Michael groaned out loud, biting his lip to keep from causing a ruckus. He was losing the battle. His will wasn’t as powerful as their technology. Neverland was syncing with him, and they were using his telekinetic gifts against his will.

“No,” he mumbled and tried to fight them mentally. He always lost, but he had fought bravely for weeks. He was tired and weak.

Something warm touched his lip, and he wiped it with the back of his hand. It came away covered in blood. He was getting a nosebleed. That wasn’t good.

“Tick . . . tick . . . tick.” He mentally saw a young woman in a wheelchair back at the headquarters using a computer to fight him, uploading more malware into his subconscious, trying to rewrite his brain and override him, taking him over.

I’m sorry Wendy . . . I tried to fight them. I’m just not strong enough.

He endeavored to stand and go to the window for help, but he collapsed on his way, crashing to the floor.

That was all it took. Michael felt Neverland break down his walls. His mind exploded in pain, although it was physically impossible. He could feel the signal reverberate through his central nervous system.

“Tock.”

The program Codename: CROCODILE began transmission through his psyche and began to infect Neverwood’s computer system telepathically.

---

In the middle of dinner, the lights began to flicker. Some of the boys looked around the dining hall, but most of them just ignored the flickering. Wendy, however, was not unaffected. She lowered her spoon and stilled, distinctly uncomfortable.

Peter, who’d found himself spending every spare moment with Wendy, set down his plate of uneaten food and gestured to the older students and staff members to meet up.

Without alerting anyone, they slowly slipped out. Wendy, not willing to be left behind, joined them in the hall.

Peter’s face was stern. “Staff, you know the drill. If this is anything more than a glitch, you head to the safe rooms and stay low, like before. Please check the backup security systems until I know more about what’s going on.”

They nodded and scattered.

“Peter,” Wendy whispered. “Is everything okay?”

He tried to hide his worry, but she could see right through it. “It’s fine. I hope it’s just a glitch in the system. Computers control Neverwood, and something could be draining our power. Tink is probably going to reboot the system, and we will be good.”

Wendy’s mind kept going back to Jax’s warning. “Peter, I have a bad feeling about—” She was interrupted as the hallway went dark and the emergency lights powered by the backup generator kicked on. “This,” she finished.

“Okay, see, Tink just needed to do a manual reboot,” Peter said. “It should only take about ten seconds, and then, we’ll be up and running. Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . and . . .” He frowned.

A loud piercing alarm rang through the hall. Wendy covered her ears as a herd of boys began running down the hallway. “Fox, Onyx. This way,” Peter called out, then turned to Wendy. “Go to the main control room. Find Tink.”

Wendy ran up the stairs to find John and Tink standing close to the screen, analyzing the readings.

“What is it?” Wendy asked.

Tink gave her a look. Her face was pale. “We’re losing power. Our whole system is shutting down.”

“How can that happen?”

“We got hacked. I’m trying to fix it, but without our security systems, we’re sitting ducks. Something is broadcasting loud and clear, like a signal beacon. It’s been transmitting for the last two hours, and I can’t shut it down,” Tink said. “That source is also messing with my systems.”

She slid her chair across the floor to a separate computer. “The backup generators are set up in the event of power outages. I have to shut down certain areas of the school and force it to focus our energy on our doors and our light weapons. It’s going to leave whole areas without power still, but I don’t know what else to do.”

She started typing frantically, reading the green words of code as they flickered across the screen.

“Is anyone in the medical wing?” Tink asked.

John shook his head “no”. “I was just in there for an ice pack a half hour ago and didn’t see anyone.”

“Good, shutting down the power there. The west wing is down now too. Which means our reinforced doors won’t close.”

“What do you need me to do?” John asked.

“How good are you at hacking?”

“Pretty good.”

“Then, help me find whatever is attacking my software. Every time I find a backdoor, I’m shut out.”

“On it.” John was stone-face as he went to another computer and typed in code.

Wendy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She didn’t even know her brother was that good.

“I don’t recognize this code,” John said. “It’s not by any black hat I know.”

“Me neither, and I know most of their signatures.”

“Black hat?”

“Dark internet hacker,” John answered and gave his sister a serious look. “Like me.”

“What?” She was stunned to learn that about her brother, but was distracted by the loud thumping sounds coming from above and the synced vibrations through the floor.

“Is that . . . ?” Wendy asked, knowing the answer as the rhythm matched her frantic heart.

Tink’s grim face turned white. “Go faster.”

A loud explosion came from nearby, and the doors of the cabinets burst open.

“Too late,” Tink whispered. “They’re here.”