No flash of starlight this time.

        We stand in a tight circle as Tink flies around us. She scatters golden fairy dust onto us and when I open my eyes, we stand in the Kensington gardens.

        The other Indians hurry off. I don’t know where to go. How do I find the fairy queen? I walk out of the forest and sit down on a bench. Children laugh and play. I am in London now. Why didn’t I ever come back here to this garden?

        Because I was too busy surviving to remember that I left a piece of my childhood here.

        Even though it has been a decade, I almost expect to see my little bear forgotten on the grass.

        “Girl, why are you crying?” Someone asks.

        I stand and wipe my cheeks. “I am not crying. Wait, who said that?” I look around, but no one answers me.

        A butterfly lands on my shoulder. Then the insect shifts into a fairy for a second. “I did. Are you Wendy Darling? Tink sent us the message. You are to come with me.”

        “You’re a fairy!”

        “Is that a question, or are you merely stating the obvious?” the fairy tosses red locks over her shoulder. Her purple dress and filmy wings turn back change as she turns back into purple butterfly with red spots. “All butterflies are fairies in disguise. Now, are you coming or not?”

        I nod and follow her deeper into the garden.

**

        “Wait here.”

        The fairy, who hasn’t offered me her name, flies away. Am I still in Kensington gardens? I didn’t even know this part of it existed.

        A pool of water glistens before me. Bulrushes stretch high above the surface.

        Places like this look like they belong to Neverland, not my world full of poverty and desperation. But maybe Neverland is only an echo. Only the reflection of beauty that has been here all along.

        “Wendy Moira Angela Darling. A beautiful name. Do you like it?”

        I turn, expecting a fairy. Instead I face a queen. She is several inches taller than me. Her blond hair falls down the length of her white dress and whispers against the grass. A twisted crown of gold rests on her lifted head. Her eyes are bright and blue, her lips pink. Large silver wings splay from her back.

        I curtsey. “Your majesty.”

        The fairy queen laughs. “Oh, my dear. There is no need.” Her eyes soften as she walks toward me. “You are beautiful.”

        “I-I am beautiful?” I am staring at a mesmerizing fae creature and she calls me beautiful? “Thank you.”

        “Well, my darling, you never answered my question. Do you like your name or not?”

        “Um…” I tangle my fingers together. How did she even know my complete name? “I like it all right. But I just go by Wendy Darling. Almost no one knows my other two names.”

        The fairy queen lifts the hem of her flowing dress. “Why not?”

        “It just seems rather long. Besides, it is the only thing my parents gave me. I don’t even know their names. They are probably dead by now.”

        She nods, turning her face away. “A natural assumption.” A moment beats between us before she meets my eyes again. “Walk with me?”

        I gape as she loops her arm through mine and leads me away from the lake. “Peter Pan came here before Neverland.”

        “Really?”

        “Yes. That is how he met Tink. She was the fairy who wouldn’t listen and he was the human boy who didn’t want to grow up.”

        I frown. “He’s seventeen and has been for centuries. He’s not a boy anymore.”

        “He might look seventeen and be almost as old as I am, but his heart will always be that of a young boy.”

        The queen leads me through a forest. On the trees, moss stretches like spider webs. Sunlight patterns over the grass.

        She tucks a blond curls behind her ear. “Wendy Moira, do not hate Peter Pan. Remember that he is not the one pulling the strings. Besides, he wasn’t always Peter Pan. Once upon a time, he was just Peter, one lost boy among many.”

        “And once upon a time I believed that. But you don’t know him. You haven’t seen the anger in his eyes. He taunts me, he messes with my thoughts just for the fun of it.” I wince and lower my voice. “I didn’t mean to yell. I am sorry.” I lean against a tree. “I have to keep apologizing. I mess up all the time.”

        “I have made mistakes too.”

        I stare at the tall, slender woman, her crown perched majestically on her head. “But you are a queen, a fairy! What mistakes could you have made?”

        “Many. I have made many. My worst mistake was that I disobeyed my father so I could marry the wrong man.”

        “Oh.” I run my fingers down my dress and feel the lump in my pocket. A star, a piece of grass and an acorn. I didn’t think that fairies could feel human emotions like love or hurt. But I should have known when I saw Tink curled in my palm crying. And now a queen stares at me with dry eyes and a faint smile. Her mask does not slip, but I can still find the brokenness in her voice.

        She is a queen. A fairy queen. Her mistakes must have affected many.

        “It was over a thousand years ago.” She laughs. “A lot can change in that time.”

        “Yes, but time does not heal everything.” Although what I say is true, it is strange to imagine living for a thousand years. So much has happened in only the first sixteen years of my life.

        In a way, I feel like I have already lived forever. The years run together, the numbers changing as I remain the same lost girl who dropped her only friend in this very garden.

        “He was fae.” The queen stands straight, her fingers playing with the silk of her gown. A habit I’ve also struggled with. “Dark hair and intense eyes. Very handsome. How he would tease me. My father warned me not to talk to him. I wouldn’t listen.” She lifts her chin, her eyes gazing beyond this forest to a faraway time and place. “We married, but my father did not attend the ceremony. It barely lasted a year. He kept rebelling against the fae royals-who are known for their power, not their patience. They finally banished him. They sent him to tiny planet hidden on the edge of the universe, far away from the touch of magic. I followed him. My father told me that if I left the fae kingdom, I wouldn’t be allowed to return. But I was determined. I left my home and came to the small world. My husband wouldn’t speak to me.”

        She doesn’t cry. Her voice doesn’t break and her hands don’t tremble. This is her story. Her mistakes. Her responsibility. I want to reach out and comfort her in some small way. But that would be disrespectful. I am no one.

        So instead I stay a few feet away from her, unwilling to interrupt her flow of words. But a small part of me dares to wonder why this matters. It did happen centuries ago, how would it affect me? How does it tie into Neverland and Peter Pan?

        “It was on this tiny planet, far from the fae kingdom, that I finally saw the truth. He was evil. He had just hidden it well. He had only married me to appease the royals, and now he wanted nothing to do with me. I was with child, but he didn’t care.” The fairy queen rubs her hands together. Her eyes meet mine. “I sent my child into the future, hoping beyond hope that she would find her own place. But there was so much I couldn’t have known.”

        She is trying to tell me something, but I am not sure what.

        “I know that you came to me because you want to save Neverland. You want to spare Peter’s life and free the lost boys. I cannot give you all the answers. Some things you will need to figure out on your own. But I will tell you this, sometimes death is the only thing powerful enough to stop evil.”

        “That doesn’t make sense. Who’s death? The death of the one who placed the curse on Neverland?”

        The queen gulps. “It doesn’t work like that. Even if he-” she adds quickly, “-whoever he might be- dies, his curse may remain. It is ancient and powerful. Stronger than my magic. This world has weakened me, but strengthened him.”

        “Then who’s death?”

        The queen blinks. “You don’t know? How can you not know? The darkness and the curse is tied to the island. In the end, the only way to conquer the darkness is to destroy Neverland.”