Forever Neverland by Susan Adrian

Author:Susan Adrian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2019-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

I can’t do this.

I think it over and over. I can’t say it out loud, not even to Fergus.

We’re on the beach again, the sun just up, waiting for Peter to make the call to go. Fergus is talking to Friendly, discussing strategy, and the others seem more excited than nervous. I sit by myself, panicking.

How can I stand out on the rock and sing, knowing it might bring that monster right to me? What if Peter can’t kill it, and it really drags me down under the water? I’m not a mermaid. I’ll drown. I’ll die.

The Lost Boys say Peter never loses, that there’s nothing to be afraid of. He was pretty impressive with the mountain lion, and in the story he’s fearless against Captain Hook. But he’s never faced this monster before. He’s never seen this monster before. None of them have.

And I bet Wendy was still afraid when she was going to have to walk the plank.

What would Wendy do? She was my great-great-grandmother, after all. She did well here. I can try to be like her.

She was brave, for sure. She took care of her little brothers and all the Lost Boys. I bet she’d swim right out there and sing.

But she was also always worrying about risks…so maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she’d put her hands on her hips and say, “This is ridiculous! Think of something else!”

I know Mom would say it’s ridiculous. I can hear her in my head. Be safe, Clover, she’d say. This is far from safe.

They’re depending on me—the mermaids, the Lost Boys, Fergus…everyone.

But I can’t do this.

“Are you okay?” Shoe asks. She drops on the sand next to me. I braided her hair again this morning, in two French braids, and she’s super pleased with it. She tugs on the ends and studies me, her dark eyes calm.

I feel like I can trust her, of all of them. I swallow. “I can’t do it,” I say.

“Sing to bring the monster?” Her eyes don’t change, still relaxed. “You’ll be safe. Peter always wins.”

“So you’d do it?”

“Of course!” She stretches out her legs and leans back. “I was bait for a bear once. I had to sit very quietly with a fish in my lap and wait for it to come close enough for Peter to shoot it with an arrow.” She frowns. “Thinking about it now, I don’t know why we couldn’t have just left the fish. But it was scary sitting there. When the bear came to the clearing, it roared so loud I shook, and I wanted to jump up and run, right into the sea. But Peter shot it in time. You must trust him.” She opens her arms wide, gesturing to the beach, the whole island. “Neverland is his place. You do not need to worry.” She smiles. Her teeth are crooked, but they fit her. “You worry too much.”

I smile back, small. I feel a tiny bit better. “Yeah. Probably.”

I just have to trust that this really is Peter’s place, and he’s not going to let me get taken by a monster.

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