“You did it, Jane. You swam.”

“You lied! You said you wouldn’t move!” Jane remembers how her skin felt hot all over despite the water, her body fairly trembling with rage. She’d trusted her mother, and her mother had betrayed her. She’d wanted to strike her mother, and felt she would have been justified in doing so. But her mother had only beamed, delight and pride in her eyes so that Jane’s anger had drained, and she’d been able to be a little proud of herself too, though she didn’t dare admit it until the next day.

“I can see the top,” Jane says. “All you have to do is climb up to me.” She feels rotten and mean saying it, but she can see no other way. Timothy has to climb, and they have to keep going.

With painful slowness, Timothy reaches up toward her.

“That’s it. Put your right foot just there.”

She tries to point, and in that moment, Timothy slips. Rocks skitter beneath his small feet. Jane’s heart flies into her mouth. She doesn’t wait to see if gravity catches him; she lunges without thinking, even though he’s too far away for her to ever reach. There’s a terrible sound as the branch she’s holding cracks. All at once, the ground goes out from beneath her, the earth and the sky switching places.

* * *

There’s nothing to do but climb.

Wendy reaches for one of the thick, woody roots, protruding just above head height. The bark flakes against her palm, but when she tests her weight, the root holds. As she plants a foot on the uneven rock, a wind springs up, shoving against her. She falls back a step to keep her balance, and as she does, the ground shudders, like an animal trying to dislodge a fly from its skin. Wendy feels it in her bones, the shadow roaring at the heart of the mountain.

Peter knows, or some part of him knows where they are, and he doesn’t want them here.

She lets go of the root, stepping back to see if she can get a better view. Movement catches her eye, and at first she thinks it must be a bird, then her heart lurches and her breath nearly stops. The figure is human. Even at this distance, Wendy would know her anywhere. Jane.

She swallows a shout, afraid of startling her daughter and causing her to fall. But oh, holding back her daughter’s name bruises her throat, and Wendy gasps for breath. She almost launches herself into the air, flying for her daughter, but Tiger Lily touches Wendy’s shoulder. Wendy lays her hand on top of Tiger Lily’s, and for a moment, all she can do is watch her daughter climb.