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again? Never get back home?
    Bile clogs my throat. I stand up and walk a few steps away from Peter, clutching the card with both hands.
    “Is this a map for you to find London?” Peter’s voice is close behind me. “Can you use this to go home?”
    I turn around and face him, clearing my throat. “No. I used this yesterday. It’s a train ticket. I went to the city to buy a birthday present for my sisters.”
    “The Lost Boys can become your brothers if you stay. And Tami will be like a sister to you.” With narrowed eyes, he looks at me, angling his head. A muscle ticks in his jaw. “You don’t have to go back.”
    I hesitate and reach out for his hand, but he pulls it away. I don’t like seeing him depressed. “Please understand, Peter. Neverland is your home, not mine. How would you feel if you landed in the middle of a city you don’t know and you couldn’t ever see the Lost Boys again?”
    A couple of silent seconds tick away. Suddenly Peter straightens and his face takes on a hurt expression. “Fine. Go back to your London . I don’t care.”
    “Peter—”
    He flies up a few feet, then hovers for a second and scowls down at me. “Good luck!” An instant later, he zooms away.
    “This isn’t funny, Peter!” I shout after him and wait a few seconds, but nothing appears out of the dark. Clenching my hands into fists at my sides, my whole body tenses. “Peter Pan! Come back! Please…! ”
    He’s already too far away to hear me. I’m left by myself in Neverland. Fantastic.

Chapter 4
     
    I CROSS MY arms and grit my teeth. Stupid, ignorant boy! I’ll never find my way back to the tree house alone through the jungle. Even if I did, I probably wouldn’t be welcome anymore. Since plan A is cancelled, I look around, weighing my options. Plan B is to camp outside. That’s not how I intended to spend the night, wandering around on a strange island with no idea of where I am, but this is my best bet.
    Behind me is the jungle, in front are rows of hills. It’s probably best to find a place beneath a tree where I can overlook the area and still have my back protected from whatever danger creeps through the thicket at night.
    “I’m not a coward,” I mumble as I sneak closer to a mahogany tree. “Darkness doesn’t scare me.” My teeth start to chatter. Okay, maybe it does.
    The grass rustles under my feet. An owl hoots in the distance. Sliding down with my back scraping along the rough tree trunk, I try to stay alert and watch for anything that’s moving around me. My arms wrapped tightly around my knees, I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with courageous breaths. This is Neverland. The land of treasures and pixies and rainbows. Nothing to be afraid of.
    But it’s also the land of Hook. That name looms in my mind. Captain of the pirates. Ugly as hell, with a silver hook on his arm. Did he lose his hand and somehow replace it with a hook for a weapon? What if he finds me in this thick jungle and slices me with his hook from my belly to my nose?
    Jeez, where did that thought come from? I shake it off and concentrate on something nicer: the feeling of golden pixie dust between my fingers and the vision of hundreds of rainbows shooting across Neverland. Yeah, with that picture in my mind I manage to calm down my racing heart. I close my eyes. But with that damn owl still hooting and other nocturnal sounds along with the darkness, it creeps me out.
    Jumpy like a rabbit, I sit through the night and pray that the dark clouds shrouding the moon aren’t loaded with rain. Peter said there’s never one day of bad weather in Neverland. I hope he’s right.
    My back is stiff and my butt hurts from sitting, so at one point I just tip over to lie on the ground, rest my cheek on my arm and finally sink into a dreamless sleep.
    What feels like minutes later, I wake up again, but the dark has already made room for a bright blue sky. The warm sun shines down at my face. With a good stretch, blood rushes to my numb