Whisper scratched her moccasin against the corner of my rug. “You said the Fountain was under your home. How do we get under this?” She looked at the hard dirt floor, and her nose pinched. “Do we just dig?”
A flutter zipped into the room, and Tinkerbell swept her gaze over me before tilting her head. Some emotion filled her eyes, but neither her voice nor her countenance conveyed it. “I can lead you to the entrance. The Fountain itself is under our home, but you can’t reach it by digging.” She flew within an inch of my face and narrowed her eyes. “But before I take you to one of the most powerful relics in the world, how do you plan to destroy it exactly?”
I scrubbed my cheek, taking deep breaths, then muttered, “I don’t know. The spirit of the temple—”
“The temple?” she chimed.
“In Neverland.”
Her eyes widened, and she jerked back. “You’ve spoken to the spirit of Neverland? You survived those tests?”
Dumbly, I nodded.
“What did she say?” Her words came airy and breathless, reverent, and her hands clasped in prayer.
“‘All wind that rises must fall.’ I don’t know what it means. I just assume it has something to do with my powers.” I wiped my hands on my shirt and offered Whisper a weak smile. It was all I could manage. “Tink’s going to take us to the Fountain.”
Tinkerbell shook her head. “No, no. I’m going to lead you to the entrance, but I’m not going there again. That magic is a drug. If Neverland trusts you to handle it, then I will too, but I can’t go back. I just can’t.”
“What did she say?” Whisper asked.
“She’s leading us to the start, but we have to make it from there on our own.” Biting my lip, I clenched a fist around my bag strap.
Tinkerbell raised her head, eyeing Whisper haughtily. “Does your friend have what it takes to make it out of there, Lyric? If Neverland entrusted you with this, I’m sure you’ll be fine, but…”
“Whisper made it through the temple’s tests, as well.” I frowned.
Tinkerbell zipped to my ear, brushing my hair aside and whispering like someone else in the room could understand her. “But, she can’t even fly.”
I swatted at her. “Yes, she can.”
“Oh, really?” Tinkerbell’s brows shot up, but her expression remained indignant. She fluttered over Whisper, then pulled back and crossed her arms as pixie dust rained into my friend’s light curls.
Whisper looked at me, shaking her head. “Oh, no. No, I don’t think— Not after…”
“You said it before, even if I didn’t realize it then. You weren’t flying because you trusted Skye.” I held out my hand. “You never trusted them, and you were right. I should have listened closer to what you were telling yourself in the temple, but why could you fly?”
She looked at my hand, her brows knitted. I floated off the ground, and realization overcame her. “I trusted you wouldn’t let me fall.” Clasping my hand, she grinned, throwing a sassy look at Tinkerbell before curtseying into the air. “Guess both our heads were a little jumbled after all that, but yes, little miss priss, I can fly.”
“Hmm,” Tinkerbell tittered, “interesting. I’ve never seen someone regain their ability to fly.”
“Maybe she never lost it. Maybe she just needed to remember that she wasn’t afraid of falling because there was still someone who wouldn’t let her, no matter what.”
Tinkerbell shrugged. “Well, nothing regarding Neverland is straightforward or makes sense, and we—the pixies—were birthed there, so naturally, our magic reacts in questionable ways. One thing is clear, you both were accepted. And if Mother accepts you, so will I.” Her eyes darted, and she huffed. “Come, I’m sure we don’t have much time.”
I landed as soon as Tinkerbell zipped out of the room. Whisper landed beside me, skeptical. “You’re still not feeling well, are you?”
“Barely any sleep after flying us both between entire worlds? No wonder I’m not in my best shape.” I sighed, squeezing her hand. “We’ll get through this. After all,” I straightened, fluttering my lashes, “we have been treated to mythical moth prince tea. Don’t you dare think I didn’t notice you both coming out of the bedroom an hour ago.”
She flushed. “There was a lot on your mind. Of course, you didn’t notice.”
“His hair was all ruffled, and I’m certain the dark promise in your gaze was a reaction to interruption, not threat.”
She snatched her hand out of mine to press against her breast. “My my, Lyly. How soon we forget. It was you who told me to tempt him. But don’t we have more important things to dwell on, aside from my dreams coming true in the moments before the world could very well cease to exist as we know it?”
“Yes,”—Tinkerbell zipped back into the room, her hands on her hips—“we do. Now hurry up!”
Whisper glanced at me, then at Tinkerbell’s trail as she left once more. “I almost understood that one.” She chuckled, touching my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
I peered at the mostly closed door, hearing the Lost Boys murmuring beyond it, and took a deep breath before nodding. “I’m trying to be. Peter remembers. Relationships can be rebuilt. We just have to make sure there’s a place to rebuild.”
“Let’s do just that.”
I thought I’d explored every nook and cranny on two Skyla islands: the mainland and home. Turns out, I had missed a hidden cavern nestled a ways past Peter’s tree. Beyond the pond where we always played while I was growing up, within the cleft of a sheer rock wall covered in brambles, there lay a single section of vines that clung to nothing but air. The opening was little more than two feet across at its base, and we would have to crawl through there since it only narrowed into a crack at the top.
“Be careful,” Tinkerbell said, giving my cheek a quick hug. “The closer you get to the magic, the stronger its allure. You’ll find reasons you need it, but nothing is worth that power.” Her eyes flicked to Whisper, and she pressed her lips together. “Be each other’s strength.”
“How did you overcome it?” I asked.
She puffed her chest and folded her arms like I had insulted her. “I have no use for such a thing when I’m beside Peter. A pixie’s life is extended through belief. As long as he believes in me, I will remain. And I will protect. And I will love.” Her cheeks tinted crimson, but she nodded before saying more, and she was gone.
Whisper nudged aside the brambles and looked at the small space we’d have to squeeze through with pursed lips before judging her midsection and bosom with an exaggerated sigh. “Any final wisdom from her ladyship?”
“We have to be one another’s strength to make it through this.” I crouched, squinting into the dark. It lightened toward the end of what I could see, the same flowers that grew on my ceiling blooming along the walls. “Also, I think she’s in love with Peter, which is just weird on a million levels. I’m sharing so I don’t have to suffer that knowledge alone.”
Whisper’s nose scrunched. “Okay, I’m more than happy to face certain doom to get that picture out of my mind. Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
