"Oh, Peter! You're back!" Tink exclaimed. "I didn't hear you come in."
"Hear me? What happened? Where is everyone?"
"Hold on," Tink said, crouching close to her speaker.
Peter could hear faint sounds of grunting and yelling. Then there were cheers and Tink sat back and clapped happily.
"Tink?"
"Oh, I'm listening to the pirate ship. They're having an arm wrestling competition. So far, Curly's winning," she said, her eyes glistening with pride.
So that's where everybody is, thought Peter. He had come through the manhole about an hour before and had let himself down into Neverland with a rope. When he couldn't find anyone, he had trekked over to the Silver Mountains to see Tink.
"What's up with the sky arch?" He asked, cringing at the thought of Neverland being lit with those awful, fluorescent lights.
"The network is dead again," Tink responded, rolling her eyes and gesturing to her blank screens. "First Hook killed it when he flew in on the Neverbird, and now it looks like he's fried it again. He better have a really good reason..."
"Wait, Hook's back?"
"Yes, and he brought some uppity woman with him."
"What?"
"Yeah, I guess he met her in the Grey World and brought her back here when he was running away from the police. But all that turned out to be useless, because the police found him here anyway - Detective Duggle-something and his ginger assistant - and now Hook's in the lagoon hunting for treasure so he can pay off the detective and fix Neverland."
Peter stared at her, trying to process everything she had just said.
Tink laughed. "Yeah, I guess a lot has happened since you've been gone."
Peter blew out a long breath. "There's treasure in the lagoon?"
"Apparently. It's what's left of that big bank robbery Hook and the Crocodile pulled off years ago. The Crocodile hid it all and never told Hook where it was."
Peter felt a headache coming on. It was too much. The network was down and some woman and a couple detectives had infiltrated Neverland and everything was supposed to be fixed with some treasure that may or may not be in the lagoon? It seemed like there were a million things that could go wrong, and yet everyone was happily fooling around on the pirate ship. He was trying to decide on a course of action when he picked up on another sound.
"What's that noise?" He asked, pointing to a speaker in the corner.
"Oh, that one's tuned into the beach," Tink said, turning up the volume.
"... stupid, stupid, stupid! Why can't they think for themselves? They'll just go along with whatever she says. If I ever get off this rock, I'll kill her!"
"Who is that?" Tink asked, looking bewildered.
"I think that's Cora."
"The mermaid? What's she doing out of the water?"
"Guess I better go find out."
*****
When Peter arrived at the beach, he saw the mermaid tied awkwardly to a rock near the cove. She was thrashing her dark purple tail around, trying to free herself.
"Cora, what happened?"
"Peter! I'm so glad you're here!" She cried, shaking her black hair out of her face. "Nerissa has gone crazy! She's trying to kill Hook and his friends and she's convinced the other mermaids to help her."
"What? Why?"
"Because she's strangely protective of that treasure. She's obsessed with shiny things."
"Wait, you all knew about the treasure?"
"Of course. Didn't you?"
"No."
Cora shrugged. "Well, I was able to hold them off the first time, but now they've tied me up. The minute Hook comes back out of that chamber, they're going to attack again."
Peter stepped closer to the mermaid and tugged at the ropes that held her. "Wow, they did a really good job," he muttered.
"That's because we all practice our knot tying in our free time."
"Really?"
"No."
Peter grimaced. "Well, I don't have a knife with me. I could go back to the tree house..."
"No, there's no time. You've got to get out there."
Peter peered across the lagoon. The pirate ship was at least 3 kilometers away. He could swim, but it would take quite a while. With the network down, he couldn't think of any effective way to get to the ship.
Cora noticed his distress and rolled her eyes. "Would you like some help?"
"Sure."
Cora let out a series of high pitched whistles that hurt Peter's ears. A moment later, two dolphins appeared near the edge of the water, making clicking noises and waving their flippers.
Cora whistled a few more times and then turned to Peter. "These guys will give you a ride to the ship."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. Just hold on to their dorsal fins. But don't dig your fingers in. They're sensitive about that."
Peter looked dubiously back at Cora. "Have you always been able to communicate with dolphins?"
Cora sighed in exasperation. "Of course! I'm half fish! Besides, do you know how boring the other mermaids are? I've got to do something to keep my sanity!"
"Okay, I get it," Peter said, wading into the lagoon. He approached the dolphins slowly, but they didn't swim away. He gently wrapped his hands around their dorsal fins. But before they started swimming, Cora let out another long whistle. One of the dolphins dipped its head down, then spit out a long stream of water that arched up and landed directly in Cora's mouth. Peter stared at her in disbelief.
"What? I was thirsty!"
Peter shook his head and concentrated on holding on as the dolphins carried him swiftly across the lagoon.