It doesn’t surprise her that Jamieson would try to implicate Mary. He hates them both—for their sex, for the color of Mary’s skin, because they find ways to smile and laugh, speaking with their foreheads together, sharing stories and secrets. Although Wendy suspects that at the end of the day, Jamieson needs no reason to feel justified in his actions; cruelty is its own reward.

“Mary had nothing to do with it.” Wendy had spoken quickly. “It was all me.”

Doubt in Dr. Harrington’s eyes, scorn in Jamieson’s, but what did it matter? The whole accusation was built on a lie. In truth, Wendy stole all the time, but her thefts were never discovered. Whatever Jamieson had produced as evidence was something he’d planted himself, but which of them would be believed? Certainly not a girl who made up stories about an imaginary land.

So now Wendy is strapped to a chair, leather cuffs pulled tight around wrist and ankle, even though she hasn’t once struggled. The last curl falls, a leaf dropped from a winter tree. Her scalp feels chilled in the empty, tiled room. A sudden memory— Peter touching her hair, calling her a wood sprite, promising to introduce her to the Queen of the Dryads. He never did, distracted by another one of his games.

Wendy laughs, a bitter sound she immediately cuts short so it turns to a cough. There’s a click as the razor is set down. Wendy looks straight ahead as the nurse undoes the straps and leads her to the door. As they pass the common room, other patients flinch, looking away too quickly, or reflexively touching their own hair. Wendy scans the room, but Mary isn’t there.

She hopes Mary is being smart, staying out of sight. Despite Wendy’s protestations that she committed her supposed crime alone, she wouldn’t put it past Jamieson to find some other way to torment Mary while Wendy was having her head shaved. There’s strength in numbers, Wendy has learned that much, even if that number is only two. Jamieson rarely goes after either of them if they are together, and therefore he’s always seeking ways to separate them.