He stopped. "We're here" , he muttered. "Follow me."

"That shouldn't be hard, considering I have been for the last half an hour" , I said, grinning.

He glared at me. "Just keep up and SHUT up."

I stopped grinning and glared back at him. "What's up with you? What did I do to make you so bloody angry with me? Honestly, you're more bad tempered than a hormonal pregnant woman."

He just threw me another one of his dirty looks and kept going. I was utterly unexplainably confused as to what I had done on him to deserve this. Okay, I admit that maybe my comebacks were a little harsh. Throughout my life I was always told to think before I spoke, time and time again. But this was different, because I was simply defending myself, and he certainly wasn't thinking before he spoke, so I didn't see why I had to.
I had become so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't see my guide stop, and mistakenly walked straight into his back.

I blinked and then winced. "Oops" , I said quickly. "Sorry."

He didn't even bother turning around. I peeped over his shoulder to see what he was doing, and he lifted his hand to cover my eyes.

"Don't look" , he said, irritated. "It's secret."

I rolled my eyes (for probably the hundredth time that day). He knocked on something that sounded like wood, three times. One slow one and two quick ones. Something sounded like it was opening, and I guessed it was a door into the Indian camp.

"Oh, hey Curly" , a male voice said.

I grinned and the boy, who I now knew as Curly, winced.

"Hey, mate" , he said tiredly.

"Who's that behind you?"

"It's our one and only 'Heroine of Neverland' ."

"Seriously?" , the voice said, sounding astonished.

"Yeah" , Curly said. "We've got to cover her eyes, you know the drill."

A boy stepped out with a thick cloth held up. He stopped immediately when he saw me and gazed the way Curly had done.

I grinned at him. "Hiya."

"Well, hello there" , he said, smiling from ear to ear. "If you don't mind, m'lady, I'm going to have to cover your eyes. As a precaution."

Curly snorted before I had the chance to reply. "Lady? I wouldn't call her that, Toots. She's not a lady of any kind. She's wearing men's clothes."

"These are not men's clothes" , I said instantly.

Curly smirked. "You're wearing those weird trousers and boots. Of course they are."

"Times have changed since you were last back in the normal world, my friend" , I said icily. "Although I'm sure you were a serious fan of puffy dresses and bonnets back in the day."

His smirk disappeared while the other boy cracked up laughing.

"Funny, you are" , the other boy said, wiping tears away from his eyes. He wrapped the cloth around mine and carefully leaded me in through the entrance. I heard a loud bang which I presumed was the door shutting.

"What's the point of covering my eyes if I've seen where the door is?" , I asked, confused.

"Because when we come out of the caves, there'll be more shrubbery and trees. Then there's the camp, well tucked away. You won't be able to find it without one of us to –"

"Tootles!" , Curly roared. "Shut UP!"

"I'm telling her the basic facts, Curly! Now will you quit your temperamental state and come back to normal before we all tear our hair out!"

I snorted with laughter just imagining Curly's face at being told to 'quit his temperamental state' .

"So" , my guide said after a few silent minutes. "What's your name?"

"Remy."

"Remy? Haven't heard of that before."

"Really? What's your name then?"

"Tootles."

I grinned blindly. "Well, if you don't mind me saying, I don't think I've ever heard of the name Tootles before either."

"Really?" , Tootles said happily. "Brilliant!"

I frowned. "What d'you mean?"

"I like my name being unique."

I considered this before just shrugging and going with the flow.

"Heroine of Neverland" , Tootles said dreamily after another few minutes.

I laughed. "Excuse me?"

"That's what everyone calls you in the camp, y'know. That's what the Shaman called you. A Shaman is –"

"It's okay, I know what it is. Peter told me all about that day when I…er…appeared in the smoke…"

Suddenly I was stopped. "We here then?" , I asked.

"Nope. We're just leaving the passage now. We'll be at the camp in around four minutes."

I sighed.

"Oh, cheer up" , Curly said sarcastically. "You'll be able to show off to all the others when we get there. You just have to be patient."

I simply gave another sarcastic sigh while Tootles groaned. I heard another door being opened and I was pulled out into fresh air and birdsongs. I guessed we were back in the forest, the Indian's Village.

"Honestly Curly" , Tootles said tiredly as he carefully guided me along, holding my hand. "We'll have to go on another adventure soon, before you drive us all mental."

"About time" , Curly muttered.

"Well excuse me" , Tootles said, sounding pissed off. "It's not my fault Neverland has taken a turn for the worst. And –"

"Hold on" , I interrupted. "I'm actually a bit confused about that part. Peter basically told me that I'm destined to save this place. He said it's dying. And I don't know about you guys, but it looks pretty fine to me."

"Yeah" , Tootles said sadly. "This is the first time it's actually been okay."

"Okay?" , I said, surprised. "It's absolutely beautiful!"

"Maybe" , Curly said grudgingly. "But it could be a lot better."

I shook my head. "You're taking it for granted."

Curly was about to reply when Tootles interrupted him.

"We're here!" , he said cheerfully, the sorrow from moments before seemingly disappearing. I felt something at the back of my head and the blindfold was released. I opened my eyes and gasped, staring wordlessly at the Indian Village and its occupants. They stared back at me, and I felt about a hundred different pairs of eyes swerving in my direction. All of them had caramel skin and were wearing odd clothes, covered in symbols and beads. They were beautiful. I heard strange whisperings, in language I couldn't recognise.

I did however, recognise one voice.

"Remy!" , Peter yelled happily. I looked at the crowd, but I couldn't see his face amongst the others.

"Up here!"

I looked up towards the sky and my mouth dropped open in astonishment. Peter was lying back with his hands behind his head in mid air, grinning at me. He lowered down until he was just inches above me.

"I see you got here! Thanks Tootles!"

"Oh no" I said sweetly. "Dear Curly here found me in the first place, didn't you?" I turned to look at him.

"Oh..uh..yeah…I did.."

"Good job, mate" , Peter said.

Curly shot me a confused look, but I just shrugged and turned back to Peter.

"I think I've got to speak to the Indians, don't you?"

He nodded and lowered to the ground, taking position beside me.

"Aaya?" , he called. "Can you translate for us?"

There was a lot of shuffling in the crowd until a beautiful Indian girl joined us. She smiled at me.

"I'm so grateful that you've come" , she said kindly.

I grinned at her. "I've got to help, right? I can't just leave you guys screwed."

Aaya laughed. "I will translate for you" , she told me.

I nodded and looked out to the crowd, who stared at me hopefully.

"Good evening" , I said, and Aaya repeated it in the strange language.

"I…I'm from where you all came from. Earth. And on Earth, we deal with a lot of tragedies. Tsunami's, earthquakes, tornados and many more disasters hold most of us upright with fear. Fear of dying, fear of others…people that you care about…dying. Other times, people die for many other reasons. Murder, suicide, accidents…." I drifted off hesitantly, not completely sure where I was going with this.

"And a few days ago, I was approached by Peter. He let me know of your situation..and at first I thought….well….I wasn't going to have any involvement. I was more than confused at the time with so many other things….but then, I came to terms with my destiny…..and that's to help you guys, and to save Neverland. I'll try my complete and absolute best to bring it to peace, I give you all my word."

I finished quietly, looking at Aaya as she finished too. She looked impressed with my off-the-top-of-my-head speech.

There was a few people clapping, and then it erupted into a full on applause and cheering. They were yelling in the different language but I guessed it was obviously good yelling. I smiled at them all. A young girl stepped up and spoke to me, which I couldn't understand. I looked at Aaya questioningly.

"They want to know what to call you" , she said, grinning.

"Remy. You can all call me Remy" , I said, a little embarrassed by all the applause which was still going on.

She lifted her head to look at the others. "Remy, Kina" , she said clearly, addressing the child.

Kina? Weird name.

"Um…I was wondering, if I could, er, speak to your Shaman?" , I asked awkwardly. "I just need to clear a few things…if that's okay."

"It's okay, Aaya" , Peter said. "I'll take her."

Aaya nodded and returned to the crowd.

"Thanks!" , I shouted after her.

"C'mon" , Peter said, tugging at my arm. "Let's go see Rahbya."

"Who-ha?"

"The Shaman."

"Oh. Right. Lead the way then."

He lifted back into the air and I was admittedly astounded all over again. He glided above the ground a few inches.

"Hey" , I said, practically skipping.. "You know I can't fly? It's hard to keep up with you while you're pretending to be a fairy."

Peter spluttered with laughter. "No" , he said, trying to control his breathing. "I look nothing like a fairy. They're about ten times smaller and much more powerful than any human being ever and –"

"Wait" , I said, confused. "What?"

"The fairies" , Peter said, frowning. "They're white as well."

"Okay" , I said slowly, hopping over a heap of bows and arrows sprawled around the ground. "So what you're saying, is that there are fairies. Here."

"Yeah."

"To recover me from shock from just being here in the first place, don't tell me anything for the next few days. Or I swear to God I'll faint."

Peter began to say something but was interrupted by a loud BEEP.

I jumped and Peter immediately drew his knife out, eyes scanning the camp. Then I sighed in relief and pulled my forgotten phone out of my pocket.

"It's okay" , I said, waving it at Peter. I pressed the middle button and laughed. "Oops. My alarm went off."

He landed in front of me and stared at the phone cautiously.

I frowned at him. "What?"

He swallowed. "What is that – that thing?"

I bit my lip to keep back the laughter. "Are you afraid of it?"

"No!" , he said fiercely.

"Whatever. Look, it's called a phone. Y'know, like telephones?"

His face suddenly lightened. "Oh…I heard of them once on a trip back to London, a while after we left…"

"Yeah, well, this is a more modern version. Easy to carry around, and you can contact people on it."

"How?"

"By sending them a text or ringing them."

"And how'd you do that?"

"Well, it's pretty simple. You just get another persons phone number –"

"Does everyone have a phone number?"

"If they have a phone, yes. Anyways, you get another persons number, and you can send them a message –"

"How?"

"If you didn't keep interrupting me, you would find out much quicker."

He shrugged. "Never mind. We can talk about it later. Right now we have to go see Rahbya."

He set off again in the air, me close behind.

"We?" , I said loudly above the sound of the water in the stream beside us.

He turned his head. "Yeah."

"But why not just me?"

"I'm your escort. Of course I have to go."

I sighed and kept up with him until we reached a round brown tent, decorated with more of those symbols and signs. I hurried towards the flap.

"Um, hello?"

"Who is it?" , a sharp voice asked.

"It's Peter and Remy English…um, y'know…-" I winced. "- 'Heroine of Neverland'?"

The flap suddenly ripped open.

"Come in, children!"

I entered cautiously, Hansel and Gretel suddenly appearing to mind. There was a bright glow from a small fire lit it up, letting me see a small bed tucked away and many different objects beside it including stones. Peter had already settled on the right side of the fire which was situated in the middle of the tent, and looked at me expectantly. I felt anxious as I sat cross-legged across the fire from him.

"Ah yes…you are the one" , a female voice said softly. She stepped out from the shadows of the tent and stared at me for a few moments, before finally settling herself at the head of the fire.

"Please" , I said. "Why is it that I have to save Neverland? Why me?"

Raybha looked hesitant. "I'm not sure –"

"I have a right to know why I've been chosen" , I said indignantly.

I could feel Peter look at my face in possible shock, but I kept my eyes on the Shaman. She just sighed.

"Yes" , she muttered. "I suppose you do…well…oh, this is extremely hard to explain, so I will put it into easier words for you. I assume you have knowledge of James Hook?"

I nodded. "Wait" , Peter said quickly. "What's he got to do with this?"

"Quiet boy!" , she snapped at him. Then she looked back to me and I couldn't help noticing pity in her eyes.

"My dear child, it appears your middle name is Maria, am I correct?"

"Yes" , I said uncertainly. "After my great, great, great Grandmother."

She refused to meet my eyes and focused on the fire instead. The shadows of the flickering flames danced along her face.

"James Hook had a sister, Maria. Aren't I right, boy?"

Peter frowned. "Oh yeah, he told me that ages ago. But so what? The same name, big deal."

"Very big deal" , she snapped at him again. "A great deal!"

"But why?" , I barely whispered.

She finally looked at me with sorry eyes. "I regret to tell you this, but Maria was your Grandmother. You are the blood of Captain Hook, and you must defeat him, if peace shall ever return to Neverland."

I stared wordlessly at her while Peter gasped in horror.

"Me?" , I whispered. "Me, of all people, I'm the one with the screwed up pirate Uncle."

"But why does she have to defeat him?" , Peter said angrily. "She won't stand a chance against him! I could do it, no problem!"

I glared at him. "I may be a girl, Peter, but that doesn't mean I'm weak."

He shook his head. "No, what I meant was that…Hook's pretty crafty. You really wouldn't stand a chance."

And then, ignoring my glares, he turned back to Raybha. "Why does she have to do it?" , he repeated.

"Hook is cold-hearted" , she said matter-of-factly. "Remy has a brave and kind heart, which is more than enough to defeat Hook."

"Emotionally, maybe" , I butted in, and they both looked at me. "I mean, physically, I really don't know…"

"It's your destiny, and you must prepare for it" , Raybha said wisely. "Otherwise, you will not have a chance."

"She won't have a chance anyways!" , Peter said, even more angrily. "What if she's killed? Then what?"

I looked at the Shaman in fear. She shook her head. "Then we're doomed" , she said quietly.

Peter looked at me, studying my face. I was hugging my knees by that point, shaking. I had to help Neverland, I knew that much.

But would helping cost my life?