“Fine, if nothing’s wrong, I think I’ll go for a little stroll in the forest. Stretch my legs. No swimming, of course, swimming is completely out of the picture for me.” I shiver at the memory of being dragged under.
I rise and grab a handful of berries before heading out the nearest door. The cave is still a maze for me, but I’ve figured out that if I follow the sound of the waterfall, I can generally find my way around.
“Wait.” Peter catches up with me almost instantly. “You can’t go outside. Not right now.”
“Oh? Why is that? Is somethingwrong?” I chew a few more neverberries and keep striding toward the sound of water.
“Listen, it’s not safe in the woods.”
“Why? The Guardians didn’t hurt me. If I run across them again, I’ll be fine.” I speed my pace past the waterfall room and toward the trees that lead up to the forest floor, dappled moonlight somehow making it down through crags and openings high above.
“Why can’t you just trust me?”
“Why can’tyoujust tell me?” I whirl on him. “There are a million things I need to know. Like what’s the plan to take care of Hook? When do I get to go back home? What’s the real connection the Darling women have to this island? I feel like you’re keeping things from me.”
His brows draw together. “Is this because of Tiger Lily? What did she tell you?”
“What? No. She didn’t tell me anything. She just asked about you, but I couldn’t tell her much becauseyoudon’t tellmemuch.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “If I’m keeping things from you, it’s for your own protection.”
I laugh, the sound harsh against the stone walls. “I don’t need your protection, Peter. I’ve taken care of myself for most of my life, and I intend to keep doing it until I die. You don’t have to shield me from anything, so you may as well tell me what you and Curly were whispering about.”
He regards me, his eyes searching mine. “I don’t remember Wendy being so standoffish.”
“I’m not Wendy!” I throw my hands up. “I’ve gone along with you, okay? You kidnapped me from my dorm room and threw me into this world where everything’s way off. I’m taking it in stride, I think, but I need to know more. What’s the plan? How can we save the island so I can get back to where I belong?”
“You don’t think you belong here?” he asks quietly.
“As the only ‘lost girl’?” I step to him, irritation making me bold. “What kind of bullshit is that, anyway? No lost girls allowed, only boys? What do you have against women?”
“Nothing.” He shrugs.
“Then why aren’t there any here?”
“It’s not up to me.”
“What’s not up to you?”
He looks away, focusing on the waterfall. “The Lost Boys all made the decision to come to me. They are the ones who still believe in magic, who think happy endings are around every corner, who want more than the mainland could ever give them.”
It hits me then, why they’re all boys. I should’ve realized it sooner, way back when my mother first told me the tales of boys who never grow old and live a life of adventure. Of course Neverland is only for boys. Girls have to grow up too fast. We’ve always been that way. Too much, too soon. Boys coming at us even before our bodies hit puberty, men stealing away our futures through violence and force.
Girls don’t come to Neverland, because the magic is gone from their lives far too quickly, snuffed out by the world. A girl child untouched by fear and worry—she must be quite rare, impossible for Peter to find and bring to Neverland. Only Wendy, perhaps, fit that mold. I don’t. I may be able to create fantasy worlds in my mind, but I know the grim truth of what the world is like. I’ve known it for quite a long time.
Those dark thoughts put a chill on my anger, and I’m left standing in silence as Peter finally returns his gaze to mine. “The pirates are hunting a neverbear.”
I stare at him. “Come again?”
“That’s why you should stay in the cave. The pirates are trying to find the last neverbear. They’re all over the forest, and I have Lost Boys on the lookout to pick them off.”
“Thelastone?” I don’t like the sound of that.
“They’ve hunted the others to extinction. This one is the oldest and biggest on the entire island.”
“How big are we talking?”
“The ground shakes when it passes by, and if it’s ever right overhead—” He points up. “—it can knock off some of those spikes. You shouldn’t be in here if it’s up there, and you definitely shouldn’t be out of the cave.”
