^Video is If The World Turned Upside Down from the Broadway musical, Finding Neverland. I am in love with this musical!

Before we had barely made it out of the broken down lot, Josh and the others had caught up with us.

The red haired boy flung himself into Peter's path and stopped him cold in his tracks.

He held his hands up pleadingly, palms facing heavenwards. "Why doesn't she come with us?" He asked with a hopeful undertone. He nearly begged the single request.

The boys behind him snickered loudly as if the very idea was ridiculous.

Josh's face flushed bright red with embarrassment, a shade far brighter than his coppery hair, but his quartz eyes held steady with Peter's. A wave of seriousness washed off of him. His voice rang out, desperately trying to reach above the others' noisy laughter, "She's all alone! Like we were before you, Peter! Besides, we were already looking for Fin's replacement!"

At the mention of himself, the blonde-haired boy shoved forward and raised his own voice into the argument, "But she's a girl!" His voice was humorous as if the thought of taking a girl along was simply preposterous. 

The other boys chorused behind him with shouted cries of agreements, not once giving Josh a moment to defend himself or his soft-hearted claims.

Peter laid a cool and collected eye on all of them, including the soft-spoken Josh. He stood up straight and called an authoritative air to himself.  "Wyn has a family who loves her dearly. We can't possibly hope to take that from her."

The arguments deflated from the children. 

Then he turned, ignoring the now quiet boys, and continued on his way, my small hand still clenched in his own larger one.

***

The key that hung adoringly around Peter's neck turned out to be a key to my grandma's house. He could have used it but instead chose to knock and gain access politely.

Her brown eyes widened drastically when she took in the sight of the eight of us crowded onto her doorstep. Her mouth hung open in utter shock as Peter presented me to her.

The door was held open as we were ushered into the lair of her darkened home.

"What are you doing here, Peter?"She whispered cautiously when she thought the others were out of range.

***

We were all huddled in Grandma's living room.

I was seated at her feet, having nowhere else to go. Across from me, the boys had all bunched down on the couch, except for, of course, Peter. He had taken a seat in the last remaining chair.

The red haired man had explained thoroughly to Grandma exactly why we were all there. Why I was there more specifically. Where Peter's knowledge of my lost status stopped, Josh gladly stepped up to fill in the missing gaps.

Her face, as well as mine, flushed in embarrassment when she learned of how I came to be in Josh's company. Where the embarrassment ended came a burning rage that I saw flaring through Grandma's brown eyes. My parents were in for a rough time when they finally found me.

Apparently, Josh had been observing me for quite a while and had seen me take my fateful fall.

How embarrassing.

Only after the end of the tale, did Grandma and Peter start to ramble on like two lost friends reconnected by a thread of fate.

It was long in the night before something of concern in their conversation peaked my rather drowsy interest.

I jerked upright from the position I had been sleeping in. I was behind Grandma's chair, where the floor was calmingly cool. I yawned quickly, covering my mouth to muffle the loud noise before rubbing the sleeping from my eyes. 

A quick glance at the couch revealed that the boys had faired just as well as I had with the dragging conversation. They were thrown all over the couch, one on top of another, their limbs in a huge tangle. Each was fast asleep and snoring away.

But Grandma and Peter were still wide awake and chatting away urgently, almost frantically as if they would only have this moment to catch up. 

And it was their conversation that had woken me so suddenly.

"I can't come with you." Grandma was saying dejectedly. "I'm far too old for such a journey." Her words were full of a mournful melancholy as they sang out softly to meet Peter and me.

The crinkling of fabric was heard as he shook his head dismally. "We need you, Gwen! There's something wrong in Neverland! With Neverland!" His voice rose slightly in anguish and caused a few of the boys to stir in their sleep.

But, thankfully, they remained far away in their dreamlands.

Neverland? Peter?

My thoughts wandered back to Grandma's old green book. It had been years since she'd read it to me, but I still remembered it like the back of my hand or the face of my brother.

Peter, or by his preferred name, Pan, was a character within that wondrous story. But that's all he was, a silly old character forever captured within the pages of ink and paper. 

But if Peter was before me, then could it be true that Grandma's tales were more than they appeared to be? 

Whirling thoughts and possibilities raced throughout my tired mind, each more delirious than the last.

Could it be true, though? Could this be the infamous Pan of the stories? And if so, where was his ever faithful Tinkerbell, who had once again claimed her rightful spot by his side?

Grandma sighed before answering in a soft voice, "I can't. You should know that, Pan. I'm not as ageless as some people. Maybe Wyn and Daniel can be of help?"

Peter scoffed rather loudly. "If what you have told me of them is right, then Daniel can't help. You said he didn't believe, even when he was small! Not even I can force faith into a kid who never had it in the first place-"

"Make him believe." She interrupted fiercely. "You made me believe, so show him the same way."

He sighed, most likely resigning himself to his unwilling fate. "It doesn't work that way," he said carefully, "But if I hope to save my home, I guess I have no choice but to try. We'll have to take them unwillingly to Neverland. You know how the time works."

"Alright! Wyn's parents and Danny are already on their way here, so we shouldn't stall you much."

I could practically hear the smile in Grandma's voice. It was the one that always shined so brightly and seemed to cause my own smile to return to the surface and reflect her happiness back.

Peter sighed once again and grumbled under his breath. "We won't be able to take a boy back, then, but I guess we can always do it when we come back. I'll wake the boys."

I heard the squeak of the chair as he rose, the low thuds his shoes made as he slowly crossed the room towards the couch.

I quickly laid down, closed my eyes, and pretended to be fast asleep. Hopefully, Peter wouldn't see through my façade. I didn't want him and Grandma to know I had been listening in. 

I heard the groan as each boy was abruptly shaken from his sleep. It was always followed by a quick hushing noise from Peter.

When I had counted seven of those set of sounds, the room fell oddly silent. I had the distinct feeling of being watched and studied from afar. 

That is until there was a brief, but loud knocking on the front door.

I heard Grandma rise, the sound of her fading footsteps, and the creaky opening of the front door.

The noises were followed by the soft-sung syllables of my mother and the deep tenor of my father. My older brother's voice went surprisingly unheard. He could almost always be heard expressing his dislike for our grandma's stories, no matter the time of day. 

Grandma pointed my parents in the direction of a guest bedroom, where I assumed they would be spending the night.

By the time she and Daniel had arrived in the living room, the boys had begun to chat softly amongst themselves.

One of the boys, which I couldn't be sure of, had picked me up into his arms. I guessed by the build that it was one of the older boys, or maybe even Peter himself.

I kept my eyes firmly closed and prayed they still thought I was asleep.

When Daniel entered the room, there was the noise of a brief scuffle followed by a thump on the floor. Then there was the sound of Grandma's terrace doors being pulled open.

The racket of the boys whispering their goodbyes and their silent departures followed.

Then a brutal wind hit me square in the face, and my stomach dropped away, leaving behind the empty feeling of weightlessness.

"Take care of them!" came the final shouted sentence from my grandmother.

Then the wind sucked her words away and all that was left was the endless rushing void of wind. 

I peeled my eyes open, which was a great mistake since my vision instantly filled with tears and caused it to blur. I blinked them away and glanced around at my wind whipped surroundings.

I glimpsed a flash of Peter's fierce red hair, the other boys' figures, and, far in the distance, the gleaming buildings of a sleepy London, the Thames slowly snaking between them.

I peeked down, a long way down, and felt a sharp burst of fear.

The ocean was far below us, nothing but a glimmering sea of endless water.

Author's Note:

Well, where do Pan get all these manners? And what is going on??

Guys, I am so excited!! (I don't really know why. I just am. :D)

Also, the musical Finding Neverland has officially taken over my life. I love it so much!

Have a good day! I'll see you all next week! :)

-Anna