[Neverwood Chronicles 01.0] Lost Girl

by Chanda Hahn

  Her fingernails dug little nail impressions into the leather of the door handle. She was planning on going to the university next fall and escape everything. She loved her family and hated what she’d put them through. Wendy liked when everything was perfect and planned out, and now it was about to be ripped from her again.

  She tried to change the subject, but John still wasn’t in the mood. Something was definitely wrong, and it made her nervous. They pulled up and she hopped out of the car and ran to the field to warm up with the rest of her squad. Her best friend and captain Brittney gave her a cold stare as she walked up.

  “Hey,” Wendy said, out of breath.

  “Hey.” Brittney turned away.

  Wendy’s mood darkened at her best friend’s chilled response. What was wrong with everyone today? Was it her? Had she done something wrong?

  One of the newer cheerleaders came over and asked Wendy for help on a few dance moves, so she tried to push her worries aside. Tonight she needed to keep a smile on her face no matter how she felt inside.

  The opposing team kicked off, and it began. The Timber Valley High School band played the school anthem and the crowd went wild. The game was intense. The Eagles were down at halftime, 14-7, and it looked like no matter how hard the boys played they would lose to their rival.

  The cheerleaders turned toward the fans to get them pumped up when the school song played, but Wendy felt uncomfortable—like she was being watched again. Which was dumb considering she was jumping and screaming in front of hundreds of people. Of course she was being watched.

  But that nagging feeling wouldn’t go away.

  Wendy scanned the crowd and noticed an older teen leaning on the railing by the stairs, eyeing her. He looked a little old to be a student, with unkempt reddish-brown hair that screamed to have a girl’s hands run through it. He had a pensive look, brows furrowed, his hands clasped over the railing, but he was looking in her direction. He couldn’t have worn more nondescript clothes. There wasn’t a single label or design that could identify him as more than a passerby.

  She made herself look somewhere else for a few minutes, but when she turned back, he was still standing there staring at her.

  Wendy swallowed and smiled at the crowd, waving her poms in the air as she tried to watch him out of the side of her eye. He hadn’t moved. They turned back to face the field, and Wendy could feel two holes burning into her back.

  She glanced back over her shoulder again, and the mysterious watcher had moved. Now he was standing in front of the stairs on the other side of the fence. They locked eyes, his arms crossed over his chest and his face still frozen in a serious expression.

  Wendy inhaled when the corner of his mouth crooked up in a smile and he nodded his head in acknowledgement to her. He was definitely watching her.

  She didn’t nod back but quickly turned away, ignoring him as she focused on the field. Still, she couldn’t help but sneak a peek to see if he was still there. More importantly, was he still watching her?

  “What’s your problem?” Brittney hissed.

  “Someone’s staring at me. He’s kind of creeping me out.”

  “Who?” Her friend turned to scan the crowd.

  Wendy turned over her shoulder and tried to point him out to her friend but the spot he’d been standing in for the last quarter was empty. “He’s not there…” Wendy trailed off and tried to find him among the milling fans.

  “Maybe you imagined him.” Brittney said sarcastically and flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “Like you imagine everything else.”

  “No, I’m sure I didn…” Wendy trailed off but stopped in shock. She had shared her darkest struggle with Brittney, and now it was coming back to bite her.

  She tried to ignore the sting and blink away the tears, and that’s when she noticed something dark moving under the stands—opaque but ethereal. Her blood ran cold and her hands turned to ice.

  No, not now. Wendy considered her options and tried to follow the thing she saw as it moved through the darkness.

  She was terrified. Unexplainable shadows that flew through the night always seemed to be watching her, just on the periphery of her vision. Sometimes if she looked a certain way, they’d disappear completely.

  Wendy’s neck continued to turn as she watched the shadow move. She no longer cared about the game or its outcome. Something was wrong. This shadow was different. It wasn’t like the ones she had seen before. It was bigger, darker, and it seemed more solid.

  She should ignore it, return to focusing on her team and the game and pretend that she couldn’t see the illusion, but something in her told her she needed to follow it.

  “Pay attention, Wendy,” Brittney chastised.

  Wendy shook her head. “I’m sorry. Something’s come up, I’ve got to go.”

  Brittney gave Wendy a panicked look and spoke through a fake smile. “You can’t just leave with minutes left in the game. If you have to go to the restroom, you need to hold it.”

  Her attitude set Wendy off. “Oh, get over yourself, Brittney. I don’t need to ask your permission to leave.”

  Brittney’s eyes flared. “No, but we’re the captains, and we set an example. How’s it going to look if you take off before the end?”

  “It’s going to look like something came up, and I had to deal with it,” Wendy snapped back. Tossing her poms to the side of the bench, she took off running for the field’s exit gate. She didn’t care what people thought; she needed to know once and for all if she was crazy.

  She stepped under the bleachers and heard the roar of the fans above her as the other team fumbled. Screams and foot stomping ensued, and popcorn rained down on her. She ignored it and kept moving, stepping around garbage and bypassing numerous couples caught up in swapping gum.

  She came to the edge of the bleachers and saw a smaller shadow, which seemed to be waiting for her.

  Wendy slowed and crept to the corner of the school. She peeked around and spotted a lone teenage boy sneaking off to smoke a cigarette.

  The shadow had a slightly human form. Its arm stretched and pointed toward the boy before disappearing. She rolled her eyes in disgust at what she began to chalk up to another one of her imaginary episodes. She was about to leave when she noticed a terrifying lizard-like monster crawling down from the side of the building. It was the largest creature she’d ever seen, but misshapen, its muscles bunched as if it were about to pounce.

  It leapt onto the boy’s back with a screech.

  The terrified kid dropped his cigarette and grabbed at the air, choking and trying to scream—but all could hear was the beast’s otherworldly cry. Never had her hallucinations seemed so real. And they’d definitely never had a physical effect on someone else.

  “Stop!” Wendy shouted as she ran around the corner. She didn’t know what possessed her to try and attack the beast, but she did. “Leave him alone.”

  She grabbed a rock and threw it at the monster’s leathery back.

  It turned, its eyes glowing in the night, and she stared at it. The monster’s long snout opened and wailed in fury at her. Giant wings unfurled from its back, and it grabbed the boy by the shoulders and started to haul him up into the air and away from her.

  “No, you don’t!” Wendy jumped and caught the boy’s pant leg and tried to pull him down.

  “Don’t let go of me!” the kid screamed. He looked up, terrified at the thing holding onto him. “What is it? What’s got me?”

  Wendy gritted her teeth and dug her heels into the ground, but it wasn’t enough. Her feet were losing purchase, and they were being lifted as the beast furiously pumped its wings.

  “Help,” Wendy cried out. “Someone help.”

  Something or someone came crashing down from above. She saw a bright flash of light and heard a loud screech of pain. The boy and Wendy fell and landed on the grass in a tangle of limbs.

  “Ouch! Get off me!” she cried as the scared teen flailed and punched at her. He was in flight mode, an
d she was taking the brunt of his attempt at getting away. She took an elbow to the cheek and saw stars.

  “Get off her,” a gruff voice threatened. One second the boy was there, then he went flying backward. She thought for sure it was the beast pulling him away again, but instead it was the guy from earlier. The creepy stalker with the melt-your-heart good-looking auburn hair.

  He had the kid by the back of his jacket and shook him violently before tossing him to the ground.

  Wendy scooted away from him, but he didn’t notice. His eyes kept scanning the sky. “Who are you?” Wendy asked. “What do you want?”

  “Now’s not the best time for introductions,” he laughed wryly. “It shifted back into the shadows. I don’t know where it went.” As he turned in a circle, something glinted in his hand. Was that a knife?

  That was it, she wasn’t going to stay and thank the guy. As she spun to bolt out of there, Wendy saw more movement behind her, so she ran in the opposite direction. The smoker-kid decided she had the right idea and took off running behind her.

  Wendy heard the sound of someone cussing and feet rushing after them. She turned left and cut between the athletic building and the back of the lunchroom building, running as hard as she could toward the parking lot.

  “Stop!” Stalker guy yelled behind her. “It’s a trap.”

  Wendy skidded to a halt when an immense shadow emerged from a manhole in front of her. It didn’t look like the smaller ones; this looked like the thing she’d seen under the bleacher. It morphed shapes! One second it was a giant shadow, the next an arachnid with legs flailing.

  Wendy screamed.

  The kid next to her said, “What?”

  She threw up her arms to protect her face. Something grabbed her from behind—the flying dragon monster—and lifted her into the air just as the other monster lunged for her. Two. There were two of the shadow beasts!

  The smoker kid gazed up at her, stunned. “Look, she’s flying!”

  The spider monster came up behind him and shot webbing at him, wrapping him in a filmy white cocoon. Wendy cringed. He’d just cried out and then nothing. The huge monster disappeared back into the manhole, and the dragon whisked Wendy across the parking lot.

  “Nooo!” she twisted to see the beast that was carrying her. Glowing white eyes leaned toward her. Wendy scanned the parking lot and spotted a black Hummer rush toward them and come to a squealing stop. Soldiers in black uniforms with red skull patches on the arms piled out, brandishing rope.

  A manhole near the Hummer pushed up from the ground. Rotating, it slid to the side, revealing a dark black hole. The spider beast squeezed its hairy body through, dragging the boy wrapped in the webbing after it.

  The soldiers ambushed the shadow monster and it’s prey by shooting the beast with a taser. Wendy heard a loud wail of pain from the beast, and it flopped over, it’s legs contracting. They grabbed the convulsing monster and pried the boy from its grip.

  Wendy thought they were helping, until the boy tried to wiggle free and the soldiers injected him in the neck. He went limp and they loaded him in the SUV.

  The shadow monster carrying her quickly veered away from the Hummer and the painful cries of its companion. Wendy kicked and reached up in an attempt to scratch her captor.

  A bright bolt of light emanating from the ground rushed her way, and Wendy felt the heat of it brush her cheek. And then she was falling thirty feet toward the cement.

  Once again, a body broke her fall—the stalker’s. Air rushed out of her lungs, and he fell to his knees under her weight. They rolled across the concrete parking lot, his back taking the brunt of the damage as he slammed into a tire of a pickup truck.

  “Hey, you.” His breath brushed across her cheek as he spoke. “Having fun yet?”

  “It’s a blast,” she snapped and stared up into his green eyes, as deep as a forest. He saved her life again. Who was he? Her gaze came to rest on his lips. Why was she focused on his mouth?

  “Then our next date will be even better…I promise.” He looked down at her lips as well.

  Her cheeks suddenly felt hot. “Better be.”

  He started to swim before her eyes, and the world became dizzy. She heard his worried intake of breath and heard him dial his phone. “Tink, I need backup. I got Red Skulls cutting me off—and a morphling.”

  Wendy heard the sound of bells and chimes, and then the strange boy scooped her up again. Her body hurt all over as her savior started to run, jarring her repeatedly. She forced her eyes open and saw his worried profile, just as the pounding of feet on pavement stopped. Her head fell back over his arm, and she watched the ground become distant.

  Wendy hallucinated that she was flying.

  Chapter Ten

  “What are we going to do with her, Peter?” Jax hissed as he paced back and forth on the tiled floor. “We just kidnapped a girl.”

  They had gotten the girl to a secure location, or as secure as an empty classroom could get, and she was currently passed out across a teacher’s desk. Peter was glad Jax had been able to launch a light bomb and distract the Red Skulls long enough for him to escape with the blonde cheerleader. He’d been glad to see her—watch her around her friends—but she shouldn’t have interfered with the morphling. She messed everything up and put herself on their radar.

  Jax paced like a caged animal, and he kept glancing Peter’s way. Peter knew that his second-in-command was good at taking orders, but he also knew Jax’s temper would frequently get the better of him and he’d disappear for days to cool off. Tonight, in the heat of a moment like this, he needed Jax to have a clear head.

  “We tie her up.” Tink slid from the top of a desk onto the floor.

  “We can’t hold her against her will. Besides—because of her—we lost the morphlings,” Jax said.

  “Not exactly,” Peter argued. “She actually got to the morphling before both of you. If I hadn’t been there, they would both have been taken.”

  Tink walked over and looked at Wendy’s unconscious body on the desk. “It doesn’t make sense. How did she find the morphlings so fast? What’s so special about her?” She tilted her head to the side and flicked the girl’s cheek to see if she’d respond. She looked over at Peter, who stood by the classroom window and stared out into the darkness.

  “She can see them.” Peter ran his hand through his brown hair. “She can see the shadows, and she followed one to the boy. It was like it led her there. She didn’t even hesitate when she attacked the morphling with a rock.”

  Tink looked up in shock. “Holy mother of *&%!” Her mouth moved, but all sound was covered by a loud ringing bell. “Those things are scary. She took it on without a brace?”

  “That’s so immature.” Jax wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Control your mouth.”

  “You’re immature.” Tink stuck her tongue out.

  Peter rubbed his hand on his chin, ignoring the squabbling between his best friends. “They’ve been getting more aggressive. They’re not leaving much time in between attacks. And then the shadows’ odd behavior toward the girl.”

  “They don’t do that—ever. They watch. What’s going on, Peter?” Tink asked.

  “I don’t know. We’re going to have to double our watches and just try and stay one step ahead of them. But that leaves us with a problem: her.”

  “I volunteer to get rope and heavy rocks,” Tink answered, raising her hand.

  Peter shook his head and looked over at Jax, who was now studying the girl more closely. “She can’t go home, it’s not safe. Maybe one of the safe houses until we know what to do with her?” Jax offered.

  “Finally a plan that makes sense.” Peter let out some of the tension he had been holding.

  “My plan made sense,” Tink pouted.

  Peter picked up his cell phone, hit speed dial, and waited for the voice.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, we’re going to be delayed getting back.”

  Wendy slowly came to. Hushed voices spoke
nearby. She didn’t know where she was or if she could trust the people who had her, so she pretended to still be unconscious.

  A girl’s voice came close, and then she felt a light flick on her cheek. It shocked her, and it took all of her control not to jump up and smack the ignorant girl. Listening in to what her saviors were discussing did not leave her a whole lot of hope. It sounded like they were going to try to keep her from going home.

  Well, that wasn’t going to happen. She needed to get home and away from these freaks.

  “She’s out cold, and bike or scooter won’t do. We’re going to need a car, Jax.”

  “I’m on it,” he answered. “Do you want fast? I saw a nice Mustang in the parking lot.”

  “Nothing conspicuous.”

  “Minivan it is,” Jax sighed before opening the door and heading to hotwire a car.

  “Tink, I’m going to scan the area and look for more morphlings. We don’t want any more surprises tonight. Wait here.”

  “But Pete—” She tried to argue, but he held out his hand to her.

  “Wait. Here, give me your shadow box.”

  Tink pinched her lips and pulled out her mechanical box. She pulled up the antenna and handed it over.

  “Jax will be back shortly, and when he is, load up the girl and get her to the safe house on Maple. I’ll follow shortly behind.” Peter looked back at her. “Thank you, Tink.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Wendy heard a door open and close, and she assumed she was left with the girl they called Tink. The girl paced back and forth in the classroom and paused near Wendy’s head, letting out a loud sigh. Her cell phone beeped, and she stepped out into the hall to speak.

  Wendy immediately opened her eyes and studied her surroundings. The Science lab. She could only see the back of the girl’s white-blonde hair through the pane of glass. She preferred to see the actual faces of the people who took her. Names weren’t enough—Pete, Jax, and Tink.

  Being careful not to make too much noise, she slid off the desk and crawled along the floor. They probably didn’t know that this classroom actually connected to the next one through a door that looked like a coat closet. At one time it had been a bathroom and the two classes shared it, but that was eons ago. Now, only the sink and storage boxes remained.