Page 126 of The Last Lost Girl

“If you win, I’ll ask my mother to find your shadow and give it back to you, along with the shadows of anyone who chooses to follow you. Anyone with a shadow will be able to leave Neverland.”

Hudson sits up straight. “How? Why don’t you just do that now?”

“What’s the fun in that?” Peter shakes his head and grins slyly. “And if you win and become their leader, you’d get to decide who leaves Neverland.”

The loud beating of wings scares me. A green bird that stands taller than I do lands on the branch where I’m perched. “Peter?” I say, knowing he can hear me.

The bird snaps its beak at me. I scuttle back against the trunk, wrap myself around it, and slide down. The skin on my inner thighs and palms is shredded to ribbons, but I don’t care.

I shriek Peter’s name and run toward him and Hudson. Hudson jumps up and stands in front of him protectively, but Peter only laughs and continues to lounge in the grass. “What is that thing?” I ask.

“It’s only a Neverbird,” Peter offers airily, leaning onto his elbows and propping his chin.

I watch the feathered threat and hold on to Hudson’s shoulders.

Even in the dark it’s horrifying. Its bill is orangish gray and chipped on one side. It stares down at us like it’s considering swooping down and grabbing one of us to take back to its nest for dinner.

Maybe Peter was right about the bears and tigers.

“I’ve never seen one eat a human. Small crocs, lizards, and other birds, sure. Then again, you’re really small. Maybe he’s hungry,” Peter says.

“Stop teasing her,” Hudson grits.

Pan plucks a mushroom from the circle and tosses it at Hudson, hitting him in the head. “I’m not.”

forty

Only darkness lays on the other side of the windowpanes lining Hudson’s quarters. I couldn’t have slept long, because I remember who I am and where I’m at, which is tucked into Hudson’s bed. I toss the covers off, pad to the door, and start to ease it open.

My hands still on the handle when I hear splashing from behind me. I didn’t even notice the privacy screen, stretched to conceal the tub.

“Ava?” Hook questions.

My throat goes tight. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay? Do you remember?”

I grip the door handle. “I do. I’m fine.”

I should push outside and allow him privacy. I should keep my distance like Belle said. But I don’t want to keep my distance anymore.

The skin of his back slides down the tub’s back as he relaxes. “Good. How do you feel?”

How do I feel? Knowing that he’s naked behind a paltry partition, my skin is too hot. My breaths are too shallow. I need to see his eyes.

I want to know how he would react if I slipped behind the screen.

My fingers fall from the door handle, and I turn and lean back against it. The clock ticking against my sternum is still working backward. I feel its gears turning. I can feel time slipping away.

When he leaves Neverland, he won’t look back, Belle said.

He has his shadow now, so when he goes, he will remember me, remember this night.

I won’t, but I don’t care. I want it anyway.

Water sloshes. “Lifeguard?”

I push off the door and start toward him, pausing on the other side of his screen.

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