by Dash Hoffman
“A lion! Did you see it! Just there!” Firefly’s finger shot out toward the trees.
“Where?” Patches frowned.
“I can’t see it!” Bandit peered closely.
“Well, I didn’t see it, and I’m the best at sighting things!” Pip insisted.
“That’s true!” Pockets agreed, and Patches nodded along as well.
“So, if I didn’t see it, there was no lion.” Pip stated flatly.
“There was too a lion! I saw it right back there!” Firefly insisted, nearly jabbing Chance in the eye with his finger as his hand flew backward again.
“But I didn’t see it, and if I didn’t see it, then it wasn’t there.”
“It’s true!” Firefly scowled. “Do you want to fight?”
“No. I don’t believe a word of it!” Pip scoffed.
“I swear on my honor as a Lost Boy!” Firefly cried out adamantly.
Silence followed, and the boys looked back and forward up and down the canoe with wide eyes.
“Well, then you did indeed see a lion and he was truly there.” Pip announced devotedly.
That was the end of it.
The river meandered smoothly, turning this way and that through the forest, picking up a little more speed down a few slight hills and over swift and deep spots. At last they made it to the mouth of the river, which emptied out into the sea. It was there that they saw that the water changed color, from clear jade green in the river to aquamarine in the ocean, and the spot where the two met swirled about in both shades.
Turtle Dove pointed his hand toward the northeast, and they saw two of the islands which were part of the seven Matariki.
Together they rowed, alternating strokes of their oars evenly as they guided the canoe out onto the ocean waves, which were kind to them for the time being.
The tide was going out, and it carried them along with it, making the rowing easier. Emma wondered if it would be more work getting back, when they were going against the tide.
The children passed by the first of the two islands, and kept at the rowing. As they reached the second island, they shifted course around to the far side of it, going along at a slower pace until they stopped.
Emma watched Turtle Dove closely, trying to figure out what was happening. He seemed to be looking carefully at the towering wall of black rocks that canvassed the entire side of the island.
Chance furrowed his brow. “There’s nothing here! It’s all rocks! Are you sure this is the right place?” He grumbled doubtfully.
Turtle Dove held his hand up. “It is the right place, but the rocks are so similarly colored and aligned that you cannot easily see the entrance. It is like a trick.”
The boys all leaned this way and that, intrigued with the idea that they were being tricked, and every one of them was keen to outdo the trickery of the island.
Emma tilted her head slightly and lifted her hand. “There, in between those two big, tall rocks. There’s a shadow, and the waves are washing in at different places!”
The boys saw that she was right and told each other so, all up and down the line of them; quite impressed with her. Turtle Dove plunged his oar back into the sea. “That’s it! You’ve found it.”
He paddled straight for it and some of the other boys grew nervous, because for all they could see, he was headed straight for a rock wall.
Turtle Dove cranked his oar at the last second, just before the canoe would have been dashed to bits on the rocks, and they were suddenly parallel with the stone barrier they had been about to hit. There was a tall and narrow crevice in the rock wall before them; a sliver of a canyon they’d have to pass through.
“If the canoe is badly damaged, we’ll never make it back to shore. Use the oars against the walls so the boat doesn’t hit them. Keep us in the center between them at all times. Scout and I will paddle forward.” Turtle Dove gave them orders, and everyone obeyed.
Scout, who was at the rear of the boat, paddled forward with Turtle Dove who was at the front. Everyone in between poked their oars out horizontally, pressing them against the rock walls on either side of the canoe so that it stayed on course right in between them.
Turtle Dove guided the boat down the threadbare stretch of space, and then suddenly they turned and followed the water into an opening that they never would have seen from the outside of the island.
The mouth of the opening was only four feet tall, but luckily they were all sitting down in the boat when they went through it, and no one hit their heads.
They found themselves in rocky cavern; dark, save for a dim shaft of sunlight that streamed through a six inch crack in the rocks overhead.
“How did you ever find this place?” Scout puzzled incredulously.
Turtle Dove brought the boat to the edge of a rocky outcropping. “I explored the islands and discovered it. We must hurry. The tide is out, so we were able to enter, but if we are not gone before the tide comes back in, we will be trapped in here, because the tide will swallow the entrance completely. We’ll lose all light once the sun has set, and the rising tide will crush the boat against the rocks in here. We won’t make it out again.”
He pushed himself from the canoe and turned to face them. “We must climb over the rocks to get to that side of the outcropping.” He pointed to a wall at the edge of the rocks, fifty feet away. “It’s hidden there. A few of you need to stay with the canoe and keep it from hitting any jagged points. It cannot be damaged.”
Patches eyed the jumble of stone before them doubtfully. “I’ll stay. I’m a good anchor for the boat!”
“I’ll stay too.” Bandit added.
“And me.” Shortly chimed in.
The rest of them clambered out and stood together in a small, relatively flat area nearby.
“It’s so dark in here!” Shortly’s thin voice resounded off the walls.
“Oh, I have something.” Pockets chipped in happily. He dug around in a few of his pockets and a moment later he had a short thick stick of wood in his hand with a wad of reeds wound around the end of it.
Taking a piece of flint, he struck it against a stone and the sparks that flew from it caught the wad of reeds on fire. They glowed and burned brightly.
He smiled as the other boys looked at him in awe. “Dark oil reeds. They make great torches!”
In moments he had a second one made, and he gave it to Shortly. “Here. This will help.”
“Thanks!” Shortly brightened with relief.
Strange shadows from the flames flitted and danced across the rugged stone walls around them, and somehow the firelight made the surface of the water look black.
Turtle Dove waved at them, and the boys and Emma followed him carefully along the edge of the rocks, crawling over them until they reached the wall at the end.
Reaching his hands out as far as he could, Turtle Dove slid a rock that hadn’t looked loose, away from the wall. In the space behind where the rock had been, there was a hollow, and inside the hollow, was a wooden box.
Lifting the box gently, he turned and handed it to Firefly. “Here, give this to Emma.”
Firefly turned and handed the box to Chance. “For Emma.”
Chance gave it to Pip, who turned and was about to hand it to Pockets.
“I have the torch.” Pockets looked at him sharply.
Pip laughed, and then frowned.
“Toss it to me. I’ll catch it.” Tumbles promised.
Pockets ducked down some, with the torch still in his hand, and Pip launched the wooden box over his head toward Tumbles.
Emma’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest with terror that it might be smashed in a fall, but Tumbles snatched it right out of the air, and then turned to Emma.
“For you.”
Turtle Dove put the rock back in place over the hollow in the wall and Scout frowned at him.
“Again, I ask… how did you ever find any of this?”
Turtle Dove shrugged. “I explored the island. There are many secrets in
Neverland, if one looks.”
Scout smirked.
They did an about face then with Emma in the lead, carrying the wooden box. It took longer for them to go back, as Emma had to hand the box off in order to climb over rocks using both her hands, and the boys had to pass it off between each other to do the same.
The box went back and forth amongst them as they made their way, until Scout, with the box in his right hand, slipped and skidded down the side of a craggy rock.
He yelled, but Tumbles grabbed his left hand, and Firefly clamped onto his right arm, and together they hauled Scout to his feet. Just as they did, the small wooden box dropped out of Scout’s hands.
In a flash, Tumbles made a grab for it.
Scout’s blue eyes were wide in the low, flickering light. “Oh no!”
“I got it!” Tumbles grinned.
“Gosh, thanks!” Scout heaved a sigh of relief.
“Are you all right?” Emma asked worriedly.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Is the box okay?” Turtle Dove followed her question.
Tumbles held it out to Emma, who took it and closed her hands around it protectively.
“It’s just fine, and so are we.” She smiled gratefully.
Pockets stood in front of her, carrying the torch. Together they continued, and finally managed to get back to the boat.
“The tide is coming back in!” Patches warned them, pointing to the mouth of the cave where they had entered. The opening had narrowed so much that there was only two feet of space.
“We must go quickly!” Turtle Dove warned them. He didn’t have to say it twice. All of them were in the boat and ready to go in no time. Emma tucked the small wooden box between her feet, and picked up her oar.
Together they paddled as best they could to the opening, and when they reached it, they all had to duck down to avoid hitting their heads, except Shortly and Bandit, who were just the right height to pass through it safely.
They worked together to make it through the sliver of the passage again, back out into the open ocean, and just as the tide had carried them out, it carried them back, though the waves were considerably higher on the second trip.
Seawater washed up over the sides of the boat, splashing all of them, and Emma rediscovered the joy of having sopping wet hair plastered to her head.
They paddled fast and watched with a thrill as dolphins and mermaids raced them back toward the shore, arcing and twisting through the air, and diving back into the sea, only to come up again a short distance off. They played and teased, and the children worked their oars as quickly as they could to win. The mermaids won by a half a league.
With relief and utter joy, spent from all their exercise, they slid from the last wave onto the soft yellow sand at the beach.
When they had all climbed out, they stood around Emma and eagerly waited for her to open the box.
“What’s a compass?” Asked Shortly, curiously.
“It’s to tell time!” Pockets assured him.
“No, that’s a watch!” Chance disagreed.
“No, it’s a clock!” Pip insisted. “I remember!”
“I thought it was an hourglass.” Murmured Scout.
“It’s to give direction.” Emma replied, looking at all of them with a wide smile.
“I knew that.” Said Chance with an indifferent sniff.
“You didn’t either!” Firefly lowered a brow at him. “You want to fight?” He held up his fists.
Chance shook his head. “No.”
Firefly raised the brow he had lowered, and his voice brightened. “You want to wrestle?”
“No.” Chance shook his head again.
Firefly’s shoulders slumped. “Well then let’s see the thing!”
Emma lifted the lid from the box and exhaled softly at the sight of the beautiful piece inside. She reached her hand in as all the boys leaned in closer around her, vying for a good look. Shortly and Bandit were on their tiptoes.
She held it up and showed it to them. It was made of gold and glass, and it hung from a deftly crafted chain. The compass itself was the size of Emma’s palm, and it contained a wooden arrow just as hers had, as well as the same olive green Neversand, and the faintly glowing golden powder of pixie dust.
The pictures of the two stars, the great tree, and the counter-clockwise facing comet were all there.
The boys all said ‘oh’ and ‘ah’, and Emma stared at it and turned it upward so they could each get a better look.
“That will take you home, and it will bring you back again too, if you would ever like to come back.” Turtle Dove said with a smile.
Turtle Dove of the
Piccaninny Tribe
“Oh, please come back!” Pockets cried out, and all of the other boys chimed in and chorused his sentiments.
“Oh yes, please!” They begged her. “You’re loads of fun!”
“Yes! That was such an exciting game!” Scout and Tumbles agreed heartily.
Emma felt as if her heart had never been so full. “Of course I’ll come back. I’ll come back as often as I can. You’re such wonderful friends, and I want to keep you always.”
“Hurray!” The boys cheered and jumped in the air for the good of it.
Turtle Dove helped Emma put the Neverland Compass around her neck. “You’re taken care of.” He said happily.
“I am.” She agreed. “Thank you all for helping me!”
“Of course!” Firefly beamed.
“It was a wonderful quest!” Pip chimed in.
“Yes! Yes, it was a terrific quest!” Bandit added.
“I think we should do it again!” Scout suggested excitedly.
“Tomorrow!” Chance insisted.
“Hurray for the quest tomorrow!” Shortly and Patches cheered merrily.
“I guess this is goodbye.” Emma’s heart ached to have to leave.
“What’s goodbye?” Shortly frowned, and Bandit shrugged his small shoulders.
“It’s when someone leaves.” Firefly pouted.
“Emma cannot leave yet, for it is time now to go and feast with the Piccaninny tribe!” Turtle Dove announced.
Everyone cheered. “No goodbye!”
“Oh! I’m famished! Let’s go feast!” Patches’ eyes grew wide and he grinned.
“Me too! Oh, me too!” Shortly clapped his hands together.
The children helped Turtle Dove carry his canoe upside down on their heads, except for Shortly and Bandit, who weren’t tall enough for their heads to reach the boat, so they took the lead and tail end of the single file line.
Everyone sang loudly as they went because the sound echoed all through the inside of the canoe and drowned out half of the forest in song.
They had run out of songs partway to the Piccaninny grounds, so they started again from the first one and sang them all a second time.
Patches and Pockets sang too, though their voices weren’t nearly as loud as the boys carrying the upside down canoe, and after a while, Shortly walked with Emma, holding her hand.
Just as the sun began to set, they reached the Indian grounds, and the smell of many Neverfoods taunted their noses and bellies. Roast beast and bird, savory tam-tam leaves stewed with harrow root, and custards made of ober berries and cream.
The children ate their fill, and some of them ate more than that, having worked so hard all day.
When the feast was finished and the Indians were seated in a ring around the great bonfire at the center of the camp, Turtle Dove regaled them with the tale of their capture as they had been hunting that morning, their release when Emma had saved them, and their adventure to find the lost Neverland Compass, which was bestowed to their heroine.
The tribe loved the stories, and the Lost Boys helped to tell them by embellishing somewhat here and there, but by and by it was all told, it was celebrated again and again, and at long last, with all the stars twinkling and winking far up in the dark night sky, they all snuggled down onto thick mats, covered w
ith warm blankets, and they fell asleep at the fireside.
“Emma?” the voice sounded from faraway, almost a dream.
Callie gazed at the sleeping girl and stood up, leaning over to kiss her forehead. She tugged Emma’s blankets up over her shoulders and flipped off the light, before walking out and closing the door quietly behind her.
Chapter Six
Tall Tales
Callie’s shoes sent droplets leaping from their puddles, and she tugged her scarf closer about her neck as the hospital came into view. Small billows of breath escaped her and vanished a moment later in the crisp wind.
Her focus shifted suddenly, and she paused in mid-step, and then stopped altogether. Ahead of her, just to her left on the opposite side of the road, she noticed a humble old tea room.
“Hello, how could I have missed seeing you before?” She murmured, staring at it.
It was barely a spot of a place; small as a wink, with an old wooden storefront, windows steamed with heat pushing the weather out, and a tarnished brass knob on the door.
On the window beside the door, the glass was painted with fading old-fashioned looking letters formed into an arch that read, “Davies”.
A smile tugged gently at the corners of Callie’s mouth. She couldn’t resist the draw in her to it, and she knew that a hot cup of tea would be just the thing to warm her on such a cold, rainy day.
When she pushed the door open, a little bell jingled, and she crossed over the worn threshold feeling as if in doing so, she was stepping back in time.
The café reminded her of what the inside of an old treasure chest might look like; wide beams of only partially tamed dark wood stood against the walls and braced the ceiling in places.
The tired, dusty planks making up the floor creaked beneath her as she moved over them. Around her there were three simple wooden tables, each polished by wear on the tops, with matching chairs. All three, though plain, were prettied up with tiny glass jars holding white and violet flowers.
At the back of the cozy room, facing front, was a timeworn counter, and leaning upon it was an old man. In his weathered hands sagged a newspaper held wide. He peered over the top edge of it at her with green eyes that sparkled. He lowered his newspaper just a little further, and she saw a smile hidden beneath a big grey and white moustache.