Free Always Neverland by Zoe Barton

caught it. But we got the nest moved. When we settled it on the branch, the Lost Boys flew off to continue their contest, but when Spot landed, she rubbed her head against my hand. She was the only Never bird to acknowledge us after we moved a nest—let alone act grateful.
    Peter won the contest, of course. As soon as he hopped onto one of the Never birds, it glided off the branch, tame under his hands. It happened on all three of his turns.
    â€œThat’s not fair ,” Prank mumbled, watching Peter fly calmly around the clearing on the back of a Never bird yet again. He rubbed the side of his head, which he had knocked against a thick branch a few attempts earlier.
    â€œAll the Never birds like Peter,” Dibs said.
    â€œHe saved one of their nests once, a long time ago,” Button explained.
    â€œThen they should really like me .” I was sweating, and my pajama shirt was covered in enough feathers to fill a pillow. We had already relocated almost twenty nests. “Since I kept Prank from kicking all the nests out of the tree.”
    â€œI bet my way was better,” Prank said defensively. “I don’t see you risking your neck and jumping on any Never birds.”
    â€œShe’s a girl ,” Dibs said as we settled the nest on a new branch. “Girls are scared of Never birds.”
    They definitely had old-fashioned ideas about girls. Very annoying ones.
    â€œI am not ,” I said, hands on my hips. First, they called me stupid. Then they called me a coward. I wasn’t going to put up with that any longer. “I would’ve done it right after Kyle, but I’ve been too busy carrying nests back and forth. Unlike some people.”
    â€œThe Wendy girl should try,” Peter said, looking at me as he glided by on the Never bird’s back. I was especially annoyed that he was so bossy. I didn’t see him covered in feathers.
    â€œFine,” I said, flying up.
    I almost lost my nerve when the Never bird looked straight at me, very suspicious.
    â€œRemember what Prank wanted to do to your nests,” I told it sternly, and I jumped. The Never bird took flight immediately, and I clung to its neck, waiting for it to start pecking. The feathers were so plush across its back that it felt like a warm pillow. When the wings beat and brushed my legs, they tickled my feet.
    â€œThe Never birds like her, too!” Kyle cried, delighted. “Do they always like the Wendy girls?”
    I looked up, realizing that the bird wasn’t going to try to knock me off.
    â€œNo,” Prank told Kyle in a quiet, slightly awed voice.
    The Lost Boys watched, gaping; and seeing the jealousy in Dibs’s face, I felt a surge of triumph. “Don’t forget the nest,” I pointed out smugly, and Button and Kyle rushed to get it.
    â€œThat’s just one bird,” Prank said, crossing his arms. “Let’s see you do it again.”
    So, as soon as Button and Kyle settled the nest in the other tree, I flew over the second-to-last nest in the tree. The Never bird squawked uncertainly as I climbed onto its back, but other than that, it flew out of the Tree Home without a protest while the Lost Boys moved its nest.
    Before Prank could say anything else, I flew back and leaped onto the last Never bird. It sighed deeply through its beak and took flight, sailing around the clearing.
    â€œThree!” Kyle cried, a little out of breath from transporting so many nests one after the other. “That’s just as many as Peter.”
    â€œYeah,” said Prank reluctantly. “Our new Wendy girl has a talent for Never birds.”
    Feeling incredibly pleased with myself, I scratched the Never bird’s head. It trilled happily as we lapped the clearing a second time.
    Then I saw Peter. His expression was stony.
    I remembered how he had acted when I did more cartwheels than he did, back among the stars.
    Too late, it occurred to me that he might have liked