Peter Pan in Scarlet
Geraldine McCaughrean
 The novel sees the return of Wendy Darling, her brother John, and adopted brothers Nibs, Slightly, Tootles, the Twins and Curly, who were once Peter Pan's Lost Boys. At the end of Peter and Wendy, Wendy, John, and Michael had brought the Lost Boys home to London where Mr. and Mrs. Darling adopted them. The novel opens with John Darling and his wife denying the vivid, realistic dreams about Neverland that John keeps having, which brings back different relics of his time in Neverland as a child: a cutlass, a pistol, etc. We discover that each of the former Lost Boys and Wendy have also been having similar dreams, and Wendy arrives at the conclusion that bombs from the Great War have punched holes through their world into Neverland and dreams and ideas are filtering through. Wendy tells the former Lost Boys, now known as Old Boys, that they must find a way of returning to Neverland to help Peter Pan return both worlds to normality. The Old Boys search the park for a fairy in order to gain fairy dust, but they have no luck. Wendy once again finds a solution in finding a baby and waiting for it to laugh its first laugh. Once it does, they meet the fairy Fireflyer, a lying fairy who eats non-stop. Fireflyer then tells them of a way to get back to Neverland - they must wear their children's clothing. The plan works well for the most part; Tootles turns into a girl due to the fact he only has daughters, and Slightly, who is single and has no children, wears grown-up clothes, but somehow still becomes a child. Nibs decides not to come at all because he would miss his children too much. Peter has been dreaming of the Darlings as well, and to his consternation they were much too big. When they and their "new" dog finally return to Neverland, claiming to be dreaming of him too, he is indifferent. He does not even notice that Nibs is absent, nor that Michael is dead. He is concerned only with having the best adventure in the world. When the Neverwood catches on fire, Peter and company escape the island by way of the Jolly Roger, renamed the Jolly Peter. While on board, Captain Pan discovers the late Captain Hook's second-best coat. In the pocket, he finds a treasure map of Neverland. Finally noticing the beginnings of an adventure, he immediately plans to head to the mountain of Neverpeak to claim James Hook's treasure. Peter makes a fatal mistake in allowing an adult, the circus master Ravello, to join his crew as butler. Ravello seems very urgent when asking Peter to wear the red coat; he is sure the boy will catch cold without it. But along the journey, Peter grows more and more irritable. He develops a harsh cough, and it seems that whenever he wears the coat he is grouchiest - he banishes the fairy Fireflyer for depleting the food supply, and when he learns Slightly is growing older, he banishes him as well - to the awful Nowhereland, home of all the Long Lost Boys Peter has banished in times past. The band of Explorers is shocked when Peter's speaking becomes littered with sailor terms, and especially when he replaces his customary crow with the word "AVAST"! The hike up Neverpeak is particularly arduous; Ravello offers to detach the children's shadows, so they will not get tangled on the way up. When the band finally reaches the summit of Neverpeak, Peter is impatient to get at the treasure, because he has a feeling that he wants whatever is inside so much. Inside the treasure chest, each child finds what they have been wishing for on the way up (which includes Tinker Bell, who was wished up by Fireflyer), and the group is puzzled to discover Peter wished for Eton treasures. Wendy asks why Peter wants them so; he barely hears her as he admires a silver trophy, when he again catches his reflection. He looks exactly like a young version of Captain Hook, complete with long black hair and Eton tie. Peter is horrified that he is not himself, as Ravello suddenly reveals his true identity as James Hook, who has survived the crocodile. Hook is still extremely resentful of Peter, and reveals that he served as his valet so he could train him; he wanted Peter to have his own exact feelings, which were passed on to the boy through the old pirate coat. Hook explains that since he is grown he can no longer wish, and he knows Peter is the only one who could wish strong enough for the treasures Hook has wanted all his life. So he cut off Peter's shadow so the boy could not fly, combed the imagination out of his hair, and choked him with the white Eton tie. Peter refuses to believe he has become Hook, even though he knows he has been wishing Hook's wishes and even dreaming Hook's dreams. The band is shocked, and Peter is horrified. Hook nearly steals the boy's childhood by asking him what he wants to be when he grows up, when Slightly suddenly appears. Slightly, who has been dogging the band's trail all along, warns Peter not to answer, because if you answer, you have betrayed childhood and "Looked Ahead" to adulthood. Peter feebly banishes Hook to Nowhereland, but to no avail. The league is stuck on the mountain in a blizzard, with no fire and no way to get down. Then the other outcast appears — Fireflyer, who, to impress the newly revived Tinker Bell, plunges into the brush and starts a fire, surviving the process. But Peter, who has cast off the hated coat, has become cold and ill in his flimsy tunic. He falls to the ground in a coughing fit, and is soon taken up dead. Tootles insists they need a doctor, so Curly Looks Ahead, growing up and becoming a doctor. He makes an incision over Peter's chest, and draws out a long dusty strand. It is soon learned the Ravello and Hook's coat have not been the cause of Peter's demise, but a strand of common London fog brought in on the children's clothes. Warmed by the fire and gladdened by Peter's newfound health, the band finds spirit enough to descend the mountain. But the danger is not yet over - Peter is accosted by the banished Long Lost Boys at the foot of the mountain, where he, John, and Wendy are thrown in the quicksand to sink. Luckily, they manage to pull themselves out, but during the interval, Ravello has arrived, with his returned circus animals. The animals are about to devour Peter and the Explorers, when a band of warring fairies descend and smother the animals. Hook is enraged, and vows to fight the weaponless Peter, but Peter is again saved, this time by the dog the children brought along. Hook is attacked by the Newfoundland, and is at the verge of death, when Wendy says all he needs to heal is a bit of sleep. She gives him a goodnight kiss, and tucks the dying man under his tattered red coat. The children manage to escape without harm, and even find a way home with help from Mr. Smee, but Peter remains on the island. He cannot fly anywhere, because his shadow has not yet grown back. Wendy's good-bye words to Peter are, "I think your mother only shut the window to keep out the FOG!" Unknown to Peter, sleep restores Ravello as James Hook. The story ends with Hook recalling the Past and anticipating revenge.