Chapter 4

                                    

                                          

A twig snaps breaking the early morning silence. I open my eyes and crane my neck to peer through the bars. I gaze around me, nothing.
                          
Suddenly Peter unlatches my cage. I look up at him in confusion. Why would he be letting me out so early in the morning? He presses his finger to his lips, and waves me out of my cage. I crawl out and glance down. It is only now that I realise who dirty I am. They really do treat me like a piece of dirt. Maybe I am.
                          
He walks out of camp, I follow him behind. I wonder where he's taking me? Probably just another one of his dirty tricks. Once we are away from the camp he breaks the silence. "Wendy do you want to know why you're really here?" I frown, is he playing mind games or not. "Yes, but if this is another mind game..." I trail off not knowing how to struck his wall of pride down. He turns his head to the side, "I take that as a yes then." 
"Wendy when I said you can be like me, I meant it. You are like me now." 
"And what is that implying?" I question him but I am left hanging.
                          
He turns off the path and goes rouge. He takes me to the beach. The sand soft and silky on my feet, cold waves wash over the shore, crashing in the distance. He walks over to a washed up boat, camouflaged very well in leaves as some sort of plant. He brushes off the leaves and flips the boat. Waves roll up on the boat as it is tugged into the water. "Quick jump in!" Pan says as he swiftly jumps into the little boat, I hesitantly run to the boat, I step into the boat and sit opposite Peter as he hands me a paddle.
"Peter where are we going?" I say, fear etching at the surface of my voice, I cannot show Peter my fear, I promised this too myself. But it cannot hide from Peter, he notices my fear. "Don't be scared, I'm not going to Kill you. I'm providing you with useful information." He says matter of factly. I grip the paddle, and I dip it into the water, I paddle in rhythm with Peter; making the boat move swiftly and fast.
                          
Suddenly we halt to a stop. "What is the useful information that I so call apparently need?" I say hinting it with sarcasm. Peter glances over the sea, and the returns to looking through my eyes. "When I said you would be like me, I meant it. I cannot grow old, and now you, you cannot grow old. But that's the only advantage to it." My expression falters and I glare down. How could I be so dumb? 
"As I said when you were in the cage, you can never leave Neverland. You can never see your family ever again. You were silly to fall for my antics. And you fell fast Wendy, the first night when I found you, you took my hand with all your trust." 
"Peter stop it." I mutter. But that does nothing his evil smug expression only growing stronger. "Then the next night you waited for me, and then I took you. You wanted to join Neverland within hours." I glare at him, my heart starting to race as anger floods my veins. I ball my hands up into fists, my fingernails digging into my skin. 
                          
"You can try and escape me all you want. But you will never succeed." His lips turn up into an evil grin. I loose it. I jump forward, pushing Peter out of the boat. But it's too late he grips my wrists. Which means only one thing, if he goes down I go down two. I feel the cold ocean sink through me. He still holds my wrists, I wriggle my wrists in a hope to be set free. But this time it really does feel like an iron grip. I try resurfacing to the top for air. I try kicking him, everything in slow motion. My kick hits him in the side, I knew it would cause him little to no pain, but it still had an effect. His grip on one of my wrists looses and I push up for air. Breaking through the water I gasp, my lungs burning. I look around me. The ocean seeming so big when your bobbing in it. I hear a short and tight gasp for air, as Peter breaks through the waters surface. He glares at
me before surveying our surroundings. He pulls the boat to him, and flips it over. He pulls himself in. I tread water contemplating wether I should get in or try pulling pan back into the water. 
                          
Mermaids! I gasp at the thought of remembering the flesh eating creatures. Peter glances at me and snarling he shakes his head, and hesitantly holds out his hand for me. I latch on, he pulls me out of the water. 
                          
A wave of shame comes of me, I look down and mutter "thank you" I really did mean it. He saved my life and he could have just left me there to die, I mean I sort of deserved it, I did push him in. We paddle back to shore in a silence filled tension.
                          
When we get back into the forest Peter speaks up. "Come with me, we need to dry off or others will get suspicious." I reluctantly follow him. I long for the feeling of home, the comfort of a family and friends. We reach a small clear pond that is surrounded by large rocks. Sun shines down onto the rocks heating them like they were coals. 
"Take off your clothes." My jaw drops.
"What! No!" I respond to his mortifying comment. He shakes his head.
" No, I won't look, lay them on the rocks, and they will dry within a few seconds, but first you might want to soak them in the pond." I sigh and relax at the realisation of what he meant. He turns away from me. I slip off my dress and soak it in the pond, scrubbing at the dirt stains that finally wash away. I then lay them on the rocks. And just as Peter said they were dry in seconds. Like a clothing dryer. "Are these rocks magic?" I question, while slipping into the warmth of my nightgown. "Yes they are, Neverland has many quirks that turn out to be useful."