by Thomas Hayes
Chapter Thirteen
Soon, Wes brought his blimp down—with the propellers slowing and the balloon releasing air—and we landed in the waves of the ocean. From there, we hopped in a boat and rowed to an island. This one was smaller than the others; as I looked left and right, I could see where the coast of the landmass curved. It also had a different geography: other than a thin band of sand, the dominant area of the island was covered in thick palm trees, so thick that I couldn’t see into the forest. Then, in the center of the landmass, a tall plateau rose into the air. I could see the top of it, and while there were sparse palm trees up there, the forest was much less dense, and it seemed to be covered in mostly tall, waving grass.
“Here we are,” Tiger Lily said. “Hopefully they aren’t too surprised to see us.”
I followed Peter and the others off the shore and into the thick, tropical trees. Oddly enough, there weren’t any walking paths, and it appeared the ground was completely untouched. This made walking difficult, as I was constantly having to step over giant rocks or make my way through big thickets of briars.
“They don’t make it very easy for people to get there, do they?” I said.
“Well, they’re fairies,” Peter replied. “They fly wherever they go, so they don’t have a need for paths or roads or anything.”
“Oh, right.”
After traveling through the tropical forest, we came to an incline, which led to the top of the plateau. Happily, I discovered the incline was less covered with briars, so that made walking a little easier, but it was quite the hike since we were going uphill. It wasn’t long until I was out of breath.
“So first you bring me to a train that’s being robbed,” I said. “Then you make me jump in a freezing cold river. And now I’m climbing a small mountain in the middle of the night. Any other terrible activity you want to expose me to before you take me home?”
Peter laughed. “Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad. We’re almost there.”
Finally, we reached the top of the plateau. The grassy land flattened off, and I realized we were at the highest point of the island—all around, I could see the ocean spreading out for miles. Since it was so dark, I made a note to stay clear of the edge, knowing it would be easy to accidentally walk right off it.
As I scanned the quiet area, there wasn’t much there except the tall grass, but then I noticed something directly in the center of the plateau: a thick grouping of palm trees in a circle, as if they were planted that way on purpose. In the middle of the ring of trees, I could see faint lights, flickering and bouncing around.
“Is that where the fairies live?”
“Yes,” Wes replied. He, Peter, and Tiger Lily were standing still, looking into the ring. “I’m surprised they haven’t seen us yet.”
Then, perhaps hearing Wes’ voice, all of the lights inside the trees stopped fluttering and dashing. They froze, floating there in place, dozens of them, looking out at us. They were all shades of yellow, pink, blue, orange, purple, and green.
“What do we do?” Peter whispered. “Should we run?”
“Run?” I asked. “Why are you guys acting like you’re afraid of these things?”
“Because Peter’s with us,” Tiger Lily replied. “You never know how they’re going to react to Peter.”
“But I thought you were friends with them?”
“I was,” Peter replied. “Now…not so much.”
“They’re fairies. What could they possibly do that—”
Suddenly, every last one of the lights dashed out of the trees, flying toward us. They were traveling so fast, I could barely see them.
“Oh, bollocks!” Peter shouted. “Brace yourself, they might be—”
Wes and Tiger Lily ducked for cover, so I did, too, covering my face with my hands.
“Aaaaaaaaahhhh!” I screamed, not knowing what it would feel like to be attacked by a horde of pissed-off fairies. Would it be like getting stung by dozens of giant, furious bees? Either way, I was about to find out.
But then, bizarrely, as I hid behind my arms, I realized it was silent. I opened my eyes, and looking downward, I saw that the ground underneath me was glowing with all the colorful shades of bright, twinkling light. Only the area around me was illuminated. Peter, Tiger Lily, and Wes were still standing in darkness.
I moved my arm away from my face and raised my head. All of the glowing balls of light were fluttering around me—every last one of them. The dozens of them were dancing around playfully, as if they were inspecting me. Every few seconds, one of them would fly close, and then dart away. Several of them fluttered around my arms and waist.
“Um, what’s happening?” I asked.
Wes grinned. “I think they like you.”
“Which is good for us,” Tiger Lily said. “I was worried there for a second.”
I looked closely at the dancing balls of light. One of them flew up to my face, and I was shocked to see it was a young girl—a teenager. She was no bigger than six inches tall, and wearing a bright blue dress. Her dark hair was cut into a pixie cut, and she had beautiful, rainbow-colored wings on her back. Her face was pretty, and she was looking into my eyes, and smiling.
Feeling a little more comfortable, I raised my arms and held them out. All of the colorful fairies gathered around, fluttering up and down my arms and dashing through my fingers. They were flying quickly now, as if they were excited. I couldn’t make out their faces, but every once in a while, one of them would fly up to me, and I could see that it was smiling. I could also hear a twinkling sound, similar to when I poured the fairy dust on myself in my room.
I looked at the others. Wes and Tiger Lily were quite amused, but Peter wasn’t smiling. He was hunched over with his arms across his stomach, like he was nervous, an uneasy look on his face.
“Why are they only around me?” I asked. “Why are they ignoring you guys?”
“They must recognize you,” Wes said.
“Why would they recognize me?”
The smile disappeared from Wes’ face. He looked at Tiger Lily, then turned to Peter.
“You didn’t tell her?” Wes said angrily.
“I didn’t…” Peter stammered. “I didn’t know what to say.”
“Unbelievable,” Tiger Lily said, throwing her arms up and walking away.
“All this time!” Wes shouted. “All this time, and she hasn’t even known? No wonder why she’s been so confused!”
“I was going to tell her,” Peter said. “I was just waiting for the right moment. It wasn’t right yet.”
“So now it has to happen here?” Wes said. “Here, of all places? You couldn’t have told her back at the village of the Lost Boys, before all this started?”
“I was going to, but then I thought she had been through too much. I thought I should wait. And then Hook—”
“No, you were just too chicken,” Tiger Lily said. “As usual.”
“I was trying to protect her,” Peter said.
Wes shook his head. “I can’t believe this. This is making a lot more sense now, why she wants to go home so bad.” He looked at me. “I’m sorry, Emily. I really am. We thought you knew.”
All of the fairies fluttered around me, but they were silent now, looking at Peter. Most of them had landed on my outstretched arms.
“Um,” I said, “can someone please tell me what is going on?”
I looked to Wes, but he stared at Peter, waiting for him to talk.
“You,” Peter finally said, looking at the ground. “You’re from Never Land.”
“What?”
Peter looked up. He was so sad.
“You used to live here,” he said. “With us.”
I looked to Wes and Tiger Lily. Tiger Lily had tears in her eyes. She smiled, swallowing a lump in her throat.
I glanced at my arms. The fairies looked up, their eyes pinned on me.
“What are you…” My mind was racing. “What are you saying?”
“You’re from this world,” Peter said.
“You used to be a fairy.”
He stepped toward me.
“Your name was Tinker Bell.”