“Lieutenant.” Captain Decker waved Harper away from the others and then whispered. “Are you getting all of this?”

Lieutenant Harper nodded. “As far as I know the recording equipment is working fine, but I don’t think anything is transmitting.” To Decker’s curious look, she explained. “No GPS. No satellites. I don’t even know where we are.”

“Pacific Northwest.”

“I know that much, but when? Boston’s database suggests between 4492 and 4480 BC.”

Captain Decker shook his head, like he did not believe that. “You just work on getting that transmitter working. That’s an order.”

Lieutenant Harper arched her back. “I know my duty.”

“Fish is ready,” Roland and Boston spoke together in a welcomed interruption.

“Do you got more breat?” Chodo asked.

“Bread,” Alexis corrected, and she made several more loaves. Then their visitors marveled at the lack of bones in the fish.

~~~*~~~

Lincoln got up in the middle of the night. The fish did not agree with him. Doctor Procter sat on the rock by the fire and examined something in his hand in the moonlight. He stared at the hand that touched the wall full of demons, though Lincoln did not pay close attention. The Doctor could have been looking at his empty hand for all Lincoln knew.

Alexis stirred at Lincoln’s absence but did not entirely wake. She easily got taken by three pairs of hands. One bound her legs in leather strips, one bound her hands and one gagged her with a wad of fur stuffed in her mouth and held tight by more leather. Finally, a bag got pulled down over her head to cover her cold stare.

Alexis thought, if these three were in a rodeo they might win the hog tying contest. That unexpected stray thought made her smile on the inside since her lips on the outside could not quite manage it. But really, how far could they take her in a hollowed-out log?

“Quiet,” Hog insisted while Chodo and Shmee did the carrying. “Now she will make breat for the village.”

“Careful,” Shmee whispered. “We do not want to make the witch angry.”

Alexis thought, at least they got that much right.

~~~*~~~

Once Lincoln returned from the bushes, it did not take long to raise the alarm. The problem was there was nothing they could do before dawn. No one could figure out how to track someone across the water.

“You stupid…” Mingus yelled at Lincoln. “You don’t have her back for three days and you lose her again!”

“I didn’t lose her the first time,” Lincoln yelled right back. “You stole her.”

“Hey!” Boston butted between the two, and they held their tongues well enough, but chose to glare at each other.

“Honestly, I did not see anything,” Doctor Procter told Lieutenant Harper. Lockhart raised one eyebrow at the speech, but he could not follow-up, because Captain Decker and Roland came trotting back down the beach.

“They headed north.” Captain Decker spoke while he returned the night binoculars to his pack. Roland nodded his head in agreement.

“I can’t imagine they can go far or stray much from shore in that thing,” Lieutenant Harper added.

“No, but our path goes south and just a bit east,” Doctor Procter started to protest, but when he pulled out his amulet he made a face, like he was not sure what he was seeing. “No, mostly east. Almost entirely east. Not south at all. The direction has changed. How is that possible?”

“Hello!” A young voice came down from a tree branch. They could just make out the figure, and though it did not sound hostile, Decker, Harper and Roland were ready when the boy shouted, “Welcome to Neverland.”

Boston could not make out the figure in the tree. “The bokarus?” She looked up at Roland.

“No, missy.” Mingus answered for his son. “This one’s human, though why he is up a tree…” Mingus shrugged.

“I was worried about Boston so I came ahead. Are you all right?”

“Glen?” Boston squinted in the dim light.

“No.” The young boy responded as a light with a slightly blue tint fluttered up to one side of him and another light with a slightly yellow tint fluttered up to the other. “The boys are following but I flew on ahead. The boys don’t know about my fairy friends, but I told my fairy friends you were okay so they could show themselves. This is Bluebell and this is Honeysuckle. My name is Pan.”

Pan floated down to the fire to warm his hands in the dark chill before dawn. Boston took note of the furs he wore. She expected a green suit.

“Kairos,” Roland put his hand on the barrel of Captain Decker’s rifle to encourage the man to lower his weapon.

Honeysuckle flew up to Mingus’ face and smiled. “Hello elf,” she said.

“Elder elf,” Doctor Procter corrected the fairy.

“And you’re a breed,” Honeysuckle said with disapproval in her voice.

“Bluebell, lovely to meet you,” Boston said. “We girls need to stick together in the middle of all these boys.”

Bluebell hovered a foot from Boston’s face and looked serious. “Oh, I know.”

“Would you like to sit on my shoulder?” Boston asked. “Missus Pumpkin used to sit on my shoulder so we could talk in private.”

Bluebell’s little expression turned from serious to concerned. She never considered such a thing before. She flitted back and forth gently and thought hard.

“I think that would be a good idea.” Pan said, and apparently, Bluebell decided the same thing as she zipped to Boston’s shoulder and made herself comfortable.

“Us girls need to stick together,” Bluebell said, and turned slightly to look at Lieutenant Harper. She quickly turned back to Boston’s ear. “But why is your friend crying?”

“Where is Alexis?” Pan interrupted.

“Lincoln lost her again,” Mingus complained.

“I did not,” Lincoln yelled.

“Hog and his two chums stole her in the night.” Lockhart looked around at the dark sky. The sun would not be up for a while yet.

“And the medical kit,” Captain Decker added.

“Hog and Shmee.” Pan nodded. “Who was the other?”

“Chodo.”

Pan nodded again. “So, you met Captain Hook.” He made a motion, like he had the bone and wood hook in his hands and picked something off the ground.

“Not your tribe, I take it,” Lockhart said.

Pan shook his head this time. “Shemashi tribe. We are Jephatha.”

“We?” Mingus asked.

“Me and my boys. They will be here soon.” He called. “Honeysuckle, Bluebell.” The fairies fluttered up from where they were commiserating with the girls. “When they boys get here; you can stick around if you want as long as you pretend to be with the gang here.” The fairies looked at each other as if they were not sure about that. “Meanwhile, Honeysuckle, would you please fly to the Shemashi camp and see if Hog is going there?” Honeysuckle fretted for a second and looked once back at the girls before she flew off over the sea. Bluebell waited. “Sure. You can go back to Boston and the Lieutenant.”

“Katie.” Bluebell said the lieutenant’s name sternly before she grinned. “Thanks,” and she zoomed to Boston’s shoulder faster than the eye could follow. She whispered, though it was loud enough so the elves caught it. “I’m going to marry Pan when he gets old enough. I love him with all my heart.”

“That’s great,” Katie said, but Boston shook her head.

“I don’t think it works that way. Don’t you know who Pan is?”

“Hey now,” Roland interrupted. He heard with his good elf ears and stepped toward the girls. “No revealing the future. That is still the law. You know who the Kairos is, but the world does not know yet. That won’t be official for a dozen lifetimes. Shhh!” He ended with his finger to his lips.

“So.” Captain Decker squatted by the fire. “Are we just going to sit here and wait for the lost boys to show up?”

“That and the morning,” Lockhart confirmed. “Hurry up and wait.”

“That’s the army,” Captain Decker complained, but it turned out they did not have to wait long.

************************

MONDAY

Welcome to Neverland. Pan and the boys have some ideas about how to save Alexis from Captain Hog, Shmee, and Chodo too. Until Monday.

*