Hey guys, new story. I had really only gotten this one chapter down, but its been a popular subject for the fans so I thought I'd give it a try. Besides, I love Peter Pan from OUAT, and this plot bunny was going wild. So here you go! This is more of a prologue than anything else, but tell me what you think! Interested in more?

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Chapter One

"I believe."

Two simple words. Two simple words and a faraway wish. That was all it took for the glowing-eyed specter to fly through the window and gaze upon the two children sitting on their beds, frozen in fear. The shadow looked from the boy to the girl, wondering who it should take.

The boy, older of the two, was also closer to the window. He gasped, blue eyes wide as the shadow took him by the arm and lifted him in the air. He tried to pull away but the shadow was by far the stronger one. Feet waggling over the carpet, he cried out as the Shadow pulled him out the window.

His sister raced to the window, trying to grab her brother before he got too far out of reach. She screamed just as his hand slipped from her grasp. "Matty! Matty!"

But he was gone.

OoOoO

Mathias returned three days later. By then, his disappearance had reached international papers.

And why not? When the beloved, blue-eyed and blond-haired firstborn of Hollywood's star actress suddenly vanishes in the middle of the night, people notice. The claims of his four-year-old sister, the only witness to the crime, told of a "Shadow Man" coming in and flying away with her brother...well, they did little to ease the public of the image of some monster who snatched innocent children from their beds. Everyone was up in arms, determined to find this kidnapper, this man so cruel he could not even be considered human, who would attempt such a daring act in front of the boy's impressionable younger sister, who was left traumatized.

But that was the problem. No one believed that it was an actual shadow that flew in through the window, that he was see-through with glowing gold eyes. Investigators thought she was merely confused, that her little mind was trying to rationalize what she saw and protect her own innocence from the truth. And no matter how much she stuck to this story, no one was convinced; in fact, it was recommended that she should see a child therapist.

When Matthias returned on the third night, seemingly of his own accord (but his sister had witnessed the Shadow bringing him in back through the window), everyone expected answers. Who took him? Where did he go? Why was he covered in dirt and had scratches all over his face? Who was this so-called Shadow Man? Was he real?

Matthias was accompanied by his mother and sister to the interview. The woman with the blue dress, a famous news reporter, talked with a sharp and loud voice to the camera, but changed to something soft and sweet and condescending to the eight-year-old boy in the chair. She peppered him with questions, mostly about how he was feeling during the various hours of his experience missing. Was he ever scared, afraid, etc?

Then came the all important question, the one his sister (and the millions watching the live feed) was waiting for: "Who came through that window, Matthias? Was it a man? Or was it...something else?"

The woman in the blue dress spoke in a low, dramatic voice, as if she were in one of their mother's movies. Matthias just looked at her blankly before glancing up at his mother, apparently hesitating with his answer. She nodded once and the boy looked back at the reporter and said, "No. It was just a man, he climbed through the window..."

"LIAR!" his sister shouted from across their mother's legs on the other side of the couch. The girl jabbed a little chubby finger at him. "You're lying! Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

"Mallory, be quiet!" her mother chastised, hissing at the girl with a furious scowl. "And sit down!"

"But he's lying, Mommy!" the girl cried up at the woman, tears filling the little girl's eyes. Why didn't her own mother believe her? She was telling the truth, like she was taught to! "I was there, I saw it! He's lying!"

"No, I'm not!" Matthias shot back, bottom lip trembling. He didn't want to make a scene in front of these grown-ups - Mommy would yell at him afterwards. "I'm not a liar!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

The interview went downhill from there. The reporter tried to laugh it off as silly sibling rivalry, but it was clear that no amount of rationalizing was going to help. Matthias started to cry at the accusations and his sister cried along with him and there was nothing to console either of them in time to save the show. The family had to leave early and a heavily edited version of the interview was given to the public, while the extended version was leaked online. The children were paparazzi fodder for weeks afterwards.

But Matthias Farthing and his family kept a very dark secret, a secret his mother made sure he'd never tell. A secret so dangerous that it was better for the world to think that little girl was crazy and sick rather than risk the truth getting free.

Because Magic was real. And it was alive within the Farthing family, no matter how hard they pretended to be normal. Or, at least, the mother and son had to be. As it turned out, the crazy little sister had no Magic. She was born normal.

A few years later, Mallory Farthing truly believed that the rumors and the nightmares would finally be over, that by the time she became an adult, no one would remember her to be crazy. Her life was finally settling in, she could live out her life in peace, in the shadows of her mother and older brother's careers.

Of course, little did she know, the adventure had barely even started.

Because thirteen years later, Matthias would disappear again. And this time, she followed him.