Peter & Emily, The Girl From New York

by Thomas Hayes

Chapter Four

  “Tim!” I yelled. “Run! Get out of the apartment!”

  My brother turned, but as soon as he did, one of the shadow creatures leapt into the air, flew over his head, and landed in front of him. It was now only a few feet away, blocking the way out of the room.

  “Emily!” Tim shouted. “Help!”

  Peter kicked off the shadow creature that was on top of him and jumped to his feet. Free from its grasp, he pulled his sword, swung it mightily, and sliced right through the shadow creature. The being screamed and then disappeared, evaporating into streaks of smoke.

  “Emily, Tim! Time to get out of here! You’ll need to follow me!”

  Gritting his teeth, Peter ran by me and directly at the shadow creatures that had come in through the balcony. With an angry battle cry, he engaged them with his sword, fighting all four of them at once. His pirate sword CLANGED! off their bladed arms as they defended themselves from his rapid swings.

  “How do you expect us to follow you?” I yelled. I ran to Tim and pulled him near. The shadow creature blocking the hallway was coming toward us, so I backed away, looking for a hiding spot.

  “By flying,” Peter replied. He jabbed his sword in front of him like a fencer and stabbed a creature through its chest. With a scream, it was gone. “It’s going to be our only way out of here now. Unfortunately, you no longer have a choice—now you’ll have to come with me to Never Land.”

  “Whatever,” I said. The shadow creature came slowly near me, as Tim and I backed against the wall. “Just get us out of here. But we can’t fly like you.”

  “Yes, you can, with this.”

  Peter threw something my way. I caught it and looked it over; it was a small brown sack, tied with a piece of string. It felt like a bag of sand.

  “What’s this?”

  “Fairy dust,” Peter said. He jumped into the air, soared to the ceiling, and then flew back down again. As he did, he held his sword out in front of him and lanced one of the creatures. “Pour some of that on you, and we’ll be on our way. But I’d hurry up if I were you.”

  I knew everything Peter was saying was insane, but, if there was even a 1% chance it would get us away from these things, I’d try it. “Just pour it on us? That’s it?”

  “Yup. And think happy thoughts.”

  The shadow creature in front of Tim and I lunged forward, swinging its arms. I grabbed my field hockey stick from under my bed and swung it back at him, as hard as I could. I didn’t hit it, but it backed off for a second.

  “Thinking happy thoughts isn’t going to be very easy right now,” I told Peter.

  “Just literally think of anything that makes you happy,” Peter shouted over the CLANGS! and CRASHES! as he fought off the last two shadow creatures near the balcony. “All you need is something that would make you happy.”

  With my hands shaking, I untied the bag and poured it into my hand. Amazingly, the most incredible dust poured out—like rainbow-colored sand, twinkling in the dark room. It ran through my fingers, drifted past my legs, and onto the floor. As quick as I could, I turned around and threw the rest of the dust into my brother’s face.

  Then, I thought of what would make me happiest at that moment: getting the hell out of my room.

  Instantly, my feet left the floor. I could swear I heard the sparkling dust twinkle as I went up into the air.

  “Oh my god!” I yelled, floating toward the ceiling. “Oh my god!” It was as if I had been thrown and had no control of my body—weightless, my legs went wild, searching for the ground. I tumbled, like an astronaut in space.

  “Emily!” my brother yelled. “How are you doing that?”

  “Just think happy thoughts!”

  Terrified, and very much in danger, Tim closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Then, without thinking for too long, he yelled the thing that made him happiest in the world.

  “Big boobs!”

  With that, Tim shot up into the air like a rocket, the sparkling dust shimmering over his body. Now, he was up in the air like me, spinning and flipping. You would think flying would be fun—but no. It’s more like someone has spun you around a million times, kicked you off your feet, and then somehow stuck you in the air.

  “That’s it!” Peter yelled. He slashed his sword and defeated a lunging shadow creature. Now there were only two left: the one near the balcony, and one near the hallway. “Now we can get out of here! Follow me, both of you!”

  “Um…” I spun around. Soon, I was upside down, looking at the shadow creature. It floated up toward me. “I’m not sure we can do that. We can’t follow you—we can barely move.”

  “It’s just like swimming!” Peter shot up into the air. “Come on, kick your legs and head toward the window! More of these things might be coming any minute!”

  More of these things? I grabbed Tim’s arm, kicked my legs, and hoped for the best. Just as Peter said, I shot across the room toward the balcony. It really was just like swimming—except it took place in the middle of the air.

  “Perfect!” Peter yelled. “Outside, quickly, while I take care of this last one here!” Floating, he swung his sword downward, taking off the head of the shadow creature. “Let’s go!”

  Peter shot toward me, grabbed my hand, and then pivoted in mid-air. At what felt like 60 miles an hour, all three of us flew out the open balcony, with Peter pulling me and me pulling Tim.

  I felt a rush of cold, autumn air, and then looked down. My ten-year-old brother and I were floating 30 stories above the streets of New York City.

  “Peter!” I shouted. I felt my stomach fly into my throat. I was dizzy, and the lights of the city were spinning. “Help!”

  “Just relax!” Peter pulled me near. “You won’t fall—that fairy dust lasts a long time. All you gotta do is keep swimming, till you get control of your body. Then, it’ll just come naturally.”

  I tried to do what Peter said. Eventually, I calmed down, trusting that I would just float there. Surprisingly, it worked. Focusing, I grabbed Tim’s hand. He wasn’t panicking and flailing like I had been; he was simply staring down at the street, with eyes as big as basketballs.

  “Emily,” he said. “We’re flying.”

  “Yes.” I tried to keep my balance. “Please don’t remind me.”

  “Congratulations,” Peter said. “You’re one step closer to Never Land. But we do have one more thing to worry about.”

  “What’s that?”

  The last shadow creature flew out from my bedroom and straight at Peter, its bladed-arms extended. Peter ducked, let the creature zoom over him, and then spun around, throwing his sword. The second the shadow creature turned, the sword flew through it like a dart. The creature opened its mouth to scream, but it was too late. The last shadow creature was gone.

  Now, though, Peter’s sword was plummeting toward the streets of New York. As if it was no big deal, he flew down underneath it, waited for it, and then plucked the blade from the air.

  “There,” he said, flying back toward us. “Not how I planned it, but successful enough. We can be on our way now. Sorry about all that—they must have followed me.”

  “Yeah, no problem,” I said angrily. “Did you say there might be more of them? Where can we go that’s safe?”

  “To the place I’ve been telling you about since the beginning. Never Land.”

  “And how do we get there?” Tim asked.

  “Ah, that’s a wonderful question. I can see you’re the smart one of the siblings, Tim.” Peter turned and pointed to a far-away star, shining bigger and brighter than the rest. Somehow, I had never noticed this star before.

  “It’s simple, once you know the secret,” Peter said. He smiled. “Second to the right, and straight on till morning.”