Adventures of John: Journey to Neverland

Chapter 2

I flew through the night sky, enjoying the feeling of the wind on my face. Pixie darted around me, a miniature star all on her own, yet constantly shifting and changing, unlike any other star out there.

"There it is!" I shouted, pointing at a pair of stars ahead of us. "Second star to the right, then straight on till morning!"

I felt a familiar thrill as we passed through the boundaries separating the worlds, flying into a wall of dark clouds and exiting on the other side, in Neverland. It was exactly like I remembered from the movie. Off to the left I could see the Indian camp, to the far right was Mermaid Lagoon, and beneath the mountains was Pirate Cove, where- but it wasn't there. Shocked, I did a double take. Where was Captain Hook's ship?

I flew lower, trying to get a better look, and I found my answer. The Jolly Roger, the ship of the infamous Captain Hook, was sunk at the bottom of the cove, and looked like it had been that way for quite a long time. Gesturing for Pixie to follow, I decided to investigate the rest of the island. Soaring over the Indian camp, I found it deserted, with no sign of life. I flew over to the tree where Peter Pan had his secret hideout. Well, in the movie anyways. But there was nothing. Like the rest of the island, it was abandoned, and had been form some time now.

I left the tree, and was about to fly away when I heard a shout from behind me. "Hey you!" the childish voice called. "You're not going to leave just yet, are you?"

I turned around and saw Peter Pan, looking as if he had jumped right out of the movie screen, complete with red hair, pointed ears, and green tights. "Nice to meet you!" he said, offering his hand. "I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"Well," I told him, "I'm not from around here. I just came here from Earth."

"Earth, huh?" Pan asked, scratching his head. "Been a long time since we've had any visitors from Earth, huh Tink?" A little yellow ball of light darted out from behind him, seeming to nod in agreement. Looking closer, I saw that it was indeed Tinkerbelle, who was even shorter than Pixie was, maybe about half her height. When she thought Pan and I weren't looking she stuck her tongue out at Pixie.

"What happened here?" I asked Pan. "Hook's ship, the Indian camp? And where are the lost boys?"

For a moment, his jolly face fell. "They died," he told me. "Captain Hook invaded the Indian camp, and we came in to help the Indians out." He paused to compose himself. "Tink and I were the only survivors."

"Oh," I said, not sure how to respond. "Here I thought I was going to a land of dreams and fun. Just our luck, huh Pixie?"

"It's not all bad!" Pan quipped. "As long as you're here, we could always play a game!"

"What sort of game?" I asked, suspicious about his sudden change in attitude."

"You know that magic gets power from belief, right?" he asked. "Nowhere is that more true than Neverland. This is a land of dreams in the most literal sense. People used to be able to come here in their dreams, you know, before so many of them stopped believing. Even though people no longer come here in their dreams, you can still do things here that you could never do in the real world."

"Like jump hundreds of feet on the air and land unharmed?" thinking about a dream I had the previous night.

"Exactly!" he exclaimed. "So what do you say? Want to play a round of Neverland tag?"

"Since I'm already here, why not?" I said, ignoring the warning sirens sounding in my head.

"Okay then," Pan said, grinning broadly. For an instant, I saw something dark in his eyes. "Run!"

After the first five minutes I decided that I really did not like this game. To my right I heard the snarls of jungle cats, to my left the howling of wolves, and above me the shrill laughter of Peter Pan. I had already lost track of Pixie, who was being chased by Tinkerbelle in a similar manner. All I could see was the darkness ahead of me, along with the occasional burst of yellow or rainbow light.

"I never should have come here," I told myself. "'Never meet your heroes,' isn't that how the saying goes? Never trust a kid wearing tights."

I didn't know how he was doing it, but Pan seemed to have control over the entire island. Every root and branch tried to trip me or smack me in the face, and the animals, which had been conspicuously absent before the chase, suddenly seemed to be looking for a bite of John stew. Suddenly I stopped, barely managing to keep from falling off the edge of the sudden cliff which had not been there the previous second. Looking behind me, I could just see the glint of the predators' eyes in the darkness. I didn't have much time. So, I jumped.

As I fell, I imagined a jetpack, picturing it in my mind. Then, when I was about the hit the rocks below, I focused, and thrust off! I looked down at the animals gathered at the cliff's edge. "See ya, suckers!" I called out, flying off. I found Pixie and Tinkerbelle fighting above the forest and created a tightly-woven net, which I dropped right on Tinkerbelle's head. Pixie and I flew off, ready to leave Neverland behind for good.

Unfortunately, we forgot about something very important. The mermaids. As we flew off, storm clouds gathered. At first we ignored them, focused as we were on returning home, but that was a mistake as well. Soon, hurricane-force winds blew us off course, forcing us back towards the island.

Turning around, I saw Pan floating there, a smug smile on his face. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" he asked laughing. "Nobody leaves this island without my permission. Thank you, ladies!" He took of his feathered cap and bowed toward the ocean, were I could see a collection of fish-like tails vanishing beneath the waves.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "Why hunt us, why keep us here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "Because it's fun!"

But I had enough of Pan's games. I rocketed towards the mountains, determined to end it. I had a plan, and this time Peter Pan would not keep me from returning home.