“No.” I pull the blanket over my head, fully aware she might knife me through it. I don’t care. I’m done negotiating with creatures who want to do me harm. I need to wise up. I need to be brave for once. Standing up to a pixie seems like a good start.
“I’m trying to help you.” She yanks at the edge of the blanket.
I keep it firmly over my head. “No, you aren’t. You’re trying to trick me. Just like Hook. Just like Peter. I know you all have your own bullshit motivations that are way bigger than I am. They’ve been going on for centuries or more, and I just stepped into it like a big old pile of bullshit. So, no. You can go.”
“You really are a stupid bitch,” she screeches, her voice a needle in my ear.
“I guess that makes two of us.” I roll over, turning my back on her. God, it feels good telling her off. Likereallygood.
She flits around to the other side of bed, her jingling sound perilously close to my face. “Stop behaving like this. Wendy would never act this way.”
“I’m not Wendy.”
The bed shifts a little, like a cat has jumped up to steal warmth for a short while.
“You’re not sleeping with me.”
“Don’t be an idiot.” She finally manages to yank the blanket away from my face.
“I think you already made it clear I’m an idiot.”
“You are.” She nods. “You are the biggest dummy I could’ve imagined.”
My hands itch to go around her perfect throat. “Why do you hate me?”
“Because you’ll be the death of me,” she retorts.
I roll my eyes. “Because I’ll steal Peter from you?”
She gives me a look that says I’m being stupid again. “You never should’ve come here. Everything is so much more … complicated now. You have to leave. This way is safe. Geo will take you back home. You can hide for a while and then go back to school or do whatever it is humans like you do. I don’t care. Just as long as you aren’thereany longer.”
“Great sales pitch. Really. I think you missed your calling.”
She bares her teeth, two little fangs making an appearance. “I hate you, but I’mtryingto help you.”
“Sureyou are.” I make apfftnoise. “Look, if you want me to go traipsing through the scary woods, you’ll need to give me something.”
“A deal?” Her eyes flash.
“No.” I shake my head. “Not a deal. Nothing transactional. I just want you to tell me the truth. I think you know everything about this island, maybe things even Peter and Hook don’t.”
“I do.” She gives me a prideful grin. “I know lots of secrets.”
“Great. Now share them.”
She shakes her head. “Not for free.”
“I told you. No transactions.” I glare up at her.
She frowns, irritation warring with compromise. “Fine. You can ask me three questions. No more. If I answer them, will you at least consider my offer to leave Neverland?”
It feels like she just laid out a treasure chest in front of me, one that’s full of pirate gold and priceless relics. Three straight answers? In Neverland? Unheard of! Still, I can’t seem too eager.
“I don’t know.” I pull the blanket up higher. “I still can’t trust you.”
“Three answers, and—” She takes a deep breath “—I promise to tell you the truth.”
A little sizzle of gold thread ignites between us and dies away.
