Page 40 of The Last Lost Girl

Without my shadow, I forgot my parents, my home, and my childhood.

I’m forgetting Belle now that she’s not with me.

At home, Belle constantly reminded me of things. She would message me in the middle of my shift and tell me to come straight home after work or send me on a little errand, telling me to say hi to the clerk for her, reminding me of their name. She’d text silly messages and pictures or replay videos like the one Hook just showed me. She always talked about our shared past, dredging up obscure stories of our lives together, complaining about Mrs. Jennings and her son, asking me about Devin and his antics… all to jog my memory every single day.

Belle always said my name when she spoke to me – far more often than most people did in conversations. I just thought it was a quirk of hers, but she did everything with purpose. With such effort. For years, she went out of her way to refresh my memory so it didn’t disappear.

So I wouldn’t get lost.

It makes so much sense now. So much heart-breaking sense.

Hook continues, “With that first stolen shadow, Pan left Neverland. When he returned, he was content for a while. Until he began to crave that sliver of freedom again and became obsessed with having a little more time away. If that’s all she could give him, it would be enough. So, she stole another shadow from someone who wouldn’t miss it.

“Only this time, when Pan was dragged back, he brought a boy with him. He told his friend that he’d found a lost child who had no home or family. And while she felt uneasy, she trusted Pan when he told her there were many lost children, just like him. She’d seen some children living in difficult conditions, after all. So, she believed him when he claimed to be helping them. He called them his lost ones and told them they were a family now.”

The thought turned my stomach.

“Were Wendy Darling and her brothers real?” Hook stiffens at the mention of her name. “Because in the book…”

He bares his teeth. “The book is a lie. One Peter compelled Barrie to write.”

Compelled? As in Belle’s power of suggestion?

“That fucking book.” Hook gives a mirthless laugh, standing and pacing the floor in front of the bed, obviously agitated. “Pan used to take them from the homes of the kids he stole as little souvenirs. On the inside covers of each, he wrote the child’s name and where he’d taken them from. The kids quickly forgot who they were and every person who ever loved them, but Pan made sure he’d never forget.”

He looks away and leans forward, bracing his forearms on his thighs. “Wendy Darling – a name Pan gave her after she forgot her own – lives in town. If she ever had brothers, she forgot them a long time ago, and so has everyone else.”

I can’t help but feel uneasy. Hook is being very forthcoming about Pan, but what hasn’t he said?

“What would you do to keep the shadows from him?”

What would he do to Belle if he knew the shadows broke free from her necklace and she’d taken them into her skin?

His voice is deadly calm when he tells me, “What wouldn’t I do?”

I shift and try not to fidget.

“But if you’re wondering whether you can trust me, I promise that you and your sister are safe. We need Belle to return our shadows so we can finally leave this nightmare.”

If she is able, my sister will do it. Belle has a heart of gold. But I’ll have to find a way to reach her through the shadow. I don’t know how long she can swim in the dark before drowning.

His green eyes look haunted for a long, silent moment before he confides, “On a more personal note, while I don’t recall it, I wrote in my journal that Tinkerbell helped me escape Pan when no one else would. I owe her everything for that.”

I nod, as satisfied as I can be at this point, even as fear twists my stomach into a sailor’s perfect knot. I clear my throat. “I don’t know where Belle is, and I’ll need your help finding her. As soon as we landed on Neverland, she flew off into the jungle. It took me a little while to sit up, let alone limp into the trees after her. At that point, she was long gone. And then Wraith found me,” I admit. “And then you happened.”

He grins. “Yes, I did.”

“He knew my name. I’m not sure how much of our conversation you overheard.”

“Not enough, it would seem,” his tone turns my skin to gooseflesh. “What else did Wraith say to you before I… happened?”

“He said Peter knows me. I was worried that Pan had captured Belle, but I don’t think he has. I have this gut feeling that –”

Hook cocks his head to the side. “Gut feeling?”

I shrug. “I trust it.”

He laughs, incredulous. “I would strongly advise against trusting anything but what you can see and hear in this place. And knowing that Pan knows who you are… Well, he had to learn about you from someone, Precious.”

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