Peter by day, Pan by night

Chapter 39

        I scream as Peter jumps back. He catches my hand and we dive down-away from Daine.

        The boy who made me a star out of wood, who let me sit next to him as he carved, who accepted me as family while the others slept.

        The boy who just tried to kill Peter Pan.

        We dive towards the ground, Daine following close behind. Peter weaves his way under the bridge, our feet skimming the Thames River.  

        Several minutes later, we drop behind an old church. A small figure flies back up towards Big Ben.

        I sigh and lean against the stone wall. “We’re safe.”

        “Safe? He almost killed me! And you-you could have died!” Peter hangs his head. “I can’t believe I was so foolish!”

        “How could you have known?” I shake my head. “Daine has never acted like that before.” My eyes widen. I grab Peter’s arm. “Of course! That wasn’t Daine.”

        “Wendy, I know it is hard to believe, but that was Daine.”

        “No, it was a pirate!” Pieces fall into place. “Hook switched bodies with Felix, so why couldn’t he figure out how to do it for the rest of them? What if all along he’s been quietly kidnapping lost boys and switching them with pirates?”

        Peter frowns at me. “What?”

        I push away from the wall. “That’s why Kelvin was picking fights and saying strange things. I thought it was the darkness changing him, but really, he had been replaced by a completely different person!”

        I knew there was no way Kelvin would act like that!

        Peter turns to stare up at the pirate ship. “It sounds crazy, but it would explain a lot.”

        “But how can we know?” Desperation pulses through me. “How will we know? Hook might have switched all the lost boys with the pirates-but I doubt it is that easy. He might have only switched a few.”

        Peter’s face reddens as he walks out of the shadows. His hands tremble. Is he about to shoot up into the sky again?

        “Wait!” I hold out my hands. “We need a plan, we still don’t know who is who.”

        Peter sighs as he steps back out of the moonlight. “I know…I’m sorry. But my lost boys-you don’t know what they’ve been through. How this world treated them and then what I did in Neverland. If Hook hurts them-”

        “Peter.” I touch his cheek, pulling his green eyes toward me. “They’ll be okay. You’ve already broken the curse’s hold over them. And over you. Hook’s distracted, trying to darken an entire world.” I nod. “We’re in this together.” I point at the ship above us. “They aren’t lost anymore, we’re all a family now.”

        “And families watch out for each other.” Peter takes a deep breath.

        I pull my hand away. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll save them.”

        “Yes.” Peter rubs his chin. A light turns on in his eyes. He laces his fingers through mine. “And I think I know how.”

**

        “Do you think it’ll work?” I ask. We are back on the other side of Big Ben.