Page 106 of Lost in the Never Woods

Far off, beams of light cut back and forth among the densely crowded trees. Voices bounced around the woods, accompanied by the soft thuds of footfalls and rustling underbrush.

“Is anybody out there?” another voice echoed.

“The search parties,” Wendy breathed with a sigh of relief.

Peter landed soundlessly at her side. “I can’t let them see me,” he told her.

“No—you need to go,” she told him, already pressing her hands to his chest.

Peter hesitated, a mixture of emotions flickering across his face.

Wendy felt it, too—the unwillingness to leave his side—but it was going to be a very long and complicated night, and Peter’s involvement would just make matters worse. Wendy gave him another gentle push. “Find me after,” Wendy told him firmly, her fingers gripping the front of his shirt.

It took another moment, but Peter sucked his lips between his teeth and gave a curt nod. His T-shirt slipped between her fingers, and he flew off into trees.

The flashlights got brighter, joined by more voices and footsteps.

“We’re over here!” Wendy called, waving her arm and squinting into the lights.

CHAPTER 22

Found

It seemed like only minutes before the entire clearing was filled with people. Their vehicles couldn’t make it all the way in because of the dense trees, but they pulled up to the nearest logging road. Paramedics and cops swarmed Wendy and the children, asking questions and checking to be sure they were all right.

Wendy was worried they’d say something about Peter. She kept getting distracted from what the medic was asking her, cutting glances over to the kids being questioned by the cops. But every snippet of conversation she caught was distinctly absent of Peter. They exchanged looks and caught glances from one another between the cops and paramedics. They were all nervous, maybe even a little scared, but under that Wendy could feel the pulse of excitement and triumph. She felt it in her own veins and caught a glimpse of it in the smiles that flickered over their faces.

Even Alex was exceptionally brave, although he refused to let go of Wendy’s leg. He was just a tiny form practically swallowed up by a blanket, but Wendy could see the longing in his large eyes. The same look as when she’d seen him holding the origami shark at the hospital.

One by one, their parents arrived, and they were loaded into cars to be taken to the hospital and further assessed.

Matthew and Joel spoke urgently to their mom about monsters as they were loaded into a police car. Ashley put on a brave face, but she was nearly silent, her whole body trembling as she reunited with her parents. Benjamin had a grin plastered across his face, which did little to soothe his mom. She kept touching his face, convinced he had a fever and was delirious.

Alex remained attached to Wendy until his father came trudging through the woods. Alex’s father was a giant. He scooped up his crying son in his large arms, gently rocking Alex back and forth. From sheer exhaustion, Alex fell asleep with his head against his father’s broad chest while Mr. Forestay spoke with an officer.

Wendy heaved a large sigh. The children were safe, and that was the important part. Even if they did tell the police what really happened, she knew no one would believe their stories.

The paramedics led Wendy away from the clearing and to one of the ambulances on the logging road.

Detective James wasted little time jumping right into his questions. It grated on her already raw nerves.

“So, you were taking out the trash,” Detective James repeated, reading over his scratchy notes on a bright yellow pad. He wore a sleek black windbreaker with the sheriff department’s seal on the back. Detective Rowan stood to the side in a matching jacket, speaking to one of the crime-scene investigators. “You saw someone in the woods behind your house, and just decided to follow him instead of calling the police?” He raised his scarred eyebrow critically.

“Yes,” Wendy said curtly with a nod. “Ouch!” She jerked her elbow away from Dallas the Paramedic as he dabbed at a cut.

“And then you heard the kids crying for help,” he went on.

“Like I said, I lost track of the guy, but I just followed their voices,” Wendy explained. She sounded confident. At least, she thought she did. She was getting better at this lying thing.

“And you didn’t think to call anyone for help?”

“There’s no reception all the way out here,” Wendy told him, which was true.

Detective James hummed, his eyes roving over his notes again. “And you just found them in the clearing?”

“They were lost, obviously.”

“And the kidnapper ran off?”