Short Story- Neverland’s Secret. Part 2

 Peter Pan grew red. Red. Red. He came closer to me. I was scared but acted super cool. He stared into my eyes, like a warning. He smiled creepily.  It seemed like time stopped and me, Tinker and Peter were only moving. I grew dizzy.BAM! Everything went blank and dark...

What did they do to me? Where are the other children? What happened to me?

     ....

I woke up. Heard people whispering, murmuring.. wait it was Tinker Bell and Peter Pan! I realized that they didn’t see me waking up so I pretended to sleep so I could listen to their little ‘chit-chat’.

“She has the power, doesn’t she?” Tinker murmured. “Yep, we have to be careful. And also find a way to keep her unconscious till the others are drained.” Peter replied. Unconscious? Drained? What in the world? Suddenly there was a huge commotion between the Lost Boys and some Creature. Peter rushed outside, with Tinker following him and locking the door. I looked around. There were many children, pale, tired and looking lost. And that weird girl who told something earlier. Behind each of them, there were big  ginormous containers, containing some glowing, spirit-like light. This light was the same light from outside!! I walked up to the next child next to me. She weakly looked at me and fainted. Creepy. The girl who had talked to me earlier said, “She’s gone guys. She’s gone”. I was the only person in the room who didn’t get what she said. I asked her where we were, and what is all this about. What she said, shocked me.

“Do you really think Peter Pan can forever stay young by himself? He drains the youth of the children, and take it for himself. The lost boys aren’t really lost boys, they were children like me and you. But once their youth is drained, Peter just tells them, ‘Oh, poor thing! You are a Lost Boy now.. you were almost captured by Captain Hook! But I saved you’ . None of the children remember anything, so they will believe Peter..”she said when Tinker rushed in.

“Oh, I see you’re awake, aren’t you! Peettteerrrr!” Before she could call him, the girl put some water and Tinker fell down. “Woah, cool.. what’s that?” I asked. “It’s some of the memory spray they use to make these children lose their memory.. it’s a much smaller version, but effective.” The girl and I went to the our places. Tinker yanked up. “Huh, I thought I was outside.. anyway.. Peterrr! Let’s do our job!” But Peter was somewhere else. So she rushed outside, leaving the door open. This was our chance. We somehow managed to get out and locked the door from outside. Taking the key, we went outside. The girl ran in front of me, towards a ship deck area. I held her back. “Hey, hey where are we going??” I hesitantly asked. “Why, Captain Hook, of course” she replied. Captain Hook? As in the bad guy? But why? She just gestured me to follow her. Confused, I went. She entered through the back of the deck and told me to stand there. She went somewhere. After a few minutes, something like an orb was thrown down to me. The girl looked down from the ship. Along with her was..CAPTAIN HOOK! 

He came down, and asked me to come in with the orb. The girl quickly told everything that happened today back there in the Pan Lair. Hook shook his head. “That boy, he is up to no good. She has the power, yes? Oh that’s great.” I suddenly realized he was talking about me. “Great you have the power. Now you must fill the orb with your energy, and use it to defeat Peter.” He told me. “But, I thought only you could defeat him! What about the portion? Tinker?” The girl asked him. Tinker? What about that devilish fairy? “Carla, don’t bring Tinker into this. Plus the orb can be filled with that girls power and defeat him with that. Bring those children to me then. I will give them the portion and safely take them back to their homes.”  Carla (the girl) came to me. “Okay Hook. Whatever you say. Mary, please concentrate your energy and the power within you to this orb...” “Hold up. What power? How do I concentrate it? What about Tinker Bell? What is the Portion? How can he save us? He is a villain, right?” I blurted my confusion  out. 

Captain Hook turned to me. “You have the power to defeat Peter and bring him to his true form. I thought it was impossible, especially because the guy who had these powers was sent away to Earth, and I haven’t seen him in a long time. Must have run away to Earth. Breaking my promise.. Anyway. The only way you got these powers is maybe because you are his daughter...” “Wait, my dad is magical?” “Yes maybe. I don’t see another way for you to get these powers. Also don’t interrupt me all the time. We don’t have time to waste. Feel the power in you, and turn that against Peter. When you feel you are.. glowing, open your eyes and stare straight into the orb. It gets directed towards the orb, which captures us. About Tinker, she was my sister. As she teamed up with Peter against me, I got the sea witch to curse her to become a tiny fairy. I was wrong in punishing her, but she deserves it. Only with this portion, she can become normal again. The portion is to reverse what’s been done to someone. So Tinker, and those poor children will be back to normal again. Peter, on the other hand, can only be defeated with your powers. This orb is like an amplifier for your powers. Hurry up!” 

I did what he said. He was not the bad guy, but the good guy. Peter portrayed him bad. Captain Hook only wanted to save those children. Not harm anyone. I was filled with so much questions at this point that I couldn’t focus. Carla asked me to concentrate and free my mind. I did it. I actually converged my powers into the orb thingy and wow. I fainted. I did it. I gave in whatever power I had. It was glowing like the light back at the Pan Lair.. and humming slowly. 

We sneaked back into the lair, only to find George standing where we were entering. He looked bad. "Hey, I think we should head home.. where were you? who is that with you? " said weak George. Apparently he had been waken and almost given an injection, which made him  have his doubts about these people, so he made an excuse to bail out. He told me that he even asked our cousins to wait till I came back, and that Peter was talking something weird. I knew what was going on. They must be asking for me, or talking or making a plan to get the children to succumb to his evil doings. Captain Hook stayed back, while I, Carla and George went to get the children. Tinker saw us. She couldn't remember what I did, but she came to us and said, " Oh darlings,  we were searching for you.. Carla, dear, be a sweetie and come with me.. we need to serve them riigghhhtt?" she said. 

Carla gestured me to stay there and sneak up to Hook, so he can say what is to be done next. "Child, we need to just flash this to Peter and he will be drained from his powers, the childrens youth and life will come back to them, and you can go back to the Earth."

"Yeah, but like, how?? the only time I made a plan that worked well was for scavenger hunting back in summer 2015.. and that was only because that was my second time doing the same thing. So, what do we do? "

"Okay, you distract Peter while Hook holds the orb. I think he has taken a liking to you, so that would be easy. And I escort the children." George, who was silent for long, said. Taken a liking, for me? eww.

"Well, that's a good plan, but wrong people. Only Mary here can hold the orb, and the children would be scared by me, as you know, im the Bad Guy.. so George can escort the children. And I.. will distract Peter."

"Okay sure. We will do that, right Mary?" 

I nodded.

I slowly creeped up towards the front while captain disappeared somewhere and George headed back to the Children. I, scared and hoping it would work, stood there. 

"Ahhh, my old enemy, Hook. What brings you here to my humble lair? Not to take my children, I hope."

"Nah, just checking up on my favourite neighbour. What is up?"

“Nothing. What are you up to these days.”

“Meh, just sailing boats and drinking tea”

“Huh, so why you here?”

“Oh nothing, Just wanted to see how you all were doing..”

No shade, but man that was the most boring conversation I had ever heard. It just confirmed that Peter was indeed, old.

It went on in this strain for some time and then, he signalled me. I crept up behind Hook’s large figure, who immediately turned away to expose me to the villain, Peter. He stood there, still and frozen to the ground, staring at the glowing orb. Peter struggled to move but he couldn’t. A lightning struck on the orb and slowly began draining his powers. Carla and George came along with the children and the so-called lost boys and formed a circle around us. Peter slowly started wrinkling up, hair all white, clothes all crinkly. It was happening. But everything got blurry and I fainted. Crashed to the ground. All I remember after that was opening my eyes to Hook trying to carry Peter, who was super old now like duh, I drained all that youth, and all the weak children who got their youth were flying away to Earth, and Tinker Bell transforming to her normal self. Carla took me up, and my brother and cousins ran towards me. 

I was taken to sit somewhere, then Hook came along. He was clearly in a great mood. Tinker, whose name was Belle, came up to me and apologized to all of us for being so greedy and selfish. Hook said he wanted to come with us to Earth, to meet my family. He said he probably knew who my father was, and wanted to confirm it. We all transcended to Earth, and ran back to our home. Father and Mother called me aside, “Dear, we know where you went, and we are proud of you for saving everyone, but we should have told you earlier that..”

“Your father was Hook’s best friend who promised to take care of a portion but went to Earth as he met the love of his life.” Hook broke in.

“I am sorry, I should have just taken the portion with me. But Belle said she was going to give it to you, so i did not doubt her. Ugh, I should have just given it to you instead.. Hook, does Mary really have these powers? I will come to Neverland if you want me to, and sort things right.”

“Aah. Your daughter is powerful, but may not be safe. Thankfully, when she was unconscious, I drained her powers to a portion which, no I am not gonna give it to anyone, I will keep with me. All the children have been sent back home, even Carla. She wanted to see Mary before she left, but I insisted on her leaving so she wouldn’t miss it. Mary, I will be closing the portals, and since you were the last person to enter through last time, you would have to close it with this key, which I trust you to keep safe until another emergency pops up. Hope you wouldn’t be like your dad.” He winked.

“Aye-Aye captain, won’t lose your trust. I will be the best key keeper you will ever see in your whole life.”

We came out and all the kids bade us goodbye, Dad and Hook did this weird friendship clap thing, laughed for a while and I went to close the portals.

Hook went in, waved and left. I closed the portal. The key glowed as I went home. It was most certainly an exciting adventure. 

....

The next day at school everyone was reading “The Adventures of Peter Pan”. Someone said “Ah, Peter is a good guy, but not Hook.” George and I winked at each other. “Oh what would you know” said the new student. Surprise, surprise.. It was Carla! She wanted everyone to know who was what and what not. We both were convinced that no one would believe us, and it would end up in chaos.  Only if we could put this as a story and it would be clear who is the hero and who isn’t. Aah, we could only wish...