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It all starts with Niall.
They're neighbors all through their first year of university, rooms squashed next to each other down an isolated little stub of corridor. At first Liam's got mixed feelings about his room allocation - no one's going to hammer on his door and run away, or be loud in the corridor when he's trying to sleep or study, but he's not going to be in the thick of things either. No one's going to wander by and pop in for a chat. He'd hoped going to university would mean making more friends.
As it turns out, he makes plenty.
Niall introduces Liam to everyone who strolls down their corridor looking for him, and Liam does the same in return, albeit less frequently. Despite having an unprecedented number of new mates, Liam spends most of his time with his immediate neighbor. Niall almost always leaves his door open, or opens it when Liam knocks.
Usually just before he knocks, actually. Liam's fairly convinced that Niall's got some sort of psychic ability or extrasensory perception or something. He's strangely in sync with everyone, mimicking movements and facial expressions and accents.
"I'm just good with people!" says Niall, but Liam's not so sure. He's caught Niall laughing before the punchline of a joke a few too many times to be able to write it off as coincidence.
Occasionally he bangs on Niall's door and gets no answer - even though Liam knows he's in, because if he's not got his door open he's slamming it shut whenever he goes in or out, and after a while it's easy enough for Liam to keep track. Liam spends the better part of half a year being puzzled by this behavior, before he finally figures out that Niall needs alone time too. For all his friends, Niall's never had a girlfriend or a boyfriend. When Liam asks him about it, Niall just laughs and says he hasn't got time. Which doesn't make sense, because Niall spends a lot less time working and a lot more time doing nothing than Liam does, and even he's had a couple of (awkward, short lived) relationships.
Niall's a little odd but Liam likes him anyway, a lot, and when it comes close to the end of the year he slides a note, asking if he wants to be flatmates, under Niall's door. Then he goes back to his room and tries not to listen to the sound of his own heart thumping.
Niall knocks for him about thirty seconds later.
*
The radiator in Niall's room bursts in late November, and to avoid anything getting wetter than it already is and himself getting cold, Niall redistributes his stuff around the rest of the flat and his body to Liam's bed. Their landlord tells them it'll be at least a couple of weeks before it's fixed, and Liam resigns himself to a fortnight of getting kicked by a sleeping Niall. The two week deadline leaves Niall looking anxious, and Liam wonders why.
Late November, he will always remember, is when things get strange.
About a week into their new arrangement, Liam wakes up to see Niall sneaking out of the room. The watch on his bedside table reads 03:10 in unwavering neon blue.
"What are you doing?"
Niall turns to look at him, his face an eerie white in the darkness.
"Nothing," he whispers. "Go back to sleep."
Liam resolves to wait up until Niall comes back, but the next thing he knows he's blinking awake, gray daylight streaming through a gap in the curtains. Niall's sprawled out next to him, blond hair plastered to one side of his slack face and the other half mashed into a pillow.
There's a smudge of dirt across his foot. Liam frowns.
"Niall." He shakes Niall by the shoulders. "Niall, wake up. Breakfast."
In the end Liam's so distracted by Niall trying to steal his bacon, that he forgets to ask about any night time escapades.
Two days later, and Liam wakes up in the middle of the night again. And again, Niall's gone.
In the morning he finds a small, blue flower crushed into the carpet at the foot of the bed. Liam's not exactly a flower expert, but he's fairly sure it's some sort of tropical thing. Not a plant that would grow in England, at any rate.
Niall acts normal all day, nothing to suggest he's been sneaking out of the house at all hours to do God knows what. Liam tries not to think about it - it's Niall's business, and he can take care of himself - but he's always been a bit of a worrier, and more than that he's just really curious about where Niall's going.
The next night, Liam's ready. He swallows half a pack of pro plus right before bed, and pops some gum into his mouth. The chewing'll keep him awake for a little bit; the fear of falling asleep and choking to death when he swallows the gum will keep him up all night.
Midnight passes, then one am, two am. Liam's starting to think that Niall's not planning an excursion tonight, or that maybe he knows Liam's awake and is waiting patiently for him to fall asleep, when the bed shifts and Niall stirs. Liam lies still and peers through half open eyes as he props himself up on his elbows and checks his phone. The bed dips as Niall gets out, and Liam snaps his eyes shut, feigning sleep. When he opens them again, Niall's shuffling towards the door. Liam counts to ten before getting up and padding after him.
The light's a little worse in the corridor but it's still easy to make out Niall, standing almost at the end and facing the bathroom.
Liam's puzzled. He's not doing anything at all. Maybe he's sleepwalking? Then Niall steps forward and out of sight. Liam sighs in disappointment. He's probably just gone for a piss. Liam waits anyway, half in and half out of his bedroom, in case the peeing is a precursor to further nighttime wanderings.
And he waits.
And waits.
Fifteen minutes later and Liam's worried. What if Niall was sleepwalking, and he's done something awful? Liam's heard about people who jump out of windows and hurt themselves while they're asleep. What if he had a dizzy spell while peeing, and fell and cracked his head on the floor? It's probably best to go and check. If he walks in on a conscious Niall, Liam can just claim he needed the loo, and all's well.
Niall's not in the bathroom.
Liam is beyond baffled. It's very empty, white tile cold and clean in what little light leaks in from the window. There's nowhere to hide. The window's latched from the inside.
He goes back and checks his room, on the off chance that Niall went to the kitchen to get some water or something right before Liam went into the bathroom, and they somehow missed each other. (He's so tired - or he was a few minutes ago, before he had a mystery to think about - maybe he dozed off for a second while watching the corridor?)
Nothing.
He checks the kitchen, Niall's room, their tiny living room - empty, empty, empty. The front door's locked, chain drawn across it. Unless Niall's some sort of Houdini, he's still in the flat.
Liam goes back to his room feeling uneasy. The bed is cold when he climbs into it, and everything feels a bit too quiet. He rolls over to face the ceiling, and he waits.
He wakes to his alarm blaring and a warm body lying next to him.
There's sand in his bed.
Liam is getting to the bottom of this. Today.
He waits until after breakfast, because Niall is sort of unsuspecting after he's finished eating, like a lion that's too satisfied after having feasted on gazelle to notice the pack of hyenas sneaking up behind it.
"Do you want to play x box?" Liam asks. He smiles and it feels tight and fake, but Niall grins back easily enough. Liam lets Niall go into the living room ahead of him, and while he's busy setting up the tv, Liam locks the door and pushes a chair against it for good measure.
"Er-" says Niall. He looks puzzled. "What're you-"
"I followed you out of bed last night."
Niall bites his lip. "Oh."
Liam decides to throw caution to the winds. "I know everything," he says. It always works in films.
Niall frowns. "Define everything."
Bugger.
"Alright, I don't know everything. But I know you've been sneaking out, and I want to know where to. Unless it's private, in which case please don't tell me." He pauses. "I hope you're being safe. And that you're not doing anything in public places, because that's very illegal, and-"
Niall flaps his hands in a desperate ceasefire! motion. "I just went out to meet some mates."
"But how could you? All the doors and windows were locked from the inside."
Niall pouts. "Liam-" He cuts himself off, shrugs. "I was going to tell you anyway. Can you wait until tonight? It's better if I show you, you won't believe me otherwise."
"I'd believe you," argues Liam.
But Niall shakes his head. "I'll wake you up before I go, yeah? I promise."
It takes Liam ages to get to sleep. He keeps thinking about what Niall's secret could be, and his theories get wilder and wilder as the night goes on. Niall's a drug dealer. Niall's a spy. Niall's a vigilante. Niall's a DJ. Related - Niall works the night shift at a pirate radio station.
He wakes to a cool hand on his bicep. "Liam. Liam. Time to go, come on. Put on some shoes."
Liam looks down and sure enough, Niall's feet are stuffed into a pair of his trademark supras. Liam is silent as he slips on his own converse, an almost oppressive anticipation holding his mouth closed.
He follows Niall down the dark corridor. Just like the previous night, Niall stops almost at the end. Liam had thought he was standing at the bathroom door, but actually they've stopped just before it, where the bathroom wall juts out a little. Niall knocks on it.
"What're you-"
Someone knocks back.
Liam likes to think he's quite brave, but he's not prepared for this. The only thing that stops him screaming - because there's a person in the walls! - is the fact that Niall's obviously ok with it, and from having observed him for nearly a full year, Liam can say with close to one hundred percent certainty that Niall's got neither the skills nor the inclination to brick someone up alive.
Niall turns to him and grins. Liam doesn't think an evil wizard would show so many teeth, so that's out too.
"Right, so - you're going to think I'm taking the piss, but we're going through this wall here." He runs his finger down the join of the bathroom wall and the jut. "Just hold on to my waist, I've never done this before - with someone else, I mean - and I don't want to lose you."
He's right, Liam does think he's taking the piss. But there's no one around to laugh at him, and someone knocked and it's almost three am and it feels like something could happen. So Liam wraps his arms around Niall, holds on tight and closes his eyes.
Niall shuffles forward and Liam shuffles with him and he feels terribly, terribly cold, the kind of cold that feels like burning and his bones feel thin and hollow like he's been sick with the flu, like he's too brittle and could just snap in half.
Niall's hands are on his, prying them from his body. "Liam, get off."
Liam opens his eyes. They're in the bathroom. He lets go.
They're in the bathroom, only it's back to front, like he's stepped through a mirror.
They're in the bathroom, only it's back to front and there's a boy in the bath and one perched on the toilet.
"um," says Liam articulately.
*
"Hello!"
His smile is bordering on a smirk and Liam can tell he's trouble, like one of those boys at school he'd never sit next to out of fear of getting detention through proximity alone. Liam preferred to earn his own detentions.
The boy sitting on the toilet eyes him curiously and gets up and hugs Niall. It's a very friendly hug, thinks Liam. The kind of hug you might give someone who you'd been secretly dating for a good while.
Underneath the bewilderment and sleep deprivation and conviction that he's hallucinating, Liam's the tiniest bit wounded.
"Liam, that's Louis," Niall nods at the boy in the tub, "and this is Zayn. Zayn, Lou, this is Liam. You know, my flatmate."
"Hello." Liam waves awkwardly. "I don't really know what's going on."
"Just a bit of magic," says Niall dismissively.
Liam's a bit wary of getting too close to the two strangers - Zayn and Louis, he reminds himself; Niall's friends, probably not murderers - but there's a strange prickling in his head and his vision's blurring at the edges, so he wobbles towards the bath and sits down on the edge. There's thumping as Louis scrambles down to his end of the tub.
"Alright, Liam?" he asks kindly. This close, Liam can see that Louis has gray-blue eyes, like a stormy summer sky. And a swirling face, but that's probably a problem on Liam's end rather than Louis'. "Is this all a bit of a surprise to you?"
Liam nods.
"Did Niall not explain anything?"
Liam shakes his head.
"I didn't know how!" exclaims Niall, and Louis tuts.
"I'll give you the basics. We're in Neverland - don't look at me like that, I didn't name it - which is like where you're from, but better; I'm immortal-" he scrunches up his face "-sort of, and Zayn's a fairy."
Liam looks Zayn up and down. He doesn't look like a fairy. He looks like a teenage boy.
"Er," says Liam.
Zayn mutters something, but Liam can't quite make out the words. "Sorry?"
"Yeah, he's got a bit of an accent," says Niall, slinging an arm around Zayn's shoulders. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it soon."
"Right," says Louis."Fabulous introductions, shall we get going?"
His vision no longer fuzzy, Liam can see the three of them looking to him for an answer. He freezes, unsure of where they're going or what he should say or what's even happening really. Niall senses his dilemma.
"We're going to Ghost Mountain, by the way."
"Oh." That doesn't sound like something Liam would be interested in. He's having enough trouble with the mirror image bathroom.
"It'll be good," says Louis, "there's loads to show you on the way. How about it, up for an adventure?"
Liam dithers.
"You don't have to," says Niall.
"You're going," says Louis.
Louis leads them all out of the bathroom window and onto slippery, flat rocks.
They're on a lake. A sharp cliff borders the water on one side, and Liam can see winding lines where feet have worn a path from top to bottom. The other side looks vague and insubstantial and Liam turns away, because looking at it makes him feel funny.
He wonders if Niall might be a drug dealer after all.
The sky is almost the same blue as his highlighter and the sun is hot on Liam's back, nothing like the weather outside his bedroom window. It's all very strange, but Liam passed every one of his units last year, even if he did have to have an extended chat with one of his professors before they agreed he could continue on with the course - he's a capable young man and he won't be phased by this. The first step is to get a grip on the situation.
"Where is Neverland?"
Niall and Zayn exchange glances and Liam's glad to see he's not the only one who's confused.
"What do you mean?" asks Zayn.
"What's the nearest country?" The others continue to look nonplussed. Liam's not particularly good at geography, but he gives it a guess anyway. "Are we near Africa? Or wait, no, Amsterdam? Are we near Amsterdam?"
Louis looks blank. "Africa? Never heard of it."
"It's magic," says Niall. "Neverland, not Africa," he adds, before Louis can ask.
"You said that already." It's not that Liam doesn't believe in magic - he does a bit, he's still got that secret little hope that maybe, somewhere, things are a bit different from factories and eating toast in the morning and coming home at five o'clock and going to sleep and there being such a big divide between dreams and life - but it's squashed under years of telling himself there's no such thing. Liam can't remember the last time he wished for something he didn't think he could get. The idea of a whole world of magic is a little overwhelming.
"What kind of magic?"
"Just the normal kind, I think," says Niall. "What kinds are there?"
Liam splutters. "I'm not the expert here! I don't even believe in magic." He says it reflexively. It's not true, magic's the best explanation he's got for what's happening.
Zayn doubles over, hacking.
"Smokers' cough," he says, when it passes enough that he's able to talk. He massages his chest and Niall pats him on the back sympathetically. "I'll be alright in a minute."
Something else occurs to Liam. "How do you know each other?" he asks, gesturing from Niall to the others.
Niall opens his mouth to answer, but Louis interrupts.
"Let's walk and talk, shall we?" he suggests. "The tide's rising."
Liam looks down and sure enough, there's water lapping at the rubber of his shoes.
Louis leads them up the cliff face - up close it's less sheer, the winding path easier to tackle than Liam had imagined. At the top there's long dry grass and reeds all gently swaying, but no breeze. When he turns to look back down at the lake it's very blue, very glittering, and much further down than he knows he's climbed.
Something uncanny slides between his shoulders.
This high up he can see that beyond the lake lies yet more blue, bigger and hazier, and beyond that the sea stretches all the way out to the horizon.
"Come on," says Louis. "Let's go down to the beach." He starts down a dusty track that looks to follow the curve of the lake and Liam follows, Zayn and Niall in tow.
"Long story short," says Louis as their shoes slap over the dry earth, "My shadow got loose and I thought 'Ok, let's be responsible-'"
"I told him to be responsible," says Zayn.
"-and I went down to look for it," continues Louis. He stops walking for a moment and turns to peer at Niall. "Where did I end up again?"
"Balnamona," says Niall. "Just outside Mullingar. I was at my cousin's house, he was having a party," he explains to Liam.
"Did you come through the wall?"
"Nope," says Louis. "I flew there - in a north-westerly direction, before you ask. I never usually go over, I don't like it. I can feel myself getting wrinkles and the urge to open a savings account."
"Anyway, long story short," says Niall, "I went out to find the cat-"
"sounds like a wild party, mate."
Liam huffs out a surprised laugh and Zayn looks pleased.
"After the party," says Niall. "I went out to find the cat and instead I found Louis sitting on top of the garden shed and drinking someone's leftover beer."
"And then we had pizza," says Louis wistfully.
"Hawaiian," nods Niall, ducking to avoid a branch. Liam hadn't noticed, but the reeds have given way to close growing trees and the earth under his feet feels heavier and cooler and like it might be on a downward tilt.
"Did you find your shadow?"
Niall shrugs. "It came down to the kitchen for a bit, but we couldn't really be arsed to catch it. It jumped out of the window and into the neighbor's garden."
"Haven't seen it since," says Louis cheerily.
It's not right, thinks Liam - he'd miss his shadow. Liam imagines that if he'd been there instead of Niall, he'd have caught the thing and sewn it back on. Or probably sellotaped it, he knows from experience that he's not the best at sewing.
"It's not so bad," says Louis, like he knows what Liam's thinking. "I feel at least a stone lighter for it."
The path widens slightly and through the trees Liam catches a flash of horizon, closer than before.
"So you flew over," he says, and he tries not to think about how unbelievable that is, hopes Louis'll fly while he's here. "But that's not how Niall and I got here?"
"No," agrees Niall. "We came through a corner. You know, because corners are magic."
"What?" asks Liam. He wonders if this is common knowledge, and everyone just forgot to tell him.
"The one near the bathroom's the only corner in the whole flat that's not got furniture shoved against," says Niall, and Liam thinks. He'd never paid any attention to it, but Niall's right.
"Why are they magic though?"
Niall makes a face. "Corners are where things meet. I don't know - ask Louis, he told me."
"Well Zayn told me," says Louis.
"Zayn?"
Zayn shrugs. "'s just magic."
Liam realizes that he's in the company of three utterly useless individuals.
"You can't just say 'It's magic' and leave it," he argues.
"I think you'll find," says Louis, "that that's sort of the point of magic."
The trees have started to thin out and the ground is getting sandier with every step. After another two dozen meters they emerge from between birch trees like pillars, and onto a beach.
This lake's a bit bigger than the first one, with a recognizable cliff face bordering one side, and a passage out to sea between rock pile walls on the other. In the distance rises a massive dark peak.
"That's Ghost Mountain," says Zayn, and Liam gapes.
And ponders.
"Why couldn't we see it from higher up? From on top of the cliff? It wasn't there before."
"That's why it's called Ghost Mountain," says Louis. "Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't."
"I thought it was called Ghost Mountain because it was haunted."
Louis' face falls. "Oh, maybe. Do you think so? Shit."
"I'm sure it's not," says Liam, but only out of politeness. "Haven't you ever been?"
Zayn shakes his head. "It only appeared a week ago."
"Oh," says Liam. He can't quite work out where the mountain is, relative to where they are, but it seems far. "It's miles away."
"Yeah, I was hoping we could get a lift," says Louis, indicating the empty lake, and that's when it clicks for Liam - they're in a harbor. "But obviously the curly one has somewhere better to be."
Liam imagines a giant noodle captaining a ship. It's not the strangest thing he can see happening at this point.
"We could fly there instead," suggests Niall slyly.
Liam's heart skips a beat. "Please," he blurts out.
"Zayn?"
Zayn shrugs. "Yeah, we could. Ok, so - Liam, think happy thoughts. Then say the magic words and you're done. Here, watch. Think happy thoughts." He winks at Niall. "Zap, I can fly."
As soon as the last word leaves his mouth he's being drawn off the ground, like some invisible force is pulling him up by the shoulders.
"Zap, I can fly," says Niall, and he's floating next to Zayn.
Right, thinks Liam. Happy thoughts. Laughing with his friends. Summer holidays. Asking out Katie and her saying yes. And then breaking up with him a week later. Singing at the school assembly that one time and everyone clapping.
His feet remain firmly stuck to the ground.
"Oh dear," says Louis. "I think you might need a bit of help. Zayn, release the fairy dust!"
"I told you not to call it that," says Zayn. To Liam he says, "this is a bit gross, sorry." He comes to hover over Liam and starts swatting at his jacket. Fine clouds of dust puff up into the air and Liam chokes and coughs.
"Give it another go now," says Louis, once the cloud has settled. "The fairy dust should help."
Zayn punches Louis in the shoulder. "Stop."
"But that's what it is! And it's much more marketable than years of cigarette ash, I never wash this jacket!."
"Years of cigarette ash! Who is it who keeps - enabling me? 'Don't quit completely, Zayn, just cut back! What if we need the extra magic?' What if I need my fucking lungs, Louis?"
There's dead silence. Liam takes a teeny step back, just in case Zayn directs his sudden anger in Liam's direction and changes him into a toad or something.
Louis raises an eyebrow. "Someone's in a mood today."
"Sorry," says Zayn, holding up his hands placatingly. "Sorry, I just haven't had a smoke for a while. Liam, you should be ok to go now."
And he is.
It doesn't take Liam long to get accustomed to moving through the air - he ends up being able to do exactly what he wants to, with only the most vaguely formed thought.
"Good, isn't it?" asks Niall, and Liam grins until his face hurts.
They swoop over the rock wall of the harbor and then there's nothing but empty blue moving below them as they make a beeline for Ghost Mountain. Zayn and Louis are jostling each other up ahead, and Niall grabs Liam's hand and pulls him upwards.
He'd always imagined clouds to feel fluffy and solid, but they don't feel like anything, except cold and not quite wet. He and Niall go right through them, no different to air.
Something wraps around Liam's ankle, pulling him back. "You're missing all the fish," says Louis.
They spot a group of dolphins and fly alongside a shoal of porpoises engaging in a very intricate maritime dance. Something huge and dark rises up from beneath, and the porpoises scatter. Liam looks back to try and catch a glimpse, but by the time whatever it is breaks the surface, they've already flown too far away.
A little while later they come across a small boat. It's drifting idly across the waves, like whoever's captaining it has grown bored and sloped off for an extended tea break.
"Louis!" yells Zayn. "Isn't that Harry?"
Louis flaps his hands at them to get them to slow down.
"Let's stop for a minute."
Liam follows as he swoops toward the boat. Before he can get close enough to land, a scowling figure emerges from the cabin. It's not a noodle, but a curly-haired boy.
"Don't," the boy calls up to them reproachfully. "Last time you capsized us. And you broke my wrist." He holds up his right arm, and Liam can see the bright orange cast extending over it.
"It's just sprained," says Louis, but all the same he hovers at arm's length from the boat. The boy - Harry - eyes Liam intently, frowning, and Liam feels a little unnerved.
"This is Liam. Niall's mate, remember? Liam, this is Harry."
"Hi, Liam."
Liam moves so that he can take Harry's outstretched hand - but being this close to land (of a sort) is making flying strangely difficult, and gravity snaps him down onto the deck of the boat.
Harry puts out a hand to help him up and he's wearing a lopsided grin, like he's fighting the urge to laugh. Louis and Niall have no such qualms and their cackles soon attract a flock of seagulls, under the mistaken impression that their kin are calling to them. It takes Zayn ordering the seagulls to fuck off to get them to disperse, and even then they circle ominously nearby, waiting.
"Hi, Liam." Harry shakes Liam's hand once he's up on his feet. "Nice to meet you. How's it going?"
"Weird," says Liam. He beams at Louis. "Good weird."
"We're going to Ghost Mountain," says Niall.
Something buzzes and trills and Harry extracts his phone from the front pocket of his jeans. He huffs out a laugh at whatever's on the screen and starts tapping out a reply.
"Do you want to come?" asks Louis.
Harry keeps typing.
"Harry."
"What?" asks Harry, glancing up for a second before going back to his phone.
"Do you want to come with us to Ghost Mountain?"
"Hmm?"
Louis lets out a strangled sound and darts forward to wrench the phone from between Harry's fingers. He pitches it into the air and it soars in a graceful arc before hitting the water.
"Thank you, Louis." says Harry. He doesn't sound very grateful.
Louis looks regretful for a split second before his expression clears. "Serves you right. You should look at people while they're talking to you."
"I was texting Ed!"
Louis rolls his eyes so viciously that Liam thinks they might fall out of his head. "You could've waited thirty seconds. Bad form, Harry."
Harry scowls.
To Liam, Louis says, "You haven't met Ed. He lives on Cat Island, he's their King, basically. Democratically elected-"
"-He's their president," corrects Zayn.
"They carry him around on a thingy, wait on him hand and foot." Niall looks slightly envious.
Liam's not sure if they're taking the piss or not. Cat servants don't sound very plausible, but then neither does accessing a secret world through the bathroom wall, and that's definitely something that happened.
A text alert sounds and Harry stills, hand in the air like he's asking for quiet.
"My phone!" He dashes to the starboard side of the boat and peers down at the water. "Oh, brilliant."
Liam joins him to look curiously over the edge, and starts. There's a fat crocodile gazing lazily up at him, mouth open so that Liam can see the phone jammed between its teeth. It almost looks like it's grinning.
Louis is in hysterics.
"Laugh away," says Harry. "First you broke my wrist, now you've lost my phone. I don't know any of those numbers by heart, Lou!"
As he's talking the crocodile snaps its jaw shut and turns away from the boat. "Hey, no!" cries Harry. "Man the decks! Nick!"
A bedraggled looking man staggers out from the cabin. "What?"
"Sorry for waking you," says Harry. "But we need to go, now."
Nick groans, looking desperately miserable. "Alright, fine. You're making me dinner for this." He heads to the stern and Liam can hear clanking and an exclamation of "Bloody hell, this is a bit heavy," which he thinks means the anchor's being hoisted.
"Right," says Louis, having sobered slightly. "We'll see you later, yeah?"
Harry nods agreeably. "See you at dinner. If you lock me out again I'll hate you forever. I'm being serious this time."
Louis mock salutes and pushes away from the boat.
"Nice to meet you," says Liam, offering Harry his hand.
"You too."
"Liam!" shouts Louis, and that's when he realizes the boat's moving. He thinks happy thoughts - flying, watching dolphins jump -
"Zap, I can fly."
Nothing.
"Zap, I can fly!"
"Oh well," says Harry. "Follow that crocodile!"
The boat lurches forward with unexpected speed, and Nick's face appears from behind a sail. "Bloody hell, Harry, my head's splitting, can you not?"
"Kidnap!" screams Louis from the sky. As one, the flock of seagulls makes a sharp turn. Louis seems not to notice. "Bye Liam, it was nice knowing you!"
"Leave him at the mountain, will you, Harry?" yells Zayn, voice growing quieter with every word.
Liam watches as the seagulls rush Louis, his swearing mingling with the noise of their cries. Zayn and Niall are doubled over laughing, clinging onto each other for support. The scene gets smaller and smaller as the boat sails further and further away.
Harry's grinning when he turns to Liam. "Don't worry, I'll drop you off after we get my phone back, ok?"
There's nothing Liam can do but agree.
They follow the periodically ringing crocodile for a good twenty minutes before it dives out of sight and fails to resurface.
"Fuck," says Harry levelly.
He makes Liam a cup of milky assam and tops his own mug up with water - Nick refuses the offer of tea, instead sending Harry a withering look and declaring he's going back to bed - and they sit and sip their drinks out on the deck.
"D'you like it here?" asks Harry. "It's nice, isn't it?"
"It is," agrees Liam. "A bit confusing though, those three are rubbish at explaining."
Harry eyes him speculatively. "What do you need explaining?"
Liam thinks. There's quite a lot that he suspects doesn't actually have an explanation, more still that's probably better off without one.
"Well," says Liam eventually. "Nick's quite old. I thought people who lived here were supposed to be immortal."
"That's not really how it works," says Harry - slowly, like he's deliberating over every word. "Nick is quite old - don't tell him I said that, he's very sensitive - but he's not really grown up. He doesn't have to grow up, because he's here, see?"
Liam does see, sort of. If he squints.
"Doesn't he want to though?"
"None of us do. Except, I don't think Zayn'll be here much longer." Harry doesn't pause to let Liam ask why, but he doesn't need to. "He used to be quite nervous, you know?"
Liam feels an extra bit of fondness for Zayn. He used to be quite nervous too.
"Everything he worried about was just normal stuff, but I think he worried about it a bit more than most people. You know, the What am I going to do with my life? and the I don't want to get old stuff. It's not the same as not wanting to grow up." He furrows his brow. "I don't think he even cares about getting wrinkles anymore."
"Why are you here?" asks Liam. "You don't have to say if you don't want to," he adds hastily.
The boat bobs and Harry gives a little shrug. "I just like things how they are. I like having fun, I don't want things to change. I think it's ok to keep things the same for a bit longer."
It doesn't sound too unreasonable to Liam. He wants to ask about Louis, but he doesn't, and Harry doesn't volunteer any information either. Liam's tea's gone a bit cold, but he finishes it anyway and lets Harry haul him to his feet.
"Come on, the others are probably waiting for you."
It's not until Harry's steering them across the waves that he broaches the subject again.
"I'm glad you came along," he says. "I think you'll be good for Lou."
Harry drops Liam off at the foot of Ghost Mountain - or as near to the foot as it's possible to get, considering Ghost Mountain rises up out of the sea - and he and and a newly awakened Nick wave as their boat sails away. The others are already there, squabbling over what appears to be a needlessly complicated game of rock-paper-scissors.
"This is us waiting for you," says Zayn.
Up close, the mountain is a shimmering dark mass, winking in and out of view. It doesn't look too big though - Liam's sure he's climbed higher on visits to the Lake District. Which is just as well, because Louis insists that they make the ascent on foot.
"It's cheating otherwise, you won't get the same sense of achievement. And besides, Liam'll just faceplant into the side if we try to fly up."
Niall snorts and Liam vows to push him off the peak.
The hike is awful, even for Liam who goes running almost every day and is in the cross country society at uni. Zayn's struggling the most, pausing every hundred meters or so to lean on his knees and wheeze heavily. They're halfway to the top when he stops and refuses to go any further.
"I think I'm dying."
The mountain flickers out of sight, but Liam's used to it by now. He's clearly standing on something, even if he can't see what that something is. It's a lot weirder to see the other three posed with legs propped up on invisible rocks than it is to look down and see nothing beneath his own feet.
"Oh, come on, Zayn," says Louis. He's looking annoyingly perky, though his sweat-matted hair belies his seemingly effortless state.
Zayn ignores him and instead gets gingerly onto his back and shuts his eyes.
"Go on without me."
"Come on," says Liam. "We're almost there." They're not really, he's just trying to be encouraging. Zayn sticks up his middle finger in response.
It's Niall who gets Zayn to move. He flops down onto his stomach next to him, wriggles in close and whispers something that makes Zayn sit up.
"Fine, let's get this over with."
He holds his hands out and Niall obediently heaves and tugs him to his feet. Zayn takes a single step forwards (backwards, he's facing down the mountain) and Louis starts clapping.
"You can do it, Zayn! We believe in you!"
Zayn rolls his eyes and makes to start for the peak, but promptly trips over a rock instead. He doesn't quite hit the ground, probably due to some kind of secret fairy magic.
"Great technique," says Liam, and Louis looks delighted. Zayn pinches his arm, but gently.
"Idiots," he says, and Liam feels strangely pleased.
It was light when they started, but as they climb the sky darkens. Liam's got the idea that it's not so much related to time passing as it is to do with the mountain itself. He suspects that if they were to climb back down, it would still be light.
When they finally reach the summit, it's night, and Liam's bubbling over with disbelief. The sky is huge, an expanse so open that he imagines he can see the curve in it. It's inked a deep blue-black, pinpricks of light scattered across the whole thing.
"Maybe there are ghosts. If all I could do was watch the world forever, I'd definitely hang here to do it."
"Deep," says Niall, turning tail to flee when Zayn comes after him. "Liam, save me!" His yells echo across the rocks before falling abruptly and persistently silent.
"Well," says Louis, following a few minutes of dead quiet, "Either Zayn's killed him, or they've got their tongues down each other's throats. Probably best just to leave them to it either way."
He sits down on the nearest flattish rock and pats the space beside him. "It's cold. We should probably huddle together for warmth."
It seems like the sensible thing to do. Liam settles in next to Louis and tilts his head backwards to look up at the stars. He wonders if they're the same ones he can see from his window at home, when the smog's low enough that they're visible.
"Stars are old."
Out of the corner of his eye, Liam sees Louis twist to face him.
"Thanks for that. Good to know."
"No, but I mean - they're old, but look how bright they are. They're not boring."
"Are you trying to counsel me with half-baked metaphors?" Liam can hear Louis' grin wrapped around the words.
"No," says Liam, but he very carefully doesn't look at Louis.
There's a faint whistling, and it makes Liam shudder. He's not sure if it's the wind or Niall or Zayn or maybe even ghosts, and he tucks himself closer to Louis.
"I'm not scared of getting boring," says Louis, after a while. "I'm never going to be boring."
"But then what's so bad about growing up?"
Louis grimaces. "Lots of things. You have to be responsible. You work in an office. Things start to sag."
"I think sagging's a little way off," Liam objects. "It's good to be responsible. I like being able to handle things."
"It's awful," says Louis darkly. "The more stuff you handle, the better you get at it. And then people expect you to be even more responsible."
"I think that's sort of the point," says Liam. "Are you really going to stay here forever?"
"Yes," says Louis. "I absolutely refuse to age past twenty." He buries his face in his knees so that his "but I know I'm going to," comes out muffled.
Liam rubs soothing circles onto his back. "It's not so bad. You can do a lot more stuff when you're older. Travel. See the world."
"I can do that now," says Louis, and Liam can't really argue with that.
His bum gets sore sitting on the rock, so Louis makes Liam stumble around in the dark until they can find a smooth, unoccupied bit of summit to stretch out on. Liam lets Louis point out constellations, even though he's pretty sure Louis's making them up.
"That's the unicorn. And there's the toucan, can you see it?"
"Not really."
They're pressed close, calves and knees and thighs and arms and shoulders, and for the second time that night, Liam's got the feeling that something's about to happen. This time, though, it's the ordinary kind. The kind he gets before someone leans in to kiss him.
Louis elbows him in the ribs instead.
Liam's trying to get his breath back, when he feels fingers snaking between his own. Louis squeezes his hand and Liam squeezes back, and when he rolls over to look, Louis' smile is too big for his face.
"When are you coming to visit again?" he asks, and the way he says it is casual, but the way he looks at Liam isn't.
"Tomorrow," says Liam, but then something occurs to him. "I don't know if I'll be able to come without Niall."
"Probably not," says Louis. "Niall's a little bit magic, I think. You live together, anyway, so it's not a problem."
Liam chews on his bottom lip. "Niall's going away in three days. Christmas holidays start."
"Oh."
Liam nudges Louis in silent apology. He hasn't done anything wrong, except be the least magic, most ordinary person ever, but he's sorry anyway. Louis grabs him in a headlock and wrestles him to the ground, and then complains about how Liam's made him get dirt on his clothes.
The next night Niall tries to show Liam how to get to Neverland, but try as he might Liam just can't do it, can't see how it's done. He gives up eventually and lets Niall lead them through the bathroom wall. They take a trip to Cat Island, and Liam learns that Ed is a man ("You said he was a ginger and it's called Cat Island, what was I supposed to think?") and that Harry's in charge of naming all new discoveries ("Which is why everywhere sounds so crap.")
On Sunday night Niall goes out to say goodbye to everyone who he's going to miss for the next month, and Liam goes with him so that he can rub at his shoulders while he's hunched over a toilet being sick. When Monday rolls around Niall hugs Liam goodbye and Liam hugs back, and then he goes to goes to sort out his own packing. He's heading for Wolverhampton on Wednesday.
It's easy enough to fall into the routine of being at home. He eats toast for breakfast. His mum leaves for work at eight every morning, and his dad comes home at seven. Niall feels far away and Louis and Zayn and Harry feel even further.
*
"Alright, Lou?"
"I've missed you."
Liam's a little taken aback, but mostly he's very happy. "I've missed you too."
"Feel like going on an adventure? Apparently the old shadow's been spotted around Birmingham."
Liam thinks. Birmingham's not far at all, not if they're going to be flying. "Are we going to be flying?"
"Oh, just in for that are we?" pouts Louis.
"No," says Liam quietly. "No, not at all."
He pulls on a pair of jeans and his shoes, and grabs two jumpers.
"Do you want one?" he asks, shoving an old striped knit at Louis. It's his favorite, even though it's a bit too small now. "It's quite cold."
Louis beams. "What a thoughtful young man. Now hurry up. I nagged Zayn into giving me some fairy dust, just in case."
But Liam doesn't think he'll need it. He takes Louis' arm, thinks of linked fingers and impish grins, and steps out into the night.