Michael tumbled over.
Wendy heard herself sigh. “You guys are making a mess of yourselves.” Indeed, there were splatters of different-colored paint on the burlap and surrounding sand. Wendy noticed a glob of red on Michael’s chest that trickled down to his bellybutton. As he laughed, John turned, and there was some on his neck, too, just below his ear. Wendy frowned.
The crashing of leaves in the branches above caused Wendy to look up. Peter was flying—actually flying. Well, sort of. He seemed to be losing his balance and was descending at a rapid speed. He hit the ground hard on his feet, causing him to stumble forward, kicking up sand, but he recovered before he could fall.
Wendy stood up and ran over to his side. “Peter! Are you okay?” she heard herself ask.
No! Go back to John and Michael! She wanted to see them—she needed to see them longer than just a fleeting glance.
“I’m fine,” Peter said, but worry was etched into his young features. He glanced in the direction of Michael and John, who she could still hear bickering behind her, before turning back to Wendy. “I got you something,” Peter said. He made a face, the one people do when they’re trying to smile, trying to reassure, but it just doesn’t sit right.
He took her hand and placed an acorn in her palm.
It had to be her acorn—the one that had been clasped in her hand when the park ranger discovered her in the woods, the one she hid in her jewelry box.
The one she had fallen asleep wearing around her neck.
Wendy cupped it gently in her small hands.
“The fairies helped me pick it out,” Peter went on. Pink bloomed in his freckled cheeks. “It’s so that you won’t forget about me…”
“Forget about you?” Wendy laughed. “Why would I forget about you? I’m not going anywhere!”
Peter looked down at his bare feet.
“Wen-dyyy,” Michael whined behind her. “I don’t feel so good.”
Wendy turned to look at her brothers, but before she could see their faces again, shadows crashed over Wendy, flooding her vision, and plunging everything into darkness.
* * *
Wendy sat bolt upright in bed. Morning sun streamed in through the window. Shuddering breaths shook her body as she tried to gulp down air. She buried her face in her palms and tried to calm herself down. Her cheeks were slick with tears. A miserable pain ached through her, a pit of longing that felt like it would swallow her whole.
John and Michael.
She’d seen her brothers—or, at least, a memory of them. A memory that had been taken from her years ago. That had been just a big, gaping hole in her memory. This was the second time she’d remembered something from their stay in Neverland together. It was so vivid. She could smell the ocean, taste the salty air, and feel the warm sand between her toes.
Why were her memories coming back now? Was it because of Peter? The shadow?
Her brothers were right there. She needed to see them again. She needed to get them back. The memories felt like they were taunting her, holding her brothers hostage, just out of reach.
If she and Peter could just find the shadow, find her brothers and the other missing kids, she could finally get John and Michael back. Everything would be okay.
Wendy’s hand clutched the acorn hanging from her neck. It was warm to the touch. It almost felt like it was buzzing, like a hive full of bees, but very faint.
Peter had given it to her. That was why she had held on to it so desperately, and that must have been why she had kept it for all those years. Somehow, something inside her remembered what it meant.
Wendy frowned and tried to replay everything that had happened in her dream. Peter had looked so guilty when Wendy said she wasn’t going anywhere. Did he know, then, that something was wrong? That he would have to take her back? At what point did the shadow take her brothers, making it impossible for them to go with her?
It’s so you won’t forget about me.
Wendy pressed her hand to her mouth, the words repeating themselves in her head as she stared at the acorn.
The last time Wendy had gotten one of her memories back, she had fallen asleep with the acorn in her hand. She turned it between her fingers. Was this the key? Was the acorn the secret to getting her memories back?
She needed to find Peter and ask him.
After a quick shower, Wendy pulled on a pair of jean shorts and a loose-fitting white tank top to combat the heat. This time, she put on a pair of old running shoes in case she and Peter ventured back into the woods. If she was going to stumble around through trees, roots, and creeks, she needed to be in the right shoes for it. The trek yesterday had left blisters on her heels and toes.