by Chanda Hahn
“So what do we do now?” Ditto asked. “Do we wait to try to find Dr. Mee? Grab some candles and holy water and do an exorcism to get him out of Jax’s body? I mean, Peter, how long can you exist in Jax?”
“I don’t think very long.” He scratched his arm again. “I can feel the pull of my body and I haven’t much time left. I’d like to spend it with you.” Peter-Jax looked at Wendy and motioned for her to follow him. He headed out the main door, away from prying eyes. The rushing of the waterfall made speaking almost impossible without yelling near each other’s ear.
“Wendy, I’m sorry,” Peter-Jax said, and tried to pull her into a hug, but she resisted. She didn’t want to be in Jax’s arms. “Close your eyes,” he commanded.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and listened to the waterfall. Over the turbulent waters, his voice sounded different and she could believe it was him. Peter. She raised her arms, and he pulled her into his embrace.
He spoke into her ear, his voice husky with emotion. “I never meant to leave you, or for this to happen. I promise I will come back . . . somehow.”
“No, Peter. Don’t do it.” She knew it was selfish pleading with him. “Find another way. Don’t die just to help us find the boys. What if it’s the last time? What if you can’t pan again? It’s not worth risking your life. I don’t want to lose you. Wait for us to find you.”
He pulled away. “Death will never separate us. I’ve proven that. Trust me.”
With her eyes still squeezed shut, her trembling began. She could tell he was going to leave her. “No,” she begged again.
He embraced her again and pressed his cheek to hers. He whispered encouragement and sighed. When her trembling didn’t cease, he turned his head and sought her lips. She wrapped her hands around his neck, keeping her eyes pressed closed. In desperation he deepened the kiss. Wendy in turn locked her arms around his neck as if to hold him forever to her.
The kiss changed, becoming more demanding as his mouth crushed into hers. He lifted her a few inches off the ground, his hands wrapped around her waist. She broke apart first and sighed. “I love you.”
When he didn’t respond to her declaration, she opened her eyes and gazed into the heated and fully cognizant gaze of Jax.
“Jax!” Wendy gasped and struggled to be released from his grip, but she couldn’t find purchase on the ground. “Put me down.”
He wasn’t in any hurry to obey, continuing to hold her close to him.
Wendy’s cheek’s burned in embarrassment. She hadn’t meant to—she never expected Peter to kiss her using Jax. In fact, she’s pretty sure he wouldn’t have. But then she had to wonder if it was Peter that had kissed her or Jax?
“Now, Jax,” she demanded and pushed against his shoulder. There was a hint of disappointment in his eyes before his face turned to a familiar unreadable stone.
“As you wish.” He dropped her suddenly.
She was unprepared for his sudden release. With her own momentum from pushing away from him and the angle at which her feet hit the wet stone, Wendy slipped backward into the rushing falls.
Wendy gasped as the thundering barrage hit her full force in the face as she was swept over the side of the fifty-foot cliff. A roaring din and a million hammers dragged across her chest as she fell. There was a moment under the weight of the water when she felt like she was weightless and flying instead of falling down the waterfall.
Then she remembered the rocks.
Chapter 19
He couldn’t find her. When he saw her fall over the safety chain, he was seconds behind her. The mass of water, pulling him so hard, it knocked the air from his lungs, and he forgot to breathe. It felt like an eternity, but was only seconds later, when he crashed into the pool below, the pounding of the falls turning him over and over, worse than being tumbled in a washing machine as he struggled to find up. Feeling the pull of the river, he kicked his feet, and an agonizing minute later, he crested the water and breathed.
Jax scanned the water, searching for Wendy’s strawberry blonde head to appear, but it never surfaced.
“No!” he cried out in terror and with large strokes swam closer to the falls. Taking a deep breath, he dived under and searched for her. Nothing. He kept up his pursuit until his lungs screamed for oxygen, only surfacing when he felt close to blacking out. It wouldn’t do him any good if he passed out before he found her.
Fear fueled his desperate search, and he puffed out his cheeks, taking three more deep breaths before diving under again. His desperation made him reckless and he wouldn’t give up, even though it was hard to see and he felt himself start to cramp. No! He saw her, or at least what looked like could be a piece of her shirt. Using all the strength he had left, he pulled himself through the water, his hand grasping clothing. It was Wendy.
He had her. Kicking downward, he pulled her up, his hand locked under her chin. Both of their heads broke the surface, and he turned to Wendy with a grin. Except, Wendy’s face was pale, and she wasn’t breathing.
Instead of fighting the current, he used it to help him get to the riverbank. Pulling her onto the shore, he checked her pulse and swore.
“Sorry, Wendy,” Jax muttered, then checked her airway and began to perform CPR. Over and over, breathed into her mouth, following it with chest compressions, even praying to God. When she didn’t respond, he knew it was because of his curse. He always hurt those closest to him. First his best friend Peter, the lost boys, and now Wendy.
Jax collapsed on the bank. Pulling Wendy into his lap, he wrapped his arms around her and sobbed. She was so pure, so good. Too good for him, and she was gone.
He had known the moment Peter had left his body, had felt his friend leave. In his mind, he’d seen Peter nod his thanks for letting him share his body. But Jax was angry at Peter. When Peter left, he hadn’t felt jovial at all, but a loss. The very next moment when he regained his full senses, he had Peter’s girl, Wendy, in his embrace.
Out of spite. Out of bitterness toward them both, for having a happiness that he could never achieve, he had kissed her. Once before, when he was training her, he had stolen a kiss out of anger, to catch her off guard and to fight him. This time it was purely selfish. He wanted a kiss, and when she responded, it about undid him. It sent him reeling, wishing for something he couldn’t have and wouldn’t dare take. To pursue Wendy for himself, he would be forever damning his soul. He would never forgive himself and neither would Peter.
Never before had he seen lovers as fated to be together as Peter and Wendy. Even as children, amongst the most trying times of their lives at Neverland, they had gravitated to each other, seeking shelter from the other’s company. When apart, they were solemn, quiet. But once together, their matching grins could light up a room, freeing the atmosphere of worry and fear, their laughter and spontaneous giggles drawing crowds of kids. They were two halves of one soul, and when Peter lost her that night on the boat years ago, he saw his best friend break. The next seven years were filled with him learning to live without her. Peter had hidden the pain of his loss behind a fake charm, always keeping a smile plastered on his face for the boys at the school. Only Jax ever saw the real him.
He was a fool for trying to become part of their world. Because no matter how much he tried to deny it, she had stolen a piece of his heart. And from the looks most of the others gave her, it was clear they adored her as well.
He sighed, but each intake of breath became harder than the last. He looked one last time into her lifeless face and began to sob again.
Her teeth hurt and began to chatter. Warmth surrounded her like a blanket, banishing the cold to be replaced by an almost unbearable burning heat. The heat was better than the bitter bite of the chill and she snuggled closer. But the heat was moving, shaking, and when she opened her eyes, she stared into the sobbing face of Jax.
Water dripped from his wet hair, running down into her face. They were sitting on the bank; behind him a majestic waterfall rose up like a throne. She
was curled up in his lap, his arms wrapped around her, his forehead pressed close as he rocked her.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. Great heavy sobs wracked his body as he cried hard, shaking them both.
Unsure, Wendy blinked up at Jax, at his tan face and deep black hair. Why was he sad? Why was he holding her like she was his long-lost love?
Feeling an unmistakable need to comfort him, she reached out and touched his cheek. His eyes opened and Wendy was hit with eyes as gray as a foggy morning.
“Wendy?” His breath sucked in and hope filled his eyes.
“Peter or Jax?” she muttered, wishing it was Peter.
His hard face broke into a smile. “Jax. I’m so glad you are okay.” He pulled her closer and buried his face into her neck in a hug. “I thought you had died. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to have set you down so hard that you fell over the falls.”
The falls? Wendy was trying to make sense of his words.
She looked up and over his shoulder at the rushing waterfall. She had fallen over that and survived? It seemed impossible and mighty unlikely.
“That’s right, I fell,” she said in awe.
He nodded. “I jumped after you into the falls and was washed downstream. But you, you never surfaced, so I kept diving until I found you. I thought I was too late.”
He hugged her again and she let him. Until she remembered why she fell, and then she shoved him away from her and glowered at him.
“You kissed me,” she cried in accusation.
Shocked by her sudden burst of temper and change of mood, he laughed, which only fueled her anger.
“You kissed me back,” he laughed.
“No, no, no!” Wendy shook her head and struggled to get out of his arms. “I was hugging Peter, but then he kissed me. I mean—you kissed me. I mean, he wasn’t you at the time, or was he?” She looked at Jax suspiciously. “How much of that kiss was you?”
He leaned back, a crooked smile of enjoyment splayed across his handsome face. “You may never know.”
“Ooh!” Wendy growled out angrily. Gathering all of her strength, she pushed him in the chest. “That’s for kissing me and then letting me fall off a waterfall,” she snapped.
“Technically, you slipped,” he grumbled, rubbing his chest. “But I did save you.”
“Did you? Well, who is going to save you from me?” Wendy took a threatening step toward him and watched as Jax tried to back away. Tripping over his own feet, he landed on the ground.
Wendy smirked. It felt good to have gotten the upper hand with him for once. With a sigh, she reached out her palm in a peace offering to help him up. Jax took it and then he purposefully used all of his strength to pull her back with him into a pile of leaves.
Wendy howled as she landed in a heap atop his chest, dried leaves tangling in her blonde hair.
She looked over at Jax, and he whistled cheerfully before offering her his hand. “Truce?”
“Truce,” she sighed and took it, both of them awkwardly trying to get out of the leaves.
“Jax, do you know what happened to Peter?” Wendy asked softly, looking down at the ground.
“He’s gone. I felt him slipping away and I tried to hold onto him, but there was a sharp pain, like a shock and he was gone.”
“Do you think—?”
“He’s fine. I promise. C’mon, we need to get you back to the others.” He lifted her off his lap and held on to her hand until they had both stood. Her clothes were dryer in all the places she had touched him, and as she moved away from the furnace that was his body, she felt the dreary chill.
But it wasn’t the same as a chill from cold, but of something else, something darker. Wendy looked over her shoulder at the surrounding woods and shuddered. Something sinister lay beyond her sight, she could almost guarantee it, but what was it? She stepped close to Jax as the cold and wet made her feel vulnerable.
“It’s too steep of a climb straight up. We have to head east for a bit before we can get around. So that means quite a hike. Are you okay with that?” he asked.
A shadow came up and wrapped around her wrist, and Wendy gasped, feeling all of the shadow’s terror, but it was impossible to understand what it was trying to tell her and Jax couldn’t see the shadow. The shadow showed her the future. Woods, trees—not just trees, but the boughs. An image of Jax, lying on the ground, covered in blood.
Wendy couldn’t get over the pressing feeling of peril and didn’t answer right away. She didn’t know how to describe the urgency that she was feeling in her soul—the warning of what was coming, demanding for her to take action —bubbling up out of her.
Up. Up the danger is up.
“Wendy, you’re pale as a ghost. What’s wrong?”
Her body was trembling, she could hardly move or respond. The forest was moving. No, not the forest. A shadow within the forest. A coldness overtook her, and she knew if they stayed, they would die.
“We need to run,” she whispered and tried to give him a shove, but it was like trying to move a brick wall.
“What?” He was confused, but she continued to drive him forward.
“Run!” she screamed as a beast crashed down from the tree canopy and landed where Jax had been moments ago.
“Morphling!” Jax pushed Wendy back and reached for his brace, flicking his wrist to try to activate it. But the wand didn’t come forth and the light weapon died. He attempted it a second time.
Wendy tried to activate her own brace, but it wouldn’t come to life. “Jax, they won’t work!”
“They must have been damaged in the fall.”
A morphling in the shape of a dragon beat its massive wings, sending twigs, dust, and pebbles directly into their eyes. Wendy turned away, trying to protect her face with her hands and squinted to keep a wary eye on the monster.
The morphling roared, taking flight into the sky. It circled above the waterfall before doing a kill dive, claws opened and aiming for her.
Jax cursed under his breath, and power in the form of bright orange flames materialized in his hands. An unseen wind blew his dark hair as power gathered. With a mighty bellow, he released the fiery blast into the mouth of the morphling. Wendy cried out as it exploded outward, leaving a trail of glistening slime everywhere.
The exertion of power made him stumble for a second, but he quickly regained his footing and turned to make sure Wendy was all right.
Was she? She didn’t think so. Her heart was beating frantically like a caged bird, and her arms were prickling from fear. She looked into Jax’s eyes and said, “Jax, what was that? Was that a morphling?”
His brows furrowed in confusion as he looked at her. “I think so, but that was less shadow and more—”
“Real,” Wendy stated. “How are they becoming real? And how come they’re still chasing us when we haven’t seen a Red Skull?”
“Good questions, but I suspect this morphling wasn’t here because of Hook. I think it came because of Alice.”
“Alice?”
Jax’s cheeks turned red, and he reached up to brush the back of his neck. “I think she was trying to communicate with me, with that morphling.
Wendy gave Jax a bizarre look and flipped out her palms. “Girl wants to talk to guy, girl sends monsters after him—when a phone call would work just as well?”
“It’s not like that,” Jax said impatiently. “She dreams and her dreams create morphlings.”
“Jax, someone has to say it. That’s messed up.”
“She’s like you Wendy. I mean like us. Except she’s trapped at Neverland.”
More crashing came from the woods, and Jax placed himself in front of her protectively, fire building in his hands. The crashing grew louder as whatever was rushing through the brush drew close. Wasting no time, Jax released a fireball in the direction of the beast and heard a surprised yelp.
That was no morphling. Wendy tried to move out from behind Jax, but he kept pushing her back, keeping himself firmly in place between he
r and the noise. The rustling continued, but Jax stayed his hand, waiting and watching as their intruder emerged.
Not a monster, but a large Saint Bernard dog. One Wendy recognized.
“Nana?” she said in disbelief. Behind Nana, two very disheveled people staggered out as well. An older man with white hair and glasses was patting down his singed jacket, while a woman with a torn coat was untangling twigs from her dark hair.
Jax’s hand dropped to his side, and he stumbled in surprise. Wendy’s hand reached out to steady him as he regained his composure. “Mr. Barrie? Dr. Mee?”
Dr. Barrie brushed off his singed jacket and wagged a finger at Jax.
“Jax, my boy, what have we discussed about using your gifts without having a clear line of sight? And don’t try and play it off, like I don’t remember.” He tapped his head. “I’m back.”
“Yes, Dr. Barrie.” Jax grinned.
Dr. Mee gave up on untangling the sticks and approached Jax, holding up her hands for a hug. Jax didn’t hesitate but lifted the small-framed women up in the air, and her accompanying laughter made Wendy smile.
Jax took notice of her again and his smile faltered. “Dr. Mee, you remember Wendy?”
Dr. Mee looked over at Wendy and extended her hand. “Yes, unfortunately she was much younger when I last saw her, and then recently, we didn’t have the time to get reacquainted.” Wendy shook her hand. “I had hoped we would have met under better circumstances. A police station and a hospital are not quite the reunion I had in mind. But all will be well. We will make it so.”
It took ten minutes for them to follow the path back up toward the house. And as they made their way up, gripping tight to the safety chain, Wendy hugged the wall when she came near the spot where she had slipped, noticing that Jax had done the same.
Dr. Barrie paused at the door, his hands smoothing his hair back in nervousness. “Do you think she’s forgotten me?” he asked Dr. Mee. Nana was brushing against his knee.