When baby Sara Quirtle laughed for the first time, the laugh bubbled out of her and flew out the window. It hit a dandelion, and the dandelion fluffs skittered about. One of the fluffs floated out to sea. It floated for two weeks towards Never Land. But then it veered too far south. It would have missed the island entirely if the island hadn't moved south too. The island was looking for the laugh.

The fact is, you can't find Never Land if it doesn't want you to, and if it does, you can't miss it. The island is an odd place. The humans, or Clumsies, as the fairies call them, never grow old, and the animals that live there never grow old either! That's why the island is called Never Land.

The only reason the island rides the waves is because children believe in it. If a time ever comes when they all lose faith, the island will die. Even now, if a single child stops believing in fairies, a fairy dies, unless enough children clap to show that they believe.

Sometimes the island is big, and sometimes it's small. Most of its inhabitants live near the shores. The forests, plains, and Torth Mountain, where the dragon Kyto is imprisoned, are largely unexplored.

As soon as the island moved, Mother Dove knew a laugh was on its way. High time, she thought. She felt lucky whenever a new arrival was coming, and the fairies would be jubilant. She told Beck, the finest animal fairy in Never Land. Beck told Moth, a light fairy that could light the entire Home Tree with her glow. Moth told Tinker Bell and eight other fairies.

You see, when a baby laughs for the first time, the laugh becomes a fairy. Often it turns into a Mainland Fairy, or a Great Wanded Fairy, or a Lesser Wanded Fairy, or a Spell-Casting Fairy, or a Giant Shimmering Fairy. Sometimes it gets lost on an unknown island. But occasionally, it makes its way to Never Land and becomes a Never fairy.

Word spread to all the talents. Each one wanted a new fairy, and each one made a special effort to deserve her. They each hoped beyond hope that the new fairy would be their talent.

Approaching the island, the laugh slipped under a mermaid's rainbow. It floated past the pirate ship. When it touched shore, it sped up, and it floated along the beach. After it passed the fifty-fourth conch shell, it countered inland. It hadn't gone far, though, before the air hardened against it. The laugh was forced to slow down. The trouble was that the island was having doubts. This laugh was a little different, and Never Land wasn't sure that it should let it in. Below lay Pixie Hollow.

Fairies were flying in and out of their rooms in the Home Tree, a towering maple that is the heart of Pixie Hollow. Fairies were washing windows, taking in laundry, watering windowsill flowers, making everything shipshape in the honor of the evening celebration, the Molt.

The laugh tried to descend, but it couldn't. In the lower stories of the Home Tree, fairies were busy in their workshops. Two art fairies were rushing to finish an iris petal gown. Bess, the island's best artist, was putting the finishing touches on a portrait of Mother Dove. If Bess, or any of the others, had known the laugh was overhead, she'd have flown out her window and helped it along. She'd have called more fairies to help too, and they'd have come, every single one, even nasty Vidia, even dignified Queen Clarion.

On the tree's lowest story, fairies bustled about the kitchen, unaware of the laugh. Two kitchen fairies hefted a huge roast of mock turtle into the oven. Three sparrowmen argued over the best way to slice the potato. And a kitchen fairy consulted with another kitchen fairy over the best way to braid the bread.

The laugh pushed on, fighting for every inch. It passed above the oak tree which was the Home Tree's nearest neighbor. A crew of helping-talent fairies was working under the tree. Protected by nutshell helmets, they were collecting acorns for tonight's soup.

In the barnyard beyond the oak tree, four animal fairies milked four dairy mice. The fairies failed to see the laugh's faint shadow as it crossed over each mouse's back.

In the orchard, on the other side of Havendish Stream, a squad of garden fairies picked two dozen cherries for two dozen cherry pies. If only they'd looked up.

The laugh reached the edge of Pixie Hollow, where Mother Dove, as always, sat on her egg in the lower branches of the hawthorn tree. The nest was next to the Fairy Circle, where tonight's celebration would be held. If Mother Dove hadn't been distracted, she'd have felt the laugh. But she was listening as a fairy recited her lines for a skit tonight. And she was watching as another fairy practiced her flying polka. Mother Dove wanted to nod encouragingly to them, but she had to keep her head still so Beck could tie a ribbon around her neck.

Never Land finally decided to let the laugh in. It spun once, and then it zoomed faster and faster above Mother Dove, past the orchard and the mice and the oak tree, on a downward course. It fell right outside the door to the Home Tree.

Queen Clarion saw the laugh. She picked it up and placed it in the center of the Home Tree.