“All right, is everybody clear on the rules?” Peter asks, and we nod our heads.

This is the first night all of us, including my brothers, have ventured out of the school together. Peter had the idea of playing Ghost in the Graveyard at the several acres of field Croc uses to store all of the junked and parted out cars. We chose tonight because it’s a full moon with a clear sky, so we can easily see where we’re going while still using the shadows of night to our hiding advantage. The place is almost eerie with the hundreds of old or broken cars sitting in silence as far as the eyes can see. Some of them are by themselves while others are in clusters or even piled five or more high against the bluff that borders one of the sides.

I was worried this might not be safe, but Peter said as long as we stick with the younger kids, we’ll know what we can and can’t hide in. For my part, I’m going to stick with the cars on the ground.

“Then it’s time to pick partners. The older kids are me, Wendy, Hook, Silas, and John. I’m assuming Smee and Starkey will be with Hook, which means Carlos, Tink, Nick, the twins, Michael, and Thomas all need to partner up with the rest of us.”

“How come John and Wendy get to be big kids?” Michael pouts.

John ruffles our baby brother’s hair. “Because Wendy’s fifteen and I’m thirteen, that’s why. You need a -teen in your age to be a big kid, and ‘ten’ doesn’t have it. Be thankful you’re here at all. Am I right, Captain?”

Hook lights his cigarette and cocks a brow at my brother like he’s questioning why John dares to speak to him. I don’t know why he even came out with us because all he does is say how lame we are. But sometimes I think that’s just an act and he secretly likes being with us. I’m not sure he’s all that happy about John trying to be his best buddy, but as long as he’s not mean to my brother, I won’t say anything.

Michael rolls his eyes on a sigh. “Fiiiiiiiine.”

“I’m with Peter.”

I’m surprised it took Tinker Bell so long to stake her claim. Peter doesn’t see it, but that little girl is infatuated with him. I think it’s cute, actually. He’s protective of her, so it’s natural she’d have a crush on him. I don’t mind. Her life isn’t easy, and I’m glad she has someone like Peter to look out for her.

“Okay Tink, you’re with me,” Peter says. “Anyone else?”

“Me!”

Again, no surprise there. Michael has serious hero worship when it comes to Peter, and he’s been sweet on Tink since I brought him to the school for the first time two months ago. But I’ll feel safer if he’s with me. Peter and Tinker Bell are liable to hide in one of those gigantic car towers, and Michael doesn’t have that kind of scrappy agility. Not caring that it makes me the bad guy, I tell Michael he has to be with me. Thomas joins us, the twins go with John, and Nick and Carlos pair up with Si.

We play over and over, each team taking turns being the Ghost and hiding until someone announces they found them, sending everyone sprinting back to the safety of home base as they try and tag someone to be the next Ghost. After about an hour, it’s finally Peter and Tink’s turn.

“All right,” I say to the group, “everyone face the truck and count, so they can go hide.”

As we all turn toward the rusted-out Chevy pickup we’re using as base, I can hear Peter and Tink scurry away. I count, and the little kids dance with anticipation of the moment they get to take off into the “graveyard.”

Suddenly, Hook grabs my wrist to get my attention and shushes the boys to be quiet and not move. At first, I don’t understand why, and then I hear it. Men’s voices off in the distance. I look back, but Peter’s nowhere to be found. Knowing him, he’s at the farthest and most remote hiding spot in the entire place. I can’t let the boys be caught, but it might not be necessary to move them if the men don’t plan on coming in much more.

“Let’s go see what they’re here for,” I whisper to Hook.

He seems surprised by my suggestion but nods. We motion for the boys to stay put with John and Si in charge of the younger ones, then we make our move, sticking to the shadows as much as possible and ducking behind vehicles. Soon, we find three men about fifty feet away, walking in our direction.

“Such a nice night for a stroll, don’t you think? Let’s go, sweetheart.”

One of the men yanks on something…and that’s when I realize the third person isn’t a man at all. It’s a girl about my age, maybe a little younger, with rope bound around her wrists and used like a dog leash to pull her along.

I clap a hand over my mouth to muffle my sharp inhale, even though it’d be impossible for them to hear me from this distance. Next to me, Hook tenses as his hands curl into fists against the car we’re hiding behind.

“That’s Davey and Tito, two of Croc’s crew,” Hook whispers. “And that girl is Tiger Lily of the Piccaninny tribe. Croc uses her as a driver for his car boosting business.”

My head whips to the side to stare at him. “He steals cars?”

“Jesus Christ, Darling. You didn’t actually think the work we do at his shop is legit, did you?”

“I know it’s illegal to make children work, but I didn’t know that what you do is illegal, too,” I whisper back angrily.

Hook shakes his head and mutters, “You and Pan fucking deserve each other.”

Ignoring that snide remark, I argue, “She doesn’t even look old enough to drive.”

“She’s not, legally. But kids on the res start driving at a much younger age because there’s no rules about it there, and she’s good. Like, wheel-man for a bank heist good.”

I don’t even know what to say to that. Girls at my school were worried about snagging the latest fashions at the London mall and gaining the attention of boys they liked. I can’t imagine any of them, myself included, driving a car at breakneck speeds, much less for illegal purposes.

“So you all know her?”

“No, Croc deals with her separately. I’ve seen her a couple of times when she drops off cars at night, though.”

“For fuck sake, how much farther, Davey?” The complaint from the one not holding the rope swings my attention back to them.

“Another hundred yards at least,” Davey says. “You want people to hear the bitch scream?”

Tito glances over his shoulder at her and shrugs. “I don’t know, she ain’t fought us yet. Maybe she’s not gonna.”

“That’s because she hasn’t had my cock in her yet. She’ll scream plenty then.” Davey laughs like he can’t wait to hear her torture spill from her lips, like it would be the stuff his dreams are made of.

My blood turns to ice in my veins, and my stomach rolls. They plan on raping that poor girl. And they plan on doing it right around where the boys are waiting for us. Hook must have realized the same thing because he jerks his head for me to follow him, and I do, darting over the same path we took a few minutes ago.

But before we reach the base, I pull Hook up short. “I need you to get my brothers home safely and the Lost Boys back to school.”

“What are you talking about? We’re all fucking leaving.”

I swallow and shake my head. “No, I can’t. I have to do something to help her.”

“Like what?” he asks angrily through clenched teeth.

“I don’t know, I’ll think of something.”

“You realize what’ll happen if you get caught?”

“Yes,” I say, glancing back to make sure they haven’t gotten this far yet. “But I also know what happens to her if I leave.”

“Wendy,” he says tightly like he’s never used my name before, and I think it might actually be the first time. “The boys and me, Croc will—”

I put a hand on his arm. “I know. That’s why you have to get them back, in case these guys run to their boss. They can’t see you out here. Find Peter and Tink on your way out and then get my brothers home. Please.” When he balks at the plan, I add, “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

He curses a blue streak. “You’d better be or Pan will castrate me in my sleep. Don’t do anything stupid. Just make them think the place is haunted or something.”

“Yeah okay, now go.”

I hold my breath as I watch him take off running to where my brothers and the Lost Boys are waiting. When I can’t see him anymore, I search the area and try to think of a plan. Thirty seconds later, I have one. I’m not confident it’s great, but I’m out of time when the men come into view.

Davey pushes Tiger Lily back onto the hood of a car, tying the end of the rope to the steering wheel through the missing windshield so that her arms are stretched high above her head. My heart is beating so loud I’m afraid it’ll lead those barbarians right to me, but then at least they wouldn’t be focused on their plans for her.

The sound of a belt buckle loosening as Davey stands in front of a stoic and shockingly calm Tiger Lily spurs me into action. Grabbing the trailer hitch I found on the ground nearby, I throw it as hard as I can in the direction of the shop. My prayers are answered when it crashes into something metal, making a huge bang that startles the men.

“What the fuck was that?” Tito asks.

“How the hell should I know? Go check it out.”

Tito unsheathes a large knife from his side and stalks off, mumbling under his breath about the unfairness of being the new guy.

Crap! I suppose it was too much to ask for them both to go check it out. I like Plan B a whole lot less, but I guess that’s pretty typical; otherwise, they’d actually be Plan As. Since I’m not particularly crafty when it comes to devising ways to take down a man twice my size, I’m taking a play out of Peter’s book. Last month, he told me about how he took out Croc with a fire extinguisher—not that he told me why. For my sake, I hope he wasn’t exaggerating what a blow to the head can do. I want him unconscious, so I can untie Tiger Lily, and we can make our escape before Tito returns.

Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves as much as possible, I pick up my makeshift weapon—a broken piece of wood about the size of a baseball bat—and grip it in both hands as I sneak out from my hiding spot. God, the moon’s soft glow might as well be a spotlight for how exposed I feel right now. Luckily, Davey’s too busy listing off all the disgusting things he wants to do to hear me creeping up behind him.

Just as he starts to lower his pants, I raise the wood over my head. I quickly calculate my height versus his and make a snap decision to even the playing field with something I’ve seen John do in his martial arts classes. Using my foot, I kick the back of Davey’s knee, causing it to buckle.

“What the—”

Before he can finish his sentence, I swing as hard as I can. The reverberation from the impact shoots through my hands and up my arms, making me drop the wood like it stung me. Davey groans and slumps to the ground.

“Oh my God, it worked,” I say, slack-jawed. Then I gasp when the man braces his hands on the ground and shakes his head like he’d just gotten a little dizzy.

“No, it didn’t,” Tiger Lily says. Fear freezes me in place, but the girl lifts her legs into a back somersault on the hood of the car until she’s kneeling upright at the top. Reaching through the open windshield she starts working on the knot with her bound wrists just as Davey gets his feet under him. “Run!”

“I can’t,” I whisper. What made me think I could do this, that I could save her? I’m not as brave as Peter or as strong as Hook; I don’t even know how to defend myself like John. I’m just a girl who couldn’t stand the thought of another girl being violated, and now I’ve made matters worse.

Davey turns to see who assaulted him and a sickly grin slides onto his face. “Two for the price of one. Must be my lucky day.”

“Not tonight, asshole.”

From the corner of my eye, I can see Tiger Lily free the knot. She slides down the hood then plants her feet at the edge and launches into the air at her would-be attacker. Her flight happens in slow motion with the pale moonlight glinting off her long, raven-black hair as she lets out a war-cry worthy of a banshee. She collides with him, and they both go down. I retrieve my piece of wood, thinking maybe I can get in another hit. Surely, he can’t withstand two cracks to the skull, right?

But things go from bad to worse as Tito runs back over, gigantic knife in hand, ready to save his partner in crime.

“Davey, what the fuck is— Hey, who are you?”

Oh no, oh no, oh no…

“She’s mine.”

My heart soars to see Peter sprint into the small clearing, heading straight for Tito. Who has a knife.

“Peter, no!”

But he never even slows down. The look on his face is one I’ve never seen. If I hadn’t known him before this moment, I’d be scared of him. It promises pain and wrath, and his silver-glinting eyes are as bloodthirsty as his opponent’s knife. Just before Peter gets to Tito, he drops between the man’s legs like he’s sliding across home plate, then pops to his feet on the other side and uses the same kick method I did.

A tiny yell with the jingling of a bell distracts me, and I turn just in time to see Tink fly into the fray, jumping onto Davey’s back. Like a hissing kitten, she spits and claws and scratches her much bigger predator, distracting him enough that Tiger Lily gets in a crotch shot. Davey growls as he cups the injured area with one hand and throws Tink off with the other.

“Knock it off, you nasty pig!” Adrenaline floods my veins as I run over with the wood held high and shouting my own battle cry fueled by hate and disgust. With every ounce of strength I didn’t know I possessed, I bring the weapon down with both hands like Thor with his mighty hammer. The wood breaks in two, and this time, when Davey collapses to the ground, he doesn’t make a sound or the slightest twitch.

The girls and I stare at him as we try to catch our breaths. Tink walks over and kicks him in the ribs. I arch a brow at her.

“What? Just making sure he’s not awake is all,” she says, crossing her arms.

“Thank you,” Tiger Lily says to us, wresting the knife from Davey’s belt.

“You’re welcome,” I say as I watch her place it between her feet. “I don’t know how you managed to stay so calm like that. You must be really brave.”

She makes quick work of sawing through the rest of her bindings, then stands. Definitely a little younger than me, but she’s taller and graceful like a dancer. “It’s got nothing to do with bravery. They wanted me to scream and cry and beg them for mercy, but I knew they were going to rape me no matter what, so I kept my mouth shut. They were already getting what they wanted, I didn’t have to make it fun for them, too.” Tiger Lily flips the knife in her hand, end over end, like she’s been playing with sharp objects since birth. Smiling wickedly, she says, “But I would’ve gotten my revenge eventually when I hunted them down, sliced off their balls with their own knives, and fed them to my dogs.”

“Oh, okay then,” I say, swallowing hard. That got dark real— “Oh no, Peter.”

Spinning on my heel, I run over to where Tito is on the ground, unmoving but still breathing, with the girls right behind me. Peter is sitting against the side of a car, breathing hard and holding his side. He’s covered in sweat and dirt, and pain brackets his eyes.

“You’re hurt.” Concern swamps me, but my words come out like an accusation, as if I told him not to do that.

“Nah, I’m fine.”

Tink crouches down and flicks Tito in the face before smiling over at her hero. “You got him good, Peter.”

“Sure did, sprite,” he says tightly.

Off in the distance, we can hear dogs barking and a man shouting commands at them to search.

Tiger Lily frowns. “Croc is coming. We need to go.”

I reach down to help Peter get to his feet, but he groans and sits back again with a pained grunt. He takes his hand away from his side, and that’s when I see it. Blood. So much blood.

“Oh my God, Peter,” I cry as I fall to my knees at his side and try to examine his wound. But every time my hands get near him, he brushes them away. “Peter, stop, let me see.”

“It looks worse than it is, Wen, I swear. He got me on the side is all. But you guys have to get out of here. I’ll stay.” Tink and I immediately protest. “Hey, listen to me. If I’m the only one here, I can tell Croc that I was out screwing around when these guys found me and tried to bring me in. They’re not gonna say otherwise because if Croc knows they tried messing with his prize driver, there’ll be hell to pay. With my story, it makes them the heroes and the victims, so they’ll keep their mouths shut, and he won’t know the other kids are sneaking out or anything about you, Wendy. That’s the way it has to be.”

“He’s right,” Tiger Lily says. “It’s everyone’s best option. I know a back way out of here. We can take that to where I have a car stashed. I’ll make sure they both get home, I swear on my honor.”

“Thanks. Wendy, gimme a second with Tink, would ya?”

I rise and take a few steps off to the side, my stomach flipping so much I feel sick. Tink leans in so Peter can whisper something to her. A few seconds later, she backs away, and I drop to his side. The barking is getting louder, and the last thing I want to do is leave him here. Getting caught by Croc with what happened to his men could mean punishments like Peter’s never had before, and he’s had some bad ones.

Tears stream down my face as I try begging him one last time. “Peter, please come with us. We can help you.”

“Shhh, you know this is the only way to spare the others. I need you to get out of here, Wen. If Croc ever finds out about you, I’d—”

He takes a steadying breath as though he needed to cut himself off before he said something I wouldn’t want to hear. Peter’s always protecting me, even from himself, even now. I might be young, and I might be naive, but if there’s anything in this world stronger than the love I feel for Peter Pan in this moment, I don’t want to know what it is. Because this is everything, he is everything.

“We need to go right now,” Tiger Lily says behind me.

“Please, Wen,” he whispers, lifting the hand that’s not putting pressure on his wound and trailing his fingertips over the wet streaks on my cheek. “Go with Tiger Lily, make sure Tink gets home. Do it for me.”

I sniff hard and wipe my nose with the back of my arm. “I’ll come tomorrow night, okay?” He nods and gives me a weak crooked grin. I kiss him gently, not caring about our audience, then press my fingers against his lips to seal it in. “I love you, Peter.”

His eyes shine in the moonlight, and his grin spreads into a full-blown smile. It’s the first time I’ve ever said those words, but certainly not the first time I’ve felt them.

“I love you more, Wen.”

Tiger Lily pulls me to my feet and looks down at Peter. “You’ll always have an ally in me, Peter Pan. If you ever need anything, you know how to find me.”

He nods once. “Go.”

The three of us race off in the opposite direction from where Croc is advancing. I do my best to ignore the burning in my lungs and the tears drying on my cheeks from the wind, making my skin tight. Eventually, we reach Lily’s car, and we ride in silence to my street with the exception of me giving her my address.

Tiger Lily stops the car a block from my house, and I climb out like a zombie, nothing but fear for Peter roiling in my gut.

“Don’t worry about him, Wendy,” Tiger Lily says from her open window. “He has a strong mind and heart. He’ll heal.”

I nod numbly, then begin walking toward my house.

“Hey, wait up.” I turn around, surprised Tinker Bell is speaking to me directly. She’s not even scowling. “What you did…staying behind like that and trying to save her…that was…brave.”

The pixie-sized ten-year-old seems to be struggling with paying me a compliment, but I appreciate her trying. Maybe this can be a fresh start for us.

“I’m giving you a favor—just one—that can be collected whenever you want,” she says. “You stuck your neck out for one of us—not that she’s a Lost Boy, but she’s one of Croc’s puppets just like we are—so that earns you a favor. From me. One,” she emphasizes with her index finger in my face.

Okay, so we’re not going to be besties, after all. But I have earned a bit of her respect. I’ll take it. “One,” I say. “Got it. Now hurry and get back to school and into bed.”

Oh, look, the scowl’s back. “You’re not my mom,” she says and runs back to the car, tinkling all the way.

I sigh, too tired to argue that I didn’t mean it that way, and head home—alternately worrying about Peter and wondering what in the world I could ever ask of Tinker Bell that would make us even.