Page 19 of Caging Darling

My mind stutters to a halt. “Why?”

Peter frowns. “Don’t you want to get away for a while? Have a fresh bit of scenery to clear your head? You’ve been asking me for months. I thought you’d be excited.”

I blink. Before the Nomad’s bargain had instigated my sleepwalking, I’d practically begged Peter to let me join him on his excursions. The ache for air that tasted of something other than pine and salt had consumed me. That had been before I remembered that Astor was bound to return to fulfill his bargain.

Choosing Peter has me answering, “Yes. Yes, of course I’m excited. But going on a mission with you wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“I know. Me neither. But to be quite honest, I’d enjoy it more if you were with me. And I think it could be good for you.”

My whole body goes numb. For months, I would have given my right arm to have a respite from this wretched island. But now…

What if he comes back while I’m gone? What if I miss him? Then there’s the thought of leaving the wraith, my first hint of Astor in months. My palms begin to shake.

“I don’t want to leave Michael,” I say, which is true. I’ve already lost one brother, and the idea of deserting him to this realm while I’m gone…

“He’ll be fine,” says Peter. “Victor will watch out for him.” Peter cups my face. “Come on, Wendy Darling. What do you say you and I go on a little adventure?”

LeavingNeverland isn’t nearly as satisfying as I’d imagined.

For one, I think I’ve made the mistake of equating leaving Neverland with leaving Peter. But here I am, as tucked between his arms as I’ve ever been, soaring through the stars. Yet I’m not the one with wings.

The aurora is vibrant tonight, spearing the darkness with a piercing green glow, as captivating as ever.

There’s a moment when we approach the warping, the twin stars, where a rush of elation permeates my stomach like a raging current. My body warns me to close my eyes to better handle the shift in realms, but I resist the urge. I need my eyes open to scour my surroundings on the other side.

As with the first time, crossing the warping has my stomach tumbling one way, my sense of place the other. The only thing anchoring me to reality is Peter’s arms wrapped possessively around my waist.

Still, I refuse to close my eyes.

When we reach the other side and topple out into the new realm, I check below us first. But the surface of the sea is so quiet, so still, so empty, I can barely glimpse a wave.

Much less a ship.

The sky is equally devoid of any sign of life, speckled with stars but nothing resembling a flying vessel.

He’s not coming.

I’m not sure why I thought he would be. Why I thought that maybe, just maybe, there was something blocking Astor’s path to the warping. That perhaps he’s been camped just outside Neverland all this time, waiting for me, combing for a way in.

That’s a foolish thought.

The only person Astor would put in that sort of effort for is Iaso. Or perhaps he’d do the same for Maddox. Maybe even Charlie. His crew. It sickens me when I consider the host of others he’d put before me. Put before his Mate.

Not that I can call myself that anymore.

I find myself clinging to Peter’s body tighter. Just to sense someone’s warmth against my cheek, my chest. Just to feel someone squeeze me back. At least it allows me to believe, for a while, I belong somewhere.

“Where are we going?” I ask, my voice muffled by Peter’s black shirt.

His wings beat quietly against the air, competing with the breeze that gently curls through the holes between my skin and my clothes.

“Chora. It’s a town?—”

“On the mainland of Estelle. I know,” I say.

Peter looks down at me, his eyes winking with amusement. “Were you a student of maps?”

“John was,” I say, and Peter’s face falls. I don’t add that it’s not all that impressive that I know where Chora is, given I’m Estellian. My parents might have refused to let me leave the manor, but they didn’t deny me tutoring.

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