Chapter 1
    James stared out the port window of the old woooden ship. The stars captivated him. It was such a thrilling adventure to be here, among them, with nothing but the ship and the water below, and the sea air in between. It was as if the stars were gateways to other worlds, and all anyone had to do was fly to get there.
    He snickered. If only... Too bad no one can fly, isn't it? he thought to himself, and shrugged. Too bad...
    "James!" a man's voice called from out on deck, "James, where are you?"
    James stepped away from the window, and back into reality. "Coming father!" he yelled back.
    With one backwards glance, he left the room, but he promised himself that, one day, he would learn its secrets...

    "A-hah!" The older man thrust a sword at the young boy's face. The boy twisted sideways and used the momentum to swing around and elbow the man in the back. The man fell to the ground with a thud, dropping his weapon. He turned over to continue the fight, but realized that the boy had a sword to his throat, and his own sword was too far away to do any good.
    The boy brushed his shoulder-length jet black hair behind his ears and stood proud. "I win, father."
    The man began to chuckle, then laugh. "Good form, young James!" he said. "I'd say you're just about the greatest swordfighter on this ship."
    James backed off, seathing his sword, and bowed as his father got to his feet. "The ship? I hope to be the greatest in all the world... of all time, father."
    His father laughed. "Don't be too sure." he cautioned, "Modesty can get you everywhere, you know."
    "But, father, I--"
    "Ship off the port bow!" a crewman yelled down from the 'crow's nest'.
    "Froend or foe?" James' father yelled back.
    There was a slight pause, as the lookout confermed. "Definately not friendly, Captain," he rplied with urgency, "They're pirates!"
   The Captain immidiately took command. "Ready all the weapons!" he yelled, "Get those sails up, if we can outrun 'em, that's what we're gonna do! And you, see if you can't find some extra hands to man the oars." The crewmen set to work, and he turned to his son, James. "Son, I want you to hide, do you hear me? No adventure this time. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. Do you understand?"
    Normally, he would have argued, but the tone of his voice told him to do otherwise. He nodded.
    "Good, now go below deck. Hide. I'll handle this."
    James took one last look before doing what he was told. That would be the last time he would see his father... alive.

    James held his father's lifeless body close to him as he surveyed the bloody horror all around him. The pirates had left, taking all the loot they could find, but they never found him. He remembered hearing the screams and yells as he stayed, crammed into the secret hiding place where his father hid extra gold. How he wished he had followd his instincts and come out to defend the ship. But it was too late now...
    The entire crew was either dead or missing when he emerged. No one was left, except him. He was the only one...
    Suddenly, his eye caught a movementfrom bhind the corner of the Captain's quarters. "Who's there?" He called out, standing up and wiping the tears fom his eyes.
    "Boy, why are you crying?" came a seemingly detatched voice.
    James looked around, but still could find nobody. "You're not one of those pirates, are you?" he asked in a more serious tone.
    "Pirates, pirates, piiirrates..." the voice sang, his voice echoing around the empty ship. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from.
    James frowned, and unseathed his father's sword. "If you had anything to do with this, I'll..."
    There was a streak of green, and a sudden weight on the sword. When he looked up, there was a boy standing on the broad side of the sword as if he could walk right into the air, and you'd never know the difference.
    "Who are you?" James asked.
    The boy looked about seven years old, had short, unkept reddish-brown hair with bright blue eyes and a smile that spelled nothing but fun and mischeif. He wore a well-worn outfit of browns and greens giving him a look that reminded James of the stories of 'Robin Hood'.
    "My name is Peter Pan." the boy said.
    James raised an eyebrow at the strange boy. "Peter Pan?"
    "Yep." The boy, Peter, jumped down from the sword and onto the deck. "And you are James. Do you have a last name?"
    "Not that I know of..." James said putting the sword away. This boy meant no harm. "My father--"
    "Yes, I saw." Peter interrupted. He looked at the deck. "Do you want to play a game?
    "What?" James frowned. "My father and his crew were just killed by pirates!! This is no time for games!!"
    Peter laughed. "Of course it is!" He said, "It's always time for games!"
    James decided that the boy was nothing but trouble, and it was best to ignore him. He turned around and began to gather the bodies.
    "What are you doing?" Peter asked, leaning uncomfortably close over James' shoulder.
    James spun around, fists balled, ready to punch him, but Peter was too quick. He jumped up into the air and... stayed there.
    It was hard for James to find his voice as he watched Pan laughing in mid-air. "You're fun!" he said, "I like you, James."
    After moments of steady stuttering, James finally got the words out. "Y-you can... fly?"
    Peter smiled, leaning foreward. "Of course I can, can't you?"
    "No."
    Peter looked confused. "It must be the pixie dust." he said. "Tink!" he yelled into the air, "Tink!"
    No answer.
    "Tink?" James inquired.
    Peter smiled again. "Oh, Tink's my fairy." he said, "Her real name's Tinkerbell, but I call her Tink." He put a finger to his chin. "I wonder where she could have gotten off to..."
    James frowned. Either this kid's got some kind of warped magic, he thought, or I'm more stressed over my father than I thought... He turned back around and began to drag all of the dead bodies to the small rowboats. When he was half finished, Peter spoke up again.
    "What are you doing?" he repeated the question from before.
    James sighed. He realised that if he didn't tell him something, he'd never leave. "I'm going to put all the bodies in the small boats, lower them into the water, light them, and send them out to sea. My father called it a 'sea burial.'"
    "Oh..." Peter began to float sideways. "Can I help?"
    James shrugged. Why not? "Sure."
    The two took the next hour or two loading the boats, and lowering them, but finally, it was over, except for the two boys.
    James leaned back on the ship's railing, and held his father's sword. Peter came up next to him. "Now what, Captain?" he asked, saluting.
    "Captain?" he questioned.
    Peter laughed. "Sure, You've got a ship. Nobody else is here. You're the captain."
    James frowned. "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked.
    "I've come to recrute you." he said, "I need a companion."
    "What about your Tinkerbell friend?" James asked sarcastically.
    Peter shrugged, not grasping the idea of sarcasm. "Oh, she's fun, but there aren't enough people in Never-Neverland. I want you to come."
    "Never-Neverland?"
    "Second star to the right, and strait on 'till morning!" Peter yelled, jumping into the air, and pointing to the sky. "It's a place where all the seasons join, memaids and indians run wild, and you'll never have to grow up!"
    James raised an eyebrow. "You have to grow up, everybody does."
    "Not me!" He put a thimb to his chest. "I want always to be a little boy and to have fun!" He floated upside-down. "Don't you want to be ten years old forever?"
    "I'm twelve." James corrected. "and sure, who wouldn't?"
    "Then come with me." Peter coaxed. "We'll spend forever playing games. It'll be fun!"
    James though a moment. "If it's 'second star to the right, and strait on 'till morning' then how do you get there in the daytime?" he asked.
    Peter scratched his head. "I dunno..." he shrugged, "I just do. So, you coming?"
    James was silent. His father was dead, he hadn't seen his mother in years, he had no other family, and if this boy were telling the truth...
    "What if I do?" he asked. "When will we go, and how long will we stay?"
    Peter let out a short laugh. "We can leave now, and we'll stay forever!"
    Again James thought it over. What would he have to lose? "All right..." he said, "Just let me sell the ship, and you can come take me tonight, so we can find our way."
    Peter nodded in agreement. "I still have to find Tink. So I'll come back tonight. Be ready."
    James watched as Peter Pan flew off and dissipeared into the clouds. If it was just some stress related vision, then he wouldn't see it again, but if it were real... Well, he would just have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

    "Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred." James dropped the last gold coin into the bag, and gave a nod to the man. "Thank you, sir. She's been a good ship. Take care of her." He turned to leave, but stopped. "Oh, one more thing." he added, "Could you tell me where the nearest inn is?"

    "You ready?"
    James jumped out of bed, startled. In his rented room floated the boy, Peter. Flying around his head was what looked like a small ball of light.
    "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the light.
    Peter smiled. "Oh, that's Tink. I think I told you about her, right?"
    James leaned closer to examine her, but still all he could see was a bright light. "That's a real fairy?" he asked, "I didn't think they exhisted."
    Before James could say another word, he was suddenly thrust back into the bed, and attacked by the heavy sheets. It took him almost two minutes for him to scramble his way out of the suddenly twisted and thick sheets. WHen he reached the air, he found that Peter was laughing his head off.
    "Hey! That wasn't funny!" James snapped. But the only answer he got was a light bell-like sound from the fairy as she flew up to the bed-post as Peter laughed again. "What was that sound?"
    "Oh, that's fairy talk." he said as if everyone should know that.
    "So... what did she say?"
    Peter giggled. "She said you were flopping around in the sheets like an old codfish!" He rolled in the air as his laughing fit began again.
    James wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended, so he gave Tinkerbell an odd smile. "Uh... nice to meet you... Miss Bell."
    The fairy spoke again, but James couldn't understand her, and Peter didn't translate, so it went ignored. "So, you coming?" Peter asked, getting down to business. It was almost as if he had no recolection of the laughing fit he had just had. He jumped to the window, and hovered in front of it.
    "I can't fly, remember?" He reminded him.
    Tink made a sound that James interpreted as a laugh, but he ignored her. Peter though for a moment, then at Tink's 'voice' he brightened up. "Tink, we need your help." he said. Tink made an indignant sound and Peter flew up to where she sat. "Please, Tink?" Another indignant sound. "He didn't mean it."
    "Mean what?" James asked.
    Peter floated down. "She says you have to apologize for the insult."
    "What insult?"     Tink made another sound, and Peter translated. "When you said, 'I didn't think that they exhisted.'"
    "Oh." James looked up at Tinkerbell. "I'm sorry, I've just never seen a fairy before."
    Tinkerbell immediatedly flew down from the post and right in James' face. She spat out so much fairy language it made his ears ring. After she was done, she flew in a fas halo around his head and then back to the bed post. However, as she flew the halo, almost a handfull of sparkly golden dust fell from her onto James. He examined it, and concluded that this must be pixie dust.
    "Now what?" he asked Peter, "Can I fly now?"
    "Not yet," Peter replied, leaning back in mid-air, "Now you have to... think a happy thought."
    "That's it?"
    "Yep"
    James thougt. What kind of happy thought? After all that's happedned, how could he think of something happy? "I-I can't." he said finally.
    Peter looked dissipointed. "Awwww... come on." he said, "It's not that hard. Just think of something that makes you happy. Like candy, or staying up as late as you want, or games."
    James was still skepticle. How could something as trivial as candy make him happy? Never-the-less, he closed his eyes and though back. What could make him happy?
    An image of a woman appeared in his head. She was tall compaired to him, with long black hair and dark blue eyes. She smiled at him...
    Suddenly, Jamed hit his head on something hard, and opened his eyes. Below him was the bed, which meant...
    He fell down and back into the bed with an "ooph!" and regained his senses. Tink and Peter were laughing at him.
    "See, you did it!" Peter said, "You found your happy thought. What is it?"
    James got an aqward smile. "My mother." he said quietly.
    "Well, come on then!" Peter drug James out of bed and to the window. "Think of your mother and follow me!"
    James looked to the ground below. It was a long way down. He watched Peter jump out, float a few feet, and turn around. "Come on." he coaxed. Tinkerbell, too, flew from her perch and joned Peter as if taunting James. "Come on," he repeated.
    James shrugged. What did he have to lose? He closed his eyes, thought of his mother, and took a leap of faith.....


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