Getting Lost

When I opened my eyes, I was staring up at the tops of trees that stood high in front of an orange sky background. I wasn't at home anymore, but was in a clearing in the middle of a dense forest. I stood up and looked around, there were no clear paths that led out of the clearing and no one around me; I was all alone. It actually would have been quite a relaxing little spot if I wasn't dumped there against my will and with no knowledge of where I was or how I got there.

The air was crisp and cold and the few trees that still had leaves on them were showing off their red and gold foliage. A few of the trees that surrounded the clearing had large holes cut out of the insides of them and each time I looked at one, I got the feeling that something was looking back out at me. Feeling like I was being watched from all angles made me really uncomfortable. Inside the circle of trees was a collection of stones, arranged in pairs with each other, they didn't create any shape or design, rather it seemed more like they were randomly placed; however no stone was left by itself, each one had a 'companion'.

I didn't have a lot of time to find a shelter for the night, the sun was setting quickly, and once it did I'd have no way of finding my way around at all until morning; and that's if I made it to the next morning. My options were to stay in this clearing where I was left and probably die, or go out and get lost in the woods and probably die. I figured that if I went out in the woods at least it shows I made an effort.

As I walked over to the edge of the clearing I felt around in my pockets for my cell phone to use as a light even though I knew that I left it back home, it was just a habit. Shadows stretched across the forest floor and quickly grew as the sun went down,

'Yep, I'm gonna die,' I thought and made my first step into the forest.

There was no trail made on the ground, it was all just covered in leaves, but the trees made some sort of a path I could follow and use as land marks. There were no lights in the distance to guide me anywhere, and I had no idea where I was, all I could do was to keep walking.

About twenty minutes into the forest, the sky was now a dark purple and it was getting harder and harder to see and the feeling of being watched came back. I stopped for a moment and looked around,

'I really need to stop scaring myself,' I looked around behind me and froze. I wasn't scaring myself, this time I had good reason to be scared.

A tree had fallen behind me blocking the path I had just come from. I know for certain that tree was not there a minute ago. This wasn't a small tree either; it was a full grown 50ft tree that was now laying in the middle of my path, blocking me from turning around. There was no way a tree could have fallen down right behind me and I didn't hear it, I didn't hear anything. I peered over the tree and saw about twenty yards down there was another tree that was lying on its side and blocking the path.

It only took a quiet rustle of a nearby bush to make me leap over the tree and start sprinting. I didn't know what was behind me, I didn't know what moved these trees, but I didn't want to find out. I pushed myself over the second tree and continued on down the path. I could see the clearing through the trees, but there were a few new things this time. At the end of the path was a large archway made from woven branches and vines. That could have been there when I first came in, and just never noticed, I don't know, but it was the second thing that really bothered me; a stag's head impaled on a stick. That I know was not there when I came in. The sight took me by surprise and I slipped on a patch of fallen leaves and fell on the ground. The stag head was skinned on the left side and blood dripped down the sides of the skull and stick; this was a fresh kill. I slowly stood up and inched passed the head like it was going to jump out at me. I gave one last glance into the forest to make sure nothing was behind me, and after seeing I was clear, I darted out of the woods and back into the clearing.

As the evening progressed, the temperature began to drop and the breeze went from a quiet sigh to chilling gusts. Even though I had a jacket on, it was a light one so I kept my arms close to me to keep them warm. I couldn't help but jump every time I heard a twig snap or a bush rustle, I was so on edge, every little noise caught my attention. I sat down in the middle of the clearing next to one of the hollowed out trees. The sun was going down fast and I knew it was only a matter of minutes before the entire forest was pitch black.

I honestly had it in my head that I was going to die out there, in the middle of nowhere, by myself and no one would ever know what happened to me. Kind of a crappy way to go, but what are you going to do? I tried to fit myself behind the tree as best as I could, to try to get out of the wind, but it didn't help that much and I wondered why I even bothered trying to move. When I rested my head against the tree I could hear faint laughter from deep down inside. I sat back up and stared at the tree, as if it said something to me. Laughter from inside a tree?

'Is someone down there?'

I leaned in closer and listened again, it was indeed laughter and voices of children. I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but they were speaking clear enough that I knew they were at least speaking in English, in fact some of them even had distinct accents I could pick out. Suddenly, one of the voices started to hush the rest of them and everything quieted down. Maybe they were going to sleep. I heard a girl's voice say 'I'll go check' followed by some sort of shuffling sound from inside the tree. The shuffling stopped and I pressed my ear as hard against the tree as I could, somehow thinking this would help me hear better, but everything inside was silent.

"That's really odd..." I said to myself.

I felt the hair on the back of my neck start to stand up. Initially I thought it was just the wind again, until I felt two fingers poke into my sides and someone from behind me yell "BOO!"

I don't remember what four letter word I screamed, but I know I screamed it loud. A hand clapped over my mouth and pulled me back,

"Oh my God! Suddup, shuddup, shuddup!" I tried to pull away but this person twisted around me and shoved my back into the tree, her hand still over my mouth, as she hushed me. I found myself staring into these two ocean blue eyes just inches away from me. Her wavy brown hair blew across her face and a few strands stuck to her lower lip. She looked as shocked as I was. Her hand lowered from my mouth as she slowly stepped away from me. She looked to be about my age, and was dressed in black jeans and a white cotton 'pirate' shirt with a deep neckline and flowing sleeves.

"Holy crap..." She said, she had a slight Southern accent. "Didn't think you were gonna get scared like that!" She started to smile.

"I wasn't scared... You startled me, that's all."

She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled, "Mhmm, sure. We heard someone up here and Peter sent me to go see who it was. Wasn't expectin' another kid."

I shrugged, "I wasn't expecting another kid either," and we both laughed with relief.

"So where ya from? Ya'll don't sound like you're from around here."

"Why, am I in Virginia?"

Her smile grew wider and she giggled again, "I'm from Virginia."

"No way, where at?"

"New Port News."

I held my hand out for her, "Stone Harbor, New Jersey. Nice to... not be killed by you. So where am I? You clearly don't seem as freaked out as I am about this place."

"Here, follow me. We'll get ya inside and explain everything. It's not good to be out here at night. Don't want the Wolf to come get ya. Oh, and by the way," she looked back at me over her shoulder, "My name's Kat."

"Sid."

"Sid? Like Sidney? I thought 'Sidney' was a girl's name?"

I sighed, "No, it's a boy's name, it's just lately a lot of girls have the name, but they spell it SY, mine's spelt SI. Think of Sid Vicious."

"Oh that's cool! A lot cooler than 'Kaitlin' anyway."

"I like 'Kaitlin'."

"Too bad I go by Kat."

"I like Kat too."

She gave me a sly smile. "You like to push it, don't ya, Jersey boy?"

"Yes."

She started laughing again, "Come on, follow me, we'll get ya inside."

Kat walked around to the other side of the tree with the big hole cut out of it.

"It's just like a slide," she said. She put her hands on the sides of the tree, ducked in and as soon as she let go, disappeared down inside the tree. I poked my head in, at the bottom I could see a faintly glowing light and heard voices from down inside,

"Come on Sid!" Kat called out to me. The voices of a few children called out as well, wanting me to come down.

"Okay, hold on! It's been a while since I've done the slide thing." I held on to the outside of the tree, like Kat, and tried to fit myself inside. There was nothing inside to step on, so this slide just went straight down at first. What I wanted to do was press myself against the inside of the tree and ease my way down, however when I tried to get my hands inside, I slipped and fell down the slide. Luckily I was on my back, however landing on my tailbone didn't feel so good.

"Wasn't so hard was it?" Kat giggled.

I opened my eyes, I was laying on my back at the bottom of the slide. It took me to this large open room deep down under ground. The walls were covered with tree roots and roughly made wooden shelves that held things like clay bowls and lanterns. Deer skulls hung from the walls as well, their antlers decorated with hanging beads and lit candles. The dirt floor was covered with several mats made from either dried grass or animal skins and sitting in the centre of the room was a group of children, all looking to be between the ages of 4 and 10. They all began to scoot in closer to Kat and I, curious to see who I was.

"Hey Trinket, found you 'monster'." Kat joked. One of the children, a 4-year-old girl who was dressed in all green looked up at her. Kat leaned over to me, "That's Trinket, she's pretty skittish, but she's good at keeping an eye out for danger."

Kat turned to the group of kids, "Hey y'all, this is Sid. I found him wondering around outside, this is the 'monster' that Trinket thought she heard. Not sure when he got here... Hey Sid, how long have you been in Neverland?"

This question took me by surprise. Is that where I was? I had always pictured Neverland to be a tropical island, not a cold, wintery forest. I shrugged,

"I dunno like... thirty minutes?" I guess they were expecting me to have been there longer.

"Really?" Kat said, "so you like, literally just got here."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"I forget how long I've been here..." one of the kids said.

"Me too!" another jumped in.

"I've been here for a 100 years! Or over that! I can't remember." the oldest looking boy of the bunch said as he stood up and placed his fists on his sides. He had tangled red-auburn hair and a few freckles spotted his nose. His clothes were made from pieces of leather sewn together and covered with green leaves, they were only a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt and on his leather belt hung a decent sized dagger.

"Well obviously, Peter," Kat smiled and rolled her eyes.

"I just wanted to tell the new one." Peter grinned a sly, elfish grin.

"Wait... Peter? Peter Pan?"

The kid took a bow before me.

"No... No way...This isn't happening..."

Kat laughed, "Yeah, it's happening."

I looked around the tree house, the wheels finally starting to turn in my head, this was real. In a million years you'd never think that something like this could happen, but there I was. This was all real.

"So, NewOne" Peter asked bringing my attention back to him, "What kinda things you like?"

I thought this was an odd question, but right away, all the kids perked up, and inched closer. Why they were so interested in me, I don't know.

I shrugged, "Uh, I don't know... fishing?"

"Boring!" Peter yelled, "What else?"

"Uh... Water ice?" This really seemed to get the kid's attention.

"What's wooder ice?" one of the kids asked, copying my Philly accent. I actually thought it was kind of funny and laughed,

"Water ice is like... shavings of ice mixed with fruit juice." I've eaten water ice my whole life, it never really occurred to me how to explain it to someone because everyone I grew up with knew what it was. The kid's eyes all lit up at the sound of this.

"Like ice cream?!"

"Yeah... kinda like ice cream, but more fruity."

A slow, collective 'whoa' emanated from the group of children.

"What else?" another one asked.

"Uh..." I just didn't know what to say, it wasn't every day I had to explain my interests to people. "I'm kind of a history nerd...I'm really big into pirates..."

All the kids gasped and quick as a flash Peter drew his dagger on me and pinned me against the back wall with it,

"You're a pirate!"

"What? No!"

"You said you liked pirates!"

"Okay, I don't like pirates, holy crap, don't kill me!"

"Well how do we know you're not a pirate?"

One of the other kids spoke up, "He's got long hair like a pirate!"

I yelled right in Peter's face, "I'm not a pirate!"

"Yeah!" He yelled back, "Prove it!"

"I still laugh at fart jokes!" Everything in the room stopped. "does...that...count?" I had no idea why that was the first thing that came to mind, but it was.

Right away, Peter's attitude changed back and he slid his dagger back into its leather sheath, "Oh, alright then! I guess that counts."

I didn't move, but instead shifted my eyes over to Kat, who seemed just as surprised at Peter's outburst as I was.

"Because we don't like pirates here," Peter continued, "we kill them."

"They're fun to kill!" another little boy yelled out.

A third boy called out, "Ooh, ooh guys! One time I killed a pirate...and, and... I popped his eyes out with my finger...and... it was funny... 'cause his eyeballs went 'POP!' and jelly came out!"

"You have jelly in your eyeballs? Cool!" another kid spoke up.

All the kids started to laugh at this; myself however, I was a little disturbed hearing about kids squeezing 'jelly' out of someone's eyeball.

"Alright then NewOne, since you're not a pirate and you're gonna stay here with us, this is your new family!" Peter pointed at each of the kids, going down the line, introducing each of them to me.

Trinket was the youngest, only just turning 4 fairly recently. Her pink knee-length dress was dirty and torn apart at the bottom hem and her dirty blond hair was shaped in a bob cut.

Penn was next, he was an eight year old from the West End in London. His appearance was more representative of the time period he grew up in; his dark knee breeches were torn and patched and his white, button up shirt had been stained a tea-brown colour from dirt.

Then there was Seven, and as his name implies, he was only seven years old. He too, came from London with his older brother, Nine. Nine wasn't here though, at the time, I didn't know where he was. When Peter first asked his name, Seven thought he was asking for his age, and proudly said 'I'm Seven, and my brother's Nine,' so that was what Peter called them.

Spots was another young one, probably around the same age as Trinket. His dark brown hair was unkempt and shaggy, and his tattered shorts and t-shirt was covered with holes and mud stains.

It was the last kid that was introduced to me that took be by surprise. This was a little girl, about 8 years old, named JetBlack. Rather than wearing the tattered remnants of clothes like the other children, this girl wore a plain black velvet dress with a starch white collar and white knee-high socks with shiny black buckled shoes. Her skin was pale and her hair was straight black and cut at chin level with straight bangs across her brow. She looked like she had just walked out of a painting everything about her was so perfect, while the other kids wore clothes full of dirt and patches, she was completely clean of any of that.

I tried not to let my jaw drop. This was the same little girl that I saw back home, that followed me around outside and that showed up on my camera wandering around my house. And same as before, she stared at me, not breaking her gaze once, with her solid black eyes.

I leaned over and asked Kat, "Is she okay?"

"JetBlack doesn't talk much."

"Where'd she come from?"

"Dunno. She was one Peter brought back long before any of us came here."

They certainly were an interesting group to look at, some of them like time capsules, wearing clothing from 100 years ago, while others, like Trinket and Spots were a bit more on the modern side and Kat being an interesting combination of the two.

Spots pointed at me and called out, "Hey you!"

"You?" Kat answered, "He has a name, Spots."

"Oh yeah... NewOne! Know any stories? Kat knows stories. All big kids know good stories."

"No, I'm not very good at telling stories."

"Well make one up!"

Word got around quick and suddenly the children scooted even closer to Kat and I saying "NewOne's gonna tell us a story!"

"When was this decided? I just said I don't know any stories!"

"Okay, I'll tell ya a story if ya'll settle down." Everyone listened to Kat and they quickly hushed themselves. "They listen to me," she said to me.

"Now what story should I tell you..."

Seven raised his hand, "I want to hear the one about the lions again!"

"No!" Trinket shouted, "I want to hear about the princess with the magic hair!"

"I have an idea," Kat started to stand in a crouched position with her hands out like claws, "how about a story...about... The Wolf!" and she jumped at the group, making them all scream and laugh.

"Okay, The Wolf it is then!"

"Are you gonna start?" Spots asked.

"Yes, I was about to Spots."

"Well you gotta say 'once upon a time'. All stories start with 'once upon a time'."

"Okay..." Kat rolled her eyes, but she was patient enough to not actually be annoyed, "Once upon a time, long, long ago. Longer than even the oldest tree can remember, there was a Little White Bird. Now the Little White Bird was said to be the guardian of a magical island. The people who lived on that island called him Ashé Awae and they all loved the Little White Bird because he would use his powers only for good and fun. He made the sun shine, and the ocean wave. He would rescue hurt, or forgotten children from the main lands and teach them how to play in the clouds and ride the winds in the morning, and take them on wild adventures through a never ending forest in the afternoon. And in the evening, they would all play with the dark sky, tossing stars back and forth with each other until the nightly winds sang them to sleep. The Little White Bird even taught the children to fly. He would remind the children that they too were once birds and as long as they believed they could fly, they could! But the moment they stopped believing, they'd lose the ability for ever, so the children always had to believe in the gift of flight. One day the Little White Bird was playing with this friends out on the shoreline and there, out in the water, they saw a floating house. None of them had ever seen anything like it, they stood there and stared, watching as the house began to float closer to the island.

Later that night, as the children were all trying to sleep a long and lonely howl sailed across the open sky."

I felt Spots poke my arm and he whispered to me, "That's the Wolf."

I nodded, "Oh, okay." He slid over closer to me and leaned his head into my arm.

"Yes Spots, that was the Wolf. Now the next day the Little White Bird and the children all hurried out on the shoreline wondering if they'd see the floating house again, and sure enough, the house was now on the island and they saw a white wolf wondering about in the sand.

Ashé Awae approached the Wolf and asked him what he was doing here, to which the Wolf replied, 'I'm here because I'm lost and I'm looking for a new home. I think this island will do nicely.' But there was something not right with the Wolf and his entrancing blue eyes.

'Well of course you can stay here,' Ashé Awae told him, and the Wolf began to make himself at home. However, unlike those who lived on the island, the Wolf liked the air cold, so cold that the refreshing rains that brought life to the island froze, and turned to ice, which quickly caused much of the plants and animals to die off. Many of the people who lived on the island, the Piccaninnies, soon began to fall ill, and many of them too died.

Well, Ashé Awae wasn't going to tolerate this anymore and challenged the Wolf, saying he must leave.

'Oh no,' the Wolf told him, 'This island is far too perfect for me. Winter has arrived, and he's not going to leave without a fight!' So Ashé Awae challenged the Wolf to a fight the following day on the shoreline. Ashé Awae brought with him all his children, as well as the Piccaninny warriors to fight the Wolf, but he didn't come alone. The Wolf brought with him other white wolves, who like him, were pale skinned and hungry. They all had with them shining silver wands that barked and spit fire. They would point these wands at the children and at the Piccaninnies and with a loud 'CRACK' they would instantly fall down dead.

Through the heat of the battle, no one saw where Ashé Awae and the Wolf had run off to. The Little White Bird fluttered away and lead the Wolf far away from the children, where he could no longer hurt them. Soon, they were alone in the forest, to fight their battle."

Peter stood up and continued the story, "The Bird flew all around the Wolf, darting in and out of his snapping jaws, feeling his hot breath on his skin. The Wolf shot at the Bird, trying to bring him down, but missed! Then, the Bird dived! Straight at the Wolf and knocked him down into the dirt! The Wolf thrashed and snapped his jaws, but couldn't catch the cunning Bird who flew off further into the forest. Once he saw the Wolf starting to limp and slow down, the Bird dived again, and this time, he pulled out his digger," Peter drew his own dagger out, "And I cut right through his arm! Just grabbed his hand and!" Peter swung his dagger down, cutting through an imaginary opponent.

"But this wasn't the end of the Wolf," Kat continued, "No, he came back, fiercer than ever, with more wolves who were hungrier for vengeance, and a weapon more fearsome than any the islanders had ever seen. The Wolf seemed to grow back his missing limb, for Winter does not have an icy hand, he has an iron claw!

Now, these spirits have been incarnated into more 'earthly' forms and have become entwined in a war that's lasted a century, neither of them effected by the riddles of time. When the Little White Bird is winning, the skies are brighter, the air is warmer, and everything on the island comes to life and grows. But when the Great White Wolf is winning, there's a chill that bites the air, the rains turn into snow and everything begins to die. The Piccaninnies believe that their civilization will end when the Great White Wolf finally wins and the entire island turns to ice."

The children were all staring at Kat, wide-eyed and attentive.

"That was kind of depressing..." I said, breaking the silence.

Kat smiled, "it's not over. This is where we come in. We're the last of the Birds to fight off the Wolf and his white demons, and we only have a limited amount of time. The Wolf's greatest weapon has yet to be revealed to us. From what I've heard from the Piccaninnies, they call him a 'Talidana', which means 'Second Spirit'. So he's a part of the Wolf, but is a separate person at the same time. Once he shows up, we only have a short amount of time to kill the Wolf once and for all, or everything in Neverland is doomed."

"So who is this Wolf? Is he a person?"

"He thinks he's the king of Neverland," Peter finally put his dagger away and sat down in the middle of the group. "Coming here, building into the forest and killing anyone who gets in his way."

"Oh, so this Wolf guy is real!"

Kat nodded her head, "Yes, his is. He'll lie to you, and manipulate you and do anything he can to get into your head and bring you to his side. He's an evil man and it's best you stay away from him. When I first came here with my younger brother, we made the mistake of trusting him and we paid the price for it. He's not one to be trusted."

"I heard he's a monster!" Spots said.

"And he kidnaps kids and kills them!" Seven added.

"And he eats them too!"

"No he doesn't, Spots!" Penn shouted.

"Ya-huh! What do you think happened to Cody? And Nine! We saw what happened to Nine!"

Kat nodded, her voice was much quieter than it had been before, "That scary..."

"What happened to Nine?"

Everyone quickly settled down.

"A few days ago we were out with the group from Ebony collecting food with the Piccaninnies when we got ambushed. When Nine was trying to run away, he tripped and fell and when we turned around to go get him, this gigantic white dog had bit him in the neck and was trying to drag him off. Me, JetBlack and Peter all ran after the wolf to see where he was going and when we found him, he had already started tearing Nine apart." Kat folded her hands over her nose and mouth, her voice weakened to a whisper, "That was scary."

"But yesterday JetBlack saw a dog that belonged to the Wolf shot 'im with her bow! Don't know if it was the same one though."

JetBlack didn't say anything, but she showed a faint smile at Peter's compliment.

"Yep! Shot 'im dead! And haven't heard from the Wolf since!"

"How are you so sure it was the same person? So this guy can actually turn into a wolf?"

"That's certainly what it seems like. People have seen both his human and spirit form."

Peter joined in, "And you always know when the Wolf's around because it'll snow."

I cocked my head to the side, "Snow? Here? It doesn't feel cold enough for snow." Yes, it was chilly outside, but it certainly didn't feel like snow weather.

"It doesn't get cold when it snows. It just snows."

I looked over at Kat, who looked back at me and we both shrugged at each other. "I get cold," she said, "I don't know what's up with them. Guess they're just used to it."

"He makes it snow so you can't see him," Peter continued on, "He's all white, with a black mane. You can't see him until he's right in front of you. Unless you see his eyes first."

"Yeah, that's another thing, Sid. If you're ever out in the woods and see glowing red eyes, get out of there as fast as you can. I don't know how much of a chance you'll stand, but at least you'll be able to survive for a little while longer."

"Wait, are you implying that I'm going to die out here?"

Kat tilted her head, "Kinda... if you're not careful."

"Great..."

The children stayed up for a little while longer, telling me stories of what they do in the woods. Some of them are harmless games while others involved killing 'pirates' which was what Peter called all grown-ups, whether they were actually a pirate or not. They also told me of other Lost Children who used to live in this tree house with them. Roarer, who was killed, and said to be eaten, by the Wolf. Tech, Buzz and Lights, who was Spots' older brother. They had three other tree houses on the island as well. They told me we were at the one near Cannibal Cove on the Eastern side of the island. There was one north of here near Mermaid's Lagoon, south of here, in a place called the Ebony Forest, and on the western side of the island, the main tree house, which was called Hangmans. The population of Lost Children had gotten so big that additional tree houses were needed. However the population is kept at bay either by the pirates, or wild animals killing the children, or if they break any of Peter's rules, including growing up.

Now I didn't understand how that was possible, I thought you stayed the same age forever once you were in Neverland, but that's not the case. I couldn't get a clear answer about that, some of the children believe that growing up is a choice. Peter had his own theory though; he said that only children who remembered being birds wouldn't grow up.

He explained that the children back on the mainlands were never told that they were birds once, and were lead to believe that they must grow up into adults and so they do, thinking they have no other option, and once you stop believing you can't ever go back; the damage is already done. Peter tries to save the children from growing up before it's too late. He brings them here, and tries to get them to remember their early days as a bird, and teaches them to fly again. Some children succeed, and some don't. The ones that don't are taken to the Play Grounds and left there. Peter never explained what the Play Grounds were, but he said that once children go there, they stop growing up, so that was his solution to the problem.

He also explained to me what happens when the children 'go to sleep'. They just go to sleep and don't wake up. He had heard from the Piccaninnies that the Earth is a bed, and so Peter will take the Sleeping Children, and bury them in the Earth. He wraps them up in blankets so they'll stay warm and always makes sure to bury them in pairs so they don't get scared or lonely.

"When I would go back to London I saw people put rocks over where they buried Sleeping People, I guess so they can find them again when they wake up," he told me. Peter carried on this gesture by placing smooth, oval stones above where the Sleeping Children were laying.

I asked him, "What do the Piccaninnies do when their people 'go to sleep'?"

"They bury them until they come back as something else."

It was clear that Peter only understood bits and pieces of the concept of death. He was certain that these children were going to come back, they were just taking a really long nap, since the short naps they take at night probably weren't enough.

The more I tried talking to him about it, the more distant he became, he didn't look at me anymore and the tone of his voice became somewhat aimless like he wasn't interested in the conversation anymore, but instead just answering my questions to answer them. I tried to change the topic about something he'd be more willing to talk about,

"So what ever happened to Hook?"

Right away all the children looked up at me, including Peter who cocked his head to the side and said, "Who's that?"

If I was sitting in a chair I probably would have fallen off of it.

"What do you mean 'who's that'?" I almost started an argument with him, "how do you not remember Captain Hook? You cut off his hand, threw him off his own boat..."

"Oh! Him! He's dead... I killed him a bunch of times. There's some pirates I've killed over a hundred times, they always come back!" he shrugged, "I guess I didn't kill them dead enough."

Kat leaned over and whispered to me, "He doesn't realize these are different pirates. He thinks they're all the same people."

"So Hook is still out there?"

Peter only shrugged, "I could have sworn I killed him last week, but I don't know, maybe he came back again. Sometimes we see him all the time, sometimes we don't. When he comes back he doesn't pay as much attention to me anymore, says he has 'other things' that are more important to take care of. I couldn't think of what could be more important than me."

I glanced over at Kat she seemed a bit on edge about discussing Hook. It was a subtle change, but I could see her hands tensing up around her arms.

"But when I see him again, I'll kill him again too. It's always fun, killing Hook again. I must have killed him several times by now..."

"Alright little ones!" Kat stood up and clapped her hands to get the kids' attention, "I think it's time for bed, it's getting late!"

There was a collective groan from the group, clearly going to bed for the night was the last thing on their minds.

I felt Spots tighten his grip on my arm, "But I wanna talk to NewOne."

"We can talk to Sid all day tomorrow, how's that. The faster you go to sleep the quicker tomorrow will be here. The new day only comes out of hiding when he knows you're not watching him!" Kat began herding the kids to two separate rooms on the other side of the tree house. I couldn't see that well inside them, since they were only lit by a few small candles, but I could at least see a giant bed in each room.

"But what about the Wolf?" Trinket asked.

"Don't let your imagination get the best of you, Trinket, we're all safe here."

There was no order to what room the kids went into, they just picked one. The second room was probably dug out after the first room became too small for the amount of children. They situated themselves like sardines, side by side in the bed and Kat tucked them all in and then went around the tree house, blowing out each of the candles. The only child who was hadn't gotten in bed yet was Peter, who was standing by himself at the doorway of one of the bedrooms.

"You okay, Peter?" I asked.

He just shook his head. He glanced into the bedroom then back out to the main room.

"I'm waiting for Kat."

Kat was almost finished with the last candle before she called over, "I'll be there in a bit, Peter."

Peter nodded and went into the bedroom.

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he just has trouble getting to sleep at night." Kat hurried over to the bed room and I saw her blow out the two or three candles in there. I couldn't make out what she was saying to Peter, but it sounded like she was trying to calm him down, or at least talk him into going to sleep. The only light left in the tree house was coming from a few candles behind me in a third bedroom, which I guess was Kat's own room. It took a little while, but she was finally able to get Peter to sleep and she ducked out of the bed room and smiled at me.

"Now, we can talk," Kat grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to one of the slides and climbed up, and I followed her.

The two of us climbed out of the opening and we sat next to each other, leaning our backs against the tree and staring out into the sky through the clearing in the trees. It was chilly out, but nothing unbearable. Kat folded her arms over her chest and leaned into my side.

"So how'd ya get here, Jersey Boy?" she asked.

"Honestly," I laughed, "I have no idea."

She looked at me a little confused, "How'd you not know?"

I shrugged, "I just don't." I told her how, just earlier that night, I was with my friend and our experience with the shadows and our encounter with JetBlack before we even knew who she was.

"Wow, yeah, that sounds like it'd freak me out too."

"Well thing is, I've always had these things following me around."

Kat looked up at me, quite surprised, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I mean, I always just played it off as my imagination when I was younger, and my aunt and uncle used to tell me it was nothing to worry about, but for as long as I can remember, I've been followed around by these shadows."

"Why'd you tell your aunt and uncle?"

"Because I grew up with them."

"What about your parents?"

I paused for a moment, "There's a lot of weird shit going on regarding my parents. Um, well, when I was 2 they were both killed in a car accident, which is why I grew up with my aunt and uncle. And on top of that, they weren't even my real parents either, I was adopted from England..."

"Oh wow, Sid, I'm sorry. That's interesting about England though. Where at in England?"

"London. But thing is, I don't know who my biological parents are either. So yeah... never really got to experience the whole 'parents' thing..."

"Wow... God, if that was me, I'd wonder about them all the time."

"I've seen a picture of them, but I don't have any information about who they are or where they could be."

When I was younger, well, old enough to understand, my aunt and uncle told me about where I came from and showed me a picture of my birth parents from England. My mother was really pretty; thin, but shapely with wavy red hair and heart shaped lips. My father had long black hair, which was all pulled into a loose pony tail in front of his shoulder, and his aviator sunglasses covered most of his thin face. I remember he was wearing a black drivers hat and an Iron Maiden 'The Trooper' T-shirt. The back of the photo had written on it, "Tower Bridge, London, 1988".

"Think you'd ever meet your real parents?"

I shrugged, "I dunno... I'd liked to. I mean, they seem pretty cool, especially if they listen to Iron Maiden." we both laughed.

"Wish I had cool parents like that..."

"Why, what happened to you?"

"Me and my younger brother, Cody, grew up in a pretty rough household. Our dad was an alcoholic and was abusive towards us and our mom. And I mean like, really bad, like, pushed me into a wall and broke several of my ribs when I was 11 kind of bad."

"Holy shit, Kat!"

"Yeah, not fun... I'm really glad I came here actually."

"The kids don't drive you nuts?"

Kat smiled, "Not really no. By now they're like family. We do a lot, we have fun, doesn't mean they can't be a handful though, especially Peter... I feel bad for the kid, he has nightmares constantly and it can be difficult to get him to fall asleep sometimes...and stay asleep. That's why you saw me talking to him earlier."

"What could he possibly have nightmares about?"

"I don't know. He'll just wake up in a cold sweat and start screaming. Most of the time he doesn't even remember, but the few times he does, it's usually about the Wolf."

"Is he really that bad?"

"Yeah. He killed Cody three years ago. Never found his body, which is why everyone kept saying that they think the Wolf ate him."

"So you've been here for a while then."

"Yeah, five years total. First came here when I was 13."

I looked at Kat and raised my eyebrow, "You do not look 13..."

"I know, I know. Because I aged. Just because you're in Neverland doesn't mean time stops forever. One of the things I noticed when I came here was that some people age, and some people don't. Cody didn't age a day when he was here, however, I did for some reason."

"How the hell did Peter not notice?" We both laughed at this, it did seem like something that was a bit hard to miss in a young woman.

"Honestly, I don't think Peter understood. It's not like I got any taller," she laughed, "I just woke up with boobs one day! But I really don't think Peter knew what was happening, and even if he did, I'm kind of the 'mother' of the group, so he wouldn't be too quick to get rid of me. Plus, I spy on the pirates for him, I can walk around the towns and no one would think anything of me whereas they'd pounce on a Lost Boy the first time they saw 'em."

"Is that why he brought you here?"

"That's a weird story, you probably wouldn't believe it..."

I raised my eyebrows and looked at her, "Really Kat? With all the crap I just went though?"

Kat laughed and leaned her head into my shoulder; I felt her squeeze my arm.

"Okay...well, if anything I'm more here because Peter wanted Cody, not me. So what happened was that one morning at breakfast Cody told me how the previous night he was in the bathroom brushing his teeth when this purple light started to fly around in his room. Not like a little firefly, I mean like a big purple light. He ran over to go catch it, and it just flew out the window. By the way he described it, it sounded like the light was acting on its own.

I just told him that he probably imagined it, he was only 6 at the time. But over the next few days he kept telling me more and more about this light he kept seeing. He only told me these things, he never mentioned anything to our parents.

After a week of that there was one night where he ran into my room screaming because he said he saw a boy staring at him through his window. He dragged me into his room and of course, I didn't see anything, and I told him, 'Cody, we're on the second floor of the house, how can there be a boy standing at your window?' but he insisted he saw someone there. Cody was never the type of kid to lie, and that's what freaked me out. I knew something was going on, but I didn't know what.

Well this went on for a month until one morning I came down stairs and saw him sitting at the kitchen table, eyes wide open, he just turned to me and said 'he came in my room last night'."

"That is freaky..." I said.

"Yeah, right? So that night I told him I'd stay with him in his room and I tried to stay awake to keep an eye on him. Well, sure enough, at about 2am, I hear the window slide up and this little kid, probably about 10 years old floats into Cody's room...okay, he floated. He didn't notice that I was there, I was laying under a pile of blankets on the floor, but I saw him go over and wake up Cody. He started to tell him that he could 'take him away from this place' and 'take him to this island where he doesn't have to worry about anything anymore' and Cody kept telling him he didn't want to go. The kid never touched him or forced him to come with him, but he was persistent. Eventually I sat up and asked him who he was and what he was doing here and he just put his hands on hips and said 'Why, I'm Peter Pan'."

"What..." Kat's story literally sounded like a modern retelling of the book. As she went on, it just got weirder and weirder.

"Yeah, it was really strange. You grow up hearing these stories and seeing movies, but holy crap, it's real? It's like 'what the hell?'. Oddly enough the more he talked, the more Cody and I became interested, I mean, we certainly didn't want to stay in that house, but at the same time, we didn't want to abandon our mom and leave her alone." Kat's voice fell to a softer tone, "Well, as we were talking to Peter, a fight broke out between our parents down stairs and we heard a lot of screaming, a lot of things breaking and falling over, somebody getting hit... Cody and I just looked at each other and we knew we had to get out of there... We figured, maybe if we left, our mom could leave too, because she wouldn't have to worry about us anymore. So... we told Peter we would go with him.

He got really excited and started to tell us that we'd have so much more fun, and not be in danger anymore. Well, he whistled and this little ball of purple light flew into our room... The same purple light that Cody said he had seen weeks ago. It was a fairy. It was a little man, no more than six inches tall with long red hair and yellow leaves as clothes. Peter told us he had to leave, as he had other children to find, but this fairy, Snap Dragon, would be our guide to Neverland."

"So, you actually got to fly here. Shit, I feel like I got ripped off now."

"Yeah..." her smile returned and was wider than it had been all night, "it was really cool... As we flew over Virginia, we could see all the lights from all the cities. We saw Richmond, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York. You could literally see I95, it looked like this string of lights going down the East Coast connecting all the cities. It was the coolest thing ever."

"Kat, just letting you know, there will always be a part of me that will hate you forever for that," the two of us laughed.

"Flying was seriously the single greatest thing I've ever done in my life. When they tell you to think of a happy thought, they act like it's difficult, but I just kept thinking of how cool it was to actually be flying, and that alone kept me going. I grew up in a house where I was scared to do, just about anything, but knowing that now I was free from all that... it was the best feeling in the world."

"And that was five years ago?"

"Yeah."

"So what do you think happened after you left? Think you're mom's okay?"

Kat shrugged, "God, I hope so... I already lost Cody..." she was quiet for a few moments but when she started talking again, her voice sounded a lot weaker,

"And it was because of something stupid too. Something that could have been so easily avoided."

"What did this guy do?"

"Like I said, don't trust him. I guess children are brought up to be afraid of wolves for a reason. He kidnapped him, and killed him. That's all we know. We've never been able to find him and the Wolf always says that he didn't do it, but I know he did. He can deny it all he wants. It's not going to bring Cody back, but at least I shot him pretty good."

"Wait, you shot him!"

She nodded and folded her arms over her chest, "Mhmm! Right in the face. And I'd shoot him again too."

"How is he still alive if you shot him in the face, or isn't he?"

"No, he's still crawlin' around out there. Whole lot uglier though. I don't know how he survived, but if it means I get the chance to shoot him a second time, I'd be more than happy to!"

"Nice..."

We both smiled at each other. The wind started to pick up more and it whistled loudly through the empty trees.

"That don't sound good..." Kat started to stand up, and I followed suit, "We should probably get back inside."

"Yeah, it's getting cold..."

"I ain't worried about the cold, I'm worried about the Wolf. If you're out here at night long enough, you're bound to find him. Well, more like he'll find you, and ya'll don't want that."

I agreed. He didn't seem like someone I wanted to encounter.

I followed Kat back down into the tree house and she took me to her room, which was that third bedroom that had been dug out. She told me she and Cody shared the room together since Cody wanted to be as close to his sister as he could. After arriving, he was starting to become more frightened everyday and Kat told me he rarely left her side. She blew out the candles and we both climbed into the bed, which was basically a giant pillow filled with down feathers with a heavy wool blanket that was a lot warmer than it looked.

The two of us laid there next to each other in the dark. Slowly my eyes started to adjust and I could see the shapes of the walls again. Kat just so happened to get a look at my shirt and notice it was from Busch Gardens and right away we began talking about our past vacations there.

"I miss going there," she told me, "Before I knew Neverland existed, that was my Neverland. It's the only place where I remember my entire family all being happy. I miss it. My dad took me on my first roller coaster when I was there."

"Big Bad Wolf, right?"

Kat smiled, "Your first too?"

"Yep! I love that ride."

"Yeah, like, we did so much there, as a family, it wasn't me and Cody against them, or my mom against my dad, we all got along. The best memories I have a kid were there with my dad, actually." She sighed, and her voice got a bit more quiet, "I don't hate my dad, but at the same time I do, if that makes any sense. I don't hate him, but I hate what he does and what kind of person he turns into. I know it's not his fault though, he can't help it. If anything, I hate hating him. No one wants to see someone they care about deteriorate in front of them. In a way, my dad took my dad away from me, he's not the same person he was when I was little and over time he got further away from himself." I felt her squeeze my arm a little tighter,

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm cursed or something because it seems like whenever I try to have a father figure in my life, they get taken away from me somehow and it's gotten to a point where I'm scared to get close to anyone, not because I'm afraid to get hurt, but because I'm afraid to lose them. I'm tired of losing people, I've lost everyone there is to lose."

I wasn't expecting Kat to get so deep but this all seemed like something she had been dying to say for a while now.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not going anywhere, I don't know where else I could go. I only know you guys."

Kat smiled at me, "I hope you don't leave us."

"I won't."

She held out her pinky to me, "Pinky swear?"

I wrapped my finger around hers, "Pinky swear."

"I sure hope if you meet your parents, Sid, they're not like mine. That'd be a hard pill to swallow."

"I don't know," I said, " Honestly, I think I'd still want to know. Either way, whether my parents are good people or not, even if they're alive or not, I'd still want to know the truth. I can either keep asking the same question forever or get my answer. Even if I don't like what I hear, I still want to know."

"You're a braver person than I am, Sid."

"Nah... You should have been there when I screamed like a little bitch at my ice cube maker..."

This made Kat finally smile, "I've done that too. I swear, they could make horror movies with those things."

We smiled at each other and I felt Kat nuzzle her cheek against my shoulder. The two of us quieted down and tried to finally go to sleep. I guess she was used to all the noises of the island, but every little thing made me open my eyes again and look around. I heard animals pattering around over head, the wind blowing through the trees and heavy footsteps.

"Kat, you hear that?" I whispered.

"Hear what?"

"Listen..."

I wasn't just imagining things, there really was someone, actually quite a few people, walking around above ground. We could hear them talking to each other, there were several distinct voices, but we couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Those aren't Indians are they?"

Kat shook her head, "No, the Piccaninnies are quieter than that. They would bother us this late at night anyway," She quickly sat up and slid out of the bed, "Stay here, I'm getting Peter."

"Wait, what's going on?" I got up and followed her into the main room. Soon all of the children were woken up and gathered into the main living area. While the other children were still groggy, Peter was wide awake and ready to fight,

"Lost Boys! Grab your weapons and hold the tree house. Kat and I are going to go outside and see what's going on. The rest of you, everyone guard a tree and don't let anyone in."

Once the kids realized this was serious, they snapped to attention and grabbed and their weapons that hung on the walls; large knives, bows, spears, whatever weapon they felt best suited them, and stood in front of the tree entrances. Some of the trees had two children guarding them.

"What about me?"

Kat handed me a dagger, "Go stand over by Spots. Peter and I will be right back!"

She and Peter ran into one of the bedrooms and from what I could tell, were going through a crawl space that lead further out away from the tree house. Whoever is outside would expect us to come out of one of these trees, not from a hidden exit from behind.

Suddenly everything from up above became quiet. We didn't know who was above us, if they were still above us, or what their intentions were. It was already bad enough we couldn't see anything, but we couldn't hear anything either; our only hints to their whereabouts were gone.

I looked down at my side and Spots, the little boy who was so frightened of the Wolf in Kat's story, was standing there with his spear, eyes locked on the entrance and ready to fight. This little kid was braver than I was, I could feel myself shaking.

We heard a shrill scream from Trinket at the other end of the tree house and somebody getting knocked over. I turned around to see what was going on, and before I could, I felt something heavy throw me down to the floor and grab my hands, roughly pulling them behind me. A cold metal ring was locked around my wrists and I was grabbed by the shoulders back up on my feet. These people didn't say a word the entire time, however, the children were all screaming or crying, even with their weapons they didn't expect an ambush like this.

A deep, voice behind me began to whisper out raspy orders, "Move, move, move! Grab'em and get out of here!"