by Kiki Thorpe
“Go!” Rani spluttered. “Got…to…go!”
Her friends clustered around her, their faces filled with concern. “Rani?” Fawn said. “What’s wrong?”
At last Rani caught her breath. “Crocodile!” she hollered, just as the huge beast surfaced.
The girls screamed. The monster’s jaws were open and they could clearly hear the tick-tock of the clock he’d swallowed many years ago. Every creature in Never Land knew the croc by that sound.
“Make him go away, Fawn!” Gabby screamed.
“This is no time for talking. He’s hunting!” Fawn cried. “Go! Go!”
The girls paddled with all their might. But the crocodile was fast, closing the gap between them. Rani watched as he got closer. He was only three feet away…two feet…one foot…
As the crocodile bumped against the raft, Mia suddenly twisted around. She raised her paddle into the air and brought it down sharply on the croc’s snout.
“Get away! Get away, you horrible thing!” she yelled, whacking it again.
The crocodile’s mouth closed. He gave the girls a hurt look. Fine, I won’t eat you, he seemed to be saying. But you don’t have to be so mean about it. Then he swam away.
Everyone looked at Mia. “Holy guacamole,” Kate said. “How did you know that would work?”
“I didn’t,” Mia admitted.
“Well, then why did you hit him?”
Mia sniffed. “I told you,” she said. “I don’t like lizards.”
They wasted no time getting out of the swamp. A helpful heron provided directions, but he hadn’t seen Sunny. By the time they were back on the Wough River, the sun was behind the trees. With a sinking heart, Lainey realized it would be dark soon.
“We’ll have to stop for the night,” Rani said. “Even I can’t navigate a river in the dark. We can start out again first thing in the morning.”
They looked for a place to camp. But the trees grew thick along the river, and they couldn’t find a spot to pull over. The first few stars had bobbed up in the evening sky by the time they finally dragged the raft onto a sandy beach.
“Will the crocodile follow us?” Mia asked.
“I doubt it,” Fawn said. “He’s too lazy. There are plenty of fish for him to eat in the swamp—”
Lainey gulped. “Fish?”
“I don’t mean Sunny,” Fawn said quickly. “He’s too small for a crocodile to bother with.”
“Speaking of eating, I’m hungry,” Kate said, changing the subject. “Gabby, where’s that backpack?”
“Here.” Gabby handed over the bag she’d brought from home.
Kate eagerly unzipped it. Then her face fell. “Where’s all the food?”
Mia looked over Kate’s shoulder. She pulled a package of cookies out of the bag. “Gabby! This is all you brought? You were supposed to pack sandwiches!”
“They’re sandwich cookies,” Gabby pointed out.
Kate looked at the package and sighed. “I could eat, like, ten million cookies right now.”
Gabby frowned. “Then you should have packed the food.”
“It’s okay, Gabby,” Lainey said, even though her stomach was growling, too. “I like having cookies for dinner.”
They sat down to their meager meal. Rani and Fawn had one cookie each. Mia divided the rest evenly between the girls.
“Wait,” said Kate. “What about those?” She pointed to six cookies Mia had left in the package.
“Those,” said Mia, “are for breakfast.”
“But I’m hungry now,” Kate complained.
“You’ll be even hungrier tomorrow,” Mia pointed out.
The others sighed, but they knew Mia was right. They gobbled up their cookies, then sat picking at the crumbs.
“I wish we had a fire,” Gabby said. “When we go camping with Mami and Papi, we always have a fire.”
“I heard you can make one by rubbing two sticks together,” said Kate.
She found two sticks, and the girls all took turns trying to start a fire. But they couldn’t make so much as a single spark. Fawn tried, too, using two tiny twigs, but she couldn’t start one, either. Rani didn’t even try.
“I’m a water fairy,” she said. “We’re not good with fire.”
There was nothing to do then but try to sleep. Rani and Fawn curled up inside some nearby flowers. The girls stretched out on the sand and watched the rest of the stars emerge. Luckily, it was a warm night. Fawn hummed a special song to keep the mosquitoes away. All in all, Lainey knew it could be worse.
Still, as the night grew darker, so did Lainey’s thoughts. There had been no news about Sunny since they’d reached the Wough River. And they’d lost hours in the swamp. Maybe this whole trip is pointless, Lainey thought. What chance did they really have of finding him?
Lainey searched out the brightest star in the sky and made a wish. Please let Sunny be okay. Please let him be safe until I can find him.
Lainey knew her wish might not come true. She knew little fish were eaten by big fish, and those fish were eaten by even bigger ones—it was the way of the wild. But she couldn’t help wishing anyway.
After a time, Lainey noticed a patch of sky that was darker than the rest. Something was blotting out the stars.
“Kate,” she whispered. “Are you asleep?”
“No.”
“What is that?” She pointed to the patch of darkness. It seemed to be moving.
Kate was quiet. “I dunno,” she said at last.
“A cloud, maybe?” Mia was watching it, too.
“It looks like it has arms,” Gabby said. “And legs.”
The girls gasped as the dark shape suddenly swooped toward them. A second later a boy dressed all in leaves landed on the sand.
“Peter!” the girls cried, leaping up.
It was Peter Pan, of course, the boy who lived on Never Land and never grew old. The last time Lainey and her friends had seen him, he’d been headed out to sea on a ghost ship.
“Did you make it all the way around the world?” Kate asked him.
“What?” Peter blinked.
“On the ghost ship. Did you sail it around the world?”
“Oh no,” Peter said. “I hardly made it past the Viridian Sea when I was set upon by pirates. It was an epic battle!” He leaped around, slashing his arm through the air like a sword to show just how epic it was. “You should have seen it.”
“The Viridian Sea?” Mia whispered to Lainey. “We learned all the oceans in school. I’ve never heard of that one.”
Lainey shrugged. She knew what Mia meant. You could never be sure if Peter had all his facts straight. But it didn’t matter much. He was a great storyteller.
“Where’s the ship now?” Lainey asked.
“Gone,” Peter said. “Sunk by cannon fire.”
“Oh no!” Kate gasped. “Not that awesome ship!”
Peter just grinned. “Yes. It was fantastic watching it go down.”
When Gabby asked if Peter knew how to make a fire, he said, “Do I!” and set to work at once. He expertly spun the sticks and flames leaped up, as if by magic. The girls roused Fawn and Rani from their flowers. They were glad to see Peter, too—he often visited Pixie Hollow to get fairy dust for flying.
They all added sticks until the campfire was a crackling blaze. As they sat around it, Peter entertained them with stories about his adventures with the Lost Boys. Soon, the fire had dried the girls’ clothes, and the laughter had lifted their damp spirits.
Lainey and her friends told Peter why they were on the river. “You’ll let us know if you see my Sunny, won’t you?” Lainey said. “He’s bright orange with a gold belly.”
“I saw a fish like that just this afternoon,” Peter said.
“Really?” Lainey squinted at him. Was he telling the truth, or was this just another tale? “Where?”
“Oh, that way.” Peter waved an arm downstream. “He seemed happy. Eating everything in sight.”
“That does sound like Sunny!” For the
first time since they’d left the swamp, Lainey felt hopeful.
They talked a while longer, but by then it was very late. Lainey’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier, until at last she couldn’t hold them open anymore.
Lainey woke with the first light. Kate, Gabby, and Mia were still asleep in the sand, lying in a circle around the campfire. The fairies were curled in their petal beds. Peter was gone. Off on some new adventure, probably, Lainey thought.
Lainey woke her friends. Then she went down to the river’s edge. She splashed cold water on her face, then stood for a moment, watching the river. Sunny’s somewhere just ahead, she told herself. We’re going to find him today.
As she was making her way back up the sand, she sudd[unclear] Mia exclaim, The cookies are gone!”
“What?” [unclear]rushed to her. They looked[unclear] the empty package.
“Peter must have taken them,” Mia said glumly.
“That rat!” Kate scowled. “I never thought he was a thief.”
“He’s not.” Mia pointed to the ground nearby, where a small pile of coconuts sat.
“Breakfast!” Gabby exclaimed, grabbing one.
“Look,” Lainey said. “He left something else, too.”
She picked up a small bundle wrapped in leaves and tied with a piece of grass. Lainey carefully undid the bow. The leaves were full of fairy dust.
Their hearts were light as they set off again. Sitting in her cup holder, Rani thought the raft seemed lighter, too. No doubt it was because they’d all sprinkled themselves with fairy dust. Fairy dust made everything lighter.
It was another bright, cloudless day. There was no shade on the river. As the sun climbed higher, Rani grew uncomfortably warm. She swept her long hair up and tied it atop her head so she could fan her neck.
After a while, she became aware that Gabby was staring at her. “Do they hurt?” Gabby asked.
“What? Oh.” Rani realized that Gabby was looking at the stumps of her wings. “No, they don’t hurt.”
“Then why can’t you fly?” Gabby asked.
“Gabby! Don’t be rude,” Mia scolded.
“I’m not being rude,” Gabby told her. “I was just wondering. None of us have wings—well, except for me, and mine are just pretend. But we can all fly if we have fairy dust. So why can’t Rani?”
“It’s okay,” Rani said to Mia, who was gaping at her sister in embarrassment. “I don’t mind telling you. I’ve tried flying. But it’s not the same as flying with wings.”
Rani remembered how dizzy and off-balance she’d felt the few times she’d tried to fly, as if she’d plummet to the ground at any moment.
“Anyway, I’m used to not having them now,” Rani went on. “When I need to fly somewhere, I call my bird friend, Brother Dove. He carries me.”
“But you must miss flying! I bet we could teach you,” Kate said.
Rainey sighed. She knew Kate meant well. But it was still frustrating. Others were always trying to find a way to fix her, just because she was different. They thought she’d be better off if she were more like them. But Rani liked the way she was. She liked being able to swim, and she liked flying with Brother Dove. Sometimes she even felt lucky for not having wings. She was able to do things no other fairy could do.
“That’s okay, Kate,” Rani replied. “But I like the way I am.”
The raft dipped as they went over a small ledge. The current had picked up. The water turned white as it rushed over and around the rocks.
“Everybody hang on,” Kate said.
“Wheeeee!” cried Gabby.
“Wait a minute,” Rani said, frowning. Her pointed ears pricked up, tuning in to a louder roar. “I don’t like the sound of that.…”
They came around a bend. Ahead, large rocks jutted up from the river. The water roiled around them. It shot through the narrow gaps between the rocks in a gush of foaming white.
“We can’t go through those rapids! We’ll be smashed to pieces!” Fawn said.
Kate and Mia dug in their paddles. They steered the little raft over to the bank. When they were all safe, Kate and Fawn got out and scouted ahead.
“We’ll have to go around this part,” Kate reported when they came back. “There are too many rocks.”
They took to the air. Lainey carried Rani, while Kate and Mia dragged the raft. Though it wasn’t heavy, it was awkward to carry. They kept bumping into each other.
“Why don’t you just put some fairy dust on it so it floats?” Gabby suggested.
“Of course!” Kate said. “Good idea, Gabby. Why didn’t I think of that?”
They sprinkled fairy dust on the raft and it bobbed into the air. Kate tied the string from her sweatshirt to it and pulled it along like a balloon. After that, they moved it easily past the rocks.
On the other side, the river flattened out again. It was clear enough that Rani could see all the way to the bottom.
“Do you think this is where Peter saw Sunny?” Lainey asked as they all got back into the raft.
“It could be,” Fawn said. “Let’s keep an eye out for him.”
Rani peered over the side of the boat. She saw eyes, a nose, and a mouth reflected in the water. Rani smiled. Her reflection smiled back at her—then darted away. Rani gasped. “What?”
“Look!” Lainey pointed. Tiny creatures were playing on the surface of the river. They had arms and legs like fairies, but they looked as if they were made of water.
“Water sprites,” Fawn said. She looked worried.
But the girls didn’t notice her frown. “They’re so cute!” exclaimed Mia.
“Listen to them talking,” Kate said. The sprites were calling to each other in plinks, plops, and splashes.
“Let’s keep going,” Fawn said.
Rani knew why Fawn was concerned. Water sprites were tricksters. Once, a water sprite had even fooled Rani into looking after a whole flock of clouds. The clouds had rained on Pixie Hollow for days, and all the fairies had been upset.
But these water sprites didn’t seem to be doing any harm, Rani thought. They looked as if they were just out having fun. Some danced across the surface of the water. Others ran ahead, as if trying to outrace the raft.
“We should ask them if they’ve seen Sunny,” Lainey said.
Fawn shook her head. “They won’t help us. Water sprites never help fairies.”
“Really?” Kate said. “Why?”
“They’re jealous because we have wings,” Fawn explained.
“Well, I don’t have wings,” Rani said. “So maybe they’ll talk to me. Yoo-hoo! Hello!” She waved at the sprites. “Can you help us? We’re looking for someone.”
But the sprites carried on dancing and playing.
“See?” said Fawn. “I told you.”
“Maybe they just don’t understand,” Rani said. “I have an idea.”
She collected a few drops of water from the side of the raft and rolled them together into a ball. Then she began to pinch and pull the water, shaping it with her hands. Three fins appeared, then a long fluid tail.
“It’s a fish!” Gabby said.
Rani flecked a pinch of fairy dust over the water fish. It shimmered orange and gold.
“It looks just like Sunny!” Lainey exclaimed.
“We’ll show this to the water sprites. Maybe they’ll tell us where he is,” Rani said.
But when the sprites saw the watery model of Sunny, they only smiled. One of them picked up a few drops of water and juggled them in the air.
“They think we’re just playing,” Lainey said.
“Let me try,” said Kate. “HAVE. YOU. SEEN. THIS. FISH?” she yelled to the water sprites. She pointed at the river and then pantomimed a fish swimming with her hands.
The sprites laughed again. They raced and tumbled along beside the raft, never once losing contact with the water.
“It’s no use,” Rani said. She dropped the model of Sunny into the water. It swam away from the boat for a few feet, then dissolved.
Rani had been dimly aware of a far-off rushing sound, a little like wind blowing through the trees. But she’d been too distracted by the sprites to give it much thought. Only when the rush became a roar did she pay attention.
“Oh no,” she said.
Now the others heard the sound, too. “What’s that?” asked Kate. “It sounds like more rapids!”
But it wasn’t rapids. Ahead, the river dropped away into nothing.
“WATERFALL!” Fawn yelled.
The water sprites were gone. The current was fast now, speeding them toward the edge. There was no time to pull off the river. No time to do anything but—
“Fly!” Kate hollered, dropping her paddle. “Now!”
I can’t fly! Rani thought. But a second later, Lainey’s hands closed around her. Holding Rani, Lainey leaped from the raft, along with Fawn and the other girls.
They hovered above the river. Rani was so relieved to be safe that for a moment she didn’t understand why everyone was shouting.
Gabby was still in the raft. She sat, frozen stiff, as she hurtled toward the waterfall. Her eyes were wide with terror.
“Fly, Gabby!” the other girls screamed. “Fly! Fly!”
But it was too late. The raft plunged over the edge, with Gabby still inside.
“Oh my gosh,” Lainey whispered. Her heart plummeted as she watched Gabby drop out of sight.
Kate had gone pale. Mia’s expression was too awful to look at.
Together, the three friends raced to the waterfall. Holding hands, they peered over the edge.
“OH MY GOSH!” Lainey shouted.
The raft was floating, just a few feet down from the waterfall’s edge. Gabby was still sitting inside, getting soaked by spray. When she heard their voices, she turned and looked up at them.
“I’m okay,” she said. “But I don’t know how to get down.”
Mia flew over and hugged her sister. “I don’t understand how this happened.”
