Peter was in exceptionally good spirits. He had found his shadow, he was back in Neverland, and he had Wendy with him. He still wasn't sure why having her there made him so elated, but he was confident that he'd figure it out eventually. He watched her carefully as they walked through the forest, thrilled at every tree she admired, every rock structure she stopped to touch. He had expected that she would change her mind about wanting to go back home when she got to Neverland, but he didn't think it would be so easy. It was a bit strange, actually.
"What is that?" She asked eagerly, peering at a large, furry creature hiding behind a bush.
"Oh, that's just a kangarabbit," Peter replied. When Wendy continued to stare at him in confusion, he remembered that they didn't have kangarabbits in the Grey World. "The twins like to hybridize animals," he explained. "A lot of the time they'll just do this with the animal blueprints to create machinery, but sometimes they'll fuse the animal DNA with plants or other animals."
Wendy frowned and stepped closer to the creature. It jumped out from behind the bush, it's huge ears flopping and it's small arms positioned above it's pouch. It studied them for a moment with its large eyes, and then took off toward a group of zebra trees, the ground shaking with its huge leaps.
"That doesn't seem very ethical," Wendy commented. She stared after the kangarabbit for a while and then glanced up at an eagle soaring overhead. Her expression became somber and she fixed her eyes on Peter.
"How did we get down here?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"We were in the cavern at the end of all those tunnels, and the wall split open, but we were so far above Neverland. You grabbed me and pulled me over the ledge. I thought I was going to die. I passed out."
Peter laughed and Wendy gave him such a severe look that he swallowed his mirth.
"I'm sorry," he said, "I should have explained before, but there wasn't a lot of time. The entrance only stays open for a couple minutes."
"Okay, but how did you get us here without our bodies being pulverized into the ground?"
"Oh, we flew."
"What?"
"We flew. About half of Neverland is made up of metal and magnetic substances. It's framed under the ground and in the rocks and there's even some in the sky." Wendy glanced dubiously above her. "These suits and our shoes have just enough metal to attract the pixie dust, which helps us fly."
"You lost me at pixie dust."
Peter ran a hand through his hair, picking up a few remaining particles and showing them to Wendy. "I developed this dust that has immense magnetic power," he explained. "Whenever we want to fly, we coat ourselves with this and it helps us navigate in the air, attracting and opposing the other magnetic forces. But you have to be careful to only fly where there's the right amount of magnetic power. You can't fly over the lagoon, obviously, because there are no magnets there and you'll just fall into the water. But you also can't fly over the silver mountains, which are almost completely made of steel, because the force will pull you in and you'll smash right into the side."
Wendy grabbed his hand in both of hers to study the metallic particles, and an odd sensation ran through his body.
"You developed this?"
"Yeah, I got about 1,000 points for it."
"How?"
"We all get points for whenever we invent something useful, or find new ways to produce food, or win games, or just complete a bunch of helpful tasks. Our points indicate our status in Neverland, and we also use them to get tokens. Then we exchange the tokens for food, new equipment or resources, or extra time in the Imagination Tower."
Wendy shook her head. "You'll have to run me through all that again later. What I meant was, how did you make this pixie dust?"
"Oh, that was easy. The Imagination Tower has almost everything you need to execute your own inventions and experiments. I just combined some elements to create super powerful magnets and then crushed them into dust. Then Slightly and I designed these suits to enhance the effectiveness of the dust."
Wendy's mouth hung open and Peter felt a surge of pride. Whenever he explained his accomplishments to the other boys, they'd just shrug their shoulders and grunt.
"Can I try?" Wendy asked, her eyes bright with anticipation.
"Try what?"
"Flying."
Peter furrowed his brow. He didn't have an extra suit, and his would be far too big on her, but his shoes might be enough for simple floating.
"Sure, put these on," he instructed, removing his shoes and holding them out to her. She wrinkled her nose, but the next moment she took them from his hands and pulled them on. Peter took a small pouch of pixie dust from a thin compartment in his suit, grabbed out a pinch, and threw it on Wendy.
"Sit down," he commanded.
She lowered herself onto a rock and Peter rubbed the dust onto the soles of the shoes on her feet. A little too eager, she jumped to her feet, levitated for a split second, and then came crashing to the ground. Peter winced, expecting her to be angry, but instead, she smiled up at him, causing his heart to skip a beat.
"That's amazing!" She exclaimed. She slowly pushed herself off the ground and rose about half a meter into the air. She wobbled and flung her hands forward to grasp Peter's shoulders. He met her blue green eyes and gulped. They were face to face, their noses almost touching. He gained control of his senses and took her hands off his shoulders, pushing her away a bit, but still holding her hands in his own. He walked forward, guiding her along in the air. As she became more steady, he released one of her hands, allowing her to test her balance.
"This is incredible! Just absolutely stunning!" She kept repeating, alternating glances between the forest floor, her surroundings, and Peter. After a few minutes she let go of Peter's other hand and hung in the air. She experimented with adjusting her feet and hands to move in different directions or to adjust her speed. Peter was impressed. It had taken the other boys ages to master flying, and Wendy was only wearing the shoes. Suddenly, Wendy started zooming towards a large rock, and Peter had to dive to catch her before she smashed into it. He held her at arm's length as she laughed.
"That was unexpected!" She exclaimed giddily. "I suppose that one consists mostly of metal," she said, gesturing to the rock.
"Yeah," Peter murmured, "It's about 75 percent aluminum." He didn't know what had come over him, but holding her there, he felt weak and strong all at the same time. Wendy's face grew serious. He pulled her toward him, not sure why he wanted her closer. The air felt thick and everything around them seemed to dissolve into a mix of colors and smells.
"I think that's enough flying," Wendy announced quickly, clearing her throat.
Things came back into focus and Peter reluctantly set her on the rock where the shoes immediately stuck. She was quiet as she pried the shoes off the rock's surface, then removed them from her feet and returned them to Peter. As Peter was scraping the pixie dust from the shoes, she jumped down with bare feet and began walking away. Peter hurried to catch up with her.
"You did really great," he said, wondering why she was suddenly acting so distant.
"Thanks," she responded simply, avoiding his eyes.
"Um, did you want to get your shoes?"
She stopped. "Right, my shoes." She turned around, nearly bumping into him, and walked in the opposite direction.
"So, where is the lagoon?" She called over her shoulder.
"It's just past the Weather Tree. We should be able to-"
But Peter was cut off by a loud screech and the pounding of giant feet. Almost too late he saw the massive Buffalostrich Rex emerge from a clump of trees. It was running straight at Wendy, who appeared to be frozen in fear. He sprinted forward and grabbed her as he dove to the ground, just barely getting them both out of the animal's path as it stampeded past them. Wendy stared at the spot where the animal had disappeared, and then she turned her face to Peter, her eyes round with amazement.
"You saved my life," she whispered. In one quick movement, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. Peter tentatively returned her embrace, but then she stiffened and pushed herself away, brushing the dirt from her clothes. Peter shook his head at her strange behavior. Perhaps this was the reason there were no girls in Neverland.