So Wendy was being carried away through the sky, she had been wise to stop struggling, for even if she could get free, she had no idea how far the drop was, and if he was taking her to Neverland, well, at least she would know how to get back.
�Hook, you vile creature, you must let me go! Or Peter shall be out for you, and you�ll never be safe again. Oh, dear! Do not hurt poor Wendy!�
The mad pirate gave a terrible laugh, �Hahaha! Peter Pan can never harm me! The Invincible Codfish Hook! I shall use you as bait and, when he comes, I�ll keelhaul you right before his very eyes! Oh, that cursed boy won�t know what hit him, and then he�ll know not to mess with Captain James Hook!�
Goodness, thought Wendy, he�s not changed at all!
But she thought she remembered that Hook had been eaten by the crocodile. Well, the Neverland was a very strange place. Perhaps he had crawled his way out, or been replaced by a new, meaner Captain Hook? Maybe she had misheard him, and his name was Captain Crook? Or maybe he�d risen from the dead! It was at this point that Wendy began to fear for her life� Hook was no liar, and he surely meant every word�but she had no time to panic, as she was unceremoniously placed on solid ground. Whether the ground was ship dock or forest floor was uncertain.
�Release me at once!�
�As you wish, my lady!� And the top of the bag was sliced with a sword, barely missing the hair of our poor Wendy. She let out a shrill scream that shook the birds from their nests, and it seemed that a few of them flew away to get the help of Peter Pan, but one look at the predicament made them think otherwise, and they went back to their nesting�for it must be a very important event for a bird to leave her nest.
Wendy put her head out of the bag, and now that she was free of it, she was most glad to smell the fresh air again. She expected to see Hook looming over her. But it wasn�t the one-handed pirate. Sure, he wore a long over coat and a big hat with a long feather; he also had a hook in his left hand. But underneath those clothes stood the one and only Peter Pan.
She must have made quite a face when she saw him, for Peter burst out into peals of laughter, the fa�ade of Hook was tossed aside, and he floated a few feet into the air, carried upwards by hysterical laughter.
�Peter! How dare you! You scared me near to death. I thought you were that mean old pirate! Can�t you come knocking at the window like a proper gentleman?�
�But Wendy! Didn�t you love my perfect imitation? I always do the best imitations.� With that, he began to whiz about the air and crow madly like a rooster.
She stood up to face him, removing herself from the bag, �Why is it that every time you come calling, I feel as though I�m to die? Stop laughing this instant!�
�I can�t help but crow, Wendy, when I�m pleased with myself.� He stopped before her, and she was able to get a good look at him.
He was a boy�exactly as one would expect a boy to look in every way. He was eleven, perhaps twelve years old by our standards. But even with this tentative age to guide us, it must be noted that Peter still had all of his first teeth, and the little pearls were what most women noticed first: Wendy was no exception and he flashed them to her with a smile. His clothes were merely the skeletons of leaves and naught but the juices of berries to hold them together: Wendy, still, found this to be rather remarkable, but never had a chance to comment on it. She was busy noticing, for the first time, that he seemed rather small. She had remembered (or imagined, we are not qualified to judge), that he was once much taller, for now her head was a solid two inches above his mussed up hair.
Peter seemed to notice this too, �Wendy, you haven�t�you�re not�have you?� His tone was in no way rude or encroaching, but it did give Wendy the chills.
She knew what he meant. She was growing up, and she knew it. Part of her always felt guilty when she found her skirt hems rising and her shoes too tight, but part of her was pleased at how lovely she was becoming. She was the kind who liked growing up, in the end. But growing was a near-mortal sin in Neverland. There was a perfectly good reason why it was a sin, but Wendy didn�t know it and neither did Peter, so you shall have to wait and see why. Wendy feared that he should ask her to leave at once and never come back. Perhaps it was pride and fear that made her say what she did next, �Of course not, Peter. You must have shrunk in the wash.�
