1.

"To die would be an awfully big adventure." –J.M. Barrie

Everything was set. The job was going to go without a hitch. It had to. Dahlia was tired. She wanted to move on with her life. She loved her job, but she felt it was time to live in the real world...literally. This would be her last case. Of course, she could always come back for new cases later. Writers who retired did that too, right? They came out of retirement to write again. Like Shakespeare.

Alright, she was getting distracted. She couldn't get distracted. Not now and not ever. The darkness around her made the work difficult. She couldn't see her hands in front of her face, much less the rusty lock she was attempting to pick. Instead of relying on her eyes, she focused on her ears, listening for the bobby pin to fall into place inside the lock.

She could not believe that stupid transporter had transported her right inside a claustrophobic chest. It was stuffy and unbearably hot inside. The floor swayed below her feet as she fought back the nausea that threatened to bring up the disgusting porridge she had had for breakfast. The sweat falling into her eyes didn't help much either, making her blink back unwelcomed tears.

Click!

"Finally," Dahlia murmured as she pushed open the trunk and climbed out into the afternoon sunlight illuminating the swaying room. It had taken her twenty minutes to get out of there. "Damn boats."

She would be glad when she had her feet firmly placed on land, but right now she had a job to do. The captain's quarters were small; a single room with thick cedar paneling on the walls, creaky pine floorboards, and wood most every other place. A bed leaned against one corner, opposite a writing table, though she doubted this particular captain had much time for writing even when excluding the violent disruption of the waves. A bookshelf on one wall, a wardrobe on another, and chests filled with stolen treasure dotting the room gave the impression that this was indeed a pirate's chambers.

But she wasn't looking for treasure. Well, not the kind the pirates pillaged and killed for, at least. Though her boss seemed to think it was a great treasure, or so he told her before he sent her off.

Dahlia's hands searched the room, moving from chest to chest, table to wardrobe, and then panel to panel—who knew how many secret places might be on this ship. Her hands finally found their mark as she tapped against the hundredth panel. The hollow sound caught her ear and she grinned.

"About time."

She whipped out a file from her satchel and dug with it under the wood panel, prying it loose. Finally, the wood came away in her hand and she peered inside a tiny crevice in the wall. Two things caught her interest. There was the scroll she was looking for, but her eyes paused for a moment on the cage that sat beside it. Inside it sat a tiny creature with even tinier wings.

A little fairy.

The fairy jumped, speaking in a high voice. "Who are you? Another pirate?"

Dahlia raised her eyebrows. This little fairy was small, but her high-pitched scream would be enough to bring attention that Dahlia did not want or need.

"I could ask you the same question," Dahlia offered back, trying to keep her tone punctilious. She glanced around, expecting the pirate captain to run through the door any moment.

"I'm not a pirate, I'm a fairy."

"Yes, I can see that. I was talking about the 'who are you' question."

"I asked you first."

"So? You're the one stuck in a tiny cage and I'm the one free as a daisy."

The fairy placed her tiny arms on her tiny hips and looked as indignant as a five inch creature could. She crinkled her tiny nose. "Tinkerbell."

"Tinkerbell? Of course, you would be."

"Do I know you?"

Dahlia shrugged. "I wouldn't think so. I'm not meant to be known. What are you doing here anyway? Let me guess, our darling Captain Hook kidnapped you."

"How did you know?"

"It seems like something he would do."

Ding! The clock in the corner rang four o'clock.

Turning her head to glance at the pendulum and then back again towards the legendary fairy, she signed. "Look, I'd love to chat, but I'm in a hurry." Dahlia reached out and grabbed the scroll, shoving it in her satchel and heading for the door. She needed to stay hidden until her transporter had recharged, and she did not need to be right in the center of the pirate's chambers when she did so.

"Wait!" The fairy's voice called from behind her. "You can't leave me here."

Do not interfere in the story. That was the number one rule, and Dahlia was a stickler for the rules—well, most of the time. But would it really hurt if she let the fairy out of the cage? It would hardly stop the age-old fight betwixt Captain Hook and a certain immortal boy.

Dahlia sighed, knowing she would probably regret it. Turning, she moved back to the fairy's cage and opened the flap. The fairy whizzed past her head and out of the cage.

Bang!

A clamp of thunder sounded from above the ship. Dahlia squinted out the window as the sun was suddenly blotted out by thick clouds. "Rain?"

"Oh, not just rain."

The deep voice surprised her. Dahlia looked up at the fairy who was gradually growing bigger and darker.

"What the hell?" Dahlia voiced as she took a step back.

The fairy's transformation was quick, its growth unmatchable and its darkness frightening. Within seconds, it was merely a dark shadow against the wall.

Just then, the door flew open and what she assumed was the pirate captain himself stepped in, his gun raised towards the shadow.

Instinctively, Dahlia stepped as far away from the spectacle as she could. Her hand moved down to the transporter on her wrist. She had the scroll and she figured it was high time to get out of this nightmare and back into the real world. The transporter should have been recharged by now.

Before she could initialize the transporter, the pirate spoke. "Damned shadow, how did you get out?"

The shadow, now in an almost humanlike form, smiled. The voice that came out of it was echoed and deep. "Finally we have no bars between us, Captain of the Jolly Roger. What will you do now?" The shadow turned its eye on Dahlia. "For thanks to this tantalizing young lady, my freedom is finally secured."

As the ship started to shake more ferociously and rain relentlessly pounded against the windows, the shadow seemed to grow larger.

The pirate glanced towards Dahlia in horror. "What have you done, wench?'

Dahlia opened her mouth to protest, mostly at being called a 'wench,' but was interrupted. Laughing, the shadow raised his arms up and the windows of the room were blasted open by some unseen force, knocking both Dahlia and the pirate off their feet. Dahlia hit the floor hard, her hand reaching out to steady her. She heard a loud crack.

For a moment, everything went in slow motion.

Her eyes fell to her transporter. The device was broken. The rounded rim in which held the magic was cracked, and the enchanted powder inside had dissipated in the turbulent air. She could not return home. She looked up.

The shadow's eyes turned again to her, and to her surprise bowed slightly.

"Deepest thanks, my pet. I will be seeing you again, I warrant." After his words, the shadow turned and blasted out of the window.

Following his departure, everything fell silent as the storm abetted just as quickly as it had come.

Captain James Hook climbed to his feet, his silver hook gleaming in the gathering light. He turned his eyes on Dahlia. "You fool."

Dahlia blinked. She was stuck here. And she may have just invariably changed one of the most famous fairytales in history.

She realized Hook had just said something. "What was that?"

He approached her menacingly. "You don't know what you've done, do you? That was the one thing that will bring disaster to us. That was Pan's shadow."

But Peter Pan's the good guy, Dahlia voiced internally, though a part of her had found the shadow more frightening than playful. What kind of twisted world had she become stuck in?