"What will they do when they find out they have a bag full of rocks?" One of the twins howled, dancing around the house.
"I wish we could see their faces!" The other twin added.
"Maybe we can," Curly said quietly. He moved to one of the screens and switched the view to the outside of the cove.
Peter had just finished recounting their adventure to the rest of the boys, how he had used his voice changer to lure the pirates below deck, how Wendy had switched out the tokens for pebbles, and how they had then stolen some of the pirates' pants to carry the tokens home. The boys were delighted to have their tokens back, and very appreciative of Wendy's contribution.
"I guess you aren't completely useless after all," Nibs told her, not seeming to notice how offensive his comment was.
But Wendy was happy with their reactions. She had been afraid that they would kick her out of Neverland or ostracize her, but now she felt a little more confident about being there.
They were all eating some kind of meat and fruit cake. Wendy had refused to eat it at first. After all, it smelled like an old gym locker. But after she'd taken a tentative bite she had changed her mind.
"It's butter beef shortcake," Slightly had explained. "Sweet and savory, but packed with essential nutrients. Everything you need for a growing body and genius mind."
They were passing around the carrot juice when a chime sounded.
"Time for medicine!" They all yelled, scampering off to a cupboard and pulling out their flasks. Wendy laughed. She'd never seen anyone so excited to take their medicine, but remembering how fantastic it had tasted and how wonderful it had made her feel, she couldn't blame them. She gratefully had a sip of Peter's when he offered it to her.
"Who's choosing the game tomorrow?" Asked Nibs between gulps of medicine.
"It's the pirates' turn," replied Peter. "They'll probably want Dead Man's Plague again."
"I love Dead Man's Plague," Slightly exclaimed. "Especially since last time Tink got on their ship and …" he trailed off. "Hey, where's Tink?"
It was silent for a moment, and then Peter gasped. "Oh no! I left her in the cavern!" He exclaimed. "She is going to be so mad."
Before Wendy could ask for clarification, Peter had grabbed her hand and pulled her out with him through one of the tunnels of the underground tree house.
"Where are we going?" Wendy protested, wishing she had brought more shortcake with her.
"I have to go get Tink back so she can recharge," he replied. "She's back up in the entrance."
They hurried through the forest, and soon the foliage started to look more like a jungle. They passed a cluster of black and white striped trees, and Wendy glimpsed robotic monkeys swinging in the branches. Farther along they walked past some flowers with long red and orange petals that tried to wrap around Peter's ankles, but drew back when Wendy came near.
"Why did they do that?" Wendy asked, oddly disappointed that the flowers didn't try to caress her feet.
"They know me," Peter replied. "They were created from my Essentia."
"There's that word again," Wendy huffed. "What do you mean by that?"
Peter gave her a puzzled look, as if it was the most peculiar thing she had asked so far. He opened his mouth, but the next moment she had sunk several inches into the ground. She looked down and squirmed. She had stepped into a spongy orange substance that enveloped her up to her knees. Just as she was struggling to get out, the elastic matter tightened and sent her sailing two meters into the air. Peter caught her easily and put her on solid ground.
"Trampoline moss," he explained with a smile and continued walking. Wendy spotted several more of the trampoline moss pools on their way and took care to avoid them.
"Here we are," Peter announced, peering up at a spot in the sky. Wendy could just barely make out a dark patch which she guessed was the cavern.
"Are we going to fly?" Wendy inquired. As much as she had enjoyed it before, she wasn't yet comfortable with flying that high or that far.
Peter gave her a fleeting look of disappointment, and then turned to a large rock beside them. "No, we'll just take the basket."
"The what?"
Peter answered by pulling a large contraption out from behind the rock. A thick cable was attached to it which seemed to be tethered to the sky. Swallowing her apprehension, Wendy followed Peter through the opening. He pulled a lever and the basket began to ascend. It was like being in a hot air balloon, without the balloon.
She took in the sight of the sky above them. It looked like sunset, although Wendy still couldn't pinpoint the light source. The sky was just gradually darkening, the clouds turning delicious colors of pink and orange.
"Do you like it?" Peter whispered.
Like what? She thought. The artificial sunset? The basket? Neverland in general? Or just being here, alone with you? The last thought made her ears burn and she pushed it down.
"It's beautiful," she admitted. "But what's the point?"
"Point?" Peter repeated, stepping back from her.
"The purpose, the goal. Why are you all here?"
"To have fun, mainly," Peter replied, grinning. "And to have the most points. I'm usually at the top of the leaderboard," he boasted, "but every once in a while Captain Hook or Nibs will beat me."
"So, it's all just a game?"
"Of course." Peter answered, not catching Wendy's cynicism. "Isn't it wonderful?"
It did seem appealing. Playing games all day, thinking up ideas and inventing them. But it was also a little empty. Before Wendy could voice her thoughts, the basket clanged against the side of the entrance to the cavern. Peter pulled them safely to the lip and helped Wendy out of the basket. He ran to get his jeans where Tink's body was stored, and Wendy looked around, remembering how she had felt when she was here before ... was it just this morning? She glanced around at the screens and the consoles, and apprehension tingled in her subconscious. She had been so angry. She had been so determined to leave. Why? Peter had just been trying to introduce her to this magnificent world, but she had been resisting so much. What was it that had her so worried? She struggled to remember, and the image of a woman flashed into her mind, accompanied by a twinge of sadness, but a second later the image and the feeling were gone. She shrugged and followed Peter back into the basket, admiring the view of Neverland as they descended.
*****
"A whole day!" The girl screeched. "You forgot about me for an entire day! I've been sitting here, unable to go anywhere, unable to see anything, because you've been cavorting around with this tramp for hours!"
"Come on, Tink, you can see Neverland just fine," Peter said, gesturing to several screens in the small room.
"It's not the same," Tink pouted, giving Wendy a nasty glare before grabbing the robotic fairy out of Peter's hand and plugging a cable into it.
Wendy gazed at the small apartment. It was homey in a sterile sort of way. It was crammed with wires and technical instruments, as well as a small partition that contained what looked like lab equipment, but it was decorated with a wide variety of fabricated flowers and greenery. In one corner there was a bird cage housing two animatronic parakeets, which chirped melancholy melodies every few minutes.
After coming down from the cavern they had trekked over to the base of the silver mountains, where a door at the bottom of the tallest peak had led them into central control and the home of the real Tink, the entity behind the mouthy metal fairy. She was a very short girl, probably about 15 years old, with cropped red hair and impossibly pale skin. Wendy focused on her sour expression as she continued her rant.
"You all are out having fun, and nobody ever comes to visit me, or thinks that maybe I'd like to have my avatar back, because you always forget about me, even after all the things I do for you!"
"Why didn't you just go out and get it?" Wendy ventured, realizing she'd made a mistake before the words were out of her mouth. Tink flushed as red as her hair and jumped out of her rolling chair.
"Oh sure," she spat in Wendy's face, "why not go out there with all the imminent danger and the unspeakable diseases? I might as well just sentence myself to death!" She shouted, pushing Wendy against the wall. Hm, she must have agoraphobia, Wendy thought, but wisely kept the speculation to herself. Peter pulled Tink back, and an odd smile appeared on her face, but she continued to struggle. Wendy could see how much the girl liked having Peter's arms around her.
"Tink, stop," Peter pleaded. "Wendy is important to me and I don't want you to hurt her."
Suddenly deflated, Tink pushed away from Peter and returned to her chair, staring at the screen in front of her. Wendy raised her eyebrows. Either he had no clue how much this girl liked him or he was being incredibly insensitive.
"Anyway," Peter said cheerily, "I figured since we're here we could get Wendy's Essentia into the system."
"What? Her?" Tink exclaimed. "She's not even supposed to be here!"
Wendy shuffled uncomfortably. Even though the lost boys had accepted her, she was still keenly aware that she was an intruder in this world. Plus, she didn't know that she wanted whatever her Essentia was in the system.
"It doesn't matter," Peter laughed.
"Of course it matters!" Yelled Tink. Her shrill voice in the small space was beginning to give Wendy a headache. "Once someone is in the system you can't get them out, and I don't want her everywhere."
"Tink, you're being rude."
"I'm being honest."
"Come on, it'll be fun!" Peter urged, turning her chair to face him. She softened for a moment, then scowled at Wendy.
"Fine," She grumbled, grabbing a packet out of a drawer and throwing it at Peter.
"Whoa, wait a minute," Wendy protested as Peter pulled her towards the lab equipment, "what are you doing?"
"It's easy," he replied, pulling a syringe and a vial out of the packet. Wendy stiffened. "It'll only take a couple seconds."
"But, I still don't understand..."
"He's going to draw your blood and mix it with an advanced chemical compound," Tink interrupted in a bored tone. "This will draw out the singular characteristics, history, hormones, and health that make up your Essentia. Then we'll put it into this pipe," she jerked her thumb at an opening in the wall, "where it will be diffused throughout Neverland. The encoded system within the framework of Neverland will decipher your Essentia and generate living and mechanical organisms that are uniquely related to your genes and experiences."
"See? Nothing to worry about," Peter said with a grin.
"I would argue there's a lot to worry about," Wendy disputed, but Peter had already drawn her blood. She glanced down at the crook of her elbow. She hadn't even felt the needle go in. He poured it in the vial, shook it for a few seconds, and then pushed it into the small opening in the wall. Tink reluctantly typed in a few commands and the vial was sucked into the pipe with a gush of air. Peter rushed to one of the screens and called up a video that showed all of Neverland. For a few seconds nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then a distinct ripple pulsed through the ground. Wendy watched, spellbound, as new trees, plants, and formations rose up out of the earth in various places throughout Neverland. Creatures and birds stirred to life, and a dark purple streak appeared in the orange sky.
"Hm, purple," Tink grunted.
"Is that bad?" Wendy asked.
"It means you're incapable of love," the girl said smugly.
"No," Peter corrected, "It just means you're harboring a lot of pain." He searched her face, as if he was trying to decipher what that pain was. Wendy shook off his intense look and studied the screen again. She had seen the new organisms being created, but now they all blended in with the rest of the other creatures and foliage.
"How will I know which ones were made with my Essentia?" She wondered, the word feeling funny on her lips.
"You'll know. You'll be able to feel them," Peter explained, as if it were the most natural answer in the world.
Wendy shook her head, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She felt anticipation and energy rising up inside of her. The whole day had been a bit unsettling, but she had to admit that Neverland was the most magnificent place she had ever encountered.