Chapter 22: The Search

“Go to 12 o’clock,”I directed over a headphone to Melana. 

If you don’t know what’s going on, today is the day that we save the Haddocks. 

Chelsie and Allan were sent out into the north woods to search for them. Thankfully, the computers at the base can sense Other activity. There is a lot of activity in the central areas of the north woods. 

Peter and I are in charge of giving orders at the base, 

“Do you think they are still alive?” Peter asked.

“Positive. The Skeleton doesn’t usually kill his hostages in a short amount of time,”I replied. 

“Doesn’t the family seem kinda . . . strange?”

“Define strange.”

“Like, their heritage. We are long off from any Viking era . . . so why do they have the same last name?”

“I don’t know. Lots of sons.”

“Those are a lot of sons.”

There was a silence when we watched the cams, following Chelsie and Allan. 

“But, where do they get yak milk?” Peter asked.

I looked at him questionably. 

“Well, there are no farm animals at all on this island. Where do they get their food?” Peter inquired. 

“Are you saying . . . ,”I started.

“I am saying that they all weren’t born in this generation.”

There was another silence.

“There is another bridge,”I mumbled.

“What?” Peter asked, confused. 

“A bridge! Mr.Haddock probably knows where the bridge is but doesn’t want the Starcatchers to know.”

“A bridge . . . as in a bridge to a wormhole?’

I nodded. 

“Probably that’s why the Others are here. They know that there is a bridge and want to use it to get back to Neverland,”I concluded.

Peter just nodded uneasily, not sure what to think about the whole Neverland deal.

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Allan followed closely behind Chelsie as Elysie was directing her through the forest. 

“Couldn’t we use the snow bikes?” Allan complained. 

“Yea, and get stuck in all these bushes,” Chelsie spat back. 

Soon enough, they were at their destination. 

It was a cliff. 

“A cliff? You led us to a cliff?” Chelsie said to Elysie.

“Go down. It looks like you are on top,”Elysie said through her earpiece. 

Allan looked down and was the first to know. Luckily, it was just a small sand bank that had veru little ocean water running through. He looked around and saw a big tunnel that has multiple caverns. Before he could say something, Chelsie tackled him into a nearby crevice. 

“What are you doing standing there like a idiot? This place is crawling with Others,”Chelsie said. 

“Sorry, but did you see that cave?” Allan said. 

“Yea,”Chelsie mumbled and then connected to Elysie,”They seem to be in a network of caves under Berk. What should we do?”

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“Caves? You know, they can’t just walk into them and say, ‘Hello, I am just here to free your hostages’. It can be crawling with shadows,”Peter said. Once he said ‘shadows’ he looked shocked. 

“Wait, how did you know there were shadows?” I asked. 

“I  . . . don’t really know.”

Then I remembered that the Peter Pan I knew could trace starstuff. 

“I remember the kids having starstuff lockets . . . do you think you can locate a small starstuff signature?” I asked.

“How do I know?” Peter asked, looking deeply confused. 

“Heat.”

Then I saw realization come to Peter’s face as he remembered the early incident with heat.

“Okay,” Peter said, grabbing his coat and pack. 

“Stay safe and make sure no one sees you. If they find out that you are Peter Pan, it will not end well for you,”I warned. 

Peter nodded and said, “Be back soon.”

Then he connected his earpiece and walked out.