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 10

The Darlings

London, England

"Really, Wendy, aren't you a little old to be believing in such things?" John Darling asked as he tossed his battered Napoleon hat and his wooden sword into a chest of toys that were to be put up in the attic.

"You're telling me you don't believe in Neverland?" Wendy was positively horrified.

"I'm thirteen, almost a man!" John declared. "And you're even older. Sixteen is much too old for a young lady to be believing in flying boys, pirates and magic islands."

Wendy laughed. "You sound just like Father." Her pretty eyes grew serious, and she tiptoed over to the nursery door and, after making sure there were no adults nearby, shut it softly. "But you of all people should know," she said in a low voice, "that I'm not making it up. I remember Neverland, and Peter, and all of our adventures quite clearly. It wasn't a dream, and I didn't imagine it. And you and Michael were there too." John did not look convinced. Wendy stalked over to the bookshelf that held many of her old albums and scrapbooks, and pulled one out. She opened it to a page with a yellowing newspaper article on it and thrust it under John's nose.

"Besides," Wendy continued, "how do you explain this? I cut it out of the newspaper after we got back. It's all about our return and our mysterious disappearance. You think the papers are helping me pretend?"

John snapped the book shut and handed it back to her. "All that proves is that we were missing for a while," he said. "It doesn't prove anything about Neverland. Personally, I think we were all kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? By whom?" Wendy asked.

"I can't remember. I think we made up all those stories to help keep our hopes up, and because whatever really happened, it was so awful we covered it up with far-fetched notions about Neverland," John said. Wendy frowned at him. Her little brother was far too serious for his own good, and read far too many sensational news items in The Times.

"Then how do you explain the cousins?" Wendy asked, using the Darling children's name for the Lost Boys. "They came into the family on exactly the same day we returned. Don't you remember when they all decided to come back with us from Neverland?"

"They were probably kidnapped too, and we all escaped together, and it turned out that none of them had any parents, so Mother and Father took them in too," John said. He nodded in satisfaction, very pleased with his explanation. Wendy shook her head.

Any further conversation on the topic was curtailed by the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Darling, along with Michael, who had just returned from being measured for some new clothes for the new school term.

"Look at the bird!" Michael yelled upon entering the room, and sped to the window as fast as his ten-year-old legs could carry him. There was indeed a bird sitting on the ledge of the nursery window, watching all of them very curiously. John and Wendy, in the midst of their argument, had not noticed her. The entire Darling family crowded around the window. The bird, a snow-white falcon with black-tipped wings, did not seem startled by being the object of so much attention. Rather, she seemed to enjoy it, and began to preen.

"It's… a falcon," Mr. Darling said. "I've never seen one of them in the City before."

"Maybe she's lost," Mrs. Darling said. "She could have gotten loose from her mews."

"She looks like a fine bird, very expensive, but I don't see any jesses… I wonder who she belongs to," Mr. Darling said.

"Maybe she doesn't belong to anyone," Wendy said. The falcon tilted her head to one side and screeched in agreement. Mr. Darling started.

"This is most unusual!" he said.

"Oh, come now, she's not hurting anyone. She's just watching us," Mrs. Darling chided. "Now, why don't you children finish up in here, and then you can come down for dinner."

"Yes, Mother," the three younger Darlings said together.

With their parents gone, Wendy took no time in resuming the talk she and John had been having.

"You remember Neverland, don't you Michael?" she asked. John snorted, and Michael looked back and forth between his older sister, whom he adored, and his older brother, whom he idolized. Any answer he gave was sure to upset one of them, but in the end, he decided on the truth.

"I do," Michael said. "I remember the Indians, and the pirates, and flying!"

"You see?" Wendy said to John.

John rolled his eyes. "He was too young. It was four whole years ago, you know. He was only six. You've told him that story so many times he can't help but believe it."

"It's not a story," Michael insisted.

"Of course it's not," Wendy assured him. "We all have the same memories of Neverland…"

"Only because you drilled it into our heads!" John shot back.

The argument might have escalated further, but Michael interrupted them.

"The bird wants to come in," he said, and pointed at the window. The falcon was lightly tapping her beak on the glass.

"Do you think she'd let us touch her?" Wendy murmured. She put her hand on the latch, and before John could protest, she opened the window. The falcon cried out in triumph and launched herself into the room. The children stepped back, startled, and the bird landed in their midst. She shook out her feathers and cocked her head to one side. Wendy slowly reached out to touch her. However, before she had moved very far, the falcon's shape blurred and stretched. The children stumbled backwards, and John tripped over his own feet and fell onto his backside.

When the falcon's transformation was complete, a woman stood in the bird's place. She was clothed in a dress of fine green silk, and her brown hair was elegantly piled on top of her head. When she turned to face the children, they saw that she was wearing spectacles framed by thin silver wire.

"Magic!" Wendy whispered in wonder. She cast an 'I-told-you-so' look at John, who looked as if his entire world had been turned inside out.

"You are Wendy Darling?" the falcon-turned-lady asked.

"Yes, that's me." Wendy favored their visitor with her most welcoming smile.

"Then you have been to Neverland."

The three of them looked at each other in surprise, and Michael's mouth dropped open.

"YOU know about Neverland?" he squeaked.

"But you're a grown-up," Wendy said almost at the same time.

The lady in green laughed, then paled for a moment and had to put her hand on Wendy's shoulder to steady herself.

"I suppose shape-shifting took more out of me than I'd thought," she said. Though she smiled, Wendy could feel how heavily the woman was leaning on her.

"You can sit on my bed," Michael offered.

Once their guest was sitting down, Wendy asked her, "Please, tell us how you know about Neverland."

"And if you've seen Peter!" Michael added. The lady looked down at her hands.

"I can't tell you how I got there," she said, "but I made the mistake of leaving, and I can't seem to find the way back." The children nodded sympathetically. "I was hoping you could help me. I… left a good friend of mine in Neverland who I would very much like to see again."

John rubbed his chin, a mannerism he'd picked up from his father. "I don't suppose you mean one of the cousins…"

"Those are the Lost Boys," Wendy explained.

"Because they're here now," John finished.

The lady blinked in surprise. "The Lost Boys? Here? All of them?"

"All but Peter," Wendy said, her voice tinged with sadness.

"Ah, I see," the lady said. "That one always did seem to be too much a part of Neverland to leave it for good."

Michael tugged on Wendy's sleeve. "How does she know so much?" When no answer was forthcoming, he narrowed his eyes at the woman. "How do you know so much, bird-lady?"

"Michael, don't be rude!" Wendy said, then, to the lady, "I'm very sorry. It's just… we don't know your name, though you seem to know ours."

"My name is Sophia. I'm honored to finally meet you." She let her eyes rest on each of them in turn. "All of you. When I heard that there were children who had gone to Neverland and returned, I knew I had to try and find you. Please… will you help me?"

Wendy sighed and looked at the floor. "I wish we could. But, I'm afraid we don't know how to get back to Neverland any more than you do."

"When we went before, we had Peter and Tinkerbell with us," John said. Wendy raised an eyebrow at him, surprised that he was admitting that their adventure had been real. "What?" John asked. "Can't a man revise his beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence?" He gestured at Sophia.

"Please, tell me anything you can remember," Sophia said.

"It's the second star to the right," Michael told her, trying to be helpful. "I can show you!" He ran over to the window. Night had fallen quickly, and the sky was clear. "It's that one," Michael said, pointing confidently at a bright star on the right edge of the horizon.

"He's right," Wendy said. "I remember Peter showing it to me."

"But how to get there from here…" Sophia murmured.

"We flew," Michael offered. "With pixie du…" Wendy suddenly sprang up and clamped her hand over Michael's mouth. She looked at Sophia with suspicion.

"You're too old to be friends with any of the lost boys… So, tell me, if you don't mind, who is this friend of yours you want to get back to?"

"I'll bet he's a pirate," John said.

Sophia nodded. "Your brother is very perceptive, Wendy. My… friend is a pirate. You might have seen him. He has a hook…"

"It was Captain Hook!" Michael yelled, a little too loudly.

"Shhh!" Wendy and John hissed at the same time.

"You want Mother and Father coming up here?" John asked. Michael shook his head and snapped his mouth shut. Wendy took several steps backwards, away from Sophia.

"If you're friends with Hook, than you're Peter Pan's enemy," Wendy said. "I won't help you hurt him!"

Sophia smiled, recognizing the protective look in the young woman's eyes. "Hurting Peter is the farthest thing from my mind. Please believe me. The only reason I want to return to Neverland is so that I can help the Jolly Roger sail away from it."

Wendy studied Sophia for a moment, and the sorceress didn't flinch under her scrutiny. "Your eyes are so sad," Wendy finally said. "I… I believe you."

"But we still don't know how to get back to Neverland," John reminded them.

Wendy's eyes lit up. "No… I think we do! Or, at least, we might." She turned excitedly to her brothers. "The Lost Boys all fell out of their prams in the park… only to be picked up by fairies and taken to Neverland. And didn't Peter say Tinkerbell found him in the park?"

"I think he did," John agreed.

"There are fairies in Hyde Park!" Michael said, putting the pieces together.

"At least, sometimes there are," John amended.

"Of course…" Sophia murmured. "Hyde Park is where I went to sleep the night before I woke up in Neverland."

"We can't go tonight," Wendy told Sophia, "but if you come back tomorrow morning, we aren't in school. We'll get the Lost Boys, and we'll help you look for a fairy guide."

Sophia smiled, and reached out and took Wendy's hand. "Thank you," she said. Her eyes were bright, and Wendy wondered if Sophia wasn't about to cry. However, she collected herself and stood up. "I will see you in the morning, then." She walked over to the window, and her shape blurred back into that of the white falcon. She launched herself from the windowsill and soared out over the rooftops.

Back in the Darling house, Wendy, Michael and John rushed downstairs, whispering to each other. They had a great deal to tell the cousins later when their parents weren't listening.

-----

At ten o'clock the next morning, Wendy peeked out of her window and saw Sophia walking purposefully down the street. She was dressed for an outing in the park, and had traded in her finery for a simple dress and a broad-brimmed straw hat. Wendy ran down the hallway and poked her head into John's room, where he and Michael were playing.

"She's here," Wendy whispered.

John and Michael hastily pulled on coats and shoes and ran down the stairs.

"Mother, Father, we're going to the park," John shouted as they dashed for the door. Wendy made it out of the house and across the street to Sophia's side before her parents could react. John and Michael, however, were not so lucky, and Mr. and Mrs. Darling followed them onto the front porch. Mrs. Darling spent a moment fussing over their coats and hats, and making sure that they were dressed properly to go out into the crisp fall morning.

"Now, tell me where you're going again?" Mr. Darling asked.

"Just to the park, Father," John said.

"The cousins are already there, playing ball," Michael added.

"And Wendy's going with us," John told them. He pointed across the street at Wendy, and Mr. Darling turned to look at his daughter and the stranger she was standing with.

Sophia clasped her fingers around Wendy's arm, and a pained expression came over her face.

"That man… who is he?" Sophia asked. "I saw him yesterday when I was a bird, but now, seeing him through human eyes…"

"That's my father," Wendy said.

"How very interesting…" Sophia murmured. "He reminds me of someone I knew once, that's all."

"He reminds you of Captain Hook, doesn't he?" Wendy said. Sophia colored slightly and stared at Wendy in shock. The young girl had spoken Sophia's thoughts exactly, but Sophia would never have dreamed of making the comparison in Wendy's hearing for fear of insulting her. Seeing the shock on Sophia's face, Wendy shrugged. "I noticed the same thing when we came back from Neverland. They could be brothers. Strange, isn't it?"

"Very," Sophia said.

Wendy giggled. "What an interesting family that would be!"

Michael and John, having finally obtained their parents' approval, rushed across the street and the four of them started their journey to the park. Wendy and Sophia walked side by side like old friends, and the two boys ran ahead.

"The Captain is more than your friend," Wendy said when they had walked without speaking for several blocks.

A momentary look of fear passed across Sophia's face before she cautiously answered, "Yes." She studied Wendy for any sign that the girl was going to change her mind about helping her.

"I knew it," Wendy said, and smiled. Sophia did not smile back, but seemed somewhat relieved that Wendy wasn't angry. "It's quite obvious, you know. Every time you talk about him, you smile, even if you're trying to be serious, and your eyes light up."

"Am I so easy to read?" Sophia asked.

"A little," Wendy admitted. "But I think… it's nice. I always thought that Captain Hook seemed very lonely. It's nice to know he had a sweetheart."

"Had?" Sophia looked rather concerned at her use of the past tense.

Wendy's face grew serious as she wondered whether or not she should tell Sophia what she knew of the Captain's fate. Finally, she said, "You should know… since you're going back… the last time I saw Hook, well, there was a crocodile…"

Sophia stopped walking. "Yes?" she said, her eyes wide with concern.

"I think it might have gotten him," Wendy said.

Sophia sighed. "Well, I suppose I will just have to go back and see what's happened for myself."

Tentatively, Wendy took Sophia's hand. "I never thought I'd say this," Wendy said, "but I hope he's not dead. I hope you find him."

Not being used being on the receiving end of such good feeling, Sophia wasn't quite sure what to say. At last she settled on "Thank you."

The women continued walking down the street, arm in arm. When they reached the entrance to the park, Sophia said, "I wouldn't worry too much about the crocodile. Things in Neverland have a way of not being so final as they might seem."

A few feet into the park, they were met by Michael, John, and a whole troupe of boys, most of whom, though they were a little older, were faintly familiar to Sophia.

"This is the lady from the pirate ship!" Tootles exclaimed. "I remember her!"

They crowded around her, and Sophia began to feel distinctly uncomfortable as she recalled the last time she'd had contact with any of them.

"Don't worry, Lady," Slightly said, seeing her worried expression. "John and Wendy have explained everything. Besides, it's good to see someone from Neverland again!"

"We'll help you look for fairies!" the Twins said in unison. And with that, they all ran off in different directions.

The rest of the day was spent in looking under rocks and leaves, exploring hidden hollows in trees, and poking through flower beds. All of this, of course, was with frequent stops for games, and a long pause for lunch on the grass. Though Sophia enjoyed herself more than she had in quite some time, when the sun began to set, they were no closer to finding a fairy guide for Sophia than they had been in the morning.

"It didn't work," Michael said apologetically. They had all gathered around the bench Sophia was sitting on, and most of them had dirt and leaves clinging to their clothes and hair.

"But we looked everywhere!" Curly said.

"And if anyone would know where to find a fairy, it would be us," Slightly said. The others nodded in agreement. Some of them sighed wistfully, and others hung their heads in disappointment.

"Too many people looking," Nibs said at last. Sophia raised her head and regarded him with interest. Nibs had been nearly silent all day.

"Why do say that?" she asked.

"Fairies only come to take you to Neverland when you're alone. Lost. Everyone knows that," he said.

"Of course! We were all alone when we got found," Slightly said.

"Except for us!" the Twins reminded him.

"Were you alone when you came to Neverland?" Nibs asked Sophia.

"Very much so," she answered.

"Well then," Wendy said, standing up, "I think we should all go home. Maybe if we leave Sophia by herself, the fairies will see how very lonely she is and take her with them."

One by one, the Lost Boys headed home with cries of "Good luck!" and "Say hello to Peter for us!" thrown over their shoulders. At last, only Wendy and Sophia were left.

"Good luck," Wendy said, and gently embraced Sophia. "If… you don't find anything, please come and visit us. You don't have to be all by yourself."

"Thank you, Wendy," Sophia whispered. She hugged the girl back, and found herself a little sorry that she would not have the time to get to know her and her family better. Finally, Wendy stepped back, and both women wiped their eyes.

"If you see Peter, tell him… tell him that I haven't forgotten," Wendy said.

"I will," Sophia assured her. Then, she was gone, and Sophia was alone in the park once more.

The shadows continued to deepen, and passers by came fewer and far between. When it was fully night, Sophia looked up at the star that Wendy had pointed out as Neverland.

"And how do you fairies know when there's a lonely child down here, hmm?" she asked aloud, since there was no one to hear her. "They might sense it… sense when there is a lost one that needs them… Well, I am certainly lost. And quite alone." She tried her hardest to concentrate on these melancholy feelings in hopes that they might attract the notice of Neverland's magic, but dwelling on her situation was tiring, and painful, and as the half-moon rose over the trees, Sophia nodded off to sleep.