Kingdom Keepers: Next Generation (Unfinished/Unedited) *Republished

Chapter 8- Peter

Sofia's POV

I went home after school with Lucas, but we stopped at the Frozen Marble to grab some ice cream, so we were later than usual. My mom had dinner ready when we got home. We sat down with my parents, my other brother, Logan, and my sisters Ella and Carter. Ella was very excited about a school project, while Logan was happy about getting a 97% on a test. Carter is very quiet, so she didn't say much. I didn't really pay attention to the conversation, though. I was busy searching my parents' faces for some indication of what they are doing. My mom looked genuinely interested in my siblings' conversations. My dad, however, looked tired and worried. I had never seen him like that before. He always was happy and optimistic. Now he seemed trapped in his own thoughts.

After dinner, I went up to my room and fell asleep almost immediately. After staying up all last night, it was easy. I just slipped into the world of dreams. All of a sudden, I was lying on cement. I sit up and see Cinderella Castle, in all its glory. I stand up and see that I'm in the Hub, just in front of the castle. I had never been here, but I knew exactly where I was.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shape move in the shadows. Suddenly, a boy dressed in green tights with green shorts over them as well as a loose green shirt and a small olive hat with a red feather. He looked to be about 12 years old. He made a dive for something on the ground. I backed away quickly. He caught a large dark something on the ground.

"I got you!" he said, triumphantly.

I looked at him. He looked familiar. He looked up at me, as if seeing me for the first time.

"Hi!" he said in a friendly way. He stood up holding the object he had caught just moments before. He looked at me intrigued.

"Are you a Kingdom Keeper?" he asked. I was shocked. Lucas had mentioned the name the stories call my parents.

"Um... Do you know them?" I asked. If he knew what my parents were up to, he could help us.

"Not personally. Is that a no, then?" he asked.

"Sorry?" I asked.

"You're not a Kingdom Keeper. A hologram?" he said, staring at me. I looked down at myself. I was... glowing. I must of have looked stunned because the boy then said, "You didn't know?"

I looked at him, why was he here? The park was closed.

"Who are you?" I asked, suddenly aware that I didn't know his name.

"I'm Peter, of course. Peter Pan." He said.

Oh my gosh. That was all I could think. Were all of the rumors true? Is this the Peter Pan, from the movie? Before I could ask him, I saw a bright figure lying on the ground. I recognized it.

"Alex!" I yelled as I ran over to him. He seemed to be asleep. "Alex?" I said. He opened his eyes. He was wearing a tee shirt and a pair of pajama shorts.

"Sofia?" he asked, still lying on the ground.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Why are you in my dream?" he asked. I looked at him, he was serious.

"Alex, I don't think this a dream," I said.

"I hope not!" said a voice from behind me. Peter was watching us, having come over behind me. Alex sat up and saw the castle. His eyes went wide and he looked back at me.

"It's true?" he asked.

I didn't know what to say. To be honest, I wasn't sure. Here we were in the heart of the Magic Kingdom, a park our parents had never taken us to, but we could see it so vividly. To add to the sight, we were in the company of a young boy who happened to be a fictional character or was supposed to be. Alex stood up.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh, I guess I haven't been too polite. Wendy will chew me out for it later. I'm Peter Pan." Peter said.

Alex stared at him; he looked back to me. Before I could say a word, I saw another figure down Main Street. I bolted towards it to see my cousin Emma, in her pajamas like Alex and I. She seemed to realize something was up and sat bolt upright. I arrived at her with Alex right behind me.

"Sofia? Alex?" she asked. I could see she was disoriented and she hated it. Emma was always on top of everything; she never missed an assignment, never had detention. It was killing her not to know exactly what was going on.

"You alright?" Alex asked. He seemed worried.

"Where are we?" she asked, before spotting the castle. Her eyes went wide. "But..." she looked at me for answers.

There was a commotion behind me. I turned around to see what happened, while Alex helped Emma up. Lucas and Eli were sitting up about 20 ft from each other. Peter was barely holding on to whatever he had caught earlier.

I needed a minute to think, but there was no time. My friends needed me. I looked at all of us. We had been best friends since we were born. Alex had been our guide to homework, our best human thesaurus. We had had long nights together with him helping me and Lucas study. He usually didn't excel in anything athletic, but he was a great archer. Sometimes, his mom and he would go shoot arrows at targets for hours. Eli was one of the most athletic people I knew. Gym was one of the only classes he had an A in. The others were ones everyone got an A in. He wasn't the smartest person I knew, but he wasn't lazy. He turned his assignments in unless he genuinely forgot, but he didn't ace anything. His ego was about as big as Texas. Girls loved him. He was one who knew the rules of any sport you could think of. Emma was my best girl friend. We could talk about stuff that I really couldn't do with the boys. She was a great artist. Some of her work, in my opinion, was way better than anything I've seen from those artists you learn in school: Van Gogh, Da Vinci, and Michelangelo. She was one of those people, who could go to an arts school but she wouldn't leave Orlando. She was a great actress. She could go up to anyone and make friends with them. She got the lead in every school play. She could also sing pretty well and could learn a full dance routine in an hour. Her memory was exceptional. Then there was my brother Lucas. He was always with me. He's my go-to person for anything Disney. He could pick up on things when we first watched the movies that I couldn't after watching them 50 times. He was one of those people who kept up with new movies, attractions, and projects. When we were little, about 9 or 10, he used to plan a trip to Disney that would never happen. We never understood why our parents had never let us go. Now we had a chance to understand.

We gathered together by the Partners statue. We had problems; big problems. We had no idea what we were about to get into.