Wendy threw her bag over her shoulder and leapt down the stairs two at a time. When she reached the ground floor, she walked into the living room and found her parents sitting on the couch next to each other, watching the TV.
“Morning,” Wendy greeted them as she crossed the living room, trying to rub the exhaustion from her eyes.
Her mother jumped and turned to face Wendy. One of her delicate hands was pressed to her collarbone. Her eyes were bloodshot and glassy. Her father remained still, facing forward. He gripped a mug of coffee, his knuckles white.
There was a heaviness in the air that slowed her down. When she stepped closer, it felt like moving through quicksand. Her heartbeat thudded through her veins.
“Mom? Dad? What’s wrong?” she asked.
Mrs. Darling said nothing but gestured toward the TV.
Wendy looked up and shock hurtled through her chest.
The news was on. The female anchor sat at her desk. A picture of two boys floated on the screen next to her. The older boy sat behind the younger. They were dressed in red, white, and blue. Small American flags were in their hands. Their smiles were wide and excited, sitting in their backyard for the annual Memorial Day BBQ. Wendy knew, because she had been there.
They were the spitting image of their father.
JOEL DAVIES, AGE 10 AND MATTHEW DAVIES, AGE 7, was written on the red marquee below their photo. The boys next door had gone missing.
Wendy thought of quiet Mr. Davies who always seemed to look out for her. She remembered him and his wife talking to the detectives just the other day. Mr. Davies had looked so worried and frightened, and now his sons had been taken from him.
A sudden wave of nausea made Wendy lightheaded. Everything around her swayed like she was on a boat. She gripped the back of the couch to keep her balance.
Again, the missing children were connected to Wendy. They were her neighbors, boys she watched regularly, especially over the summer.
The anchorwoman continued speaking: “The boys’ father, Donald Davies, said his sons were playing in their backyard yesterday evening when he saw them picked up by a young man who then ran into the woods behind their house. Mr. Davies said he tried to pursue but was unable to keep up. Although he wasn’t able to get a physical description of the kidnapper, police are setting up a special unit to—”
It was silent as all three continued to stare at the TV. But they really didn’t need to. Wendy knew her parents were thinking the same thing she was: The Davies boys were the same exact ages as John and Michael when they went missing. Her brothers were friends with Joel and Matthew and had known Mr. and Mrs. Davies their entire lives. And they had gone missing in the woods behind their house, just like John and Michael had.
For her parents, it must have been like watching the news from five years ago all over again.
For Wendy, it was like waking up in a nightmare.
The shadow had done this on purpose. Peter was right. It was goading her, trying to hurt her, trying to make her angry. And it was working.
“Police have set up headquarters at the northern point of the woods. They will begin searching the woods for the Davies children, as well as the other missing children and signs of the kidnapper.”
A map appeared on the screen with a dot indicating where the police were starting their search. It was almost directly on the other side of the woods from Wendy’s house.
“The search-and-rescue units will be starting north and working their way south. The police have recommended that anyone living on the outskirts of the woods lock their doors and windows when they aren’t home, and keep their children under constant supervision. Anyone willing to volunteer to help with search efforts is encouraged to call…”
They were running out of time. Wendy knew it wasn’t safe for Peter to stay in the woods anymore. What if the cops started searching and found him hiding out in the hunting shack? He would probably get arrested and detained. Wendy doubted he would be able to break out of a holding cell, especially now that he was losing his magic at such an alarming rate. And if he was locked up, they wouldn’t be able to stop the shadow and all those kids would be lost and Peter would—well, they still weren’t sure what would happen to him, but it would be bad. Very bad. Wendy’s heart clenched. She refused to take that risk. Had she made a mistake by letting him go off on his own last night?
They needed to find that tree before the woods were overrun with cops and volunteers. Now, more than ever, they were running out of time.
“I’m going to the hospital,” Wendy said abruptly. She thought her parents would be so engrossed in the news that they might not even hear her, but they both swung around to face her.