Shadow (Wendy Darling #3)(59)
“Shall we?”
She nodded. With that, the redheaded boy brought both hands up to his mouth and crowed at the top of his lungs. The Lost Boys all began circling around him, like a swarm of crows fluttering around a tree.
“It’s time to leave the Nest!” he yelled, and then he signaled above him with both hands.
Wendy’s breath caught in her throat as the canopy high above the Nest slowly began to inch open, pulled open by the willing hands of about a dozen Pips, each one tethering themselves to it with thick pieces of rope that attached to rusty pulleys above. The canopy separated in the center, cracking open like an egg, light exploding through the branches as the cloudy sky poured in above them. Peter looked down at Wendy and winked before shooting up into the sky. “Okay, Lost Boys, let’s FLY!” With that command, fifty Lost Boys fluttered out into the open air in a rush of mad energy, birds released from a cage. John zoomed past Wendy without a second look as she struggled to keep up with the boys trailing into the sky, Peter the head of his flock. Wendy frowned and with great focus increased her speed, finally catching up to Peter, who was at a standstill, his eyes on the troops below him.
“John, Oxley: do you have your baker’s dozen?”
John nodded with a confidence that Wendy could see was shaky at best. Her brother was nervous. As he should be.
“Take your boys, then. Remember what we planned: first the sky, then down against the sea once you are within eyesight. The clouds should hide you well. When you push against the ships, use a gentle hand, like you’re touching a lady, boys!” Wendy blushed. Peter affectionately ruffled the hair of one of the Lost Boys, who positively glowed with the attention. “I look forward to many great stories of puking pirates. If we do the job right on our end, Hook’s pirates won’t even know that they were robbed until we are already gone. Perhaps they will think Blackbeard’s ghost took their liquor!”
The boys broke into rowdy laughter. It occurred to a silent, nervous Wendy that this was a lot of work to steal some wine. Peter saluted John and Oxley, tapping his feet together as he rose into the air.
“All righty, boys, you have my blessing! See you on the other side of Neverland!”
With that command, John’s group began to circle and rise slowly to the north, flying swiftly away from Peter’s group—and John away from Wendy’s protection. As she watched her brother’s form fade slowly into the mist, she felt a painful tug in her chest but dismissed it as an overabundance of childlike sentimentality.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
WENDY TURNED BACK, finding Peter beside her. He brushed her hair away from her ear.
“He’ll be fine. It’s just a silly game, Wendy. There is no need to fear. It’s time for our great adventure to begin! Are you ready?”
She nodded.
“Then up we go!” Peter climbed upward, pulling them both high into the sky at a rapid pace with the two dozen older Lost Boys following behind, each one handpicked for this mission by Abbott, who served as the bookend for the group, looking unhappy as always as he soared quickly, cutting a line through the clouds. Wendy let her arms fall to her sides as she enjoyed the feeling of flying, slowly making her way through the endless sky, clumsy at best. The crawling lower mist of the morning thinned out the higher they went, and soon they were soaring across the miles that separated Pan Island from the main island, Peter twisting and swooping around Wendy, pulling her hair and tickling her foot as they flew, then disappearing into the mist that lazily embraced them in its folds.
The joy that was rising up in her chest overtook her, and she found herself laughing hysterically as she gained speed, plummeting through the clouds, the sensation of absolute freedom overtaking her. Wendy breathed in the cold air on her face, relished the rush of wind that pushed through her outstretched fingers. The air up here was clean and wet, the mist caressing her body as they whipped through its foamy gray, so thick she could almost hold it in her hand. She lost herself in the exhilaration, minutes passing before she felt Peter’s absence, felt her own lack of direction in the churning sea of thick mist. Was she going the right way? Had they turned without her knowing? A grip of panic pulled at her stomach.
“Peter?” she whispered, before raising her voice. “Peter?”
She slowed down, suddenly very unsure of where she was going, looking up and then down. Which way was down again? She couldn’t see anything. Where was she? Her heart rate increased as the lovely mist that had been her plaything moments ago became a choking fog. She turned over her feet and began flying downward (she hoped), crossing her fingers that she would come out over the turquoise waters separating Pan Island and the mainland. Up ahead, the clouds were clearing, and a sigh of relief escaped her lips. Something whooshed past her on the right, moving so fast that it sent her spinning in its wake. It passed again on the left. Wendy stopped moving completely, hovering silently in the air, her eyes alert. Peter’s face appeared above her. Then he disappeared again into the mist. She laughed.
“Peter!” There was another brush of air, and he materialized underneath her, flying faceup, as if he were lounging in a stream. He winked at her and then sank below the clouds where she could not see him anymore.
“Peter! Stop this silly game! Stop it!”
She giggled in spite of herself, not meaning a word of it. After a moment, to her vast relief, Wendy was able to vaguely make out the voices of the Lost Boys behind her. She turned her head to see their dirty faces, but the mist hid them from view. Someone called her name, softly, like a whisper. When she turned her face back, the sharp wind carrying her hair all around her, numbing her cheeks and hands, Peter was there waiting for her. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart speeding up, thrumming so intensely that she felt it in her ribs. He was so close that his face was inches away from hers, and she could see the small navy flecks, lined with gold, that circled inside his green eyes.