Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Peter Pan, Captain Hook, or any of Mr. Barry's other wonderful characters. I write about them solely for my own amusement, and make no profit from it except that which I receive from knowing my writing has been enjoyed by others.

Chapter 5

The Fairy Dance

It was late morning when three sharp raps on her door woke Sophia. She pulled on a dressing gown over her nightdress and opened the door a crack. She peered out and saw James standing in front of it, an apple in his hand and a bunch of grapes hanging from his hook.

"Breakfast?" he asked, offering the food he carried. Sophia quickly emptied both of his hands and began popping grapes into her mouth between bites of the apple. The fruit was sweet and ripe and perfect, and tasted heavenly after a day without food. She opened the door a little wider and gestured for him to come in. Once the door was shut, she sat down at her desk chair and continued to eat.

"Thank you," she said, taking advantage of one of the rare moments when her mouth wasn't full.

"When I didn't see you come out this morning, I began to wonder if you planned on hiding in here forever," Hook said. Sophia stopped, poised for another bite of the apple, and looked at him, surprised.

"I didn't… I mean… I wasn't hiding."

"I'm glad to hear it," James replied. He took a couple of steps toward her, lazily running his fingers over the spines of the books lining the shelves. "I was hoping you would accompany me today."

Sophia's eyes narrowed. "Where are you going?" she asked warily.

He caught the note of caution in her voice. "Are you still angry with me?"

"Should I be?" Sophia asked.

"I don't think either of us should be angry with the other," James said. "We've both made our apologies for being out of sorts yesterday."

She titled her head to the side for a moment while she considered his words. "I suppose you're right," she said. "So, where is it that we're going?"

James smiled at the small victory he had won in regaining her trust. It had been a painless win, and easily accomplished.

"If you were still interested in seeing the island, I was going to offer to go with you as your guide," he said.

"But, your duties…" Sophia protested. "Aren't you awfully busy? Being Captain?"

"Not so very busy," James said. "What do you say?"

"Well, it is a very kind offer… and I accept."

The Captain gave her a genteel bow and turned to leave. "Come to my cabin when you're dressed and ready," he instructed her. Sophia nodded, and took another large bite out of the apple.

She appeared in his cabin half an hour later, slipping in as silently as a ghost. She was dressed sensibly in a high-collared white shirt with light, loose sleeves and a plain brown skirt. James, as usual, was dressed more flamboyantly. He rose from his desk to greet her, and walked with her to the boat that would take them to the island. They paused for a moment in front of the gilt mirror hanging on the wall, and Sophia laughed when she saw their reflection.

"What a pair we make!" she said. She leaned forward and tucked a few strands of hair that had come loose from her braid behind her ear. "I look so plain standing next to you." She brushed tentative fingers against the fine burgundy velvet of his coat.

"You know I offered you all the finery we had on the ship. You didn't want it," Hook reminded her.

"I only would have looked silly in it, anyway," Sophia said, and took her hand from his arm. The strange pensiveness that had briefly come over her was gone. "Shall we go?" she asked.

They walked out onto the deck together and James led her towards one of the boats where two pirates were already waiting to row them ashore.

"I hope you don't mind walking," James said as he helped her step over the side of the boat and get seated. "I would suggest we take my chair, but…" he gestured at his sedan chair, which was sitting a few feet away. It was clearly built for one.

"Nonsense! We can walk. Less bothersome that way. Besides… I don't think we'd fit very comfortably in there," she said.

Hook laughed at the mental image of the two of them trying to fit, and blinked it away when his mind started veering off into the realm of thinking how nice it would be to have Sophia on his lap, with his arms around her waist…

"You should smile more often," she said.

"And why is that?" he asked, hoping to steer her away from the question of what exactly he'd been smiling at.

"It makes you look less worried," she said. "You always look… so concerned."

The Captain was spared the trouble of asking her exactly what she meant by that, and Sophia the awkwardness of answering him, because at that moment, the boat swung erratically and began its descent toward the water. Sophia grabbed hold of the wooden planking at her side with one hand, and to James' arm with the other.

"Careful, you fools!" James bellowed up to the pirates lowering the boat. "Don't be jarring the lady's bones!" The boat hit the water and Sophia relaxed somewhat.

"I'm fine. Really," she assured him. "I was out on the open water just yesterday and I managed very well." James nodded, a bit surprised. Once again, Sophia was upsetting his pre-suppositions about women. He had thought that the rocking of the boat and the rough benches would be a bit much for her, and had assumed that she'd want to get to shore as soon as possible.

"If you don't mind staying on the sea for a bit longer, there are some places I would like to show you that would be much easier to get to from the water than by land," James suggested.

"I don't mind at all," Sophia said.

"Very well, then. Rowers! Make for the Black Castle!" he ordered. The boat changed course, veering to the right and away from the shore. As the boat cut through the water several hundred feet off the coastline, Sophia peered over the side. The day was dazzlingly bright, and the water clear as crystal. Schools of colorful fish darted beneath them, dancing between leaves of sea-plants growing on the bottom and hiding in colonies of coral. Sophia trailed her fingers in the water, then leaned over the side of the boat to get a better look.

"Don't fall in," James cautioned her, chuckling at the comical figure she made, her bespectacled face only inches away from the water.

"Oh, don't worry. I think I remember how to swim…" She drew her eyebrows together, trying to remember the long-ago lessons from a sorcerer who had been particularly interested in water magicks. She was not able to recall much of it, so she sat up carefully. "I feel as if I could reach out and touch the seabed! I've never seen water so clear," she said. James looked over the side and saw that she was right. He was not used to looking down at the water that buoyed his ship, for he usually spent his time looking to the sky for approaching Lost Boys, or to the shore for surprise Indian attacks.

There must have been a time that I felt the way she does about Neverland's beauty, he thought. When I first sailed into the harbor, surely I noticed… of course, I don't remember a thing about coming here… To Sophia, he simply said, "Yes, Neverland is a paradise of sorts, isn't it?"

"It's quite a change from dark, sooty London," she said.

One of the rowers pointed to the shoreline and called out, "Black Castle's up ahead, Captain!"

Sophia lifted her head and saw the blackened, crumbling stonework of Neverland's darkest place. The castle had been gouged into the side of a cliff, and seemed to be part natural cave, and part man's work. She shivered as they passed beneath the gargoyle guarding the entrance and the rusty portcullis decked with seaweed that hung overhead. Without realizing it, she moved a bit closer to James.

"Did you build this place?" she asked in a small voice. Her question echoed through the galleries and slick, wet stairways of the vast chamber.

"Me? No," James said, completed unaffected by the oppressive mood of the cavern. "It's been here… well, as long as I can remember. I suppose it must have been built and abandoned long before I came to Neverland." Sophia found herself suddenly very glad that those who had built such a dark, oppressive place were no longer in residence. The gleam of something white floating near the middle of the chamber caught her eye, and she strained to get a better look. James was caught a bit off-guard by the shriek that escaped her when she realized what it was.

"There's a skeleton in the water," she whispered to him, her eyes wide. She gasped again. "No, there are three of them…" She pointed to the rock where the decomposing bodies were chained.

"I'd forgotten about that," he murmured. "Nothing to be afraid of, my dear. Just what's left of three mutineers."

"You put them there?" Sophia asked.

James shrugged. "It was that, or let the Jolly Roger be taken from me. Captaining a pirate ship is not a subtle business, nor a kind one."

"I understand," she said and looked back over her shoulder at the entrance. "May we leave now? I don't like this place… It's… angry." Not used to seeing Sophia so subdued, Hook glanced at her curiously.

"Angry? Do you sense magic here?"

"I… I'm not sure what it is. But, I don't like it."

"All right, then. We won't stay. There are many other things to see, and none so frightening as this." He signaled the oarsmen, and they moved back out under the clear sky.

"I wasn't frightened, you know," Sophia said once they were outside. "It's just that I felt like there was something old and cruel watching us while we were in there. It made me uneasy, that's all."

"Of course," James agreed, and allowed Sophia her show of bravery.

They sailed past a finger of the island that jutted out into the sea many feet above the water line, and James pointed to the smoke rising from over the top of the forest.

"Those fires come from the Indian village," he told her. "If you look between the trees as we pass, you'll be able to see their tents." Using James' shoulder to steady herself, Sophia stood up and shaded her eyes from the sun.

"I see them!" she exclaimed. "But… not very well. Indians… who would have thought… I wonder how they got here… Can we get closer? Please?"

"I don't think that would be very wise," he said and directed her attention to a single figure crouching on the very end of the spit. He was an Indian brave, and though he looked relaxed, he had an arrow nocked and at the ready. "The Indians are no friends of mine, and as my friend, you are no friend of theirs," he explained. "We've left one another alone for a while now, but that doesn't mean they'd welcome a pirate into their camp."

Sophia, somewhat disappointed that she would not be allowed to meet any of the other residents of the island, watched the motionless brave on the cliff until he was out of sight. At last, the Captain directed his rowers towards the shore, and they ran the boat aground in the white sand. He helped her step onto the beach, and offered her his arm as they ventured into the forest.

They walked down overgrown paths, and when it became necessary, Hook unsheathed his sword and hacked his way through the undergrowth to make a way for them to pass by. He showed her streams and waterfalls that cascaded into deep pools of sweet water, meadows wild with flowers and trees split by lightning and covered with clinging vines. Sophia drank the island in, and soon the fear that had come over her in the Black Castle was gone. Sometimes, she ran ahead of him, laughing, only to return a few seconds later urging him to hurry.

They stopped to rest by a stream bordered by a cool mossy bank.

"Do you know where Peter Pan lives?" Sophia asked as she splashed water on her face and neck to cool herself off. "I'd like to see that, even if it has to be from far away."

"If I did, I would have killed him long ago," Hook answered. "I have searched for his hideout for years, and never found it."

"Oh," she said, sorry that she had brought out the cold, grim side of him. He had been smiling at her before she spoke.

"We should return to the ship. It's getting dark," he said.

They walked back through the forest without saying much. The lengthening shadows were soft and calming, and the gathering darkness brought with it the sounds of insects, birds, and night creatures waking up after the heat of the day.

"What was that?" Sophia asked, pointing to a flickering light darting between the trees.

"It's a fairy," he said. Her eyes widened, and she stared after the light in amazement.

"There are fairies here? You never told me that…"

"You never asked."

Two more pixies flew by, closer this time, heading in the same direction as the first. Sophia was able to see their forms more clearly, and marveled at their tiny, perfectly formed bodies, golden-veined wings, and the trail of shining dust they left behind them. Still more fairies appeared, coming from knotholes in trees and from under broad leaves. While they gave Hook a wide berth, they seemed to have no fear of Sophia. Some flew close enough to her for her to feel the wind of their wings on her face, and others twirled and danced around her body as she walked.

"They're all going somewhere," she whispered to James. "See? All of them are flying in the same direction." One of the pixies that flew by her stole the ribbon at the end of her braid, and her hair began to unwind. Instead of being upset, she laughed. "Let's follow them. I want to see where they're going." Before James could respond, she had grabbed him by the hand and was pulling him along after her. Their path was lit by hundreds of globes of light that dipped and hovered through the trees. Sophia had gathered her skirts in one hand as not to trip over them, and James caught occasional flashes of her ankles and lower legs as she ran. Her hair was completely free now, and flew behind her, long and wild. He kept pace with her easily, and found a certain exhilaration in rushing headlong through the forest behind her, surrounded by living lights.

A clearing opened before them, and Sophia stopped in mid-stride, nearly tripping over a tree root. She put one hand on James' shoulder to steady herself, and whispered, "Look."

A single tree stood in the center of the clearing. It was bathed in golden light from the fairies that had congregated around and inside it. More arrived every second and flew under roots and through knotholes to the hollowed out center. There was a rhythm to their flight, and when Sophia closed her eyes, she could hear clear, joyous music.

"I want to get closer," she said, and let go of James' arm. Slowly, she stepped into the clearing. The pixies swirled around her for a moment, and let her pass. Several of them even pulled her forward. James followed her, keeping a sharp eye on the fairies as they flocked around her. He didn't have Sophia's trusting nature, and knew that the little creatures weren't always benign. She did not notice his caution, and awe colored her face as she dropped to her knees to look through a crack in the trunk. James knelt beside her, and she moved to make room. Their cheeks so close they were touching, they saw the dance of the fairy court for the first time.

The inside of the hollow trunk had been garlanded with flowers, and fairies clothed in shimmering gossamer provided their own light. They danced to music coming from tiny bone flutes and delicately strung harps played by musicians sitting in a circle of niches that had been carved into the sides of the hall. Some danced slowly, in stately, timeless patterns. Others whirled and cavorted the length and height of the fairy hall. In the center of it all, untouched by the crowd about them, the fairy king and queen hung in the air as if suspended by an invisible thread. Each had eyes for nothing but the other, The queen's hair hung in white-gold waves over the arms of her love that encircled her, and the king's long, rich cloak moved in the wind and brushed against his queen's legs.

"It is… marvelous," Sophia whispered. She put an arm around James' waist to steady herself and leaned toward the fairy revelers. James said nothing, but found it marvelous as well. He was not so hardened that he did not recognize beauty when he saw it, and the pure, unadulterated show of love that had so entranced Sophia had captured him too. It was something he had never known, and the knowledge of that caused a single tear to form at the corner of his eye and fall down his face. He hastily reached up to wipe it away.

Sophia sensed his movement and turned to look at him. Her eyes were bright and shining. "I could stay here forever," she said, "but we'd better get back."

Hook was the first to take his eyes from the dance and stand. He offered her his hand to help her up. Regretfully, she looked away and curled her fingers around his.

"You seemed so childlike just then. Perhaps," he ventured, "that was why you were drawn to Neverland."

Sophia stood and brushed the dirt and leaves from the front of her skirt.

"I still have a sense of wonder, if that's that you mean. It's a pity that adults feel they have to put theirs aside in order to be grown up."

"You are fortunate, then, to have kept yours so untarnished."

They walked back through the forest under the light of a full moon with a band of curious fairies trailing behind them and lighting the way when the path grew dark.

-----

Once the boat had been hoisted back onto the ship, James lifted her up and set her feet on the solid deck. She was tired, and leaned on him heavily as he walked with her to her cabin. He opened the door for her, and they stood in silence for a while, both of them too touched by what they had seen to say much. One did not discuss something so special flippantly, or let words crowd in to explain and define what they had shared. Finally, Sophia raised herself up onto her toes and put her palm against the left side of his face.

"Thank you. I won't forget," she murmured, and softly kissed him on the cheek. She then disappeared into her room and shut the door gently. James was still rooted to the spot where he had been standing.

"Neither will I," he said.