Lost in the Never Woods(100)

Small, panicked voices rose behind her.

“Wendy!”

“Don’t!”

The shadow threw back its head and let out a screeching laugh. “You are terrified!” the shadow howled with cruel mirth. Its smile stretched, peeling back over sharp teeth, ear to ear. “I can smell it on you, Wendy Darling. It spills from your eyes and seeps from your skin.”

It was right. Her knees shook, her eyes burned and she was drenched in a cold sweat, but she refused to back down. “I won’t let you hurt them anymore!” she shouted at the shadow.

A low growl grew in the shadow’s throat. “You dare try to stand up to me?” its voice boomed. Shadows swirled and circled the base of the tree.

“You think you’re so powerful, but all you do is go around frightening little kids!” Wendy shouted.

“Wendy Darling,” the shadow growled. “You can’t save any of them, just like you couldn’t save your brothers!”

The words shook her to her core, but she remained standing.

“Because of you, they’re doomed to wander the in-between, unable to rest or find peace!”

Her brothers’ cries filled the air. Wendy tried to find them, but their cries for help swirled with the building shadows, circling her and pressing in.

“Your own mother and father can hardly even look at you!” the shadow shouted. “You are nothing but a reminder of what they lost!”

Dark thoughts invaded Wendy’s mind. The closed door to her old room. The muffled sound of her mother crying in the bathroom. The reek of alcohol coming off her father as he slumped over his desk. Wind whipped through her hair, which slapped against her cheeks.

“John and Michael were killed because of you, Wendy Darling.” The words struck her like a kick in the gut. Wendy staggered.

Under the haunting voices, Wendy could still hear Ashley’s and Benjamin’s voices calling to her. Through the swarm of shadows circling her, she could barely make them out. The cage was beginning to fade, the bars quivering and thinning as the shadows were sucked into the smoky vortex around her.

The shadows were converging, forgetting about the trapped kids in order to rain horrors—terrible memories and the cries of John and Michael—down on Wendy. She watched as the kids tugged on the bars. Matthew had nearly gotten himself through, closely followed by Joel.

Good—if the shadows were distracted enough by her, then maybe the kids could run away. The thought gave her a small swell of determination. Wendy’s body shook violently, she was hardly able to stay on her feet. She could feel the shadows closing in now. Could feel them pooling at her feet and winding around her legs. Could feel them filling the gaping void in her chest.

“Give up, Wendy.” The words echoed through her mind. The shadows clawed at the base of her throat.

Wendy tried to reach out for more happy memories as bad thoughts struck her in a barrage. She thought of the waterfall and the lagoon. She thought of Peter’s dimpled smile, the drip of water hanging from the tip of his nose.

She made herself think of breakfasts when she was little. Of her and her brothers plunging their fingers into a bowl of pancake batter as her mother laughed in front of the stove. Of her father chasing them around the backyard on cool autumn days.

The ground quaked beneath her feet. The wind slapped her cheeks and pulled her hair. Wendy curled against it. Terrible screams filled her ears. The shadows vibrated against her skin. They were unrelenting. Through the swarm of darkness, she could see the last remnants of the cage fall away, could just make out the children being freed before everything plunged into darkness.

The images of her murdered brothers cascaded over Wendy. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. The voices in her head roared.

Gone. Dead. Murdered. Your fault. Your fault. YOUR FAULT.

Wendy tried to hold on to the memory of her brothers lying on their backs—not on the cold snowy ground, but in their backyard on prickly grass as they stared up at the stars on a clear summer night. She held on to the memory of her parents sitting on lawn chairs and drinking lemonade as she and her brothers ran through the sprinklers.

Wendy remembered Michael careening into her chest. She stumbled back a step. She could practically feel it, his tiny body running into hers, his small arms wrapping around her middle. Wendy felt another thump, this time against her back. John, joining in the embrace.

A sob bucked in Wendy’s chest. She could remember it. She could practically feel them holding on tight. John’s face tucked against her shoulder. Michael’s downy hair under her fingertips. The sensations were so real.

Too real.

Wendy opened her eyes.

The shadows continued to swirl and screech, but—

She looked down. Wendy’s fingers laced through soft brown curls. A jolt shot through her. Michael? His arms were locked tightly around her, his head tucked against her side.

Tears swelled in Wendy’s eyes, blurring her vision as her hand cradled the top of his head. From behind, arms encircled her waist, holding on tight.

John? Blindly, Wendy reached back, trying to grip his side.

Electricity ran through her body as she tried to hold on to them, to drag them closer even though their grip on her was so tight, she could hardly take a full breath.

Wendy’s hands scrambled for a tighter hold. They were alive. Her fingers caught the back of Michael’s thick hoodie—