The Neverland Girl

by Dash Hoffman

  Watching Shortly, Pip, and Bandit as they examined the golden quadrant, a question formed in Emma’s mind. She looked at the boys and spoke up. “How do we decide who gets to keep the treasure?”

  Chance lifted his chin resolutely. “Our rule is finders keepers. You found it, you keep it. It’s yours for good.”

  Emma grinned and nodded. “Thanks!”

  The emerald-tailed mermaid looked at the sword and the music box. With a special touch, she dried out the music box completely until there wasn’t a drop of water left, and then she handed it back to Emma.

  Emma turned the key in the back of the box, making the music come to life, and causing the little mermaid inside of it to turn in a circle as a melody sounded out.

  The song that played was sung by an other-worldly siren voice, and it sounded completely different than any song Emma had ever heard. The music had only just started when the real mermaid took the box from Emma and snapped the lid shut.

  Giving it back with a warning look, she spoke in her melodic voice. “That is the true song of a mermaid. You must not play it around the Lost Boys, for it will hypnotize them, and they will do the bidding of the one who plays the song! That is a dangerous box and must be kept safe, always. Most importantly, it is vital that it be kept away from the depraved Captain Hook. He must never get his evil hook on it. Swear to me that it will be kept safe always!” The mermaid demanded. ‘If he ever got it, he could be command of anyone!”

  Emma nodded. “I swear!”

  “Good.” The mermaid answered. “This means that he will still believe it is on the ship in the waters of Neverland, and he will keep on looking in the sea for it and never find it, because it will be hidden on the island instead.”

  Emma promised. Then she set the music box down and picked up the small sword that was just her size. “What about this? Why was this in the chest?” She asked, showing it to the mermaid.

  The mermaid looked indifferent. “That is an enchanted sword. If it is used in a fight, it will never miss its mark. You may keep it if you like, but do not let Hook discover it. He would kill Peter Pan with that if he ever got it, and that may very well be why he is searching so desperately for the Sea Swan; to find this very sword so that he can finally do Peter in with it.”

  Emma scowled and shook her head. “Hook shall never have it!” She declared, and the mermaid gave her a nod.

  Just then, some of the mermaid’s sisters came to them and waved their arms, calling out with their musical tones.

  Emma’s mermaid friend spoke to them in a strange language and Emma listened closely in fascination. It was unlike anything that she had ever heard before.

  The mermaid turned swiftly; her wide, dark eyes sharp. “They say they’ve found the Jolly Roger! We will have our seahorses take you right away.”

  Just then, as Emma and the Lost Boys gazed out to the water in the lagoon, a herd of great seahorses rose up from the gently rolling waves. They were as colorful as the mermaids, in shades of the sea; blues and greens, with flecks of gold, jade, and bronze all over their hides.

  Their bodies were round and fat at the front, and their tails curled into spirals underneath them. They bounced easily up and down in the water on their tails, shaking their heads back and forth with anticipation.

  “Gosh! Are those real seahorses? I thought seahorses were tiny!” Emma jumped to her feet and gaped at the great creatures before her. They were bigger than regular horses back in London.

  “We’re riding on seahorses? Let’s go! I want to ride a seahorse!” Firefly went dashing straight into the waves toward them.

  Shortly reached his hand over to Emma’s nightgown and clutched it tightly. “Those are very big seahorses. Couldn’t we walk please?”

  Pip beamed at them. “We’ll be able to see the whole coast riding on those, and a good portion of the island too! This is splendid!” He too plonked his way into the waves after Firefly.

  Patches wailed miserably. “We just left the sea! We could walk! I’m taking Shortly’s part in this! We don’t need to go back in the water!”

  Chance smirked at him. “We’re going after a pirate on a ship in the sea. We’re going to have to be in the water. No one is staying behind. Let’s go.”

  He gave Shortly and Patches a look that made them drop their shoulders and pout silently as they trudged out into the water again.

  Bandit, Scout, Tumbles, and Pockets were already splashing through the rolling waves to get to the seahorses.

  The mermaids helped the Lost Boys and Emma to go back out into the water and climb up into the pouches on the bellies of the seahorses, and they found that the pouches were warm and comfortable.

  Tinkerbell refused to go until Pockets caught her and tucked her into his biggest pocket, tying it closed so she couldn’t get out. He returned Britely to its special pocket, and then he waved at the others. “We’re ready!”

  “And just when I was certain that I’d already had the adventure of a lifetime!” Emma gushed happily, thrilled to be going.

  Firefly punched his fist into the air with ecstatic and wild abandon. “Every day is the adventure of a lifetime! Let’s go!”

  Emma curled her fingers over the velvety soft rounded rim of the big pouch she was in, feeling as if she was snuggled into the cushiest bed ever.

  The mermaids waved, and the seahorses reared back for a moment, excited to go, and then leaned forward slightly and cut through the water like lightning.

  Emma reached her hand out and touched the surface of the sea a foot below the pocket she was ensconced in. The water flew away from her fingertips, leaving a wake that was swallowed whole by the wake her seahorse left.

  Giddy with delight, she looked all around, watching in fascination as they headed northwest of the island. It was bathed in the brilliant light of the setting sun, ablaze with color and majesty, from the pink-tinged snow at the top of the mountain peak to the golden orange hues of fading sunlight on the jungle and the Neverwoods.

  The seahorses played with one another, zig-zagging in between each other, going in and out of the varying wakes of the herd, and whinnying happily as they raced.

  Shortly and Patches were ducked down so low into their riding pockets that only the tips of their fingers, their eyes, and the tops of their heads showed.

  Firefly leaned so far out of his pocket waving one arm, that he nearly fell out a few times. Pip and Chance leaned out of theirs a little as well, though they were much more careful about staying safe. Emma waved her arm at them and they waved back in utter delight.

  Bandit had pulled a telescope from some secret recess of his clothing, and had it set fast to his eye as he peered over the surface of the sea, looking for Hook’s ship.

  “We’ve got to do this much more often!” Tumbles cried to Scout.

  “I say we go every day!” Scout answered back. “We’ll rule the seas!”

  “Or have races!”

  “Yes! Races are much better than ruling! Let’s have races every day instead!” Scout thrilled at the notion. “It’ll be the best game ever!”

  When they had gone most of the way up the coast, the seahorses slowed and quieted; hushing themselves just as the day did as night drew in around them like a cloak.

  It hadn’t taken them long at all to make their journey. Pip whistled once, and all of them looked at him. He pointed to the shoreline far up ahead, and they saw the flag of the Jolly Roger, lit up from light on the deck below. The whole of the ship, save for the black flag flying high on the mast, was hidden behind a wall of boulders that reached out into the sea from the shore.

  Emma knew that if they went beyond the wall, the pirates would see them. She looked up at her seahorse and waved to him, telling him quietly to head for the beach on the near side of the boulder wall. The other seahorses followed, grouping together once they were close to the sand.

  Emma looked at all of them and spoke as quietly as she could. Her voice was masked by the sounds of the pirates talking, si
nging, and jesting on the ship right on the other side of the rock wall.

  “Okay. Here’s the plan. I’m going to go ashore and sneak into the trees there. I’ll play Peter’s pipes and I know that that nefarious Captain Hook and his band will come ashore and follow me. I’ll lead them into the Neverwoods, and when they are out of sight, all of you climb out of your seahorses and scale the side of the ship. Tinkerbell can dust it with pixie dust, and all of you can make ready to sail. Once Hook and his scallywags are good and truly lost in the wood searching for Peter, I’ll double back and come aboard. Then we can take off and get Britely back to the night sky where he belongs!”

  Firefly nearly shouted a battle cry, but Chance shot him a sharp look and he clamped his hand over his mouth with wide eyes, relieved that he hadn’t given them away.

  Emma gave them a thumb’s up sign, and they returned it to her, though half of them weren’t sure what she was doing, as they hadn’t been able to hear her.

  Her seahorse drew up alongside the boulders where smaller rocks lay around the bigger ones. She turned in his pouch and gave him a hug for his help. He nuzzled her gently, and then she crawled out of his pouch onto the nearest smaller boulder.

  The Lost Boys all watched as she stole slowly and silently along the perimeter of the great boulder wall, carefully stepping and reaching her hands out a bit at a time until she had made it to shore. By then it was growing dark enough that it was difficult to see the boys in the pockets of their great sea steeds. She waved to let them know she had made it, hopeful that at least Pip might be able to see her.

  With her bare feet pushing down into the sand, she made no sound at all as she slipped into the trees and bushes that lined the beach. She walked through them until she was parallel with the ship on the far side of the rock wall.

  Keeping a watchful eye all around her in case any of the pirates had already gone ashore, she tip-toed up to the very edge of the trees near the sand. With her heart pounding wildly against her chest, she lifted Peter’s pipes to her mouth and began to blow.

  A few soft notes sounded. She frowned and lowered the pipes. Emma knew that she was going to have to try harder if she was going to make the music loud enough to get over the waves washing onto the shoreline and the noisy men aboard the Jolly Roger.

  She closed her eyes and focused hard. ‘You can do this.’ She thought to herself. “You can do this.” Came the distant familiar voice of a friend somewhere off in the netherworld.

  Emma lifted the pipes to her mouth again and drew in the deepest breath she had ever inhaled. Blowing as hard as she could, she moved the row of pipes back and forth over her mouth and a ripple of strong and mocking notes flew from the hollow tubes, out into the dark night, and a moment later a menacing shout came from the deck of the Jolly Roger.

  “STOP!” It roared.

  It was a terrible voice, as deep and as cold as the ocean had been where the sunken ship was trapped in the jaws of the pillars.

  Every sound stopped so fast that the silence was deafening in the wake of the raucous noise immediately before it.

  “Stop!” He hissed loudly, and Emma could see the monstrous Captain Hook striding down the deck of the ship. “Did you hear it?” He cried out to Smee, who was following behind him at a distance.

  “Hear what, Cap’n?” Smee asked, wiggling his fingers in his ears and looked down his red-rounded nose through his silver-rounded spectacles.

  “It’s him!” Hook clenched his teeth and growled. “It’s Peter Pan! He’s back! I heard him… that cocky boy… I heard his flute!”

  Smee shook his head and pushed his fat lips out into a frown. “No, Cap’n, I didn’t hear it. Are you sure? If Pan was around, surely he’d be out where you could see him, don’t you think?” He finally reached the captain, where Hook was standing almost at the bow of the ship.

  Emma had never felt so thrilled and terrified, and naughty, and justified, in her whole life. She wondered if that was just what Peter Pan felt when he taunted Hook; though she was certain he could do it without the terror.

  Lifting the pipes to her lips, she drew in another big breath. She could see the hatred and bloodlust in his face.

  The captain shook his glossy curls and cut his razor sharp silver hook high into the air. “No! No… he wouldn’t show himself, not at first. No. He would toy with me and tease me, just to drive me mad with frustration! Don’t you see, Smee?” He began to laugh wickedly with a hint of insanity. “He’s toying with me!”

  The music sounded loudly, and close by. Hook lunged for the rope ladder at the side of the ship. “I must get to him! I must kill him! Now! Tonight!” He laughed horribly again. “Tonight Peter Pan will die, and I’ll be rid of him forever! Men! All of you! Let’s go!”

  Every pirate on the ship scrambled down the ladder after the captain, and Emma stepped back from the tree wide-eyed as fear gripped her racing heart. The evilest man on all the seas was coming straight for her with murder on his mind.

  She turned and darted into the dark forest, careful to watch where she was going, and listening keenly to the noises around her so that she might not be caught by the pirates.

  “Be on the lookout!” Hook ordered menacingly. I’m sure that wretched Pan has those dirty Lost Boys with him, and we can’t walk into an ambush!”

  Emma could tell from the proximity of their voices that they were nearing her. She hurried ahead as fast as she could, and blew on the pipes once more.

  “There! Did you hear it?” Hook hissed loudly.

  “I heard it Cap’n! Yes I did!” Smee answered back.

  Emma turned then and went in the opposite direction, doing her best to make no sound at all. She wished with everything in her that she had gotten to know the island a little better before trying to mislead such a devil into the darkness.

  She could hear their voices again, and it sounded as if they were on one side of her at first, but then a moment later it sounded as if they were on the other side of her.

  Fearing that she would be caught, she found a big, smooth tree and nestled down as low as she could into the crevices of the roots at its base. Her heartbeat banged so loudly inside her that she was sure the pirates would hear it. She could definitely hear them all around her.

  “Cap’n, I hear him!” One pirate’s voice called out, but then his voice was repeated a short distance away.

  “Oh! I heard that too!” Another one replied. “He’s over there!”

  “Cap’n I hear him!” Came the same voice saying the same words farther off.

  “Oh! I heard that too!” The second voice sounded again, and a second later, “He’s over there!”

  “Over where?”

  “Over there!”

  “Over where?”

  “Over there!”

  “Stop it, you fools!” It was Captain Hook’s voice. “We’re in the WildWood! All the WildWood trees echo! I can’t listen for Pan if you’re talking and creating echoes all around us! Silence!”

  A moment later, everything that Hook had said repeated back and his mates were silent, as ordered.

  Emma bit her lip and a shaft of hope filtered through her thoughts. She reasoned that if all of their voices were echoing, then the music would echo too. Lifting the pipes to her mouth, she blew over them again, and the notes rang out, bouncing all over the WildWood, from one tree to another, to another, off into the distance.

  “There!” Hook cried out in an agonized scream. “He’s there!”

  Emma closed her eyes and held her breath.

  Chapter Ten

  Hope Springs

  Eternal

  Emma opened her eyes and looked around with a start. She was in her bed in her room at the children’s hospital.

  “NO! Oh no! How did I get back here? I was there! I was in the WildWood, and Hook was coming, and… and we were trying to save Britely! I can’t be back here! I have to save Britely!” She panicked and tried to push herself up off of her pillows.

  Blinking, she to
ok in everyone around her. “Daddy! Dr. J! Callie!” Anxiety strained her voice. She turned to Callie and reached out for her. Callie held her hand gently as Joshua and Liam stood at the foot of her bed and gazed at her.

  “What is she talking about?” Liam frowned sharply and looked between Emma and Callie.

  Emma sighed heavily. “Nothing, daddy. Nothing. It was just… a dream that I was having. That’s all.”

  Taking in a deep breath, Emma searched each of their eyes. “What are you all doing in here?” She asked, knowing that it wasn’t to watch her sleep.

  Joshua smiled and sat at the foot of her bed, as he often did when he wanted to discuss something with her.

  “Well, I have some news that I would like to talk with you and your father about.” Joshua answered her. “It’s up to you two if you want Callie in here to hear it; it concerns your condition.”

  “No!” Snapped Liam, narrowing his eyes. “This is family business.”

  “Yes!” Insisted Emma, poking her chin out defiantly. “She’s my best friend!”

  Her father exhaled his frustration and hung his head in acquiescence. “Fine. She can stay.”

  Joshua continued without any reaction. “Emma, you have reached a kind of crossroads in your situation. Normally this is a point from which there is no return.”

  Liam closed his eyes and pressed his lips together tightly. Callie felt her heart shoot straight up into her throat and she was no longer able to swallow or breathe. She closed her fingers tighter around Emma’s hand.

  “However,” Joshua continued, “something really unusual and quite special has happened, and honestly, I’ll tell you… it couldn’t possibly have come at a better time. Frankly, it’s a miracle, and I can’t believe that it’s fallen into our laps, but it has.”

  He grinned with relief and hope. Liam opened his eyes and turned to look at the doctor slowly.

  None of them said a word, save for Joshua.

  “See, there’s this colleague of mine from another children’s hospital in the states, and he’s been working on a treatment for exactly the same type of cancer that you have. It’s really a rogue kind of treatment, and he’s had it in clinical trials for a while now. This treatment is something way off the beaten path, something no other company or hospital has ever done before. It’s still in the early stages of development, but he’s already seen incredible success with it.”