^Picture above is of the older Wyn. She is still portrayed by Mia Hays and video is Stars from Finding Neverland - A Broadway musical.
At the sound of the second call, several boys younger than me came flooding into the abandoned lot on bursts of air. They arrived from all directions and in many different styles, each in their own unique way.
One whooped and hollered. Another crept only silently, his company dodging slightly ahead, his voice somewhere in between the others' noise levels.
But all met in one place and gathered behind Zac, who had finally released me some moments before. He seemed to be their stronghold and their leader.
I was standing beside Josh, who had reached out and tightly grasped my hand. Mine had begun sweating slightly from the nerves and anxiety bombarding me, but he didn't seem to mind.
In fact, his seemed to sweat just as much as me.
What did he have to be nervous about?
The other boys were split in how they reacted to my presence, the same way they had been in their arrivals.
One cautiously peeked at me while another openly stared. The last was constantly glancing at me with a mixed look of curiosity and confusion.
I challengingly stared right back at them for a long moment, studying each one as they did me.
They were all clothed in the same dingy brown uniforms as Josh and Zac, each with their own red name tags pinned sloppily into their coats.
The child whose tag stated he was called Elijah was a shorter boy whose deep olive skin tone contrasted beautifully with his light brown hair, which was wavy and wild with curls that dared to defy gravity with backward angles. Elijah had been the one who was constantly glancing at me as if he was unsure if he had actually seen me correctly.
The boy who was shyly peeking up at me had long black hair that curled slightly around his ears. His light green eyes hesitantly glanced at me but quickly darted away when he caught me watching. His name was written in letters slightly too neat to be his own. The blotchy lettering declared his name to be Tobias.
The last boy was the smallest of them all. He wasn't much shorter than Tobias, but he was short enough that you could tell he had to be younger.
He stared straight at me, his hazel eyes wide in open curiosity and unmistakable surprise. A soft breeze blew the brown hair off his forehead and away from those inquisitive young eyes.
All in all, he couldn't have been much more than five or six years old, at least four years my junior. His name tag was written in the same handwriting as Tobias's, but his seemed a lot newer. His name was Benjamin.
After my quick study of each boy, I purposefully turned my body away and faced a suddenly somber looking Josh.
The fiery anger that had lit his veins only moments before had drained away and left a hollow façade in its place. Like a volcano after the lava had long since past, he had cooled into a hardened exterior.
His eyes scanned the grounds around us, intently seeking out something of unknown importance.
Or, at least, it was only unknown to me.
Because of this, Josh continued to ignore me, whether purposefully or not, I couldn't be sure.
A dull thudding noise sounded in front of us, but I didn't immediately turn to investigate the disturbance.
Instead, I watched as a sudden relief spread across Josh's youthful face.
A voice rang out, harsh and demanding but oddly kind, "What's up, Josh?" The voice was male, older, and held the authority of someone who was used to having undivided leadership and attention. Respect was a given with him.
My head whipped around to face the newcomer only to find two new faces in his place.
The first was a boy years older than Josh and me. His blonde hair glimmered in the bright sunlight, creating the appearance that he had a golden halo. But the angry expression coating his hazel eyes in shades of gleaming amber killed his angelic aura.
"This is my time with Peter!" He barked harshly at Josh, "Even you should know that by now!"
The insult was clear in his voice, but Josh ignored the obvious bait.
The boy, who was unwilling to be ignored, took a daring step towards us. But he found his path blocked by the other newcomer's arm.
The second, the one I assumed to be the owner of the authoritative voice, was a tall man who towered heads above me and even the other, older boys. His longish red hair, which dulled the look of Josh's dramatically, was swept to the side of his face, out of the way of his cerulean blue eyes, which sparkled with unknown emotions as he drunk in the image of me like a man desperate for water.
Both of them were dressed in the same uniforms and bore the same red name tags as the others. Blondie's read Finley, while the man's said his name was Peter.
Peter's handwriting, or what I assumed was his handwriting, was the one found on both Tobias's and Benjamin's tags.
The man stepped towards us, and, while never taking his eyes off me, quickly made his way over.
The man knelt in front of me, those strange emotions playing across his entire face now.
"Wendi?" He questioned softly, almost desperately.
Was he asking for my name?
I shook my head quickly, confused about his seemingly random choice of names.
Josh slipped effortlessly between us, blocking my view of Peter, and his of me.
"Her name's Wyn," Josh said bravely, his chin tilting up in a stubborn nature.
I heard a surprised noise escape the man.
He rose to his full height and stood towering above my friend.
"Look at you, Josh! All big and bad. Where did this new bravery come from?" The man questioned. "Usually you're so quiet."
Josh stiffened but didn't answer the man's question.
Peter turned to me instead, pulling an old carved key from beneath his woolen shirt. It was slipped over his head and was handed to me in a short span of a few seconds.
I turned it in my hand and read the elegantly carved letters engraved on the side. They gracefully spelled out the name Gwen A. The rest of the metal was plain and undecorated, unlike the beautifully carved name.
When my inspection was through, I cautiously handed it back to Peter, who gently took it.
He slipped it back over his head and tucked it safely under his shirt, giving it a gentle pat of reassurance.
Then he turned his glowing azure eyes on me. "Do you recognize it?" Peter inquired softly, almost at a volume to where I was sure the other children couldn't hear.
I quickly shook my head. It was as unfamiliar as the man standing before me.
The man in question sighed heartbrokenly before turning away, and once again facing Josh.
But I called out to him, effectively gaining his attention back to me, "Wait!"
When he was once again focused on me, my words began to spill from me, a tide of water that not even a dam could stop, "But I know the name! My grandma's name is Gwen!"
The man's eyes lit up before he once more dropped to his knees in front of me. "It is?" He asked before hurriedly continuing with, "Are you Gwyndolyn?" His voice was full of barely restrained excitement.
I gulped in shock. How could he possibly know my full name? The name I hadn't even disclosed to the other boys?
"Yes," I said hesitantly, "but I go by Wyn. For short."
Peter nodded quickly as if he had already known that little tidbit of information. "Your grandma already told me so much about you!" He said excitedly and rather enthusiastically.
The blonde haired boy with the sharp hazel eyes placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Who is this girl, Peter?" Confusion coated Fin's words in a thick layer of disbelief.
Peter sent me a wink before rising to face the boys. He held his hand out to me, and I slipped mine into his. I stood beside him before the other children, bravely staring them all down.
He held a hand up to them, and they fell silent.
"This," he said with a broad sweeping gesture sent my way, "Is Gwyndolyn Barrie, the granddaughter of Gwen Averell."
I glanced at Peter, wondering why something like my heritage would be so important to these wild children.
But as I scanned the boys' faces, I realized that maybe my grandma was not entirely who she said she was. Maybe she had omitted something.
The older boys' features were lit up in joy and happiness while the youngest two's were covered in confusion and only a tiny bit of understanding.
The youngest stepped forward then and boldly raised his hand. The other boys fell silent around him. It was Benjamin, his brown hair blowing in a soft wind once again. "Gwen made you better, right Peter?" His words were loud and youthful and full of a lisp from where he was missing two teeth.
"Yes," Peter said curtly.
I would have called him rude if not for the brief flash of a lingering and deep sadness that flickered across his features like a wave come and gone.
The ache of it left my heart pounding.
Just what had my grandma done?
I didn't have long to ponder it, though, because the man was turning to me once again.
His soft blue eyes gazed down at me. "Where're your parents, Wyn?"
I opened my mouth to tell him but closed it instead when the fear of strangers lit up my veins. Grandma's words floated to me again. Stand tall.
So I did. I drew my chin up and defyingly stared Peter down. "I don't know." My voice, which I thought would match my inner strength, came out soft and weak. A single breeze could have flitted my words away.
Peter's blue eyes, which had been calm and clear, quickly filled with a fire that burned deep from within his very soul. "Lost?" He said angrily, "Have they no responsibility?"
He roughly pulled me away from the others and began the short walk towards one of the many exits.
I struggled, but he tugged me after him anyway, heedless to my relentless struggles.
"Stop!" I shouted.
But instead of listening, Peter harshly said, "I'm taking you to Gwen's. She'll know what to do with you."
Author's Note:
Finally!! We meet Pan once again!! XD
Hey, guys! Sorry about making you wait most of the day. I had to finish editing and add some pictures! :D
I hope you all enjoyed and I would love it if you let me know what you thought!
Also, do you guys celebrate Christmas, and if not, then what do you celebrate (if you do anything that's coming up)?
Alright, see you all back here next week!
-Anna