Classics Out Loud

Hook ruminates on his lonely life as a pirate captain, before offering two of the boys a job as a pirate themselves. Ultimately, John and Michael refuse, preferring to "die like English gentlemen". So Hook's men prepare the blank and our merry band of children appear doomed.
 
Except, what is that ticking sound coming from the water? Could it really be that the crocodile is finally coming for Hook?

The children are taken away by the pirates and in the process, Hook discovers Slightly's secret - that he had been hollowing out the tree used to reach the home under the ground, and that even Hook could fit down it. 
 
Of course Hook takes advantage of these and lays a trap for Peter who is sleeping down below. Tink is the unexpected saviour, but only you, the listener, can save her now.

Though Hook used dubious tactics, the surprise attack of the pirates happens at last and the guarding Redskins do not fare well. The Lost boys and the Darlings await to find out the result of the battle and are delighted to hear - they think - the Redskins signalling their victory via the tom tom.
 
In a stroke of brilliance, it is actually the pirates that are beating the tom tom, and the boys and Wendy prepare to exit the home under the ground. But there is a pirate waiting at every tree.

In telling her regular story about her parents and the flight to Neverland, and their eventual return to the real world, John and Michael realise what is in fact at risk living in their fantasy land. They beg to return home and the Lost Boys join the plan, much to Peter's frustration, not that he would admit it. Tink agrees to lead them over the sea, and the Redskins get them safely across the island.
 
But it was at that exact moment that the pirates had chosen for their long expected attack on the Lost Boys' home. And what was to be the end of their time in Neverland turns into their most risky adventure.

After the adventure in the lagoon, the Redskins dedicate themselves to protecting Peter and the boys. Inside their home under the ground, Peter and Wendy try to determine what they are to each other while the boys prepare for Wendy's bedtime story.

The Never Bird was always grateful that Peter had declared that its nest should not be disturbed despite falling in the water. In this short chapter, the bird gets the chance to return the favour. Despite their struggle communicating, the Never Bird works to save Peter from his precarious situation on the Marooners' rock.

While enjoying a nap after lunch at the Mermaids' Lagoon, the pirates come to the lagoon to leave the captured Tiger Lilly on Marooner's Rock to be drowned at high tide. Peter impersonates Hook and engineers her escape, but while the rest of the boys get away, Wendy and Peter are themselves are left on the rock and the tide is rising.

We learn about the Lost Boys' home under the ground, with it's giant bed that everyone sleeps in, save Peter, Michael and Wendy. There's a tree trunk that grows in the middle of the room which they set a door on top of to make a table at night, before sawing it off at floor level so it never grows too tall. We learn that food might be real - or not - but that pot needed to be watched just the same in case it boils over.

John and Michael are beginning to forget the "real" world, and what their parents are like, so Wendy and the boys invent games to keep the memory alive. 

Every day is an adventure, and we choose one set in the Mermaids' Lagoon to explore in detail for the next chapter.

Discovering that the "kiss" has in fact  saved Wendy from Tootles' arrow, and Tinker Bell suitably scolded, the Lost Boys build a house for Wendy.  Having found a place in Neverland, they ask Wendy to take care of them as their mother. We learn how the real world and the imaginary one are fluid and interchangeable on the island.

With Peter returning, the island awakens. We learn of Hook's pirates, the background to Hook's anger at Peter and the ticking crocodile. It's no wonder Hook has plans for revenge on Peter. But wait, have the pirates discovered the Lost Boys' underground home? Meanwhile the Lost Boys, and particularly Tootles, are tricked by Tink into shooting Wendy out of the sky now she is separated from the others.