Chapter Text
"Ha! I won again!"
I was not a sore loser. Serena might've thrown the clam farther, but I had won at least two out of the million times we had played this game. The mermaid just had an advantage. One day we were going to invent a new game and I would win that.
"That you did", I nodded. "But we're out of clams. Could you find more? Or is it time for a new game?"
"By all means, let's play something else. Throwing clams is getting a little old."
"If only there was a way to make you grow legs."
"You could always use those mysterious powers of yours and give me legs", Serena shrugged like she wasn't asking for something impossible.
I frowned. "You know that's not how it works."
My powers were just pixie dust. I could fly-- but that was about it. Every being in Neverland knew Pan posessed the greater power. It was a miracle I had any powers. But the island had been kind to the little girl who had woken up on the shore after wishing for a new home. I still had no idea how it had happened. One moment I had been crying myself to sleep after yet another fight with my mother, the next I woke up tasting sand.
Serena shrugged yet again. "You have never tried. Just believe, right? Believe and you might notice new things."
"Just get the clams."
Serena laughed and dove right down the waters to retrieve our clams. She had won but she was still the one with a tail and gills. I was left on the rocks to wait for my best friend.
But the mermaid rising from the water was not my best friend. This one had a meaner look and scales on her face too.
"Someone is going to get hurt if you continue to throw those", the mermaid said.
"No one has been hurt before."
"I once got a clam right on my head! You two really should get something better to do."
"You're welcome to find us something to do."
"All those years here and you still haven't learned respect." The words were mumbled but loud enough for me to hear. She wanted to remind me. I had been here since I was a little girl.
Yes, I had grown up to be a teenager. Strange enough, no one else seemed to age. I had no idea why I had been granted with powers but not the same privilege of not aging. Was it the island's way of saying I did not actually belong here?
Serena came to rescue me from her monstrous sister. Her opalite eyes sharpened the second she was out. I appreciated her protective nature, but it was not needed. Her sister could not do anything to me. They were not sirens-- just mermaids. Their abilities were elsewhere.
"Thank you, Serena. Opal, could you move a little? We don't want any clams to hit you."
"I'm going to drown your human", Opal mumbled before swimming away. I was tempted to throw a clam at her.
○
Time had no meaning in Neverland. At some point the sun set, a brilliant orange spreading on the sky and faiding into midnight black. And at some point the sun rose again, chasing the shadows that had been keeping us asleep. I hated it. I aged every time the sun hid and showed up again. And I knew growing up was not ideal in here. I was yet to see any adults in here.
Maybe that was why I was not at camp with the Lost Boys. Pan was not stupid, he had noticed I did not have the same immortality they had. I was dreading the day I would be fully grown. Would I wake up one day in my old bed again, surrounded by my old toys and a quiet house, for all my siblings had their own families now? I was the youngest of the lot, with 4 siblings. After so many years, would anyone recognize me anymore? I doubted they cared. I had always been the one left out of family portraits.
Neverland and its residents had been so kind to me. I had my own tree house and could walk around free. But like everyone else here, I could not leave. The outside world was mere mystery.
○
That's a lot of Lost Boys. That was my first thought when they marched through the woods, right next to my home, whooping and whistling. They clearly had something planned for this day. I couldn't bring myself to care.
"Eager", said a voice behind me. Pan really needed to start announcing when he wanted to visit.
"What's going on?" I asked after almost jumping out of the window in panic. Pan had scared me more times than I had thought to count. Maybe he kept count.
"They are welcoming a new visitor."
"A new visitor? Another Lost Boy?"
"We'll see."
If I hated one thing about this boy, it was the secrets. I was sure he kept some things from me despite hearing time and time again he had nothing to hide. Even now he refused to tell me more. I would complain about that to Serena later.
I did have my own secrets, though I doubted they were much of a secret. It was clear I was not the same little child who had appeared out of nowhere. I had more unsolved mysteries, ones that even I did not know the answer to. But one big secret was that I had started to doubt Pan. He had been so kind to let me stay in Neverland, he had told me everything I needed to know, he had given me a home. And now he had become more distant and focused, like he had heard a distant song and was acting on it.
"I hope you have fun. Will I get to see this visitor?" I looked far to the horizon.
Pan's answer was simple. "If you come to camp."
"Where was this offer when I first came here?"
"It has always been there. You chose this instead. I can't blame you, it's much quieter like this."
I turned to look at him. I was sure the offer had not been there since the start. "I recall you telling me where to built a good tree house."
"But I never said you had to live on your own and not at camp", Pan shrugged. He looked at me like I had lost my mind.
I did not remember so clearly. Maybe he was right. After all, he had told me he would never lie.
I gave up. There were games to lose with Serena.