Several hours later, Will's nap was disturbed by an uncontrollable urge to sneeze. He did so, then settled himself more comfortably in the hammock. His nose began to tickle again. Now fully awake, Will cracked one eye open. At the left side of his hammock stood a little blond boy. The child was waving a feather under his nose. Will heard giggles and opened the other eye. The same blond child was standing at his right side, laughing at him. He was seeing double.



"Lady 'Lizbeth says time to wake up," the blond boys said in unison. After a confused instant, Will realized the blond duplicates were the twins, minus their earlier coating of grime.



"You boys have names ?" he grunted, sitting up and putting his feet on the floor.



"Twins," they chimed.



"Don't do that," ordered Will.



"Do what ?" The boys looked confused.



"That !" retorted Will, feeling himself getting exasperated. "You're individuals. Speak for yourselves. I mean, separately." He pointed to the twin on the left. "You, what's your name ? And you," he ordered the twin on the right, "keep quiet."



"Twin," responded the left-side twin, as though it should be obvious by now.



"Great. Just great," sighed Will. He indicated the right-side twin. "Don't tell me, let me guess. Your name would be..."



"Twin," the boy grinned at him.



"All right. You win," he admitted, smiling in spite of himself. "Take me to your leader."



The twins each grabbed a hand and dragged Will to the rickety balcony. Scampering like monkeys, the boys grabbed ropes and descended to the ground. Will chose a rope and followed. Elizabeth was directing the preparation of dinner, dressed in pirate garb. Male pirate garb. Will gaped. Granted, these clothes covered up more than the nightgown, but the total effect was hardly one of modesty. "I thought sailors wore loose-fitting trousers," he stammered.



"I find these to be quite comfortable," smirked Elizabeth, clearly pleased by her husband's reaction. "Anyway, there weren't any women's clothes. Tinkerbell is the only female on the island, apparently. Except for some mermaids," she added. "And I don't think they wear any clothing at all."



"Er, yes, well... I see you got the Lost Boys cleaned up," said Will, eager to change the subject. They were surrounded by children, after all. The boys were all much cleaner and appeared to be more cheerful. The hideout seemed tidy. Several wild birds roasted on a spit over a small cook fire, tended by Slightly. Will noted that the boy couldn't keep his eyes off Elizabeth. He sighed again.

Peter Pan was leading the other boys in sword practice. The twins had joined them, sparring with wooden practice swords. Nibs and Pan sparred with real blades. Curley was nowhere to be seen. On guard duty, Will imagined. Will watched the boys. He was impressed. They were all competent, despite their young age.



Pan tossed his sword to Will with a cocky grin. He caught it and examined it. Not too bad. Nowhere near as fine as one of his own, but well-balanced and serviceable. Will saluted Nibs, who returned the salute and cautiously took up a fighting stance. The man and the boy circled one another warily, each sizing up his opponent. Nibs attacked first. Will parried. Then the two began to spar in earnest. Will held back, assessing the boy's skill. Although slightly clumsy, the kid knew his stuff. Will imagined the sudden growth spurt Nibs had experienced wasn't helping his coordination. After a few minutes he stepped back and saluted the Lost Boy. "Not bad, kid," he remarked. Nibs smiled warily.



Peter grinned from ear to ear, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was mightily pleased with himself and the Lost Boys. He gestured to Nibs, who ran off in the direction of the trail, skirting around the open clearing.



Meanwhile, the twins had supplied themselves with blades and advanced. Will felt some concern about sparring with them. They were just children. Feral children, armed with live steel, he corrected himself. The twins attacked simultaneously. Will could tell right away that they weren't suffering from the awkwardness that had affected Nibs. Although they had grown unnaturally fast, they hadn't begun puberty yet.



The two worked well together. Big surprise, thought Will – he was beginning to wonder if the twins somehow shared one single brain between them. Their tactic involved constant circling, one trying to distract him while the other tried to get in an attack from behind. The blacksmith wasted no time in putting a stop to that nonsense. He maneuvered to a position with his back against a large tree trunk. The twins grinned and backed down.



Now it was Curley's turn. He had been relieved on guard duty by Nibs. Will could see right away that the rapid onset of adolescence had ruined whatever ability the pudgy boy might have once had. For the time being, at least, the poor kid was slow and clumsy. The excess weight he was carrying was no help. In a minute he was out of breath.



Will stepped back and ended the sparring session. He had no desire to humiliate the boy. "You've gained a lot of strength with that growth spurt, Curley," he remarked, loud enough for all the boys to hear. "Now you need to work on your basics; get used to your new size." He started Curley and the twins on a simple drill. Peter Pan sat on a nearby log, sharpening his dagger and pretending not to watch the lesson.



Will was relieved to see that his wife was keeping Slightly occupied with the cooking. The teen aged Lost Boy could barely walk without tripping over his own feet. Any attempt at sword play would be embarrassing to the boy, if not downright dangerous. Will watched him attempt to peel some fruit and winced. The boy was unbelievably klutzy. He was clearly even more distracted by Elizabeth in tight pants than Will was. Slightly would be lucky if he got off kitchen duty with all his fingers intact.



Soon Elizabeth called that supper was ready. She gave Will a dazzling smile; she hadn't missed her husband's kindness to the adolescent Lost Boys. When the meal was finished, she outlined the night's plan. "Peter Pan, Will, Curley, and I will swim out to the Jolly Rodger after dark and sneak aboard. We're going to conserve the pixie dust," she explained quickly, seeing Will's frown.



"I'm not worried about the pixie dust," he retorted, "I don't think you should go into danger, Elizabeth. And Curley should stay here too. It could come to a fight." Curley looked close to tears. "Uh, Curley, I meant that you should stay behind to help protect Elizabeth," said Will hastily.



"No, Will," said Elizabeth firmly. "I am going. I know my way around a pirate ship as well as you. And I am the one Peter Pan chose to rescue Tinkerbell." Ignoring Will's attempt to interrupt, she went on, "Of all the Lost Boys, Curley is the best swimmer. That's why we're taking him along. He'll be fine."



"Peter Pan chose you to make plans, not to battle with bloodthirsty cutthroats !" answered Will, struggling to keep his voice even. He could feel himself losing his temper. This was crazy. They couldn't hope to take on a crew of full grown pirates with just himself, a woman, and two young boys.



"Peter says that Hook lets his crew get drunk on rum every night. We'll wait back in the trees along the beach until they're all asleep or passed out. The other Lost Boys can wait on shore with the pixie dust, and fly out to help us if needed," said Elizabeth, reasonably. "And besides, we're far better prepared than we were this morning, and we were fine. We'll all be fully armed tonight. But really, its not going to come to a fight. The pirates will all be sound asleep"



Will could see there was no point in arguing with his wife. Her mind was made up. He noticed Peter Pan smirking at him and stood up abruptly. "Fine. The sun is setting. Let's go. That is, if you're ready, Mrs. Turner..."



Elizabeth threw her arms around his neck and gave him a lingering kiss. The boys whistled. She knew Will wouldn't be able to stay mad for long. "Come on, Mr. Turner," she replied, "Let's get this raid over with. We don't want to keep the boys out past their bedtime."



***


The little group made its way to the shore. The Jolly Rodger lay at anchor, ablaze with lights. The sound of drunken carousing carried clearly across the water. "Gosh, they sound like they're havin' fun," commented Nibs, forlornly. Will had noticed that the Lost Boys' mood had soured once again.



"Cheer up, boys," said Elizabeth. "We're going to get to the bottom of this. Soon everything will be back to normal."



"Yeah, sure, whatever," replied Slightly. Will felt annoyance rise.



"Get over the attitude," he snapped. "Slightly, you're in charge here on shore. Any sound of a disturbance, you and the rest of the boys get over to the ship, fast. Got it ?"



"Uh, yes, sir," said Slightly, with no trace of attitude. Pan, unfortunately, had attitude enough for all of them, thought Will.



Sure enough, "I'm in charge of the boarding party," piped up the kid, "And Lady 'Lizbeth is my second in command. The pirates are quieting down. Into the water, men...oh, and Lady."



The boy was right. The last chorus of "A Pirate's Life for Me" had long since faded away. The only sound from the Jolly Rodger was the occasional drunken snore.



Pan, Elizabeth, and Curley waded out into the gentle surf. Reluctantly, Will followed. This whole thing is insane, he thought. When the water was nearly up to his armpits, he began to swim. He was relieved to see that Curley was indeed a strong swimmer. Then Will heard a sound, almost like a throaty chuckle, above five feet away. Was that something bobbing in the water nearby ? It was hard to tell in the dim light of the lamps from the pirate ship. Something splashed closer to him. He felt a soft yet clammy hand on his arm.



"Ooh, muscles !" purred the same throaty voice. A higher pitch giggle came from close behind him. Another cold hand grabbed his shoulder, fumbled at his collar, then slid inside his shirt.



"Hey, handsome, how about a kiss ?"