“You’ll be okay,” she told him. “You’ll be in Hawaii or something in seconds. She’ll get you home once it’s safe. Just hang onto her and let her do her swimming. She’s the best friend I have in Neverland. She couldn’t tell a lie if her life depended on it. Trust me.” He shook his head no, but then heard the sound of people shouting and coming down the trail.
Whether it was self-preservation, the sudden awareness of this grand opportunity, or some combination thereof, he agreed, “Okay.” He looked down, as if just now aware that he was holding his sketchpad. The water would ruin it and everything in it. He gave it a second’s thought—there wasn’t time for anything more. “Take this. Take it all and bring it back to me someday.”
“I—”
He thrust the book into her hands. “Go to Neverland, but keep it safe, and don’t forget me.” She’d never seen Jay so serious. “Someday, you’ll come home. Promise me you’ll find me. Promise that at least someday, my friend Gwen will come home.”
She didn’t know she was crying until the tear was already halfway down her cheek. “Will you really still be waiting?”
“I want you in my life,” he assured her. “If you can’t be my girlfriend now, promise you’ll at least be my friend in the end.”
“I promise,” Gwen whispered. “I promise—to the moon and back again.”
As soon as he’d gotten the vow he wanted from her lips, he kissed them. She felt all his longing and regret as he squeezed her arms. She felt her tears freezing her face and blurring the sensation. There was something else between them though—excitement, wonder, the brilliant feeling of an adventure… hopelessly fantastic even if it was pulling them apart. At least Jay was a part of it now. At least he had seen and been and had a few nights of it with her.
In a fleeting moment of self-control, Gwen pushed out of his arms. “Go,” she commanded. “I love you.”
He smiled, that gorgeous smile that she had fallen for in between the equations and classwork of Ms. Whitman’s third period math. They’d had an adventure. They’d had a romance. With a big breath, he leapt up and threw himself into the lake. Gwen’s shadow followed him, but could not go beneath the water. The shadow rippled on the surface, broken by the water until it fled back to shore. It still would not come near Gwen.
Jay surfaced, his teeth chattering. Lasiandra already had a hold of him. “This is it!” she cried to her friend on the shore. “I told you—the stars promised we’d be great friends in the end! And this is it. This is the beginning of the end.”
“Stay safe!” Gwen called to them, clutching Jay’s book in both her arms.
“I’ll see you in Neverland!” Lasiandra told her, swimming off. “Take care of yourself! This is only the beginning!”
Jay was still looking back at her when Lasiandra pulled him under. Just like that, they were gone. No new ripples formed. Wherever they were, they were far beyond the mortal reaches of Lake Agana.
“Hey you, stop!”
The black coats were halfway across the clearing, only now emerging from the dark woods. They raced toward her, but they were only running with their grown-up feet.
“Come on, Dillweed,” Gwen whispered, rousing him from his rest in her pocket. He flitted up, his energy renewed. “Let’s go home.”
She did not need a running start. She did not need to crouch and leap up into flight. Gwen simply lifted into the air by sheer force of whimsy and love. Shooting like a star, she raced up toward the sky, a little green fairy twinkling at her side. Her heart decided, her mind as clear as the star-dabbled night sky, she left the world with only the beautiful possibility of the future in her thoughts.
She flew, without so much as a shadow to weigh her down.
Author Picture by Margaret Hubert
Audrey Greathouse is a lost child in a perpetual and footloose quest for her own post-adolescent Neverland. Originally from Seattle, she earned her English B.A. from Southern New Hampshire University's online program while backpacking around the west coast and pretending to be a student at Stanford. She is easily excited and has grand hopes for the future, which include publishing more books and owning a crockpot. She can usually be found somewhere along the west coast, and at audreygreathouse.com
I am extremely grateful (and you should be too) for Claire Hanser, who got me through all the hardest parts of this book. Craig Franklin and Rosie La Puma both deserve a round of applause for helping me revise my lump of a manuscript into a wonderful book. I would like to thank, as always, the NaNoWriMo program. My gratitude and love goes to my Grammy DiVerde, for years of love, and all the support I could hope for with The Neverland Wars. Also I'd like to recognize my Uncle Jamie, for trying not to let his heart-attack interfere with my book signing, and my Aunt Jackie for actually taking him to the hospital.
And thanks to Zaq Whittington. For everything.
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