Lost Girls part one

I’m sure you all know the way to Neverland, second star to the right and all that, but nobody has ever mentioned the first star to the right or what lies hidden there. On this smaller island there is indeed a gang of pirates, but not so ruthless or evil as Captain Hook or his crew. This island also has a fairy dwelling, but not so friendly as tinker bell or her friends. Instead of the Indians living on this island, the mountains caves are home to the fearsome highlanders. Last, but absolutely not least, instead of a tribe of lost boys, here lives a small tribe of lost girls.
The first two girls to come created the tribe and started work on their home, set in a large, hollow sycamore tree. The taller and more boyish of the two named herself Maple after her favorite tree; while the shorter but more elegant one came up with the name Willow, from the same concept. Soon after the next two came, first came the even taller and stronger girl, named Pikkle, for her love of the colour green. And after came Breeze, who was so fun-loving and easy going the girls thought the name perfect. Next came a girl just as spry and as Maple, but far more delicate in her movements that the girls thought her half-bird at first. They named her Chibb. Soon after Chibb came Patch, who is exactly as her name describes; her shirt so covered in patches of different sizes and colours, one could barely make out the original cloth. Even her shoes had a patch or two carefully stitched on. The tribe appointed her the official seamstress of the group. Considering all the mischief they would get into, this is a good job to have. The final, but by far not the least member of the tribe had so much character and personality, from her sense of humor; to the clothes she had stolen from the pirates, that the girls could not sum it all up in one word. They therefore each took a letter from the alphabet and put them together to form the name Trubs.
These seven girls filled their days on the island home with adventures and mischief that only we could wish for. All of the girls could fly of course, being that they were taught by the fairies, who most likely regret ever giving out lessons. The lost girls now keep a large jar of fairy dust in their hideout in case any new members should show up. Most of the days they spend working on inventions, for although they love to fly, the pirates have begun to create devices to capture a flying person. This was spotted one day by Chibb who took the spyglass of the club and went to scout out the next lost girl raid against the pirates. She was horrified to see the captain fire a net at a passing seagull and watched it plunge to the clear blue waters below. So they began construction on their own little tricks. Each creating something different, in the end it turned out Maple and Trubs had the best inventions and combined them to form a sort of tree-sailing skateboard. With the usage of this ‘Tree-flyer’ as the girls called it, the story begins of their best adventure ever.

One sunny morning, Trubs was out testing and tweaking her and Maple’s invention through the trees on top of the mountain, flying it up to the top and ripping down the slopes, up tree trunks, through branches, and bursting through the canopy into the cloudless sky. She then carried it back up to repeat the whole process. On one of these return trips as she lowered the flyer through the trees onto the mountain earth, she looked up to catch sight of a tall man in a kilt. The lost girls played many games with the highlanders, always planning ambushes on each other and such, so Trubs was not afraid of the bearded barbarian.
“Awright, ya got me, but make sure ya tell the girls ya captured me, last time ya kept Pikkle overnight ‘cause ya forgot to tell us to come an’ get her!” she giggled as she remembered the look on Pikkle’s face when she returned from the highlander’s camp.
But this barbarian smiled down at Trubs, who was a good two feet shorter than him. Out of the pocket of his pouch he pulled a rolled up piece of paper. At this, Trubs’ face lit up.

“Yep, I sees ‘er cumin’, phaw! She’s flyin’ down! I’s never seen ‘er go that fast!” Chibb stood up at the top of the lost girls’ tree fortress, the spyglass pressed to her eye. Trubs raced down the mountainside on her tree-flyer; dodging, ducking, and steering the patched up sail through the thick branches. When the hideout came into view, she didn’t slow down; instead, she flew straight for the open door and into the large main room. Seconds before crashing into the far wall, Trubs leapt into the air. As she did so, she pushed the flyer sideways and it rolled harmlessly into the smaller cavern to the right, where lay her bed. Still in the air, Trubs lifted higher and followed the tunnel in the hollow tree that led to the second level of their home. She passed this circular room without a second glance and continued up to a second hole, knowing exactly where the lost girls would be waiting. As she lifted the hatchway that led to their lookout balcony, a place they called the nest, Chibb’s telescope greeted her.
“’Allo! Wotcha bring us?!” Chibb lowered it and smiled widely; the rest of the girls were scattered around the space, while Maple and Willow sat on a swing attached to a protruding branch.
“Gather ‘round everyone! I’ve got a surprise for ya!” Trubs said, pulling herself out of the hole in the floor. The girls perked up in anticipation.
“Well get on wit it!” Patch said, setting aside her hat with a half-sewn striped cloth in the side. “We’ve been waitin’ all day fer sumtin’ ta happen, dontcha’ know?”
“Yeah, spit it oot!” Maple called as she helped Willow up from her relaxed position with a kick off the swing. Willow fell a few feet then righted herself and flew back up to the edge of the lookout, she shot a tongue out at Maple, who answered by sweeping off her top hat and taking a low bow.
“Ok, so there I wuz, near the top, an’ ready to ride the flyer down agin, when from out of nowhere, one of the highlanders appeared!” all the girls ooh’d and aahh’d at this, surprised their comrade had not been taken captive.
“Go on! What happened then, eh?” Breeze nudged closer to Pikkle and Patch in the circle the girls had formed around Trubs.
“Well, I thought ‘e wuz gonna take me, but instead, ‘e gave me…” she paused for effect, then reached under her pirate hat and pulled out the paper. “This!” she flew up to keep it out of reach of the rest; they squealed with pleasure and began to pursue her. “Hold up!” she held out her hand to stop them, it was too late; Pikkle flew above her and nabbed it. She opened it with sparkling eyes, and then frowned.
“It’s in their language…” she tossed it to Maple, who was the only one who could read the highlander’s strange dialect. “Right, tell us what it says.”
Maple studied the ripped and tattered piece for agonizing minutes, slowly, her face lit up. She looked up to the rest of the girls, who had floated back down into the circle this time with Maple in the middle and Trubs looking just as excited as the rest. She took a deep breath, “lost girls, the highlanders have given us here-” she pointed to the parchment, then looked them all in the eye, going around the circle slowly, making them all shake in anticipation, “a treasure hunt!”
Again came squeals of excitement, the girls crowded Maple with questions.
“Is it a map? Does it tell us where to look?”
“Are there clues?”
“Can we go now?! Please please please!”
Maple waved her arm in front of them for silence “yes, tae all of those, or at least the ones I heard. Now it says here that the treasure is hidden on Dolphin Island-” immediately 3 or 4 girls turned to take off into the sky, Willow was ready, she stopped all of them and ushered them back to the circle.
“Let’s hear the rest of what the note has to say, shall we?” she then floated over to stand beside Maple.
“Alright, it says that the treasure is about our size- or bigger than Trubs anyway.” Everyone giggled, even Trubs. “And that it’s above ground, but nae in plain sight. Also-” she double checked the paper, Willow leaned over her shoulder. “This treasure is alive!” Gasps followed and excited whispers. “Ok, we are going tae look for this in pairs and the-” before Maple could finish, Chibb had latched onto Breeze, Trubs leapt onto Patch, and Willow had engulfed her in an air-deficient hug. Pikkle looked around with a pout on her face.
“Awww, c’mon you guys, I’m always the one ta go alone, dontcha know?”
“Then you can take the telescope.” Maple reached over and pulled the spyglass over Chibb’s head and handed it to Pikkle. She took it, sulking still. “Alright, now that we have that settled. On the count of five, one-two- five!” Maple and willow shot into the sky laughing, the rest of the girls followed, trying desperately to catch up.
Pikkle took up the rear of the pack on the journey to Dolphin Island, and when they reached the place above the small mountain that created the fin shape that gave the island its name, the girls had already chosen their search areas. They all rocketed down into the thick forests below them. Pikkle however, stayed in the air, “what use is a telescope when you can’t see ten feet in front of you anyways?” She said to herself. Looking for open areas in the trees below, Pikkle stayed up for what felt like hours, but was really only about five minutes, (most of the girls suffered from extreme impatience, and she was no exception.) when she spotted  a clearing below her. Using the spyglass she focused on it, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she was getting tired of flying anyway, so down she went. “Right, probably won’t find anything, anyway, most like Chibb has found it first, she always does.” She grumbled to herself again. When she landed, she stood on a raised clump of earth and adjusted her eyes to the dimmer light beneath the trees. Slinking around the clump, Pikkle realized one end dropped off into what looked like a small alcove. She slid down the smaller end and walked around the mound, it turned out to be a cave. “Well, this is above ground, but not in plain sight enough, isn’t it?” she whispered now, not sure of what she might find.
Into the cave she went, bending her neck a little to get through the shorter opening, again she had to wait until her eyes were used to the darkness. As things became clearer in the cave, she became aware of heavy breathing, sniffling, and whimpering. Then a shape came into focus, a head, broad shoulders, knees curled underneath it, arms behind its back. Yes, it was a human! Pikkle stepped closer, a woolen hat was pushed over its eyes and a gag was shoved in its mouth. Arms tied behind it, Pikkle found the reason for the sounds, the thing was crying!
Now this being a very magical place, the girls could do anything they could dream of, which is the reason for the flying and such, so when Pikkle imagined herself strong enough to lift the human and carry it out of the cave, she could do it with ease. Of course it struggled insanely, most likely believing the highlanders had returned to bring it to their mountain caves. When Pikkle had brought it into the light she dropped her burden with sudden surprise. This was no poor lost girl! This was a boy! His once turquoise t-shirt had been smudged filthy with dirt, and his jeans were ripped at one knee and terribly stained on the other. But there was no mistaking his broad shoulders or the Adam’s apple bobbing on his throat. She leaned close to his face, bending at the waist and tilting her head to one side, she lifted one side of his hat up, a pair of dark brown eyes stared back at her, she grinned “hi there!” underneath the gag, an angry cry struggled to escape. She stuck her fingers behind the cloth and pulled it off.
“Who are you!?” were the first words out of his mouth, then, after a glance at his surroundings. “Where am I?”
She straightened up and smiled wider “I am Pikkle-” she paused, trying to sum up his situation in one sentence “-and you my good sir, are lost!” she giggled and walked around the boy, untying his hands and helping him stand up. “Boy, it’s a good thing I found you; the highlanders hid you real well this time!”
“The highlanders? Those are the ones who kidnapped me!” he said.
“Kidnapped? No silly, it’s called hide and seek, or maybe treasure hunt. Kidnapping is what the pirates play.” Pikkle hung the telescope around her neck and started for the top of the cave. “Now c’mon, the others will want to see you, dontcha know?”
“Pirates? There’s no such thing, they were killed off hundreds of years ago.” The boy folded his arms and frowned.
She laughed. “I wish, there are rather horrible right? But we do what we can with them.” By now she had reached the top. “Now hurry please, I wanna be the first ones back!”
“Back where? We’re in the middle of a jungle, how do you know where to go? Who are the others? And what insane place am I in?” he sniffed and wiped his eyes on a dirty sleeve.
“You sure ask a lot of questions, boy. But don’t worry; I know the easy way back, unless you wanna swim back to the hideout.” With that, Pikkle leapt into the air, falling for a split second and then rising again. She held her hand down to the boy and lowered enough for him to reach. But he only stared in disbelief.
“How-how-but that’s…”
“Quite easy, dontcha know how to fly?” he shook his head. “Well, I guess being a newcomer you wouldn’t. Alright, ill carry you then.” Before he could react, she swept downward and grabbed his hand; she flung him around and wrapped her arms under his. Swerving between trees and vines, she picked up speed and head toward the channel of ocean between the main Island and Dolphin isle. The boy’s feet dangled below them and splashed into the shallows as the burst from the jungle. She gain a few feet higher. “I’m gonna try and sneak us over there before the others notice we’re gone.” She said to him. As they flew, the boy looked into the water, fish swan beneath the surface, species that he had never seen before; they resembled rainbow trout and flying fish morphed together. They leapt out of the water to reach his feet, and then fell back into the clear ocean. Suddenly all the fish dispersed from under them and the water beneath them turned to green earth. He looked up at the larger island they had come to, again they swept through a forest around trees and vines, rocks and streams when all of a sudden they came upon a tremendously large tree at least 50 feet in diameter around the base of the trunk. Pikkle lifted them both higher and dropped him into what looked like a rooftop home among the thick branches.
“Here we are home sweet tree.” Pikkle smiled like it was the greatest thing in the world.