The children spread out so far and so fast that Gwen was isolated within a minute's time. She flew through the jungle—she couldn't remember where all the traps were, and she didn't want to trip one. The terrifying threat of shadows also compelled her to fly. Remembering her first encounter with the Anomalous Activity's shadows, she shivered to think about it slipping over surface and grabbing her foot. The jungle's spotty canopy made it hard to spot any unusual shadows moving among the others.
It didn't take long for her to run into an adult.
Gwen recognized the black coat invaders' uniforms. They wore the same tactical gear as the team that had attempted to apprehend them during the suburban exodus with Piper. He looked a bit like a shadow himself, and he spotted her. “Hold it right there!” he yelled.
Gwen screamed and flew off toward the nearest ambush. She darted through the forest and dodged his fire, watching as blue bullets splattered against trees, missing her by inches. Wherever they impacted, the plants seemed to shake and recoil.
She flew over a net and trigger obscured by an artful layer of leaves. She had barely passed it when a magic suppressant bullet struck her square between the shoulders. Her jaw clenched shut before she could scream, and she fell to the ground faster than a plane with a broken engine.
Paralyzed by the blast, she couldn't even brace herself for her fall. Neverland was merciful though, and broke her fall with a spongy clump of mushrooms. Gwen had grown accustomed to collapsing mid-flight—yet another marginally advantageous trait she had as an almost-grown-up in Neverland. She took deep breaths and remembered that most of her wasn't magical at all. She thought about physics and anatomy, and how she should be able to stand up. Her meditations on reality didn't overcome her pounding panic as the adult approached her.
Her face planted in the mushroom patch, she couldn't see, only hear, as the black coat neared. She imagined he still had his dark rifle trained on her. “Alright, girl, enough of the runaround… where's Peter Pan hiding? He's with the tree, isn't he?”
Gwen had no intention of telling him, but her jaw's functionality began to return to her, and she mumbled an incomprehensible answer.
“Just tell me where he is,” he told her, stepping slowly closer. “You're not in danger. We're just looking for the tree and some missing kids. We'll take you home, no worries.”
His assurances sounded like threats to Gwen. She mumbled louder, and tried to sound cooperative. She just had to draw him a few steps closer to her.
“Where's the tree? Is it—”
Gwen had enough control of her mouth to smile when she heard the smug black coat step into the trap. The net sprung with a satisfying snap after he tripped the trigger. He shouted, and she heard his gun clatter to the ground. While the solider writhed in the net, suspended in the trees, Gwen practiced little motions and gained control of her body again. After a minute of toe wiggling and leg flexing, she got to her feet. She felt unstable, but the longer she stood and the more she massaged her arms, the more feeling she had in her limbs.
“Sorry about all that,” she apologized, brazenly unsympathetic. The captured solider stared down at her with a rancorous loathing. “Someone will be along to let you down and take you home, no worries. I would advise you don't fight. They'll have swords. In fact,” Gwen lifted up his gun and picked at the cartridge container until it opened. She dumped all the magic-repellent ammo into her satchel. “I'll just take these so you aren't tempted to use them and get into trouble.” She laid the empty gun back down and scurried off into the depths of the forest, only after she'd checked to make sure the solider didn't have a shadow as he hung suspended in the net.
Still feeling the effects of the magic repellent, Gwen was forced to travel on foot. Peter had been right—the white coats must have refined their formula for the black coats' ammo. Gwen couldn't even fly after the impact.
She kept her eyes peeled for shadows; it surprised her that she hadn't yet run into any. Where were they? If one had found her sprawled in the mushroom patch, it would have had no problem restraining her. Lacking a shadow of her own, Gwen felt even less prepared to confront one of those slippery, dark demons.
But the memory of the Anomalous Activity officers at Jay's party evoked another thought. The principle function of that shadowy emissary had been to find her. As soon as it had, the officer had come back for her himself. Gwen gasped as she realized the black coat's strategy. The shadows weren't coming for children. They were searching for the Never Tree. They could survey the island faster than anything inhibited by a body.
A thundering, animalistic noise startled Gwen. The resulting screams didn't disturb her—they were an appropriate response to the threatening sound. She froze and watched as two black coats came, running and screaming, as a gigantic grizzly bear pursued them.
The bear didn't frighten her. Everything that wasn't a black coat was on her side today. But since when are there grizzly bears in Neverland? she wondered.
She watched as the black coats ran straight into one of the pits the lost children had dug and covered up with leaves. The man and woman both screamed again as they fell. The foolish adults didn't think to shoot at it—the grizzly bear did not seem magical to them. The bear approached the pit and growled down at them, and Gwen made sense of the creature at last.
“Growling Bear!” she called.
The furry monster turned its head and growled, affectionately, at her. She ran to him and attempted to give him a hug—she flopped against his massive side with her arms spread wide. She didn't know why she felt such an affinity for this entity who she had seen crafted from clay the day before. They both fought for Neverland, though, and that made them comrades. “The shadows—they're searching the island for the Never Tree, I'm sure of it!” Gwen told him. “We've got to make sure they don't find it.”
Growling Bear deemed this pertinent information. He collapsed on the ground and nudged Gwen. It took a second of growling and nudging before he communicated his desire to have her climb onto his back. She was afraid of pulling his fur, but Growling Bear didn't object as she crawled onto his back and held tight to him. Pressing herself against his dark fur, she tried to imagine what his plan was as he began galloping through the forest.