The Grown Ups' Crusade

by Audrey Greathouse

  The adults did not take this assault lying down. Passenger soldiers pulled out their own rifles and began aiming into the turrets' high windows in an attempt to take out children. Such tiny targets were hard to hit in the stormy waters, but the adults had undergone a massive amount of training for this mission.

  “Watch out!” someone screamed.

  Gwen saw as Spurt tackled Jam to the ground and a projectile came speeding into the castle. The adults used their ammo conservatively, and when Gwen saw what they were firing, she understood.

  While ordinary and heavy fire pelted the castle wall, a more mysterious substance targeted the children. The bullet, the size and shape of a large marble, struck the wall and exploded into liquid after its near-miss with Jam.

  It left a bluish residue on the gritty wall of the sand castle, and several of the children left their supporting roles to examine it. The snipers themselves continued blow-darting the adults at cautious intervals. Now that the crafts had come closer, some of the slingshot boys tagged out the snipers and began launching nails at the rubber crafts to expedite their sinking.

  Peter reached out and touched the muckish blue residue, and a visible shiver shot down his spine.

  “What is it Peter?” Inch asked.

  “It's magic suppressant,” he answered. “More toxic and refined than the last time we encountered it.”

  Gwen remembered the tasers and assault weapons the adults had used in reality. They had forced flying children to the ground and disabled their motor abilities. The security guard had frozen Newt in the research lab, and many of the prospective lost children had been debilitated by it during the raid with Piper.

  Peter wiped the ugly blueness off his hand, on the un-magical surface of his dirty shorts. Where it impacted the sand castle, it ate into the wall like acid. A small spot on the solid and sturdy walls morphed into mere mushy sand.

  Gwen knew what it did to children—who were, at heart, more real than magical—but she shuddered to think what it would do to a mermaid or redskin.

  “Why aren't they using that against the castle wall?” Rosemary asked.

  “They must not have much of it,” Peter remarked. “They're trying to conserve it.”

  From the other end of the sandy corridor, Goose howled, “They're under order to release the shadows as soon as they make it to the jungle!”

  “Oh no, not shadows!” Inch cried.

  “We'll have to stop them before they get that far,” Peter said. “Peach, Pear, and Plum, ready the dungeon! We're going to take all the prisoners it can fit!”

  The three would-be sisters all shouted, “Yessir!” in unison and flew down the empty shaft that led to the cavernous dungeon carved beneath the castle.

  Blink had her spyglass fixed on the distant main ships. “Two of the ships are veering nouth!”

  “Just wait until they get a load of the pirates!” Mint cheered.

  “Captain Starkey's boat has got cannons and everything!” Yam exclaimed.

  Gwen didn't share their excitement. If two ships took off for the other side of the island for better landing places, they must have been confident that the deployed soldiers' could keep the children busy. Furthermore, she didn't know how well an antique flagship would hold up against two modern battleships, no matter how many cannons it had.

  Stealing a quick peek out of a sniper window, Gwen caught sight of the cracking defensive wall. The soldiers had leapt out into the knee-deep water and started attacking the wall with machine gun fire at close range. When bullets began breaking though, the firing stopped and they began sledgehammering it.

  A few quick shots of magic suppressant exacerbated the crack, allowing them to punch a passable hole into it. The one who finally broke it down with the butt of his gun misstepped and tumbled down into the trench twenty feet below. The soft sand gave him a forgiving landing, but he had no means of getting out. The hardened sand that sculpted the castle walls offered no handhold to climb out with.

  Water splashed down into the pit, and the steady trickle grew fiercer with every wave of the morning's incoming tide. The wall now dissolving, the tide water eroded the adult's hole faster and faster. Up to their knees in the foamy water, the adults weren't worried about their compatriot below. They put their energy into extending a ladder across the trench.

  The children continued shooting their darts, but it was riskier work. The adults' returning fire struck one of the boys. He was immediately placed in the care of Nurse Inch, who did her best to revive him from the magic repelent with flimsy chest compressions and fairy dust. “CLEAR!” she yelled, before Hawkbit and Dillweed flung themselves against the boy's chest.

  Great Waters unsheathed the tomahawk at his hip and flung the small axe with inhuman precision at the ladder as the adults started to cross. Whatever the ladder was made of, the blade of Great Waters's tomahawk was stronger. It cut through one of the ladder's poles, and as the bridge destabilized, the other side cracked in half from the pressure. The four adults crossing it tumbled down as it collapsed into the pit. With them in the empty trench and a dozen adults passed out, the children still had twenty-some soldiers to worry about, now all standing in the thigh-high waters of Neverland's fast-rising tide.

  The entire defensive wall started to crumble away, and water rushed in faster. Turning to ordinary, mucky sand, the wall sunk back into the beach. Before it could finish melting, Great Waters leapt out of a turret window and landed, crouching, on the sinking castle wall. Without any goodbye to his fellow fighters, he spread his arms and leapt into the ocean.

  The children did not see him impact, but they watched as the tide waters ebbed away, much faster than they had come in. The immediate change of water direction even caught the attention of the soldiers. They turned around, in horror, to see the tsunami wave building behind them.

  The wave bludgeoned forward and swept the black coats up. It pounded them against the sinking wall, blasted them through it, and dumped them into the trench. The water lapped against the castle itself, but did no damage to the intact magical structure.

  The flooded trench became a frothy salt water moat, and the adults floundered in the swishing waters, trying to stay afloat.

  Peter nodded to Yam. Yam nodded to Dew. Dew nodded to Spurt, and Spurt yelled, “RELEASE THE CROCODILE!”

  As the tsunami wave pulled back out, the remaining water began to drain into the deep dungeon underneath the castle. If the adults possessed any desire to swim counter to this current, they abandoned it when they saw the crocodile swimming toward them.

  The children laughed as they watched the screaming adults ferociously paddle down current. They screamed even more as they dropped with the waterfall into the dungeon. The moist floor of the dungeon let the water seep back into its sands, and the crocodile did not follow down—the moat's drain into the dungeon was too slender for the massive, scaly beast. The soldiers found themselves trapped in a damp underground chamber with no escape. The only way out of the dungeon was the trench opening they'd been washed through. Several feet out of reach and guarded by Peach, Pear, Plum, and the crocodile, the opening offered no hope of escape.

  “The last boat's heading weast!” Blink called from behind her spyglass.

  “The other two found the pirates in the nouth!” Goose added, her studious ear still plugged into the radio inceptor, despite the chaos. “One slipped past Starkey—they have foot soldiers landing now!”

  Gwen tried to mentally map Neverland. “Which way is nouth again? Which way weast?”

  “Just remember,” Rosemary told her, pointing in two different directions and reciting, “Nouth is this way and weast is that way.”

  The mnemonic didn't help, but things moved too fast for it to matter.

  “Everybody who can, fall back! The wounded, nurses, and guard crew stay here, everyone else…” Peter ordered, “into the jungle, and look out for shadows!”

  Chapter 19

  The retreating children divided into two teams. Th
e first took the tunnels out to the weastern shore to wait at the jungle's edge for the last of the boat's soldiers to land. The other spread out into the jungle at once.

  Peter and Gwen, too big to comfortably keep pace with the smaller children running through the tunnels, both headed into the jungle, but prepared to part ways.

  “Remember,” Peter cautioned everyone. “Keep them away from the heart of the island. Don't let them get near the Never Tree!” The children already knew the plan and had a keen understanding of where they had laid all their traps. They would have no problem leading the adults through the confusing forest and into their snares. Their plan depended on them spreading out and covering as much ground as possible.

  “Peter,” Gwen grabbed his arm with one hand, and dug through her purse with the other. “Take this.” She handed him an empty tin can with a tiny hole punched in the bottom.

  “What's this, Dollie-Lyn?” Peter asked, turning it upside down and looking at the small hole in the bottom. “Another one of your clever inventions?” He touched the bottom of the can and felt a slender string running from it.

  Gwen pulled the corresponding can out of her purse. To demonstrate its functional, Gwen whispered into hers, “Can you hear me?”

  “By golly, I can!” Peter announced, amazed at how clear Gwen's voice sounded from the can in his hand.

  Gwen had never had much luck making telephones out of two cans and string, but she had never had magical string either. She knew from her experience tracking the Piper that Irene's invisible string would not tangle, would not run out, and would not snap. It was the perfect way to keep touch with Peter, to make sure he stayed safe even in the thick of this adventure.

  “Wait—I know what this is!” Peter declared. “I've never seen one so big before.” He put the tin can on his finger as if he expected it to fit like a ring, or a thimble. “You ought to have one too, Gwenny.”

  “But I've got—”

  Peter didn't seem concerned with her tin can. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an acorn. He grabbed Gwen's hand and planted it in her palm, closing her fingers around the nut. He held her hand closed around it for a moment and Gwen felt lost for words.

  “Don't get yourself killed by these cut-rate pirates, okay? They don't even have hats. It'd be a horrible way to go.”

  She nodded a little, still unable to respond, and Peter took this for confirmation. He dashed into the woods and took off flying over the thick brush to make his way, as fast as possible, to the nearest marauding adult.

  Gwen took a deep breath and clutched her little acorn. It felt charged with an electricity she didn't recognize. It didn't feel magical, but everything Peter touched seemed imbued with some enchantment. She didn't know what to do with it, so she tucked it into a safe pocket of her satchel and hoped for the best as she flew into the dark jungle.

  Chapter 20

  The children spread out so far and so fast that Gwen was isolated within a minute's time. She flew through the jungle—she couldn't remember where all the traps were, and she didn't want to trip one. The terrifying threat of shadows also compelled her to fly. Remembering her first encounter with the Anomalous Activity's shadows, she shivered to think about it slipping over surface and grabbing her foot. The jungle's spotty canopy made it hard to spot any unusual shadows moving among the others.

  It didn't take long for her to run into an adult.

  Gwen recognized the black coat invaders' uniforms. They wore the same tactical gear as the team that had attempted to apprehend them during the suburban exodus with Piper. He looked a bit like a shadow himself, and he spotted her. “Hold it right there!” he yelled.

  Gwen screamed and flew off toward the nearest ambush. She darted through the forest and dodged his fire, watching as blue bullets splattered against trees, missing her by inches. Wherever they impacted, the plants seemed to shake and recoil.

  She flew over a net and trigger obscured by an artful layer of leaves. She had barely passed it when a magic suppressant bullet struck her square between the shoulders. Her jaw clenched shut before she could scream, and she fell to the ground faster than a plane with a broken engine.

  Paralyzed by the blast, she couldn't even brace herself for her fall. Neverland was merciful though, and broke her fall with a spongy clump of mushrooms. Gwen had grown accustomed to collapsing mid-flight—yet another marginally advantageous trait she had as an almost-grown-up in Neverland. She took deep breaths and remembered that most of her wasn't magical at all. She thought about physics and anatomy, and how she should be able to stand up. Her meditations on reality didn't overcome her pounding panic as the adult approached her.

  Her face planted in the mushroom patch, she couldn't see, only hear, as the black coat neared. She imagined he still had his dark rifle trained on her. “Alright, girl, enough of the runaround… where's Peter Pan hiding? He's with the tree, isn't he?”

  Gwen had no intention of telling him, but her jaw's functionality began to return to her, and she mumbled an incomprehensible answer.

  “Just tell me where he is,” he told her, stepping slowly closer. “You're not in danger. We're just looking for the tree and some missing kids. We'll take you home, no worries.”

  His assurances sounded like threats to Gwen. She mumbled louder, and tried to sound cooperative. She just had to draw him a few steps closer to her.

  “Where's the tree? Is it—”

  Gwen had enough control of her mouth to smile when she heard the smug black coat step into the trap. The net sprung with a satisfying snap after he tripped the trigger. He shouted, and she heard his gun clatter to the ground. While the solider writhed in the net, suspended in the trees, Gwen practiced little motions and gained control of her body again. After a minute of toe wiggling and leg flexing, she got to her feet. She felt unstable, but the longer she stood and the more she massaged her arms, the more feeling she had in her limbs.

  “Sorry about all that,” she apologized, brazenly unsympathetic. The captured solider stared down at her with a rancorous loathing. “Someone will be along to let you down and take you home, no worries. I would advise you don't fight. They'll have swords. In fact,” Gwen lifted up his gun and picked at the cartridge container until it opened. She dumped all the magic-repellent ammo into her satchel. “I'll just take these so you aren't tempted to use them and get into trouble.” She laid the empty gun back down and scurried off into the depths of the forest, only after she'd checked to make sure the solider didn't have a shadow as he hung suspended in the net.

  Still feeling the effects of the magic repellent, Gwen was forced to travel on foot. Peter had been right—the white coats must have refined their formula for the black coats' ammo. Gwen couldn't even fly after the impact.

  She kept her eyes peeled for shadows; it surprised her that she hadn't yet run into any. Where were they? If one had found her sprawled in the mushroom patch, it would have had no problem restraining her. Lacking a shadow of her own, Gwen felt even less prepared to confront one of those slippery, dark demons.

  But the memory of the Anomalous Activity officers at Jay's party evoked another thought. The principle function of that shadowy emissary had been to find her. As soon as it had, the officer had come back for her himself. Gwen gasped as she realized the black coat's strategy. The shadows weren't coming for children. They were searching for the Never Tree. They could survey the island faster than anything inhibited by a body.

  A thundering, animalistic noise startled Gwen. The resulting screams didn't disturb her—they were an appropriate response to the threatening sound. She froze and watched as two black coats came, running and screaming, as a gigantic grizzly bear pursued them.

  The bear didn't frighten her. Everything that wasn't a black coat was on her side today. But since when are there grizzly bears in Neverland? she wondered.

  She watched as the black coats ran straight into one of the pits the lost children had dug and covered up with leaves. The man and woman both screamed agai
n as they fell. The foolish adults didn't think to shoot at it—the grizzly bear did not seem magical to them. The bear approached the pit and growled down at them, and Gwen made sense of the creature at last.

  “Growling Bear!” she called.

  The furry monster turned its head and growled, affectionately, at her. She ran to him and attempted to give him a hug—she flopped against his massive side with her arms spread wide. She didn't know why she felt such an affinity for this entity who she had seen crafted from clay the day before. They both fought for Neverland, though, and that made them comrades. “The shadows—they're searching the island for the Never Tree, I'm sure of it!” Gwen told him. “We've got to make sure they don't find it.”

  Growling Bear deemed this pertinent information. He collapsed on the ground and nudged Gwen. It took a second of growling and nudging before he communicated his desire to have her climb onto his back. She was afraid of pulling his fur, but Growling Bear didn't object as she crawled onto his back and held tight to him. Pressing herself against his dark fur, she tried to imagine what his plan was as he began galloping through the forest.

  Chapter 21

  While riding Growling Bear, Gwen caught flashes of smaller battles. Redskins stalked through the woods and took prisoners in a variety of manners. It surprised her to see a black coat strapped to a post atop an ant-hill; she knew from experience that Neverland's ants never bit, only tickled. The poor solider laughed with hysterical frustration as the little purple ants crawled all over him.

  Lost children flitted through the forest like fairies—still hiding for this battle, given their fragile nature. The black coats fruitlessly pursued the children through an alien world where they had no idea what was possible. The lost children had a home team advantage that extended all the way into the laws of physics which governed—or failed to govern—their island.