Fourteen

The window was shut. And locked.

Peter glanced at Tinker Bell in fear and shock. He tucked on the window another time. Nothing.

Tink fluttered her wings a little faster in anxiety. She knew this was a bad idea.

A few days ago, in their underground den in Neverland, Peter had abruptly said, "We're going to go visit Wendy."

"What?" Tink had cried in fairy language.

"C'mon, Tink, at least to say hi." Peter pleaded, knowing it would probably be longer than a hi.

"That's a bad idea, Peter."

"Why?"

Tink paused. Unlike Peter, she wasn't an innocent child who knew nothing about anything other than make-believe. She had lived on the mainland longer than he ever would. "It just is. We're not going."

"You're just scared."

"I am not! I just don't want to go visit Wendy, that's all. I never liked her."

"We have to! What if she's forgotten me?" Peter was serious now, his eyes desperate.

"She promised she wouldn't."

"No, I promised I wouldn't forget about her. She never promised anything, except to leave Hook to me, which she did, mostly."

"No!"

"Tink!"

And that was how the conversation went. When Peter declared that he would go alone, Tink had taken a minute to consider this. Despite popular belief, Tinker Bell was smart, and caring. And one thing she was especially smart and caring about was Peter. She knew more about him than he did. She knew if he saw the full extent of the world, with all the pain, it would stun him. She knew that Peter was in love with Wendy, no matter how innocent and childish it was. She knew that he didn't know it. And she knew he would not be satisfied until he was certain she felt the same way, although he wouldn't know he was certain because he didn't know he loved her.

So, Tink had agreed to go, and now they were floating by the window, and it was locked. Peter's first taste of the ways of the world, and Tink was hating it.

Peter tugged again at the window, tears blurring his vision. She left! She left and probably met another wonderful boy, only this one probably is invisible or something, and now she's going to grow up, and never sword fight or fly or think about him again and -

"Peter!" Tink hissed suddenly. "I know what happened! They moved!"

Peter's head jerked towards her. She motioned to the window. Peter pressed his face to the window, and realized that Tink must be right. There were three girls, two younger than Wendy, and they didn't even look like her. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"But to where?" Peter whispered, backing up from the window.

"We'll find them," Tink said without knowing she was going to. "It'll be an adventure."

Peter's eyes lit up. "Finally! We'll find her and get her to come back to Neverland with us! And, better yet, how clever she'll think I am when we find her! Let's go look for her - c'mon!" That last bit was added when Tink wasn't quite fast enough.

You see, Tink knew she shouldn't have said that. Neverland time works differently that regular time. It had been a year on Neverland since Peter had last seen Wendy, but in grown-up time it could have been years and years. Wendy could be dead.

Or even grown-up.