Lost In The Heart Of Neverland

Chapter Fifteen

When the smoke cleared I looked at my surroundings. I was on a beach, the ocean waves crashing against the shore, dropping shells and starfish and even small fish on the sand, then coming back just seconds later to carry them off again. This wasn't the same beach as the one the shadow had dropped me on when I first got here. That location had been different in every way. There, the sand was completely dry, even just inches from the water's edge. It was as if the water was afraid to touch the shores of Neverland. It just sat, almost stagnant against the shoreline. And it wasn't loud there like it was here; on that beach it was completely and utterly silent, as if even the wildlife on the island were afraid to come near. But here the noise was deafening. It sounded like a waterfall was just feet away, but it was really just the ocean waves crashing against the shore. And here, the chirping of insects and birds calling, and foliage rustling was almost unreal. I even saw a couple of deer to my left drinking from the water.
I scanned the area for Pan, but he was nowhere in sight.
"What'd you do?" I whispered. "Send me to the other side of the island to see if I can make it back alive?"
Sadly, there was no response, and it turns out, Pan wasn't planning on making this experience easy. I ended up sitting on the shore, (walking through the water, throwing stuff in the water and trying to catch it when it came back, discovering tons of new and extremely creepy insects, etc,) for what must have been three hours when I finally decided that Pan wanted me to make the first move. I just had to decide what that was going to be. I mean, I had kind of thought he was just going to fight with me. That would have been the obvious move, but apparently he wanted to make things more complicated. Of course he did.
I stood up and dusted the sand off of my clothes as I walked around, trying to scout out any sign as to which way the camp could be. The first thing that caught my eye was the mountain in the distance. I had seen some weird things on this island, but this one actually made absolutely no sense. I remembered seeing the entire island before I was dropped on it, and that mountain wasn't there before. In fact, this island was way to small to have mountains, and yet, there one was - two thousand feet high and covered with snow. Whatever, I could ask about that later, as long as I survived whatever kind of psychotic test this was.
I continued searching for something to tell me where to go. I needed to know which direction the campsite was in, so what could I look for? Footprints, maybe? Signs of recent visitors? But that seemed pointless here. With all the Lost Boys running around everywhere, even if I found anything, it could lead me anywhere. I needed something more reliable. But at the moment nothing came to mind, and it would start getting dark in just a few hours. So I just started walking. Anything I had ever read about Peter Pan always said that the Lost Boys' camp was at the center of the island. Maybe if I just kept walking I would run into it, or at least hear the boys - they aren't exactly quiet.
So that's what I did; I started walking. And as I did I listened.
                                                                                                                ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'
Well, as usual in any good survival story, it eventually got dark, and it's very likely that I had already passed the campsite. I had no clue where I was, and no matter how much time I had spent in the woods, none of my experience was getting me where I wanted to be. I had been walking for hours and with no water or food, I was beginning to feel a little on the weak side. Always I nice thing to be in the middle of a jungle/forest. I was about to just sit down and wait for Pan to come find me and criticize my survival skills when I heard something - music.
It wasn't the usual peaceful, calming, or entertaining melody you might hear in our world. Not that all of our music always fits that description. But this was much, much different. Ominous, yes. Haunting. Melodic, but not in a comforting way. It didn't even sound real. I don't think I even heard it with my ears. I mean, it sounded more like it was coming from my own mind. But I could still tell it was coming from what I thought was the south. I had no other clues for where to go, so I followed the sound, slowly at first, but eventually I began running through the forest, trying to get to the source as fast as possible, before it could stop.
After a time, I stopped in front of a giant tree. It sounded like the music was coming from the top of it, but I couldn't see anything up there. Confused and a little frightened, I walked around the tree, searching for an answer. And I found it. At one point I felt something tap my hand. It startled me at first, but I reached out and felt for it again. There. I still couldn't see it, but it felt like rope. So I grabbed it and used my other hand to feel around it.
"Is this a ladder?"
I still couldn't see it, but there was definitely wood tied to the rope. I lifted my foot and felt for a step. Falling the first time, I balanced myself, then tried again. Thank goodness! Solid wood! It was difficult at first, climbing an invisible rope ladder, but I eventually made it to what felt like a balcony of some sort. I didn't even notice that the music had stopped until, gathering my courage, I lifted myself up, grasping what felt like a railing with every bit of strength my hands contained. You know that place with the glass bridge? This is what that felt like, except, here, there was no visible railing to assure me that there would be something under me. I almost passed out with relief when I ran into something solid.
I felt around and located a handle of some sort. Grasping it, I pulled on it, and began opening what I thought must be a door. Sure enough, when the door opened, lantern light poured through the gap. Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside and looked around. The inside looked like some kind of tree house. It looked vacant for the moment, but there was definitely someone living here. I closed the door behind me, chuckling at the broad wooden door. Some kind of invisibility spell.
Stepping away from the entrance, I walked over to the desk in the corner, cringing when the floor creaked under my feet. The desk was covered in scattered papers and stained with ink. The ink bottle on the desk was tipped over and spilling all over the place. I picked it up and set it upright, and as I did, I felt pressure pulling back. I pulled a little harder, and I heard something snap. A piece of paper floated down from out of nowhere, and I picked it up off the floor to read it.
                                             
I KNEW YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO RESIST PICKING IT UP.

What-
I didn't get to finish my thought though. I was too busy dodging the machete that came down on the desk.