I take off running again, pushing my legs forward. Pan shouts behind me. I run further into the jungle, out of breath and sweating profusely. My body begs for a break as the thick and humid air suffocates me. Then I crash into someone. We both fall to the ground, and my chest tightens as I accept that a Lost Boy finally caught up to me.
"Sarah!", exclaims a familiar voice.
My head snaps up as my lungs expel a short breath.
"You came", I say as I watch Rogue, Serena, Billie, Tink and Scarlett right in front of me.
Rogue and Serena crawl over to me and wrap me up in a tight embrace. "Oh thanks gods, we found you." My immense relief at seeing them is enough to push Pan's words to the back of my mind.
"How are you here?", I ask.
"Tinker Bell brought us here. She is from Neverland so she can come and go whenever she wants", Serena answers.
"It's my treat!", exclaims Tink.
The Lost Boys cries grow louder we nod quickly and break into a run with Rogue leading us through the jungle.
The air is musky, but the cavern is homely, decorated with a desk covered in dusty maps and hammocks.
"Where are we?"
"We're near Mermaid's Lagoon". Rogue passes me a small tin cup with water. I gulp it greedily.
"Are we safe here?"
"Not for long. Pan knows this hideout as well as I do."
I look around the cave again, my eyes picking out what I didn't see it at first glance. Cutlasses much like the one Serena carries lean against the wall, clothes that look much like Rogue's are piled in a hammock.
"This is your hideout."
"Yes, this was our home on the island. Where we stayed between missions", answers Serena
"Is there something here I can write with?"
She goes to the desk and returns with a scrap of paper, a quill, and ink. "What are you going to write?"
"I'm making this hideout our safe haven for the next hour."
I drag the quill across the paper in soft strokes. The words grow as I mark a period and a glimmering shield passes over the cavern.
"Why not just write us out of this realm?", asks Billie.
"I have a feeling that Pan just won't stop even if we leave Neverland."
"I agree. Knowing him he still has a trick up his sleeve", says Tink.
I look at Rogue. He catches my gaze and looks like a deer in headlights.
"Pan told me something about you."
I lick my lips and clear my throat before answering but my voice still sounds strangled.
"He said you found me because he sent. That he gave you that gem around your neck. Is that true? Have you been working for Pan this entire time?"
Rogue meets my gaze, "No"
"No? No, what?"
"Not long after my first transformation, I returned to Neverland. Pan gave this to me long ago, back when we were still on friendly terms. I used its power to return to Neverland. And Pan he agreed to give me the location of my book only if I brought him a Darling."
"Because only a Darling can change his story…"
"Precisely. After what he did to Wendy, I knew I couldn't bring him what he wanted. But I had just lost my sister. I needed to bring her back. I needed our storybook."
"…So you took his deal."
"Sarah, I swear to you, I had no intention of ever making the trade. I just needed to know where and how to find you. Then fund my book, bring my sister back – everything. He was tracking me but I did everything I could to keep you hidden so he didn't know you were in Historia yet."
I sight, "I understand. Pan screwed us all over as part of his game. What we need to focus is on defeating Pan. We just need to get our hands on his storybook."
We turn to leave just as Pan steps through the entrance looking less than pleased.
"If you wanted to play hide and seek, you could have just asked. But I can think of something much more fun to play. Boys?", he says.
The Lost Boys file into the hideout, brandishing their makeshift weapons.
"I let you reunite with your friends here, it's all part of the game", he continues.
"We both know you don't have as much power as you think you do", I rush to the ink and paper and dip my finger into the black liquid. Using my finger, I write: Pan and the Lost Boys leave the hideout peacefully."
"That was great", says Tink, "Now we need to find a more permanent solution. We need to prepare some more paper, ink and a quill."
Moments later Pan and the Boys come back but they enter through secret holes in the cave. Serena and Billie, ready their swords. Rogue, Scarlett and Tink get ready in fighting position. And I grab my writing material but something lands on top of me and makes me lose grip.
"You won't be needing that. You're not leaving this island!" Pan exclaims and his troop of Lost Boys surround us, each of them carrying weapons of varying sizes. "At last, I have you here with me again. Sarah stay with, give more magic and I won't harm your friends."
"Don't listen to him", shouts Billie.
"You don't have to do it", follows Serena.
"This wasn't part of our deal!", Scarlett says, her words ecoing the loudest. She stands straight and returns her dagger to the belt at her hop.
"Scarlett, what are you doing?", asks Rogue in disbelief. She walks away from our group and pulls something from the bag hidden under her coat. The book.
"You said you couldn't find it in the Weeping Woods."
"I'm sorry. He forced me to", Scarlett answers glaring at Pan.
"I'm afraid, Sarah, that your two team players have actually been on my side this whole time", chimes in Pan.
"Two?!", Serena exclaims
"Ah Rogue might have gone astray, but Scarlett brought me exactly what I wanted", he adds.
"He said he would hurt you if I didn't do what he said. To go into the Weeping Woods for months and find him that book! Until you found the writer…", Scarlett says her voice trembling.
I glare at Pan as he smiles at the discordant siblings, who seem to have played right into his game.
"Wipe that smirk off your face, Pan", I say.
"Oh? I see there's still some fire in you, Sarah", he replies. "Why don't we put it out? These pirates and wolves you've acquainted yourself with took something very precious from me. They took my Darling and I was forced to grow up. I've never wanted to be an adult. Look at all the problems they have. Anyways, here are your options. Stay here with me in Neverland, write and tell stories about me. Return me and the Lost Boys to the Children we once were…And I'll let your friends leave this realsm. Refuse me, and you all stay in Neverland. I'm sure the Lost Boys would love to play with our old friends. Isn't that right, Sarge?"
"I'ts been a while since we've played at Marooners' Rock. It would be a shame if someone where to…oh, I don't know drown."
"You too, Tink. This spell Wendy wrote for me against fairy magic is pretty useful."
White hot anger pulses through me at their words. I slip my hands under my cloak and cross my fingers. I take my quill and paper.
"I'm waiting Sarah. Make me a boy again.", Pan sings.
Can I write fast enough? Can I write what I want before he realizes what I'm doing? I write: "Pan becomes a boy again…"
"Oh ho! You really wrote it!". Instantly Pan's form shrinks to that of a child he spins around in glee.
"Me next! Me next! No, me first! Make me a boy again first, pretty please!", the Lost Boy cheer around me.
I write: All the Lost Boys become boys again. Sounds of glee and laughter flitter through the jungle as the Lost Boys become children again. In their distraction, I write more. As Peter Pan and the Lost Boys revert to children they lose all their memories of growing up. Pan will never want for more magic again, and as long as he and the Lost Boys remain on Neverland, they will never grow up.
I hear the voice of Little Pan say "Hey, who are you? I've never seen you before." I glance up and meet the excited eyes of a child. "What are you writing? Do you like to tell stories? Ooh! Will you tell me a story? Better yet, tell me and all the Lost Boys a story!" He grins and jumps in place, his face alight in joy and innocence.
"Peter, why is Serena tied up?", asks Sarge.
"Huh?" Little Pan is easily distracted, his eyes widening as he notices the restrained and muted group of adults for the first time. "Oh no! Were we playing Capture de Pirates again? I don't remember, I'm so sorry!". With a snap of his chubby fingers, Serena, Rogue, Billie, Scarlett and Tink are free to move and speak again.
"Sarah, you…you made them children again!", exclaims Serena
"Why would you give them what they wanted?", follows Rogue
Little Pan runs up to Rogue and jumps on his back. Rogue's eyes widen comically.
"Rogue, Rogue! Let's play! You are my noble steed, march forward!" Pan points forward with a small authoritative voice.
"Me too! Me too!". Small bodies surround Serena, Billie and Scarlett begging for piggyback rides too.
"I made them children again. And Peter won't grow selfish for magic ever again. So long as he and the Lost Boys stay in Neverland, they'll never grow up."
"Of all the things you could have written, why this?", asks Tink.
"Because being an adult suck. All these boys ever wanted was to remain children. I don't fault them for that. Look at how much happier they are without the burden of growing up."
"I see what you mean.", Billie says.
"Very well then. Let's leave this island while the boys are in disarray", Serena adds.
I stray behind the others as we return to the Jolly Roger, lost in rumination of everything that's happened in the last – week? How long have I been away from home?
"Sarah!", I hear Tink call out to me. She hauls a large knapsack behind her. "Look what I found", she says as she slowly opens it. Inside I find the lost books.
"Now I can rewrite Rogue's and Scarlett's story."
I deliver the news to the twin wolf siblings who look at each other expectantly. "I think we ought to discuss this before making and decision", Rogue says.
A while later, we are all aboard the ship.
"Okay time to go back to Historia", Serena announces.
"Do you all prefer fast travel via portal or slowly travel via sailing though the sky and following the second star to the right?", I say mischievously.
"The latter option. Let's do that one then", answer Billie.
I flip my notebook open to a blank page and write the words that glow brightly.
Later, as we sail through the sky on the ship, the siblings approach me.
"So, I think everything has wrapped up pretty well", begins Rogue, "Sarah, when I brought you here, I wanted you to rewrite my book because I thought I'd killed my sister, but it turns out we have reunited safe and sound."
"Yes, I'm sorry I made you worry so much." Scarlett says looking at her brother.
"It's okay. Pan was a filthy player!", answers the wolf twin. Then he turns to me, "I think there is no need to have our books rewritten now. You can return home if you want."
I draw a small smile, "I guess it's time. I've been through so much here in Historia. And I'm glad I met you guys."
I take a look around the ship at all the faces I've got to known and my chest fills with pride.
"But… there is something I know Rogue wishes for, even if he won't admit it," says Scarlett, "He doesn't like when he turns into his wolf form."
"Scarlett…", Rogue intervenes.
"It's okay. After all you did for me, I'm willing to do this for you…If you write for him to not turn into a wolf anymore, because we are twins, if you take away his wolf form, you take mine. And I happen to like this part of me."
"You don't need to do this…", he tells his sister.
"I know…but I want to. So please Sarah, rewrite our book."
"I made a promise to help you, and I will fulfil it", I tell them.
Scarlett pulls the book from her bag and hands it over to me. I gingerly open the story book and flip through the pages, my fingers running over the text. The lingering magic between the pages tickles my fingertips. I meet Rogue's and Scarlett's gazes. "Do you trust me?"
"Of course," they answer.
I pull my pen from my pocket and hold it over the book. A white light bursts from the tip of my pen and envelops the storybook. The words rise from the page and wrap around me like a helix. I reach my pen out and start rewriting. After setting the final period in the story, I fall forward, the magic light whooshing with me and returning the words to the storybook.
"Sarah!", I hear Serena say.
"Oh gods, did you use too much magic?", Billie asks.
I pant heavily, my body strained and tingling with aftershocks of magic. "I'm fine…I'm fine."
She kneels besides me and hands me a canteen.
I turn to the twin siblings, "I wrote that you both get to keep your keep your wolf form. The transformation won't be forced upon you anymore. When the next full moon comes, neither of you will shift unless you want to. And your transformations aren't limited to the full moon. You can be a wolf whenever you want."
"Truly?", Scarlett ask.
I look between the wolf siblings, smiling at each other. Then Scarlett runs to me wrapping me in a hug, followed by her brother Rogue. Then, one by one, the rest join the embrace.
"For the greatest pirate crew to ever exist in Historia!", cheers Serena.
"Aye!", we all shout.
The next day, back in Historia, Billie is wiping her tears away with a tissue. "I suppose all stories have to come to an end."
"I didn't know you were an emotional type", I say.
"Hey, even pirates have their moments!"
Serena's mouth tips into a smile as Billie gives me a tight hug. "If you ever decide you're interested in a sequel you know where to find us."
"That I do!"
Just as I am about to write my way back home in my notebook, a flutter of an idea comes to me, "Hey, would you like to have a vacation?"
"A vacation? Are you saying what I think you're saying?", Rogue asks
I grin at the crew of Historia, picturing our new adventure together.