The woods.

Even if it defied all logic—and physics, for that matter— it was still more of an answer to what had happened to her brothers than anyone else had given her.

“When you found me in the middle of the road, I had chased down my shadow. I almost caught it, but I couldn’t keep hold of it and I fell,” Peter told her.

Then he really had fallen out of the sky.

Wendy suddenly remembered what had made her veer off the road in the first place: the black mass. “I…” Wendy frowned, trying to make sense of everything. “Before I found you, something crashed onto the roof of my truck,” she explained slowly. “It was a black thing … It kind of looked like the shape of a person, but it was dark, and sort of … see-through.”

“You saw it?” Peter asked, suddenly lighting up. “You saw my shadow?”

“I don’t know what I saw,” Wendy said quickly. “It could’ve been a bunch of things, really. But … if it is your shadow—and if all of this is real—then it still has John and Michael?” she asked.

Peter said nothing for a moment, but then he nodded.

Wendy let out a strained laugh and finally pulled away from Peter’s grasp. She ran her fingers through her hair and squeezed her eyes shut. “This can’t be real!”

“Wendy.” Something caught his eye behind her and he spoke quickly. “You have to believe me,” he said, catching her wrists in his hands.

“But how can I believe anything you’re saying? Everything you’ve told me is impossible!” Wendy told him. Her head swam with overwhelming desperation. She wanted to believe him, to believe that all of this was possible and real, that he knew where her brothers were. That she could get them back.

Peter let out a frustrated growl. He leaned closer and looked into her eyes. Wendy held her breath. “You’ve gotta help me, or else kids are just going to keep going missing,” Peter said.

“Wendy?”

She whirled around as Jordan stepped through the door to the courtyard.

Jordan had a Dutch Bros coffee cup in her hand and she was chewing on the bright green straw. She gave Wendy a strange look. “You okay?” she asked as she crossed the pavement.

“What?” Wendy looked back to where Peter had been standing, but he was gone. She twisted to look around.

“I said,” Jordan repeated with an apprehensive laugh, “are you okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or something.” She was dressed in scrubs and had her lanyard around her neck. Jordan always got coffee before volunteering and had the disgusting habit of drinking one cup over the entire day until it was cold. Her shift must’ve just ended.

“Yeah, I’m—I’m fine,” Wendy stammered. Where had he gone? There was only one door in and out of the courtyard, and Jordan was blocking it.

“Who was that guy you were talking to?” Jordan asked.