Present Day
Peter prepped the ship for landing in his captain’s chair when he saw on his holographic screen that they were approaching Corinthia. “Prepare to enter the atmosphere everybody.” Winter sat strapped in behind him in a chair that protruded from the ship’s floor. Peter explained there were a few more chairs he could produce for crew, but they weren’t used in years. Winter leaned forward in her chair to get a better glimpse and spied that they were approaching an all teal planet. “You ready for your first alien community experience?”
“I thought you said I wasn’t allowed.” Winter said.
“I’ve been thinking it over. Maybe it’s better if you’re always with me. I have no idea what Hook wants with you and he may want you to be left alone for some reason. Best to keep you nearby instead.” Winter could sense there was something he was hiding.
“And what made you come to this conclusion?”
“Eh, just strategic thinking you know,” Peter brushed off. Winter glared as he explained. Something was up.
“And no one helped you come to this conclusion?” Tink said as she flew by in her ship.
“Nope! All me!” Peter bragged. Tink flew right into the back of Peter’s head! “Ow!”
“Thanks, Tink,” Winter said as she chuckled.
“I was going to drop your name soon I swear!” Peter said to Tink.
“As you always do captain.”
“And stop all that smirking back there,” Peter said looking back at Winter.
“You can do whatever you want Winter. The more famous counterpart of Peter’s story says so,” Tink taunted at Peter.
“Ugh! For the last time Tink, you’re not more famous than me.”
“Tell that to Walt Disney!” Tink fired back playfully. Winter could tell this teasing was done often.
“Wait, please explain,” Winter begged.
“As captain I order you-”
“Of course, Winter!” Tink said, cutting Peter off. “So, you are aware of the cartoon Walt Disney version of Peter Pan correct?”
“Dammit Tink,” Peter said under his breath.
“Who isn’t,” Winter responded, ignoring Peter.
“Well even though the title of the film is Peter Pan, the most influential piece of that film was actually in the form of Tinkerbell. She became the face of Disney, always adding the sparkle to the logo. And she’s had numerous tv shows and films about her.” Peter’s eyes were rolling into the back of his head as a huge sigh let out. “Overall, she’s the most popular character from that film, and possibly in Disney history. Just something that I need to remind Peter of every time his ego gets a little too high.”
“Okay fine, I’m sorry. Tink, came up with the whole idea of taking you with me. But I’m pretty sure there’s some alternative motives there. I was already thinking about bringing you with me.”
“Uh huh,” Winter said, not convinced at all.
“I was!” Peter said which lead to an awkward silence between them.
“Just wait. He’ll crack,” Tink whispered to Winter.
“Okay fine!” Peter exclaimed, breaking under the silent pressure. “To be honest, I don’t trust you with my ship,” he explained as he finished the landing and unbuckled. “Alright, let’s get out of here. Tink, you know what to do.”
“The ship will be well guarded Peter.”
Winter unbuckled and followed him down the corridor leading to the exit ramp. “Should I bring a weapon?”
“Absolutely. You do not want to be without a weapon in these parts.” Winter grabbed the sword hilt she was previously using. “Take this too,” Peter threw her a utility type belt that her hilt could attach to.
“Way cool,” she said as she put it on. “So, what are the Lost Boys like?” Winter asked as they continued down the exit ramp.
“They’re very…loyal.”
“Is it just like the books? You know, Slightly, The Twins, Nibs?”
“Nibs was a twin.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just because the book’s over doesn’t mean the story is, kid. Now come on! Let’s go!” Peter was very mysterious about the Lost Boys. He was very careful not to give out too much information about them. It was either to protect them or Winter. Winter couldn’t decide which one it was.
As Winter exited the ship, she found herself in a lot full of other ships. She was baffled at all the other different types of ships and sizes. Some of them were like Peter’s, but others had massively different structures and architecture. She felt as if she was plunged into the world of Star Wars. Multiple different types of aliens were exiting and loading cargo into their ship. Different languages flooded her ears as she passed by them. She had wished she could understand what they were saying. Or even what they were loading. Every box or metal crate that was loaded was stamped with languages Winter couldn’t understand. It was all so fascinating!
“Peter this is truly amazing!” Peter gave her a side eye.
“Winter. This is only the parking lot. Just wait till we get to the market place” he said as he pressed on.
Winter followed Peter into a massive crowd of aliens and other beings. This was the marketplace of Corinithia! She felt it was similar to a farmer’s market on Earth. All around her were massive tables and tents filled with creatures selling all types of items. Winter saw some were weapons sellers, where they had various blasters and laser swords. Two aliens were making sounds to one another at the table that made it seem like one was low balling on a price of a blaster. She looked on and saw a different table comprised entirely of armor. All body types were displayed with shapes that Winter had yet to see an alien have. Must be hard making a one size fits all armor for all the different body types in Neverland. They all seemed very muted colors, however. Didn’t seem like personalizing anything was a top priority over here. She looked to her right and saw one merchant selling different types of liquid in bottles. The only explanation Winter could think of was that it had to be antidotes or different types of potions of some kind. Winter was so awe struck that she hadn’t noticed she had stopped following Peter.
Peter yanked her towards him. “C’mon! Keep moving Winter.” Winter complied, but still had her eyes travel to all the different sites that the marketplace offered.
“Peter this whole place is amazing! Is everywhere like this in Neverland?”
“This is one of the biggest selling hubs in all of Neverland! You got your slime balls, your cheap skates, and your con men. It really does encapsulate Neverland,” Peter snarked. Winter didn’t necessarily agree with Peter’s description of it, but he did know more than she did.
As she passed through, she saw a lonely dealer with his merchandise up against a wall of a building. Where other tents had massive people surrounding them or people haggling a price, this dealer had not a single creature in front of it. The lonely dealer’s clothes were completely torn and tattered. She focused on what he was selling and saw that he had immaculate sculptures of different alien beings. They must have been historical figures or something considering the amount of care that went into them. She could not believe the immense detail in all of them. They were more detailed than anything Winter had ever seen on Earth. She couldn’t understand why no one wanted them. If she had any type of money, she would surely want to buy one. But nonetheless, everyone just passed by the lonely dealer, not even noticing him. One creature even spit on the sculptures as they walked past! There had to be a reason for this.
“Is this bad art where you all come from?” Winter asked causing Peter to give a condescending snort.
“They think all art is bad around here. Art is not really a needed thing around here.” Peter pressed on throughout the crowd as Winter tried to catch up.
“Not enough room on the ship?”
“In Neverland, you’re blasted everyday by someone or something. They’re either hungry for food or money, or greedy, or all of the above. Not much room for art when every day you wake up having to worry about survival.”
“Seems Earth and Neverland have that in common then.”
“That’s not true,” Peter scoffed.
“Trust me. If there’s anything I know about life on Earth, it’s how completely worthless it is to be a painter or sculptor. If you don’t believe me, I can introduce you to my dad.”
“Winter you have no idea what you’re talking about!” Peter was clearly agitated in her response, possibly even angry. Winter was about to combat his argument when a tentacle extended in front of her. She stopped curiously to examine it, unbeknownst to Peter who was continuing with his rant as he plunged further into the marketplace. She turned, following the tentacle and discovered a grotesque giant blob of an alien that was completely covered in tentacles. She didn’t even know if it had eyes or a mouth or anything. Just a shape of tentacles.
She heard grumbles come from the creature. She had no idea what it said, but it clearly said something to her. “Sorry, no talk alien?” The creature grumbled again and extended its tentacle arm even further in front of Winter. Oh, she thought, it’s a hand shake! “Hi! I’m Winter!” Winter shook its slimy tentacle out of politeness. Then the monster wove its tentacle around her entire body and heaved her over what she believed to be its shoulder! “Hey! Put me down!” She yelled as the tentacle monster walked through the marketplace heading toward the parking lot, the exact opposite direction of Peter. “Peter! Peter!” she yelled, but Peter was too far away.
“And THAT is the main difference between Earth and this-” Peter turned around to find Winter nowhere to be found. “Winter?” He gazed at the various merchant tables assuming she got distracted like last time but found nothing. “Crap,” he sighed as he ignited his rocket boots and soared to the sky. He tapped his com link in his ear. “Tink. Activate the tracker through my gaze.”
“Yes sir,” he heard Tink from his ear piece. Peter hovered over the city, waiting for his tracker to activate. His right eye turned red and his entire gaze of the city suddenly turned a dim yellow. Thanks to the tracker that was now activated, he was able to scan each individual in the city. If he would focus on one being, they would be highlighted in purple and a small profile with the current image of them would appear with any stats the tracker could make out.
“You see anything Tink?”
“I’m having trouble detecting humans with the Lost Boys so close in proximity” she explained. Peter continued looking. There had to be a simpler way. His heart was racing thinking of all the possibilities where she could be. Dead in a ditch! Sold off as a war slave! Or even being scammed into some planetary timeshare! He couldn’t let anything happen to Winter. And then, an idea popped into his head. Why didn’t he think of this earlier?
“Tink, search for escalating heart rate and adrenaline.” The scanner turned off to recalibrate. When it came back online, very few beings were in purple, but only one was on the move and upside down! Peter focused on it and the scanner brought up the stats, confirming it was Winter. She started to flash red. “Got her!” In an instant, the scanner turned off returning Peter’s vision to normal. Peter smirked and jetted to Winter’s location. He landed right in front of the tentacle monster and drew his blaster. “Stop right there buddy.”
“Peter!” Winter exclaimed as she heard his voice. The tentacle monster stopped in front of Peter, but began laughing. Both Winter and Peter became confused until everyone in the market suddenly drew their blaster and aimed it directly at Peter! A small green alien in a hooded dress aggressively pressed through the crowd to the front. He drew his blaster, thirsty for blood. Peter gave the small alien a confused look. There was now dead silence in the market. Winter looked around, seeing every blaster drawn at her and Peter.
“I guess this is like Earth as well,” she said. Peter held out his hands as if he was being stuck up by the cops.
“Easy everyone. Peter Pan. You know, charismatic wonder space cadet.”
Oh great, Winter thought, Peter’s ego was going to get her killed. The tentacle monster began grumbling at Peter, similar to how he grumbled at Winter.
“Everyone knows who I am buddy. I get it, I shouldn’t have drawn this,” Peter held up his blaster. “There’s a code around here, I respect that.” Peter holstered his blaster. How is Peter communicating with it, thought Winter. “Look, let’s start over. Why are you holding onto that girl?” Peter asked. The tentacle monster grumbled again, it seemed much more polite this time around. “What? No! Put her down man,” Peter continued.
“You can understand this hentai thing?” Winter asked. The tentacle monster dropped her aggressively on the ground, seeming to take offense to that. Winter landed hard, causing dust to fly around her. The tentacle monster growled at her.
“C’mon Winter, that’s a low blow.”
“It can understand me, but I can’t understand it?” Winter asked. The tentacle monster let out a sad mumbled grumble. Winter felt as if she hurt his feelings. The monster started slouching as if it was being hard on itself. Winter stood up, dusting herself off.
“I get it man, look I’m on your side on this one,” Peter explained to him. The tentacle monster grumbled and laughed. “I get that!” Peter laughed with him as he brought his guard down, knowing he had won over the tentacle monster.
Winter, on the other hand, stood there confused. Peter laughed again and pointed toward her. Her eyes went wide as it dawned on her what was so funny. “Wait, are you talking about me?” Winter accused Peter. Peter ignored her and looked back to the tentacle monster. “Excuse me,” she said trying to get his attention.
“She is a little feisty, I know what you mean! Who wouldn’t want that!” Peter winked to Winter.
“Excuse me?” Winter looked as if she was about to strangle them both. The tentacle monster laughed and gave a light growl.
“Hey, she wouldn’t be my first-round pick either, but times are tough in Neverland!”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Excuse me!” Winter yelled, deafening everyone in the marketplace. The whole area went silent a second time. Everyone’s eyes were on them once again. The small hooded alien crept back up to them and raised his blaster at Winter, glaring at her with malice. Peter saw that he was ready to blast Winter.
“Really little dude?” The small alien motioned toward Winter and then seemingly calmed down as he put his blaster away filled with disappointment. Peter could tell the little guy really wanted a shootout.
Peter sighed and shook his head. He tapped the belt of his armor and a small circular device popped out. “Look, I get where you’re coming from man,” he explained to the tentacle monster. “But you can’t do this. There are laws where she’s from that are way different than yours,” he explained as he walked behind Winter.
“What are you doing?” She asked, still not breaking eye contact with the tentacle monster. Peter grabbed her head viciously and quickly tilted it to the side. “Hey!” Winter tried to break free, but Peter was too fast. He put the small device in Winter’s ear and she felt a tiny but painful prick as the device pierced into her ear! “Ow!” she screamed. The tentacle monster began to grumble back at Peter, when instantaneously the grumbles turned into perfect English!
“But it’s what my kind does. It’s not that big of a deal in my culture,” the tentacle monster explained. Winter could not believe she was now perfectly understanding it.
“And I’m all for that,” Peter agreed. “I understand it’s much easier. Really wish more would adopt your style of philosophy.”
“I can hear him?”
“Wait she understands me now?” the tentacle monster asked. Winter hit Peter on the side.
“What did you do to me!?” she demanded.
“Chill out! I put a standard translation device in your system. You can hear whatever language he’s speaking and whatever language you speak comes out as his natural tongue.”
“Perfect!” the tentacle monster cheered. “Now in human culture, I will ask, so it won’t be weird or frowned upon where you come from.” Peter smirked. This will be great, he thought. “So, darling,” he motioned to Winter. “Will you my sweet princess,” Peter winced at the word ‘princess’ as Winter grew more offended, “Be my glacknah?”
“Glackhan? Peter what’s a glacknah?”
“There’s no English word for it, but it roughly means love slave. But if you think about it differently, it could mean wife, in his culture.”
Winter kept in as much steam as she could. Peter braced for the explosion, but slipped out a slight chuckled. “I am NO ONE’S WIFE!” she yelled. The tentacle monster wiped the spit from his face she produced while yelling. “And also, you!” She barked as she turned to Peter. “How dare you rescue me! I’m not some kind of damsel in distress!”.
“Whoa!” Peter exclaimed furring his brow not expecting any outrage to be directed at him. “You clearly needed help. Gender had no part in it.”
“Oh, you know it had everything to do with this.”
“Alright fine,” Peter shrugged, “Jeff, do your thing.”
“His name is Jeff?” The tentacle monster, who’s name she guessed was now Jeff, immediately threw his tentacle around Winter’s waist and hoisted her back on his shoulder. “Ah! Stop!” Winter tried punching Jeff’s back, but its gooey surface absorbed all her blows. Peter walked behind Jeff with a perfect view of Winter, laughing as he followed.
“Can’t wait to see you get out of this.”
“Oh, shut it Pete!”
“What? You said you got this!” Peter taunted. Winter continued to hit Jeff in the back. It was clear she was getting tired, both physically and tired of dealing with Peter’s semantics. She growled and gave a few more punches in the back before giving up. Her body dropped lifeless, defeated.
“Alright, alright fine!” Winter heard Peter say. She lifted her head back up. “C’mon Winter. Didn’t think of doing anything with his tentacles?”
“Ew! I’m not…” She stopped speaking as Peter face palmed. “Oh, it wasn’t a sexual thing?”
“Why would I…whatever,” Peter said shaking his head in disappointment. Winter thought about what he said. She only had one idea and she really hoped Peter wasn’t playing with her again. Grabbing a nearby tentacle, she pulled on it as hard as she could causing Jeff to let out a massive squeal. He twirled around in circles, trying to reach the tentacle Winter was holding hostage with her stone grip.
“Get off me please!” Jeff pleaded.
“Not so fun now huh?” This was Winter’s chance to bring him down. She tightened her grip and using all of her body weight, she buckled forward, causing Jeff and herself to fall to the ground. With no time to lose, Winter leapt up and grabbed one of his longer tentacles and whipped it around his neck in a noose like formation. Using all of her might she spun around and flung him into a nearby kiosk!
The small hooded alien appeared next to Peter and jumped with glee! Peter couldn’t believe it! She was amazing! He knew she would get free, but not in that way! The small hooded alien quickly drew his blaster, excited to start the bloodshed. Peter noticed the small alien’s blaster drawn and rolled his eyes as he pushed the blaster down and headed to Winter. The small hooded alien balled his fist in rage. He was so excited and now nothing would happen!
“Hmpf!” the alien yelled as he threw down his blaster to the ground. The blaster hit the ground, then accidentally fired! The blast hit the small hooded alien in the chest and he fell back, dead.
Peter caught up to Winter. “Alright! Winter, that was, that was awesome!”
“That was pretty awesome yeah?” Winter agreed trying to catch her breath as she grinned.
“Oh, so now we’re back to you liking this place?”
“Shut it.” Winter shook her head.
“Let’s get back to business. Follow me.”
“I’ll catch up,” Winter said, still reeling from the fight. Peter hesitated, not sure if he should actually leave her. “I can clearly hold my own, just need to catch my breath.” Despite his best judgement, he decided to let Winter have this one.
“Suit yourself. I’ll be in that cantina over there” Peter nudged his head to a nearby building up ahead. Winter nodded as Peter turned back and continued through the crowd. Winter looked back to the destroyed kiosk to see that Jeff was just now regaining his balance, but kept slipping and falling, causing even more damage to the kiosk. It seemed the tentacles he used as feet weren’t quite working at the moment. She looked forward, to see how far Peter had gotten.
To her surprise, he was digging in one of his pockets, standing still in the crowd. He produced a gold coin and looked around, as if he was about to break a law. Winter snuck behind him, leaving enough space so that he wouldn’t notice her. He briskly walked to a nearby merchant and sneakily flipped the merchant his gold coin. Why would you do that Peter Pan, she thought. Peter had just given money to the lonely art dealer she saw earlier. Maybe there is just a bit more to Peter Pan than she realized. Winter pressed on and followed Peter into the cantina.
Winter had no idea what the cantina would bring. This would be the first establishment she had ever experienced in Neverland. She was expecting technology like she had never seen before. Maybe there would be robot waiters or drinks that appear directly to your table the moment you think you wanted a new one. She was utterly devastated.
Winter walked in to discover a cheap grimy bar with very low lighting. There were multiple windows, but shades were drawn on all of them, keeping the bar very dark, only illuminated by cheap hanging lamps. The place had a damp smell. If she hadn’t known she was in Neverland, she would have believed she hopped into a dive bar in London. One that only weird hipsters thought was cool. She didn’t know what music was playing, but it sounded very similar to 90s grunge music.
She saw Peter eyeing the place in front of her and walked up to him. “So, this is my first pub experience on Neverland?”
“If you would like to think of it like that,” Peter shrugged. Winter continued to gaze throughout the bar and saw a bunch of men wearing the same gray uniform. Two of them were chugging their drinks while the rest of the pack encouraged them on, begging for one to finish before the other.
“Gross. Why is this pub filled with frat boys?” Winter inquired. Peter gave half a laugh, then looked down, possibly from embarrassment. “Oh god! Really!”
“Lost Boys!” Peter belted as he approached. Peter opened his arms and had multiple members of the Lost Boys came in for a hug as if he was one of their own.
“Well this is a letdown,” Winter said to herself as she watched the Lost Boys reconnect with Peter with either a hug, a high five or a noogie. Good to know they had noogies here. Winter noticed one of them was standing back from the crowd. He kept his arms crossed and just eyed Peter with a sense of distrust. He had messy brown hair and a huge scar on his cheek. Did this person have a problem with Peter? Peter looked over to him and produced a huge smile as he approached him.
“Slightly!” Peter yelled as he opened his arms for a hug. Slightly stayed in his distant stance, but then a smile cracked his face.
“Pan,” Slightly said as he went in for the hug. The Lost Boys dispersed, going back to their usual activities. “You must have gotten yourself in a load of trouble if you’re finding the likes of us.”
“You certainly know me, Slight,” Peter agreed. Winter approached from behind, a tad nervous. Even though they were nothing more than a bunch of frat boys, it didn’t diminish the excitement of meeting a Lost Boy. Slightly began eyeing her right as she came close to both of them, almost glaring at her.
“Who’s this one?”
“She’s actually the reason why I’m here.”
Slightly snorted, then rolled his eyes. “Ah, so you forbid anyone to go back, but yet you bring another here.” Slightly headed toward the bar, clearly upset with Winter’s presence. Suspicion grew in Winter’s mind. Peter and Slightly may have been friends, but there was clearly some type of bad blood between them.
“It’s not like that, Slight. She accidentally came aboard and I think Hook is the reason why,” Peter mentioned as he followed Slightly to the bar. “Trust me. You know I don’t want anyone coming to Neverland or leaving it. And you know I wouldn’t break this rule.” Peter turned Slightly toward him so they were making eye contact. It seemed he was very serious about this rule, making Winter wonder why he had it if the stories were true. Was Wendy an exception, or the reason why he had this rule?
Slightly bowed down his head and bit his lip as he let out a huge sigh. It seemed like he was angry with Peter, but didn’t want to spoil the moment between them. He looked as if he was suppressing all his emotions. Forcing a smile, he said, “You know I can’t stay mad at you. Drink?”
“Haven’t you guys had enough?” Winter asked motioning toward the other Lost Boys, one of which just fell over from drinking while a few others fell over from laughing at him.
“We just finished a job, love. It’s tradition. And these boys need this after the last gig.” Winter pushed herself into their conversation. Her breath was bleeding onto the back of Peter’s neck.
“What was the gig?” Winter asked excited to hear an epic tale of bravery and space battles. Instead, dead silence fell between the two of them. Slightly clenched his jaw and tried not to blink while Peter sighed, bowing his head. “Did I say something?” Winter wondered as she seemingly brought down the entire celebration. The drinks arrived at the bar, one in front of each of them.
“I heard he went out like a warrior.” Peter said solemnly. Slightly nodded silently agreeing. Winter now understood why there was complete silence. They may have been celebrating a job well done, but it came with consequences. One of the Lost Boys died in the process.
“You should have seen him. I don’t know if he knew it was the end, but we all did. And that’s what made it worse.” Slightly lifted his drink. “To his memory,” Slightly gave a cheers to Winter and Peter. Winter went for her drink, but without skipping a beat, Peter pulled her drink in front of him, to the disappointment of Winter. She was nearly of age in London and who knows what the drinking age was in Neverland.
All of a sudden, a hooded drunk man fell right between Slightly and Peter. Slightly shoved the man away. “Oh, come on, man! Bug off!” The drunken man slurred a few incoherent words together as a drunken apology while he limped away from them, Slightly and Peter returned to their positions at the bar.
“How’s Nibs taking it?” Peter asked Slightly. One of Peter and Winter’s past conversations flashed throughout her head. Nibs was a twin Peter said to her. The fairy tale story was not completely right. Nibs and the twins were one in the same. And Nibs had just lost his brother.
“He’s taking some time off. Stuck around after the dying wish. But it was clearly hurting him to be with us. He’s in pretty bad shape.”
Winter hated to butt into their conversation yet again, but she was having trouble following along with all of their lingo. Peter looked over and saw the dilemma in her face.
“When a frontiersman dies, he is allowed to leave a dying wish,” Peter explained. “Anything they want and it must be fulfilled no matter what. Unless of course, it’s impossible. Pirate code.”
“So, why you here, Pan?” Slightly said as he downed the drink that was in front of Peter. Twirling the glass around in his fingers, he looked stubbornly at Peter.
“I need you to take Winter back.”
“Winter?” Slightly produced a confused look. Peter motioned toward Winter as Winter gave Slightly a shy wave. “Your name is Winter?” Winter wasn’t sure if Slightly was more confused by her name or by the task Peter asked, but nodded towards him anyway. Slightly looked her up and down, judging her. “Bet you’re really cool with a name like that. Why would you bring her here, Pan?”
“I told you, she accidentally came aboard.”
“Been making a lot of accidents in this life, huh?” Slightly remarked. Winter could feel the tension building between them.
“It’s true!” Winter confessed in an act to defuse the tension between them. “I followed Peter in what I thought was a field but turned out to be his ship. By the time we got through the wormhole I was already stowed away.”
Slightly eyed Peter with skepticism. This may be true but he still clearly didn’t agree with the situation.
“Hook wants me to take her back. Something’s wrong with that. How could he know she was from Earth in the first place?”
“And why were you there, Pan? Riddle me that.”
“Because he was,” Peter said after a few moments of silence.
“You sure about that?”
“I am,” Peter said annoyed. “He’s up to something. I know it.”
“Hook’s up to a lot. Trust me, he just tried to hire us.” Slightly motioned to the bar tender to get him another drink. The drunk man fumbled into Peter once again as Slightly finished his sentence. Peter pushed him off.
“What is it with this lot today? So, what do you think Slight?”
Slightly was momentarily confused from the drunk man who stumbled into them yet again. For a second, he thought he recognized the man while he glared at him.
“Slight?” Peter asked again. Slightly refocused as he let out a sigh as if he was defeated and just had to accept this part of his life.
“We’ll take her back.”
“But I don’t want to go back,” Winter blurted out. Peter and Slightly both turned their heads to look at her, one looking insulted while the other seemed surprised.
“That’s not true,” Peter returned.
“Yes, it is. I want to stay in Neverland,” Winter spat out her rebuttal.
Winter herself wasn’t sure why she had just said that. Yes, her family and life were back on Earth, but these past few moments were just too incredible. Way better than anything she ever had to do on Earth. Here, she could go on adventures and fly around the galaxy. It sure beat choosing between being an untalented poor artist or being a boring accountant at her dad’s firm. Here, she could drop all her worries about the future and her career. As Peter said, this place was only about survival. While that sounded deadly, to Winter it seemed to be the perfect life. She could just live in the moment. Take the future day by day. And no one around here, besides Peter that is, had any say in what her life would be.
A distant thought popped in her head, however. The thought of her father all alone. Ever since her mother died, she was all he had. And now he would have nothing. She buried the thought deeply and quickly. He should have made an effort before she left.
The bar tender came by and refilled Slightly and Peter’s drink. “Is that so?” Slightly said, eyeing Peter as if he had just won an argument. Slightly took one of the drinks and grinned. “Love to help, Pan, but you know we don’t do kidnappings. We’re not like you.” He winked at Peter and headed back to the Lost Boys. Peter bit his lip, suppressing any anger that was boiling inside of him. There had to be a different way to get to Slightly, he thought as he followed Slightly.
“C’mon Slight, her father misses her.”
“No, he doesn’t!” Winter said as she appeared behind Peter.
“Shut it, Winter.” Peter interjected.
“Do you have any member openings or anything like that?” Winter as stopping Slightly in his tracks.
“Huh.” Slightly turned around and faced both of them. “Now, that is an interesting question. Ain’t it Pan?” Peter put up a hand as if he was trying to show a wild animal he was friendly.
“Slightly,” Peter said slowly, knowing Slightly was about to make a very bad decision.
“What makes you think you could become a Lost Boy, love?”
“My father hates me. Lost my mother. And I’m damn good with a sword. I’m not sure I can drink like you lot, but I sure do have a lot of memories to drown away in alcohol. Any other boxes I need to check?”
“Wow hit right on the mark of membership requirements. Good with a sword, eh?”
“You can’t be serious Slightly,” Peter said eyeing him.
“Yes, he can,” Winter butted in.
“She always like this?” Slightly chuckled. “Oh, this is great!” Peter did not share in the joy Slightly was having. “Oh, come on, Pan. We ain’t taking her back. But, how about we give her…a little trial?” Slightly shrugged making Peter raise his eyebrows curiously. “See how she is with that sword of hers? It will be like old times Pan.” Peter looked away, reluctant to do whatever Slightly was planning.
“I can’t change the fact that you have to find someone else to do your dirty work,” Slightly explained. “But I can make sure she knows how to survive.” What was Slightly hinting at, thought Winter. “Plus,” Slightly added, “You can watch her get beat in the ring. Knock her big ego down a few pegs.”
Peter shook his head grinning. Slightly got him. “Let’s take you to the ring then,” Peter said turning toward Winter.
Winter had no idea what they were talking about, but she couldn’t back down and let them know she was scared. If she was truly going to be a resident of Neverland, she had to do whatever they thought would scare her or ‘knock her down a few pegs.’ A waitress walked by with a few shots on her tray. Winter’s expression turned stone and she stole one of the shots as the waitress passed by.
“Fine. Like your stupid trial or whatever can beat me.” She took down the shot and the alcohol burned her throat. She had alcohol a few times on Earth, but nothing like the liquid she just ingested. She felt a cough come up, but suppressed it. Couldn’t let them know she could barely take it. Slightly laughed and applauded Winter.
“Alright! Boys! Get your swords! We got a trial to go to!” The Lost Boys gave a loud cheer and started to head out.
“You ready?” Peter asked.
“Of course, I am,” Winter said, unsure of what she just got herself into.
The drunken hooded man got up from the table that Slightly pushed him into. He took a few steps unbalanced until he was sure every Lost Boy had left. Once he was sure, his balance became impeccable and he strutted out completely sober. He was faking the entire time, and it seemed to work on Peter and Slightly. He was a tad afraid that the girl would recognize him from Earth. But luckily, he was so fast and no one gives a second glance at the village drunk. From his spot, he was able to hear everything that Peter and Slightly talked about. Most of it was useless and unfortunately things didn’t go the way he had hoped and at this point he was unable to follow them to wherever they were going. It would be far too dangerous.
He needed to contact Hook and give him a briefing. Luckily for him, he was still unsure if Peter would fall for Hook’s plan. Better for the drunken man as Hook would have to pay him for yet another gig. If Peter wouldn’t fall for Hook’s trap, they would have to force him into it.