Satisfied, he gave her another nod and drove off.
What a day. She hadn’t even been awake for two hours and she was already exhausted. She felt guilty for not telling Detective James everything that she knew, but how could she? There was no way he would believe her. He would probably think she was having a mental breakdown, reliving the trauma of losing her memory and her brothers. They would probably lock her up and throw away the key if she started talking about magic boys, evil shadows, and other worlds.
She just needed to keep it together and help Peter. Knowing that she had the chance to see her brothers again was what mattered. And the sooner they figured out how to stop the shadow, the sooner she would get John and Michael back.
The sooner they could move on.
Right now, she needed to find Peter.
Wendy checked the time on her phone. It read 1:00 p.m., above a list of unread texts from Jordan. She would text back later. Right now she was stuck downtown and needed to find a way home. Wendy pulled up the ride share app.
Her backyard seemed like a good place to start looking for him, since that was closest to the woods. She was waiting for the app to load nearby drivers when a high-pitched whistle from across the street, followed by a series of giggles, caught her attention.
Across the street was a row of houses nestled right up against the woods. A minty-blue house was set back in the shade of the towering trees.
There, just sitting in the middle of the yard, was Peter and a little girl Wendy recognized.
What the hell was he doing? Wendy rushed over, practically running across the street.
“Now you try,” Peter was saying.
The pair sat cross-legged and facing each other. They were focused on a piece of grass that Peter held in his palm. The little girl wore a purple sundress, with a pile of grass and small flowers across her lap.
A flower crown of wilting, small yellow buds sat lopsided on the top of Peter’s head. He grinned lazily and gave the girl a nod of encouragement.
She took the blade of grass, squeezed it between the sides of her thumbs, and blew against it, eliciting a high-pitched squeak. She broke into a fit of laughter.
Peter chuckled along, looking quite pleased with himself.
“Peter! What are you doing here?” Wendy cut in, absolutely bewildered.
He cast her a fleeting glance. “Oh, hey,” Peter said. “You are very late.” He sent Wendy a stern look before nodding at the little girl across from him. “You weren’t home, so I thought maybe you were at the hospital,” he explained casually. “But then I ran into Cassidy, here.” Peter fixed Wendy with a wide smile. “We’re making grass whistles.”
“Grass whistles,” Wendy repeated. She fought the urge to shove him over.
Cassidy beamed up at her. “I made Peter a crown,” she said in a small, shy voice. Her dad was an X-ray technician who worked with her mom. Wendy used to babysit Cassidy and her older sister, Rebecca, when they were younger.
Peter looked up at Wendy with a lopsided grin. It crinkled the freckles on his nose.
Wendy cleared her throat and tucked her hair behind her ears. He needed to stop looking at her like that. “You look ridiculous,” she told him.
“You’re just jealous she didn’t make you one,” he said with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders.
Cassidy giggled behind her hands.
Wendy shook her head. He looked so pleased with himself! “Cass, you really shouldn’t be talking to strangers, and you especially shouldn’t tell them your name!” she chided. Cassidy had just started elementary school, hadn’t they taught her about stranger danger yet?
Cassidy tried to wrestle the blade of grass back between her thumbs. “I know, but I didn’t. He already knew!” she said, face screwed up in concentration.
Wendy gave Peter a confused look.
He leaned back on one hand and made a wide sweeping gesture to himself with the other. “Peter Pan, remember?” he asked with a conspiratorial wink. “It’s kind of my job.”
Wendy let out a huff. “You’re impossible,” she muttered before turning back to Cassidy. “Well, where are your parents, Cass? They should be watching you.”
“They’re at work. Rebecca is supposed to be watching me,” she said, glaring in the direction of her house. Sure enough, Rebecca sat in a lounge chair on the porch. She seemed deeply engrossed in a book, a set of headphones covering her ears.
Wendy’s frustration boiled. How did Rebecca not notice her sister talking to a random guy?
As if he could hear her thoughts, Peter said, “Sometimes teenagers are just as bad as adults when it comes to noticing magic.” He raised an eyebrow, giving Wendy a pointed look, which she pointedly ignored.