“I do believe in fairies,” Peter Pan said with all of his heart, carefully cradling a fairy in his hands. One of the fairy’s translucent wings was bent like someone had swatted the creature out of the air. She had blonde hair and a little green dress made out of leaves. While she was beautiful, she lay deathly still. “I do believe in fairies, I do. I do,” Peter said his voice now cracking with urgency. He tried to will her back to life, but the magic wasn’t taking.
“Tink’s gone; you have to let her go,” a lost boys said, his voice soft and weighed down.
“No!” Peter yelled, and turned away as if one of the boys up in the tree house with him was going to steal her away. “I’m going to save her and I’m going to make Hook play for what he did to all the fairies. We rule Neverland! Not him!” A shadow grew behind the boy; growing taller and taller until it crept up the wall. The lost boys stumbled back, some fell, and some bumped into each other as they ran away.
The shadow grew further still, until it consumed the young boy’s heart. His green clothes and brown hair were only wisps of color mixed into the shadows form. Peter’s movements were blurred over, smoothed by the smoke that trailed him. He carefully set Tinkerbell down on the soil of a potted plant that was flowering. The boy’s eyes dark pits that looked like they could only barely see the small fairy. Soon there was nothing human left about the creature.
It was easy to travel the night in this form. A shadow figure, no matter how twisted, could hide anywhere. Moving with a careless ease along the shore and towards the docks where Captain Hook’s ship was resting.
Canon blasts could be heard from a mile away. Yet, a creature of mischief isn’t scared off by such a thing, instead as driven closer by the chaos and childhood curiosity. He could now see streaks of light in the night sky streaking around like vengeful fireflies. Wide nets were launched into the air, capturing whole groups of stars that turned into fairies once they hit Captain Hook’s deck.
Despite Peter’s cry for revenge, the creature still had the mind of a boy. Instead of attacking, the creature played all sorts of tricks on the sailors. Tripping them as they went between decks and darting from one to another in a game of hide and seek the men didn’t know they were playing.
Much like any kid with toys that aged, Peter soon grew tired of the sailors and wanted someone new to play with. His shadow form flew to find a new adventure, traveling far until he heard a soft lullaby coming through a window they have been left open for the breeze. While the whole city of London promised to be a playground it was the Darling’s house that truly caught his ever changing interest. The shadow landed on the ledge of the window and peered in, finding a young girl with golden hair. She sang a lullaby as she tucked in two brothers.
Once they were tucked snuggly in their beds, the girl wandered off into a different part of the house. Afraid to lose this new curiosity, the shadow ventured around the house using tall trees, flower boxes, and window ledges creating a game of hopscotch until he found the window that belonged to the girl.
Wendy, as he would soon know her as, had not opened her window that night. Like many that start to grow up they stop, their minds start to close to any sort of magical possible the night might contain. When people age they shift into a philosophy that seeing is believing.
So the boy had to knock, rapping his fingers on the window like quick pebble thrown against it. Wendy dropped her book in surprise and looked over towards the window. She decided to check but never would have guessed that a young boy stood on the windowsill when she opened it. Honest childlike curiosity had turned the shadow of a boy, back into just Peter.
“My heavens,” Wendy said with a start taking a few steps away from the window. “However did you get up here?”
“Magic of course,” Peter answered simply.
“But there is no such thing as magic. It isn’t real,” Wendy protested despite the smile that appeared on her face.
“Sure it is, silly. How does do you think I got here?” Peter asked as he placed his hands on his hips and waited.
“Well, you could have climbed up from the street,” she tried to reason, but Peter made a funny face at her guess. “You used a ladder?” Wendy tried again, and this time Peter stuck out his tongue in disgust.
The girl giggled that his expressions. “Surely you couldn’t have flown here on the breeze,” she said, starting to open up to wonders she didn’t understand.
“Sure I did. How else would have got here from Neverland?” the boy grinned at the guessing game.
“Neverland?” the girl exclaimed, “That’s not on any map I’ve studied.”
“Just because you haven’t found something doesn’t mean it’s not there,” Peter offered before seizing her hand, “Here, let me show you. We can go there right now.”
“I must be dreaming,” Wendy tried to reason again. She looked around the room taking slow steps towards the window urged on by Peter.
He paused for just one second to ask, “If you were dreaming, would you come with me to play in Mermaid Lagoon?”
“Well I suppose so,” Wendy answered thinking about her lessons in the morning, “as long as I don’t oversleep because of it.”
“Then you’re dreaming!” Peter was quick to say as he tugged on her hand again. As if it was game of pretend where he had the role of the prince, he helped Wendy up to the window like a true gentleman. Before taking another step out into the air and floated there. The two of them flew until morning towards the second star to the right.
The mermaids were beautiful, and had to sort of prettiness Wendy only saw in the movies. Yet, they were cruel. When she would try to swim they would pull at her feet, and cause her swallow a mouth full of water. Even where she was now on a rocky outcrop, they would still tease and splash her. Despite her many objections to Peter, he would only reply that they were just playing around.
“I want to go home now,” she demanded but it didn’t seem like the boy heard her as he was racing with the mermaids.
“I said now!” Wendy yelled as she put her foot down. A puff of white smoke curled around her shoe. “Can we go home? Or can I at least wake up or something. It’s ridiculous. Your friends are mean and the whole lot of you needs to—grow up!”
The girl so grown up for her age, full of temperance, care, and empathy was growing bitter and cynical as time went on. Fog rolled over the water and the mermaid’s creep back not knowing what to make of it. They swam behind Peter, urging him do something.
“Well I don’t know to do,” he said, pulling himself up out of the water to one of the small rocky islands, “I’m just a kid.” Nervously the mermaids looked to each other before diving under the water and swimming away.
“This isn’t a dream at all is it?” Wendy yelled, “You’ve just selfishly brought me here because you were bored! Why can’t you just act your age?”
Peter fell backwards, marooned on the little island he pulled himself on to. “Calm down. Your- well look at you,” he said raising a hand to gesture over her form.
“I’m tired of your games! Enough is enough. You can’t just do whatever you please, you have to think,” Wendy berated him further.
Neverland wasn’t filled with adults so the word hit hard on Peter’s ears. He curled his legs up close. Despite all the wonders of being here; she was becoming what he had always feared. “You just, look what you’ve become,” he continued nervously.
Wendy looked down to see her reflection in the water. While Peter had been a shadow, she was something else entirely. Cold, with hard edges on a taller adult form, hair bleached white and no color left in her eyes. She was calm, cool, collected, and most of all, powerful just under her porcelain surface.
She had been bright enough to cast a shadow on Peter, but it was unable to flee before the light blocked it out. “Wendy, please,” Peter cried, as he shielded his eyes from everything that was so adult and foreign to him.
“Let’s go,” Wendy said turning her attention away, breathing in that aura as her eyes flashed bright with it.
Peter pushed himself up, still unsure as he jumped from outcrop of to another to make his way over to her. They walked away from the lagoon and towards the forest that surrounded it on two sides.
“Where are we going?” Peter asked, carefully trailing behind without his usual cheerful spirit.
“I don’t know,” Wendy admitted. Her tone sounded like she had just spoken a secret, which while so simple was never uttered with others in the room.
Her shadow of a doubt trigged something in Peter, and he managed to step a long stride to stand next to the girl. “I could take you to the tree house,” he offered.
Wendy seemed to think about this, refusing to stop even though she didn’t know what was up ahead. She paused at the mouth of the forest and turned to the boy. “I guess that would be alright,” she said softly a hint of her true form shining through.
“Great!” Peter said happily and ran ahead.
When they got to the tree house, he climbed up and ducked inside the door. “Uh, Peter?” Wendy called from the ground, “I don’t think I’ll fit in there.”
He popped his head out quickly, taking a look at the problem. “Well of course not like that you won’t.” he laughed. “Just duck your head and come in.”
Puzzled, Wendy looked down to her hands. They lacked any real color, like she lived in a black and white world. She gulped down her nervousness and started to climb up. When she reached the door she barely had to duck.
“It’s ok, you know,” Peter said and Wendy jumped and looked over to him as he sat up on a counter. “It happens to me too sometimes.”
Wendy ran her fingers through a bit of her golden hair again, with a deep red on her cheeks from embarrassment. “What happens?” she asked casting her eyes down to wooden floor.
Peter pushed himself off the counter and stepped closer to Wendy. “Sometimes my shadow runs away and gets the best of me. I’ve tried everything except sewing him to my feet,” he explained, “I mean- you’re different but still the same at heart.”
Wendy smiled at the empathy he was showing. “Thank you,” she said reaching out to touch him. Peter blinked hard as he looked down at their hands laced together. He looked confused by the gesture but blushed all the same, quickly pulling his hand away as he heard someone else climb up.
“Hook’s back at it. This time he’s in the—oh,” a different young boy said as he stepped into the tree house. “It’s a girl,” he added, blinking over at Wendy before turning to Peter for the answer.
“Why I never,” Wendy mumbled under her breath.
“She’s my friend,” Peter said, smirking at her before answering the lost boy. “Actually I think she can help!”
It was clear the other two weren’t following. “Our forms can balance each other. So we have all of the advantage and none of the cost!” Peter continued very sure of his plan.
“I don’t think that’s how things work,” Wendy replied.
“Sure it is,” Peter said not believing for a second otherwise. He grabbed Wendy’s hand and pulled her towards the door, his other hand shooing the lost boy to climb down first.
They ran through the forest towards where Hook was capturing fairies like they were butterflies he intended to pin down. The boys were very eager but Wendy had her doubts. She pulled away and Peter’s hand slipped away.
“I don’t see how this plan is going to work,” she said softly, as Peter turned around.
“It’s going to be a fun adventure,” he reassured.
“You really need to stop and plan these things out.”
“Why?”
“It’s the responsible thing to do,” Wendy answered, and Peter coughed at the sound of the word.
“You’re being naïve,” she added curtly, as she started to get that white glow again.
Peter seemed a bit taken back as if she had slapped him one. His eyes fell to the ground where he spotted his shadow, grinned as she looked back up with a twinkle in his eyes. “You are right, I am,” he said proudly as the shadow grew, instead of consuming him it stood with him. A part of him, that didn’t overcast the good things about his childhood nature this time.
“I am asking for your help,” Peter said as he held his hand out, “All parts of it.”
“This is a really bad idea,” Wendy replied, her hand hovering above his.
“That’s what makes it so fun,” Peter said, leaning in like he had a secret.
Wendy chewed on her lip as she debated about it. Her mother had always told her that one must keep moving until they were too old to do so anymore, through any trouble or rain. She pressed her eyes together and took his hand. Deciding that all through she was an adult compared to him, she still wasn’t old enough to hold still.
“Wendy Darling,” Peter smiled and she slowly opened her eyes again, “Sometimes believing is seeing.” His shadow loomed behind him like a dark playful thing, and she looked over to shoulder to find her other form attached to her feet. He had been right. They did balance each other out so things weren’t so black and white.
“To live will be an awfully big adventure,” Peter said, beaming with excitement.
“Think you got the hang of it?” Wendy smiled.
“Maybe with you,” he admitted.
“Well then what are we waiting for. Adventures don’t come to those who sit around and wait for them,” she said seizing the moment and running with it, “Let’s go get them.” Peter laughed and together they headed off for their biggest adventure yet.
