by R. L. Weeks
He reached the island and tied his canoe up. The pirates left on the ship had made a base on the island and were sat around a small fire. Pablo ducked behind the huge rocks and placed his lips to his flute. Slowly, the magic danced from the ground and flew into his flute. After fifteen minutes, he felt the last of the magic leave the ground and smiled.
‘What yer doin?’ a gruff voice asked from behind him.
Pablo turned and jumped up. ‘Look, I’m not your enemy nor your friend, but I do want to stop my brother’s reign.’
The pirate narrowed his eyes. ‘Why?’
‘He’s grown too powerful. He’s dangerous,’ Pablo admitted. ‘Look, keep this to yourself. The island is free from Peter’s power now.’
The pirate looked down. ‘If yer lyin, I’ll cut yet throat.’
‘I’m not.’
The pirate laughed heartily and pulled out a dagger. Pablo backed away, but the pirate pushed the dagger against his own wrist. ‘If there is not magic ere, then I will not heal?’
Pablo nodded and watched with horror as the pirate cut off his own hand. He screamed and fell to the ground as blood spooled into the dust. ‘Told you,’ Pablo said quickly and ran back to his canoe.
♥♥♥
Peter shook Pablo awake the next evening and beckoned him to follow him down the clearing. Pablo sat next to Peter on a log and looked at the dancing flames of the fire. ‘I know what you did,’ Peter said darkly. ‘You took power from the island. I tried to go there, and my powers did not work. Why would you do that to me, brother?’
Pablo gulped and lowered his gaze so as not to meet his twin’s. ‘I’m sorry, brother, but you have gone mad with power. You do not care who you hurt, and you will not talk about our parents ...’
‘Enough,’ Peter shouted. The sky above turned stormy, growling with impatience and flashing with reds and blues. ‘You will hand me your flute.’
Pablo shook his head. ‘It will not work for you properly. It is mine. Mother made it for me and …’
‘Give it to me!’ Peter ordered. Slowly, large drops of rain crashed to the ground. Pablo jumped up. The fire extinguished, and they were left in the dark.
Pablo attempted to run. Vines from the ground chased him, attempting to capture him. Peter had every part of the forest ready to ensnare him, even the cobwebs dropped on him. Pablo panicked, headed into the thickest part of the forest—the bit that they called the woods due to its swamps, spaced-out, dead trees, and caves. Peter was close, and all the plants were swirling toward him. He quickly grabbed his flute and breathed in, taking the powers from the part of the woods he was in. Peter ran in and found Pablo. He was distraught to find that Pablo had taken power from the woods. He tried to fight him for the flute, but Pablo had always been the more athletic of the two.
Angry, Peter tricked Pablo one night, pretending to forgive him. ‘Brother,’ he said, smiling. ‘It does not matter what happened. I miss you; come and eat with me.’
Pablo hesitantly walked out of the woods and back to the campfire. ‘I called it Willow Woods,’ Pablo said, ‘after Mother. She has saved me more than once.’
Peter nodded, not letting his anger show through, and did a remarkable job at keeping calm enough that not even the weather changed. ‘It’s a wonderful tribute,’ he lied.
Once outside the confines of the woods, Peter whistled, and hundreds of fairies appeared. ‘Take him to the mountains!’
‘Brother?’
Peter looked down. ‘You are never to come back. You are banished to the mountains, and I will never let you leave there. If you do, I shall … I shall kill you.’
‘Peter, no!’ he screamed as he was pushed towards the mountains on the pirate’s island. He tried to fight the fairies, but there were hundreds of them, all pulling at him. Peter used his powers to have vines wraps around Pablo’s wrists and ankles. Once he was bound, they flew him up to the highest cave in the highest mountain and left him there.
♥♥♥
Months turned into years, and Peter grew lonely without his brother. He walked down the beach and dipped his feet into the ocean. ‘Why does no one venture here?’
A beautiful song filled his ears as three beautiful women swam over to him, their heads and chests bobbing about in the water. ‘Hello, young man,’ one said seductively. Peter gulped; they were the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
‘Hi.’
They all smiled seductively and pushed out their heaving chests. ‘I am Annora,’ one said. She had gorgeous dark hair and olive skin with wide blue eyes.
The second spoke, her voice almost rang like bells. ‘I am Ascilia.’ She had dark blond hair, pale grey doe eyes, and thick lips.
The last had cinnamon skin, ebony black hair, and deep brown eyes. ‘I am Avelina.’
‘I’m Peter,’ he replied, grinning. ‘Welcome to Neverland.’
They all danced mesmerizingly in the water, stretching their arms out and making the water ripple over to Peter’s feet. ‘We heard this was the place where no one could die.’
He smiled. ‘It is, it is.’
‘We,’ Avelina said, ‘must eat souls to remain young, beautiful, and alive.’
Ascilia jumped in. ‘But we would like to remain immortal forever.’
Peter raised his eyebrows. ‘Of course, you can remain here with me.’
Annora pulled herself out of the water and climbed out onto the sand. Her tail melted away into the water. She kneeled on the hot sand and buried her fingers in the sand. ‘I’d miss the water,’ she admitted. She was the youngest of the three and the most free-spirited. ‘We are sirens,’ she explained, ‘and we were cursed after we refused the advances of three warlocks. They had it so we could not love but only hunger for the flesh of men. To have to eat their flesh to survive. They didn’t think we would do it.’
‘But we did,’ Avelina added. ‘If only we could leave here and still be immortal. Perhaps you have magic that could help us?’
Ascilia smiled broadly. ‘Please help us.’
Peter stood up. ‘You can lure men?’
They all nodded.
‘Then,’ he said, smirking, ‘lure men to Neverland, and I will give you water that will keep you immortal.’
The three sirens left and kept their end of the bargain; young men who passed through were lured into Neverland where Peter trapped them. Those who proved their allegiance stayed and were made into Lost Boys, and those who did not were banished to Willow Woods. One was turned into a fearsome giant who would eat anyone who went to Willow Woods.
Peter grew close to one fairy, Bell, and gave her the gift of some of his powers. She was able to jump between being a human and a fairy when she wanted, and she was Peter’s most loyal subject.
However, Peter craved female company, and Bell was not enough. One night, he travelled until he found another world. He spent weeks in a strange city looking for a girl who he could bring to Neverland, who could be his queen. One night, he watched through a window as a plain looking blond girl read stories in her bed. He watched her night after night and realised she was lonelier than even he was.
Peter watched across the road, through the window, at the girl and her sister, whom he had heard call each other Wendy and Alice. Peter flew over to the house, careful to stay out of sight, and floated next to the window, staying out of sight.
Alice looked out the window at the red skyline. Tears ran down her cheeks as she realised this would be the last time she looked out the window. Wendy started sobbing again behind her. Alice’s stomach twisted uncomfortably. She turned and looked at her.
Wendy looked up with a face that almost mirrored Alice’s. Heart-shaped, petite, and perfectly symmetrical with thin lips and glassy blue eyes. Alice swallowed, trying to move the lump in her throat, but it didn’t work. She sat on the silk sheets and placed her hand on Wendy’s. ‘I’m leaving shortly.’
Wendy sat up straight and looked at Alice with wide eyes. ‘I know we argue, but I—’
&n
bsp; ‘I know.’ Alice sniffed. ‘I love you too. Even if you are a pain in the arse!’ She giggled.
Wendy half smiled and looked at the open door. ‘Mother’s upset.’
‘She always is about something,’ Alice said, tight-lipped. ‘It’s not my fault if they won’t accept me for me.’
Wendy nodded in acknowledgment.
Alice adjusted her cardigan. ‘I’ll come back for you one day.’
Wendy snorted. ‘You’ll forget all about me when you’re off seeing the world.’
Alice shook her head. ‘Never.’ Alice grabbed a steel hairbrush from the dresser and brushed through Wendy’s knotted hair. It was the same shade of ash blond like hers, but Wendy’s was shorter, shoulder-length, whereas Alice’s reached down her back. Not that it mattered as she always wore it in a ponytail with a blue ribbon anyway. ‘Mother will have a heart attack if she sees your hair all knotted like this. Are you ready for the party tomorrow?’
She saw a glimmer of excitement in Wendy’s eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. ‘It won’t be the same without you,’ Wendy admitted. ‘Mother will be trying to set me up with Hugo.’
Alice smirked. ‘Eww, not Hugo!’
Wendy scrunched her nose. ‘I don’t want to marry yet. I want to do what you do.’
‘Two years,’ Alice promised. ‘Once you’re nineteen, I will come for you, and we can travel together. Mother and Father can’t stop you then.’
Wendy nodded slowly and bit her lip. ‘I hope you find what you’re looking for. I’ll miss you.’
‘Miss you too,’ Alice said and turned. Tears crept out, but Alice didn’t let Wendy see. She had spent years holding back tears to be the strong one.
Alice walked to the door and glanced to the left. ‘Goodbye.’
Peter smiled as he watched Alice get into a car and leave. Wendy was alone and more vulnerable than ever.
♥♥♥
Peter returned three days later and watched from a windowsill of a house across the road. Wendy sat by her window reading Alice’s letter. She had arrived in Italy. Wendy felt jealousy bubble inside her and contemplated running away, as always. She felt completely and utterly alone. Daydreaming at the moon, she blinked rapidly as a shadow seemed to block the moon’s shine to her window before flitting away. ‘I must be tired.’ She yawned and placed the letters on the desk next to her. The chimes from the clock sung in the background as she pulled on her nightdress and sighed. She knew so much more was out there than just attending engagements and marrying for money. So much more, maybe even magic.
Peter flew over and landed on the windowsill. Wendy gasped as she stared at the window and the boy behind it, his green eyes piercing into hers. Wendy jumped and knocked over her chair; she watched as the cat meowed and scrambled out of the room. ‘Everything okay up there?’ her mother called.
‘Everything’s fine,’ she called back. It wasn’t fine, but something told her that he was not a threat. The window slid up, and Wendy’s heart pounded. ‘My parents are downstairs,’ she said quickly, just in case he got any ideas. ‘How did you …? I am three stories up.’
Peter grinned as Wendy stuttered, and he lay on her bed, propping his feet up on the end. ‘I flew.’
Wendy’s eyes widened, and she took a step backward. ‘People can’t fly.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Sure, they can.’ He jumped up and indeed flew in a swift, mesmerizing circle before landing back on her bed. ‘Wendy,’ the boy said with seriousness.
‘How do you know my name?’ Wendy didn’t know what to do. She was sure that even Alice couldn’t dream this up in her dizziest dreams. ‘You can’t be real.’ He pinched her arm. ‘Ouch,’ she groaned, rubbing her arm.
He smiled. ‘Told you. I’m real. Look, I came here because I felt your young soul call out to me. You’re lost, and I help those who are lost.’
She opened her mouth but quickly closed it. He was right.
He smiled warmly and leaned forward. ‘I take lonely lost souls of the world to a home, one where they are never alone.’
Wendy gasped and jumped backward. ‘Oh, my gosh! You’re death, aren’t you? Here to take me to heaven … or hell …’ she said grimly.
He laughed boyishly. ‘Of course, not. In Neverland, we would never grow old.’
She furrowed her brows. ‘Sounds like death to me.’
He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she felt her worries melt away. ‘You’re just going to have to trust me. We’re going to a magical place called Neverland. Pack some things; we leave now. You’ll love it there.’ He looked around. ‘Unless you’d rather stay?’
Wendy had always been known for being the most sensible and cautious sister, yet Alice sprung to mind. What would Alice do? ‘This is like an adventure, right?’
‘Yes,’ he said and smiled broadly.
‘Okay,’ she said excitedly. ‘I’ll pack. Give me ten minutes.’ Grabbing a satchel, she only packed a few necessities, mainly dresses, and hung it on her shoulder then put on and fastened her coat. She shoved her feet into her shoes and ran into her father’s study. She looked down at the beautiful rose necklace that she had been given for her birthday and dropped it into an envelope. She scrawled a quick letter detailing what had happened, Peter, and the magical world of Neverland. She addressed it to the last address where Alice had sent a letter from in Italy. Placing it between her father’s outgoing post for the following day, she left a farewell note to her parents on her bed, saying she wasn’t coming back, and leapt out of the window with Peter into the chilly night.
♥♥♥
When they reached Neverland, Wendy squealed with delight. It was beautiful. She met the Lost Boys, who adored her, and met Bell, who flamed with jealousy. Wendy played and danced with Peter and the boys and, more importantly, explored.
‘You must never go that island,’ Peter warned her, pointing at the small island across the ocean.
‘Why?’
He frowned. ‘It is full of bad men.’
She nodded but continued to stare at the mountains. ‘I’m going to swim with mermaids,’ she said, smiling.
Peter grinned. ‘Okay. I will see you for dinner.’ He walked back into the forest, and she pulled a canoe into the ocean. She rowed over to the island and avoided being seen by the pirates who were in their camp. She could hear a beautiful melody dancing around the mountains and was lured by it. She ventured into a cave and met the dreaded Pied Piper who Peter had told her about. Peter had told her and the Lost Boys that he was a ferocious man who killed anyone on sight and lured them in with his nightmarish melodies.
‘Who are you?’ Pablo asked.
‘Wendy,’ she said shakily.
He smiled. ‘I’m Pablo.’
‘Peter said you’re a murderer.’
He laughed. ‘I have, indeed, murdered for my brother, but I promise you that I am the lesser of two evils.’
They sat in the cave and talked all night. Wendy left to go back to Peter but promised to return the following day, which she did. With each visit, she found herself falling in love with Pablo. He was kind, selfless, and caring.
One night, Wendy returned to the island and saw Peter standing by the forest with his arms crossed. ‘Come with me,’ he ordered.
She followed him to a desolate part of the forest. ‘What are we doing here?’ she asked, looking around at the dead leaves, aged trees, and dead animals. She eyed a cage which stood in a clearing. ‘Peter?’
‘You betrayed me!’ he shouted and pushed her into the cage. ‘You will not die, but you will starve; you will be in horrible pain like you caused me.’
‘Peter …’ she cried, ‘it’s not like that. I do love you, I do, but Pablo wants a future with me where we grow up …’
‘Never,’ Peter screamed. ‘I will never grow up, he will never grow up, and you will never grow up!’ He marched away, leaving her to rot. When he reached camp, he promised never to love again. Never ever.
The Lost Boys called him the
King of Hearts; able to make everyone love him with his magnetic personality and wonder, yet never love them back.
♥♥♥
One year later
Lori, the evil sorceress and queen of Northmanni, travelled to Neverland with her accomplice, Stilt, the notorious dealmaker, and below deck, a devastated Belle who had been kidnapped after her true love was killed, who happened to be the man Lori once loved then hated and now killed.
They washed up on the glistening beaches of the Neverland with Belle tied below deck. Shipwrecked, Belle escaped, and Lori and Stilt were captured by Captain Hook.
Hook, Lori, and Stilt made a deal to bring down Neverland and set out to find the Pied Piper. They needed to find the key to the fountain of youth so they could take its power for themselves.
When they found Pablo, they threatened to snap his flute. The piper had grown powerful even without his flute, and he had shown this. Stilt, for one, thought it best to make a deal with the piper rather than to challenge him. If they freed Wendy, then the piper would hand them the flute, the fountain’s key, and tell them how to destroy Neverland.
Another group was heading to Neverland. Snow White, who was gifted the Sword of Souls by Gallissa to kill Lori, was travelling by ship with her friends Red, Rapunzel, and the Snow Queen, Galissa.
James, Snow’s true love and Belle’s son, followed them to the island. Snow had become entranced under Peter’s spell and was being manipulated by him.
Peter gave Snow the gift to entrance people with her eyes, in hopes that she would help keep people in Neverland forever with them. Peter surprisingly fell in love with Snow, and she became infatuated with him. She quickly realised he was using her, though, and wanted to seize power for herself. She became crazed. In a bid to save her from herself, James sacrificed himself to her sword and went into her eternal prison.
Lori, Hook, and Stilt had managed to free Wendy from the cage where Peter had kept her, took her back to the piper, Pablo. Snow hunted Lori, her previous evil stepmother.
Before Snow imprisoned her, Lori cursed her mirror to become the only way in or out of the land. When she found out that Snow had trapped her only true love in the prison chest, Lori made it so anyone could come through the mirror but people could only leave if they were with their true love. Lori knew that if Snow ever wanted to leave, then she’d have to open the chest. She was then stabbed and thrown into the prison, and Hook was killed.
