But men are men; the best sometimes forget – William Shakespeare

Neverland. Sitting alone in her little brother's room Sarann couldn't bring herself to even begin to believe in it, but imagining it was certainly fun. For a twenty year old stuck in a dead-end office job with a repetitive social life, Neverland was certainly an interesting place. Flying children, beautiful mermaids, curious Indians and pirates, oh the pirates. What girl didn't dream of pirates? Especially since the appearance of good old Cap'n Jack. The magic of a true believer had left her with the onset of adulthood but that didn't mean the magic was completely gone, her imagination was still a force to be reckoned with. Her musings were interrupted at that point by her brother running into the room and throwing himself onto the bed, playfully demanding another story about Peter Pan and the dastardly Hook. It never ceased to amuse her hearing a seven year old come out with words like 'dastardly'.

"Now Jake, what are the rules."

Pouting good-heartedly all the way, Jake picked up all the soft toys off his bed and piled them neatly at the side of it before pulling back the bed covers and crawling beneath them. There'd been a time when getting Jake into bed had been a real task. Toys were strewn around as he stormed and protested that he really wasn't tired. More than one picture frame had been broken by an errantly thrown pillow and more often than not the bed would have to be remade at least once after he dragged all the sheets off.

He was an intelligent child and got bored easily, reading him the same stories over and over again did nothing for him and the longer the bad behaviour went on, the worse it got. Sarann used to sit downstairs cringing at the noise her brother made when their parents tried to put him to bed. Babysitting nights were events to be dreaded. When he was awake he was a lovely child, as long as you kept him busy, but the second you tried to put him to bed, all hell broke loose. This one particular night he'd been exceptionally rowdy, not understanding why he had to go to bed instead of going out with his parents, and he'd thrown the Peter Pan book Sarann had been reading to him at her head. Rapidly losing her patience Sarann had stood up and told Jake that if he didn't want to find out what happened to the boys that Captain Hook took away for being naughty, he'd best stop acting up. Now that got his attention. Putting down the stuffed crocodile he had been about to throw at her, Jake looked at her curiously for a few seconds.

"Cap'n Hook takes naughty boys?" He asked, mildly worried.

"Of course, how do you think he recruits more pirates?"

"But I thought you couldn't grow up in Neverland?" He asked, sitting down cross-legged on the bed and studying his suddenly interesting big sister.

"That's true, if you're a good little boy. But the bad ones all grow up to be mean pirates, and when they're as mean as they'll ever be, they stay that age forever and help Cap'n Hook in his fight against Pan and his good lost boys." Sarann said, warming to the story as it unveiled itself in her mind.

"But how come that's not in the book?"

"Well because it's too scary for children to know about. Would you want to become an evil pirate?"

"Yes!" Jake said, far too loudly.

"You want to have your hand fed to a crocodile?!" Sarann asked with exaggerated incredulity.

"Well no, but that was just Hook…"

"Ah but what about the pirates with peg legs and eye patches and scars? Where do you think they got those from? The bad guys never win Jake."

"So Peter Pan feeds all the pirate parts to the crocodile?" Jake had asked excitedly, pushing the toys off his bed unconsciously and snuggling into his covers, so engrossed was he in the story being told.

"Of course not, can you imagine how fat that crocodile would be by now!" Sarann answered, puffing her cheeks out and pretending to be a fat crocodile. Jake went into a fit of giggles at his sister's antics. "No, but the lost boys are much better fighters because Peter Pan's such a good teacher, so they always beat the pirates. And the lost boys can fly too." Sarann finished, picking up her brother and pretending to fly him about the room. Soon they were both giggling and after a bit more talk about the lost boys, Jake was nodding off to sleep.

After that he was a different child. As long as Sarann was there to put him to bed and give him one of her own stories, usually about Peter Pan, but often just about anything that came into her head, he was no trouble at all. By now, as soon as he was told it was bedtime he'd rush off, get himself into his pyjamas, brush his teeth, clean the soft toys off his bed and tuck himself in without a single complaint, always anticipating the new and interesting adventure Sarann was going to spin for him that night. And tonight was no different.

"Now can I have a story?" He asked once he was firmly in bed.

"What story would you like?"

"Hook!"

"Another story about Hook? Don't tell me you want to be a pirate?" Sarann asked teasingly.

"Nope." Jake answered solemnly. "But he has some fun adventures."

"He sure does. Well how about the time Hook tried to get one of the mermaids to kiss him."

"Ick! No." Jake said, screwing his face up in childlike disgust.

"Hmm, no kissing. What about the time Hook shaved off his beard?"

"No Sarann, give me a good story." The little boy pleaded.

"A good story, huh?" Sarann said, thinking. "How about the time Cap'n Hook got hold of some fairy dust?"

"Cap'n Hook flew?" Jake asked with childish delight.

"Ah now I never said he flew, you need more than just fairy dust to fly."

"Happy thoughts!"

"Exactly, but Cap'n Hook didn't have any happy thoughts, because Peter Pan always thwarted his plans. So one night, Captain James Hook decided to get some happy thoughts by coming up with a plan that Peter Pan couldn't foil…"

"Is he asleep?" Sarann's mother asked as she saw Sarann exiting the boy's bedroom and quietly shutting the door behind her.

"Fast on." Sarann answered, hugging her mother.

"I don't know what we'd do without that imagination of yours." Her mother said, honestly.

"Right, we're off out now, we shouldn't be back too late, anything you need before we go?" Her father asked, stepping out onto the landing to join the women.

"Nope, I've got popcorn and a DVD, Jake's asleep, I'm sorted. You two enjoy your night."

Hugging and kissing both her parents goodbye, Sarann watched them leave before going into her own bedroom and settling down for a night of films.

Around midnight Sarann went to check on Jake and found him sleeping soundly, one leg thrown over the side of the bed. Smiling she tucked him back him and gave him a kiss on the forehead. For all he could be a monster at times, when he was asleep he looked like a little angel.

"Ah Jake, you'd give Cap'n Hook a run for his money any day."

"Is that right?"

The voice, male, deep and completely unexpected, came from behind her. Spinning around in fright she faced an image her logical brain refused to entertain, yet her eyes wouldn't stop showing her. 'Extravagant' wasn't a strong enough word for what she was seeing. The man was dressed top to toe in red velvet. His long jacket had elaborate gold embroidery detail as did his ostrich-floss-feathered hat. The ruffles on his sleeves looked to be expensive crushed silk and the gold sword at his waist and rings on his fingers screamed opulence. Red breeches and black boots completed the outfit and his sumptuous black locks were perfectly in fitting with the luxury displayed before her. And then there was the hook…

"He doesn't look like much." The man said, taking a step closer to peer at the boy in the bed. "I fail to see how this slip of a boy could stand up to me."

"Get out of this house right now or I'll call the police." Sarann told the stranger, her voice filled with a confidence she did not feel. She was terrified. She didn't know who this man was or what he wanted, all she knew was that she had to protect her little brother.

"Your police can't stop me, nor that blasted Pan. Your stories got more than just the attention of the lost boys and that last sentence called out an adventure I would be a fool to pass on. And Captain James Hook is no fool."

Captain James Hook? Great, her house had been broken into by a nutcase! She had no idea how he knew about her stories but she didn't care, she needed him gone, now.

"I'm warning you one last time, leave now or I'll call the police."

She was shaking now, partly through fear, partly through anger that someone would dare invade the sanctuary of her home. The man calling himself Hook just laughed though, an evil sound that sent shivers down Sarann's spine and made her fear him all the more. She glanced at the door, trying to gauge if she'd be able to grab her phone from her own room to call the police before the man stopped her, but she knew she could never leave him alone with Jake.

"I like your spirit, you'll certainly provide us with some excellent entertainment."

His words hinted at things far darker than Sarann wanted to contemplate. At that moment though she heard an excited shriek of "Hook!" from behind her and Jake shot past her before she could stop him. Sarah watched the stranger pick her little brother up with terror. How many times had she told Jake not to talk to strangers and here he was throwing himself into the arms of a man who'd just broken into their house! She cursed his innocence and cursed herself for filling his head full of stories of a pretty harmless Hook. She didn't know why this madman was pretending to be the villain of her stories but it didn't matter, all that mattered was that he had her brother.

"Please, give him back. I'll let you leave, I won't call the police, I'll never tell anyone about this, just please, put Jake down."

She was begging and she didn't care, she was desperate for her brother's safety.

"Ah the adventures we could have Jake, sailing the open ocean, plundering, seeking buried treasure, what says you to joining me crew?"

"Yes!" Was Jake's concise and enthusiastic answer.

The cold shiver ran down Sarann's spine again. She had to do something.

"Jake, remember what I told you about pirates, don't you want to be a lost boy?"

She was grasping at straws, but as long as Jake wanted to go with this lunatic she had no chance, she needed to want to come back to her.

"No, I want a hat, just like Cap'n Hook's and a hook and a sword and…"

"Then that's just what ye'll have boy." The man's speech was becoming more pirate like by the moment as he slipped into the role the boy desired of him. "So what says ye girl? Ready to become a wench aboard me vessel?"

"Jake, please, come here, that's not Captain Hook, that's a bad man dressing up, please come here."

"No, this is the real Cap'n Hook and I'm going with him."

The petulant little boy was back. Here was someone offering the adventures Sarann could only give him in stories, how could she possibly compete with that?

"Now girl, your brother's coming with me whether ye like it or not, the only question left is whether or not ye'll be joining us."

He was going to kidnap her little brother! Terror previously unknown to Sarann washed over her and her legs threatened to buckle beneath her. She couldn't let this happen, she couldn't!

"I'm not a patient man by nature, but I shall give you one minute precisely to make your decision."

Sarann's mind raced furiously, trying to come up with a way out of this situation, a way to save her brother, but her panic was so great that nothing came to her. She looked at her brother and saw him clinging furiously to the man's neck, grinning inanely at the adventures he faced. She needed to get him back, she had to think of something, offer him something, but what? What could possibly be better than what he imagined the man dressed as Hook was offering? She needed…

"Times up, what'll it be?"

Not thinking straight, Sarann hit upon the only solution her brain would offer; go with him. She couldn't let him take Jake alone and she couldn't think of a way to get Jake back, at least if she went with him she might have a chance to get help or find a way for both of them to escape. It was the best she could come up with, it was all she could come up with. She gave the stranger a resigned nod and took a step towards him. He reached a hand out to her silently and with one last anguished look at her brother, Sarann took it.

With a feral grin the man dressed as Hook walked over to the window and opened it wide to allow Sarann to see what lay beyond. Gone was the view of London, gone were the brick houses and concrete streets, gone were the street lamps and cars, instead, an enormous ship filled the entire window. As Sarann stared in shock at the image she knew could not possibly be true, a rope ladder was thrown over the side of the ship and landed on the windowsill in front of her. Sarann watched uncomprehendingly as Hook passed her brother up to a pirate waiting on the deck of the ship before he climbed up the rope ladder himself. Once on the deck he turned back to Sarann and indicated she should climb aboard.

Climb aboard… climb aboard? There was a pirate ship hovering in the sky outside her little brother's bedroom window. Her brother had been abducted by a man who she now knew undoubtedly to be the real Captain Hook and he was expecting her to follow him willingly aboard. Her logical mind screamed for her to stay put until the hallucinations stopped, but the rest of her, her childlike mind, her innate curiosity and unlimited imagination told her to go, to follow the adventure wherever it may take her. Even her logical mind couldn't stop her from going after her brother. So, taking a deep breath, she stepped up onto the windowsill and climbed the rope ladder up towards the deck of the ship.

Once she reached the top of the ladder two pirates leaned over, grabbed her arms and hauled her onto the deck. Almost immediately they scurried off to help with the preparations for setting sail. Looking around her, bewildered at the flurry of activity, Sarann saw Captain Hook leading her brother up some stairs towards the cabin and without thinking she set off after them, determined not to let her brother out of her sight. So intent was she on following Jake that she wasn't paying full attention to where she was going. A pirate running across the deck slammed into her from the side, sending her flying sideways and smashing her head against the main mast of the ship. The world swayed as she went down and she was unconscious before she even hit the deck.