Chapter 8

"Meeting the Mermaids"

The next morning with the events of the Indians still fresh on her mind, Alice went with Peter whereas he wanted to have her meet the mermaids. Alice had never seen anything quite like this before and were amazed that they were all young girls just like her, but with fish tails instead of human legs.

"Just imagine, real life mermaids!" gasped Alice. "I can't believe that I am seeing them all for the first time."

"Would you like to meet them?" asked Peter and it didn't take long for Alice to respond to his question.

"Oh, Peter, I would love too!" replied Alice, gleefully and Peter jumped down and blew on his pipes to attract the mermaids' attention. Upon seeing their friend, the Mermaids jumped off of the rocks they were on and swimming over towards their friend. It had been a while since the mermaids had seen Peter and were excited to see him again.

"Hello, girls!" he said to them as Alice climbed down from the rock she was standing on in an effort to try and come over to them.

"I'm so glad to see you," said a mermaid.

"Why did you stay away so long?" asked another mermaid. "Did you miss me?"

"Tell us about your most recent adventures," said another mermaid.

Alice continued to try and get over to where Peter was without falling into the water. It wasn't easy, but she was trying to not get her favorite blue dress wet. However, as she tried to jump over the rocks, she was being watched by the Walrus who was directly underneath Alice and was watching her every move.

"Do you want to hear about how the Lost Boys and I got control of Hook's ship and left him and the pirates to the crocodile?" asked Peter excitedly.

"Oh, I've always loved that one," said a mermaid excitedly.

"Me too," said another and they all listened in while Alice continued to try and make her way over to them without falling into the water.

"Well, there I was flying over Hook's ship," began Peter, jumping into his usual storytelling self. "I had come to save Wendy and the Lost Boys from Hook's captivity and I managed to get them free and fight Hook to the death. Finally, after an intense duel, Hook had me cornered on one of the masts and I seized the chance to jump up and trap him in his own flag. He begged for his life and I told him that he would live if he called himself a codfish, which he did and I threw him to the crocodile, with the pirates in hot pursuit for his own safety."

The mermaids were enchanted by the sight of Peter's exquisite storytelling and were just about to hear more when one of the mermaids wondered about something.

"But, whatever happened to that girl who was here?" asked one of the mermaids. "You know the one in the nightdress?"

Peter was silent for a minute as once again, he was brought up with the memories of Wendy and how his breakup with her was still fresh in his mind. After a moment, he took in a sigh and looked down at the mermaids.

"Well," he replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Wendy went back to where she came from and I don't know if I will ever see her again."

The mermaids were now feeling sorry for Peter as they could remember getting Wendy wet and trying to get her to swim with them. However, their attention on the matter was short lived when one of them called out on Alice, who had just managed to come over to them.

"Who's she?" asked one of the mermaids.

"Huh? Oh, that's Alice!" replied Peter and the curiosity of the mermaids returned as Alice approached them.

"Another girl?" remarked the mermaids. "What's she doing here and in a weirder nightdress too!"

"I beg your pardon?" gasped Alice, shocked at how rude the mermaids were. "I'll have you know…"

But before Alice could say another word, the mermaids began to advance on her like a pack of sharks.

"Come on, dearie, join us for a swim," said one of the mermaids, tugging at Alice's dress.

"Oh, please, I'm not dressed for it," protested Alice, trying to keep the Mermaid's hands off of her.

"Oh, but you must!" said another mermaid.

"We insist!" said yet another mermaid as one pulled at Alice's petticoats, before she kicked them away.

"No, no, please!" cried Alice as another mermaid stuck her hand at Alice's bloomers. Now, the mermaids were starting to cross Alice's personal boundaries.

"Too good for us, eh?" remarked a mermaid as they now began to splash water at her. Alice called out to Peter, who could only laugh at what was going on as the splashing continued and now Alice became very cross with what was happening to her.

"If you dare to come near me again…" she hissed, picking up a seashell to throw at the mermaids. Realizing that she could hurt her friends, Peter raced over to stop her.

"Alice! Alice!" he called, pulling the seashell out of her hands, much to her annoyance. "They were just having a little fun! Weren't you, girls?"

Alice merely turned away, gritting her teeth in anger. She had never been so humiliated in her life and wanted to finish what she was just about to do.

"That's all," said a mermaid.

"We were only trying to drown her," said another, lying against a rock.

"You see?" said Peter, flying over to a still furious Alice.

"Well, if you think for one minute that I am going to put up…" Alice started to reply, but Peter heard something from down beneath the water.

"Hold it, Alice," he whispered and went over to the source of the noise and watching from behind a barrier, he saw the Flying Dutchman rise up out of the water and Peter could see someone very familiar was onboard. "Yep, it's Hook all right!"

The sound of Hook's name sent the mermaids into a frenzy and they all jumped back into the water and swam away as fast as they could. Peter then grabbed Alice's hand and flew her over to the barrier and directed her to someone that Alice was already very familiar with.

"They've captured Tiger Lily again," he said, seeing the Indian princess tied up with the crocodile following the ghost ship in the direction of Skull Rock.

"Looks like they are heading for Skull Rock," said Peter, rising into the air. "Come on, Alice! Let's see what they are up to!"

So, they took off from the Lagoon and followed the Dutchman to Skull Rock where Tiger Lilly was once again being held captive. Alice knew that she had to somehow return the favor to Tiger Lilly for saving her life from the rest of the Indians, but she didn't know how to do it…