Straight On Till Morning (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,95
shadow?”
Tinker Bell wrung her hands and swayed back and forth miserably.
I didn’t want you seeing Wendy again.
“Wendy?” Peter demanded, confused out of his anger. “Why? What’s wrong with Wendy? Is she—is she evil?”
No! She—I was jealous.
“What? Jealous? Of some silly girl?”
“I beg your pardon,” Wendy said, her eyebrows rising.
Tinker Bell nodded woefully.
“And you were so jealous that you were all right with me going without a shadow for the rest of my life? What kind of friend are you, Tink?”
“She didn’t know I had the shadow,” Wendy interrupted quickly, seeing the flames in his eyes. “Not really. In fact, she came to London of her own accord to look for it, but I had already left for Never Land.”
“Well, thank you for that,” he spat, looking wrathfully at the fairy. “It’s been like…hundreds of moons since I lost it! You’re the worst, Tink.”
The little fairy collapsed into a crumpled ball of wings and arms and legs and began to weep.
“Oh!” Wendy cried, scooping her up. “She made a mistake, Peter. She’s trying to make up for it. She did it because she loves you. And didn’t want to lose you.”
“Loves… ?” Peter asked, sounding sick.
He stuck his head close to the teary-eyed fairy.
“Is this true, Tinker Bell? Do you…love me?”
The fairy nodded, sparkling tears still spilling out of her eyes.
“Well, that’s all nuts,” he swore, sitting back on his heels.
“Shh, don’t cry, it’s all right,” Wendy murmured. The fairy tears stung and burned. For only a moment, but it was still a little unnerving. “Just give him a few minutes.”
“And I don’t mean nuts just about the love—blech—business,” Peter continued, stomping up the beach, then spinning around and stomping back. “It’s nuts and bananas that you say that you care about me and then wait forever to go get my shadow!
“Tinker Bell, you’re banished! For treason!”
“Oh no, stop it! She did the wrong thing for the right reasons,” Wendy snapped. Which was incredibly strange, because here was the hero of her dreams and she was talking to him like she would Michael or John when they were being silly. “Don’t go about banishing her or whatever. Accept her apology and move on—we’re wasting precious time. There are other things going on besides reuniting you with your shadow.
“Hook is planning to destroy Never Land as some sort of doomsday farewell gesture—he was just waiting to capture you before he carried it out.”
“Oh? All of Never Land? Destroyed?” Peter asked, surprised. “That’s huge. All right then. Tink, you’re forgiven.”
His switch from red-faced anger to forgiveness was so abrupt—and apparently free from reflection—that Wendy felt seasick.
I’m sorry, Tinker Bell jingled through a gap in Wendy’s fingers. Golden light spilled out around her apologetic face. She looked like a tiny Renaissance saint.
“Apology accepted,” Peter said, nodding officiously. “Don’t do it again.”
I never will. She said it with such warmth Wendy could feel it on her fingers.
“Now then, what’s this about Hook wanting to destroy Never Land?” Peter asked. “I mean, he’s evil, but he’s not insane. Well, all right. He’s insane. But not that insane. If he destroys Never Land, where will he go?”
“Right out of my stories forever,” Wendy said. “Along with the rest of you.”
Tinker Bell shivered.
“Well, it all seems crazy to me. So how does he plan on doing it?”
“I don’t know—I don’t have any of the details beyond the fact that it has something to do with getting you first, maybe by using your shadow to lure you in. It’s like he wants to punish you and erase his past at the same time. And,” she added quickly, making herself say it again, clearly and aloud, “it’s my fault he has the shadow. Because as I said, I traded it to him to come here.”
“Hm.” Peter looked her up and down as if seeing her for the first time. Reevaluating. “Yes, you are a bit old to come to Never Land the normal way. Plus, you’re a girl.”
“A silly one, I’m told,” she said archly.
“Exactly. At least, you were when I first started visiting you. Now you’re like…a silly young woman. Pretty clever, using my shadow as payment for passage. Even if it wasn’t yours.”
“Thank you?” Wendy said uncertainly.
“So wait—let me get this straight. You gave the shadow I left behind to my enemy? Crazy old codfish whose hand I took, who’s been after me ever since?”
“Ah…yes? Yes. I did. I did that.” She cleared her throat. “I did the worst possible thing, and I’m so sorry, Peter, you don’t