Lost in the Never Woods(14)

Michael’s blood.

Wendy’s stomach gave a nauseated lurch.

Her mother was still as a statue, her face nearly as pale.

“Officer Smith told us they had search parties combing through the logging roads and the woods, but nothing showed up. That is, until six months later when a park ranger found you in the woods. He said you were standing under a tree, looking up and not moving.” She felt frozen under his steady gaze. “He tried to get you to move but you didn’t respond, so he carried you out and called the police.” Detective James finally looked down at his notebook.

Wendy felt like she was watching a movie. One of the British procedurals her mother liked to watch. What did this have to do with Peter?

She wasn’t brave enough to simply ask.

“You had some minor cuts and bruises, but no major injuries,” Detective James went on, thumbing lazily through pages of his notes, not actually reading them. “The most pertinent things of note were that you had no recollection of what had happened during those six months, that parts of your clothing had been patched with natural materials native to tropical climates but nowhere in Oregon”—he paused for a moment—“and that there were traces of your brothers’ blood found under your fingernails.”

Wendy’s vision blurred. She barely registered that hot tears were trailing down her cheeks.

“Miss Darling,” Detective James said in a low, serious tone. “I’m sorry, but I have to ask you again: Do you remember anything that happened to you in those woods?”

A choked breath stuck in Wendy’s throat. She couldn’t remember, but whatever happened still lived in her bones. It hid tucked between her ribs and nestled in her spine, stirring on occasion. Her body remembered what her mind couldn’t.

Wendy’s chin wobbled, a sour mix of embarrassment and fear twisting in her stomach. She pressed her lips between her teeth and tasted salt. She wanted to make some smart reply, to shut them down and get them to leave her alone, but she couldn’t come up with anything clever.

It was her mother who took a step forward. “What exactly is this all about, detectives?” She raised her voice, but the hand she held against her chest trembled. Her face was pinched, almost in a grimace, like she was bracing herself for impact. Like she already knew what they were going to tell her.

Detective James spoke in a rehearsed tone. “After the police officers you spoke to reported to the main department, they noted some connections between your daughter, the location of the incident, and the dates. They pulled some dead files, and we got called in.”

Dead files. Wendy shuddered. Mrs. Darling didn’t say anything.

“Mrs. Darling.” His tone was quieter now. “The material the boy was wearing matched the evidence collected from Wendy’s clothing five years ago.”





CHAPTER 4

Thunder





Wendy felt a stirring deep inside her bones. It had first started when they found her in the woods. An uncontrollable shaking. Not the kind she would get after swimming too hard for too long, or the shiver she got from playing in the icy water at the coast. It wasn’t even the sort of terrified quiver you got in your hands or knees. This was at the very core of her body, like a small creature living deep in her chest, shaking her ribs like the bars of a cage in a wild frenzy. It was an immobilizing tremor.

It was her fault. It was all her fault. Wendy was the eldest—she was supposed to look after John and Michael. She was supposed to take care of them, and she’d failed. She was the only one to return.

Her brothers were still missing, and it was her fault. Everyone knew it—Wendy, her parents, everyone in town.

There must’ve been some way she could have brought them back with her. Why hadn’t she? And why couldn’t she just remember?

Wendy’s fingers flexed against her sides. She couldn’t let the shaking start, because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to make it stop.

“Do you understand, Mrs. Darling?” Detective James watched Wendy’s mother, but she just stood there, fingers pressed to the base of her throat, staring at him.

Detective Rowan watched Wendy. Wendy’s shoulders shuddered.

“We think that this boy, Peter, might somehow be involved with Wendy’s disappearance,” Detective James continued.

Wendy couldn’t look at them. She focused her eyes on the ghost of a water ring on the table.

“There’s a possibility he escaped from wherever your children were taken. There’s a possibility that if he knows Wendy, maybe he knew John and Michael as well.”

Knew.

She didn’t like the sound of her brothers’ names coming from this stranger’s mouth.

“We also believe he might somehow be related to the string of disappearances in town, since they all occurred near the woods.”

The trembling in her chest started to wind its way up Wendy’s spine. She wanted to cry out, scream, run away, maybe just explode.

“Mrs. Darling?” As Detective James took a step toward her mother, the door to the study swung open.

Wendy’s father stood in the doorway, filling the frame. He had salt-and-pepper hair, but a dyed mustache. His nose was large and bulbous, and his forehead had deep-set wrinkles even when he wasn’t frowning, which, to be fair, wasn’t often. He was in the same suit he’d worn to work at the bank yesterday. The dull black material was rumpled. The pinstripe shirt underneath was wrinkled, and his tie was missing.