Page 21 of The Never Queen

“Merry Darling.” Pan is now looking directly at Doren, and Doren is trying his damndest not to fidget.

“Is that…a relation to your Darling?” He looks at me, because I’m notoriously the safe one, the bleeding heart, as Pan always says. I am the nicest out of the four of us, yes, but even my claws can draw blood. He would do well to remember that.

“Merry Darling is Winnie Darling’s mother.”

“Oh. Right.” Doren shakes his head. “I can assure you, I did not take her. That would be woefully beneath me and a personal affront to you, Your Majesties.”

I narrow my eyes at him, trying to dig deeper, because what I hear in his answer is the truth.

And yet I still get the impression he’s hiding something.

“I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.” He gestures at the painting going on behind him. “Now if you’ll excuse me, we have a project to finish up. We wanted to wrap the painting by dawn.”

“Of course,” I say.

“If you think of anything,” Bash adds, trailing off, waiting for Doren to fill in the blanks.

“I’m sure I won’t,” Doren answers and then he’s leaving us, back to directing his workers.

“We all thinking what I’m thinking?” Bash whispers.

“Yes.” Pan scans the Deck again. “But I don’t think Merry is here.”

“I don’t think so either,” Bash says, glancing over his shoulder to check Doren one more time. “You know what that means, yeah?”

Pan nods. “We’re going to the mortal realm. All of us.”

10

WINNIE

I’m standing at the edge of Marooner’s Rock, looking down at the crashing waves below. It’s almost deafening here, the roar of the ocean, the sheer force of the water.

I don’t love leaping off the cliff, into the ocean, in order to get back to my world, but it’s one of the quickest ways to travel between worlds.

There is an urgent need to get back to the mortal realm, find my mom and return her home, so I can return to Neverland.

I have a life here, one I don’t want to leave. One I very much enjoy.

I bet Mom just wandered off and got lost. She’s probably already been picked up by police (which would not be the first time), and maybe she’s already been dropped off.

But in order for us to resolve this, we need to go before the sun rises so Pan isn’t caught in the light.

“Ready, Darling?” Bash comes up beside me, threading his hand with mine. Using their magic, he and Kas have cast anillusion so their wings are gone. We can’t really traipse around the mortal world with two winged fae men in our group.

“I think so,” I tell him and he squeezes my hand as if he can sense that I am not, in fact, ready.

“Let’s go first,” he says. “Get it over with, huh?”

I nod. “Okay.”

“On the count of three. One. Two.”

I squeeze him tighter, wishing I could fold myself around him, anchor myself to him and never let go.

“Three.” He pushes off the edge of Marooner’s Rock, and because I’m still clutching to his hand, I’m dragged forward with him.

The ground disappears and there is nothing but open air and ocean beneath me.