Always Neverland Read Online Free PDF Page B

his stories an hour or so before, but my eyelids began to droop. Before long, I fell asleep. This was a problem, because apparently, when you aren’t awake, you might stop flying. Peter had to fly down and catch me. I woke up dangling from his hands, my toes brushing the Milky Way below.
    Tink pulled my hair. “Oww!” I said, swatting at her sleepily.
    She dodged and chittered angrily.
    â€œWhat did she say?” I asked.
    â€œThat you just wanted to hold my hand,” Peter said.
    I snatched my hand back, starting to blush. “Tink, I already told you. I don’t like like Peter. It’s just—I’m usually asleep by now.”
    The fairy chimed in a scornful way, but Peter showed me how to stretch out on a strong gust of wind, which would keep me moving in the right direction even while I was sleeping. I started to thank him, but then he said, “None of the other Wendy girls fell asleep listening to me talk.”
    â€œSorry,” I murmured. Silently wondering if maybe the other Wendy girls were just better at pretending to listen to Peter, I drifted off to sleep.
    â€œWendy girl, wake up!” A hand shook me roughly.
    I opened my eyes sleepily and saw the stars above me, and I remembered that I was riding the back of the wind with Peter Pan. I sat up with a start. Someone had tucked a bit of cloud around me as I slept, and I knew it wasn’t Tink. I smiled, liking Peter a little more.
    â€œTime for a rest stop?” I said, rubbing my eyes. The air smelled like saltwater.
    Peter shook his head and stretched lazily, but when he looked ahead, he started to grin, almost in spite of himself. “It’s Neverland.”

Chapter 4.
Something Eats Mom’s iPod
    â€œW e get off here,” Peter said.
    Even the air was different in Neverland. It had a taste, both familiar and exciting at once, like the first bite of ice cream on the first day of summer. When you breathed it in, you started to feel like you do on that day, with school months and months away. My toes and fingers tingled in a strange way, and anything felt possible.
    We glided over the water toward Neverland. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but it was getting ready to. The sky glowed a little, and I could see the island rising up like a mountain out of the sea, practically covered in a lush forest. Beaches circled it like white ribbon. The cliffs above them shone gold in the predawn light.
    â€œHow beautiful!” I exclaimed. It was so warm that I peeled off my jacket and stuffed it into my backpack. A couple of dolphins surfaced close to shore, making chee-chee-chee noises with toothy grins, like they were welcoming us. Flamingos took flight as we passed.
    â€œWhat are those lights?” I asked, pointing to a huge tree that stood alone, at the edge of a cliff. They winked on and off among the leaves—little white and blue and purplish flashes. “Are they fireflies?”
    Tink screeched. Peter didn’t bother to translate, but I knew that she hadn’t said anything nice. I think she might have still been upset about me kicking her during those cartwheels.
    â€œThose are fairies,” Peter said, sounding a little bored. Apparently, I wasn’t the only visitor who asked that question. “They’re just now waking up.”
    We flew past another cove. The indigo water there was dotted with boulders. On each rock sat at least one figure with a glittering tail that curved toward the sea. The mermaids’ hair fell past their waists, in all different colors—blond and blue, black with shades of violet or green, a coppery sort of red.
    â€œIs that Mermaids’ Lagoon? How lovely! There are so many of them!” I counted. “Twenty, at least. Are they combing their hair?”
    â€œThey have to. Fish swim through it at night. You should see what a mess they are when they can’t find their combs. The tangles get as big and round as a Never bird nest.” Peter