Okay, I just read the entire book (Lost Boy by Christina Henry) and there are a lot of misremembered details in the notes. So. Here comes a spoilery summary of most of the book:
Jamie, the protagonist, is the very first Lost Boy (itās never called Neverland in the book) and has been there for as long as he can remember. Peter always maintains about 15 Lost Boys on his roster, but some die of disease or get killed by other boys or die in raids on the pirates. Some boys, they grow up. These boys are made to leave, often to stay with the pirates at the edge of the beach. So the pirates are made up mostly of Lost Boys who couldnāt remain boys. Whenever a boy dies or disappears, Peter almost immediately disappears to The Other Place (Earth) to refill the roster again.
Jamie is the only Lost Boy that has survived from the beginning (Fog, Nod, Harry considered to be the next oldest, but still only arrived many, many years after Jamie). As such, he is considered Peterās right hand man. Peter is a narcissistic sociopath who only thinks about playing. When a boy is a dead, he ceases to exist in Peterās mind. He does not grieve or care. He is absolutely feral, playing with weapons and gambling the lives of others constantly. Jamie is the one who actually looks out for the boys. Jamie is the one who buries all the dead boys. No one else does it. Only Jamie.
Peter has recently taken a 5 yo boy, Charlie, who, unlike the other boys, isnāt abused or abandoned (and only later do we find out he was simply literally lost and came from a loving home). Because heās so young, he canāt keep up with the extremely violent rough housing that Peter does and Peter gets bored of him, hoping he will accidentally die or get eaten or something. Jamie canāt abandon him and gets attached, loving Charlie for being sweet and innocent. Peter becomes extremely jealous of Charlie for stealing away Jamieās attention, and also the fact that Charlie adores Jamie (and not Peter). Jamie is becoming less and less besotted by Peter who is callous and leaves him to pick up all the pieces, and as a result, heās starting to realise that heās growing.
There appear to only be the following living in Neverland: Peter and the Boys, pirates, Many-Eyed (aka big ass spiders that are venomous and also EAT BOYS), mermaids and wild animals (deer, rabbit, crocs). Also, later, fairies.
Apparently Peter has banned any harm against the Many-Eyed, for reasons unknown (he does let slip that there is a treaty between him and them) even though they continue to harm and eat boys as well as expand their territory. Jamie ends up killing a young Many-Eyed (who has killed a boy) and he and Peter decide to make it look like the pirates did it. Peter, instead of simply luring the pirates out to mask the smell of the Lost Boys, BURNS THE PIRATE HIDEOUT TO THE GROUND.
Aside about the pirates: Jamie is the strongest fighter among the boys and has killed many pirates. His trademark is to cut their right hand off with their own sword, as Jamie prefers to only carry a dagger. As a result, all the pirates target Jamie with a vengeance. No love lost here, even if they were once lost boys.
(sub plot with another boy, Nip, who is a nasty, cruel Lord of the Flies-esque upper crust asshole who thinks Peter chose him specially (being the most recent solo addition to replace a dead boy), who wants to be considered more senior than Jamie but is constantly defeated (usually physically) by Jamie, who is also taking out his anger on Nip through violence. Nip tries to kill Charlie and later Jamie, fails twice, kills someone else instead, nearly hung to death, eventually gets bludgeoned to death by Jamie in a duel. Peter replaces the dead boys with newcomers, including Sal, who is also the gentle sort that everyone loves, who takes special care of Charlie, and Peter hates him.)
Jamie sees Peter fly for the first time, in secret. He is shocked that Peter would keep such a big secret from him after so many years together. He is really starting to lose his love for Peter.
Pirates had always tolerated the raids and deaths of their crew at the hands of these feral boys, but now itās time for vengeance. They begin to attack the boys in earnest and heavily thins their numbers down while Peter is away (as he sometimes is).
Peter of course wants to refill his roster. Jamie, who is sick of dealing with dead boys, bargains with Peter: no more new boys, in exchange Jamie will spend more solo time with Peter.
Sal is revealed to be a girl (Sally) and Peter throws a fit as no girls are allowed. Still he doesnāt get rid of her. One of the remaining twins has sobered up with the death of his brother. He and Jamie are both growing older. Peter doesnāt notice.
Eventually, after a lot of ding dongs, Jamie and Sally scheme to escape to The Other Place - all the boys came to Neverland through a hole in the ground. However, Peter begins to pay special attention to Charlie and Jamie is too worried about Charlie (who has grown enamoured of Peterās attention) to check that the hole works. When he finally has no choice but to do so, Peter has filled in the hole. Upon returning to the tree, Peter and Charlie have gone missing. Peter is teaching Charlie how to fly, but specifically to feed him to the Many-Eyed.
In retaliation, Jamie rescues Charlie and gets the other boys to burn the fields, so that the Many-Eyed will be burned out of their nests and into the sea, where the tide is rising. The Many-Eyed all die. Peter is furious. He stalks, captures and kills the boys (including Sal) except for Jamie, Charlie and a twin. He kills them by slitting their throat and chopping off their right hand to let Jamie know that this is all his fault.
Turns out Peter has secretly been keeping a fairy (Tinkerbell) who not only helps him fly, but also is the interpreter between him and the Many-Eyed. The fairies have also been serving as his spies, but all save Tink are now dead (as they live in the fields, that the boys set fire to, not knowing they resided there). Itās implied that Tink also gives Peter ideas or commands.
Jamie also finally remembers that Peter killed his mother. Peter slit her throat and bled her to death so that a very young Jamie, confused, scared and upset at the death of someone he loves (both abused at his fatherās hands), would follow Peter to Neverland. And Peter slowly began to fill Jamieās memories in so that he would forget all about his mother.
Jamie is now a full grown adult. He confronts Peter and they agree to a final duel (Battle). Itās revealed that Neverland is alive and is the reason Peter even exists. And every drop of blood that waters Neverland directly powers Peter and keeps him young and alive. Thatās why Peter had always encouraged death and violence.
But Peter is still selfishly possessive of Jamie, even when, for the first time, he realises that Jamie is no longer a boy. Unable to kill Peter, Jamie, who is injured, can do no more than watch Peter curse him to remain anchored to Neverland agelessly (even as an adult). Peter cuts off Jamieās hand. The curse is sealed.
Jamie and the surviving boys join the pirates. Jamie becomes known as Hook. No matter where he and his crew sail to, the only land they ever sight is Neverland (implied this only happens since Jamie joined the crew). They cannot escape. Peter rebuilds his Lost Boys, only this time he flies them to Neverland. And, for some reason, sometimes he allows the ones who donāt want to stay to go back.
And thatās Lost Boy in a nutshell.
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