James

  Diving over a fallen tree James raced into the jungle quickly losing sight of his brother. Neverland always joined in on their games, sometimes in subtle ways such as smoothing the path and holding them in the air a bit longer than gravity should permit when they jumped.

  Other times it helped by calling birds to lift them or making the ground below their feet extra bouncy. Sometimes, if you asked nicely and the island felt like it, it would do what you want. But most of the time it did what it pleased.

  James grabbed onto a vine and swung over a large chasm that he was pretty sure wasn’t there the day before. He had no fear or doubt of the vines’ ability to carry him across and his gleeful laughter filled the air.

  Suddenly James spotted Peter running ahead of him and sped up.

  Peter often won their games, he had named Mermaid Lagoon(for the mermaids), Singing Forest (on account of the birds), and more. The only spot James had named so far was Skull Rock.

  It was a unique rock formation that looked like a skull, located a bit off the shore of Neverland but still largely under its control. The moment James had seen it he had been determined to name it and have it be his first permanent mark on Neverland.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Because the magic of the island was so fluid and always changing, every day there was something new to discover. On one day there might be a giant tree that overlooks everything, but when you next wake up it would be gone. That’s why naming everything is so important, once named Neverland makes them eternally part of itself.

  Urging his legs to move faster James could just barely make out the sound of water crashing against the beach and knew he was getting closer. It was too soon to get excited though as Peter was still ahead.

  Breaking out of the jungle James burst onto the beach, he could see Peter on the back of a large turtle riding out towards Skull Rock. He clenched his fists and yelled, “Crocodile, Please!”

  Just seconds before his feet would hit the water he leaped into the air and landed on the back of the large green beast that had emerged from the surf. James had always favored the Crocodile when it came to sea-faring adventures, Peter preferred turtles.

  James caught up with his brother and met his eyes with a competitive grin. “What do you think of the name ‘Under Tree’?”

  Peter booed loudly and told his ride to speed up.

  James didn’t particularly care about naming this new spot, but his brother enjoyed the game of it all and he loved him so whenever Peter would propose a new game he wouldn’t complain a bit.

  A lot was different in Neverland, especially compared to before.