Chapter 43

“We’re sinking?”

Janey shook her head, the auburn curls bouncing across her shoulders. “No, silly. Reality is breaking down because of Pan’s shadow.”

“Pan’s… shadow? What?”

“Not Pan. Pan. Why do I keep saying Pan? Oh!” Janey turned to look at Ingrid. “He came from the second star on the right, straight on until morning. Oh, this is silly!”

“What’s silly? I’m not laughing.”

“Jenny isn’t letting me talk about him. It. Whatever. Peter Pan came from someplace else.”

“Do you mean the—” Ingrid was silenced when Janey covered her mouth. She had been about to say Outsider.

“Uh huh. Though Pan has gone, his shadow remains. It’s the shadow that’s causing everything here to fall apart. If we speak of it directly, we’ll catch its attention.”

Now Ingrid followed. Peter Pan was officially the thing they’d come to send home. Its shadow was some lingering presence left behind. Outsiders don’t follow the linear rules of time, so if Janey said some form