Over, under, and through the clouds Peter flew. So quick he was nothing but a blur of green. Despite his speed, his shadow was ahead of him, the dark mass slinking across the cottony clouds like a snake. With an angered grunt, Peter internally cursed himself. He never should have trusted his shadow. It was the only being more tricky and mischievous than himself and Peter knew this. But being oblivious, Peter had followed the shadow and now it had brought him out of Neverland into the London sky.
There was a chill in the air. Winter was breathing right down the neck of Autumn. Peter paid no mind to the sharp cold pricking his skin, feeling like thousands of tiny needles. He squinted his eyes, unable to spot the shadow. The boy slowed to a stop. He was practically inside of a cloud. Surely a shadow should be easy to spot here. He carefully "walked" about the cloud and frowned.
"I'm tired of playing this game, Shadow!" He growled. "So, hurry up and come on out!"
From behind him, Peter heard the faintest of stifled laughter.
Peter swivelled around, and as the shadow began to take off once again, he grabbed the shadow's ankle.
"Gotcha!"
But the shadow was cunning and determined, so it shot off out of the cloud and back into the clear air. Now being dragged by the shadow, Peter held on to the shadow's ankle with all his strength. He attempted to dig his heels into the ground to stop the quickly moving mass, but no such ground existed.
It continued like this for the next few moments, Peter tugging harshly on the leg of the shadow and the shadow pushing forward like a sled dog mushing through the snow. If there was to be a passerby on the street this time of night, they would have only heard a whoosh!, and a distant, "Traitorous shadow!".
The shadow finally changed courses, and took a harsh dive towards a small quiet town house. Peter knew this house immediately. It was still the quaint red bricked home he'd seen on that silent street in Bloomsbury so long ago. But Peter didn't have time to demand the shadow turn around, for soon he was smacked into one of the large windows of the house, his shadow leaving him behind and darting into the house much like a ghost. But since Peter was not a ghost, there was no way for him to simply fly through the solid window as his troublesome shadow had done. Peter sighed in frustration. He rested his hand on the chilled window. The last thing he wanted to do was poke and prod around for his shadow, running the risk of someone spotting him.
He cupped his hands to the glass and peered through. It was the old nursery! He frowned. But it was...empty. The ground that used to be scattered with a multitude of toys was now bare. A carpet of dust rested on the chest of drawers, and the beds in the room were stripped to their mattresses. Next to the open doorway, stood his shadow, who waved at him and snuck off into the hallway. Peter lightly banged his fist on the window.
"You! Ugh, Come back!" He begged.
Peter hurriedly took off from the window sill and landed on the roof. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Peter ran down the roof over to the opposite side of the house. Nearing the edge of the roof, the boy dropped to his knees and gripped the eaves, leaning over to see if his shadow had come out the other side and was somewhere in the small backyard. Instead, he spotted an open window.
Wendy Darling was having a difficult time falling asleep. She tossed and turned in her covers. There were too many things to be thought of and worried about for sleep. Wendy couldn't help but replay Jack's words in her head over and over.
"If I were to ask for your hand in marriage..."
She tried to imagine her and Jack kissing. She grimaced. It was not a pleasant sight at all. For the hundredth time that day, Wendy wished she could be a little girl again. Back when the thought of marriage was barely a twinkle in her eye and she spent her days having marvelous playtimes with her younger brothers. She couldn't believe there was ever a time where she'd thought she was 'ready to grow up.'
Ignorant young Wendy, She thought as she turned over once more. Wendy was preparing herself for another half hour of discontented brooding when she felt her blood run cold and her heart stop. A large shadow had appeared on the wall, slowly growing bigger by the second, like a predator lurking, waiting for its chance to pounce. Wendy stayed perfectly still, barely breathing as fear choked her, paralyzing her.
Peter hesitantly landed on the sill of the window. The room he saw before him was half the size of the nursery. But unlike the nursery, this room looked lived in. Peter gingerly stepped inside the room, and then suddenly ceased all movement. His eyes were nearly wide as saucers. There his shadow was, on the wall and pointing to the bed it was hovering over. In the bed looked like a sleeping person wrapped up in the covers. Peter pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, a poor attempt at containing his anger. After taking a deep breath, he pointed at the ground next to him and mouthed,
"Get over here!"
The shadow shook its head and gestured once again at the sleeping person. Peter shook his head and beckoned the shadow over to him. The shadow simply shrugged and knocked a glass of water off of the nightstand that stood by the bed. The glass shattered into a million pieces upon hitting the floor. Peter frantically looked around the room, searching for a place to hide.
At the sound of something breaking, Wendy rose up to see a tall figure standing in the middle of her room. With trembling hands, she grabbed the nearest book sitting on her nightstand and threw it at the mysterious person. Peter dodged the book.
"Get out of my home this instant, you thief!" She cried, then pulled another book from the nightstand and hurled it.
Peter ducked, pulling his hat over his ears, as if that would protect him. "Hey wait a min-"
"If you don't leave I shall- I shall scream!" Wendy yelled, her chest heaving and another book at the ready. She threw the book, but this time Peter caught it and tossed the book behind him, waving his hands in front of himself.
"Wendy! Wendy stop, it's me!"
The two were still, as was the air.
Wendy could not believe her eyes as the boy stepped into the moonlight. There he was, clad in his traditional wear. That childish sparkle in his hazel eyes, his dark auburn hair under that cloth hat as always. Yet, he wasn't the same.
Wendy pulled the covers off of her and climbed out of bed. Her white nightdress billowed around her legs as she rubbed her arms to keep out the chill. "P-Peter?" She asked in disbelief.
"That's right." There was a waver in his voice. It was odd seeing Wendy grown up. She wasn't a whole heap taller than she'd been when he last saw her, but her face had matured. Her brunette hair was longer and lay in soft curls around her shoulders, and like Peter, her body had also changed around. Her chest and hips now had curve to them that only added to her pleasant and innocent prettiness.
Wendy took a few steps towards Peter, who slightly backed up at her actions. She gently took his face in her hands and gazed into his eyes. Peter barely dared to breathe. Her hands were warm.
He sighed and looked down at the floor. "Something happened in Neverland. Something so awful and terrible that all magic just stopped. It made me-" He winced. "-made me grow." Peter looked back up at her. "But all that matters now is Neverland is Neverland again and I'm still me...I'm still Peter."
"It is you, isn't it?" She asked with wonderment in her eyes. "Peter Pan."
He nodded. "Hello Wendy."
She smiled. "Hello."
Wendy remembered fondly, the first time he had really appeared, that Peter had told her that "girls talk too much." She found it ironic now that she'd done barely any of the talking, and was in fact, speechless.
She sat down on the bed, still wondering if this was all a dream. "Why have you come back?"
Peter scratched his head. "Well you see all of this was my-" He looked down only to see that his shadow was in its place, pretending to be the normalist of shadows.
"Well you see, it was his fault." Peter gestured to the shadow. "It dragged me here."
Wendy only chuckled. "What a troublesome shadow."
Unfortunately, their conversation came to an abrupt stop as footsteps echoed in the hall. Wendy gasped and took Peter by the arm, pulling him towards her wardrobe.
"Wendy what're you-"
She shushed him and opened the door to her wardrobe, then pushed him in amongst the many dresses of hers. "Stay here." She said, then closed the doors.
Peter discovered that he did not like being closed in a wardrobe at all. It was dark and stuffy, and too many ribbons brushing him in the face for his liking. So to distract himself, he tried his best to focus on the muffled voices outside of the wardrobe.
"Wendy are you alright?" A woman's voice said. "I swore I heard voices coming from your room."
"I'm perfectly fine, Mother. I'm sure it was just the wind."
"You need to hurry off to sleep and get your rest, dear. I believe Jack will be here again tomorrow afternoon. I don't want to see bags under your eyes."
"Yes, Mother. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
The door squeaked shut and the wardrobe was open. Peter shot out of the small space and flew over to take a seat on Wendy's bed. Wendy began to pick up the books lying on the floor. "I really can't believe you've come back." She whispered. "For a long time, I thought you'd been a dream."
"I wasn't sure if I'd be coming back either." Peter took off his hat and turned it in his hands, fidgeting. "Everyone thought Neverland was done for."
"Was it a curse, like in stories?" Wendy gazed at him, holding the stack of books in her arms.
"I'm not sure. It's like the land got sick for a while. It was an awful sad time and I thought I'd never be the same again. Luckily I just got a bit taller and stronger. I'm never gonna let anything make me grow up all the way no matter what happens."
"Is that right?" She laughed.
"Yep!"
Wendy made her way over to her overflowing bookcase and began to put her arm full of books back into the few empty spaces available.
"Who's Jack?" Peter asked unexpectedly.
Pushing the last book into its rightful place, Wendy was caught off guard. "Hm?"
"I heard a lady talk to you about someone named Jack visiting you."
"Oh yes...Jack. He's a boy."
"A boy? What's he got to do with you?"
Wendy smoothed her nightgown and sat next to Peter. "He wishes to marry me unfortunately."
Peter made a slight uneasy and disgusted expression. "But if you get married, you'll get old, Wendy."
She sighed, defeated. "Yes, I know."
While Peter wasn't the most considerate of people, he didn't enjoy seeing Wendy unhappy. Especially if it was this 'Jack' character's fault. The boy decided it would be best to cheer her up.
"Would you like to hear a story Wendy?"
"I would."
And so Peter jumped off the bed and began acting out the day's events, describing in great detail the expression on Hook's face as he was dropped into the ocean and how the Lost Boys had ambushed him, the great feast they'd shared with the natives and how he had been lead to her house by his vexatious shadow.
When he finished, Peter bowed and Wendy clapped with the brightest grin on her face. "Oh Peter, that was amazing!" She looked at him dreamily. "You've made me realize how much I miss Neverland."
At this Peter jumped into the air, his eyebrows raised and his hands on his head. "That's it!"
Peter rushed over to Wendy and gripped her forearm. "You can come back to Neverland with me, and then you won't have to get married!"
For a moment, her face lit up at the idea. A spark of excitement glimmered in her heart. "I-" but her smile faded.
"We have to wake John and Michael." He said as he started for the her bedroom door.
"They aren't here, Peter. They're off at school." Wendy's heart ached at her realization.
"Oh. Then I guess it'll just have to be me and you, Wendy!"
Wendy pulled her arm from his grip and backed away. "No, Peter, you don't understand. I can't go."
"Why not?" He asked in a quiet tone.
"I have a life here Peter. I have duties. I can't simply run off."
Peter grabbed her hands and floated in the air, gently tugging. "You said yourself you missed Neverland."
"I've forgotten how to fly Peter." Wendy looked ashamed.
"That's okay. I can teach you again. Please come with me Wendy. One last adventure before you truly have to grow up."
Wendy thought about this. She thought about how many nights she had prayed for one last chance to visit the magical land. To see Peter one more time. To fight pirates and play games. To be a child again. Her eyes darted to the large stack of letters on her nightstand. Perhaps she would not only find her own bit of happiness but maybe someone else's too.
Finally, she spoke. "I've decided I will go with you."
Peter beamed.
"On one condition." She added. "You have to let me take Michael."