Chapter Four –

After ten minutes of pretending to be asleep, John was beginning to wonder what had happened to Wendy. Sitting up and replacing his glass on his nose, John strained his ears to try and hear what was going on down the hall. Alas, the only noise he could hear was the sound of six boys attempting to replicate the sounds of someone sleeping.

Quietly getting out of bed, John made his way across the nursery floor. He was almost at the door, when he noticed that Michael was eying him rather suspiciously. "Wait here," John mouthed to his younger brother. If nothing was wrong and Wendy was still talking to Peter then John could just pretend that he needed to go to the bathroom, however if Michael was with him, they would definitely have a harder time explaining why they both needed to be out of bed for John use the bathroom.

Creeping down the hallway, John was made sure he stayed close to the wall in order to prevent the wooden floorboards from creaking and unnecessarily giving him away. Even though the passageway was now dark, John knew where he was going. He had walked this path a great many times in the pitch black when he and Michael were sneaking sweets from the kitchen pantry while their parents were sleeping.

John reached Wendy's bedroom door without so much as a whisper or a creaking floorboard, but when he reached the door, John could tell almost immediately that something was amiss. There were no signs of movement nor he could not hear anyone talking, sleeping or crying. 'Oh my god! She's killed him,' he thought wildly. Checking again to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, John pressed his ear against the door and listened desperately for some sign of life. Almost positive that Wendy was no longer in the room, or at least no longer alive inside the room, John opened the door daringly and stepped inside.

Although John was relieved that he did not find a corpse on the floor, the fact that Wendy and Peter had both disappeared and the curtains were flapping frantically in the breeze at the open window was not much of a comfort. If Wendy had indeed intended on leaving for Neverland, then why had she turned Peter down and yelled at him so much? 'Women,' though John gazing out the window into the night sky.

Though it made perfect sense for Wendy to want to return to Neverland with Peter, but something about the whole situation didn't feel quite right to John. He knew his sister was completely smitten when it came to Peter Pan, but something about the conversation he had overheard earlier made John think that Wendy might not have gone back to Neverland entirely willingly.

The more John thought about it, the more concerned he became for his sister's safety. The last time Peter had offered to take Wendy to Neverland, Wendy had asked if she could bring him and Michael along too. This time, Wendy had not even told them that she was leaving. And wouldn't Peter have wanted to take the lost boys back with him as well? Thought John, now even more convinced that Wendy had indeed been kidnapped. The only question now was, by whom?

High above the streets of London, Wendy Darling was clinging to Peter for dear life. Although she did not want to be there, Wendy much preferred being in the arms of Peter Pan, flying one-hundred-feet above the city than plummeting one-hundred-feet into the deserted streets rushing below her. Closing her eyes, Wendy's thoughts turned to her brothers. She wondered how they would react to her disappearing. Hoping they wouldn't be too distressed, Wendy let her head fall back on Peter's chest and listened to the soft beating of his heart.

Cradling Wendy's trembling body in his arms, Peter felt a desperate desire to get to Neverland and explain his reckless, and what probably seemed unwarranted, actions. It was not the time or the place to get into the finer details of things and Peter could not afford to have Wendy getting hysterical mid-flight. Though he would have preferred Wendy to come with him voluntarily, if they hadn't left for Neverland when they did, they would never have made it back in time. Peter didn't visit London in the middle of the night for no reason. It was because the pathway back to the real world was only revealed in the moonlight and could only be accessed during the nighttime.

Though Peter used the passage through the space-time-continuum quiet frequently, it was not originally his discovery. It was in fact his faithful fairy, Tinkerbell, who initially found the opening. Something that wasn't commonly known about Tinkerbell was that she had not always dwelt in Neverland. Years ago, before Peter had met her, Tinkerbell was exiled from Neverland by Galahad, the Lord of all Fairies. It was during this time that Tinkerbell had met Peter in Kensington Gardens, when he was just a small child.

Even though Peter was only a baby at the time, Tinkerbell could see the potential he had to change things. So, in the dead of the night, Tinkerbell found the secret pathway and smuggled the young boy back into Neverland. She hid Peter in the dark and mysterious Neverland forest and over the years, Tinkerbell taught him how to fight, talk and fly.

As he got older, Tinkerbell told Peter tale of how they first met and the way she had taken him to away live in Neverland. What she did not tell him was that when she brought him to Neverland, plans were made. Plans that very recently had been just that, plans. Now however, the plans had been set motion and chain of events had started, a chain that could no longer be broken.

Having woken the rest of his brothers, John was trying, as calmly as possible, to call order to the unruly bunch of boys who were all very distressed over their sister's disappearance. Getting rather frustrated, John decided it was time for someone to take charge.

"Quiet! Can everyone just shut up for a moment and let me think!" he shouted. Shouting was totally out of character for John; he was usually the logical one who could address everything rationally and with an unbiased opinion. This time however, someone had gone too far.

"Right," he said after a few seconds of careful consideration. "This is what I want you all to do. Michael, you're to stay here and keep guard over the window. Whoever it was that took Wendy would have had to escape through the window or we would have heard them leaving. Tootles, I want you to search the house for any clues that might lead us to the person responsible for this. Curly, you and Nibbs are to look around outside for anything could help us find Wendy but I want you to stick together and keep your eyes open for anyone who appears suspicious. Now remember everyone, there is a kidnapper out there so I want you all to be very, very careful. Okay everyone, let's go."

As the boys all moved off to their assigned posts, John noticed the two twins standing in the middle of the room looking fairly confused. "Umm... John," said one of the twins, "you haven't given us anything to do."

"No, I haven't have I?" replied John smiling down at them. "That is because I need you two to help me find Peter Pan. He was the last person to see Wendy before she disappeared and I want to know what happened between the before she was abducted. Do you know where we could find him?"

"In Neverland," they said simply.

"Yes," said John sounding exasperated, "but do you know how to get to Neverland?"

"No... But we do know someone who does."