A knot works its way up into my throat. My mouth goes dry. Looking from side to side, I grip the vine in my hands and swing out to catch her. I’m not sure if it can hold my weight and hers, but damn it, I have to try. Successfully reaching her side, I grab her around her waist tightly. She looks up at me shocked, stunned, not able to piece together what is happening and why, as we swing back towards higher land.

I barely make it as the tips of my toes land, and I come to stand on the very end of the ledge. We stumble at first before I manage to get us balanced.

Taking a deep breath, I look down in her eyes and can tell she can’t make out why I’m acting this way. Why I won’t just fly, use magic like I’ve always done before to save her. Save us. If it’s even possible to save us now. Before I can answer the nagging questions left hanging in her eyes, a piercing bright light bursts into a million tiny pieces over her shoulder and starts heading right towards us.

“Shit, duck,” I shout.

Hunching down, I shield the back of her head the best I can as I pull her face into my chest. The cluster of light barely misses as it blasts into the vine and severs the connection above our heads. Wendy’s yell mixes with my curse as we stumble and start to go down again.

“Fly Peter,” she screams.

Instead of wasting time explaining now, my eyes quickly search for a solution, finding one to my left a couple ledges below.

Another flash of light bursts past us and slams into the rock ledge just above my right shoulder. I know that magic. I know the Fae behind it. My jaw clenches as I turn back to Wendy and grip her tighter against my frame.

“Wendy, do you trust me?”

Her eyes scan mine. Another burst hitting the ledge to her right and making her jump in my arms. Rocks scatter out from underneath our feet as she grips my arms tighter, holding on for life.

“I…” she stutters, looking around us and still trying to understand what is happening and why I’m acting so strange. “I used to.”

I hear bells in the distance quickly coming closer. Glancing over her shoulder, a scattering of bright, golden-yellow light descends towards us at an alarming rate.

“Used to isn’t going to work, Darl…”

“Wendy!”