(Josie
Sayz: This is a story that I began working on several years ago. I am finally
reading through it/editing it. This is a fanfiction piece of what would happen
if two of my favourite characters Peter Pan (from J M Barrie’s book) and Jack
Frost (from ‘Rise of the Guardians’) met, why and what adventure would they go
on. I originally wrote this story as a present for a friend. I have decided to
dig it out and plan to release each chapter as I edit it. This is Chapter One:
‘Just Keep Reading’.
Note:
I do not own Peter Pan or any of the relating characters or places to the
story; these are all owned by J M Barrie and ‘Disney’. I do not own Jack Frost
or any of the relating characters or places to the story; these are all owned
by William Joyce and ‘DreamWorks’.
Chapter One: ‘Just Keep
Reading’ can be found here: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2019/06/saving-neverland-just-keep-reading.html
Chapter Two: ‘Meeting
and Greeting’: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2019/08/saving-neverland-meeting-and-greeting.html
Chapter Three: ‘I Still
Believe…’:
.)
.)
Only
in my Dreams
Something
stiff and ridged bounced against the side of her face. She gave a groan. It
shook her again. She moved her hand, shoving it underneath her left cheek. Something
passed in front of her, altering the light. Her inner eye lids flickered from
their regular peachy-pink to a greyed-clay, almost black. She groaned. Moving
her right arm, she crossed it over her face. The solid lump dug into her face
again. “Wakey, wakey, Sleepyhead,” sang a soft, male voice. “We’re almost
there.” Pulling her arm from her eyes she gave a murmur.
“Dad?”
she croaked, as she squinted. “What time is it?” She winced as the light jabbed
at her eyes. Scrunching her hands up to her sockets, she rubbed them hard.
“Come
on Izz, look!” spoke the voice. She frowned. It sounded familiar… but the voice
did not belong to her father. Wind flounced through her hair and swept against
her skin. Although the material on the surface below her was soft to the touch,
beneath it was hard, corrugated and scraped at her sides. “Izz,” cried the
voice again. “Izz, are you awake?” She shook her head, hoping to rid herself of
sleep. Arching her head around her, she gasped. Her heart boomed against her
ribcage. She was surrounded by air. She looked down. Someone was beneath her,
carrying her weight. She gripped her arms around their shoulders tight, as they
swayed to the left. His camouflage tree shirt, moss coloured hat with a red
feather and thick auburn hair all looked familiar to her, ‘Yet they can’t be,’
she told herself. She shook her head again. Clutching on tight, she turned to
her right. She gave a quick sniff, salty sea air shooting up her nasal passage.
There was another boy beside her. He was flying too, with a stick in his hand.
His blue hoodie and icy hair also felt like recent images in her mind.
Feeling
her gaze upon him, he turned to her. “Izz,” he said with a smile. “Good, you’re
awake.” Her stomach swirled, tingling as it spun her insides around in loops.
She smiled back at him, biting her bottom lip as she felt her cheeks burn.
“It
was real,” she whispered. “All of it… real.”
“You’ve
just gotta look at this,” the frosty haired boy told her, as he pointed to the
view ahead of them. She perched her head over the collarbone of her carrier. He
turned his head towards her.
“Told
ya I wouldn’t let you miss it,” he said with a grin.
She gasped. Before her, surrounded by sea, lay an island.
The island’s body stretched out towards its briny, beryl boarder. As the water
crashed against its shores, the island gave the impression that it was waving
at them. “Five points,” Izz whispered, noticing the island’s five joining
segments. “Just like my picture book.”
“Yep,”
Peter said, having heard her. “That’s Neverland – the shape of a star.”
“Wow,”
she breathed, unable to say anything more, as words spiralled around in her
brain, merging with one another.
As Peter neared Neverland, its features grew stronger. The
four evergreen mountains of the Never Peak and the fifth, a taller granite
grey, towered high and bold over the rest of the island. Water trickled down
the centre mound, splashing in the brook below. Forests spread across the land,
trapping the land in a mesmerising array of greens, browns, leaves, trees and mosses.
The clearest of blue waters swam from the centre of the island, splashing out
into the sea. To the far right of the island’s farthest point lay a large rock
- big enough to be an island of its own. Stranded from the rest of Neverland,
surrounded solely by sea, its surface lay grey, wet and lonesome. Erosion from
the sea and weathers appeared to have caused the rock to narrow at its bottom,
remaining wider towards its peak. Izz swallowed, noticing that this made the
rock appear to contain a jawline and wide skull. Two jagged, cave-like
entrances appeared on either side of its broad, curved skull, forming two,
large and menacing eyes. She stared at it. Her heart thudding. She tensed her arms,
gripping Peter tighter. “That’s Skull Island,” he said, noticing Izz’s solemn
stare and sensing her stiffen above him. “Look,” he said pointing to a glow
below. Following Peter’s finger to the flock of flickering lights, she gasped.
The glows hovered over a pool of water, near Mermaid Lagoon, to the island’s
right-hand side, before arching over it, creating a rainbow as they flew.
“Amazing,” she breathed.
“Fairies,”
Peter told her with a wink.
As they flew closer still, smoke signals could be seen
puffing into the sky. Following the trail of smoke, Izz’s attention was drawn
to the end of the island’s second segment to her far left. The ground, brown
with mud, covered with pointed huts, surrounded by narrow towers, caked in
earthen-coloured paint. ‘The redskins,’ Izz acknowledged.
Peter tilted forwards and descended towards the largest of
gaps between two branches of the island. Jack followed them. Staring at the
breadth of waters, Izz did not need telling where they were heading. The sea
darkened, as its depth deepened. Waves lashed up at the trees in land, crashing
against the shore and smashing against the rocks. Something emerged from the
water. It splashed about, pounding its limbs on the surface, before diving back
down to the ocean’s depths. “Cannibal Cove,” she murmured. Peter nodded.
“Are
you sure you haven’t been here before?” he asked with a laugh.
“Only
in my dreams,” she replied with a giggle.
Swerving away from the cove, Peter arched their
flight towards a cluster of trees near the island’s centre. He increased their
descent, skating over the sea’s surface. It cracked beneath them. In Peter’s
absence, it appeared, the sea, in places, had become frozen. Stepping on it,
Peter woke the sea from its tiresome twilight. Escaping through the cracks of
ice, waves lashed against the island. The sea clawed away at its imprisonment,
smashing the ice with its fearsome fists. As they passed over it, Izz pressed
one ear to her shoulder, clasping a hand over the other. Standing outside a
Year Seven class’ drum lesson, while they smashed the instruments to wrecks did
not even compare to the sound. “Where are you going?” she yelled to Peter as he
turned his back to the caves and pressed forward towards the forest. Peter’s
mouth opened, but his reply drowned in depths of the sea. “You’re going the
wrong way,” she shouted.
“I’m
not!” he barked back. “I’ve got to find Tink!”
Hearing a muddle of muffled words, Jack stretched his
staff out in front of him. Picking up speed through the wind’s gusts, he swayed
as he caught up with his two new companions. Straightening his body into a
descent, Jack soared up alongside them. “Is everything okay?” he yelled over
the continuous crashes.
“No,”
Izz screamed back. “Peter’s going the wrong way.”
“I
am not!” he declared. Curling its fists out of the water, the sea made a dive
at the last of the ice. With one tremendous punch, it shattered. Waves crashed.
Splashes of water exceeded the height of the Never Peak, before plummeting back
to its lair. “I need to find Tink!” Peter bellowed, as the crashing cascade of
waves silenced. Hearing his shout echo across Neverland, Peter’s cheeks turned
a deep pink.
“Tink?”
Jack repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“She’s
a fairy,” Izz told him, as they neared land. “Peter’s friend.”
“Yeah,”
Peter added over the top of her. “And I have to warn her about the heart of Neverland.”
Increasing his speed, Peter zoomed through a gathering of trees. Branches and
leaves scratching against their skin, Izz cried out to him to slow down, but he
refused to listen. Ducking and dodging debris as it hurdled towards him, from
Peter’s sudden rocket of energy, Jack trailed behind them.
Breaking through the forest of trees, after much yelling
from both Izz and Jack, Peter agreed to land upon a dry mound of soil.
Crouching, Izz leant against her knees, whilst she rubbed the back of her neck.
Pressing down against his staff, Jack threw himself down on the ground beside
her, panting. “You okay?” he asked her. Allowing herself to thud to the ground,
Izz took in a deep breath and nodded.
“Yeah…”
she managed between breaths. “Thanks.” While they sat, Peter hovered above them
with his hands on his hips and looked around.
“What
was the meaning of that, Pan?” growled Jack, looking up at Peter. “You
coulda threw Izz off. What were you tryin’ a do?”
Without
averting his gaze from the glistening of the stream in the distance, Peter
replied, “It’s a trap.”
“What’s
a trap?” Jack and Izz both cried. Gripping both hands around his staff, Jack
propped himself up. Izz shuddered, spinning her head around to check for anyone
behind her.
“There
were pirates… hiding in the bushes,” Peter told them. As both Izz and Jack
gasped, Peter gave a sigh at their lack of observation and threw his hands at
his sides as he spun around to face them. Lowering himself to their level he
hissed, “It’s Hook.” Izz’s eyes shot wide as she looked from Peter to Jack.
“How
d’you know?” Jack asked, shifting his eyes from left to right, without moving
his head. Peter let out an exasperated sigh and crossed his legs, sitting in
the air.
Folding
his arms, he growled, “Don’t you two know anything?”
“Obviously
not,” muttered Jack under his breath. Hurt by Peter’s comment, Izz pulled her
knees up to her chest and clasped her hands around them. Pouting, she looked up
at Peter, waiting for him to continue.
“Did you see Hook’s ship when we got here?” Peter asked,
folding his arms. Staring ahead, Jack thought for a moment, before shaking his
head.
“No,”
Izz muttered.
“And
do you know how big the Jolly Roger is?” he asked them.
Biting
the inside of her left cheek, Izz squinted her eyes as she replied, “Not
really…”
“I
do,” Jack grumbled, staring at Peter. Unfolding his arms, Peter lowered his
legs to the ground and nodded for Jack to continue. “It’s huge… Wider than a
house, as long as ten… and probably taller than just as many.” Izz gasped.
Pushing herself off the ground, she curled her fingers to her mouth. Jack
shuddered as the image of Hook’s ship swam back to the front of his memory.
“It’s got three towering masts, calico sails, probably twenty guns on either
side-”
“Nineteen,
but close enough,” Peter interrupted with a shrug. “How can you possibly hide
something so huge?” he asked. Jack shrugged, as Izz stared at him. “He normally
anchors it in Cannibal Cove,” Peter told them. “That or Skull Island,” he added
jabbing a thumb over his left shoulder. Jack raised his head over Peter to try
and see where he was pointing, but there was nothing but bush and trees coating
his view. “Wherever he leaves it,” Peter went on, “it’s noticeable from
anywhere in the air – that thing’s too big to miss. They left for the island
before us, and a boat can travel faster than man, so they have to already be
here.”
“So
where is it now?” Jack asked.
Looking
from Peter to Jack and back again, Izz gasped, her eyes wide. “Maybe he hid it
in the Black Castle,” she suggested.
Peter
shook his head. “Not possible.”
“How
do you know when you don’t even know where the Black Castle is?” she protested,
scrunching her hands into fists.
“Ssh!”
Peter hissed, pressing a finger to his mouth he held out a hand to halt any of
them from making a sound.
A hooting, “Ooow,” sounded in the distance. Izz twitched
her head to the right, following the sound. Jack did the same. A glimmer of blue
resided to the very far side of Neverland. Rising off the ground, Peter held
out both his hands and arched them around his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he
let out a loud syllable caw. Clasping her hands to her mouth, Izz concealed a
giggle. A collection of girlish squeals echoed back to them.
“This
way,” Peter ordered, darting towards the noise. “Follow me.”
*
Having
scooped Izz up in his arms Jack groaned as he trailed after Peter. Clutching
her arms around the back of Jack’s neck, Izz buried her head against his chest
as they sped past blurs of colour, from earthy browns and greens, to a fiery
red, a mass of grey and shallows of blues. “I wish we could stop to at least
take in the scenery,” Izz muttered.
Jack
hummed a, “Mmm hmm,” in reply. “I wish we could stop long enough to get the
feeling back in shoulders,” he grumbled, as he rolled them back.
“Sorry,”
she mumbled back, hiding her face from his sight.
“I
didn’t mean it like that,” he laughed. “I don’t mind carrying you around… it’s
just that flight…” Breathing in he shook his head. “We flew all night.
I’m used to flying an’ all, but that…” His eyes in a trance, the figure of
Peter up ahead blurred. He shuddered. “That was something else.”
Noticing Peter slow, Jack dropped down, lowing Izz to the
ground. “You don’t mind walking, do you?” he asked, as he gripped the top of
his left shoulder blade with his right hand and arched his left arm in a
circular motion.
“Of
course not,” she told him, shaking her head. “I just wish there was something I
could do to help,” she told him, as he seeped in a breath through gritted
teeth.
“Don’t
worry about me,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll be fine. Now let’s catch up with
this one,” he said jerking his head in Peter’s direction. Izz gave him a smile
and the two of them began jogging towards Peter.
*
High
pitched giggling danced to their ears as Peter landed on a small, grey mound in
the shallow of the lagoon. Water splashed at his ankles, as he gave a salute to
the many creatures that swam in his direction. “Why hello Peter,” they sang in
chorus, combing their hair from their faces. At awe by his presence, they all
stopped what they were doing and swanned over to him.
“Hey
girls,” Peter smiled as they gazed up at him from the water. “Did you miss me?”
he asked with a wink.
“Ooow!”
they squealed at him, as Jack and Izz approached the lagoon’s sandy bank. Sand
kicked up at them, as they ran over it. Sneaking its way into every possible
gap, Izz soon discovered that her slippers were mounted with the stuff. ‘I
could open my own beach,’ she mused.
As Peter lowered himself down onto the rock, the gaggle of
girls surrounding him screeched again. Izz pinched her eyes shut at their
shrieking, while Jack jabbed a finger in his ear. Spotting the two on the
shore, Peter waved them over. The swarm around Peter jabbed their heads in the
newcomers’ direction. “C’mon,” he called.
Jack
sighed. “That’s all he ever says.”
“Don’t
be like that,” Izz told him with a pout. “Peter knows what he’s doing.” With a
smirk, Jack held his hand out to her.
“Shall
we?” he asked. She smiled back and placed her hand in his. As she did, she felt
her feet rise off the ground, as she lifted into the air. She gasped, looking
down at the beach below.
Once they had glided over the water, Jack set Izz down on
the edge of Peter’s rock. “What’s that?” squawked one of the long-haired blonde
girls in the bay, with a starfish in her hair.
“Why,
I think it’s a girl,” exclaimed another, pointing at Izz.
“Oh,
aren’t you a dear,” cackled the red-head with a coronet of small
channelled-duck-clams, broad-paper-cockles and transverse-ark-shells in her
hair. She gave another chortling cry as she pulled at the ankle of Izz’s pyjama
bottoms.
“Hey!”
Izz exclaimed, tugged her clothes away from the sea wanderers.
“Can
you believe her?” chuckled another, as the gaggle broke into a chorus of
laughter. “She’s wearing trousers.”
“I
always thought they were a boy’s garment,” commented another, who bounced out
of the water to yank at Izz’s hair. Izz flinched, gripping a hand to her head.
As she stepped back Jack angled his staff towards them.
“Leave
her alone, you hear,” he ordered. The girls began laughing again. “Go on
Peter,” Jack urged prodding his stick, glancing in his direction. “Tell them!”
Peter rolled on his back, laughing along with them. Jack’s mouth jarred open in
an ‘o’, as his eyebrows shot up to meet up his forehead. Features frozen, he
turned to Izz.
“Mermaids,”
she muttered rolling her eyes. “I should have realised; this must be Mermaid
Lagoon.”
As the mermaids’ laughter reduced them to fits of giggles,
with tears streaming down their cheeks, one of the half-human creatures dove down
into the water and splashed at them with her tail. Her scales glistened an
emerald-green, as they reflected the light. Another mermaid, a brunette with
wavy hair that flicked out at her waist, lay back in the water and flicking her
copper-coloured tail up in front of her, splashed them with water. Swiping her
hand across her face, Izz shielded her eyes. Jack jabbed his staff out in front
of him, in a reflex action. Crackling, the water froze in an instant, before
shattering down on the rock. Everyone gasped. Flicking their hair, the mermaids
gazed up at Jack and sighed.
“Oooow,”
sang out a mermaid with flowing blonde hair. Pushing herself up onto the rock,
she perched at Jack’s feet, brushing the fringe from her eyes. “And who’s our handsome
new play mate?” she asked stroking a finger against his hand.
“Come
join us for a swim,” pouted another, twiddling her fingers in a wave. Feeling
his cheeks burn, Jack shook his head.
“Oh,
but you must,” the rest sang out, fluttering their eyelashes at him.
Pulling
his hand away from the blonde, Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “No, no,” he
told them, as he stared at his feet. “Y, y, you don’t want me…”
“Oh,
but we do,” cried a brunette, with her hair in a braid.
“If
you won’t join us,” said a copper-haired mermaid, circling a drop of water on
the edge of the rock. “The least you can do is show us a magic trick,” she told
him, gesturing at his staff. Scooping her hands into the water she flung them
out, throwing water at him.
Shooting up from off the rock, Peter growled, “Enough,” as
he pinched shut his eyes, digging his fingers into the sides of his scalp. With
a gasp the mermaids dove down into the water. Izz leapt back, her heart pulsing
at her throat. Jack barred an arm across in front of her as he stared up at
Peter. The red-haired mermaid with the tiara of shells poked her head above the
water. “We were only playin’ Peter,” she sang out. Pouting at him, she added,
“We didn’t mean to upset you.” One by one, the other mermaids began to pop up
from the sea, each gazing up at Peter. With a deep sigh, Peter lowered his
hands and spun around to face them, a smile back on his face.
Gliding
over to the mermaids he told them, “We’re on a very important mission.” Some of
them gasped, others cooed, reaching out to touch him. “Have any of you girls
seen Hook?”
“Hook?”
they cried, flapping away. Peter jumped up, away from their splashing. “Hook!”
they squealed again, before diving back under the sea.
“Wait!”
Peter called out, nearing the water’s surface. “What about Tink?” The water
beneath his feet rippled. Ringlets circles underneath him.
“Behind
you!” Izz called out to him, as one of the mermaids surfaced. Parting his feet,
Peter bent down and looked between his knees. One of the brunettes (her hair
wrapped in a bun above her right ear, water dripping down her cheek) giggled as
he faced her.
“I
might a seen her…” she sang, toying with a shell around her neck.
“Might?”
Peter repeated with a frown. He flipped his legs over his head and twisted his
body around, almost lying flat on the skin of the water. “It’s important I find
her. I need you to be certain.” He widened his eyes, as he gazed into hers. His
lips parted.
“Oh,
I wish ya wouldn’t look at me like that, Peter,” she sighed, folding her arms.
Peter struggled to conceal a giggle, as a grin stretched wide across his face.
“We saw her no less than ten minutes ago. She was collectin’ the lost things
that had washed up on the shore, when the Light fairies came by showin’ off
their rainbows.” Peter clicked his fingers in his right hand.
“Right,”
he said with a firm nod, rising from the water’s surface. “We’ll follow the
rainbows then.”
“Oh
an’ Peter,” the mermaid cried. He cocked his head in her direction. “Do be
careful. An’ don’t make us wait so long for your next visit… We’re often left
worrying about you.”
“Don’t
you worry about me,” Peter said with his hands on his hips. “I’ll be fine. I
always am.” Turning to Jack and Izz he grinned, jerking his head towards the centre
of the island. “Let’s follow the rainbows!”
- Josie -
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