CHAPTER SEVEN
Sidney wasflying!
All right. This whole “being sucked into a terrifying fictional world for an unwilling competition to the death against her sister” wasn’t a good thing.
But being able toflywas a serious upside.
Peter Pan was holding her hand as they soared above Neverland. The wind took her joyful laughter as she spread her arms wide and embraced the moment for everything it was.
It was a moment that people could only ever dream of. And here she was, getting a chance to do it forreal.She was flying! And Peter was beaming in pride as he dove low, barely avoiding touching the treetops as he took her on a veritable tour of the tropical paradise that was Neverland.
It was beautiful. There were waterfalls, coves, plants, and trees covered in fruit the likes of which she’d never seen. She could see birds flying in flocks with tails that stretched out behind them in every color of the rainbow. Peter took them up to fly alongside them—they were some species of parrot that Sidney knew wasn’t real.
But here, it didn’t matter. The birds cawed and chirped, greeting Peter as if he were just a fellow bird and part of theirfamily. She wondered if the smile would ever leave her face. They seemed surreal from far away, and now that she was closer to them, she could see why—their feathers actually glinted in the sun like jewels.
When the birds took a left turn into the trees, Peter took them up higher, over a ridge in the hillside and a crest. One thing Sidney hadn’t expected was howexhaustingflying was. She was out of breath like she was running a marathon. Wild. He made it look so easy.
“We’re almost there,” he called back to her. He had to shout over the wind. She hoped he was right, as she was really starting to feel the exertion. And she worked on her cardio at the gym.
When he finally brought her down into a round cove that was surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides, she breathed a sigh of relief. He settled her down on a ledge by the side overlooking the cove from high above. She sat down with a rush of an exhale, glad to have her feet on solid ground and get a chance to catch her breath.
It was then that she heard the singing. Peering over the edge, her smile came back immediately. Mermaids! There they were down below in the cove, about half a dozen of them, stretched out on rocks, brushing their hair and singing a lazy tune in unison.
Sidney couldn’t believe her eyes. They werebeautiful.They were like koi fish. One woman had hair that was yellow, red, and white, in stripes and spots, and a tail that was colored to match. Another woman was entirely shades of blue and black, including her skin and eyes, with a tail that was frilled like lace.
Yellow and gold, orange and red, they were all breathtaking.
And, unlike the illustrations and the movies, not a single one had a stitch of clothing or anything to hide their upper bodies. Not like she gave a damn. She was really enjoying the view, to be honest.
The circular cove had an outcropping of rocks in the center and a shallow shore around the edge that dropped off quickly into the darkness.
It was low tide. She could tell by the dampness of the water high on the rocks and how high the seaweed grew on their surfaces. Itlooked like when the water came in, all of the places where the mermaids were sunning themselves would be well underwater.
There was only one way in that she could see, which was an archway in the cliffside on the beach that likely was the first thing to get cut off when the tide came in.
Without a boat moored on the other side at low tied, or without being able to swim in and out like a mermaid—there didn’t seem to be any other way in or out. Well, without flying. That option was obvious.
Sidney couldn’t help but stare at the mermaids. They were fascinating. Beautiful. Each one seemed unique in their markings.
“Do you want to meet them?” Peter grinned.
“Of course!” She laughed.
Even if Sidney knew they were going to probably beabsolutelyterrible bitches. If she recalled correctly, everything remotely female in Peter Pan had the hots for the male lead—Tinker Bell, Wendy, the mermaids, and Tiger Lily—and all got jealous and fought over him.
It’d been a long time since she’d read the book or seen any of the movies, but she also vaguely recalled Tinker Bell trying to poison Wendy over it? Was she going to have to watch out for the flying pain in the ass?
Honestly, the whole thing was kind of gross, if you asked her. Havingallthe women in the story fighting over a guy? Bleh. Like, he wascuteand all, but she had more self-respect than that.
Nah. She’d pass.
Maybe that’s original enough for them. Highly doubt it, but it’d be worth a shot.
Besides. Mermaids.
Peter took her hand and jumped from the rock ledge with her. He whistled, catching the attention of the mermaids as he did. “Hello, ladies!”
The mermaids all greeted him in unison, waving at him.
