Chapter 4

Pirates in the Forest

The newfound Lost Boys returned hours later, carrying enough food to fill all nine, including Tinker Bell's, of their bellies to their full capacities. By the time they had arrived, Peter had recovered from his emotional breakdown, and Emma and Peter had set out all of the plates and cups for the feast that night on the table. The Lost Boys could not hold in their excitement for their new names, and Peter felt bad about not assigning everyone a name fairly, but he did not know any of the boys well enough to properly name them, so, disappointingly, he had to inform them that he would name them, for sure, by the end of the day.

The boys' long faces disappeared as Emma and Tinker Bell finished preparing the food and set it out on each and every one of their plates. Tinker Bell had added her magic fairy dust to it so that it had an extra sweet taste, which delighted Peter and the boys tremendously! The food was devoured almost immediately. All of the glazed birds, the rainbow-colored fruits, and overflowing cups of tasty drinks seemed to vanish before their eyes.

As Peter had sipped the last of his drink, a loud knocking came from above. Everyone looked around puzzled at what could be making the noise, and Peter flew over and up through the chute to the stone. Whatever was knocking on the stone was right above Peter's head. He thought of whether or not to open it, but when he heard the familiar drum of an Indian, he pulled on a leaf and the rock rose, revealing his very close friend.

Princess Tiger Lily, a pretty young Indian princess stood at the entrance, banging on her drum. Without speaking, she dove over Peter and down the chute. Peter slid down after her after pulling on the leaf to close the entrance, and then toppled over her when he hit the ground. She was overcome with grief, since Indians always played their drums whenever there was important news, and Peter could tell from the look in her eyes that she was clearly upset and had news regarding her mood. She began to speak in her Indian tongue, and Peter could understand every word of it. The boys, Emma, and Tink, however, looked extremely confused as she rambled on in another language.

"What's she saying?" Emma finally asked desperately when Tiger Lily stopped talking.

"She says," said Peter, his voice growing softer, "that she saw a few pirates coming this way, talking of how they know where our hideout is!"

"But you haven't told anyone, have you Peter?" Emma asked, worried that maybe Tiger Lily had blurted the truth. But then Emma remembered that Tiger Lily could not even speak English, and that even if she had told some of the Indians, they would not tell anyone outside of their tribe.

"No! I swear! The only ones that know are the ones in this room right now!" said Peter.

"Then how do the pirates know?" said Emma.

"I honestly don't know," said Peter, "But all I know is that we have to leave the hideout immediately 'cause then the pirates could ambush us!" And with that, the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, Emma, and Peter Pan went up the chute and out of the secret entrance.

Though it would seem as though Peter was doing the right thing in leading everyone out of the hideout, the pirates had no idea where his hideout was located. Captain Blood ordered a few of the pirates to mingle outside of the Indian teepee area and talk of how they knew where Peter Pan and his Lost Boys were staying. That way, they knew one of Peter's faithful Indian friends would tell Peter to leave. And that was just the beginning of Captain Blood's brilliant plan that would lead into the attempted killing of Peter Pan.

Princess Tiger Lily told Peter that the nine of them could all stay with the Indians in a few teepees until Peter had found another secret hideout for his Lost Boys. However, when they all arrived in the Indian area, it was chaos. Pirates were dragging the Indians out of their teepees and away from their fires in the direction out of the forest. Panicking, Tiger Lily got out her tomahawk and charged at one of the nearby pirates. The pirate, however, was too quick for Tiger Lily and picked her up with his huge, muscular arm. Screaming and kicking about, Tiger Lily seemed helpless compared to the large pirate.

Peter could not believe his eyes. He was so angered that he had been tricked yet again by Captain Blood. He took a bit of fairy dust from inside a pouch on his belt and tossed it on himself and the others. While everyone floated up, Peter was having a bit of trouble finding a happy thought. He could not stop thinking about how he had been outwitted by Captain Blood. Just then, he looked up to Emma, gazing down at him.

"I found my happy thought!" he said to Emma, "And it's you!" he shouted and flew off. For the previous hundred years, Peter's happy thought had been Wendy, but now it was the best feeling in the world to him to realize that Emma was his new happy thought, and that they could stay together forever, since she had no desire to ever leave Neverland.

Peter flew gracefully and speedily up towards the clouds that had begun to darken. Far below him, the pirates were carrying all of the Indians to the Black Castle. Peter knew that he had to somehow go and save his friends, but at the same time he knew that Captain Blood was going to try and kill him! So Peter tried to come up with a brilliant plan, but nothing was coming to him.

"The layout of the Black Castle is quite easy to understand," said one of the Lost Boys who flew up to Peter. He had large-rimmed glasses and braces and looked wise beyond his six years.

"I'm quite familiar with it too," Peter said and smiled.

"But do you know of the secret entrance, towards the back, under the turret, fourth from the right?" said the boy intelligently.

"No, I don't, in fact," said Peter, surprised at the boy's intellect on the secrets of the Black Castle, "So how do you know of it?" he asked suspiciously.

"I am quite an expert on the geography of Neverland, Peter," said the boy.

"If this secret entrance is where you say it is, you shall earn a nickname!" Peter exclaimed.

"Yippee!" shouted the boy and did a flip in the air excitedly.

"Now lead me to it!" yelled Peter and the boy flew speedily ahead of him, guiding him to the turret fourth from the right.

Meanwhile, Emma was setting up numerous traps with the other Lost Boys. They tied ropes down to trees, and hid them underneath the leaves, so when a pirate would step on the rope, they would be carried up to the treetops, and forced to hang there until someone cut them down. A few of the pirates fell into that trap, and all of the children exploded with laughter as the pirates hung helplessly upside down. Then, the children threw various berries and fruits at their faces, which was their idea of mirthless torture.

Following Tinker Bell's plan, the Lost Boys, plus Emma of course, all flew up to the tops of the trees and hurled coconuts at the pirates, knocking them all unconscious on the ground, and freeing the Indians that they were holding captive. When the pirates were unconscious they all flew to the ground and tied them up in vines, and then dragged them to the beach where the mermaids and other sea creatures could come and harm them. Since the children had to go to the Black Castle they had not enough time to harm the pirates themselves, so they quickly flew a bit across the sea through the stormy weather and lightning to the dangerous Black Castle.