Lost in the Never Woods(31)

Wendy stumbled over beanbags and dodged running kids.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped, jerking her head back and forth to see if anyone had noticed him. There were a couple of parents and a nurse in the room, but, for some reason, no one even glanced in their direction. Which was odd, considering all the stares Wendy had been earning. Her pulse thudded with panic. If someone recognized him, she was going to be in so much trouble. How the hell would she even begin explaining herself? And Peter?

Alex jumped, but Peter looked up at her with a smile, as if all of this were completely normal and he broke into hospitals regularly. Cupped in Peter’s hands was a simple but delicate shark folded out of blue construction paper. “Hi,” he greeted cheerily.

“Where did you get those?” she asked, gesturing at the blue scrubs.

“I found them,” he replied, vaguely waving his hand.

“What are you doing here?” Wendy repeated, annoyed at how calm and nonchalant he was. She had thought it was going to be impossible to find him again, but here he was, sitting and making origami.

“I came to listen to you tell stories,” he said simply before turning back to Alex. The small boy was now staring intently at the paper shark as he poked it with a finger. “That was a pretty good one, but mermaids are usually the ones bugging the sharks,” Peter continued.

Wendy scoffed. Now was not the time for him to critique her storytelling.

“They can be really mean. Don’t you remember the mermaid who tried to drown you?” Peter asked, finally sparing her a glance.

“What?” Wendy asked, incredulous. “No—”

“Hmm, well, that’s probably for the best,” he agreed, nodding.

She wanted to shove him out of his chair. “Alex, why don’t you go play with the others for a bit?” Wendy suggested. She needed to get Peter out of here unseen. Or, unseen by anyone else.

“It was swimming!” Alex exclaimed, pointing at the paper shark.

Wendy frowned. “Swimming?”

“Yeah, he made it swim!” Alex insisted.

Peter smirked, looking quite pleased with himself as he leaned back in his chair. “You can keep it if you’d like,” he told Alex. He placed his creation into the little boy’s hand.

Alex put it on the table and stared at it so intently, Wendy thought the strain might damage his eyes.

“What does he mean, you ‘made it swim’? Wait, no.” Wendy held up her palm, cutting off Peter before he could answer. She would not let him distract her from the matter at hand. “How did you get in here? Where did you get those?” Wendy demanded through gritted teeth, pointing at the blue scrubs he wore.

Peter shrugged. “I found a stack of them in the hallway,” he said, tugging at the collar of the shirt.

Wendy rubbed her palm against her forehead, letting out a small growl. She had spent all morning wondering how she was going to track down Peter. Now that he’d just apparently waltzed into the hospital, she had no idea what to do with him. What she did know, however, was that if someone recognized him, and saw her with him, they were screwed.

“I need to talk to you,” she said, casting a nervous look around the room. “We need to get out of here before someone notices you.” It seemed wrong to hide him from the people at the hospital, or the police who were looking for him, but she had her own questions that needed answers before anyone else got hold of him.

Rachel collided into Wendy again and tugged on the hem of her shirt. “Miss Wendy!” she whined. “Tell us another story!”

“Not right now, Rachel,” Wendy said. She tried to get herself free of the little girl’s vicelike grip. “Me and my friend here need to go talk.” She gave Peter a pointed look and jerked her head toward the door.

Rachel whirled around to look at Peter, apparently just having noticed him. “Hello,” he said to her with a smile.

Wendy had never witnessed Rachel being as quiet as she was in the following moments.

Rachel studied Peter carefully, her eyebrows pulled together in concentration. Peter seemed completely unfazed. Wendy just stood there as the silence stretched out, long and awkward.

Wendy was about to ask Rachel if she was feeling all right when a big, gap-toothed smile broke across her face. “PETER!” she all but squealed, launching herself onto him.

“Rachel, no!” Wendy tried to pull her off, but Rachel kept wiggling free and grabbing hold of Peter’s shirt in her little hands.

Peter laughed, loud and bright.

“Wendy, it’s Peter Pan! You’re friends with Peter Pan?” She looked back and forth between the two of them. “Ooh, I knew you were real!” she told him as she yanked on his arm.

“See? Rachel here knows who I am,” Peter said with a smug look.

Wendy had to fight the urge to drag him out of there by his ear. She pointed a finger at him. “Not helping!” They were going to draw someone’s attention. “Rachel, that’s not Peter Pan. Peter Pan isn’t real—he’s just make-believe.” Though, she wasn’t convinced of that anymore.

The wounded look on his face almost made her regret saying it, but they really didn’t have time for this right now!

Regardless, Rachel wasn’t buying it. “Of course he’s real!” she said. She jerked her arm free from Wendy and squished Peter’s cheeks between her small hands. “See?”