Epilogue: Shadows of Evil

Even though it was Walter Simeon who stood in the jungle clearing waiting along with his "Whisper Men," it was the Great Intelligence who controlled the form. The being had no patience but neither had impatience. It merely stood like a statue – the face of Simeon just as expressionless and cold as it was when he was alive. The Whisper Men stood close near him, hissing. Their hisses intensified with the arrival of a hooded boy who stepped out into the clearing with a dozen other boys. The lead boy, who Simeon had known as "Felix," grinned as he looked upon the stone-faced man.

"Has it been done?" Felix inquired.

"Yes," said Simeon. "Now I wish to speak with Pan."

"Not until the boy has been brought here." Felix said.

"Our agreement was that I persuaded Greg Mendell and Tamara to stay on course of their task." Simeon stated. "We made no agreement on the boy."

"Well, seeing that the boy is their task, that makes him technically part of the agreement."

Simeon stared intently at the young man, taking notice in what he was doing. "I see." He looked up to the heavens and addressed another party. "If you wish to play games, then we shall play games, Peter Pan. Only I won't promise my games to cause inflicting pain to you and your band."

The hooded boys tensed up as they heard Simeon issue this threat. One of them then stepped out, moving past Felix and approaching Simeon. The Whisper Men hissed at the boy who stood out of line, directing Simeon's attention to him. He removed his hood to reveal his youthful face, which Simeon instantly recognized. "You're no fun," the boy jested.

"Peter Pan." Simeon grimly uttered the name of the child addressing him. "We won't be here long. There is business we must tend to on Trenzalore. So we shall make this short and simple – your request for an audience with the Doctor must sadly be rescinded."

Pan chuckled amusingly. "And why is that?"

"Because the Doctor will be dead." Simeon declared. "All eleven of his lives vanquished for the betterment of the universe."

Pan laughed. "You hear that, boys? The all-powerful Great Intelligence is going to 'kill' the Doctor."

"You do not think it can be done?" Simeon remarked.

"Oh, no. I know it can, but it will take more than a funny hat and a few pale minions to do it." Pan said. "You will wound the Doctor, but you won't kill him."

"We shall see of that."

Simeon turned along with his Whisper Men and began heading out of the clearing. But Pan, not one to let someone else have the last word, profoundly avowed, "I will have an audience with the Doctor! There will be no denying of that!"

Simeon and his Whisper Men stopped and turned to face Pan and his band again. He advanced on Peter, glaring fixedly at his eyes. "You don't know which of him you will have an audience with."

Pan shrugged. "Doesn't matter. From the way the boys and I see it, any of the Doctor's lives will do us just fine – all eleven of them, two of them – it doesn't matter one bit to us. The Doctor will come to Neverland."

"Try as you might, you will fail."

Simeon and his Whisper Men again turned their backs on Pan and his band. His words angered the boy greatly. "Shows what you know," he yelled at Simeon, though it did not make him stop as it did before. "Peter Pan never fails!"

His final words echoed through the jungle, while Simeon and his Whisper Men vanished from the jungle, the island, and the world of Neverland.

END OF BOOK TWO