A/n: Woohoo! I'm on a roll, that was probably my shortest time between updating so far! (Not counting my one-paragraph chapter!) And it's a Wed-nes-day, so it makes me happy-ful! I hope you (and I mean you) enjoy this chapter, so read on! (Wow, I used a lot of parentheses!) (Cool!)
Disclaimer: I still don't own Peter Pan, but I do own a beachside condo in Neverland…okay, maybe I'm still applying for land (and maybe I ain't), but if you believe in yourself, I'm not.
Julie slowly stepped into the tree house, and was surprised to see the huge amount of space inside, much more than it had seemed from the outdoors. There were spiraling networks of chutes and pulleys decorating the ceiling, and hammocks and leaf-beds covering the floor. She held Feather's hand tightly as they toured the house, the boys skipping ahead, with and occasional Feather trying to keep up with the boys, who were all older than her. Peter stood by Julie the whole time, explaining the works of the tree house, and acting as a tour guide as they journeyed through the house.
After touring the house for what seemed to Julie like an hour, she whispered hoarsely, "You know, I never got that water."
Peter looked at Julie, with the face of a two-year-old after he had just done something bad. "Oh, um, I forgot!" Peter handed some canteens to Feather. "Why don't you go get water for all of us? Take Chip, Joe, and Burn with you though—Bark and Mitt can go if they want—but be careful, it's dangerous out there.
Chip, Joe, Feather, and Burn each took a canteen and ran off racing away from Peter and Julie, and after a few moments of hesitation, Bark and Mitt scurried after them.
"Now that they're gone, I can show you the secret stuff," Peter whispered to Julie.
"Secret stuff?" Julie asked, her eyes lighting up with interest.
"This is the back door, it's a secret, only me and Bark and Mitt know bout it, and you of course," Peter said as he pushed in a portion of the wall of the tree.
"Wow," Julie mused. She examined the place were the door was. "You can't even tell that there's a door here, it's like you did it by magic, wow."
"Magic? Well, um, not really, magic is more like—"
Peter cut off suddenly as footsteps echoed throughout the room. The lost children appeared as they ran into the room. Each of their faces had a scared, frightened look, and only Burn held a canteen.
"What is it?" Peter asked sharply.
"You know those things you warned us about," Bark and Mitt said in unison.
"Yes…"
"Well, we saw them, and they were gatherin' up the Indians, and we were thinkin' that the Indians would fight them back, but they greeted them like they're friends or something, so we ran away, but they saw us, so…well…um…" Chip said nervously, and looked over his shoulder.
"What?"
"We weren't able to get water, at all."
"No water! Oh well, it's not like Julie needs it now, does she? But right now we have to focus on the situation, where did you go to get water?"
"We went over to the mermaid's place, near that weird rock-thing, that's where they were."
Peter turned to Julie and reached out his hand, "Can you still fly, or do you need more dust?"
Julie jumped into the air, hovered for a few seconds, and then came tumbling down to the ground. "Apparently not."
Peter held out the glowing bag that contained the dust. "Here's some pixie dust, just let me sprinkle it—"
Julie snatched the bag out of Peter's hands. "I'll dust myself, and where are we going?"
"To visit the mermaids," Peter said with a toothy grin. "And since you insisted it, why not the Indians as well? It's not too dangerous."
"But aren't they the ones that joined the bad whatevermajiggers?"
Peter merely nodded, then grabbed Julie by the arm and lifted off into the sky.
"Wait! I haven't even pixie dusted myself!"
Peter ignored Julie's last comment, as he continued to lift up into the air, holding Julie precariously by the arm as he soared over to the mermaid's grotto.
In a matter of minutes, they landed roughly on a rocky beach. Julie breathed in huge breath of salty sea air, and opened the bag of dust in her fist, grabbed a handful, and sprinkled it on her head; she did not want to repeat the incident that just happened. Upon sprinkling the dust, she let out a huge sneeze, which echoed in the silence.
Julie looked at Peter in embarrassment, but Peter just pointed into the fog. Suddenly, a splash of water was heard, and two mermaids, fish tails and all, jumped out of the water in an arch and landed back again, causing water to cover Julie, but curiously enough, not Peter.
The two mermaid's heads popped out of the water. The first mermaid to appear had her long, golden locks braided all over her head with bits of seaweed in a few of the braids. The second had medium-colored skin, and her hair fashioned exactly the same as the first.
"Hi Peter," they said together, and then turned to Julie. "Who's she?"
"She's Julie," Peter replied. "Julie, they're Marie and Noel, Marie's the one with the gold hair."
The mermaids looked at Julie in disgust. "She's ugly," Marie remarked to Noel.
Julie sneered at them.
Noel stuck out her tongue at Julie, who gasped in horror at the sight. "Gross! It's green!"
Peter ignored the girls' fighting and began talking to the mermaids. "The lost boys told me that the Indians and, um, the bad things were here, just a little while ago. Did you happen to see any of them?"
"Naw, Peter," the first mermaid giggled, "We were away gathering oysters, we were gone for like, days until you called us."
"Yeah, Peter, we were, like, getting pearls for our necklaces," Noel chimed in.
"Okay then, Julie, let's get going to the Indians. Goodbye Marie, Noel," Peter replied and turned, as Julie stared absently at the mermaids.
Noel looked up at Julie, and said with distaste, "Pearls are precious gems, that you, like, don't even deserve to look at!" Noel scooped up water with the end of her tail and flicked it towards Julie.
Julie's eyes flared as the water touched her skin. "I'll have you know that this is a real pearl necklace, see the one I'm wearing?" Julie pointed to her neck for good measure. "My mother gave it to me, and I know it's real, so shut up you stupid fish!"
Noel's nose scrunched up as if she smelled something bad. She stuck her tongue out one more time at Julie, then dived back underwater, swimming away rapidly, leaving a small wake behind her.
Marie, however, stayed. "I'm sorry that Noel was so rude, Julie, can you lean forward so I can see your pearls, or take them off, that would be better, please? I do love the sight of them!"
"Umm…sure…" Julie said. She carefully removed the pearls and held them over Marie floating in the water, just high enough so Marie was unable reach them.
Marie smiled wickedly. "Wow they are very pretty, I should like to keep them!" Marie raised her tail at the beads, attempting to knock them into her outreached hands.
The moments before Marie's fishy tail touched Julie's necklace seemed to Julie like a slow-motion replays that you can watch on television, like time slowed down as she watched what she knew would happen, but playing a deer-in-the-headlights role, for she was just staring, unable to move.
Julie winced as the mermaid's tail reached millimeters away from the pearls, but suddenly, the tail halted, and then receded, but her hands, still trembling in fear, dropped the necklace, which would eventually take Julie's memories of her mother with it.
Julie opened her eyes to see Marie swimming away at the speed of lightning, and her pearls drifting beyond reach to the ocean floor. Tears swelled in her eyes as she bowed her head to her chest, her hair shielding her from the world.
"Julie, what's wrong?" Peter asked.
"What do you mean 'what's wrong?! I just lost the only thing I still have with me to remember my family—my mom—and now it's gone! I mean my mom—"
"Forget your mom."
"Forget my mom? Why? What's wrong with you?"
"Marie and Noel musta' sensed something bad, something dangerous. We have to leave to figure out what's going on, or we can be in danger. This is the sort of danger that can kill us, and what's the point of a mom if you're dead? C'mon, we're going to ask the Indians next," Peter reached out his hand and grabbed Julie by the wrist.
Julie wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and lifted off the ground, and heaved a big sigh, "Okay, I'll come. I'll forget—but just for now."
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and ketchup (My favorite food!), and if you did, review, and if you didn't…um…well, hopefully you did! Mucho thanks to WickedFaith (I never knew you were rich too!) and blackcoat-245 for reviewin' as well as the rest of you that reviewed after I wrote this!
