TAoP Chapter 2

The New Arrivals

Penny flew straight down Hangman's Tree and landed on the Lost Boys bed. Luckily, none of the Boys were on it, but she did run into Cubby as she stumbled in her landing. Cubby then ran into Slightly, who then hits First Twin, then Second Twin, and continues down the line until Tootles.

"Penny!" they yelled from the pile. They each got up and turned to glare at her.

She grinned guiltily at each of the Boys, "Sorry Cubby! Guess I still need to practice my landings."

"That's what we w get for having a girl in the tree," the boy in the fox costume said as he brushed himself off. That was Slighty and Penny doesn't get along very well with him.

"It's okay Penny! It was only an accident!" the bear boy said as he helped the other boys up. That was Cubby, the most gentle of the boys. The Twins were wearing raccoon costumes, Nibs was the rabbit, and Tootles was in the skunk costume.

"Putting that aside, where's Peter?" Penny asked as she runs to his room and looked inside.

"Who knows where he goes," First Twin said, "He never tells us anything."

"Maybe he went to get Wendy to be our mother again…" Second Twin pondered. Tootles nodded his head eagerly and got a dazed look in his eyes as if seeing the Wendy lady herself.

Penny snorted as she backed out of Peter's room, "As if! She's got to be an adult by now! Children don't stay young forever like us."

"She is too coming back!" Slightly yelled from his corner, playing with a rock tomahawk the Redskins gave him.

"Again putting dreams behind us, there's a pirate ship coming into Pirates Cove!"

"What?" all the Boys called. They got closer to Penny as she knelt on the ground and pulled out her dagger. On the ground, she drew a perfect replica of the ship in a matter of minutes. It's another one o her unusual talents she has that makes her different from the Boys; she can draw just about anything without learning.

As she was drawing, Starlight came into the Tree and landed on Penny's shoulder. She was silent through the drawing process, waiting patiently for her to finish. When she was done, Star asked questions. Penny answered quietly and went through her day as the Lost Boys studied the picture.

"You don't think Hook's back, do you?" First Twin asked Second Twin, who had his hand on his chin lost in thought.

"It looks like it. Even in this picture, I can't forget Hook's ship," he answered as Tootles nodded, looking grim.

"Aw, I don't believe it!" Slightly said loudly as he went back to his corner, "She's prolly making up stories again."

"Then how did she create a perfect picture of the ship?" Nibs asked, pointing at the picture.

"Well then, show us the ship, Penny! If one really exists…"

"Alright! I'll show you. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Even you might be able to see it, Slightly!" Penny said. Star put pixie dust on her and she flew up the tree, waiting for the Boys to come out. As they were waiting for the Boys, Penny did a quick scan of the forest to see if she find anymore black birds. But everything seemed to be back to normal.

"They must've left…" Penny said to herself doing another scan. The trees were silent and she took that to be a sign of all clear. The birds were chirping again as if nothing happened. Squirrels and rabbits were running around and chatting to each other but none of them mentioned the black birds. Penny was about to ask them about it when the Lost Boys came out of the Home.

"So where is this ship?" Nibs asked, looking excited for some adventure.

"It's by Pirate Cove…I'll meet you guys by Mermaid Lagoon so that we can look together!" Penny took off flying for the ocean. She didn't have to worry about the Boys since they knew the island as well as her. They probably knew a short cut or two so it wouldn't take too long.

Penny landed on a pile of rocks that were in the Lagoon. This was where Peter told stories to the mermaids. All the mermaids adore Peter, but they didn't like Penny as much. Probably has something to do with the fact that she's a girl, though she didn't see what was wrong with that. He was her best friend; the one who taught her everything and rescued her and gave her a home.

She sighed as she laid down in the rock thinking of Peter. What if…he was visiting the Wendy lady? Did that mean she was coming back to be their...their mother? Penny shuddered at the thought. She never knew mother and did not have the desire to meet her. If her mother wanted her, she would be home with her…besides, Peter told her everything about mothers. Nasty creatures. And again, midnight blue came to mind as she thought about Wendy.

BOOM! Penny was rudely interrupted by a large noise that was above her. She jumped up with her dagger and looking up. She found a huge ship, very different from the pirate ship, hurtling down toward her.

"STAR!" she yelled as she jumped off the rock. Star flew up by her and immediately Penny started to fly. The ship crashed into the Lagoon with a large splash, which reached Penny at her height. She shook her head free of water and slowly approached it. Star landed on her shoulder, chiming warnings. When she got closer, the side of the ship opened and voices could be heard from inside.

"I thought you said it was fixed!"

"I don't know what happened! Ludwig thought it would work fine."

"Well, that's your problem! Trusting Ludwig…half of his inventions don't even work!"

"Okay, okay, I'll take a look at it-Ahhh!" a boy fell into the Lagoon as he walked out.

"Jayden! Jay, what's-Argh!" a girl cried out, falling in right behind the boy, "Water! We landed in the ocean! Where are we?"

"Do you need some help?" Penny offered as she hovered over them. They looked up confused. "Well, you are getting wet…"

"Oh well, alright," the girl said as she put one arm out and Penny grabbed it, trying to get her out. It was a no go.

"You're too heavy…maybe you can swim to the shore instead." Penny pointed toward the island.

"Why didn't you-never mind."

They swam to the shore with Penny following them from above. As the two of them got out of the water, she saw that they were tall. Adults! She thought in her head, They must've come with Hook and they were sent ahead to scout. She slowly drew her dagger just as they were trying to dry off.

"So Ludwig thought it was fixed, eh? When are you going to learn not to trust his judgment?" the girl asked, wringing out her purple hair. The boy was cleaning his glasses and shaking his hair dry.

"Well, we did the basic tests, but I think we messed up on the navigation system which in turn messed up the engine," he mused as he looked around, "This isn't where I wanted to go…"

"Oh yea, and where was that?"

"Uh…Montesser," he said quietly, turning to look at the ship.

"Montresser! You thought that we could get there with a ship that Ludwig fixed?"

"Hey some of his inventions work! You just don't-what are you doing?" penny came up behind him with her dagger and pointing it against his throat.

"Hey!" the girl pulled out guns and pointed them at Penny.

"Why has Hook sent you? Who are you? What does he and you want?" Penny demanded looking at the girl.

"Hook? Who is he? Is he part of this world?"

"Jayden, now's not the time to ask questions about that!" the purple girl said while taking a close aim.

"Wait, wait! We have to explain to her, Illiana," Jayden said calmly, "Please, miss, we will explain. We don't know who this Hook is. Honest."

Penny hesitated and looked down at the boy. Behind his glasses, the sea colored eyes never moved from Penny's and looked as calm as his voice. She listened for the wind, but did not hear any warnings from the trees around, so she slowly let go of him and put her dagger away. Penny sat on the ground, waiting to hear what they had to say and ready to spring into action in case they did something.

"Right…Illiana, put those away! Besides they only work on the Darkness."

"But she didn't know that until you said something!" Illiana slowly put them away, still watching Penny.

"Okay, to start things off, my name's Jayden and this is my good friend, Illiana-"

"What kinda weapon is that?" Penny interrupted, eyeing the guns hanging on Illiana's belt.

"Ah-those are guns. They shoot special bullets that can only harm the…Darkness."

"Kinda like a pistol?"

"Well…kinda…only these can hold more than one shot," Illiana explained.

"Look. If I'm to explain everything, then no interruptions, got it?" Jayden said a little impatiently, "Right…where to start? Probably from the beginning…"