a brow furrowed in deep thought as she desperately tried to come up with a better answer.
“Oh, Tink,” Slightly said, shaking his head. “Did you keep him from going back? Were you jealous of The Wendy?”
“It’s just Wendy,” Wendy corrected, unable to stop herself even as she processed this new information. She looked at the fairy in shock. That pretty thing had been jealous? Of Wendy? A plain, boring London girl living with her brothers in a nursery, inventing tales of a world more wonderful than their own? Tinker Bell had Peter Pan himself! All Wendy had were stories and his shadow. And the fairy was jealous?
“But…why?” Slightly pressed, echoing Wendy’s thoughts precisely.
The fairy looked taken aback by this honest question.
Then she stuck her tongue out at Wendy, put her hands on her hips, and turned away, fluttering her wings provokingly and buzzing. Skipper shook his head in acute disgust.
“She says it was stupid the way he always made her go to London and sit outside your window,” Slightly translated. “And then forced her to listen to you, The Ugly Wendy, tell long and boring stories about her friend.”
“Oh dear,” Wendy said, unable to think of anything else.
“That’s Tink,” the fox boy said with a sigh. “No one gets between her and Peter.”
“But I wasn’t, I didn’t, I couldn’t even…”
“Aw, don’t worry about it. She’ll come around,” Cubby said, rolling his eyes. “Girls.”
“Oh, there is so much I must make up for in Never Land, and I haven’t been here a day!” Wendy cried. “Starting with you Lost Boys. Slightly, I am deeply sorry for what I have done. Trading in Peter Pan’s shadow for passage to Never Land was a base, cowardly thing to do.”
“What?” Slightly—and all the other Lost Boys—looked at her in surprise. “Why are you sorry? Wasn’t no other way you could get here. Grown-ups ain’t allowed. Pretty clever, really. Besides…pirates, you know? Hook was the one that tricked you. They’re the bad guys. They’re always scheming to get Peter.”
“So you forgive me?” Wendy asked timidly.
“I guess it’s Peter’s got to do that. You should, um, probably talk to him,” Slightly said, but he seemed uncomfortable saying it. He looked over at Skipper, who looked away.
“What? What’s going on?” Wendy demanded. “Something is going on. You’re not telling me.”
“It ain’t nothing,” Skipper murmured.
“It’s just that no one’s really talked to Peter…”
“…since he lost his shadow,” the twins said.
“He’s been real ornery. Gotten way worse lately,” Cubby said, rolling his eyes. “No fun at all. Him and Slightly been going at it.”
“Going at it?” Wendy asked in shock. “You’ve been fighting with Peter Pan? Your leader?”
“Peter said it was time for Slightly to get out of Never Land…”
“…because he was growing up,” the twins said quietly.
The rest of the Lost Boys looked embarrassed. Like it was something they would rather die than reveal to an outsider.
Slightly frowned and worked his jaw, rapping his fingers on the table in nervous anger.
“Aye. He did. He said I was growing up and there weren’t no place for me here anymore.”
“But—that’s unheard of! No one gets kicked out of the Lost Boys! Why? Why did he say that? Was it anything you did at all?”
The fox boy shifted in his chair and then suddenly leapt up, going to look out the window. “I was just getting sick of it…you know? I been here the longest. Done it all. ‘Go hunting.’ ‘Talk to the mermaids.’ ‘Battle the pirates.’ ‘Raid the L’cki.’ ‘Get raided by the L’cki.’ ‘Tease the Cyclops.’ It’s always the same things.”
“He begun to miss things,” Cubby whispered, like it was too awful to mention aloud. “He thinks he can remember his mother.”
“He misses beds…”
“…and hard things…”
“…and nurses…”
“…and being indoors all the time!” the twins said in disgust.
“I don’t ever,” Slightly swore, spinning around. “I don’t want any of those things. I just…I want different things. New things. Aright, and maybe a bed. So what’s wrong with that? I just had some ideas about things we could do and Peter just…Peter just…laughed at them.”
“You look like a mother,” Tootles ventured, tugging on Wendy’s skirt. The Lost Boys looked at him in surprise.
“Oh, why, thank you, darling,” Wendy said, scooping him up—reminding herself to wash her hands thoroughly as soon as she had a chance. The skunk boy snuggled into her soft chest. “So…because of this, he threatened to throw you out?”
“Peter don’t like change,” Slightly said, scowling. “Anything different—unless it’s a newer, better game that he thought up—is growing up.