Forever Neverland(54)

“Wow, they’re really going at it,” he said, trying not to holler, but obviously feeling it was necessary in order to be heard over the wind and splattering rain. Lightning crashed somewhere nearby and Tootles jumped and then crouched lower behind his rocks. He’d always been terrified of storms. He didn’t think Tink knew that, of course, but she was a fairy. Not an idiot.

He’d always made up excuses in order to stay behind when the Lost Boys went to play in the rain. And sometimes, when she felt like it, she even helped him along a little.

Today, however, she didn’t feel like helping him at all.

“Buck up, Tootles!” she hissed at him. “It’s just a little rain!”

Thunder slammed into Skull Rock like a tangible force, shaking the rocks and crumbling walls around them.

Long, long ago, in a time that none of them remembered, Skull Rock had been used by someone as a castle keep. However, for as long as there had been so much as fairies to flit about the island, the rock had been deserted, and its internal castle walls were as old and crumbling as its long-dead cause.

Now those walls shook with brute force and pieces of the black rock broke off to crumble to the ground and water below.

Tootles shot Tinkerbell a starkly dirty look and Tink had the decency to look slightly guilty. But then she covered it up, shrugged, and pointed to something beyond Peter and Wendy – something hiding behind the rocky outcroppings on the other side of the cavern below.

“Who is that?” Tootles squinted and shielded his eyes from the rain, attempting to make out the two forms that were crouched and partially hidden in the shadows of the Skull’s mouth.

“It’s Princess Tiger Lily and Great Big Little Panther,” Tinkerbell told him, matter-of-factly. “I think they’re here to help Peter, but they don’t recognize him.”

Tootles blinked rapidly and shook his head in wonder. “Well, no doubt! Tiger Lily hasn’t aged a day! I’m sure they expected Peter to do the same!”

“And Wendy, too,” Tink added. “Now, look –” She motioned for Tootles to raise his line of vision to something just behind Tiger Lily. There was an opening in the wall of rock there; a sliver no more than a few feet wide. But it was large enough for a child to crawl through. And certainly large enough for a fairy.

Tootles caught the very slight shimmer of such a fairy hovering at the bottom of the small crevice. “What is it doing?”

Tinkerbell turned to scowl at him. “It?”

Tootles blinked. Then he gave her an exasperated look. “Well, it’s not like I can see whether it’s a boy or girl from here, Tink!”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t say that about a human, would you? What is it doing?” She glared at him. “No! You’d say, ‘what are they doing’!”

Tootles ran a hand over his wet head and puffed out his cheeks. “Fine!” he cried, holding up his other hand in a placating manner. “Fine, okay? What do you think the fairy is doing?”

Tink huffed and whirled back around to look. But when she didn’t answer after a few moments, it was obvious that she couldn’t tell. “I can’t see – I’m going in for a closer look.”

“Wha- wait!” Tootles reached up to stop her, but her tiny, shimmering form whizzed past him with inhuman speed and within a mere half a second, all he could make out of her was the waning sprinkle of her pixie dust trail as she soared toward the Natives and their fairy contact down below.

*****

John Darling couldn’t believe how rapidly a bad situation had gone from dire to positively hopeless. Being stuck with pirates was bad enough. And the storm was worse; it had come up out of nowhere and without warning and he didn’t much like the idea of being trapped on the water during a gale.

But then Wendy had escaped, despite her promise, leaving him and Michael behind to fend for themselves! Not that he could really blame her from wanting to be rid of Captain Hook and his band of miscreants. But did she fear and loathe them so greatly that she would sacrifice her own kin to the monsters in order to get away?

Apparently so.

And now they were out in a storm in a tiny row boat, one of three such boats in their water-logged caravan at that moment. He and Michael both had ropes around their ankles and their hands were free only because Captain Hook had given the strict order to leave them unbound in case the boat capsized.

Wonderful notion, thought John. A capsizing row boat in an angry sea, with ropes knotted around your ankles and only a vague recollection of how to swim.

“This is all Wendy’s fault,” John muttered under his breath. He truly didn’t think Michael would hear him, what with the wind howling the way it was and the waves crashing so steadily against the hull of the small boat.