“You see, we don’t like change,” the princess snarls. Tinker Bell and the other fae fly to her side and magnify themselves to their full height. Wendy gasps out at my side, intuitively I clutch her closer and she burrows into me, allowing me to guard her with my life.

“We don’t like to be thought of as… replaceable,” Tinker Bell chimes in, glaring at Wendy. “Expendable. Inconsequential.”

“Your actions make you insignificant in my world, Tink.”

“Oh,” she taunts with a mischievous smile. “But it is our world too. Or, have you forgotten?”

The mermaids swim circles below our feet, turning the lagoon into a treacherous whirlpool. The darkness grows, the gusts increase, rain pelts down harder than before as I look on at my whole world turning on me in an instant.

“Peter,” Wendy’s voice calls to me. I glance down into her eyes and notice her body begin to shake. “Peter, it’s okay if you have to let me go.”

Sacrifice.

That’s what’s needed here.

I can’t keep her and them too.

But my life is meaningless without Wendy in it.

I can either surrender to our fate, or let go of what we have. Give up the only one who has ever fascinated me so much. The only one who has ever willingly laid down her life, our life, for what’s best for me.

       “I make this world Tinker Bell,” my tone is sharp, dark, commanding, as I turn back the fae’s way. “I allow you all to live in it, and I can take you out of it.”

       The fairy’s eyes glow red. Her sparkle brightens into a piercing light. A ringing starts far away and quickly speeds closer. In a blink of an eye, all I can manage is to push Wendy out of the way just as the fae darts for her.

“Now!” Tiger Lily yells.

The Indians close in quickly. Swords drawn, they take out one, then two lost boys with swift fatal blows. The mermaids pull at Wendy’s gown as Tinker Bell and two of her men wrestle me to the floor. I yell for John and Michael to help, to rescue their sister, but they’re too busy fighting off their attackers to be able to save her.

       Tinker Bell releases me and darts for Wendy, pushing her down and making it easier for the school of mermaids to pull her closer towards the rock’s edge. I lock eyes with Tinker Bell just as one of her men’s wings come in contact with my right hand. With a quick yank, I rip them from his back. My right side is freed immediately as he shrinks back to his normal size.