I’m still trying to breathe, and I sink down onto the hard floor. “Yes. Berries. Purple but with silver stems.” I see them, but what does that even mean? They could be poison. Or I could be joining their ridiculous hallucination. ‘Confused’ doesn’t even begin to cover what I’m feeling at the moment.
“Neverberries, yes.” Peter sighs with relief and plops down next to me. “These are delicious. I promise. Eat these until we can figure out why you can’t see the food.”
“Maybe I should try to make her pancakes with neverberries in them?” Slightly asks.
“Let’s start slow,” Coy cautions, and he sits on my other side, his legs crossed. “See if you like them. Then we can go from there. Nibs, hand me a napkin.” He holds his hand out, and one of the men slips a rough canvas bit of fabric into it. “Here you go.” He drapes it across my knees as Peter offers the plate. “Try one, okay?”
With a shaking hand, I reach out and snag one. It pulls easily from the silvery stem and looks like a grape and a raspberry had a baby. I hesitate before I put it in my mouth and look around at all seven men who are watching me intently. The thought of it being poison flits around my mind like an intrusive thought, and I look more closely at the berry.
Coy worries his bottom lip with his teeth. “Sorry, I grabbed the first ones I could find. The ones hanging around the treehouse are a lot bigger. Should I climb to get you more of?—”
“No.” I give Coy what I hope is a reassuring glance. “These look good.”
“O-okay.” He nods.
I could toss the berry back onto the plate, but what good would it do? I’m hungry, tired, and completely out of my depth. So I refuse to overthink it. Opening my mouth, I pop the berry in and chew.
It’s juicy with a strange tang I don’t recognize. But it’s sweet, kind of like a plum with a hint of orange in the high note. I can’t place it, but I don’t have to. It’s not like I’m falling over dead or foaming at the mouth, so I take another one. Then another. Before long, I’ve eaten the entire plate.
Once it’s clear, I feel like the whole room takes a relieved breath.
“Better?” Peter asks and hands the plate to Slightly.
“Better.” I still sit on the floor as my stomach adjusts to its new contents.
“What about water?” Slightly hands me a cup.
“It’s real.” I sip it, then down the whole thing, feeling it slosh into my stomach with the berries. “I needed that. Thank you.”
“I’ll ask Tink why you can’t see the food,” Peter says as he rises easily to his feet. “But maybe not right now.” He smirks. “I think she’s still mad, and Tink isn’t easy to calm down. She’ll have to cool off on her own for a while.”
“Why does she hate me?” I think back to the anger that seemed to roll off her in wild bursts, all of them directed at me.
“She doesn’t hate you,” Peter says a little too quickly.
Coy and his brother exchange a look, and the other Lost Boys busy themselves with eating their imaginary pancakes or cleaning up the dishes in the sink.
“Mmhmm.” I’m not convinced in the least.
He offers me his hand. “If you’re up to it, I wanted to show you the rest of the hideout. My scouts tell me Captain Hook is over near the mermaid lagoon, so you’ll be safe.”
“Does he know I’m here?” I feel a little better, the black spots in my vision gone and my stomach no longer grumbling. All the same, I’d love a coffee.
“No.” Peter’s hair falls into his eyes as he shakes his head. “If he did …”
“If he did, we’d be fighting for our lives right now.” Nibs takes a vicious bite of an invisible pancake.
“Coy and Foy, you two are going to be Moira’s guards when I’m not around, okay? Take care of her,” Peter instructs.
Foy swallows hard. “But what about in the washroom? That’s private, Wendy always said. And a lady?—”
“Not in the washroom, Foy.” Peter claps him on the shoulder. “But anywhere else. Got it?”
Coy rolls his eyes at his twin.
“It’s fine. I’m good. You said Hook’s far away, right? So everything’s fine.” I tuck my hair behind my ears. “I’d like to go outside. The cave is …” I look around at the chiseled walls and roughly drawn doorways. “Nice, but I need some air.”
“We’ve got a lot of that.” Peter offers his arm in an overly grand way.
