Peter Pan in Scarlet Read Online Free PDF Page B

they crumble like wasp’s nests in winter? Surely not. Surely there was no winter in Neverland? In a whisper, she put the question to Fireflyer: ‘How long do fairies live?’
    And Fireflyer shouted, without a moment’s thought or flicker of doubt, ‘ We live for ever, of course! ’ It woke everyone up.
    ‘Oh, you are such a whopping liar!’ groaned Slightly drowsily, and Fireflyer grinned and bowed very low indeed.
       
    Overnight, the clouds on the washing line had flapped themselves ragged and blown away. In their place hung black thunderclouds a-crackle with lightning. Beneath the Wendy House, the forest tossed and churned, and leaves spun past the windows.
    Fearlessly, Peter skipped out along the branches to pick twigs for kindling, built a wonderful fire in the grate and lit it using nothing but the spark of Imagination. Then Wendy told them all such sensational sea stories that the Twins were seasick, and their imaginary midday milk tasted of rum. Outside, whole rookeries blew out of the treetops, but high in the storm-tossed Nevertree, the Twins declared they were ‘ready to sail through waves as high as a house!’ Curly said he would sail through waves as high as a hill. John said he would sail through waves as high as a mountain. Then everyone looked at Peter. He raised a fist over his head. ‘I’d sail through waves as high as the MOOOOON!’ he said. ‘Then down to the bottom of the sea!’
    At that, there was a noise like a ship’s mast breaking, and the whole Wendy House lurched sideways. The League slid down the floor and piled up in a heap, along with the makings of the fire and Puppy, too. They clung to one another and tried to think happy thoughts so as to defy gravity. But it was hard as, one by one, they realized: the whole Nevertree was listing, toppling, swooning … FALLING .
    As it fell, the tree fumbled its grip on the Wendy House, which spun out into empty air, floor over roof over window. Branches impaled its walls; boughs caught it, then instantly broke and let it fall further, a spinning box full of falling figures plunging towards the forest floor. John had the presence of mind to pull the communication cord …
    But it did not stop them crashing to the ground.

Thanks to the storm, a million leaves had fallen to the forest floor ahead of the Wendy House. The splash sounded like water, but water would have been harder. They sank and sank, then sprang up again from the spongy mattress of twigs, leaves, and old bird’s nests. It was impossible to see what damage had been done, for down here among the undergrowth there was barely any light. Only the glimmer of Fireflyer, darting angrily about, lightened the ton of dark weighing down on them. The League of Pan picked themselves up and wondered what to do. Wendy called everyone to her and checked them over for injuries. There were only a few scratches and bruises and torn clothes.
    She thought, when she stumbled over Peter, that he was worse hurt: there was a trickle of blood coming from his nose. Quickly she pulled out the handkerchief from her sleeve and tried to staunch the flow, but he jerked his head away and glowered. ‘Don’t touch me! I mustn’t be touched!’ That was when she realized: he was sulking hugely. ‘Now see what you’ve done, all of you. I said you were too big! Now look. You have smashed my house! I wish you had never come!’
    ‘It was the storm, Peter!’ said Wendy; though she had not been hurt by the fall, her heart hurt now.
    ‘I was better on my own,’ grunted the Only Child.
    The Nevertree lay along the ground, its roots bleeding gouts of earth. The storm mumbled on. On several of the tree trunks, posters advertised:

    But the corners were curling and the paper was peeling as the paste failed in the rain. Somewhere the puppy was barking, though the where of it seemed to be somewhere else. Their whistles and shouts fetched only hoots, growls, and hisses from the undergrowth: wild things were prowling