“You are.” She nods. “You are the biggest dummy I could’ve imagined.”
My hands itch to go around her perfect throat. “Why do you hate me?”
“Because you’ll be the death of me,” she retorts.
I roll my eyes. “Because I’ll steal Peter from you?”
She gives me a look that says I’m being stupid again. “You never should’ve come here. Everything is so much more … complicated now. You have to leave. This way is safe. Geo will take you back home. You can hide for a while and then go back to school or do whatever it is humans like you do. I don’t care. Just as long as you aren’thereany longer.”
“Great sales pitch. Really. I think you missed your calling.”
She bares her teeth, two little fangs making an appearance. “I hate you, but I’mtryingto help you.”
“Sureyou are.” I make apfftnoise. “Look, if you want me to go traipsing through the scary woods, you’ll need to give me something.”
“A deal?” Her eyes flash.
“No.” I shake my head. “Not a deal. Nothing transactional. I just want you to tell me the truth. I think you know everything about this island, maybe things even Peter and Hook don’t.”
“I do.” She gives me a prideful grin. “I know lots of secrets.”
“Great. Now share them.”
She shakes her head. “Not for free.”
“I told you. No transactions.” I glare up at her.
She frowns, irritation warring with compromise. “Fine. You can ask me three questions. No more. If I answer them, will you at least consider my offer to leave Neverland?”
It feels like she just laid out a treasure chest in front of me, one that’s full of pirate gold and priceless relics. Three straight answers? In Neverland? Unheard of! Still, I can’t seem too eager.
“I don’t know.” I pull the blanket up higher. “I still can’t trust you.”
“Three answers, and—” She takes a deep breath “—I promise to tell you the truth.”
A little sizzle of gold thread ignites between us and dies away.
“What was that?”
“Is that one of your questions?”
“No!”
“Then you don’t get an answer.” She wiggles until she’s sitting beside me, her feet hanging off the bed. “Now, three questions. Stop pretending you won’t ask them. I have things to do that don’t involve babysitting a foolish mainlander.”
I have so many, but I can work with three. Three should give me enough information to stop bumbling around like a newborn calf.
“Okay, first question. Do you know—wait!” I was going to ask ‘do you know what the Lost Boys are?’ but that could lead to a yes or no answer. That’s not going to work.
She cuts her eyes at me. “Change your mind?”
“Give me a minute.”
She leans back against me, absolutely no respect for personal space. Her wings are surprisingly warm. I remember when my mother told me the Neverland story, and oh how I wished I could be friends with Tinker Bell, the sweet fairy with the golden hair. That daydream is gone, but there’s still a tiny wisp of nostalgia for it twirling around inside me.
I take a deep breath and go for it. “What are the Lost Boys?”
“The souls of dead children.”
