piece of the puzzle that didn't fit… She thought back to what Aurora had said: There must always be a trade… a future for a future. Slowly, she started to make the connection: one future for one future. One for one.

No, she thought. No. No. No.

She turned to Aurora, wordlessly begging for a different answer than the one she knew she was going to receive. Her mouth wouldn't form the words. If she didn't ask, she couldn't receive an answer. But slowly, inexorably, she was able to force the question out: "What about my baby?"

"I'm so sorry, Princess," the fairy answered, her voice filled with heavy sadness. "We couldn't save your little girl."

Tigerlily threw back her head and wailed.