Nibs stomped along the beach sulking. Riio’s voice popped into his head
                        suddenly.
                        “Don’t sulk, it’s a sign of weakness.” He giggled softly – she was always
                        saying that to somebody – usually Tootles. He stopped suddenly, his bare
                        toes sinking into the dry sand. Good grief – was he really acting like Tootles?
                        Like a BABY? No, he wasn’t. He was just having a bad day.
                        Nibs wandered a bit further and then plonked down in a sunny patch to
                        think. He scowled at a passing crab. “What are YOU looking at?” The crab
                        scuttled away, looking hurt.
                        It was all Slightly’s fault. He’d embarrassed him. So he sucks his thumb – so
                        what? “I’ll bet Slightly does worse things.” He muttered. “I’ll bet he picks his
                        nose and eats it!” Nibs laughed in glee at this new idea as he started to draw
                        pictures in the sand. He began to make up all sorts of wonderful bad habits
                        he could tell the other Boys Slightly had – biting his toenails, having a secret
                        teddy to cuddle…he looked down and saw that he had drawn Slightly and
                        himself with their arms around each others’ shoulders in friendship. He gave
                        another scowl, wondering how he could have drawn it right now, and was
                        about to scrub it out. He looked again. Maybe he and Slightly could be good
                        friends – Slightly didn’t seem to get on with many of the other Boys – in
                        fact, he went missing for days on end and came back none the worse for
                        wear. Where did he go?
                        A wave ran up and scrubbed out the picture for him, and washed sand up his
                        trouser legs.
                        “Uuugh!” Nibs jumped up, shaking his knees back and forth to try and knock
                        some of the sand out, but suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if something
                        was pulling him backwards, and his feet weren’t touching the ground. He
                        looked up and saw Mason glaring back at him, before realising that the
                        pirates were carrying him off and he couldn’t shout because there was a
                        hand over his mouth.
                        Typical, he thought. Always the last to know.

                        ***

                        Peter stopped pacing after an hour or so, and called the Boys around him.
                        “It appears that my second in command has gone missing.” He declared.
                        Slightly sniffed. Nobody called something like this when he went missing.
                        “If he’s not back in another hour, we go and look for him. In the meantime,
                        Slightly?”
                        Slightly jumped at the sound of his name.
                        “You are my new second in command.”
                        Slightly pinched himself, thinking that he was dreaming. Nope – definitely
                        awake. Second in command for a whole hour! He beamed at the rest of them
                        and they grinned back – a change for once would be OK, they thought.

                        ***

                        Billy had been throwing up most of the night, and Hook grumbled at his
                        desk, bleary-eyed from being kept awake two nights in a row.
                        “It ain’t his fault, Cap’n…”
                        “I KNOW, Mr Mullins.” He griped. “I’m just debating on what to do with the
                        imbeciles inhabiting my ship. They have put a perfectly good gunner out of
                        action.”
                        “I’m not out of action, sir…” Billy tried to sit up, but Hook absent-mindedly
                        put out his hand onto Jukes’ forehead and clouted him back down onto the
                        bunk, making him groan with the sudden movement of his spine.
                        “See, Billy Boy,” Mullins reasoned. “You gonna be down for a couple o’ days
                        or so. You need yer rest.”
                        Billy retched in reply, but his stomach was empty, fortunately, as Hook was
                        at the end of his tether and was not up to see Billy vomit for the umpteenth
                        time in a few hours.
                        “Do you…”
                        Smee burst in like a small hurricane. “Cap’n! She’s gone! The wench is gone!”

                        “What wench?” Hook said vaguely. Suddenly it clicked and he jumped up.
                        “The girl! Where has she gone?!”
                        “I don’t know cap’n…but we found a Lost Boy…”
                        “Peter Pan.” Snarled the Captain, and bowled Smee over as he made for the
                        door.
                        “She’s gone? She got out?” Billy spluttered, half upset and half happy for
                        Riio.
                        “Looks like it, lad.” Mullins squinted suspiciously at Billy. “You got a thing for
                        her, aincha, boy?”
                        Billy blushed obviously. “No…no…” He stammered. “I don’t feel so good no
                        more, Mullins, I’m gonna sleep now…”
                        Mullins gave him a sceptical look and decided to ask no more.

                        ***

                        The boys had had an hour, and were combing the island for Peter’s former
                        second in command. By the afternoon they had made their way to the beach.
                        Slightly led the boys in joy.
                        “This way, buckos!” Slightly egged them on, and they followed in staggered
                        file, the way Riio had taught them and Slightly wanted them to be – to say
                        they were searching for a Lost lost brother, they were having fun. Peter and
                        Riio walked at the back casually, laughing, as they knew Nibs wouldn’t be far
                        away – as Peter said, “these boys can look after themselves better than I
                        can”.
                        “Where do you reckon they’ll be?”
                        “Oh I don’t know,” mused Peter. “Probably fallen down a hole or kidnapped
                        by pirates or something…”
                        “Pirates? Then why are we still on land?”
                        “’Cos it’s more fun this way!” Chortled Peter, as he gave her a hug. Suddenly
                        Curly shouted from up front.
                        “Hey! Look at this!”
                        They all ran over to where he was standing and he kicked at the object in the
                        sand.
                        Riio recognised it immediately. “It’s an umbrella!”
                        “Duuuuh!” The Twins syncronised. But Curly knelt down, inspecting it closer.
                        “What are these magical symbols?”
                        “Oh, they’re not magical.” Riio jumped in again. “Those are Japanese
                        symbols.”
                        Slightly dropped onto all fours and the Boys copied him. “Woooooooow – I
                        always wanted to know what Japanese looked like.”
                        “How did it get here from Japania?” Curly wanted to know.
                        Slightly swelled with his obvious intellect. “It’s called Japan, not Japania.”
                        “But how did it get here?” Tootles demanded.
                        “It got washed up, by the sea.” Said Peter.
                        “Yeah,” said Riio. “Things get washed off beaches into the sea all over the
                        place and when the sea washes it back onto the sand, it could be anywhere –
                        miles and miles away. That thing’s probably been in the sea for months.”
                        “So it’s a bit like throwing up, then? Only the other way?”
                        The Boys gave Tootles a funny look.
                        “What are you talking about?” Asked Slightly.
                        “Nothing, nothing…” said Tootles, beaten down once again.

                        ***

                        Nibs squeaked as he was thrown onto the deck at Captain Hook’s feet, and
                        he gazed up at the tall figure who had hand and hook on his hips.
                        “I suppose it’s you and your head boy who made off with my newest
                        recruit?” Hook spat at the cowering boy, who suddenly realised what Hook
                        was saying.
                        “Recruit?”
                        “Yes, my boy…your ‘Mother’ was a member of my crew while she was here,
                        and I was most upset to find that she had gone without a trace. I do believe
                        that she had no reason to leave like that –”
                        That’s a lie, Hook thought to himself.
                        “ – But then again, maybe she was kidnapped…”
                        “Riio-mother wouldn’t want to stay with you – you’re a fiend and it was you
                        who took her away from us in the first place!”
                        “Harsh words, my dear boy…” Hook sneered. “I know you were under the
                        impression that you were only taking back what was already yours, but the
                        girl seemed quite at home with members of this vessel…”
                        Some members, not all, he thought again.
                        Nibs was about to retort but another voice cut in.
                        “She wasn’t happy, Cap’n, and you know it.”
                        Hook turned on Billy, a furious look on him. “Shut your trap, Jukes, or I’ll slit
                        you open – stomach to sternum.”
                        “She liked the work. She’s as good a pirate as any of the men on this boat,
                        sir,” Billy gulped and held onto the doorframe as his legs nearly gave way.
                        “But she had a place with the Boys, too. Even if she liked this ship – she
                        hated most of the crew for what they did to her.”
                        “What did they do to her?” asked Nibs earnestly. Nobody answered him.
                        Hook started towards Billy and he disappeared back into his cabin. Nibs
                        spoke up bravely.
                        “So what do you expect me to do about it?”
                        The Captain smiled expectantly and with a flick of his hook, brought his men
                        to his side.
                        “Tie him to the mast. He can watch us unravel our latest plan…where’s my
                        gunner?”
                        Billy stuck his head out of the door again at the sound of his alias. Hook
                        beckoned to him and he moved out cautiously – both for the pain inside him
                        and his fear of his Captain.
                        “Can you operate Long Tom in your condition, Boy?”
                        “I…I think so, sir…”
                        “Load him up. You know the drill.”
                        Nibs looked at Hook questioningly, and Hook confirmed Nibs’ greatest fears
                        by holding out a map.
                        “The circled area, boy. That is a quarter of a mile in diameter. Is or is not
                        your dwelling within that area.”
                        Nibs remained silent, but Hook didn’t need to ask again – he knew he was on
                        target by the fact that the Lost Boy had gone a deathly white in colour.
                        “How…how…” stammered Nibs.
                        “That’s for us to know and you ter tear yer hair out over cos you’ll never find
                        out.” grinned Mullins.
                        “One cannonball can cause destruction to a good percentage of that space,
                        including causing tremors over most of the island. If you tell us exactly where
                        the place is, we won’t fire.”
                        “Yeah – but I know what else you’ll do instead!” yelled Nibs angrily. What was
                        this man taking him for?
                        “Very well.” Hook pursed his lips. “Ready…”
                        Billy stood by Long Tom.
                        Oh my God oh grief what do I do he’ll kill me if I don’t fire what if I hit Slightly
                        or Riio what if they never forgive me what if they all die if I don’t I’ll die my
                        good Lord (“…aim…”) Nibs is watching me I can see him out of the corner of
                        my eye maybe it won’t reach them maybe I’ll be off I can’t aim that off
                        without making him suspicious what do I do what do I do what do I do…
                        “FIRE!”
                        Billy fired Long Tom at the designated spot and his face fell when he realised
                        he hadn’t pulled the cannon far off enough – the cannonball was headed
                        straight for the centre of the marked area on the map. Hook slapped Jukes
                        on the back making him gasp in pain again.
                        “Ah-HA!” he roared with laughter. “Right on target, dear boy!”
                        Billy’s bottom lip shook as he saw the destructive black spot disappear into
                        the canopy.