by R. V. Bowman
The group retreated from the edge of the marshes. It didn’t take long for them to dig out something to eat from the packs they carried.
The fairies, who didn’t seem to eat often, simply perched around the three humans. “How far is it to this Old Willow?” Rommy asked, looking at Nissa and Balo.
“The Salt Marshes are bigger than they look,” said Nissa. “That is one of their dangers. The journey seems short, but then travelers get caught out in the dark.”
“I guess what you’re saying is we shouldn’t start across this late in the day?” Rommy asked.
Balo shook his head. “That would be about the stupidest thing anyone could do.” He glared at her, and Rommy bit back a smile. The fairy with the golden topaz glow was perpetually grumpy. For some reason, it made Rommy want to laugh, but she stifled it so as not to hurt the fairy’s feelings.
Finn swallowed his bread and said, “We should probably make camp tonight and start early in the morning. Balo’s right. We don’t want to get caught out on the marshes at nighttime. Like Nissa said, it’s not safe. A lot of the dangerous critters come out after dark, not to mention the will-o-wisps.”
Alice looked around at the empty space and shivered. “Are you sure it’s safe out here? I feel like eyes is staring at me.”
Rommy admitted to herself that all that open area made her nervous, too. She felt exposed, and there was a heavy silence that was only broken by the buzzing of insects.
Finn pushed to his feet. “Balo and I will go scout out some wood so that we can build a fire,” he said.
“How am I supposed to carry wood?” complained Balo. “Do I look like I can carry wood?”
Finn just laughed. “I just need another set of eyes, Balo,” he said. “Although, it wouldn’t hurt you to carry some twigs.”
The fairy harrumphed and followed Finn as he lifted off and headed back toward the closest pine tree.
“I ain’t got a good feeling about this place,” said Alice. The little girl looked around her and hunched her shoulders, as if trying to disappear into the prickly grass.
“We only have to stay long enough to get that key, and then we can leave,” said Rommy.
“Yeah, but we gotta try to outfox mermaids who want to kill us,” said Alice. She put her chin in her hands. “Danny and his gang were bad, but this place makes London seem like a walk in Hyde Park.”
Rommy reached out and squeezed the little girl’s shoulder. “Are you sorry you came?” she asked.
“Nah,” said Alice. “I just hope we all make it off this island in one piece.” She bounced up and looked at Rommy. “Should we start setting up a place to sleep?”
Rommy looked at the sky. While the sun was lower, she doubted it was much past late afternoon. She looked around at the empty landscape. Besides arranging their blankets, she wasn’t sure what else they needed to do. There wasn’t anything around here that could be used to build a shelter. Finn and Balo would be lucky to find enough wood to start a fire. She shivered. She just hoped it would last all night. She didn’t want to speculate about being out here in the dark without a fire to keep away any of the creatures that roamed when the sun set.
ROMMY WAS JUST CONSIDERING going to look for Finn when she saw a golden brown glimmer. By this time, the sun had mostly set, and twilight had fallen like a dark cloak. Rommy didn’t want to admit how relieved she was to see them.
Finn sauntered up to their campsite. Alice and Rommy had put out their blankets, and, with nothing else to do, were sitting there cross-legged. Finn held a pathetic amount of sticks and twigs in his arms. She eyed it skeptically.
“Do you think that will last all night?” she asked.
Finn shrugged. “It should if we keep the fire small. We’ll also take turns keeping watch. We can’t be too careful.”
Kalen and Talen came to hover in front of Rommy. “We will keep watch, as well,” said Talen, the sister of the sibling duo.
“But don’t you need to sleep?” Rommy asked.
“We will take turns,” said Kalen. His voice was surprisingly deep for his small size. Even after traveling with the two all the way into the heart of the jungle and back, Rommy had barely heard Kelan say two words.
She nodded at him. “We’ll take turns, too,” she said. “Well, Finn and I will. I don’t think Alice needs to keep watch.”
“Whadda ya mean? I can keep watch!” said Alice, planting her hands on her hips.
Finn looked up from where he was arranging the wood for the fire. “You don’t need to worry about that, short stuff,” he said.
Alice glared at him. “I ain’t some baby you have to swaddle, you know.”
“Of course not,” said Rommy, trying to soothe the little girl’s feelings. “If we need you, we’ll definitely wake you up.”
Alice frowned but reluctantly nodded her head.
By this time the sun had truly set. Neverland’s pastel-colored stars were winking awake, their distant song flowing in the soft wind.
A screeching sound made them all jump.
Balo snorted. “That’s just a bog owl,” he said.
“Still, I better get this started,” said Finn.
It wasn’t long before a small fire was crackling. The three of them drew close to the fire, but Rommy still felt like anything could sneak up on her from behind.
Then she noticed the balls of light that had positioned themselves around them. Looking closer she realized that each of the fairies was facing out toward the blackness that surrounded them on all sides.
Alice had gradually inched closer and closer to Rommy, and now she was sitting almost in Rommy’s lap. She put her arm around the younger girl. “We’ll be fine, Alice,” she said. She pointed at the fairies. “Nissa, Balo, Kalen, and Talen are keeping a good eye out.”
“You think so?” Alice looked around.
Finn’s teeth flashed white from across the fire. “You bet,” he said. “Ain’t no better lookouts than fairies. They can see like cats in the dark.”
Rommy felt some tension leave the little girl, and she turned around and dug into her bag. “Maybe we should eat and then get some sleep. We should leave at first light so that we have time to get to that willow and back before it gets dark again.”
Finn nodded his agreement. Both He and Alice dug through their bags, and soon the only sound was that of chewing.
Rommy tried to relax. The fairies had her back, but as she looked at Finn and Alice, and then out into the blackness that was no longer silent, she dreaded the long night ahead.
Chapter 6:
Into the Marsh
Rommy wasn’t sure what woke her up. Clouds had scudded across the moon, leaving the night pitch black. Despite the darkness that pressed all around her, she immediately knew they were not alone. Before her eyes could search out the reassuring glow of the fairies, she felt a finger trail down her cheek.
Without thinking, Rommy rolled hard toward the touch. She felt contact and heard a satisfying oomph. Springing to her feet, she pulled out the dagger that was strapped to her side and yelled Finn’s name. She heard him scramble to his feet, but it was still too dark to see much of anything.
The crowing laugh made her blood run cold, confirming who their attackers were.
“Such a shame you’re a light sleeper,” said Pan. “I was enjoying watching you. So peaceful.”
Rommy shuddered but kept a firm grip on her dagger. “I’m not so peaceful now, though, Pan.”
The clouds parted, and the sliver of moon illuminated what she had feared. Peter Pan and four Lost Boys surrounded them. Finn was holding off two of them and had Alice behind him. The younger girl wasn’t just watching, though. She used her small size and speed to dash out, tripping one boy and kicking another in the back of the knee.
The one thing Rommy didn’t see was the glow from the fairies. In the back of her mind, worry began to simmer, but she couldn’t concentrate on that now. She had to hold off Pan, who was holding his dirk in front of him, casually ex
amining the hilt like he’d never seen it before.
He looked at her and smirked. “Always ready for a fight, aren’t you, Rommy? In that way, you’re just like your old man.” He tsked and shook his head. “Now, I’m not here to cause trouble, I just came to invite you to join me.” He leaned forward, his smirk turning into a grin. He winked. “You know you want to.”
Rommy leaned away from him. “You seem to have trouble understanding the word no,” she said. “No matter how many times you ask me, the answer will always be no.” She kept her dagger in front of her. She didn’t take her eyes off Pan, even though he was hovering cross-legged and his dirk was loose in his hand. From experience, she knew he was unpredictable. And fast.
She glanced at Finn and Alice out of the corner of her eye. Finn was holding off the two Lost Boys who remained standing. The two others were sitting on the ground, holding their heads.
“Oscar, what do you want with him, anyway?” Finn said. “You don’t have to stay here. You can come with us.”
“Aww, Finn, I ain’t got nothing back there,” said Oscar. He had stopped circling Finn. “At least here, I eats most of the time, and I never freeze.” He rubbed his arms as if remembering the bone-chilling cold that could envelop London.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Oscar, but I can’t let you stop me neither,” said Finn.
Pan’s laughter snapped Rommy’s attention back to him. “Poor Finn,” said Pan. “He always did have a hero complex.” ‘
“Better than a villain complex,” said Rommy.
Pan shook his head and smiled. Then he launched himself at her like a coiled snake. Rommy deflected the dirk and rose from the ground, flitting away from him. She missed her sword which was back at Chattingham’s.
“That’s what I like about you,” said Pan, feinting at her. “You are always a good opponent. If you come with me, we’ll never be bored.” He came at her again with a flurry of strikes, which she just managed to hold off. If she hadn’t been able to fly, she knew he’d have overpowered her. As it was, flight helped both with the height disadvantage and with her dagger’s shorter reach. Still, she knew she could only hold him off. Winning this fight had much longer odds.
Lights at the corner of her eye caught her attention. The fairies—they were back. Before she could process what to do with this information, Pan came at her again. She dodged away from him, and Nissa came buzzing up to hover near her ear.
“We will distract them,” she whispered into Rommy’s ear. “You must head into the marsh and hide. Peter and his boys will not risk following you on foot.”
Rommy gave a small nod to show Nissa she understood, but she didn’t take her eyes off Pan, who was circling her, looking for an opportunity.
Nissa gave a sharp whistle, and Kalen flew up beside her. The two fairies began rubbing their hands together.
“Blast it!” said Pan when he saw the glow that was beginning to build between the fairies’ hands.
“Pan!” called a high-pitched voice. “Pan, we’re gettin' pelted.”
“Come on,” said Finn as he zipped past, Alice in tow.
Nissa and Kalen lifted their hands and shot twin glowing orbs at Pan who ducked. One sizzled across his tunic, leaving a scorch mark. He began backpedaling in the air.
Rommy retreated several yards before whirling and following Finn and Alice into the marsh.
“You’ll never survive in there,” Pan called after her. “You belong with me, Rommy. You’ll be sorry you didn’t listen.”
Two orbs zipped through the air again, and she heard Pan yelp, but she didn’t look back. Instead, she strained her eyes to see Finn and Alice. Below her, the swampy ground was covered in patches of long grass that formed a maze-like trail through open areas of sand and pools of water. Fog swirled and eddied around the islands of grass, making it difficult to tell what was sand and what was water. She headed toward a patch of sand. After checking that it was indeed solid ground, she was about to touch down when a hand yanked her into a patch of grass. She lost her footing and fell against someone. Gasping she pushed herself upright and looked into Finn’s scowling face.
“Are you tryin’ to get yourself killed?” he said.
“I made sure it was sand, not water,” said Rommy, pushing her hair out of her eyes and glaring at him.
“That’s not sand,” said Finn. “That’s a bog. If you had landed there, it would have sucked you down. Once you start to sink, it’s almost impossible to get pulled out again. It’s like cement.”
“Oh,” she said. She rubbed her arm. “Well, you could have just said something instead of nearly yanking my arm out of its socket.”
Finn sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I just didn’t want Pan to know where we are. He’s not going to give up, you know. He’ll just follow us in the air and wait until he can get to us.”
Rommy threw up her hands. “That’s just great,” she said. “Now, we have to do the two things everyone told us not to do—go through the Salt Marshes at night and on foot, and we have to do it with Pan chasing us.”
Before Finn could answer, Balo came zipping into the tall patch of grass. “We need to get deeper into the marsh. The others are holding Pan and the rest of the Lost Boys off, but we have to hurry.”
Without even looking to see if they were following, Balo flew on ahead into the tall vegetation. Rommy and Finn looked at each other, and then Rommy started forward, Alice behind her and Finn bringing up the rear.
Rommy shook her head as she followed the glowing amber light ahead of her. She just hoped they’d all make it back out again.
Chapter 7:
Grommins and Will-o-Wisps
They hadn’t gone more than a few yards when Rommy started to see what looked like tiny floating jellyfish. They didn’t sing exactly, but they hummed. As they moved, they undulated, almost like they were beckoning you closer. She lifted her hand to touch one that hovered in front of her face, but Balo zoomed back and smacked her hand.
“Don’t touch those!” he said.
“But they’re so pretty,” said Rommy. “Maybe they can help us.”
“That’s a will-o-wisp, and the only thing it’ll help you with is dying a nasty death in one of those bogs,” he said. Then he turned to the light bouncing gently in place and began flapping his hands. “Shoo,” he said. “Shoo, I say.”
The light slowly floated away, its hum gradually fading.
Rommy clenched her hands to still their trembling. While there was so much beauty on Neverland, she wouldn’t be sad to see the last of it.
Balo made an impatient gesture, and she continued after him, her boots squishing in the soggy ground. Eventually, she noticed that Nissa, Kalen, and Talen had rejoined them. The fairies took up their places, one on each side with Kalen behind Finn.
It was slow going as the trio pushed forward through the mud, following Balo’s golden brown glow through the tunnel of grass. Balo’s progress was in fits and starts as he determined the safest way to go. Even in the grassy areas, there were spots where they could sink up to their knees or worse.
Periodically, will-o-wisps floated into their path, but one of the fairies would shoo them away. Rommy could see how it would be easy to follow the lights.
Up ahead, Balo stopped and held up a hand.
“What is it?” she asked.
He put a tiny hand on her mouth and pointed upward. Rommy couldn’t see anything because the grass really was like a tunnel, with the marsh’s vegetation closing over their heads. She was just about to ask Balo what was going on when she heard Pan.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he called. There was a pause. “What? You want to play hide and seek? All right—I’ll be it. Ready or not, here I come.”
A swooshing sound came from overhead, and the fairies dimmed their glow. Rommy, Finn, and Alice crouched down. Rommy felt Alice’s arms go around her waist. The little girl was trembling. She felt a pang of guilt. If anything happened to Alice...
She felt Finn’s hand grasp hers, and she squeezed back. She strained her ears. Was Pan still above them, or had he moved on to another part of the marsh? She hoped he got bored and lost interest soon. The mud on her boots was seeping into her pants, making them wet and cold. She shivered.
They waited a moment more, and then Nissa flew to Rommy.
“We will scatter around the marsh so Peter Pan cannot know exactly where you are. We will meet you at the Old Willow. Try to move as carefully as you can so he cannot see you from above.”
Nissa, Kalen, and Talen zipped off in three different directions, and Balo signaled them to move forward again. Rommy followed but listened for any sound from Peter Pan. She couldn’t hear anything but the night sounds of the marsh. For all she knew Pan was hovering right above her head.
This thought made her look up, trying to peer through the blades of grass curving above her head. She stumbled and almost fell.
Balo stopped and dimmed his glow until it was almost gone. He signaled for them to crouch down again, and then he flew off. Rommy’s stomach felt like one big knot as they waited in the darkness for him to return. She slipped her hand into her pocket and fingered the leaves. Should she use them? She wasn’t sure exactly what Unilisi meant when she had said the leaves were wishes. Could they make them all invisible? Rommy chewed at her lip, and then pulled her hand back out. The idea of everyone knowing she had magical leaves and had failed to use one of them to help Lobo made her stomach feel queasy. Besides, she didn’t really know how the leaves worked. Then, Alice tugged on her sleeve.
“What is it?” she whispered.
Alice didn’t say anything. She just pointed.
There were six pairs of yellow eyes ringed around them. A low rumble punctuated the air. The breath seemed to freeze in Rommy’s lungs, and her eyes met Finn’s.
“Grommins,” he said.
At the same time, they both moved closer, sandwiching Alice more tightly between them.