Wendy, Darling by A.C. Wise
Author:A.C. Wise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan
* * *
âWendy.â Tiger Lily touches her own throat when she speaks, as if speaking physically pains her. Her voice is a cold wind blowing from a lonely place. It hurts to hear it, and Wendyâs name in her mouth is a terrible thing.
For a moment, Wendy can only stare, wanting to undo everything done to Tiger Lily and bring her back to the girl she remembers. Tiger Lilyâs twig-hard fingers brush Wendyâs cheek. Theyâre almost bone, and Wendy has to fight not to flinch away from the touch. The wonder in Tiger Lilyâs eyesâ that is real, that is human, despite the ruin of her flesh, and Wendy keeps her gaze there as if she could forget the rest of what Tiger Lily has become.
âI started to think I dreamed you.â The words scratch, and Wendy touches her own throat reflexively. âThe girl from the other side of the stars.â
Tiger Lilyâs lips crack when she smiles, but thereâs no blood. A lump rises in Wendyâs throat, and she canât swallow it down. Tiger Lily, trapped here while Wendy was locked behind St. Bernadetteâs walls; had the rest of Neverland forgotten so that Tiger Lily been doubted and disbelieved too, told Wendy was only a story or a dream?
âBut youâre here now,â Tiger Lily says.
âIâm here.â Wendy makes herself fold her arms around Tiger Lily again, feeling her hollowness. She is skin wrapped around bone, with nothing else inside.
âWhat happened?â Wendy draws back, wiping at her cheeks.
âPeter.â Tiger Lily spreads her arms, a dry, rustling sound, and her lips crack again, her expression grim this time.
Peter, of course, Peter. Wendy knew before she asked. Anger and guilt war inside her. If sheâd stayed, she could have stopped this. She could have saved Tiger Lily and the mermaids.
âDonât,â Tiger Lily says, as if reading Wendyâs thoughts. âDonât blame yourself for him.â
Wendy lets out a breath, and a small measure of the tension inside her unwinds. She wants to believe what Tiger Lily says is right, and yet blaming herself feels like the only useful thing she can do. Peter is a breaking storm, too vast a target for her rage, leaving only herself in his stead.
âCome,â Tiger Lily says, jostling Wendy from her thoughts. âWeâll talk.â
Tiger Lily tilts her head, a gesture for Wendy to follow. As she does, Wendy glances at the trees, wondering suddenly whether there are eyes and ears listening. The birds could be spies for Peter, even the leaves themselves, for all she knows. The creeping feeling of being haunted returns, even though the source is different this time.
Tiger Lily leads her between narrow-trunked trees, ducking beneath branches and looped vines like massive snakes. Her footsteps barely make a sound. When she first saw the trees shake their branches, Wendy had thought of ghosts. Looking at Tiger Lily now, she wonders whether she was truly wrong.
Tiger Lily bends to lift a heavy section of ropy vines, revealing the entrance to a cave. Just one of the many cracks and fissures and secret tunnels riddling Neverland.
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