Page 73 of Losing Wendy
“Where are you heading off to?”
I bite my lip, slipping my coat on slowly so I have time to collect my thoughts before I turn to face him. “The stove fire burned out, so it’s freezing in the kitchen, and I’ve still got half the dishes to wash.”
The lie tastes foul, like vomit staining the back of my teeth. It’s not even my night to do the dishes. I’m not sure why I lied, except that John is so protective of me, and I worry he’ll talk me out of letting go for once.
John pushes himself from his chair. “Let me help you. It’ll go by much faster.”
I wave him off. “It was your duty last night. Besides, I don’t wantus to have to bring Michael in there. You know how much he detests the cold.”
John frowns, but there’s no suspicion in his face when he sits back down.
My gut is still sour with the lie when I slip into the hall.
When the treedeposits me out in the cold, my heart sinks as I realize no one is there.
I search back around the wide trunk, wondering if perhaps Peter meant the other side, but he’s nowhere to be found.
Did I take too long and he left on his adventure without me?
Or worse, was inviting me up here just another one of his cruel little games? Like threatening to drop me from the sky or waiting for me to fall from the cliffs. My stomach turns over.
“I was starting to think you’d never forgive me, Wendy Darling,” says a voice, and my heart jumps into my throat. I jump too, stumbling over a root in front of me. There’s a carefree laugh echoing from above, and I glimpse Peter peering down at me from where he’s perched in the branches above.
“I’m still debating,” I say, and I can’t help the way my heart thumps at the pleased smile that spreads across his beautiful face.
“Is this the adventure, then?” I ask, gesturing up toward the reaping tree. My heart lights with anticipation at the idea of scaling it. I hate the tree for what it did to John, what it assumed about Michael, but that doesn’t mean I don’t long for the feel of its bark underneath my fingertips.
“This?” Peter says, glancing around. “Have you not already climbed it? I would have expected as much from a girl who makes a habit of climbing things she wasn’t supposed to.”
I shrug. “In all honesty, I’ve considered it. But I wasn’t sure the tree would tolerate it. Forgive me if I’m hesitant of climbing into the branches of a tree that…” I stop, thinking of John’s pinkie left to rot upon the stump.
My throat goes dry.
“That’s probably wise of you,” says Peter, jumping down from the high branch as if he’s hopping off the railing of a bridge onto the walkway. His wings expand ever so slightly, slowing his descent. “But no, we won’t be climbing the tree tonight. Unless that’s what you have your heart set on, of course.”
I shake my head, curiosity threatening to eat a hole in my gut.
Suddenly, he’s close, and his gaze flicks to my shoulders. I wonder then if he’ll slip his arm around me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he tilts his head to the side and beckons for me to follow him into the dark night.
I do.
When we reach a clearing,he spins on his heel and extends a hand to me.
I keep my hands clasped behind my back. I’m hoping the stance comes across as casually disinterested, but really my fingers are twisting around one another, fidgeting with excitement.
I shouldn’t be thrilled to be out alone with the Shadow Keeper. Not when I belong to him. Not when he holds a blank bargain over me.
I try to swallow that thought down, push it to the back of my mind. So far Peter’s shown no indication that he intends me harm.
“You act as if we haven’t done this before,” he says, his grin wicked in the shimmer of the moonlight. I’m transported back to my little window, the shadows beckoning me. To the night in the clock tower when Peter extended his hand, and I took it without deliberating.
I’m deliberating now, and when I place my hand in his, it’s intentional. Immediately, he whirls me around, spinning me in a pirouette. I let out a laugh, but he stops me as my back faces him and pulls me close.
Anticipation whirls under my skin, not just from his touch, but from the realization of what he’s about to do.
“Are you ready, Wendy Darling?”
He doesn’t wait for a response before he shoots into the sky.