Page 144 of Losing Wendy

“Didn’t have to. Nettle did that for me.”

“Exactly. Nettle, not Simon.”

Peter cocks his head to the side. “Wendy.”

“But there’s got to be something you can do. You even went as far as making the Sister believe you killed them.” I fidget my toes in the earth, thinking. “Because you were afraid if she knew one of the Lost Boys was on a killing spree, she’d kill all of them. You’ve already defied her and won. Can’t you see that? Didn’t you say that she can’t see everything in those tapestries of hers?”

Peter’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll try to think of something.”

“Promise?” I ask.

He squeezes my hand. “I promise I’ll try.”

I nod, holding onto that promise with all my heart. “Why didn’t you tell me this was a prison?”

“Because I didn’t want you to be afraid of them. I didn’t want you to see them any other way than how I see them.”

I frown, brushing the hair from Peter’s face. “And what if the way you choose to see things is flawed? What if refusing to acknowledge the flaws of others hurts them worse in the end?”

Peter actually smiles at that. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing I have you to help me see.”

“Your secrets don’t protect us…” I say, tears stinging at my eyes. “You were dosing the onions with faerie dust, weren’t you? To keep the boys from seeing the shadows?”

Peter blinks. “Yes. Well, no. Not exactly. But I mixed faerie dust into the soil.”

“Why not do that with all the vegetables?”

Peter grimaces. “Onions are best for obscuring the taste.”

“You said I was a shadow-soother, but that’s not all that special, is it? Otherwise you wouldn’t have worried about dosing the Lost Boys.”

“The Lost Boys are…well, let’s just say the fact that they can shadow-soothe and also be accepted by the reaping tree…it’s not a coincidence.”

My chest goes numb. “Because there’s something missing in us.”

Peter avoids addressing that inference. Instead he says, “I still can’t quite understand why the shadows’ affinity for you is so strong. Few fae can communicate with them. With humans, it’s almost unheard of. Like I said, you likely have fae blood in your heritage, but that shouldn’t be enough.”

“Or explain why the onions didn’t work on me.”

Peter shakes his head. “No, it doesn’t. For some reason, you needed something stronger.”

“Do you think John and Michael are shadow-soothers?”

Peter stares at the ground in front of him. “I don’t know.”

I bite my lip. I don’t think I’m ready to consider what this might mean for my brothers anyway. So I change the subject. “How did you know where to find us tonight?”

He cranes his chin down, giving me a knowing look. “After you poisoned me, it wasn’t too far of a stretch to assume you’d be trying to escape. That you’d need faerie dust to do it, more than you already had, assuming you’d try to take all the boys with you. Once the poison worked its way through my system, I came straight here.”

I frown, wondering why Peter’s body was able to flush the poison so much faster than Captain Astor’s. Perhaps it has to do with his shadow magic. “So you came to steal us back?”

“I came to beg you to stay.”

His dark lashes falter a bit as his eyes droop, taking in my face, scanning my Mating Mark. “I can’t do this without you, Wendy. Tonight made that plenty evident. I can’t see what you see. Feel what you feel. There’s something in me that’s missing, and it leaves these boys vulnerable.”

I hesitate. “Your shadow form?”

Peter blanches. “It amplifies the worst parts of me, yes.”

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