Page 32 of The Never Queen

She screws up her mouth. “Then remind me never to make a deal.”

If I have my way of it, she’ll never have a cost, not for a single fucking thing.

15

WINNIE

There is very little left for us to do in South Wind and with no more clues as to where the Witch Killers might be holding my mom, and my life clearly hanging in the balance, we all decide it’s for the best if we leave and go back to the old Victorian in Sherburn.

The boys procure an SUV from somewhere (“Don’t ask, Darling,” Bash said) and Kas drives us the twenty miles north.

I’m going home.

I don’t want to go home.

I want to return to Neverland and pretend like it was always home, like none of this ever happened.

We pull into the cracked and weedy drive of the Victorian sometime after two in the morning.

The house is dark.

Kas shuts the car off and the engine ticks as it cools.

Pan and Vane go in first just to make sure the house is empty and secure. A few lights flick on as they move through the house.

When I asked why the Victorian, wouldn’t the Witch Killers look for us there, too? Pan had pointed out that while my mom had not successfully hidden me from him, she had managed to secure some extremely potent protection wards on the house that were still active to this day.

“It’ll buy us some time,” Pan said. “It took me a few extra days to find you when I first came for you.”

When he first came for me.

The reminder makes me shiver. My entire life, my mother had warned me about Peter Pan, and I didn’t believe her. I thought he was a figment of her imagination, a boogeyman that haunted her mind, nothing more than the delusion of a madwoman.

That is, until he was standing in the doorway of my bedroom.

I thought he was a nightmare come to life, but it turned out he was my savior.

My life was forever altered when Peter Pan appeared and took me captive in Neverland. Even when I woke up chained to a bed in a strange room not far from the ocean, I wasn’t defeated. I adapted quickly and came up with a plan.

I’m not sure why I don’t feel the same level of determination with this.

I’m not sure why my stomach is swirling with unease and doubt.

I sit back against the seat and close my eyes, taking in a deep breath. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been and yet it feels like all of that strength is slowly slipping through my fingers.

I sit forward between the two front seats where the twins are watching in case of trouble. “What the hell are we going to do in this house while we sit around and wait for Kody and his magical stones?”

Bash half turns in the passenger seat and waggles his eyebrows. “I’m sure we can come up with something.”

Kas snorts.

“Doesn’t this feel unlike Pan, though? And Vane? Since when do they sit back and wait for someone else to tell them when they can act?”

“Pan has an abundance of caution where you’re concerned, Darling,” Bash says.

Some of the unease lets up at the reminder of Pan’s love and protection.

“And he hates being powerless,” Kas adds. “It’s his greatest fear.”