Summary: The fate of the Darling women proves inescapable, even to those who do not have daughters. Three orphans of the Neverland Orphanage are swept away by Peter Pan, despite a Darling's best efforts to prevent just that. This story means to tell of the three orphans' adventures in the Neverland, and the adventures of those who preceded them. This story is based on the book by JM Barrie, not any of the movies. The rating has been cranked up because later chapters will be dealing with violence & other non-K things.
Disclaimer: While the characters of the Neverland Orphanage are of my own creation, Peter, Smee, Wendy, John, Michael, Wendy's daughter & Wendy's granddaughter are all belonging to JM Barrie. Michael & John's descendants are of my own imagination, too.
Chapter Three: The Flight
The story that evening was a brief tale about the mermaids in the Neverland. Allison had considered avoiding a Peter Pan story, but she did not want to involve herself in an argument with the four-to-twelves. The girls were unusually subdued when Allison entered their dormitory. The twins were lying head-to-toe on Olivia's bed, talking to each other in a sign-language they had developed together. It was not a very effective way of communicating, they had told Allison once, but the crude gestures were very useful when one twin needed to tell the other something without speaking. Allison had seen them use bits of the language when Anne had apprehended them and trapped them on either side of her. The twins had also told Allison that the best use of the sign-language was aggravating Hattie. Allison noticed Hattie watching the twins with narrowed eyes from across the dormitory as they gestured at each other. They paused when Allison came in, turning their heads to the door along with the other girls. Sylvia slid off of Olivia's bed and climbed onto her own, rather than hopping from one mattress to the other as she normally would have. She drew a final gesture toward Olivia as she settled back against her pillow, spreading her fingers out and showing Olivia her palm, then rotating her wrist quickly as the fingers closed into a fist. It looked like she was snatching at the air and could easily be mistaken for an attempt at grabbing a bothersome fly, but Allison had seen it often enough to recognize it as a kind of goodbye. It was actually an interruption, used to warn one another when someone else was approaching or cut one another off. Sylvia dropped her fist into her lap and directed a bright, false smile at Hattie, who pulled a face that was quickly transformed into an adoring look as she turned toward Allison.
Allison was also strangely quiet and it did not escape the notice of the girls. They kept their eyes on Allison as she pulled the chair into the center of the room, looking puzzled but also further pacified by her quietness. The twins exchanged a knowing look and Hattie, whose eyes had strayed back to them, scowled at them. But they were soon devoting their attention to Allison, for even detached and subdued, she could work the magic that transformed the chair into Marooner's Rock and cast the salty smell of the sea throughout the dormitory. The moonlight spilling onto the dormitory floor rippled as if it were the surface of the water and the girls felt themselves being rocked to sleep as their beds bobbed like boats. Even after Allison left the drowsy girls, the mournful music of the mermaids floated through the dormitory like an eerie lullaby.
When Sylvia awoke, the air had lost its salty smell and the mermaid music had been replaced by a new sound in the dormitory: the faint tinkling of a small bell. She bolted upright, one fist already closed around the wooden sword under her pillow, but Olivia caught her eye with the quieting gesture. Sylvia looked at her twin, frowning. Olivia's eyes were wide and alert as she pointed up. Sylvia directed her gaze to follow Olivia's finger and felt her jaw go slack.
Melissa was turning circles in the air above the sleeping four-to-twelves, smiling and holding onto the hand of a sandy-haired boy, no more than six and clad in leaves so freshly green that it seemed to Sylvia she had never before seen the proper color.
"Pan," she whispered to herself. Beside her, Olivia was smiling. Then she heard the bells again.
A small yellow light, like a firefly that did not blink, danced in front of Sylvia's face and it was from this that the tinkling noise came. It chimed and pulled loops in the air and Sylvia and Olivia followed its dizzying path with wide eyes.
"A fairy," Olivia breathed, leaning nearer to the dancing light.
"She'll bite your nose off if you give her the chance," came a voice from behind Olivia that made both twins jump in a combination of surprise and delight. There was a wild, joyful ring in each word that made the twins' hearts leap in their chests. Sylvia felt the small hairs on the back of her neck stand up with a joy that was strangely entangled in fear, just as the voice had been both elating and terrifying. They knew from their own reactions who the speaker was before they even turned.
He was enchantingly adorable: his small face round and soft, freckles spattered across his nose, and the gleaming pearls of all his first teeth in his smile. But the girls glanced up from his dimpled cheeks to the shining blue eyes where an unexpected ferocity was glowing alongside his youth. The glint of silver at his hip – a small but very real blade – echoed the danger lying beside the joy in his eyes.
Over his shoulder, Melissa was still dancing and spinning through the air. Sylvia stared at her in wonder until the fairy's light streaking toward Peter drew her eyes back to him. He was hovering in the air just above Olivia's bed and turned his head to the fairy as it tinkled and glowed. Olivia was transfixed, staring at Peter in wonder and rising onto her knees to place herself at eye level. Peter turned suddenly, regarding Olivia with puzzled amusement as if he had never seen anything like her.
"What does she say?" Olivia asked, her voice a hoarse whisper of excitement.
"What, Glim?" he replied, jerking his head in the fairy's direction. "She says I ought to just pick a mother and go before I have to take all of you with me."
"Who will you pick?"
"That depends on who tells the best stories, besides that lady." Here Peter made a face of disgust and gnashed his shining pearls
"Well, Pell Mell does tell very good stories," Olivia began.
"But Penny's awful good, too –"
"And Sly's just great –"
"Ollie's better –"
"Gosh, even Hattie's not half-bad. She knows all of your stories –"
Peter had followed the twins volley of words with growing dismay filling his eyes and now he interrupted them with a heavy sigh. "I suppose I will have to take all of you," he moaned, and tipped over, sprawling in the air above Olivia's bed.
The fairy's angry tinkling was drowned out by a squeal from the other side of the dormitory. Melissa, fortunately flying over her own bed, was startled out of the air and fell to the mattress. She joined Peter and the twins in whipping around to find the source of the noise and laughed aloud to see that Penny had leapt out of bed and was dancing on her mattress. "The Neverland," she cheered in a voice unlike her usual timid whisper. "We're going to the Neverland!"
"Oh, Peter, how wonderful," Hattie cried, sliding out of bed and scampering over to Peter. He raised himself up on one elbow and looked down at her thoughtfully. She smiled in what she must have thought was a very fetching way, though it looked more to Sylvia like she was baring her teeth. Peter put his head to one side and looked puzzled while Hattie continued to beam at him. The fairy was glowing bright orange at Peter's shoulder, but before she could attack Hattie, Melissa grabbed her in one hand and gathered herself up for a great jump off of the bed. The other girls watched in amazement as Melissa rose in the air and remained aloft. She pulled an uncertain loop over their heads, laughing in surprise to find herself right side up and still airborne in the end. The girls ooh-ed and applauded, and Melissa grinned, their praise making her bolder, and spun in place over their heads like a ballerina, showing off much to the girls' delight. Not to be outdone, Peter soared through the air to Melissa's side. The girls gasped below them. "It's Peter Pan!" they squealed to one another.
Peter puffed out his chest proudly and struck a bold pose in the air, hands on his hips and chin raised. There was gasping and cheering from most of the girls, the loudest from Hattie. Olivia chuckled good-naturedly and cast a sidelong look at Sylvia, who was looking up at Peter with a dubious smirk: she seemed unimpressed, but the boy's allure was irresistible and she could not help feeling the thrill his presence inspired.
Melissa now unfurled her fist to reveal the glowing red light of the fairy. She did not seem pleased, but Melissa smiled sweetly at the angry ball of light. "A bit of fairy dust, if you don't mind, Miss Glimmer Bell," she cooed, soaring over the beds of the girls and sprinkling the fairy's glittering powder onto their upturned faces.
Sylvia watched the dust float down to her and held her breath, waiting for it to settle over her. A strange feeling began working through her, like the beginnings of a sneeze that started much deeper than the back of her nose. She sprang up from the bed, grabbing Olivia's hand. "Happy thoughts, Ollie!" she breathed and they rose swiftly, weightlessly into the air above them. There was a moment of incredulous floating – we can fly, we can fly, the twins thought, smiling wordlessly at each other, squeezing each other's hands tightly – before Melissa swooped by them, giggling, and seized Olivia's other hand. They were pulled along, seizing Penny next and adding her to the chain, circling around Hattie, who looked terrified to be off the ground and clutched desperately at two of her devotees. They floundered in the air and nearly fell when the four girls swept past them, but Penny grabbed at them and tugged them along. They circled the dormitory, lengthening the chain, until all of the four-to-twelves had joined hands and formed a giggly, breathless, bright-eyed circle around Peter and the much calmer Glimmer Bell.
"Are you really going to take us to the Neverland, Peter?" Penny asked, her new boldness yet to give way to the usual shyness.
Peter nodded, sending a ripple of delighted gasps around the circle of hovering girls.
"All of us?"
"If one mother is good, this many mothers must be better," Peter said with an air of finality. Hattie nodded fervently, still clinging tightly to her friends but seeming eager to prove what a good mother she could be. Sylvia narrowed her eyes thoughtfully but said nothing; the idea of going to the Neverland was too exciting.
"Well, what are we waiting for," Olivia cried, and the girls cheered, still holding hands as they flew to the window in a streaming line of four-to-twelves in standard issue pajamas.
"Oh, wait!" Sylvia suddenly broke away and swooped toward her bed, where the precious wooden sword had been dropped when she first took off.
"What good will that stick be in the Neverland?" Hattie sneered.
Peter took the wooden sword from Sylvia, hefting it from the hilt and peering down the length of the blade. He tossed the sword in the air, catching it so that the hilt faced Sylvia. He offered it to her. "It will do," he said with a nod as she took it. Smiling smugly at Hattie, Sylvia tucked the sword into the waistband of her pajama bottoms and took Olivia and Melissa by the hand again. With Peter and Glimmer Bell at the lead, the four-to-twelves soared out the dormitory window and over sleeping London, all eyes locked on the second star to the right. As their many silhouettes, joined at the hands, stretched across the moon like a chain of so many paper dolls, they heard the mermaid music ringing clearly through the night, spurring them on toward the Neverland.
In her quarters on the fifth floor, Allison woke from a restless sleep and kicked off the bed sheets that had tangled around her legs. She felt feverish, hot and cold at once, and shivered once she was free of the sheets, still sweating in her nightdress. She rolled over onto her stomach, pressing her face into the cool place between the pillows and moaning, "Emily, Emily, I'm sorry." As always, there was no answer, though she strained her ears and held her breath for a moment, wishing for some sign that she had been heard. The silence stretched on until Allison's lungs hurt and she exhaled heavily, her breath warming the cool pocket between the pillows. With another restless toss, she shoved herself out of the bed and shuffled barefoot across the cold floor to the window. Kneeling on the sill, she pressed her forehead to the cool pane of glass and looked up into the quiet night. Automatically, she sought out the second star to the right, the point to which her eyes had been drawn every night since she was a child. She shivered as the familiar image of Emily returning alone to the Neverland flickered across the sky. It was a dream, more like a nightmare, that had long haunted Allison: Emily lurching unsteadily through the air, her dressing gown hanging open and streaming out behind her like a cape so that some restless child looking out at the sky thinks a superhero is soaring overhead. But it is only a sad, lost girl, crying and hiccupping and sniffling as she bobs and weaves her way back to the Neverland, while Allison stands frozen in the nursery window, staring after Emily and whispering to herself "Mea culpa."
As the imagined silhouette of Emily passed over the moon, the dream blurred and tore, the shadow split into a chain of shadows soaring past the moon. Allison stared up at what looked like a string of paper dolls cut through the moonlight and for a moment, she thought she was dreaming again. But as she counted the number of silhouettes as they passed, realization spread icily through her. She shivered again, this time feeling the cold in her very bones, and threw herself away from the window, stumbling backwards across the floor. Awkwardly, half-falling, she turned and nearly twisted her ankle, lurched for the door, flung it open and hurtled out into the hallway. She pounded with an open hand on the door next to hers and the one after that, but she did not stop to see them opened as she hurried toward the stairs. Holly and Anne poked their heads out just in time to see Allison bounding down the stairs and follow, pulling their dressing gowns on as they went. Allison was a full flight of stairs ahead of them by the time they reached the fourth floor, but they could hear her feet pounding against the steps ahead. Holly jumped as the door of the four-to-twelves' dormitory banged hard against the wall. Anne paused on the stairs and turned over her shoulder to Holly, looking, for the first time that the younger woman could remember, frightened. Holly did not dwell on that, though, and pushed past Anne, grabbing the older woman's arm and pulling her along to the third floor.
Allison was standing in the door, gripping the doorframe tightly as if she might fall if she let go. Anne and Holly drew up short upon seeing her; she looked positively terrifying, her hair loose and moving eerily in the breeze from the room as she sagged against the doorframe. She had bolted from the bedroom without putting on a dressing gown and the night dress left her arms and legs bare. In the bright moonlight from the dormitory, her limbs were an unearthly pale and it took Holly a moment to tear herself away from the eerie sight and usher the curious older girls back into their dormitory, as their sleepy heads began to appear in their doorway.
"M-Miss Allison?" Anne asked timidly, clutching her dressing gown in both fists as if for support.
Allison turned to Anne, her face white like porcelain in the moonlight. Her eyes were strangely, feverishly bright with standing tears and Anne trembled as they locked on hers. "They've gone," Allison rasped. "He took all of them."
"What? Who?" Anne whispered, taking a step toward Allison. But she released the doorframe from her tight grip and lurched forward into the dormitory. Anne scampered after, gasping aloud at the eleven empty beds.
"Where are they?" Holly squeaked. Anne looked back helplessly. Holly stood in the center of the room, where Allison had sat to tell the girls their story only hours ago, shivering as she gazed around the moonlit room. Full of the ghostly light and empty beds, the room seemed bigger than usual. There was a cold, lonely air that pressed down around Anne and Holly. They shuffled closer together until their shoulders nearly touched and stood in each other's warmth, surveying the room nervously. Bewildered, they turned to Allison.
She was standing at the window as if she had no knowledge of their presence, solidly balanced on her feet without leaning on the sill. Her eyes were fixed on some distant point in the sky and Holly had to call her five times, each time drawing nearer and nearer, until Allison looked round.
"The girls, Miss Allison. Where are the girls?"
Allison blinked at Holly and stayed silent for a moment. "I suppose he's taken them," she sighed, turning back to the window.
"Who has taken them? Where?"
"Peter Pan," she shrugged. "To the Neverland."
Anne and Holly exchanged a look behind Allison's back. "Um, Miss –"
"I never thought he would come for them. I'd hoped he wouldn't. Oh, why couldn't David or Jude have had daughters?" Allison was ignoring Anne and Holly, mumbling to herself at the window. Holly looked imploringly at Anne.
"Miss Allison," Anne said nervously. "Shouldn't we alert the police?"
"What for?" Allison turned her back to the window and fixed her glittering eyes on Anne, whose fists twisted the dressing gown fearfully. Her voice shook as she replied.
"To – to find the girls, Miss."
Allison smiled wryly and shook her head. "The police cannot fly, Anne. No, we'll have to wait. The girls will come back. They know their part of the story." Allison pushed away from the window and brushed past Holly and Anne. They followed her, shivering. She fluffed the pillow of the bed nearest the window – Penny's – and smoothed down the covers. "We have to remember ours." There was a moment of silence before she looked up, her eyes devoid of the wild gleam that had frightened Anne and Holly so much. She seemed more alert, like her usual self, as she instructed the bewildered attendants.
"I must go on an errand. I will leave first thing tomorrow morning. While I am gone, you are to tell the other girls that I have taken the four-to-twelves abroad. Keep their absence secret to all. You must tell no one: not the other girls, not the grocer, especially not the police. You must not even speak to each other about this night. There is to be no gossip, no whispering, no speculating. The girls are abroad, and they will return shortly." She paused and looked at Anne and Holly with a familiar air of control that settled them a little, though they still seemed shaken and overwhelmed. Allison managed a small, brave smile. "They will return," she assured them, placing a hand on the shoulder of each. Their smiles were weak and reluctant, but they allowed Allison to steer them back upstairs to their quarters. Each of the three women shut their doors firmly and slipped under their faintly warm covers, settling back into the embrace of sleep. Allison rested with her eyes closed, making arrangements for the morning in her head until she lapsed into a placid state somewhere between sleeping and waking. But Anne and Holly each lay awake, watching the rooms grow gradually brighter as the sun began its slow rise and wondering, worrying: where were the girls?
and now a word from our author: so, i've finally decided to sit down & work out some kind of time frame for this piece, because, as my lovely reviewers have pointed out, this reads sort of Barrie-esque. & while that greatly honors me, it also called into question when exactly i was setting this. in the first chapter, i designated that Allison is the cousin of Wendy's great-granddaughter. so, obviously, this is not 1900 & after some half-caff "calculations" in the margin of my notes, i've worked out that this story takes place in the early to mid-1970s. so, there you go. this will start to figure in as the characters that remain in London get a little bit more development. on that note, i want to thank all of my reviewers for being so kind & supportive, & to apologize to anyone who wanted this story to continue for keeping you waiting. & also, apologies for this chapter, which seems a bit cramped to me. it's better than the first few drafts, which doesn't say much for me, but hey. so: thanks! & stay tuned! more to come soon.
