"Wendy," Pan says again. I hear the longing in his voice. The confusion.

"Take me. Spare the others," I inhale, resolute. "Take my soul and all of this stops."

"Take you? But–" He stops.

Pan's brief hesitation is all we need.

Tinker Bell and Dewdrop and ten other faeries swoop down, raining golden dust on Pan's head. He is temporarily frozen in place.

"What is this?" Pan growls. He struggles against invisible ropes binding him in midair before me.

"The end," I say, a smile growing on my lips. "Your end."

"MY end?" Pan's high-pitched shriek rings with laughter.

"NO!"

"PAN!"

"Pan–"

I look behind Pan's glowing outline.

Calysa and Luna are beached on the stone platform. A deep plum-hued substance it flowing down Luna's arm. Mermaid blood. Calysa's long arms reach for a rock in the sand. The nearest Lost Boy knocks it from her hand.

The Lost Boys turn, jaws dropping at the sudden sight of the faeries, and watch as Pan glows gold. They rally to defend their master and their rock island, arms flailing overhead as they charge down the stone, each one brandishing a wooden sword.

Salt unsheathes his silver sword and storms into the action. Several of the nearest pirates follow suit and charge after Salt.

The Lost Boys are cornered.

The two opposing parties clash in a cloud of sand.

The pirates create a body-barrier that prevents the Lost Boys from reaching our side of the beach.

Any second the faeries will sprinkle dust on the Lost Boys and they will wake from Pan's hazy spell, no longer an obstacle. For one fleeting moment I believe we've done it. I believe we've succeeded in distracting Pan.

An ear-shattering clap of thunder erupts, shaking the entire black rock. The pitter-patter of rain against the rock is unmistakable. The storm reaches inside and the glassy harbor churns rapid waves.

It is an all out war in the harbor and Pan looks amused! I rip my eyes from the bedlam and focus on Pan.

"You think you can stop me?" He sounds incredulous. "You think you can stop us?"

A shiver runs down my spine.

No sooner have the words –the taunt –escaped Pan's lips than the lantern containing the glowing green magic shatters. My ears perk at the sound and my body tenses. I turn to see Calysa standing beside the altar, her mermaid tail evaporated like water, her hand clutching the lantern's clasp. Her dark, hooded eyes meet mine.

"But–No." It's impossible.

"Calysa's in league with Pan then?" Salt asks, catching on.

He's reappeared at my side. His hair is falling from its ribbon and a slice on his cheekbone oozes blood. His tunic hangs completely open, baring his chest. There is both a madness and beauty to him. What have I gotten us into?

I'm still at a loss for words, watching Calysa sprout a tail once again and disappear beneath the black water's surface.

"What going –Damn," Salt curses.

An evil grin spreads across Pan's lips.

The amorphous energy is free from its vessel and just as before its volume magnifies in the open air. Only this time, it does not weave around Pan's forearm like a wreath. This time the phosphorescent outline morphs into a shape. It becomes darker, more solid, but still vapor.

Everyone on Skull Rock watches, their heads turning, as it soars across the cavern and stops next to glowing Pan.

Fear grips my heart as my eyes grapple with the revelation before me. I am staring at Pan's shadow and it hits me. Shadow Pan and the Dark Faery are one and the same.

The comprehension is crumbling. My breath is caught somewhere deep inside my lungs.

As Tinker Bell looks down at me, her eyes wide in terror, I realize our error. We've turned from the distractors to the distracted.

"It can't be." It's all I can manage to choke out.

"But it can be," Pan says. "And it is."

Maybe I imagine it, but I almost think I see a glint of remorse flicker across his eyes.

Dark Faery Shadow Pan cocks its head at us. I always assumed Shadow Pan mirrored Pan's movements –that he moved in his likeness. But I see differently now.

Shadow Pan moves and Pan responds. I wonder who is controlling whom.

"Archer, NOW!" I shout.

The Archer lifts his bow and reaches for an arrow. It's no use. In one swift movement, Shadow Pan blasts the Archer off his feet. His bow skims across the rocks, coming to a stop feet behind him out of reach.

"Wendy!" Tinker Bell cries.

My eyes snap up to discover the Lost Boys have broken free from the barrier. In Tink's moment of distraction, Rabb was able to capture her in his arms. Fox holds Dewdrop. Both faeries' wings are pinned to their sides.

We are losing this battle.

The faeries' spell is weakening; the magic binding Pan is unstable.

The shadow grabs ahold of Pan and the two rocket towards the incline. They disappear into the crevice in the stone.

"NOO!" Tinker Bell cries.

The Archer has retrieved his bow, an arrow already in place.

"They've gone upstairs!" I scream at Salt and grab his hand to move. My mind is racing a million miles a minute. "We have to chase them!"

"We've GOT to get these Lost Boys under control," he tells me. He chokes on the smoky air and I realize something must be on fire. "There's too many of them to control."

"Fine!" I nod in agreement. I can hardly see through the haze created by the canon fire.

With the help of Hook's crew of pirates, Salt corrals the Lost Boys between the two largest stalagmites. Salt wrestles with Rabb until Tink is free. After one puff of her green dust, Fox lets go of Dew.

"Do it NOW!" I shout. I wait for Tink to lift the spell –lift Pan's enchantment.

A lime orb flies over the Lost Boys.

Tinker Bell and Dewdrop zoom between them all, shaking green and blue faery dust down on their heads. Their faces become dazed, bemused.

I spot my brothers among the throng of screaming boys. I'm relieved to find them unscathed physically at least.

One by one they come out of their hypnotic trance. I wonder how long some of these boys have been captive on Neverland. I wonder if they'll remember anything at all.

Salt and I exchange glances, waiting as if we are standing on eggshells –as if the Lost Boys will crack under the slightest pressure.

"What –What's going on?" Fox is the first to speak.

"Where's Pan? Why have we come here?" Rabb asks.

"Whuz goin' on?" A third newly found boy steps to the front of the line.

How I want to sit and share story time with all these boys –to explain what happened. How I want to run to my brothers and embrace them! But there is no time for that now.

Tinker Bell races up to the ceiling and disappears. I take a second to catch my breath.

My mind still reels trying to process the new development. Shadow Pan has been the Dark Faery all along! It makes perfect sense!

"We have to go," Salt says.

"I know, I know," I say, waving my hand.

I stand on a piece of fallen rock for a better view of the beach.

"Listen," I say, taking a deep breath and shaking my head clear. "All the Lost Boys line up over here, by the black beach. Yes, that's right."

So many curious, confused faces stand before me.

"We have one more –er –thing to do," I say, nodding my head at Salt. "You'll all stay, OK? We will come back and –er –explain everything then!"

"I will wait with them," Hook says, sauntering up to our side.

I take in his dirtied, casual appearance. The sleeve of his red coat is torn and almost all of the buttons are missing. The silver sword is spun backwards on his hand. He seems more real somehow, less pirate.

I nod. "Thank you."

"Just there," I say, pointing to the spot just 10 feet from where I saw Calysa climbing from the water –from where I saw her standing with human legs!

She is long gone now; the shards of glass are the only remnants of what she did. She helped Pan.

A pit sinks in my stomach as I realize Calysa has no doubt been helping Pan all along. Ever since the very moment I landed on Neverland. She's been his spy –saving my life time and time again just to keep me alive for Pan!

"Wendy!" Tink reappears, her cheeks flush. I see her blonde pixie hair is all messed up.

"They're in the skull room," Tink tells me. "Pan can't leave yet. Some of my dust is still holding him to this rock."

"We must go now," Dewdrop echoes.

"OK," I pant.

Salt runs to catch up as I'm already crossing the beach to the Archer. He stands at the foot of the incline with his bow in hand and gilded arrows at the ready.

"You're up," I tell him.

"I am."

"Tink, do the arrow," I say. The plan is to put faery magic on the arrow tip, so that it can pierce the Dark Faery directly.

"Will it work? Now that –I mean since the Dark Faery –it's a shadow?" Salt stammers the question for me.

"The shadow is real enough. The arrow will pass through, but the magic will paralyze the Dark Faery," Tink assures us.

We reach the top of the incline to find ourselves in a narrow passageway. The cave walls are wet with salt and slime. The rain continues to beat down against the skull-shaped island. It pours in sideways through slits in the rock walls. A narrow gap in the wall up ahead reveals a smaller cavern on the other side.

"No sign of Pan or his shadow," Salt says, eyes peering into the room.

"They're in there, waiting." Tink says, sure of it.

"Right." I step up. "I'll go first."

"No. I'll lead us." The Archer moves swiftly forward, so graceful he could be dancing a waltz.