“You saw it?” Peter asked, suddenly lighting up. “You saw my shadow?”
“I don’t know what I saw,” Wendy said quickly. “It could’ve been a bunch of things, really. But … if it is your shadow—and if all of this is real—then it still has John and Michael?” she asked.
Peter said nothing for a moment, but then he nodded.
Wendy let out a strained laugh and finally pulled away from Peter’s grasp. She ran her fingers through her hair and squeezed her eyes shut. “This can’t be real!”
“Wendy.” Something caught his eye behind her and he spoke quickly. “You have to believe me,” he said, catching her wrists in his hands.
“But how can I believe anything you’re saying? Everything you’ve told me is impossible!” Wendy told him. Her head swam with overwhelming desperation. She wanted to believe him, to believe that all of this was possible and real, that he knew where her brothers were. That she could get them back.
Peter let out a frustrated growl. He leaned closer and looked into her eyes. Wendy held her breath. “You’ve gotta help me, or else kids are just going to keep going missing,” Peter said.
“Wendy?”
She whirled around as Jordan stepped through the door to the courtyard.
Jordan had a Dutch Bros coffee cup in her hand and she was chewing on the bright green straw. She gave Wendy a strange look. “You okay?” she asked as she crossed the pavement.
“What?” Wendy looked back to where Peter had been standing, but he was gone. She twisted to look around.
“I said,” Jordan repeated with an apprehensive laugh, “are you okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or something.” She was dressed in scrubs and had her lanyard around her neck. Jordan always got coffee before volunteering and had the disgusting habit of drinking one cup over the entire day until it was cold. Her shift must’ve just ended.
“Yeah, I’m—I’m fine,” Wendy stammered. Where had he gone? There was only one door in and out of the courtyard, and Jordan was blocking it.
“Who was that guy you were talking to?” Jordan asked.
Wendy had to stop herself from saying, You saw him? “Um … what guy? I wasn’t talking to anyone,” she said.
“I thought I saw a guy out here with you,” Jordan said as she looked around. “Wait—” Jordan sucked in a dramatic gasp. Her lips quirked into a devilish smile. “You weren’t having a secret rendezvous, were you?”
“I—uh…”
“Wendy Darling, you are turning RED!” She laughed.
“What!” Wendy squeaked. “No—I—no, I wasn’t talking to anyone. I just needed some fresh air.” Wendy tugged on the neck of her shirt, her skin quickly getting hot and sweaty.
“Uh-huh, suuuure.” Jordan slurped down the last of her coffee through the twisted straw. “Whatever, I’ll get it out of you eventually.” She gave Wendy a pointed look. “You’re a terrible liar.”
The best option was to distract. “Wait, what are you doing here?”
Jordan’s eyebrow arched. “Looking for you so we can go to dinner! Like we do every Wednesday after our volunteer hours.”
“Oh, right.” Wendy’s brain was completely jumbled. She could barely focus on anything other than what Peter had told her.
“Hey, are you sure you’re all right?” Jordan’s tone was serious now. She placed a hand on Wendy’s shoulder. “You don’t look so good. Maybe we should have one of the doctors check you out?”
“No, no, I’m fine.” Wendy wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand and stepped away from Jordan’s hand. “I just didn’t get enough sleep last night,” she said. “You know, after everything that happened…” Wendy trailed off.
Jordan gave her a little smile, the poor Wendy smile. Luckily, Jordan knew when to take a step back and not push. “Let’s get you out of here, then,” she said. “We can stop at Coffee Girl and grab some food.” She held the door open.
Before she walked through, Wendy looked up. She half expected to see Peter there, maybe hovering beneath the clouds. But all she saw was a white bird flying across the blue sky.
CHAPTER 10
The Shadow
They spent a couple of hours at Coffee Girl. It was a cozy café out on a tiny pier from the main Astoria Riverwalk. When she wasn’t volunteering at the hospital, Jordan spent most of her time working at the café. She was determined to save up as much money as possible before they started at the University of Oregon in the fall.