by Chanda Hahn
There was no doubt that Neverwood would rise again, this time bigger and better. But there were more of them now. They would need more space.
And here they had a whole hidden island at their disposal. It seemed a shame to burn it all to the ground now. It would not turn back time, or bring back those they had lost. But they could make something good of it. Rise from the ashes to make something beautiful.
It didn’t take long to come to the consensus to turn Hollow Dome into something real, something lasting. It could be made into a haven. A home.
So they decided Neverland would rebuild here inside the dome, and they would keep the Neverwood school on the mainland for a vacation home. Why settle for one school building when you could have an island?
Dr. Barrie demanded that Helix sign his gaming empire over to them, which he did. All the income from future sales of any Wonderland games would be reinvested for the upkeep of the Hollow Dome. Slightly, John, Tink and Ditto had become obsessed and were now helping run, design, and launch future updates to bring in a steady income, just not to the 4-D extent that Helix had been planning.
John and Tink had become adorably inseparable since their reunion. They were the brains behind the new Wonderland Games, and John dubbed her his Queen of hearts, and bestowed upon her bags of Skittles with all of the yellow and green ones picked out.
Curly had spent hours erasing the minds of the investors and they had all gone home on their yachts, and Michael had been monitoring their computers and phone usage ever since. It had become his job to protect the lost boys, girls and Dusters and to erase any digital footprint of the island that he could find.
When it came to the Red Skulls, it took a little bit more work to reprogram since they were dedicated mercenaries, not to Neverland but to Hook himself. Without their leader, they were eager to go back to work for hire. Curly couldn’t let that happen, so they became blank slates. With the help of Dr. Mee’s psychiatric evaluations, they were able to rewrite their futures without the influence of the darkness in their pasts. In this group of mercenaries, they uncovered men and women with a passion to be teachers, florists, mechanics, nurses, and doctors. Everything they needed to keep their city going.
Curly persuaded most of the techs to continue their work on the island creating the PX dosages that the Dusters needed to stay alive under the guidance of Dr. Barrie.
Most of the Dusters, like Wu Zan and Leroy, chose to stay on the island with Dr. Barrie and live in the Hollow Dome. Not just because they may not have a home to go to, but because they didn’t know how to go home. And those that could remember, fear of what they had become, and of having to explain to their families, where they had been the last few years or how they achieved their new powers made going home seem too daunting. In short, they were still imprisoned, but their leash was longer. Now there was a place they can call home, even if it wasn’t perfect.
Wendy sat on the half wall of the ruins and looked out to sea. She had spent days staring out at the aquamarine water, praying to go home, to go anywhere but here. She wasn’t sure if she was meant to stay on this island, if it would ever feel like home. Her hand brushed her heart and she felt it quicken.
She knew he was near her. Ever since she was made whole again, she always knew where he was, and when he was close by.
“Hello, Jax,” Wendy whispered without turning around.
Silent as ever, he came and stood next to her. He had spent the last week avoiding her, and it hurt every time she saw him run away. A heaviness came over her as she stood, seeing her pain mirrored in his eyes. She could tell he had questions.
“Is she gone?” Jax’s gray eyes dropped to focus on his feet. He meant Alice, of course.
“No.” She reached for his hand and placed it on her heart. “We’re here. I’m here.”
His eyes glistened with unshed tears and he blinked them away. Looking up at the sky, he sighed. “I think I always knew.”
“How could you have known? When I didn’t even know that I lost a part of myself. But I think I figured it out.”
“What do you mean?” Jax asked.
“Dr. Mee believes my powers were so strong as a child that I was unconsciously locking the power away in a corner of my mind, telling myself that it was a dream, that none of it was real. That the monsters or shadows I created while asleep were only a shadow, a figment of my imagination.
When I panned, I must have split my own soul in two. Locking away my consciousness and the power that terrified me. I refused to allow that part of my consciousness back in, therefore leaving behind part of my soul, an echo of my shadow.”
“That figures. I can’t fall for you, so I fall for a shadow of you.”
“Jax, I—” Wendy began, but he cut her off.
“No, I don’t want to hear it. I’ve known all my life that you and Peter . . . you belonged to each other. You two always gravitated to one another. He was in tune with your moods, he always knew when you were sad, and exactly the right thing to say to cheer you up. When you were scared, nothing anyone else said or did could help, but when he walked in the room, he chased away the darkness. You two are destined to be together. You share something special, but I feel—” He kicked at a pebble, averting his gaze. “I don’t like what I feel.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but he shook his head. “Please know that I never hated you. I was mean to you to keep you from getting close to me. I was scared I would fall for you, and I did. But I’m not a good person, Wendy, not yet.”
He rushed to her, his hand cupping behind her neck, pulling her close into an embrace, and he leaned down and whispered into her ear, “I promise that I will guard you, and watch over you, because within you, you hold what is most dear to me.”
He pulled back just enough to kiss her on her forehead.
“What is going on, Jax?” Peter snapped, flying in and landing on the ground. He pulled Wendy out of his arms. “I turn away for one second . . .”
“It’s not what you think, Peter. I was saying goodbye,” Jax growled, and Wendy’s heart thudded in fear. Although it wasn’t her fear, but her shadow’s, at the thought of losing Jax.
“Well, I’m not a fan of how you say goodbye,” Peter said, his voice deepening. His hands clenched. Jax’s fists and temper mirrored Peters.
“No!” Wendy stepped between the two, glaring at Peter. “I will love you for all eternity, you know that, but I don’t love you with all my heart.”
“W—what?” Peter stumbled, taken aback by her admission.
“It’s the truth. I love you, but a part of my heart belongs to Jax. It’s a small part, but one that must be recognized.” Wendy bit her lip and looked into Peter’s deep green eyes. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” he said emphatically.
“Thank you.” She grinned. “Jax, come with me.” She held out her hand and he took it while watching Peter warily. Holding on to Jax, Wendy called the shadows, and together they passed into the shadow realm.
This time, it wasn’t dark, creepy or cold, but filled with colors, a warm wind, and the smell of ocean. It was a mirror image of the island, except the colors were brighter, the wind not as crisp, and the sound of the ocean more pleasant.
“Where are we?” Jax asked.
“My dreams,” Wendy smiled. “It’s not the shadow realm, Jax. It never was. This is the plane where unconscious thought and consciousness collide. See?” She pointed and a fox came running over to them and yipped at Jax’s heels before taking off into the jungle, chasing a bird. Jax grinned when he recognized their old friend Fox.
She took his hand and walked along the cliff, then down a path to the beach, where her parents were having a picnic under an umbrella. They waved at her, and Mary went back to reading a book aloud to George.
Two girls were playing with a beach ball farther out, and she pointed out the other lost boys.
“How is this possible?” he breathed out as a beach ball rolled over to his foot. He picked it up as Brittne
y ran over to get it from him.
“Thanks,” she giggled and ran back toward Lily.
“My dreams are powerful Jax. You should know that more than anyone, and it was only because my dreams scared me that the shadow world looked the way it did. But I’ve slowly been recreating it to be more of a haven for lost souls, instead of the dark and scary nightmare it was before.”
He scanned the island and listened to the soft sound of the ocean. Everything was more muted and pleasant. “This is heaven.”
“No, that’s the big guy’s job, I would never dare to try and recreate his masterpiece, and I assume that after a while, the lost souls will leave my dreams and go where they belong. But for now, as long as I dream it, they exist.”
“Why did you bring me here?” His voice sounded pained and he looked at her with accusation.
“I hoped it would make you happy being here,” Wendy said softly. “Maybe ease the pain of losing Alice.”
“You mean losing you,” he said angrily.
“You never had me, Jax,” Wendy corrected softly. “You only had a small part of me.” She sighed. “I dreamed of Peter, but my shadow dreamed of you. Ironic, isn’t it? After seven years apart, I thought my shadow and I would fit back together like a glove, but we don’t. The glove is too tight. Her heart has grown so much that we can’t coincide together anymore.” Wendy touched her chest. “It gets confusing.”
“What do you mean?” Jax asked.
She closed her eyes, her lashes fluttering against her cheeks. A soft sigh escaped, and then she opened her blue eyes and grinned. “I’m surprised you haven’t noticed yet.”
“Noticed what?” Jax growled out. “The trees, the ocean, the beach. What do you want me to notice?”
“Alice,” Wendy said with a chuckle and pointed.
Jax spun so hard on his heels that he lost his balance. He focused on where Wendy pointed, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed her right away. She was walking along the beach in a white sundress, her sandals held in her hand as she watched the sunset.
“How?”
“Like I said, I created her long ago, and our power combined is frightening. Every time I saw you, my heart would beat like crazy, and I knew that she was pining for you. But I can’t have my heart betraying me like that. It’s too confusing. So my shadow is here. It’s safer if we part. No one should be able to wield that much power over life and death.”
“She’s real.”
“She’s real as long as I live,” Wendy breathed out. “With all of the other shadows. And I will bring you here, Jax. To visit a few hours a day, if you like. But you must remember to live. Out there, in the real world.”
“Does she remember me?” he whispered.
Wendy touched her chest and felt her own heart quicken when Alice turned and spotted them. “She remembers.”
He took off his shoes and walked toward her. His hands were sweating, and he rubbed them on his khakis. When he got to the water’s edge, she held out her hand. He took it and felt her palm slide into his. A perfect fit. He looked into her eyes that were a dark gray, almost black, so unlike Wendy’s. He didn’t care.
“I dreamed of you,” Wendy’s shadow spoke and her voice soothed his soul.
“And I dreamed of you,” he breathed out and looked in awe at their hands clasped together. “What should I call you? Do you go by Wendy, Wendy’s shadow?”
She laughed and shook her head. “I like the name you call me. Alice.”
“Alice,” Jax confirmed.
“Will you visit me often?” Alice asked.
“Every time I dream,” Jax promised.
Wendy watched their reunion on the beach and felt her own heart rate pick up, an echo of what her soul was feeling. She still couldn’t believe that she had lived so long without a part of her soul that her soul dreamed itself into reality—a reality so real her shadow had become corporeal enough for Hook to find it, and yet not real enough to wake without fading out. That is why they had kept her shadow in a constant sleep.
Time could easily slip away in this realm, and Wendy wanted to get back to Peter, but first she needed to check on someone. Not needing the shadow’s help anymore to navigate her dreams, Wendy materialized on the deck of an old pirate ship in the sky and found Hook exactly where she had left him the last time she was here, and where he would remain for good—running back and forth, trying to raise the sails and steer the ship among the clouds.
When she’d first found Hook, after she’d cast him into the shadow realm, he’d been hunched in a shadowy corner, muttering and alone, the drugs having burned out his mind. Soon after, she’d begun to reshape her dreams, and decided she couldn’t just leave Hook as he was. Instead, she created a ship for Hook to sail among the clouds, a ship that could never land. And keeping him always on the move was his own personal nightmare. For following in his ship’s wake, always in pursuit of the mean old man, was a crocodile desperate to catch him.
“Tick, Tock,” Hook mumbled as he wound the rope, and as he tightened the sails. He looked in fear over the side of the flying ship and saw the crocodile swimming among the clouds. “Out of time, must keep moving or he’ll get me,” Hook muttered, ignoring Wendy completely. She left him to continue his sailing adventure.
She passed through back to the physical plane.
Peter was exactly where she had left him.
He looked around. “Where’s Jax? Did you drop him off a cliff? I hope you dropped him off a cliff.”
Wendy came and wrapped her arms around him. “No, I gave him his dream.”
“What do you mean?” Peter said nuzzling her neck. “You mean he’s happy?”
“Yes,” Wendy confirmed, kissing him on the lips. “I will explain later, but I thought it only fair that he gets a happily-ever-after.”
“Speaking of happily-ever-afters . . .” Peter kissed her on the lips. “I made you a promise when we were younger.”
“You promised me a lot of things,” she whispered and led him over to the edge of the cliff. “Like you promised me a puppy—”
“And an espresso machine.” He grinned, but she backed up to the edge, and he frowned, trying to pull her back to him. “Wendy, what are you doing?”
“This is the exact spot where you fell off the ledge seven years ago. It was here where you promised to take me away, buy all the ice cream in the world, build me a tree house.”
Her foot dangled dangerously over the edge. “You once promised me that I could fly, if I just believed.” She swept her arm out into an arc over the cliff.
Peter’s brows furrowed and he tried to pull her back from the edge, but she wagged her finger at him.
“Ah, ah, ah. It’s my turn.” Wendy held her hand out to him and said, “Come with me, Peter. I won’t let you fall,” her smile sparkling with mischief.
He reached for her hand and Wendy took off up into the air without him.
“What?” His hands covered his head in wonder. “You can fly? You never cease to amaze me.” In two steps Peter launched into the air and flew with Wendy in the clouds. “You are something. When did this happen?”
“I don’t know. I can only assume I got an upgrade.
“Or you dreamed it,” Peter said, laughing.
“Yes, this could all be a dream,” she giggled. “My dreams do have a habit of coming true.”
He stilled and wrapped his hands around her waist. Her cheeks flushed as he leaned in, cupping her cheek.
Hundreds of feet above Neverland, on an island in the middle of the ocean, he asked her, “Promise you will always be mine. Promise you’ll dream of us forever.”
Peter flew a circle around Wendy and she got dizzy trying to keep him in sight.
“I promise,” she whispered huskily.
His lips pressed against hers, and she knew her heart would always be his.
Epilogue
Jeremy sat in the hold of a fishing boat. The stinking nets and swells of water sloshing against his boots was enoug
h to make him sick. He had stolen off the island in one of the Red Skull’s boats as soon as Peter and his crew had taken control. He’d heard in passing about Hook’s death at the hands of a morphling, and mourned his leader. Now he didn’t know where he was going and the speed boat’s navigation was messed up. Not long after he departed, it had run out of gas and was left drifting with the current. After drifting for days with very little supplies, he had begun to hallucinate.
“Neverland—Peter pans—Hook.”
He was delirious by the time he was picked up by a passing fishing boat and nursed back to health by two fishermen who didn’t speak his language.
But Jeremy hadn’t left empty-handed. Next to him on the floor of the boat sat three crates filled with enough of the stolen PX drug to last him a few years if he used it sparingly. The fishing boat captain noticed the crates and assumed they were important to him and hauled them on the boat.
Jeremy left his precious cargo and made it to the head to wash his hands and check the bandage that covered the right half of his face. He needed to change the dressing and without any proper medical care other than what the fisherman had supplied, it looked like it would scar. Jeremy carefully pulled off the bandage to gaze at his face and the damage that the mountain lion had done. He never expected Brittney, little Miss Priss Brittney, to have it in her to turn on him, much less to shapeshift into a mountain lion. Her parting gift was a long scar that ran up length of his right cheek.
One of the fishermen found him in the bathroom and handed him a bowl of soup, then gestured to his face.
“H—hook,” the fisherman said.
“What?” Jeremy snapped and his heart beat erratically as he waited in fear for his captain to barge into the head and yell at him.
“Hook,” the fisherman repeated in a heavy accent. “Look like . . . hook.” He imitated the shape of a hook by crooking his finger. Then he trudged back up top and Jeremy was left staring at the scar on his face in disbelief.
